the 8 2 ka event from greenland ice cores we present a collection of high resolution chemistry and stable isotope records from the plateau of the greenland ice cap during the cold event 8200 yr ago using a composite of four records the cold event is observed as a 160 5 yr period during which decadal mean isotopic values were below average within which there is a central event of 69 yr during which values were consistently more than one standard deviation below the average for the preceding period four cores in north south and central greenland show differences at decadal and shorter timescales it is not yet clear if this represents significant spatial differences in response the results show clear evidence for colder temperatures and a decrease in snow accumulation rate however the changes in chemical concentrations for the ions looked at here are small suggesting only minor changes in atmospheric circulation for this event apart from the decrease in methane concentration greenland ice cores give only weak evidence for effects outside the north atlantic region

insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years new values for the astronomical parameters of the earth s orbit and rotation eccentricity obliquity and precession are proposed for paleoclimatic research related to the late miocene the pliocene and the quaternary they have been obtained from a numerical solution of the lagrangian system of the planetary point masses and from an analytical solution of the poisson equations of the earth moon system the analytical expansion allows the direct determination of the main frequencies with their phase and amplitude numerical and analytical comparisons with the former astronomical solution ber78 are performed so that the accuracy and the interval of time over which the new solution is valid can be estimated the corresponding insolation values have also been computed this analysis leads to the conclusion that the new values are expected to be reliable over the last 5 ma in the time domain and at least over the last 10 ma in the frequency domain

plutonic rocks from tahiti nui caldera society archipelago french polynesia a petrological geochemical and mineralogical study abstract a plutonic massif is exposed on a 2 1 km 2 area in tahitinui caldera tahiti island society archipelago french polynesia all the rock types are emplaced into the caldera filling formations as a stratified ring intrusion they constitute two contrasting alkaline suites a strongly silica undersaturated theralitic suite made up of 43 theralites 4 8 essexites and 3 1 ne syenites overlying a weakly silica undersaturated gabbroic suite composed of 35 gabbros 11 6 monzonites and 1 3 syenites minor cumulate pyroxenites account for 1 2 the average composition of the plutonic massif is similar to compositions of the less evolved basaltic lava flows capping the same volcano mineralogical and geochemical data illustrate the influence of mafic minerals during the differentiation processes clinopyroxene fractionation plays a significant role at the early stages then amphibole becomes the critical mineral component its fractionation leads to weakly silica undersaturated differentiates whereas its resorption into the residual liquids accentuates silica undersaturation towards nephelinic end members the two divergent trends of evolution are obvious only in the more evolved liquids because the amphibole effect is marked after the intermediate liquids have been produced during emplacement and crystallization of the strongly silica undersaturated rocks a pervasive retromorphic process produced mineral assemblages of the albite epidote facies by fluid convection of a geothermal system around the plutonic intrusion during the differentiation stage fairly low computed densities and viscosities imply that crystal poor magmas rich in volatiles are extracted from the magma chamber and ascend into the core of the shield volcano release of volatiles during crystallization causes a sharp increase of viscosity of the magmas resulting in their sub surface emplacement thermodynamic calculations indicate late stage reequilibration from the solidus to about 350 c where the temperatures correspond to the albite epidote retromorphic assemblages in the tahiti nui plutonic massif both magmatic and subsolidus stages are controlled by fluids either incorporated as hydrous minerals or circulating free by along convective pathlines of a geothermal system

asthenospheric and lithospheric sources for mesozoic dolerites from liberia africa trace element and isotopic evidence abstract combined elemental and sr and nd isotopic data are presented for mesozoic dolerite dikes of liberia africa which are related to the initial stage of opening of the atlantic ocean the large scatter of both trace element and isotopic data allows the identification of five groups of dolerites which cannot be related to each other by simple processes of mineral fractionation from a common source on the contrary the observed chemical and isotopic variation within some dolerites groups i and ii may result either from variable degrees of melting of an isotopically heterogeneous source or mixing between enriched and depleted oceanic type mantle for the other dolerites groups iii v mixing with a third mantle source with more radiogenic sr and with element ratios characteristic of subduction environments is suggested this third source is probably the subcontinental lithospheric mantle finally no significant modification by interaction with continental crust is apparent in most of the analyzed samples

zinc copper and lead in mid ocean ridge basalts and the source rock control on zn pb in ocean ridge hydrothermal deposits the contents of zn cu and pb in mid ocean ridge basalts morb and the morb source rock control on zn pb in ocean ridge hydrothermal deposits are examined the values of zn cu and pb for submarine mid ocean ridge basalts morb are respectively in ppm average morb 75 75 and 0 7 west valley juan de fuca ridge jfr 87 64 and 0 5 southern jfr 120 and 0 5 and 21 n east pacific rise epr 73 78 and 0 5 values of zn pb range from about 100 240 and cu pb from 100 156 in this study zn is found to correlate positively with tio2 feo mean square of weighted deviates mswd of 1 6 for jfr basalt and inversely with mg number mswd of 3 5 therefore contrary to statements in the literature that zn should be compatible in morb zn is a mildly incompatible element and must be enriched in the glass phase relative to olivine as zn does not fit into the other major phenocryst phase plagioclase in the source of morb zn likely is most enriched in oxides spinel magnetite and titanomagnetite copper generally does not correlate well with other elements in most morb data examined when differentiation is dominated by olivine cu has a tendency to behave incompatibly e g at mg numbers 70 but overall cu shows some tendency towards being a compatible element particularly along the mid atlantic ridge a behavior presumably due to separation of sulfides in which cu but not zn is markedly enriched copper thus may be in dispersed sulfides in the source of morb ocean ridges provide important data on source rock controls for sulfide deposits because in sediment starved ridges much is known about the possible source rocks and mineralization is presently occurring in contrast to zn pb 5 in continental hot cl rich brines zn pb in the hottest sediment starved ridge black smoker hydrothermal fluids at 21 n epr is about 110 similar to local morb 145 but cu pb is closer to 30 possibly due to subsurface deposition of cu at the jfr the best value of zn pb in the hydrothermal fluids is about 175 again similar to local morb 240 but cu is very low in the fluids that are at temperatures less than 300 c the large morb like zn pb in the hottest black smoker fluids suggests a source rock control for the metals that prohibits significant galena in the black smoker deposits of sediment starved ridges in contrast exhalative deposits on sediment swamped ridges have significant galena its presence is suggestive of pb derivation from sediments an origin supported by pb isotope studies of lehuray and colleagues in 1988

