abrupt mousterian aurignacian boundary at c 40 ka bp accelerator 14c dates from l arbreda cave catalunya spain abstract the cultural transition from mousterian to aurignacian is abrupt at l arbreda cave and occurs within a homogeneous sedimentary unit with no visible lithologic changes fragments of milligram size charcoal were collected immediately above and below the cultural boundary for radiocarbon dating by accelerator four charcoal fragments from the lowest basal aurignacian level yielded dates of 37 7 1 0 37 7 1 0 39 9 1 2 and 38 7 1 2 ka bp average 38 5 1 0 ka bp these ages are similar to three dates from the same cultural horizon at el castillo cave in cantabria and both sets of dates are significantly older than the earliest reported for the aurignacian in the aquitaine and in other parts of central and western europe the dates are in accord with similarly early dates for aurignacian in bulgaria and suggest that appearance of aurignacian peoples is synchronous across europe three fragments from the uppermost mousterian level yielded dates of 39 4 1 4 34 1 0 75 and 41 4 1 6 ka bp discounting the spurious 34 1 ka bp result these dates are slightly older average 40 4 1 4 ka bp but overlap with counting error the basal aurignacian dates the data show that the transition from mousterian to aurignacian was chronologically abrupt at this location these results strongly support the replacement hypothesis

small mammal taphonomy at la trinchera de atapuerca burgos spain a remarkable example of taphonomic criteria used for stratigraphic correlations and palaeoenvironment interpretations abstract palaeoecological and biostratigraphical interpretations have been traditionally based on the presence in the fossil record of certain species nevertheless there are many taphonomic factors controlling the species composition and their relative abundance in a fossil site that may alter spatial and temporal correlations between the site where fossils have been found and the place where past beings were living taphonomic studies have been conducted at different sites from atapuerca ibeas cave complex this cave complex in burgos spain includes several karstic sites with extensive evidence of human activity and a complete record of vertebrate remains of the middle pleistocene as well as abundant human fossils the small mammal taphonomic analysis of one of these sites penal is explained and discussed here in detail to show the taphonomic procedure stratigraphical correlation between levels at the penal site is particularly difficult and correlations have been proposed here based on taphonomic data since 1980 a working hypothesis suggested a sedimentary connection between penal and another site named dolina presently separated by an abandoned railway cutting in order to test this hypothesis the results of penal obtained from the present study are compared to previous analysis done in dolina it is also attempted here through taphonomic comparison of these two sites to obtain a better understanding of the past context where hominids inhabited

m2 baroclinic tide variability modulated by the ocean circulation south of japan we analyze a concurrent simulation result of the ocean circulation and tidal currents using a data assimilative ocean general circulation model covering the western north pacific with horizontal resolution of 1 36 to investigate possible interactions between them four sites of active m2 internal tide variability in open ocean hot spots such as tokara strait izu ridge luzon strait and ogasawara ridge are detected from both the satellite observation and the simulation energy cycle analysis of the simulated m2 baroclinic tide indicates two types of the hot spots dissipation tokara strait and izu ridge and radiation luzon strait and ogasawara ridge dominant sites energy conversion from barotropic to baroclinic m2 tides at the hot spots is modulated considerably by the lower frequency changes in the density field modulation at the two spots tokara strait and izu ridge is affected by the kuroshio path variation together with the seasonal variation of the shallow thermocline at the other two sites influence from changes in the relatively deep stratification through the kuroshio intrusion into south china sea luzon strat and mesoscale eddy activity ogasawara ridge is dominant in the modulation

pre clovis in texas a critical assessment of the buttermilk creek complex abstract lithic artifacts from the lowest strata of the debra l friedkin site located on buttermilk creek in central texas have been interpreted as an undisturbed pre clovis assemblage waters et al 2011a stone tools and debitage were recovered from sediments stratified just below diagnostic clovis artifacts and dated by osl to between 13 2 and 15 5 cal kya invoking commonly observed cultural and natural site formation processes we offer an alternative explanation of the buttermilk creek complex as a clovis assemblage in secondary association with the dated sediments

formation of mud clast breccias and the process of sedimentary autobrecciation in the hominin bearing homo naledi rising star cave system south africa unconsolidated mud clast breccia facies in the hominin bearing homo naledi rising star cave cradle of humankind south africa are interpreted to have formed through a process termed sedimentary autobrecciation in this study this process by which most of the angular mud clast breccia deposits are thought to have formed autochthonously to para autochthonously via a combination of erosion desiccation diagenesis and microbial alteration of laminated mud deposits is thought to have taken place under relatively dry i e non flooded conditions inside the cave subsequently gravitational slumping and collapse was the dominant mechanism that produced the mud clast breccia deposits which commonly accumulate into debris aprons the mud clast breccia is typically associated with micro mammal fossils and is a common facies throughout the cave system occurring in lithified and unlithified form this facies has not been described from other cave localities in the cradle of humankind additionally sedimentary autobrecciation took place during the deposition of some of the fossils within the rising star cave including the abundant homo naledi skeletal remains found in the dinaledi subsystem reworking of the mud clast breccia deposits occurs in some chambers as they slump towards floor drains resulting in the repositioning of fossils embedded in the breccias as evidenced by cross cutting manganese staining lines on some homo naledi fossil remains the formation of the unlithified mud clast breccia deposits is a slow process with first order formation rates estimated to be ca 8 x 10 4 mm year 1 the slow formation of the unlithified mud clast breccia facies sediments and lack of laminated mud facies within these deposits indicates that conditions in the dinaledi chamber were probably stable and dry for at least the last ca 300 ka meaning that this study excludes homo naledi being actively transported by fluvial mechanisms during the time their remains entered the cave

generation of a trigger meander for the 2004 kuroshio large meander 1 a generation process of a small meander southeast of kyushu which triggered the subsequent kuroshio large meander in 2004 has been investigated using an ocean data assimilation and prediction system the assimilation result reveals that the small meander is the most developed one since 1993 a cyclonic eddy propagating westward from the kuroshio recirculation kr and a disturbance from the east china sea esc that accompanies a high potential vorticity high pv anomaly play important roles for the generation of the small meander the cyclonic eddy triggers an initial cyclonic anomaly southeast of kyushu when the high pv anomaly passes through the tokara strait a large positive vorticity is generated because the stretching of the water column is enhanced the positive vorticity is brought in the cyclonic anomaly and accumulates there as a result the small meander is generated from two sensitivity experiments an occurrence condition is determined by the cyclonic eddy from the kr by triggering the initial small scale meander and the disturbance from the ecs contributes to the horizontal scale of the small meander tracing back the disturbance further to the upstream region of the kuroshio it is revealed that the disturbance is a frontal wave with a large horizontal scale generated by collision between a strong anticyclonic eddy and the kuroshio east of taiwan the frontal wave propagates along the kuroshio accompanying high pv generated around the continental shelf edge by viscosity thus the large frontal wave could contribute to the generation of the developed trigger meander by transporting a larger amount of high pv anomaly to the tokara strait

the interpretation of stratified sites a view from underground abstract this paper reports on an experiment designed to study the role of trampling in the vertical dispersal of artifacts in the soil and in the mixing of originally separate sets of materials the experiment is part of a study of the archaeological stratigraphy and patterns of site use at a large stratified cave in southern france the experiment was designed to replicate conditions prevailing at the cave the results strongly suggest caution in the interpretation of living floors and stratified assemblages in sandy deposits

archaean rocks from southeastern karelia karelian granite greenstone terrain abstract we subdivide southeastern karelia vodlozero into two different areas on geological grounds 1 the vodla river area in which the metamorphic complex contains gneisses and amphibolites which yield u pb zircon ages of 3 14 0 03 ga and 3 13 0 09 ga respectively they were affected by polyphase deformation and polymetamorphism during 3 1 and 2 8 ga events 2 the lay ruchey river and vyg river area where two groups of tonalites with u pb ages of 3 17 and 3 14 ga can be distinguished by their major and trace element compositions the first group is similar to some tonalites from the ttg suite in eastern finland martin et al 1983 the second group is similar to tonalites ttg suite from lapland jahn et al 1984 two groups of amphibolites can also be distinguished in the vodlozero region yielding u pb ages of 3 13 and 2 86 ga geological relationships together with geochemical features show the younger group to be comparable to metabasalts from greenstone belts tonalites gneisses and the older amphibolites have model nd ages which are older than the u pb zircon ages from the same suites

a chronicle of crisis the late mousterian in north iberia cueva del esquilleu cantabria spain abstract during the last decades the cantabrian region has become one of the zones of greater interest in the study of the final mousterian on the european scale the particular ecological and physiographic conditions of this region provide an especially attractive picture for analyzing the advanced moments of this period almost all the mousterian levels of cantabrian sites are dated to the later part of wurm ii as occurs in some other european regions close to 35 ka bp the esquilleu sequence expresses a process of change in archaeological record and probably in the subsistence strategies this late occupation extends through the h4 cold event and the interglacial to wurm iii between level vif 34 3 ka bp approx ams and level iv 22 8 ka bp approx ams all the archaeological evidence non selective and directly adjacent to the river catchment limited technical investment with fast discoid production mainly points but objectively indeterminate from a morphological point of view lithic and even microlithic production and their interpretation in a spatial contextual perspective high fragmentation of the chaine operatoire between the river and the cave would indicate changes in the site function within an articulated network archaeologically the change in the significance of el esquilleu intervals is evident the raw material catchment analysis indicates a much more fuzzy relationship of the site in relation to the environment esquilleu would have ceased functioning as a place of integration of elements of the territory there is no evidence of transport or territorial relationship defined between sites another point for reflection is that in the esquilleu sequence different production methods and the archaeological evidence interpretation can be grouped easily into discrete sets the lower interval is technically variable probably representing the time with more functional complexity in the cave subsequently the quina levallois discoid and final intervals occur archaeological evidence of these higher levels including the technical domains changes gradually with clearly recognizable features along the sequence these common elements sometimes very slightly detected selected lithologies very small size discoid productions pointed morphologies from diametric fractures would refer to a cultural continuity in the communities that inhabited the esquilleu region for millennia

