character of meteoric leaks in the salt mines of south louisiana u s a abstract the brine leaks of salt mines of south louisiana are of two genetic categories meteoric and non meteoric connate formation water type as established essentially on the basis of oxygen and hydrogen isotope analyses this paper highlights the hydrochemical aspects of those mine leaks and develops simple non isotopic criteria to differentiate the meteoric leaks from the non meteoric the meteoric leaks of the salt mines generally occur down to a depth level of 214 m 700 ft below mean sea level below which the leaks are mostly non meteoric the meteoric brine is essentially na1bcl in type reflecting the mineralogy of almost pure halite with 1 2 anhydrite of the gulf of mexico coast dome salt the meteoric leaks are distinctly different from the non meteoric leaks on the log log plots of chloride concentrations vs those of ca 2 mg 2 k sr and br in all of which the meteoric brines are conspicuously low this study is potentially useful in the development of a mine or crypt in salt dome s under consideration for possible nuclear waste isolation in the gulf coast region

environmental and diagenetic records from trace elements in the mediterranean coral cladocora caespitosa trace element contents in coralline aragonite have long been used as proxies to record environmental growth conditions such as sea surface temperature sst in this study we explored whether trace element contents in modern and fossil corals cladocora caespitosa from the mediterranean could help constrain sst temperature and seasonality of climate in late pleistocene interglacials in modern adriatic c caespitosa the individual corallite sr ca signal captures seasonal variation with up to 68 of the variance related to sst a similar but weaker relationship is shown by mg ca however published equations to quantify absolute water temperature from sr and mg contents in modern c caespitosa did not yield consistent or credible results because each corallite exerts a strong non predictable vital effect with no constant species specific offset from equilibrium temperature trace element relationships become at best colony specific and unsuitable for absolute palaeotemperature reconstruction despite this temperature related cyclicity in sr and mg is preserved in corallites up to at least mis 7 age allowing identification of seasonality in sst in addition unusual trace element anomalies in modern c caespitosa can inform on events such as sediment discharge into the coastal zone partial diagenetic alteration of fossil c caespitosa skeletons from aragonite to calcite destroys original sst driven cyclic trace element signals and is an effective indicator of corallite preservation quality

mediterranean planktonic foraminiferal faunas during the last glacial cycle this paper highlights the planktonic foraminiferal abundance variations during the last glacial cycle from six new cores along a roughly west east transect in the mediterranean sea together with results from previous studies multivariate statistical analysis describes a first significant axis that indicates a general sea surface temperature sst gradient from west to east as expected lower sst values are recorded in glacial times but the eastern and western basins seem to have reacted differently to glacial conditions the western basin shows a sst decrease from the alboran sea to the central mediterranean whereas the eastern basin records a west to east increase that is similar to the present day eastern mediterranean gradient these new results show that 1 few almost basin wide faunal trends may be recognised but these are interrupted by local anomalies with opposing trends and 2 major abundance variations are distinctly diachronous in some species and virtually synchronous in others the implication is that over the glacial interglacial timescale concerned biostratigraphy should only be used on a local rather than basin wide scale unless it is supported by other independent dating methods

paleomagnetic data from the coso range california and current status of the cobb mountain normal geomagnetic polarity event two basalt flows which erupted about 1 08 m y ago in the coso range california have normal magnetic polarity and thus provide additional evidence for the cobb mountain normal polarity event a review of available data confirms that this event was of geomagnetic origin a mean age of 1 10 0 02 m y b p for the cobb mountain normal polarity event was found to best fit all available radiometric and geologic data