accumulation over the greenland ice sheet from historical and recent records water accumulation defined as precipitation minus evaporation was estimated over all of greenland as part of a program to understand changes in ice sheet mass and elevation over 360 historical and recent point accumulation estimates on the greenland ice sheet were evaluated and 276 estimates that were judged to be high quality were used to develop the accumulation map the data set includes 99 points developed as part of four investigations of the past 5 15 years these are judged to have the greatest accuracy using kriging the average accumulation over greenland is estimated to be 30 g cm 2 yr 1 for the interior part of the ice sheet above 1800 m elevation where most of the data were acquired the average accumulation is also estimated to be 30 g cm 2 yr 1 there are still many areas on the ice sheet including northwest southeast and southern greenland where accumulation is highly uncertain exceeding the mean ice sheet uncertainty at a point of 20 25 in these regions further sampling will be required to reduce uncertainty in both regional and ice sheet wide accumulation

isotope calibrated greenland temperature record over marine isotope stage 3 and its relation to ch4 large temperature variations on millennial time scales in greenland characterised the last ice age abrupt warmings known as dansgaard oeschger do events can be traced in the 18oice record of greenland ice cores however it has been shown that 18oice is not a direct temperature proxy measurements of the isotopic composition of gases trapped in the ice can be used to calibrate the paleothermometer here we present a continuous temperature record based on high resolution 15n measurements and firn model studies it covers a sequence of 9 do events 9 17 during the time period from 38 to 64 kyr bp for which temperature changes of 8 to 15 c were estimated the difference between the modern and the glacial 18oice t relationship can be explained by a combination of source temperature changes and changes in the annual distribution of precipitation a detailed comparison of the temperature evolution with reconstructions of the atmospheric methane ch4 concentration shows that ch4 rises lag temperature increases at the onset of do events by 25 to 70 yr within data resolution the strong correlation between greenland temperature and ch4 on millennial and submillennial time scales suggests that variations on these time scales were probably of hemispheric extent

iceberg discharges into the north atlantic on millennial time scales during the last glaciation high resolution studies of north atlantic deep sea cores demonstrate that prominent increases in iceberg calving recurred at intervals of 2000 to 3000 years much more frequently than the 7000 to 10 000 year pacing of massive ice discharges associated with heinrich events the calving cycles correlate with warm cold oscillations called dansgaard oeschger events in greenland ice cores each cycle records synchronous discharges of ice from different sources and the cycles are decoupled from sea surface temperatures these findings point to a mechanism operating within the atmosphere that caused rapid oscillations in air temperatures above greenland and in calving from more than one ice sheet

a new astronomical timescale for the loess deposits of northern china here we present a refined timescale for the entire sequence of quaternary chinese loess which relies upon the correlation of detailed monsoon records to the astronomical solution of laskar 1990 and the oceanic odp677 18o record of shackleton et al 1990 the chronological scheme considers in detail the relative structures of the palaeoclimatic and palaeomagnetic records to produce an accurate timescale that is consistent with the current understanding of loess depositional and post depositional processes analysis of this chronological framework demonstrates downward displacement of the palaeomagnetic horizons with respect to the climatic record

the climate in europe during the eemian a multi method approach using pollen data the last interglacial period the eemian offers a testbed for comparing climate evolution throughout an interglacial with the current warm period we present here results from climatic reconstructions from 17 sites distributed across the european continent allowing an assessment of trends and regional averages of climate changes during this period we use a multi method approach to allow for an improved assessment of the uncertainties involved in the reconstruction in addition the method takes into account the errors associated with the age model the resulting uncertainties are large but allow a more robust assessment of the reconstructed climatic variations than in previous studies the results show a traditional three part eemian with an early optimum followed by slight cooling and eventually a sharp drop in both temperatures and precipitation this sequence is however restricted to the north as this latter change is not observed in the south where temperatures remain stable for longer these variations led to marked variation in the latitudinal temperature gradient during the eemian the difference between the two regions is also noticeable in the magnitude of changes with greater variations in the north than the south some evidence is found for changes in lapse rates however a greater number of sites is needed to confirm this

the flickering switch of late pleistocene climate change polar ice contains a unique record of past climate variations previous greenland ice cores have documented relatively warm interstadial periods during the last glaciation and short centuryscale returns to colder conditions during the glacial to interglacial warming see for example ref 1 these climate features have also been observed to varying degrees in ocean sediment cores2 4 and terrestrial pollen and insect records5 7 here we report electrical conductivity measurements from a new greenland ice core which confirm these previous observations and also reveal a hitherto unrecognized mode of rapid climate variation fluctuations in ice conductivity on the scales of 5 20 years reflect rapid oscillations in the dust content of the atmosphere this flickering between two preferred states would seem to require extremely rapid reorganizations in atmospheric circulation

quaternary stratigraphy and ice cores abstract ice cores contain highly detailed continuous stratigraphic records extending from the present to 800 ka bp a large variety of climate proxies related to atmospheric and climate changes can be analysed and dated with an accuracy ranging from a few years for recent centuries to a few millennia for older records over the past two decades the contribution of ice core studies to the reconstruction and interpretation of past climate changes became fundamental they allowed the direct measurement of greenhouse gas changes in the past and the detection of rapid climatic changes this paper presents a short summary of ice core results restricted only to those relevant for the stratigraphy of the quaternary at the base of the epica dome c dc ice core the matuyama bruhnes m b magnetic reversal has been indirectly identified at the end of marine isotopic stage mis 19 and dated 764 776 6 ka bp allowing the correlation with the m b boundary observed in the deep sea sediments the details of the m b transition observed in the epica dc ice core are of interest for an improved characterization of this time marker which is crucial for the identification of the lower middle pleistocene boundary a clear increase in the amplitude of the glacial interglacial cycles is observed at 430 ka bp at the mis 12 11 transition in the epica dc climatic curves this mid bruhnes event marks a change in the pattern of climatic changes the middle upper pleistocene boundary at the base of the eemian stage is clearly detectable in the antarctic ice cores as a sharp increase in the methane signal coinciding with the initial peak of temperature derived from stable isotope profile around 128 ka bp in good agreement with vegetation changes on land in the northern hemisphere in greenland ice cores the last climatic cycle is marked by high amplitude millennial scale climatic variations bounded by abrupt limits that appear to correlate with stadial interstadial stages these climatic events are also present in the antarctic ice cores but smoothed smaller in amplitude and out of phase with respect to their northern counterparts therefore the stratigraphy of the deglaciation and of the transition from the upper pleistocene to the holocene differs in the two opposite hemispheres the holocene in ice cores is different from previous interglacials and it deserves a specific identification in the geological history despite its short duration compared to other epochs the formal definition of the pleistocene holocene boundary has been recently proposed and ratified on the ngrip ice core and fixed at 11 7 ka before ad 2000 about 200 years before present the sharp increase of co 2 and methane above the natural interglacial level as well as the sudden increase of atmospheric pollutants are a clear stratigraphic evidence for a recent global event caused by the human impact