trampling experiments at cova gran de santa linya pre pyrenees spain their relevance for archaeological fabrics of the upper middle paleolithic assemblages the study of fabrics that is the analysis of the orientation and slope of archaeological and sedimentary materials associated with the middle palaeolithic upper palaeolithic mp up transition at cova gran shows substantial differences archaeological assemblages are characterised by greater isotropy in the fabrics than the sedimentary levels within which they are located indicating that these differences may be generated by anthropic processes one of the anthropogenic processes associated with horizontal and vertical displacement of archaeological artefacts is trampling and circulation caused by later occupations in order to evaluate the effect of movement on materials we undertook experiments simulating geological and archaeological conditions at cova gran the results show that human trampling does not cause major isotropy in fabrics but arranges archaeological assemblages towards planar or linear materials according to surface geometry we were not able to replicate the fabric pattern of materials from the archaeological levels of cova gran suggesting that they must be associated with the activities of human occupation at each level

mean antarctic circumpolar current transport measured in drake passage the antarctic circumpolar current is an important component of the global climate system connecting the major ocean basins as it flows eastward around antarctica yet due to the paucity of data it remains unclear how much water is transported by the current between 2007 and 2011 flow through drake passage was continuously monitored with a line of moored instrumentation with unprecedented horizontal and temporal resolution annual mean near bottom currents are remarkably stable from year to year the mean depth independent or barotropic transport determined from the near bottom current meter records was 45 6 sv with an uncertainty of 8 9 sv summing the mean barotropic transport with the mean baroclinic transport relative to zero at the seafloor of 127 7 sv gives a total transport through drake passage of 173 3 sv this new measurement is 30 larger than the canonical value often used as the benchmark for global circulation and climate models

the saamian of the belomorian mobile belt new geochronological constraints abstract most gneisses and amphibolites of the belomorian belt in the white sea region have previously been considered to represent the oldest saamian crustal component in the baltic shield which has been referred to the early archaean new u pb zircon ages of some of the most typical saamian rocks from the northern segment of the belomorian belt are reported these are 1 2 65 2 60 ga for the main rebolian event of folding high p metamorphism and migmatization 2 2 8 ga for the protolith of an orthogneiss in a granulite facies relic area within the region of rebolian folding on the eastern shore of lake kovdozero 3 2 74 ga for tonalitic orthogneisses that dominate the belomorian gneiss terrain around kandalaksha bay of the white sea 4 2 4 ga for a gabbro granite intrusion on the tolstik peninsula of the white sea this intrusion has previously been considered to be one of the type rock units of the early archaean these and other age determinations previously only reported in russian constrain the age of the assumed saamian in the belomorian belt in conjunction with new field observations they place most of the dated rock units within the same age group as the late archaean lopian rocks as a result of the age determinations the concept of a single array of late archaean geodynamic events in the baltic shield is advanced the belomorian belt is interpreted as an edge of the late archaean granite greenstone terrain in karelia which had been involved in strong structural reworking during an event of tectonic stacking and thrusting 2 65 2 60 ga ago part of the belomorian belt was subsequently also affected by palaeoproterozoic deformation the new results throw doubt on the previously assumed late archaean lopian age of some metavolcanic rock units occurring within the belomorian belt but overlying the presently dated orthogneisses these metavolcanics which comprise for instance the so called kolvitsa belt and its continuation towards the northwest are assigned tentatively to the palaeoproterozoic they may be age equivalents of lapponian sumian 2 5 2 4 ga old rocks underlying the lapland granulite belt

geochemistry and petrology of 2 40 2 45ga magmatic rocks in the north western belomorian belt fennoscandian shield russia abstract widespread mafic and ultramafic rocks drusites and minor granites of 2 40 2 45 ga age occur within the archaean gneisses of the belomorian fold belt several of these mafic ultramafic and acid intrusions in the north western part of that belt have been studied in detail the mafic and ultramafic rocks are rich in si and mg and also show lree enrichment they have nd 2 45 values varying between 0 2 and 1 8 assimilation fractional crystallization afc and mixing models in terms of nd t la sm ratios have been evaluated for the origin of the mafic rocks the results show that an afc model is preferable it involves 20 30 crustal rock assimilation by undepleted picrite magma with fractional crystallization the granites are similar in composition to a type within plate granites the tupaya bay granite pluton is characterized by geochemical layering which supports an anorogenic origin the granites and mafic ultramafic rocks drusites in the belomorian belt are similar in composition to coeval granites acid and mafic volcanic rocks mafic dykes and mafic layered intrusions within the kola and the karelian terrains and can be interpreted as part of the palaeoproterozoic igneous province connected with ascent of a mantle plume the small sizes corona textures and evidence for ductile deformation in the drusites are connected with their deeper level of emplacement p 8 12 kbar than that of the mafic layered intrusions 2 7 kbar

taphonomy and paleoecological implications of fossorial microvertebrates at the middle paleolithic open air site of nesher ramla israel variation in taphonomic modes which describe the characteristics of fossil depositional environments is an important but much understudied aspect of the formation of microvertebrate assemblages this study examined an assemblage of microvertebrate remains which was recovered from archaeological deposits in a deep karst depression at an open air setting a unique and so far undocumented type of depositional environment in the southern levant taxonomic and taphonomic characteristics of the assemblage reveal a striking difference from other known assemblages in the region from cave and fluvial depositional settings this includes especially low density taxonomic diversity and skeletal element survivorship three of the four taxa are fossorial or semi fossorial and their remains dominate the assemblage indicating strongly an accumulation history which involves underground burrow deaths of fossorial animals this is supported by additional evidence from skeletal modifications showing rare evidence of weathering extensive in situ fragmentation where the fragments remain fused together and abundant evidence for light abrasion these taphonomic patterns suggest extended underground protection of the remains followed by limited dispersal within a sedimentary matrix likely due to movement from the surrounding soil mantle into the karst depression through colluviation processes this taphonomic reconstruction has significant implications for understanding the long record of hominid occupation at the middle paleolithic site of nesher ramla phases of high density of the remains along the section correspond with glacial phases of marine isotope stages mis 6 and 5a 4 indicating an association between enhanced fossorial activity and environmental conditions during glacial stages intense deposition of cultural remains was recorded only during mis 6 however and this leads us to suggest that continued low intensity hominid presence in the upper layers of the site is related either to change in the usefulness of the site for hominid subsistence activities as it was being filled with sediments or to demographic changes linked to the arrival of new populations during mis 5a 4 detailed paleoenvironmental sequences which are recovered directly from hominid sites are critical for testing such hypotheses

challenges for a cross disciplinary geoarchaeology the intersection between environmental history and geomorphology abstract geoarchaeology is a growing subfield of cross disciplinary research at the intersection between geomorphology environmental history and archaeology this prospective essay does not aim to analyze the nature or evolution of geoarachaeology or to review available techniques and methods instead it addresses challenges exciting challenges confront geoarchaeology in the form of persistent problems that demand satisfactory solutions despite improving skills and innovative technologies drawing from the full record of human history a number of practical issues can be highlighted to explicate these challenges 1 open air archaeological sites are the main object of study for the early to mid pleistocene even though they represent open systems that raise fundamental questions about archaeo taphonomic integrity how were sites buried and then modified by selective preservation horizontal or vertical disturbance and the role of carnivores is it possible to determine the degree to which such sites accurately record prehistoric human behavior prior to the late pleistocene when hearths and living structures lend better definition to occupation surfaces can non primary open air sites also shed light on human activities and environmental history 2 cave sites have long been favored by archaeologists because of the impression that they represent relatively complete and undisturbed archaeostratigraphic sequences but serious problems also exist here in regard to the nature of accumulation and the sources of mineral and biogenic sediments in what were open systems liable to disturbance despite comparatively low energy processes 3 less familiar are urban and other architectural sites where processes of formation and degradation mimic natural sedimentation and erosion such a geoarchaeology can be highly informative for urban processes demographic cycles or the intersection between sites and their surrounding landscapes 4 spatial components of geoarchaeological research need more systematic consideration for locational strategies and with an appreciation that site presence or absence allows a more dynamic modeling of settlement and procurement strategies 5 regional settlement expansion and contraction may also inform on mosaic evolution or pleistocene dispersals including the out of africa hypothesis 5 finally multiple themes connected with environmental degradation during holocene times may open new windows to examine specific problems by objective criteria so contributing to a wider academic discourse about long term trends the interfingering of climatic and land use factors in cause and effect dilemmas or the construction of future scenarios in an era of accelerating planetary change the focus of archaeology is shifting to later ranges of prehistory so that geoarchaeologists now have a mandate to engage more directly with urban spatial and degradation issues this should be met with a broader and more inclusive agenda one that optimizes on expertise with historical geomorphology and environmental history but in collaboration with archaeologists and other social scientists that would sustain a more prominent role for geoarchaeology in the university curriculum