major hydrological shifts in the black sea lake in response to ice sheet collapses during mis 6 130 184 ka bp abstract the saalian was one of the largest glaciations during the quaternary with an ice sheet extending considerably wider into the eurasian continent than during other glacials orbital variations caused the ice sheet to switch between growing and shrinking the partial retreat of the ice sheet and meltwater discharge resulted in global sea level rise and increased lake levels of inland seas with broader environmental implications during marine isotope stage 6 mis 6 meltwater entered the formerly enclosed black sea at least twice as documented in a 18o record from anatolian speleothems here we present a sedimentary record from the black sea lake covering mis 6 and provide evidence for three meltwater periods coinciding with insolation maxima bswp 6 1 180 167 ka bp bswp 6 2 160 145 ka bp bswp ii 133 130 ka bp while 18oostracods and sr caostracods point to pronounced meltwater supply and decreasing salinity 87sr 86srostracods shed light on meltwater sources and pathways during all three periods meltwater drained most likely via the dnieper and volga into the black and caspian seas and connected both basins relatively low 87sr 86srostracods values during the oldest meltwater period suggest melting solely of the eastern eurasian ice sheet in contrast during the younger meltwater periods exceptional high 87sr 86srostracods values point towards additional meltwater from the western eurasian ice sheet a surplus from melting glaciers in the tian shan and pamir mountains that finally entered the caspian sea via the amu darya and sry darya probably amplified the input of high radiogenic sr isotope water we also show that higher temperatures and productivity suggest dansgaard oeschger like climate variability during the first half of mis 6

stable isotope anomalies in mediterranean pleistocene records oxygen and carbon isotope records of twelve mediterranean cores raised from west alboran sea to east off israel and of four atlantic cores raised from the western side of gibraltar and located respectively inside below and beyond the modern mediterranean outflow are compared to open ocean records of core 71 139c from the north atlantic and core v19 30 from the east pacific oxygen isotope stratigraphies can be established for deep mediterranean records and the major events of the last 150 ka are easily identifiable for instance the five substages of stage 5 or the 18 ka event stage 2 are identified but the 10 ka event younger dryas is only recorded by globigerina bulloides and benthic foraminifera suggesting that the cooling affected only winter sst 14c dates for the two terminations ia and ib of the last deglaciation which are recorded in sediment cores from areas with high sedimentation rates faro ridge alboran sea sicilian strait are in good agreement with the dates published for the same termination in atlantic cores an intermediate step however has been identified in some cores at 14 ka and divides termination ia into two phases oxygen isotope anomalies are recorded by the shallow water species globigerinoides ruber they correspond to 1 a higher amplitude glacial interglacial change in 18o values which exceeds that of the open ocean by 1 in the western basin and by 1 7 in the eastern basin 2 large isotopic depletions during the deposition of sapropel s1 s3 and s5 they are interpreted as the result of fresh water run off responsible for a strong dilution in the shallower layers of the east mediterranean waters the isotopic effect of this dilution averages 0 75 for sapropel s1 and 1 6 for sapropel s5 during the last glacial maximum the mediterranean still acted as a concentration basin and a gradient of 18o values similar to the modern one 0 75 existed from west to east in the deep waters apparently deep water temperatures were lower during the last glacial but the decrease did not exceed 4 c in the eastern basin major anomalies are also contained in the 13c records of g bulloides and benthic foraminifera the 13c records from surface intermediate and deep waters of the eastern basin and from intermediate and deep waters of the western basin are opposite to that of the open ocean during glacial time 13c values were higher in intermediate and deep waters of the whole mediterranean and also in surface water of the eastern basin at the same time the 13c gradient of surface to deep waters was low this gradient increased during the last deglaciation while 13c values of g bulloides and benthic foraminifera decreased this decrease interrupted at 10 ka may have been related to increased fresh water run off from the bordering contintents due to increased precipitation especially in the tropical belt the 13c depletion is clearly recorded in the levantine and deep water masses and can be traced westward in the mediterranean outflow oxygen and carbon isotope anomalies recorded simultaneously in the east mediterranean by the shallow water species globigerinoides ruber during sapropel deposition indicate that increased precipitation on the bordering continents and strong fresh water run off during the time of the last deglaciation may have caused a density stratification and deep stagnation in the eastern basin uncertainties arise from the fact that in the mixing model deglacial mediterranean waters are mixed with continental fresh waters the isotopic characteristics of which are not entirely understood although increased surface water production of biogenic material can not be excluded as a possible cause of 13c depletion it appears that the river discharge including the nile as well as black sea input are also plausible sources for the fresh water layering