geochemistry and origin of basaltic lavas from society islands french polynesia south central pacific ocean the society islands of french polynesia south central pacific ocean are formed predominatly by basaltic lavas of alkaline affinities these intraplate rocks are either ne or hy normative ne normative basaltic lavas are lower in si and heavy rare earth elements and higher in ti v and sr than hy normative the differences are attributed to the contrasting behaviour of amphibole during melting of the upper mantle which in turn may be related to the variation in the depth of melting compared to pyrolite the upper mantle source of the lavas was enriched in incompatible elements

orbital and millennial antarctic climate variability over the past 800 000 years a high resolution deuterium profile is now available along the entire european project for ice coring in antarctica dome c ice core extending this climate record back to marine isotope stage 20 2 800 000 years ago experiments performed with an atmospheric general circulation model including water isotopes support its temperature interpretation we assessed the general correspondence between dansgaard oeschger events and their smoothed antarctic counterparts for this dome c record which reveals the presence of such features with similar amplitudes during previous glacial periods we suggest that the interplay between obliquity and precession accounts for the variable intensity of interglacial periods in ice core records

comparison of oxygen isotope records from the gisp2 and grip greenland ice cores recent results1 2 from the greenland ice core project grip summit ice core suggest that the climate in greenland has been remarkably stable during the holocene but was extremely unstable for the time period represented by the rest of the core spanning the last two glaciations and the intervening eemian inter glacial here we present the complete oxygen isotope record for the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 core drilled 28 km west of the grip core we observe large rapid climate fluctuations throughout the last glacial period which closely match those reported for the grip core however in the bottom 10 of the cores spanning the eemian interglacial and the previous glacia tion there are significant differences between the two records it is possible that ice flow may have altered the chronological sequences of the stratigraphy for the bottom part of one or both of the cores considerable further work will be necessary to evaluate the likelihood of this and the extent to which it will still be possible to extract meaningful climate information from the lowest sections of the cores

interhemispheric atlantic seesaw response during the last deglaciation the asynchronous relationship between millennial scale temperature changes over greenland and antarctica during the last glacial period has led to the notion of a bipolar seesaw which acts to redistribute heat depending on the state of meridional overturning circulation within the atlantic ocean here we present new records from the south atlantic that show rapid changes during the last deglaciation that were instantaneous within dating uncertainty and of opposite sign to those observed in the north atlantic our results demonstrate a direct link between the abrupt changes associated with variations in the atlantic meridional overturning circulation and the more gradual adjustments characteristic of the southern ocean these results emphasize the importance of the southern ocean for the development and transmission of millennial scale climate variability and highlight its role in deglacial climate change and the associated rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide

globally increased pelagic carbonate production during the mid brunhes dissolution interval and the co2 paradox of mis 11 the mid brunhes dissolution interval mbdi represents a period of global carbonate dissolution lasting several hundred thousand years centred around marine isotope stage mis 11 here we report the effects of dissolution in odp core 982 taken from 1134 m in the north atlantic paradoxically records of atmospheric co2 from antarctic ice cores reveal no long term trend over the last 400 kyr and suggest that co2 during mis 11 was no higher than during the present interglacial we suggest that a global increase in pelagic carbonate production during this period possibly related to the proliferation of the gephyrocapsa coccolithophore could have altered marine carbonate chemistry in such a way as to drive increased dissolution under the constraints of steady state an increase in the production of carbonate in surface waters would cause a drawdown of global carbonate saturation and increase dissolution at the seafloor in order to reconcile the record of atmospheric co2 variability we suggest that an increase in the flux of organic matter from the surface to deep ocean associated with either a net increase in primary production or the enhanced ballasting effect provided by an increased flux of caco3 could have countered the effect of increased calcification on co2

geochemistry and petrogenesis of the early cretaceous continental rift type volcanic rocks of the mecsek mountains south hungary abstract early cretaceous volcanic rocks basanite to phonolite from the mecsek mountains south hungary represent the products of late mesozoic extension related alkaline magmatism at the southern margin of the european plate two mafic groups have been distinguished ankaramite alkali basalt and na basanite phonotephrite phonolites could have been formed from the na basanitic magma by low pressure fractionation the major and trace element characteristics of the mecsek basalts are similar to those of alkaline basalts of other intraplate areas and have a st helena type oib affinity the mantle source of the mecsek volcanics could be similar to that proposed by wilson and downes 1991 as one of the mantle endmembers for extension related tertiary quaternary alkaline basalts in europe geochemical modelling indicates that the primary magmas of the na basanite series were formed by about 4 partial melting whereas ankaramites and alkali basalts originated by about 6 partial melting of a garnet peridotite source

high resolution record of northern hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period high resolution record of northern hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period

evaluating climate change by multivariate statistical techniques on magnetic and chemical properties of marine sediments azores region regression models and cluster analyses are used to link magnetic properties of late pleistocene deep sea sediments in the azores area mid atlantic ocean with the chemical element composition the influence of the volcanic azores archipelago on sedimentation is evident in high magnetic mineral concentrations low field magnetic susceptibilities between 30 and 250 10 5 si and high ti al ratios n0 1 variations in magnetic mineral concentration and ti al ratios can be linked to detrital input and coincide with oxygen isotope ratio d 18 o changes the highest magnetic mineral concentrations and ti al ratios are found around temperate climate periods suggesting that detrital input from the azores islands is most prominent during these periods lower ti al ratios and a slightly different composition of the lithogenic fraction suggests the presence of a second probably eolian detrital component during glacial periods higher ba al ratios and dexcess bat estimates suggest higher productivity during the cold climate periods especially at the end of stages 2 and 6 temperate climate periods are characterised by a succession of peaks in magnetic mineral concentration and ti al ratios at the beginning of these periods followed by peaks in caco3 and mn al toward the end cluster analysis shows that the first peaks might be related to volcanic material which was initially deposited on land during eruptions in glacials and then washed into the sea due to the sea level rise at the beginning of temperate periods the latter peaks represent a more biogenic sediment signal which might be more diagnostic of vegetation changes in the azores archipelago due to a warmer climate d 2004 elsevier b v all rights reserved