taphonomic and paleoecologic investigations of the late cretaceous santonian iharkut vertebrate assemblage bakony mts northwestern hungary abstract the iharkut vertebrate locality an open pit mine in the bakony mountains western hungary has provided a rich and diverse assemblage of late cretaceous santonian continental vertebrates the isolated and associated remains represent 31 different taxa including fish amphibians turtles lizards pterosaurs crocodilians non avian dinosaurs and birds sedimentologic investigations suggest that the iharkut depositional environment was represented by the floodplain of a very low gradient river the 10 50 cm thick bonebed of site sz 6 is the most important fossiliferous layer in the open pit mine and analysis of this site indicates alternating energy conditions during the bone accumulation which resulted in fossils of different states of preservation being deposited together the vertebrate assemblage of site sz 6 includes three main different subsets with widely different taphonomic history the characteristics and the preservation mode high rate of abrasion and the spherical shape of the bone pebbles suggest that this type of the isolated bones was more exposed to abrasion and probably the remains were transported from farther away than the other isolated bones the second group includes 88 of the iharkut collection containing most of the identified isolated bones and teeth and represents polytypic attritional remains transported and deposited by high density flow during ephemeral flood events meanwhile the monospecific ankylosaur skeletal material from iharkut site sz 6 may represent a mass death assemblage because seven skeletons of hungarosaurus were discovered from an area of approximately 400 m 2 and in many cases close to each other in the same layer the iharkut vertebrate assemblage is dominated by bones of aquatic semi aquatic animals while the number of terrestrial animal remains is subordinate the taphonomic analysis of the ankylosaur material from iharkut locality further strengthens the previously suggested hypothesis that some of the ankylosaurs preferred wetland habitats e g areas along fluvial systems while the other two herbivorous dinosaur groups from iharkut ornithopods and ceratopsians were probably living in distal habitats

experimental examination of animal trampling effects on artifact movement in dry and water saturated substrates a test case from south india this paper presents the motivation procedures and results of an experiment that examines short episodes of animal trampling in dry and water saturated substrates in south india while horizontal artifact displacement was similar to that modeled by other trampling experiments vertical artifact displacement in water saturated substrates was greater than any reported experiment to date the toolstone used in this experiment a silicious limestone exhibited minimal damage after trampling artifact inclination patterning appeared to be a potentially diagnostic middle range marker of trampling in water saturated substrates given the abundant number of paleolithic sites that are located on flat open surfaces near water bodies or experience monsoonal climatic regimes we propose that future excavations should measure artifact inclination on a regular basis

diagenesis in prehistoric caves the use of minerals that form in situ to assess the completeness of the archaeological record an interpretation of the archaeological record in particular that of a prehistoric cave site is complicated by the diversity of depositional and post depositional processes that affect the material deposited here we propose to use the authigenic minerals that form in situ within the cave sediments to reconstruct the ancient chemical environments in the sediments this can be done by experimentally determining the conditions under which each of the authigenic minerals are stable although this information is not available to date for minerals formed in a prehistoric cave we present calculated stability field data for the relevant minerals the results clearly demonstrate the feasibility of this approach this information particularly if based on measurements of real authigenic cave minerals will facilitate an assessment of the completeness of the cave archaeological record this is particularly important for determining whether or not the distributions of archaeologically important materials such as bones teeth plant phytoliths charcoal and ash reflect their original burial distributions or were altered as a result of secondary diagenetic processes

surface modification on bone trampling versus butchery abstract previous researchers have reported difficulties in distinguishing between surface marks on bone formed by sedimentary abrasion and those inflicted while butchering trampling by large ungulates and humans has been credited with producing pseudocut marks natural alterations to the bone that mimic cultural ones the purposes of this research are 1 to re examine trampling as a taphonomic process and 2 to suggest criteria useful for distinguishing sedimentary abrasion including trampling from butchery macroscopic and microscopic comparison of experimentally trampled bones and those which have had soft tissue removed with a flint tool demonstrate significant differences between the surface modifications produced by the two processes

accelerator 14c dates for early upper paleolithic basal aurignacian at el castillo cave spain abstract three fragments of charcoal taken from different parts of the lowermost bed containing aurignacian artifacts at el castillo cave yielded ams dates of 37 7 1 8 ka bp 38 5 1 8 ka bp and 40 0 2 1 ka bp average 38 7 1 9 ka bp these dates are almost identical to new ams dates from l arbreda cave in catalunya on the same cultural horizon average 38 5 1 0 ka bp and are significantly older than the earliest dates for aurignacian industries in the aquitaine and in other parts of central and western europe

molecular preservation and crystallographic alterations in a weathering sequence of wildebeest bones abstract the changes that occur in bone after the death of an animal are important because they control whether the bone becomes a fossil and what information is retained concerning the original biology of the animal taphonomic study of two 10 year longitudinal samples of wildebeest bones subjected to natural weathering in amboseli park kenya provides evidence for progressive change in both the organic and inorganic components of mammalian bone these changes correspond to weathering stages described on macroscopic structural features the bone samples were subjected to well established techniques of protein extraction from mineralized tissue protein identification by gel electrophoresis and reactivity to antibodies of noncollagenous proteins as well as x ray defractometry of the mineral component both adult and juvenile bones show progressive increase in hydroxyapatite crystal size and increased protein degradation over the 10 year period noncollagenous proteins persist at their original molecular weight in diminished amounts relative to modern controls in the study area 10 years or less of natural surface weathering altered the extractability of collagen indicating peptide and crosslinking cleavage in this protein increased hydroxyapatite crystal size may reflect a tendency of crystals to enlarge in situ once the organic matrix begins to breakdown without the addition of external minerals

variations of current path velocity and volume transport of the kuroshio in relation with the large meander abstract the variations of the kuroshio current path and their relations with current velocity volume transport and upstream position of the kuroshio are examined using sea level data after the long time non large meander nlm path during 1963 75 the kuroshio takes a large meander lm path during most of 1975 91 1975 80 1981 84 1986 88 and 1989 91 the study of these meanders confirms the description of the path of the kuroshio based on the three typical paths and the transitions between them with an exception being the 1981 84 lm path the formation and decay of the large meander are associated with velocity and position of the kuroshio in the tokara strait south of kyushu a small meander precursor of the large meander seems to be formed southeast of kyushu in relation with a temporary increase of kuroshio velocity and a northward shift of the kuroshio in the tokara strait an eastward propagation of the small meander leading to the lm formation is associated with remaining in the northe

ash bones and guano a study of the minerals and phytoliths in the sediments of grotte xvi dordogne france abstract very few prehistoric cave deposits in western europe contain visible hearth remains even though there is abundant evidence of fire use by cave inhabitants grotte xvi dordogne france is exceptional in this respect in that it contains a most conspicuous layer couche c characterized by a series of brightly coloured bedded sediments the formation of couche c has previously been ascribed to the ash and charcoal produced by the cave s mousterian occupants burning mainly lichens the mousterian sedimentary layers below couche c and the upper palaeolithic sediments unconformably overlying couche c are quite different in texture and colour and show no visible evidence of ash deposits analyses of the minerals microstructures and phytoliths in couche c are consistent with the notion that these sediments were derived mainly from ash produced by burning wood and to a lesser extent grass the original calcite component of the ash has been diagenetically altered to carbonated apatite around the cave periphery and to even more insoluble phosphate minerals in the centre one such mineral newberyite most likely formed by the reaction between guano degradation products and the ash under these circumstances bone preservation is also affected the overlying upper palaeolithic sediments contain calcite one of these layers abb contains much more calcite than all the other layers as well as abundant phytoliths derived from wood and grass this layer also contained many artifacts and bones it is thus concluded that ash is a major component of layer abb even though it is not visible to the maked eye in the form of hearths

assessing the macrofracture method for identifying stone age hunting weaponry abstract macrofracture analysis is an experimentally derived method used as an initial step in investigating the hunting function of stone artefacts diagnostic impact fractures which can only develop as a result of longitudinal impact underpin this method macrofracture analysis recently gained favour in middle stone age studies supporting hypotheses for effective hunting during the late pleistocene in southern africa however the factors affecting diagnostic impact fracture formation and the interpretation of these fracture frequencies are not yet fully understood this paper outlines a set of experiments designed to test macrofracture formation under human and cattle trampling and knapping conditions the results show that a macrofractures occur frequently when stone artefacts are trampled by cattle and humans and in knapping debris b diagnostic impact fractures occur on some of the trampled flakes and knapping debris 3 but significantly less often than in previous hunting experiments c when they do occur they are likely produced by longitudinal forces similar to those experienced during hunting d considering artefact morphology is important during macrofracture analysis and e macrofracture analysis is not a standalone method but is most useful as part of a multi analytical approach to functional analysis these experiments help to establish a significant baseline diagnostic impact fracture frequency for the interpretation of archaeological macrofracture frequencies

use wear and post depositional surface modification a word of caution abstract this is a preliminary report on experiments designed to study the effect of stratigraphically invisible minor movement of artifacts in the sediment on flint surfaces the hypothesis was that such prolonged movement could be responsible for postdepositional surface modifications which sometimes mimick use wear traces and at other times obliterate them the study was prompted by observation of the high incidence of these phenomena on a wide variety of sites the results constitute a cautionary tale to those embarking on the microwear analysis of assemblages where these surface alterations are present