glacial hydrologic conditions in the black sea reconstructed using geochemical pore water profiles abstract chloride and 18 o compositions of interstitial water extracted from a long sediment core retrieved from the nw coast of the black sea allowed us to constrain the main hydrologic changes of the back sea during the late pleistocene and holocene prior to its reconnection with the mediterranean sea through the marmara sea at approximately 9000 calendar yr before present 9 ka cal bp the black sea has evolved as a fresh to brackish water lake at the time of reconnection hydrologic changes were drastic bottom water salinities changed from a few psu practical salinity unit to 22 psu since solutes in the interstitial water column within sediments are advected and diffused the measured concentrations do not reflect those of past bottom waters in order to reconstruct these former concentrations we used an advection diffusion model different scenarios of bottom water chloride and 18 o variations were accounted for in this model in order to simulate present day vertical profiles for concentrations of interstitial water in order to compare them to measured ones the comparison suggests that the glacial black sea was a homogeneous freshwater lake with a 18 o of 10 and a salinity of 1 psu modern hydrologic conditions would only have been reached at 2 ka cal bp concomitant with the onset of coccolith rich thin layers that characterize modern basin sediments such delayed salinization over 7000 yr in the basin may have been due to higher precipitation during the early holocene we also simulated the impact of a catastrophic reconnection and a smoother reconnection both salinity scenarios lead to undistinguishable modelled present day profiles indicating that the precise impact of the last reconnection was lost due to the advection diffusion processes

the co evolution of black sea level and composition through the last deglaciation and its paleoclimatic significance abstract the black sea was an inland lake during the last ice age and its sediments are an excellent potential source of information on eurasian climate change showing linkages between regionally and globally recognized millennial scale climate events of the last deglaciation here we detail changes from the last glacial maximum lgm through the transition to an anoxic marginal sea using isotopic strontium and oxygen and trace element sr ca ratios in carbonate shells which record changing input sources and hydrologic conditions in the basin and surrounding region sr isotope records show two prominent peaks between 18 and 16 ka bp cal reflecting anomalous sedimentation associated with meltwater from disintegrating eurasian ice sheets that brought black sea level to its spill point following a sharp drop in sr isotope ratios back toward glacial values two stages of inorganic calcite precipitation accompanied increasing oxygen isotope ratios and steady sr isotope ratios these calcite peaks are separated by an interval in which the geochemical proxies trend back toward glacial values the observed changes reflect negative water balance and lake level decline during relatively warm periods bolling allerod and preboreal and increasing river input less evaporation resulting in higher lake levels during the intervening cold period the younger dryas a final shift to marine values in sr and oxygen isotope ratios at 9 4 ka bp cal corresponds to connection with the global ocean and marks the onset of sedimentation on the black sea continental shelf this date for the marine incursion is earlier than previously suggested based on the appearance of euryhaline fauna and the onset of sapropel formation in the deep basin

oligo miocene rift of sardinia and the early history of the western mediterranean basin the geodynamic evolution of the western mediterranean basin in spite of many studies is still uncertain there is some consensus for interpreting this basin as a kind of small oceanic marginal basin its opening has generally been related to a subduction process which was active during the oligocene miocene somewhere east of sardinia corsica1 7 as the margins of the basin are deeply buried below miocene to present sediments direct lithological and stratigraphical data which could explain the events responsible for its formation are rare8 10 or missing altogether to obtain such data detailed field studies have been undertaken in sardinia fig 1 and the first results are presented here this approach is justified by the fact that in that island oligocene and miocene sediments were deposited in a rift fossa tettonica sarda of verdabasso11 which is the easternmost arm of the complex rift system that affected the european plate during oligocene and miocene times one of these arms evolved towards a small oceanic basin the western mediterranean or algero provencal basin while others such as the gulf of valencia and the sardinia rift aborted and remained at the rift stage its exceptional exposures make it possible to examine the sardinia rift to clarify the sequence of events which created it and to establish a sedimentological model which we believe is directly applicable to the western mediterranean basin