homogeneous climate variability across east antarctica over the past three glacial cycles recent ice core studies have raised the disturbing possibility that glacial interglacial climate changes may be non uniform across antarctica1 2 these findings have been confined to records from the ross sea sector of the continent but significant deviations in other areas would call into question the widely assumed validity of the climate record obtained from vostok east antarctica on large spatial scales3 here we present an isotopic profile from a core drilled at dome fuji4 5 situated 1 500 km from vostok in a different sector of east antarctica the two records show remarkable similarities over the past three glacial cycles the extent of the dome fuji record in both large amplitude changes such as terminations interglacials and interstadials and more subtle glacial events even when the origin of precipitation is accounted for our results indicate that antarctic climate is essentially homogeneous at the scale of the east antarctic plateau possibly as a consequence of the symmetry of the plateau and the adjacent ocean

vavilov seamount a mildly alkaline quaternary volcano in the tyrrhenian basin vavilov seamount emerges from the central tyrrhenian plain at 3600 m depth and reaches 684 m below sea level four dives in the cyana submersible showed that this voluminous volcanic edifice 350 400 km3 can be divided into two parts 1 from its base to 1500 m deep a pile of thick submarine basaltic flows and 2 an upper part above 1500 m consisting of smaller radial lava flows related to a major central volcano vavilov s s and other minor vents aligned north south the basal series is affected by normal faults directed north to n40 and strongly tilted westward like the neighbouring sardinian continental block radiometric ages of upper lavas range from 0 1 to 0 4 ma other observations suggest that the late phase of construction has been subaerial and lead to estimate the upper quaternary subsidence of the basin to at least 500 m 4 5 mm yr 1 although vavilov is located at the supposed centre of oceanic accretion the characteristics of its lavas strongly differ from those of the underlying crust the basalts fall into the mildly alkaline series and are strongly enriched in light ree among the products of passive margin volcanism they may be compared with intermediate basalts between the olivine tholeiite of the continental flood basalts and the p type oceanic basalts in terms of oceanic volcanism they are very close to oceanic island basalts oib vavilov appears as a structure independent of the oceanic crust which supports it and does not represent a ridge related to the oceanic accretion as one might suppose

a new greenland ice core chronology for the last glacial termination 1 we present a new common stratigraphic timescale for the north greenland ice core project ngrip and grip ice cores the timescale covers the period 7 9 14 8 kyr before present and includes the bolling allerod younger dryas and early holocene periods we use a combination of new and previously published data the most prominent being new high resolution continuous flow analysis cfa impurity records from the ngrip ice core several investigators have identified and counted annual layers using a multiparameter approach and the maximum counting error is estimated to be up to 2 in the holocene part and about 3 for the older parts these counting error estimates reflect the number of annual layers that were hard to interpret but not a possible bias in the set of rules used for annual layer identification as the grip and ngrip ice cores are not optimal for annual layer counting in the middle and late holocene the timescale is tied to a prominent volcanic event inside the 8 2 kyr cold event recently dated in the dye 3 ice core to 8236 years before a d 2000 b2k with a maximum counting error of 47 years the new timescale dates the younger dryas preboreal transition to 11 703 b2k which is 100 150 years older than according to the present grip and ngrip timescales the age of the transition matches the gisp2 timescale within a few years but viewed over the entire 7 9 14 8 kyr section there are significant differences between the new timescale and the gisp2 timescale the transition from the glacial into the bolling interstadial is dated to 14 692 b2k the presented timescale is a part of a new greenland ice core chronology common to the dye 3 grip and ngrip ice cores named the greenland ice core chronology 2005 gicc05 the annual layer thicknesses are observed to be log normally distributed with good approximation and compared to the early holocene the mean accumulation rates in the younger dryas and bolling periods are found to be 47 2 and 88 2 respectively

high resolution greenland ice core data show abrupt climate change happens in few years the last two abrupt warmings at the onset of our present warm interglacial period interrupted by the younger dryas cooling event were investigated at high temporal resolution from the north greenland ice core project ice core the deuterium excess a proxy of greenland precipitation moisture source switched mode within 1 to 3 years over these transitions and initiated a more gradual change over 50 years of the greenland air temperature as recorded by stable water isotopes the onsets of both abrupt greenland warmings were slightly preceded by decreasing greenland dust deposition reflecting the wetting of asian deserts a northern shift of the intertropical convergence zone could be the trigger of these abrupt shifts of northern hemisphere atmospheric circulation resulting in changes of 2 to 4 kelvin in greenland moisture source temperature from one year to the next

geochemistry of diverse basalt types from loihi seamount hawaii petrogenetic implications the wide variety of basalt types tholeiitic to basanite dredged from loihi seamount have minor and trace element abundances that are characteristic of subaerial hawaiian basalts thereby confirming that loihi seamount is a manifestation of the hawaiian hot spot within the loihi sample suite there are well defined positive correlations among abundances of highly incompatible elements p k rb ba nb light ree and ta and moderately incompatible elements sr ti zr and hf and between mgo ni and cr however within the loihi suite abundance ratios of geochemically similar elements zr hf nb ta and la ce vary by factors of 1 2 1 5 and abundance ratios of highly incompatible elements such as p ce p th k rb ba th and la nb vary by factors of 1 2 2 5 these abundance ratios are not readily changed by different degrees of fractionation and melting therefore we conclude that these samples are not genetically related by different degrees of melting of a compositionally homogeneous source on the basis of k p k ti p ce zr nb th p and la sm abundance ratios the twelve samples studied in detail can be divided into six geochemical groups samples within each group are similar in 87sr 86sr 1 and intra group compositional variations may reflect low pressure fractionation and different degrees of melting in addition crossing chondrite normalized ree patterns within the alkalic basalt groups reflect equilibration of the magmas with garnet in ratio ratio plots involving abundance ratios of highly incompatible elements e g la p nb p k p rb p ba p and th p the geochemical groups define linear arrays suggestive of mixing however these data combined with the isotopic data are not consistent with two component mixing