age evolution and regional setting of the palaeoproterozoic umba igneous suite in the kolvitsa umba zone kola peninsula constraints from new geological geochemical and u pb zircon data abstract the umba igneous complex consists of an enderbite charnockite suite including porphyritic variety of charnockites and a porphyritic granite both are intruded by irregular veins or minor bodies of later reddish granite the porphyritic charnockites locally contains abundant xenoliths of country rocks and its contamination by sedimentary material is expressed by a minor content of garnet that increases in amount in areas with sedimentary inclusions the umba igneous complex and the umba block metasediments were deformed together during two episodes of deformation the first one was a major episode of thrusting with the formation of a penetrative shear foliation s1 which dips gently eastwards and a gently se plunging lineation coeval with this thrusting the boundary between the umba block and the poriya guba series in the southeast developed as a strike slip shear zone that juxtaposed the two blocks along a tectonic melange zone the s1 shearing deformed the enderbite charnockite suite and probably also the porphyritic granite into plate like eastward dipping bodies predating the shearing the metasediments underwent high grade metamorphism and anatexis leading to a high degree of partial melting this anatexis is also found in the enderbite charnockite suite but in a much smaller scale and mainly in the marginal parts of the bodies the second episode of deformation formed narrow localized extensional shear zones s2 which are developed in all rock units the s1 shearing in the tectonic melange zone occurred under high pressure metamorphism during cooling at constant pressure t 806 818 c p 9 3 9 5 kbar and then at decreasing pressure due to tectonic uplift both seem to have gone through the same deformation events as the metasediments the s2 extension occurred under decompression p 7 5 8 0 kbar t 860 840 c caused by uplift or tectonic erosion of the thrust pile though indistinguishable in the field the enderbite charnockite suite form a discontinuous suite with a trondhjemitic trend for the former and a calc alkaline trend for the latter geochemical study shows that the charnockite group is more strongly differentiated than the enderbite group and that magmatic differentiation in the charnockites were controlled by k feldspar fractionation the enderbites on the other hand lack differentiation and are considered to have crystallized rapidly from its magma source the charnockites came from a different source that judging from the high k rb ratio formed at a deeper crustal level than the enderbites both members of the enderbite charnockite suite formed due to subduction in an island arc setting and sm nd model ages of 2 1 1 9 ga indicate that the palaeoproterozoic suite has a juvenile character conventional u pb zircon dating of the porphyritic charnockite has given discordant ages of 1912 5 7 7 ma 1949 7 ma and 1966 9 our preferred interpretation is that the 1912 5 7 7 ma age represents the age of intrusion or maximum intrusion age of the charnockites and that the 1949 7 ma and 1966 9 ma ages for the abraded type represent ages or mixed ages of inherited zircons from the contaminating umba block metasediments the youngest detrital zircons in these metasediments have similar ages their source could have been early magmatic arc intrusives which were eroded shortly after their formation if the umba metasediments were deposited in a magmatic arc setting their initial deformation in an evolving arc may have provided the necessary heat flow for anatexis and high grade peak metamorphism of the metasediments therefore the intrusions of the enderbite charnokite suite during the later evolution of the magmatic arc could have post dated the peak of metamorphism but still pre date collision and thrusting leading to tectonic telescoping of the units and thus explain the lower metamorphic grade in the umba igneous complex compared to the metasediments if the 1912 5 7 7 ma age represents the maximum time of intrusion the true intrusion age might be slightly younger

movement of lithics by trampling an experiment in the madjedbebe sediments northern australia understanding post depositional movement of artefacts is vital to making reliable claims about the formation of archaeological deposits human trampling has long been recognised as a contributor to post depositional artefact displacement we investigate the degree to which artefact form shape and size attributes can predict how an artefact is moved by trampling we use the zingg classification system to describe artefact form our trampling substrate is the recently excavated archaeological deposits from madjedbebe northern australia madjedbebe is an important site because it contains early evidence of human activity in australia the age of artefacts at madjedbebe is contentious because of the possibility of artefacts moving due to trampling we trampled artefacts in madjedbebe sediments and measured their displacement as well as modelling the movement of artefacts by computer simulation artefact elongation is a significant predictor of horizontal distance moved by trampling and length width thickness and volume are significant predictors of the vertical distance the explanatory power of these artefact variables is small indicating that many other factors are also important in determining how an artefact moves during trampling our experiment indicates that trampling has not contributed to extensive downward displacement of artefacts at madjedbebe

a geomagnetic polarity time scale for the period 0 17 ma based on 40ar 39ar plateau ages for selected field reversals utilizing 40ar 39ar plateau ages for selected field reversals at 1 2 10 16 and 34 ma a geomagnetic polarity time scale gpts is constructed following the technique of cande and kent 1992 this differs markedly from previous gpts especially in middle late miocene time the ages for the chrons in post miocene time are in agreement with values derived by the astrochronological technique refinements in this gpts await acquisition of 40ar 39ar plateau ages for field reversals in the time frames 3 8 ma and 11 15 ma

the assessment of the internal architecture of an mis 3 cave bear bone assemblage case study ursilor cave western carpathians romania abstract ursilor cave is one of the most complex mis 3 cave bear settlements of europe it incorporates a large number of cave bears palaeoichnofabrics bioglyphs nests footprints scratch marks fur imprints etc and several bone assemblages of different age and genesis this study has the aim of analyzing the spatial orientation and the internal architecture of the bone assemblage from the excavation chamber of the scientific reserve lower level of the cave in order to assess the environmental conditions of the bone deposition as such almost 580 long bones were analyzed for spatial orientation and almost 100 plates of bone levels were documented at every 10 cm of depth mapped photographed and topographed the obtained results point to an in situ thanatocoenosis typical for cave traps and reveal the taphonomic conditions at the time of the bone layers deposition moreover the taphonomic approach helped us to better understand the obtained radiocarbon data on cave bear fossils which previously indicated a non concordance with the stratigraphy and to perform a taphonomic model for the bone deposition from the excavation chamber moreover we report here the discovery of two fossil carnivore skeletons a cave bear and a cave lion one of the best preserved and anatomically connected documented in such environments

cave sediments upper pleistocene stratigraphy and mousterian facies in cantabrian spain abstract archaeological sediments are analysed from karst cave columns in cantabrian spain cueva morin el pendo the castillo cave complex including la flecha las chimeneas la pasiega las monedas hornos de la pena and cobalejos external sediment influx including loess is calibrated by an index of cave and slope run off energy while other features slope and roof rubble chemical precipitates cryoturbations fine soil derivatives and cultural components are discussed the key sequences morin el pendo castillo are each interpreted in local terms and then combined into a regional climatostratigraphy that includes 40 environmental phases within deep sea isotope stages 2 5 trends in run off energy reflecting slope stability temperature and summer moisture are rarely in phase indicating complex environmental change mid pleistocene and older deposits exist but have largely been destroyed explaining the apparent absence of acheulian settlement mousterian occupation is verified by isotope stage 5b and two or three mousterian facies that span 25 50 000 years are coeval in several caves regardless of the direction of climatic oscillations this suggests the flexible lithic technology of a single population maintaining an adaptive steady state despite repeated environmental changes by contrast the distinct upper palaeolithic industries each span only a few millennia but in part overlap temporally within the region between 35 000 and 9500 bp

smnd evidence for late archaean crust formation in the lapland kola mobile belt kola peninsula russia and norway abstract a sm nd model age traverse across the kola peninsula has been undertaken to gain insight into the major episodes of crustal growth and to test the possible presence of early archaean saamian crust in the region granitoid gneisses and subordinate metasediments have been sampled from the main archaean geological units i e from northeast to southwest the murmansk domain model ages of 2 68 2 96 ga central kola domain including samples from the superdeep borehole 2 74 2 92 ga belomorian domain including the eastern part of the tersk area 2 70 2 93 ga the narrow range of depleted mantle model ages from 2 68 to 2 96 ga for archaean granitoid orthogneisses close to the oldest crystallization ages from the region indicate a major episode of late archaean crustal growth and reveal no indication of ancient saamian material in keeping with other geochronological evidence similar results 2 86 to 2 93 ga for archaean metasediments support this conclusion proterozoic model ages for supracrustals from the western part of the tersk area 2 16 to 2 23 ga indicate that the crust in this area is much younger than previously recognized initial nd values for late archaean samples with reasonable age constraints fall within a range of 2 3 to 2 5 two well dated samples from the belomorian domain have the highest initial nd values nd 2 81 ga 2 0 and nd 2 78 ga 2 3 and suggest that a depleted mantle source was present in the kola region in late archaean times dated samples from the central kola domain have lower initial nd between 2 5 and 1 2 suggesting a possible regional difference in mantle character in contrast to the depleted signature of the archaean orthogneisses between 2 7 ga and 2 8 ga previous studies of earliest palaeoproterozoic rift related majic intrusives in the kola and karelia regions report negative nd values at 2 4 2 5 ga possibly these data reflect a change to more enriched mantle values

u pb zircon ages from a devonian carbonatite dyke kola peninsula russia a record of geological evolution from the archaean to the palaeozoic abstract zircon from a xenolite rich carbonatite dyke on telyachi island near kandalaksha on the kola peninsula northwest russia have been analysed for u th pb to determine the age of the dyke and study the geological evolution of the belomorides zircon from the ankeritic carbonatite analysed by conventional isotope dilution yielded a concordant u pb age of 380 7 ma this age is confirmed by sims u pb analysis of zircon from thin carbonatite veinlets in xenoliths which gave a concordant 238 u 206 pb age of 378 8 ma these results demonstrate that the dyke belongs to the 360 380 ma old kola alkaline province the xenoliths represent a variety of rock types we have analysed zircon from xenoliths of amphibolite gneissic granite and granite most of these crystals have distinct core rim structures which are clearly shown by cathodolumenescence cl imaging the majority of sims analysed spots in cores are close to concordant at c 2 65 2 75 ga which reflects the ages of the rocks from which the xenoliths were derived some cores lost a large fraction of their pb during the carbonatite magmatism one analysed cl dark rim appears to reflect a high grade metamorphic event which is slightly older than 2 75 ga this result requires that the xenoliths also include pre 2 75 ga rocks most rims developed during high grade metamorphism 1 7 1 9 ga ago these are cl bright and characterized by very low th u ratios and formed by a rejuvenation process in solid state which resulted in partial or total loss of radiogenic pb most rims have also lost pb during the devonian carbonatite magmatism the ages obtained from xenolith zircons are in excellent agreement with the independently known geological evolution of the belomorides