cycles steps and co2 paleoceanography in the united states from 1983 1986 the field of paleoceanography experienced continued growth during the last three years the first international conference on paleoceanography was held in zurich switzerland in july 1983 and a new journal devoted to the topic paleoceanography american geophysical union washington d c began publication in spring 1986 edited by dr james kennett of the university of rhode island nine legs of the r v glomar challenger concentrated upon paleoceanographic topics legs 71 75 in the south atlantic leg 81 in the north atlantic leg 85 in the equatorial pacific leg 86 in the northwest pacific and leg 90 in the southwest pacific several special symposia and conferences resulted in volumes of collected papers dealing with topics such as climate variability hansen and takahashi 1984 the global carbon cycle sundquist and broecker 1985 catastrophes and earth history berggren and van couvering 1984 orbital insolation and periodicity berger et al 1984 and coastal upwelling suess and thiede 1983 some very useful books have been published which summarize existing information on radiolaria anderson 1983 neogene planktonic foraminifera kennett and srinivasan 1983 calcareous nannofossils haq 1983 1984 and biostratigraphy bolli et al 1983

timing of the nihewan formation and faunas abstract magnetostratigraphic dating of the fluvio lacustrine sequence in the nihewan basin north china has permitted the precise timing of the basin infilling and associated nihewan mammalian faunas the combined evidence of new paleomagnetic findings from the hongya and huabaogou sections of the eastern nihewan basin and previously published magnetochronological data suggests that the nihewan formation records the tectono sedimentary processes of the plio pleistocene nihewan basin and that the nihewan faunas can be placed between the matuyama brunhes geomagnetic reversal and the onset of the olduvai subchron 0 78 1 95 ma the onset and termination of the basin deposition occurred just prior to the gauss matuyama geomagnetic reversal and during the period from the last interglaciation to the late last glaciation respectively suggesting that the nihewan formation is of late pliocene to late pleistocene age the nihewan faunas comprising a series of mammalian faunas such as maliang donggutuo xiaochangliang banshan majuangou huabaogou xiashagou danangou and dongyaozitou are suggested to span a time range of about 0 8 2 0 ma the combination of our new and previously published magnetostratigraphy has significantly refined the chronology of the terrestrial nihewan formation and faunas

palaeolithic landscapes of europe and environs 150 000 25 000 years ago an overview abstract when considering the evolution and migrations of neandertalers and early modem human beings the harsh conditions of the last glacial maximum are often implicitly or explicitly assumed as their environmental background this perception is false the conditions of the high glacial apply to a small fraction of late pleistocene time here we review the palaeoenvironmental history of europe from 150 000 to 25 000 years ago with the aid of data from long cores of ice and marine and continental sediments the results are displayed in four sketch maps that illustrate the landscapes of an interglacial glacial cycle the maps connected by palaeoenvironmental histories show that especially between 60 000 and 25 000 years ago a critical part of the palaeolithic the glacial landscapes were for much of the time less barren than is generally assumed but numerous climate changes on a scale of several millennia are evident placing a premium on accurate dating of the co evolution of humans and landscape moreover during the glacial interval abrupt climatic changes lasting from a century to a few millennia were common their importance for landscape changes and their impact on human activity remain to be ascertained