climatically sensitive eolian and hemipelagic deposition in the cariaco basin venezuela over the past 578 000 years results from al ti and k al al ti and k al ratios in bulk sediment are used to interpret wind blown and hemipelagic sources of deposition to a 578 kyr record in the cariaco basin venezuela ocean drilling program site 1002 graphical and cross spectral analyses indicate that these ratios vary extremely closely with planktonic foraminiferal 18o with both ratios being significantly higher during interglacials and lower during glacials k al indicates that during glacials the lower sea level that results in relative basin isolation increases the relative proportion of kaolinite derived from local rivers draining the relatively humid venezuelan margin al ti decreases during glacials suggesting greater proportions of eolian rutile sourced from the northern sahara due to increased wind strength and or aridity this interpretation is consistent with previous studies of the chemistry and mineralogy of saharan derived eolian matter in the caribbean and with a mass balance determining the effect of changes in eolian rutile accumulation on the bulk sedimentary al ti ratio

geochemistry and origin of basaltic lavas from marquesas archipelago french polynesia the marquesas archipelago a volcanic chain in french polynesia south central pacific ocean is predominantly composed of alkalic transitional and tholeiitic basalts the variation trends in these intraplate basaltic rocks imply that the magmas were derived from different upper mantle sources model calculations using the total inverse method show that the peridotite source of most marquesas basalts was enriched in incompatible elements compared to a primordial mantle and had higher than chondritic ratios of several elements such as la yb ti v and p ce a metasomatic enrichment event is suggested by the sequence of element enrichment in the source relative to the primordial mantle ba nb la ce sr sm eu zr hf ti y yb on the other hand some lavas including tholeiites of ua pou and alkalic basalts of hiva oa were probably derived from relatively depleted upper mantle in some islands such as hatutu the different types of basalts were generated from sources with rather similar compositions the residual phases of the marquesas magmas included garnet the sources of these magmas were similar in trace element chemistry to the oceanic mantle below hawaii

constructing a stacked benthic δ18o record composite stacks were constructed by superimposing 6 to 13 benthic foraminiferal 1 8 o records covering the period 0 850 ka an initial timescale for each core was established using radioisotopic age control points and assuming constant sedimentation rates between these points the average of these records is our 13 core untuned stack next we matched the 41 kyr component of each record individually to variations in earth s obliquity four of the 13 records produced timescales that were inconsistent with one or more of the known radioisotopic ages the nine remaining cores were averaged to create a minimally tuned stack six of the minimally tuned cores were assembled into a tropical stack for each stack we estimated the uncertainty envelope from the standard deviation of the constituents spectral analysis of the three stacks indicates that benthic 1 8 o is dominated by a 100 kyr oscillation that has a narrow spectral peak the contribution of precession to the total variance is small when compared to prior results from planktic stacks

ice core evidence for secular variability and 200 year dipolar oscillations in atmospheric circulation over east antarctica during the holocene two holocene ice core records from east antarctica vostok and epica dome c were analysed for dust concentration and size distribution at a temporal resolution of 1 sample per 50 years a series of volcanic markers randomly distributed over the common part of the ice cores from 9 8 to 3 5 kyear bp ensures accurate relative dating 33 years dust size records from the two sites display oscillations structured in cycles with sub millennial and secular scale frequencies that are apparently asynchronous the power spectra of the composite sum of the two dust size records display spectral energy mostly for 150 to 500 year periodicities on the other hand the 200 year band is common to both records and the 200 year components of the two sites are out of phase 100 year lead or lag over 5 5 kyear a phenomenon also reflected by a significant 99 conf lev band in the power spectra of the composite difference of the two size records during long range transport mineral dust originating from the southern hemisphere continents is graded to a variable extent depending on the altitude and duration of atmospheric transport relatively coarse dust is associated with air mass penetration from the middle lower troposphere and conversely relatively fine dust with upper troposphere air masses or the influence of subsidence over the antarctic plateau a hypothesis already proposed for the changes that occurred during the last glacial maximum to holocene transition delmonte et al 2004b moreover we assume that the overall fluctuation of air mass advection over antarctica depends on the meridional pressure gradient with respect to low latitudes i e the antarctic oscillation aao we therefore suggest a regional variability in atmospheric circulation over east antarctica the 150 500 year power spectrum of the composite parameter represents the long term variability of the aao imprinted by secular internal oscillations probably related to the southern ocean climatic system on the other hand the dust composite parameter suggests a persistent atmospheric dipole over east antarctica delivering coarser finer dust particles alternatively to vostok and dome c regions with a bi centennial periodicity indeed a seesaw phenomenon in dust size distribution was already observed at three east antarctic sites during the last deglaciation delmonte et al 2004b and was interpreted as a progressive reduction of the eccentricity of the polar vortex with respect to the geographic south pole interestingly the parameter shows a pronounced 200 year oscillation mode throwing new light on the unresolved question of a possible relationship between climate and solar activity

irregular glacial interstadials recorded in a new greenland ice core the greenland ice sheet offers the most favourable conditions in the northern hemisphere for obtaining high resolution continuous time series of climate related parameters profiles of 18o 16o ratio along three previous deep greenland ice cores1 3 seemed to reveal irregular but well defined episodes of relatively mild climate conditions interstadials during the mid and late parts of the last glaciation but there has been some doubt as to whether the shifts in oxygen isotope ratio were genuine representations of changes in climate rather than artefacts due to disturbed stratification here we present results from a new deep ice core drilled at the summit of the greenland ice sheet where the depositional environ ment and the flow pattern of the ice are close to ideal for core recovery and analysis the results reproduce the previous findings to such a degree that the existence of the interstadial episodes can no longer be in doubt according to a preliminary timescale based on stratigraphic studies the interstadials lasted from 500 to 2 000 years and their irregular occurrence suggests complexity in the behaviour of the north atlantic ocean circulation