archaeological site formation in rain forests insights from the ituri rock shelters congo abstract this contribution complements the existing literature on rock shelter geoarchaeology and site formation processes by presenting data from 10 granite rock shelters in a tropical rain forest environment geological taphonomic pedological and archaeological data are used to assess the geomorphological evolution of rock shelters in the ituri rain forest northeast democratic republic of congo mechanisms of sediment production and deposition soil formation and related site formation processes were investigated the implications for the preservation of archaeological materials and stratigraphic resolution are discussed rock shelters in the tropical environment of the congo basin are formed by mechanical and chemical denudation of large granite boulders the current geomorphological cycle of rock shelter formation and collapse dates to the late pleistocene and may have been accelerated by anthropogenic forces the sedimentary record includes in situ breakdown products from the rock shelter walls while off site sources are represented by a minor influx of colluvium soil forming forces have acted on these matrices humans introduced charcoal phytoliths endocarps shell animal and human bone as well as inorganic materials such as stone ceramics and metal lags of archaeological materials are common under driplines where fine sediments have been washed away and include artefacts of different ages there is no evidence of extensive bioturbation but limited disturbance by roots burrowing animals and termites has been documented although there is some horizontal and vertical movement of prehistoric artefacts the post depositional translocation of materials is not significant we conclude that the stratigraphic integrity of these granite rock shelter sites with multiple archaeological horizons and the potential for the long term preservation of organic materials in a tropical environment are better than previously thought

satellite altimeter monitoring the kuroshio transport south of japan in 1993 1995 we carried out observations of the kuroshio south of japan including direct current measurements and repeated hydrographic surveys along a satellite track of the topex poseidon altimeter the velocity field of the kuroshio is determined by geostrophic calculation using the repeated hydrographic survey data referenced to velocities observed at mid and abyssal depths the volume transport of the kuroshio is estimated from this velocity field the estimated transports of the kuroshio have a high correlation with sea surface height differences across the kuroshio having this relationship and using the altimeter data we obtained a time series of the kuroshio transport over seven years at ten day intervals the kuroshio transport excluding contributions by local recirculations is estimated to be 42 106 m sec on average the correlation between sea surface height difference and transport provides a practical method of long term monitoring of the kuroshio transport using satellite altimetry

differential response of u pb systems in coexisting accessory minerals winnipeg river subprovince canadian shield implications for archean crustal growth and stabilization the u pb isotopic systems of zircon monazite titanite and some apatite and the pb isotopic composition of k feldspar have been investigated in three areas of the winnipeg river subprovince wrs of the superior province canada in order to define the timing of magmatic and metamorphic processes in this archean gneissic granitoid terrain

kuroshio induced wake in the lee of green island off taiwan 1 the wake of green island was investigated in the alongshore flowing kuroshio east of taiwan where current speeds range from 1 to 1 5 ms 1 vertical profiling with shipboard lowered acoustic doppler current profiler and conductivity temperature depth profiler revealed sizable anomalies in flow and water characteristics in the lee of green island two different stages of wake evolution were observed from two shipboard surveys in the first stage a recirculation developed leeward of the island followed by a wavy wave like tail that resembled a weak vortex street in the second stage a cold eddy probably originating from the leeward side of the island showed up 14 km downstream of the island the wake water was colder saltier higher in chlorophyll a concentration and produced isopycnal doming up to 60 m in the recirculation area the relative vorticity either positive or negative was 10 times of planetary vorticity and the horizontal divergence or convergence was o 10 4 s 1 on average flow divergence and convergence in the wake were expected to form upwelling and downwelling zones producing a vertical circulation that vertically displaces isotherms high inverse richardson number produced by strong vertical shear of horizontal currents was associated with intense overturning events in the wake high vertical shear of horizontal currents drove the mixing the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy in the overturn regions is o 10 7 10 5 w kg 1 the corresponding eddy diffusivity is o 10 3 10 1 m2 s 1 the wake water properties are vertically diffused via upwelling and turbulence and can be delivered downstream through eddy shedding or advection the extent of downstream influence remains to be investigated

interannual variations of kuroshio transport in the east china sea and its relation to the pacific decadal oscillation and mesoscale eddies results of a data assimilative ocean model jcope2 from 1993 to 2012 were used to examine the correlation between the pacific decadal oscillation pdo index and interannual variations of the kuroshio transport in the east china sea ecs and the influences of mesoscale eddies on this correlation in a period from 1993 to 2002 the kuroshio transport estimated from the jcope2 reanalysis has a positive correlation with the pdo index this well known correlation became weak or even disappeared when the analysis period was extended from 1993 2002 to 1993 2012 this occurs because the variation range of the pdo index became small during enhanced mesoscale eddy activity southeast of taiwan in years after 2002 the eddies caused a larger variation in the kuroshio transport in the years after 2002 than before 2002 and therefore changed the correlation between the pdo index and kuroshio transport in the ecs the influence of mesoscale eddies on the kuroshio transport has strong regional dependence the kuroshio transport from the area east of taiwan to the midway along the shelf break in the east china sea depends mainly on eddies arriving from southeast of taiwan while transport from the midway along the shelf break to the tokara strait depends mainly on the eddies arriving from northeast of okinawa island the combination of pdo related signals and eddy related signals determines the interannual variations of the kuroshio transport in the ecs and sufficient attention must be paid to the spatial dependence of the kuroshio transport in the ecs on eddies

the statistical modelling of the grain size distributions of cave sediments using log skew laplace distributions creswell crags near sheffield england this paper describes the statistical modelling of cave sediment size data using log skew laplace distributions the sediment samples were obtained from excavations in three archaeologically important palaeolithic deposits in the creswell crags caves which occur in the infrequently studied lower magnesian limestone permian bedrocks east of sheffield england theoretical and practical justifications for employing this and other types of statistical distribution to model grain size data are briefly reviewed three independent and one summary descriptor based upon parameter measures derived by fitting log skew laplace models to cave sediment grain size data are then used to explore the relationships between sediment location specifically distance of the sample from the cave entrance s in three caves which differ in their geomorphic complexity in the most complex cave robin hood s cave broadly defined groupings or sediment trajectories were detectable in 3d displays of the parameter values for samples from individual columns of the sampled cave sediments the relatively simple sac cave pin hole cave appears to show relatively simple zonal trends in the descriptors with variation in the outermost part of the chamber being primarily responsible for the trends observed zonal trends were also suggested but less clearly by some of the independent descriptive parameters in the more complex church hole cave but in this case it was the properties of the innermost samples that were responsible for much of the apparent variation detected on the basis of this statistical modelling and the associated exploratory data analysis it is hypothesized that textural variations in these three caves can be provisionally disaggregated into at least two complex elements the first manifests itself in zonal variations which appear to relate directly or indirectly to the effects of increasing distance from these cave mouths essentially akin to the ideas of schmid 1969 science in archaeology pp 151 166 london thames and hudson the second discloses itself in more location specific variations which themselves reflect the local sedimentary circumstances of that particular site within robin hood s cave similar to the ideas of butzer 1971 environment and archaeology an ecological approach to prehistory chicago aldine

kuroshio stream path variation and its associated velocity structures south of shikoku japan during 1993 1995 twelve repeat observations of the kuroshio south of shikoku japan were carried out for obtaining a vertical velocity section of the upper 300m using a towed type acoustic doppler current profiler adcp among the twelve observations the kuroshio took the onshore path 9 times and the offshore path 3 times the cross stream velocity distribution around the kuroshio stream axis is asymmetric steeper on the onshore side than on the offshore side for the onshore path while it is symmetric for the offshore one the core with a maximum velocity is submerged to 100 200m depths for the onshore case and located at the near surface for the offshore case in the combined analysis with the rapid bulletin of ocean conditions the kuroshio mainly took an onshore path with stream axis positions less than 80km from cape ashizuri but the distance was increased over 150km at the frequency once a year

fluctuations of sea level in the western north pacific and inferred flow of the kuroshio abstract monthly sea level elevations at naze and aburatsu sites on either side of the tokara strait through which the kuroshio flows were analyzed for the period 1963 74 the sea level elevations were adjusted to uniform atmospheric pressure using a barometric factor of 1 cm mb 1 the adjusted elevations are presented as 1 long term mean seasonal values and 2 deviations from the long term means differences in the elevations between the two sites were then used as indices of the transport of the kuroshio the seasonal amplitude of the elevation differences across the kuroshio naze minus aburatsu is 13 of the mean surface geopotential anomaly difference of 0 6 dyn m 0 1000 db the phase of this difference signal indicates maximum northward flow in summer zonally integrated wind stress curl at this latitude in the pacific interior however is most anticyclonic during winter instead the seasonal fluctuations of the kuroshio are more nearly in phase with the fluctuations in the latitudinal grad

high grade metamorphism of 2 45 2 4 ga age in mafic intrusions of the belomorian belt in the northeastern baltic shield

absolute dating of hominids and palaeolithic artifacts of the cave of la chaise de vouthon charente france abstract two adjacent chambers of the cave of la chaise grotte de bourgeois delaunay b d and grotte suard have been studied both were partly filled with detrital sediments containing lower and middle palaeolithic artifacts and skeletal remains of pre neanderthalian hominids layers of stalagmitic calcite occur interstratified in the sediments of both chambers dates obtained by 230th 234u ratios have provided a time scale for hominid and cultural evolution as represented in this cave in b d the lower travertine rests on a breccia containing cranial remains of juvenile neanderthals the base of the travertine dates to 151 15 ky ky 1000 years bp the top of the travertine yields a date of 112 5 ky the travertine contains pollen of an interglacial flora overlying detrital sediments 1 2 m in thickness contain artifacts transitional from acheulian to mousterian industries they are capped by a travertine layer 7 whose base is dated at 100 6 ky and which is capped by stalagmites ranging in age down to 58 7 ky overlying the travertine is sediment containing first mousterian and then aurignacian artifacts near the base of the sediments filling grotte suard is a stalagmite layer dated to 249 30 ky it contains interglacial pollen and presumably dates to the beginning of the isotope stage 7 interglacial neanderthaloid hominid teeth and cranial fragments are found scattered through the overlying sediments up to a capping stalagmitic layer whose base is dated at 101 7 ky the best described hominids from suard are from a section that was probably overlying the capping stalagmite the capping stalagmite is temporally correlated with layer 7 of b d

structure and variability of the kuroshio current in tokara strait four years of mooring array measurements in tokara strait south of kyushu japan from 1992 to 1996 are used to analyze the structure and temporal variability of the kuroshio current the mean kuroshio current in tokara strait shows a nearly permanent subsurface double core structure possibly due to topographic blockage effects the dominant variations of the kuroshio in tokara strait are separated into long term variability typically 100 day period and short term variability 10 days to 1 month according to spectrum and wavelet analysis the long term variability has a large horizontal scale across the strait with a striking twofold banded structure in spatial correlations this is due to the north south kuroshio axis shift that advects the double core structure of the mean current the axis shift can be indexed with the northeastward current velocity at the northernmost station a composite analysis using this index shows well defined northward and southward axis shift structures of the kuroshio current from the composite of the topex poseidon sea level anomaly in terms of this index the kuroshio axis shift and the current structure change are associated with a dipole shape sea level anomaly east of tokara strait on the other hand the short term variability of high kinetic energy only has a small horizontal scale within the northern part of the current which is related to frontal variability there exists a deep southwestward undercurrent below 600 m in the northern part of tokara strait flowing along the isobaths the undercurrent becomes stronger during the northward shift of the kuroshio axis while it almost disappears during the southward shift

uranium series dating uranium decays through a number of radioactive daughter isotopes some of which have half lives comparable to the time scale of prehistoric archaeology the growth of these isotopes in naturally occurring materials at archaeological sites can be used to determine the age of sites the growth of 230th from its parent 234u can be used over a time range from a few hundred to half a million years calcite precipitated from running or dripping water in springs and caves as well as marls and soil deposited calcretes may be spatio temporally associated with archaeological materials they can be dated by 230th 234u and 234u 238u measurements with a precision of 5 10 of the age by alpha counting or 1 by mass spectrometry bones teeth mollusk and egg shells are also datable but present problems due to migration of parent u in and out of the samples during their burial history

how islands stir and fertilize the upper ocean 1 large differences between the upstream and lee side flow characteristics of an isolated island in the kuroshio have been identified from a three dimensional velocity survey and from vertical profiles of fine and micro structure in the island wake the relative vorticity is o 10f the horizontal current divergence indicates upwelling of o 0 01 m s 1 and the rate of dissipation of kinetic energy is o 10 4 w kg 1 isopycnal surfaces shoal by 60 m on the lee side and surface nitrate concentration increases seven fold flow blockage by the island and the izu ogasawara ridge on its flanks induces horizontal and vertical flow separation the associated lateral and vertical shear drive the upwelling and the vertical mixing in the wake and produces a very pronounced island mass effect

tidal currents and kuroshio transport variations in the tokara strait estimated from ferryboat adcp data from 2003 through 2011 current surveys using an acoustic doppler current profiler adcp mounted on the ferry naminoue were conducted across the tokara strait tks 1 234 of the resulting velocity sections were used to estimate major tidal current constituents in the tks the semi diurnal m2 tidal current maximum amplitude 27 cm s 1 was dominant among all the tidal constituents and the diurnal k1 tidal current maximum amplitude 21 cm s 1 was the largest among all the diurnal tidal constituents over the section the ratios relative to m2 of averaged amplitudes of m2 s2 n2 k2 k1 o1 p1 and q1 tidal currents were 1 00 0 44 0 21 0 12 0 56 0 33 0 14 0 10 tidal currents estimated from the ship mounted adcp data were in good agreement with those from the mooring adcp data their root mean square difference for the m2 tidal current amplitude was 2 0 cm s 1 after removing the tidal currents the annual mean of the net volume transport nvt through the tks its standard derivation was 23 03 3 31 sv sv 106 m3 s 1 the maximum minimum monthly mean nvt occurred in july november with 24 60 21 47 sv nvt values from the ship mounted adcp were in good agreement with previous geostrophic volume transports calculated from conductivity temperature depth data but the former showed much finer temporal structure than those from the geostrophic calculation this article is protected by copyright all rights reserved

unmodified lithic material at olduvai bed i manuports or ecofacts the existence of high percentages of so called manuports in the olduvai sequence has given way to abundant papers on the behavioural explanation of such accumulations of raw material for this paper we performed a first hand re examination of the lithic collections of two of the most relevant sites in olduvai bed i flk zinj and flk north the analysis has unearthed extremely significant differences between the unmodified lithic material the so called manuports and the other stone collections which has demanded the search for alternative hypotheses to explain the presence of the supposed manuports at these sites thus we have revised the site formation processes and have compared them with other similar sedimentary contexts in olduvai and in nearby lacustrine basins on the basis of our findings we demonstrate the existence of different sized clasts in low energy contexts and propose a natural deposition as the answer to the existence of the supposed manuports at olduvai bed i in all our analysis suggests that a great part of the unmodified lithic material from the olduvai sites is not indicative of human action but the product of natural causes thus being ecofacts and not genuine manuports

the kuroshio large meander formation in 2004 analyzed by an eddy resolving ocean forecast system 1 the recent formation of the kuroshio large meander southeast of the kii peninsula during the period from may to july 2004 has been simulated successfully in an eddy resolving ocean forecast system japanese coastal ocean predictability experiment the formation process was examined from the viewpoint of eddy kuroshio interactions using sensitivity experiments that had various initial conditions for eddies in march and may 2004 we confirmed that the large meander does not occur when the trigger meander southeast of the kyushu island has small amplitude and that the cyclonic eddy on the offshore side of the kuroshio contributes to the large meander formation our results show that the large amplitude of the trigger meander southeast of kyushu island in april 2004 was caused by downstream advection of anticyclonic eddies along the kuroshio in the east china sea from east of taiwan the results suggest that the successive westward propagation of strong anticyclonic eddies in the subtropical frontal region from 2003 to 2004 was the origin of the formation of the kuroshio large meander south of japan in summer 2004

tephra in caves distal deposits of the minoan santorini eruption and the campanian super eruption abstract tephra deposits in caves are not only significant as stratigraphic markers the comparatively sheltered position of cave environments protected from rainfall may preserve original distal tephra deposition features unlikely to have survived in the open landscape most reported findings of tephra in caves are from the campanian super eruption which originated in the area of naples italy these findings facilitate evaluation in different caves of facies variability and modes of tephra deposition derived from the same eruption the campanian volcanic event about 40 000 years ago was the largest eruption in europe and the mediterranean region during the late pleistocene another major volcanic event during the quaternary was the more recent santorini eruption in the eastern mediterranean aegean sea during the late minoan cultural period approximately 3600 years ago this was the largest holocene eruption in the region but tephra deposits in caves from this event appear to be very rare we present here the first ever finding of a visible tephra layer from the minoan santorini eruption in a cave the pure tephra situated in the pelekita cave in eastern crete near kato zakros has a thickness of up to 9 cm geochemistry analyses of major elements by electron probe micro analysis epma and trace elements by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icp ms prove the tephra to be derived from the minoan santorini eruption radiocarbon dating also fits the time frame of this eruption our findings indicate that the tephra layer in the pelekita cave is an air fall deposit the lower boundary of the tephra layer is sharp and wavy draping over the underlying irregular cave surface particle size distribution of the tephra is bimodal and typical for suspended aeolian transport the consistently smaller size of heavier feldspar particles adjacent to larger but lighter volcanic glass particles in thin sections of undisturbed samples corroborate emplacement of the tephra inside the pelekita cave from high altitude fallout

symmetric instability in the gulf stream abstract analyses of wintertime surveys of the gulf stream gs conducted as part of the clivar mode water dynamic experiment climode reveal that water with negative potential vorticity pv is commonly found within the surface boundary layer sbl of the current the lowest values of pv are found within the north wall of the gs on the isopycnal layer occupied by eighteen degree water suggesting that processes within the gs may contribute to the formation of this low pv water mass in spite of large heat loss the generation of negative pv was primarily attributable to cross front advection of dense water over light by ekman flow driven by winds with a down front component beneath a critical depth the sbl was stably stratified yet the pv remained negative due to the strong baroclinicity of the current suggesting that the flow was symmetrically unstable a large eddy simulation configured with forcing and flow parameters based on the observations confirms that the observed structure of the sbl is consistent with the dynamics of symmetric instability si forced by wind and surface cooling the simulation shows that both strong turbulence and vertical gradients in density momentum and tracers coexist in the sbl of symmetrically unstable fronts si is a shear instability that draws its energy from geostrophic flows a parameterization for the rate of kinetic energy ke extraction by si applied to the observations suggests that si could result in a net dissipation of 33 mw m 2 and 1 mw m 2 for surveys with strong and weak fronts respectively the surveys also showed signs of baroclinic instability bci in the sbl namely thermally direct vertical circulations that advect biomass and pv the vertical circulation was inferred using the omega equation and used to estimate the rate of release of available potential energy ape by bci the rate of ape release was found to be comparable in magnitude to the net dissipation associated with si this result points to an energy pathway where the gs s reservoir of ape is drained by bci converted to ke and then dissipated by si and its secondary instabilities similar dynamics are likely to be found at other strong fronts forced by winds and or cooling and could play an important role in the energy balance of the ocean circulation