high resolution holocene n2o ice core record and its relationship with ch4 and co2 1 nitrous oxide n 2 o concentration records exist for the last 1000 years and for time periods of rapid climatic changes like the transition from the last glacial to today s interglacial and for one of the fast climate variations during the last ice age little is known however about possible n 2 o variations during the more stable climate of the present interglacial holocene spanning the last 11 thousand years here we fill this gap with a high resolution n 2 o record measured along the european project for ice coring in antarctica epica dome c antarctic ice core on the same ice we obtained high resolution methane and carbon dioxide records this provides the unique opportunity to compare variations of the three most important greenhouse gases after water vapor without any uncertainty in their relative timing the co 2 and ch 4 records are in good agreement with previous measurements on other ice cores the n 2 o concentration started to decrease in the early holocene and reached minimum values around 8 ka 260 ppbv before a slow increase to its preindustrial concentration of 265 ppbv

high resolution palynological record off the iberian margin direct land sea correlation for the last interglacial complex abstract we present high resolution pollen dinocyst and isotopic data for the last interglacial complex from marine core md952042 southwestern margin of the iberian peninsula 37 48 n 10 10 w 3148 m direct land sea correlation from this core indicates that during this period north atlantic sea surface temperatures were in phase with iberian climate our palynological analysis suggests a younger dryas like event at the marine isotope stage mis 6 5 transition the analysis also indicates that the eemian spans from the lightest isotopic values of mis 5e ca 126 ky bp to the heavier isotopic values towards the mis 5e 5d transition therefore the eemian is not entirely equivalent to mis 5e pollen analysis identifies four climatic phases of low amplitude during the eemian a mediterranean climate in southwestern europe is gradually replaced by oceanic conditions the middle of the eemian is characterized by an increase in precipitation on the land and ocean associated with a slight cooling this seems to be the result of a displacement of the polar front as far south as southern europe during this period after the eemian three relatively short climatic phases on land melisey i st germain ia and montaigu cold event occurred contemporaneously with three shifts of sea surface temperatures the montaigu event first identified in terrestrial pollen sequences is therefore also recorded in core md952042 on the basis of pollen dinocyst and planktonic isotopic data our results also show that the warm periods of mis 5 are not characterized by similar climatic conditions on land

characteristics and sources of tephra layers in the epica dome c ice record east antarctica implications for past atmospheric circulation and ice core stratigraphic correlations thirteen discrete air fall tephra layers were identified in the last 200 000 yr section of the epica dome c ice record drilled in the east antarctic plateau 75 06 s 123 21 e quantitative grain size glass particle morphology and the grain discrete major element composition of the glass fraction of these layers were investigated through comparison with literature data on the rock composition of quaternary volcanic centres located within and around antarctica five tephra layers were attributed to south sandwich volcanoes in the south atlantic ocean two to south shetland volcanoes northern antarctic peninsula two to andean volcanoes and four to antarctic marie byrd land and melbourne provinces the abundance of layers originating in the southern part of the atlantic confirms that westerly atmospheric circulation spiralling towards east antarctica prevailed over the last 200 ka moreover the record of events from antarctic centres suggests that atmospheric trajectories from west to east antarctica can also be significant a few ash layers are geochemically distinct and appear equivalent to levels from vostok and dome fuji deep ice records located ca 600 km and ca 2000 km respectively from dome c on the antarctic plateau these layers provide unambiguous markers for future correlation with other antarctic ice cores and circumpolar marine climatic records they also provide reliable constraints to get a common timescale by glaciological modelling and represent a first step towards absolute ice core dating

dust size evidence for opposite regional atmospheric circulation changes over east antarctica during the last climatic transition three east antarctic ice cores dome b epica dome c and komsomolskaia give evidence for a uniform dust input to the polar plateau during the last glacial maximum lgm holocene transition 20 to 10 kyr bp and the 87sr 86sr versus 143nd 144nd isotopic signature of the mineral particles highlights a common provenance from southern south america at that time however the size distribution of dust from the three ice cores highlights important differences within the east antarctic during the lgm and shows clearly opposite regional trends during the climatic transition between dome b and dome c the timing of these changes is also different a geographical diversity also arises from the different phasing of the short term multi secular scale dust size oscillations that are superposed at all sites on the main trends of glacial to interglacial changes we hypothesize the dust grading is controlled by size fractionation inresponse to its atmospheric pathway either in terms of horizontal trajectory or in altitude of transport such mechanism is supported also by the dust size changes observed during a volcanic event recorded in vostok ice ice core dust size data suggest preferential upper air subsidence over the edc kms region and easier penetration of relatively lower air masses to the db area during the lgm at the end of the last glacial period and during the climatic transition the region of relatively higher subsidence progressively moved southward the scenario proposed supported also by the lgm holocene regional changes of snow accumulation likely operates even at sub millennial time scale

centennial scale climate cooling with a sudden cold event around 8 200 years ago the extent of climate variability during the current interglacial period the holocene is still debated temperature records derived from central greenland ice cores show one significant temperature anomaly between 8 200 and 8 100 years ago which is often attributed to a meltwater outflow into the north atlantic ocean and a slowdown of north atlantic deep water formation this anomaly provides an opportunity to study such processes with relevance to present day freshening of the north atlantic anomalies in climate proxy records from locations around the globe are often correlated with this sharp event in greenland but the anomalies in many of these records span 400 to 600 years start from about 8 600 years ago and form part of a repeating pattern within the holocene more sudden climate changes around 8 200 years ago appear superimposed on this longer term cooling the compounded nature of the signals implies that far field climate anomalies around 8 200 years ago cannot be used in a straightforward manner to assess the impact of a slowdown of north atlantic deep water formation and the geographical extent of the rapid cooling event 8 200 years ago remains to be determined

post depositional remanent magnetization lock in and the location of the matuyama brunhes geomagnetic reversal boundary in marine and chinese loess sequences article i nfo pdrm lock in loess paleosol bioturbation disturbs detrital magnetic particles after deposition so accurate recording of the ancient geomagnetic field in bioturbated sediments is widely attributed to acquisition of a post depositional remanent magnetization pdrm whereby the geomagnetic field exerts a torque on a magnetic particle and aligns it with the field after the final mixing event experienced by the particle the relationship between the matuyama brunhes boundary mbb and oxygen isotope age tie points in marine sediments has been widely used to determine the depth at which the paleomagnetic signal is locked in however such analyses can be badly affected by age discrepancies among different paleoclimatic proxies and by varying isotopic compositions of seawater in different locations and from the presence of different water masses at different depths at the same location it is therefore necessary to separately compare paleomagnetic data with respect to either benthic or planktonic foraminiferal oxygen isotope records for sites from the same water mass to avoid inadvertently introducing age differences to the analysis when the global data set is subjected to such a rigorous analysis few reliable data remain for the mbb using two complementary approaches we estimate that the mbb is on average shifted 20 cm below its true position in marine sediments this offset is the sum of the thickness of the bioturbated surface mixed layer which is possibly dominant and the pdrm lock in depth there is also controversy concerning observed differences in the position of the mbb relative to paleoclimatic proxies in marine sediments and chinese loess deposits for the chinese loess quartz grain size is insensitive to pedogenic alteration and is a useful parameter for determining the true position of the mbb with respect to paleoclimatic boundaries we conclude that the mbb occurs late in marine oxygen isotope stage 19 and in the upper part of chinese paleosol unit s8 rather than at the mid or lower part of loess unit l8 our results require adjustment of the generally accepted positions for the mbb and resolve a longstanding chronological conundrum for marine and chinese loess sequences