kuroshio path meander between the continental slope and the tokara strait in the east china sea 1 horizontal patterns and meander motions of the kuroshio paths in the northern okinawa trough between the continental slope and the tokara strait are investigated using surface drifter buoy trajectory data noaa sea surface temperature sst measurements and shipboard acoustic doppler current profiler adcp current observations temporal variations are also examined by spectral analyses of 1 year moored velocity temperature records along the continental slope near 28 8 30 5 n and of the kuroshio position time series in the tokara strait drifter buoy trajectories show that the kuroshio paths in the northern okinawa trough are quasibimodal in character consisting of the northern paths and southern ones which are associated with anticyclonic and cyclonic kuroshio circulations respectively the kuroshio position time series show that the northern paths tend to be persistent and intermittently undergo transition to southern paths at periods of 1 3 months moored current variations in the slope area and the kuroshio path variations in the tokara strait are highly coherent near a period of 34 days due to the meander motions resulting from the transitions between the northern and southern paths successive noaa sst images and shipboard adcp current fields show that the transition from the northern path to the southern one is associated with a spatially growing cyclonic eddy which is initially generated from a downstream propagating frontal meander with wavelength of about 200 km when the cyclonic eddy grows into the scale of the northern okinawa trough about 200 km e w 250 km n s the kuroshio path changes from the northern path to the southern one

tidal and residual currents across the northern ryukyu island chain observed by ferryboat adcp ferryboat acoustic doppler current profiler adcp data from 2003 to 2012 are used to estimate the tidal and residual currents across the northern ryukyu island chain ric between the islands of okinawa and amamioshima in this region the m2 tide current is the strongest tidal component and the k1 tide current is the strongest diurnal tidal component the corresponding maximum amplitudes are 40 and 34 cm s 1 respectively after removal of the tidal currents the mean volume transport 1 5 2 7 sv flows into the east china sea ecs from the western north pacific through four channels in this area in an empirical orthogonal function eof analysis performed to clarify the temporal and spatial variability of currents through the four channels the first two eof modes account for 71 and 18 of the total variance respectively the eof1 mode shows a clear bottom intensified mode through the deep channel which is likely to be formed by the propagation of bottom trapped long topographic rossby wave caused by the impingement of westward propagating mesoscale eddies upon the eastern slope of the northern ric the eof2 mode has significant seasonal variability and may be driven by the wind stress prevailing over the kuroshio flow region around the northern ric in october to november this study provides observational evidence of the water exchanges across the northern ric which is essential for constructing a circulation scheme in the north pacific subtropical western boundary region

the significance of stratigraphic discontinuities in iberian middle to upper palaeolithic transitional sites the extinction of the neanderthals remains an open question and the current chronological archaeological and paleoclimatic evidence reflects complex regionally diverse scenarios for the iberian peninsula the existence of early upper palaeolithic assemblages in the north of spain raises questions about the influence of incoming upper palaeolithic groups on the native neanderthals however this evidence remains unexplained from a historical perspective at the same time recent paleoclimatic data suggest that the environmental effects of heinrich event 4 entailed a gap in human presence at the middle to upper palaeolithic boundary casting doubts on the archaeological evidence from the north of spain in order to evaluate the evidence of continuity vs discontinuity of human occupation in the iberian peninsula at the passage from the middle to the upper palaeolithic a concise overview was conducted of lithostratigraphic data available in the archaeological literature on iberian sites known to represent the middle to upper palaeolithic transition the bulk of published sites show stratigraphic discontinuity between the latest middle and earliest upper palaeolithic evidence and in many cases the sedimentary record reflects cold climatic conditions this data support the existence of a gap in human presence in disagreement with theories involving contact and acculturation and suggesting that climate might have played a significant role in the population dynamics of the iberian peninsula at the middle to upper palaeolithic boundary

climatic stages recorded in sediments of the gunang cave south korea abstract this paper presents and analyses lithological stratigraphic and geochronological data on the gunang cave which is an important archaeological site in south korea it discusses problems of the age and origin of its sedimentary sequence which consists of clastics and hardpan speleothems the sediments compose a 4 m thick lens near the cave entrance the lens formed during the middle late pleistocene and holocene according to 14 c and u th dating the changes of cave environments are reconstructed based on sedimentological palynological mineralogical magnetic and geochemical data the clastic sediment unit consists of roof fallen limestone debris cemented by fine grained matrix the matrix is dominated by silt 80 which aeolian component is 60 65 the amount of the wind blown component is persistent throughout the clastic layers suggesting a relatively stable depositional process in dry environment in contrast three lime cemented hardpans formed in a wet environment of groundwater seepage the revised age model suggests that the hardpans formed in early mis1 mis 5 5 and mis 7 and therefore correspond to the wetness maximums of these warm stages

one million years of cultural evolution in a stable environment at atapuerca burgos spain abstract the present paper analyses the evidence provided by three sites sima del elefante gran dolina and galeria located in the trinchera del ferrocarril of the sierra de atapuerca these three sites are cave infillings that contain sediments deposited from approximately 1 2 ma to 200 kyr pollen herpetofauna and small and large mammal remains are used as proxies to obtain a general picture of the environmental changes that occurred at the sierra de atapuerca throughout the one million year period represented at these sites similarly cultural changes are tracked analyzing the evidence of human behavior obtained from the study of several bone and lithic assemblages from these three sites at least three periods with different cultural features involving technology subsistence and behavior are determined from the available evidence the first two periods correspond to the mode 1 technology and homo antecessor the first is dated around 1 2 to 1 0 ma and reflects opportunistic behavior both in technology and subsistence the second period is around 800 kyr bp mode 1 technology is still maintained but subsistence strategies include systematic hunting and the use of base camps the third period is dated between 500 ka and 200 ka and corresponds to the mode 2 technology and the acquisition of directional hunting and other organizational strategies by homo heidelbergensis a transition from mode 2 to mode 3 seems to appear at the end of this time range and may reflect the early phases of a fourth cultural change with regard to the environment our main conclusion is that there was an absence of extremely harsh conditions at atapuerca throughout this time period the presence of mediterranean taxa was constant and the dominant landscape was a savannah like open environment probably with small forest patches an alternation of mediterranean and mesic species as the dominant component of the tree storey was induced by the climatic cycles and steppes spread across the landscape during the drier periods in any case it is not possible to establish clear cut off points separating entirely different environmental episodes our results show no evidence of any relationship between environmental change and cultural change at the sierra de atapuerca

uranium series isochron dating at el castillo cave cantabria spain the acheulean mousterian question abstract a massive flowstone layer level 23 near the base of the stratigraphic sequence in el castillo cave cantabria spain is dated by the uranium series isochron method to 89 11 10 ka bp the flowstone separates cultural layers traditionally labelled mousterian above and acheulean below the date reported here in association with other recent age determinations for mousterian and acheulean artifact assemblages in western europe calls into question the temporal significance of these archaeological designations in addition it further underlies the importance of the castillo cultural sequence and allows tentative discussion of changing rates of sedimentation in the vestibule of the cave where some 18 m of cultural and geological deposits were laid down during the course of the upper pleistocene

urban geo archaeology in medieval alzira prov valencia spain abstract alzira is situated in a cut off meander loop of the rio jucar geo archaeological study shows that the islamic city wall was built during the second quarter of the 11th century ad at a time when the river had a low amplitude and low energy flood regime after mid century overbank silts began to invade the city as peak flood discharge increased with a spate of destructive floods reflected by high energy deposits during the late 11th century urban expansion within the city wall is dated to the later 11th or early 12th century interrupted by local abandonment and moderate energy flood silts major construction during the mid 12th century was followed by protracted abandonment after a siege in ad 1171 and further moderate energy flood silts that redistributed occupation and collapse debris reoccupation during the late 14th century was terminated by catastrophic floods in 1517 and 1571 after which much of the western end of alzira was not rebuilt following further flood catastrophes during the 17th century parts of the central walled city remained abandoned until the 19th century with new occupation atop flood sands of yet another disaster in 1864 the change in flood regime after 1150 was a result of deforestation of the watershed but progradation of a downstream tributary fan after 1517 created an unstable aggrading floodplain increasingly prone to severe flooding climatic anomalies were responsible for periods of recurrent severe floods archaeologically verified during the 11th and 12th centuries and historically documented beginning in 1318 the geo archaeological methodology illuminates the constructional and settlement history of alzira allows distinction of fluvial and cultural components and provides the necessary microstratigraphic detail and dating control to document the true complexity of alluvial processes during the last 1000 years

the kuroshio structure and transport estimated by the inverse method abstract structure and transport of the kuroshio are examined by the inverse method based on a dataset around the tokara strait subsurface velocities measured by a shipborne acoustic doppler current profiler are used together with ctd sections across the kuroshio to estimate the absolute flow fields the dataset was obtained along a closed line south off the kyushu by the r v chofu maru in september 1987 the kuroshio transport through the tokara strait was 28 109 kg s 1 at the time of observations the transport of warm water eddy south of the kuroshio is estimated at larger than 39 109 kg s 1 but its precise value is difficult to determine because of strong transport dependency on the solution rank the result also suggests a southward flow below the kuroshio off cape toimisaki and in the tokara strait in the section east of amamioshima island a broad northward flow is suggested on the continental slope

experimental and functional analysis of late middle paleolithic flake cleavers from southwestern europe france and spain the presence of flake cleavers at the end of the middle paleolithic in the vasco cantabria region southwestern france and northern spain is one element of the variability in mousterian lithic industries in southwestern europe because the function of these tools has rarely been studied we undertook a use wear analysis of them in order to gain a better understanding of the technological characteristics of late middle paleolithic industries in this geographic zone we conducted a series of experiments using these tools for activities associated with the processing of animal and vegetal materials the experimental reference collection thus constituted was subject to a low power use wear analysis and served as the basis of our interpretation of the use wear traces present on the archaeological flake cleavers of several assemblages olha i and ii gatzarria el castillo these flake cleavers revealed similarities with the experimental pieces that were hafted and used for percussion to fell trees and divide carcasses these data allow us to discuss the role of functional and cultural factors in the development of this tool type