transferring radiometric dating of the last interglacial sea level high stand to marine and ice core records in order to derive a radiometric age marker for the end of the penultimate glacial interglacial transition we compiled published u series isotope measurements on corals from the period extending from stage 6 to the middle of the last interglacial and computed the corresponding open system ages using thompson et al model thompson w g spiegelman m w goldstein s l speed r c an open system model for u series age determinations of fossil corals earth planet sci lett 210 2003 365 381 we obtain a global mean age of 126 calendar kyr bp ka 1 7kyr 2 for the beginning of the last interglacial sea level high stand after showing that the phase relationships observed between changes in sea level north atlantic benthic and planktonic foraminifera oxygen isotopic records and atmospheric methane over the last deglaciation were likely also valid over the penultimate deglaciation we derive an age of 131 2ka 2kyr 2 for the abrupt increase in atmospheric ch4 and north atlantic surface temperature marking the end of the penultimate glacial interglacial transition this age is consistent with u th dates of the penultimate glacial interglacial transition recorded in speleothems from sites where speleothems isotopic records are synchronous with north atlantic temperature records over the last deglaciation finally we show that the phase obtained between the climatic response and northern hemisphere summer insolation is not constant from termination ii to termination i implying that northern hemisphere summer insolation alone cannot explain the timing of terminations

termination v in the vostok antarctica ice core the age depth relationship of the vostok antarctica ice core has been reconstructed in the depth interval 3300 3347 m by comparing three gas properties in ice co 2 ch 4 and 18 o atm with those in the epica dome c antarctica core fourteen vostok depths were examined in this interval and it was found that nine samples are uniquely dated if candidate ages are restricted to the interval between 400 and 650 kyr one of these samples is uniquely dated without restriction the analysis supports previous reports that this section contains ice from termination v but that the stratigraphic order of ice is reversed the top of the overturned layer lies between 3316 and 3319 m at least one other stratigraphic disturbance was found between 3340 and 3343 m as indicated by another reversal of the age depth relationship finally the oldest ice in this section is dated at 440 kyr confirming the existence of ice from the cold marine isotope stage mis 12 interval

contrasting impacts of dansgaard oeschger events over a western european latitudinal transect modulated by orbital parameters abstract terrestrial and marine proxies pollen planktic and benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotopes alkenone and foraminifer derived sea surface temperatures ssts ice rafted debris from images deep sea cores md95 2042 and su81 18 37 n 10 w md99 2331 and md03 2697 42 n 9 w and md04 2845 45 n 5 w show that western european and offshore environments were strongly affected by dansgaard oeschger d o and heinrich h events we concentrate here on latitudinal variability in the forest cover extent and composition of western europe during the succession of d o events showing new pollen records for core md04 2845 and for marine isotopic stages mis 3 and 4 of core md99 2331 in general cold ssts characteristic of greenland stadials were contemporaneous with the expansion of semi desert or steppic vegetation while greenland interstadials were synchronous with the expansion of forest our data reveal that the amplitude of atlantic and mediterranean forest expansions differs for any given d o warming during the glacial period 74 18 ka in the western mediterranean d o 16 17 and d o 8 and 7 corresponding to minima in precession were associated with strong expansion of forest cover contrasting with weak expansion of forest cover during d o 14 and 12 the opposite pattern is revealed at the atlantic sites further north the strongest greenland warmings are recorded for d o 19 11 and 8 this contrasting latitudinal climatic scenario is compared with other northern hemisphere records revealing similarities between the mediterranean climate and the asian monsoon regime which may relate to a summer atmospheric teleconnection between the two regions comparable to the present day situation parallels between mediterranean climate enhancement and peaks in global methane ch 4 during the last glacial period suggest a significant role of monsoon activity in determining ch 4 emission from wetlands

paleoclimatic context of geomagnetic dipole lows and excursions in the brunhes clue for an orbital influence on the geodynamo the hypothesis of an influence of the astronomical precession on the geodynamo energy budget was recently reappraised by theoreticians paleomagnetic indications of such an influence remain controversial because reconstructions of paleointensity variations from sediments are suspected to be contaminated by lithological paleoclimatically induced influences three sets of complementary indicators are however available 1 records of the direction of magnetization in sediments 2 records of magnetic anomalies of the deep sea floor basalts and 3 records of production variations of cosmogenic isotopes from sediment and ice cores these records confirm the genuine geomagnetic origin of paleointensity lows and their narrow link with excursions or short reversals recorded in various materials and often dated by radiometric methods the analysis of these time series and their comparison with 18o records of the paleoclimate suggest that such globally recorded geomagnetic dipole lows have preferentially occurred in the context of interglacial or transitional paleoclimates at the time of low or decreasing obliquity the dominant periods extracted with the complex continuous wavelet transform technique range from 40 to 125 ka further suggesting a link with orbital parameters these results encourage future efforts of research to improve the precision the resolution and the dating of the time series of geomagnetic dipole low in order to better decipher orbital signatures and understand their origin an important implication of this topic is that the next geomagnetic dipole low should be related with the present interglacial

geochemistry of metabasites from the nevado filabride complex betic cordilleras spain relics of a dismembered ophiolitic sequence abstract major and trace element distribution including ree data in the metabasites of the nevado filabride complex betic cordilleras spain suggests that the whole mafic ultramafic association represents a dismembered ophiolitic sequence all the analyzed samples have been affected by sea floor alteration yet only the fine grained rocks have suffered some significant mobilization of the lree life the other western mediterranean ophiolites this sequence is related to the opening of the liguro piemontese basin during mesozoic times however the metabasites from betic cordilleras differ from the ophiolitic basalts by higher values of the more incompatible over less incompatible element ratios the entire variation of these ratios in the liguro piemontese basin is related to a dynamic melting process coupled with a diapiric uprise of the mantle source from the stability field of garnet peridotites possibly up to the spinel plagioclase facies transition in this process the ophiolites of the betic cordilleras would record the deepest stages and the lowest degrees of melting this feature is related to the peculiar location of these ophiolites at the western end of the liguro piemontese basin

evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250 kyr ice core record recent results1 2 from two ice cores drilled in central greenland have revealed large abrupt climate changes of at least regional extent during the late stages of the last glaciation suggesting that climate in the north atlantic region is able to reorganize itself rapidly perhaps even within a few decades here we present a detailed stable isotope record for the full length of the greenland ice core project summit ice core extending over the past 250 kyr according to a calculated timescale we find that climate instability was not confined to the last glaciation but appears also to have been marked during the last interglacial as explored more fully in a companion paper3 and during the previous saale holstein glacial cycle this is in contrast with the extreme stability of the holocene suggesting that recent climate stability may be the exception rather than the rule the last interglacial seems to have lasted longer than is implied by the deep sea specmap record4 in agreement with other land based observations5 6 we suggest that climate instability in the early part of the last interglacial may have delayed the melting of the saalean ice sheets in america and eurasia perhaps accounting for this discrepancy

holocene climate variability in antarctica based on 11 ice core isotopic records a comparison is made of the holocene records obtained from water isotope measurements along 11 ice cores from coastal and central sites in east antarctica vostok dome b plateau remote komsomolskaia dome c taylor dome dominion range d47 km105 and law dome and west antarctica byrd with temporal resolution from 20 to 50 yr the long term trends possibly reflect local ice sheet elevation fluctuations superimposed on common climatic fluctuations all the records confirm the widespread antarctic early holocene optimum between 11 500 and 9000 yr in the ross sea sector a secondary optimum is identified between 7000 and 5000 yr whereas all eastern antarctic sites show a late optimum between 6000 and 3000 yr superimposed on the long time trend all the records exhibit 9 aperiodic millennial scale oscillations climatic optima show a reduced pacing between warm events typically 800 yr whereas cooler periods are associated with less frequent warm events pacing 1200 yr

ground based measurements of spatial and temporal variability of snow accumulation in east antarctica the east antarctic ice sheet is the largest highest coldest driest and windiest ice sheet on earth understanding of the surface mass balance smb of antarctica is necessary to determine the present state of the ice sheet to make predictions of its potential contribution to sea level rise and to determine its past history for paleoclimatic reconstructions however smb values are poorly known because of logistic constraints in extreme polar environments and they represent one of the biggest challenges of antarctic science snow accumulation is the most important parameter for the smb of ice sheets smb varies on a number of scales from small scale features sastrugi to ice sheet scale smb patterns determined mainly by temperature elevation distance from the coast and wind driven processes in situ measurements of smb are performed at single points by stakes ultrasonic sounders snow pits and firn and ice cores and laterally by continuous measurements using ground penetrating radar smb for large regions can only be achieved practically by using remote sensing and or numerical climate modeling however these techniques rely on ground truthing to improve the resolution and accuracy the separation of spatial and temporal variations of smb in transient regimes is necessary for accurate interpretation of ice core records in this review we provide an overview of the various measurement techniques related difficulties and limitations of data interpretation describe spatial characteristics of east antarctic smb and issues related to the spatial and temporal representativity of measurements and provide recommendations on how to perform in situ measurements

geochemistry of kauai volcanics and a mixing model for the origin of hawaiian alkali basalts a comprehensive model is developed to explain the major trace element and strontium and neodymium isotopic characteristics of alkali basalts from hawaii the model is similar to that of chen and frey 1983 in that it requires mixing of a small melt fraction of morb source material with another component to generate the alkalic suite of a particular hawaiian volcano it differs from the chen and frey model in that the other end member must be different from primitive mantle if it is to be consistent with both trace element and isotopic data alkali basalts and tholeiites from kauai analyzed in this study show a nearly complete transition in sr and nd isotopes there is a relatively well constrained array on a nd sr isotope correlation plot that can be explained by two component mixing of kauai tholeiite magma and a small amount of melt of east pacific rise source rock after corrections are made for fractional crystallization involving primarily clinopyroxene and olivine the sr and ba concentrations of kauai lavas plot along mixing curves defined by the above sources providing positive tests of the mixing hypothesis implications of this model are 1 the main source of hawaiian shield building tholeiites is a mixture of subducted crust primitive mantle and depleted asthenosphere that has been homogenized prior to melting 2 early alkalic volcanism as at loihi seamount will be characterized by greater isotopic heterogeneity than will late stage alkali basalt production and 3 there are two fundamentally distinct types of alkalic lavas erupted towards the end of magmatism at a given hawaiian volcano one represents smaller degrees of melting of the same source that generated shield building tholeiites kohala type the other derives from the mixed source discussed in this paper haleakala kauai type

10 be evidence for the matuyama brunhes geomagnetic reversal in the epica dome c ice core every few hundred thousand years earth s north and south magnetic poles swap places for the first time a record of one of these geomagnetic reversals has been found in an ice core because the strength of the field is very low during a reversal the intensity of cosmic rays in the earth s atmosphere is increased this leads to an increase in the quantity of 10be which like 14c is formed by cosmic rays in the atmosphere deposited in the ice it is this 10be enhancement in the ice that has been detected an ice core drilled at dome c antarctica is the oldest ice core so far retrieved1 on the basis of ice flow modelling and a comparison between the deuterium signal in the ice with climate records from marine sediment cores the ice at a depth of 3 190 m in the dome c core is believed to have been deposited around 800 000 years ago2 offering a rare opportunity to study climatic and environmental conditions over this time period however an independent determination of this age is important because the deuterium profile below a depth of 3 190 m depth does not show the expected correlation with the marine record2 here we present evidence for enhanced 10be deposition in the ice at 3 160 3 170 m which we interpret as a result of the low dipole field strength during the matuyama brunhes geomagnetic reversal which occurred about 780 000 years ago if correct this provides a crucial tie point between ice cores marine cores and a radiometric timescale