what happens around a fire faunal processing sequences and spatial distribution at qesem cave 300 ka israel abstract the technological innovation involving the controlled use of fire represents a decisive change in human subsistence hearths and the spatial distribution patterns associated with them constitute a valuable element in deepening our knowledge on human behaviour and its evolution studies focused on hearths and on the use of fire in general are diverse and carried out through different perspectives thus hearths are studied for their meaning in terms of diet caloric and light capacity and spatial organisation as well as for their role as communication and socialization focal points the site of qesem cave israel shows evidence of the controlled use of fire as early as 400 ka judging by the burned bones from the lowest units of the stratigraphic sequence a particular superimposed central hearth that was repeatedly used as a focus for human activities ca 300 ka is the topic of this study this succession of hearths at the same location in the cave yields dense faunal and lithic remains as well as evidence for spatial differentiation between areas here we present faunal taphonomical data from this specific archaeological context which includes not only the hearth area approximately 4 m2 but also the surrounding areas approximately 11 m2 the most common prey species is the mesopotamian fallow deer dama cf mesopotamica which displays a wide age range and a biased anatomical profile including mainly marrow rich bones such as long limb bones these characteristics especially those regarding the relative abundance of infantile and young fallow deer lead us to propose that social hunting techniques were practised following a seasonal regime this paper provides data on human subsistence behaviour during the formation of the hearth and the archaeological unit around it comparing the two from a taphonomical perspective elements such as size length of bone fragments and intensity of burning are spatially plotted to show differential space division all these data are considered in the reconstruction of subsistence strategies and hominin behaviour in the acheulo yabrudian cultural complex in the levant

small mammal taphonomy of gran dolina atapuerca burgos spain abstract the middle pleistocene sequence at the atapuerca burgos complex of caves is most completely represented at gran dolina eleven stratigraphic units are distinguished seven of which contain abundant small mammal fossils these seven units are analysed in order to determine the taphonomic processes present during the accumulation of their faunal remains the fossil bones are extensively broken both before and after burial fossils from six of the units show evidence of localized pre depositional acid corrosion which occurred both before and after breakage in the upper levels there is also evidence of post depositional corrosion both from alkaline and from acid environments of deposition and in the top level some fossil bones also show evidence of weathering and root marks images of these modifications by means of the scanning electron microscope and their comparison with a large comparative data base of recent modifications from known causal agents permits the identification of the agents responsible for many of the modifications and consequently the reconstruction of the sequence of events leading to the accumulation and preservation of the fossil assemblages predators are implicated for some of the breakage and all of the pre depositional corrosion which is the result of digestion in the predators stomachs in all cases the category of predator can be identified and at three stratigraphic levels the actual species can be identified with moderate degrees of reliability post depositional corrosion is linked with observations on local acidity alkalinity of different levels and the incidence of weathering is linked with evidence for roof collapse over parts of the cave taking account of the effects of these processes particularly the selectivity resulting from predator hunting methods allows estimates to be made of the degree of bias in the faunal composition and the palaeoecology thereby indicated

turbulent mixing within the kuroshio in the tokara strait turbulent mixing and background current were observed using a microstructure profiler and acoustic doppler current profilers in the tokara strait where many seamounts and small islands exist within the route of the kuroshio in the east china sea vertical structure and water properties of the kuroshio were greatly modified downstream from shallow seamounts in the lee of a seamount crest at 200 m depth the modification made the flow tend to shear instability and the vertical eddy diffusivity is enhanced by nearly 100 times that of the upstream site to k o 10 3 o 10 2 m2 s 1 a one dimensional diffusion model using the observed eddy diffusivity reproduced the observed downstream evolution of the temperature salinity profile however the estimated diffusion time scale is at least 10 times longer than the observed advection time scale this suggests that the eddy diffusivity reaches to o 10 1 m2 s 1 in the vicinity of the seamount at a site away from the abrupt topography eddy diffusivity was also elevated to o 10 3 m2 s 1 and was associated with shear instability presumably induced by the kuroshio shear and near inertial internal wave shear our study suggests that a better prediction of current water mass properties and nutrients within the kuroshio requires accurate understanding and parameterization of flow topography interaction such as internal hydraulics the associated internal wave processes and turbulent mixing processes

late archaean smnd model ages from the voche lambina area implications for the age distribution of archaean crust in the kola peninsula russia abstract although an early archaean age for the saamian gneisses has been generally accepted in the former soviet union partly on the basis of their commonly granulite facies metamorphic grade and partly on account of their structural complexity and complex intrusion history these rocks have yielded no precise isotopic ages in excess of 2 9 ga sm nd isotopic analyses are used to test the possible presence of early archaean 3 5 ga saamian gneisses at voche lambina in the kola peninsula here tonalitic trondhjemitic and granodioritic gneisses presumed to be early archaean saamian in age are overlain by a sequence of late archaean lopian supracrustals a sample of the structurally oldest trondhjemitic gneiss with a minimum age of 2 64 ga has a depleted mantle model age tdm of 2875 ma tonalitic gneiss also assumed on structural grounds to be early archaean has a tdm age of 2808 ma identical to its u pb zircon age of 2807 9 ma this suggests that a depleted mantle model may be appropriate for at least this part of the kola region in the late archaean lopian rhyodacite with a u pb zircon age of 2800 ma and a rb sr isochron age of 2540 83 ma has a tdm age of 2756 ma in each case the close agreement between the sm nd model age and the time of intrusion or eruption leaves little scope for a significantly older crustal history for these rocks the data provide no evidence for a saamian component in this part of the kola peninsula

comment iberian plio pleistocene biochronology micromammalian evidence for mns and elmas calibration in southwestern europe m hernandez fernandez b azanza and m a alvarez sierra 2004 journal of quaternary science19 605 616

strontium increases and crystallinity changes in taphonomic and archaeological bone bone strontium levels and hydroxyapatite crystal sizes increased with time in two exposed wildebeest skeletons the strontium increases could not be removed by sequential washing according to the method of sillen a 1986 biogenic and diagenetic srca in plio pleistocene fossils of the omo shungura formation paleobiology12 311 323 human subfossil bone recovered archaeologically also showed evidence of extensive diagenetic reworking that resulted in crystal growth and elevated strontium levels the increase in bone strontium content was independent of nonapatitic contaminating crystal phases

effects of mesoscale eddies on the volume transport and branch pattern of the kuroshio east of taiwan using satellite altimeter data and a long term altimetric transport index for the kuroshio inflow northeast of taiwan the effects of mesoscale eddies on the kuroshio volume transport kvt at the east taiwan channel and the branching pattern of the kuroshio east of taiwan are investigated at scales from those of individual events to interannual timescales both anticyclonic and cyclonic eddies are found to be able either to strengthen or weaken the kvt depending on the relative strength of mass convergence and divergence produced upstream and downstream of the eddies the major factor influencing the intensity of the kuroshio inflow is the meridional location of the eddies for single eddy events the kvt is significantly correlated with the latitude of the eddy s center the correlations being 0 44 and 0 48 for anticyclonic and cyclonic eddies respectively for dipole eddy events when the direction angle falls in the interval 40 150 240 300 the kvt anomaly tends to be positive negative furthermore low kvt events generally correspond to the formation of the ryukyu current branch which is also generated from strong mass divergence produced by the eddies in addition on interannual time scales the variation of kvt is closely related to the relative number of anticyclonic to cyclonic eddies west of 125 e with a correlation of 0 5 this article is protected by copyright all rights reserved

kuroshio meanders in the east china sea abstract an array of seven inverted echo sounders was moored along and across the kuroshio in the east china sea for more than one year the data from this array show evidence of energetic meanders with periods of 7 11 and 16 days the respective phase velocities of these meanders are 28 20 and 17 km day 1 downstream the 7 and 16 day waves are intermittent but the 11 day waves are present throughout the deployment the instability responsible for these waves is investigated with a spectral numerical model applied to a background state representing the kuroshio in this region the fastest growing instability from the model has e folding growth time of 2 days period of 12 days and phase velocity of 18 km day 1 downstream it appears to be a close representation of the 11 day wave seen in the observational data such a model has been previously used to represent meanders in the gulf stream at similar latitudes off the east coast of the united states the kuroshio meanders have approximately half the

archaean tonalitic gneiss of finnish lapland revisited zircon ion microprobe ages we report single grain and grain domain u pb zircon ages for the tojottamanselka tonalitic gneiss previously investigated by the whole rock rb sr pb pb and sm nd methods by conventional u pb zircon density size fraction analysis and by hf isotopes kroner et al 1981 patchett et al 1981 jahn et al 1984 and established as one of the oldest known rocks of the baltic shield our data confirm the intrusive age as 3115 29 ma standard error but we also found slightly older xenocrystic zircon cores with 207pb 206pb ages between 3161 19 and 3248 10 ma that may either be derived from earlier phases of the tonalite melt or from pre tonalite sialic crust new magmatic zircon growth probably during a metamorphic event that led to migmatization is recorded by an age of 2836 30 ma and may be coeval with widespread tonalite emplacement elsewhere in the northern baltic shield at about this time

time frequency variability of kuroshio meanders in tokara strait 1 the meander of the kuroshio path with periods of 30 90 days dominates tokara strait japan to understand the time frequency variability of this meander two kuroshio indicators were subjected to wavelet analysis for the period 1984 2004 the 30 90 day variance of the position of the kuroshio in tokara strait shows a season fixed nature with larger amplitudes in the period december july the amplitude of the variance in this phenomenon is also modulated by interannual variations with small variance recorded during 1989 1992 large variance during 1993 1998 and a return to small variance from 1999 2003 this interannual variation is positively correlated with that of kuroshio volume transport in tokara strait the largest variance during february april precedes the largest volume transport in april may by about 1 month suggesting that mesoscale menders are the forcing of the volume transport increase not the other way around