a large mammal site in a meandering fluvial context fonelas p 1 late pliocene guadix basin spain sedimentological keys for its paleoenvironmental reconstruction abstract the fonelas p 1 large mammal site is located stratigraphically in the youngest unit late pliocene pleistocene of the endorheic fill of the guadix basin betic cordillera at the site location this unit is represented by fluvial sediments of the basin s axial drainage system the general succession of the site consists of stacked fining upward cycles basically beginning with gravel and or sand filling a meandering channel and concluding with floodplain mud and carbonate each of the cycles is made up of four facies associations determined by sedimentological analysis of the sections measured in the paleontological excavation of the site these associations correspond to sedimentation in definite areas of the fluvial system a filling of a sinuous channel at maximum activity b levee deposits c abandoned channel and d floodplain in the cycle in which the site is located there is a fifth association e where the main fossil concentration is found fonelas p 1 this is a facies bioturbated by mammals moving over sediments of the abandoned channel association c by space time reconstruction of the fluvial environments we can infer that the morphological depression caused by a meander abandonment due to chute cut off was used as a hyena den the animal settlement ended when overflow from the laterally migrating active channel began to bury the abandoned meander with floodplain sediments

the sea of marmara during marine isotope stages 5 and 6 abstract multi proxy analyses and lithology of two cores mrs cs18 and mrs cs27 from the imrali basin of the sea of marmara som provide novel information on environmental conditions relative sea level and sill depths of the straits of bosporus and dardanelles during the marine isotope stages mis 5 and 6 the fossil and multi proxy geochemical records show that lacustrine conditions prevailed in the som during most of mis 6 from 171 to 134 ka bp and that the transition to marine conditions during termination ii took place at 134 06 1 10 ka bp mis 5 interstadials a c and e witnessed the formation of three sapropels msap 2 msap 3 and msap 4 under suboxic to anoxic marine conditions whereas during stadials mis 5b 94 86 and mis 5d 112 105 ka bp lacustrine and marine conditions with deposition of sediments having relatively low toc contents the som geochemical proxy records correlate well with the regional terrestrial and marine records and the ngrip oxygen isotope record with its stadial and interstadial phases showing the common effect of the north atlantic climatic events triggered by the perturbations in the atlantic meridional overturning circulation however the amplitude of the oscillations recorded in the som during mis 6 penultimate glacial period is relatively small compared to the mis 4 to mis 2 last glacial period

bioclimatic analysis of rodent palaeofaunas reveals severe climatic changes in southwestern europe during the plio pleistocene abstract a recently developed method in palaeoclimatology bioclimatic analysis which makes it possible to extract a maximum of information from the available mammal proxy data is applied to a succession of fossil rodent assemblages recorded from the pliocene and pleistocene in the iberian peninsula it consists of both qualitative and quantitative models with the capacity to produce a detailed palaeoclimate reconstruction which is consistent with palaeobotanical and isotopic proxy data and the physics of atmospheric models using this method the palaeoclimate of the iberian plio pleistocene is reconstructed with high resolution from 44 fossil rodent assemblages comprising more than a hundred identified species analysis of these assemblages shows that the climatic evolution of the iberian peninsula during the plio pleistocene can be divided into four distinct climatic phases first a long phase of subtropical climate with summer rainfall and winter drought occurred during the ruscinian second between 3 4 and 2 5 my b p there was a cooling phase coincident with the development of the northern hemisphere ice sheets following this cooling a temperate interlude occurred between 2 5 and 1 8 my b p during this phase the mediterranean climate was established permanently in southwestern europe finally during the pleistocene temperate and colder stages were succeeding in relationship with the northern hemisphere glaciations this sequence of climatic changes is linked with the tectonic rising of the central asian and east african plateaus variations in the atmospheric circulation pattern and changes in the mediterranean sea surface temperatures all these factors led to associated changes in the precipitation regime and a latitudinal displacement of the zonal climatic belts

quaternary mammals and the end villafranchian dispersal event a turning point in the history of eurasia the history of land mammals is characterized by dispersal events i e short periods of rapid intercontinental migrations and faunal replacements one of these the elephant equus event of lindsay et al may be dated somewhere between 3 and 2 5 ma a second event the wolf event may fall near 1 7 ma the end villafranchian event is discussed in detail it may be dated between 1 0 and 0 9 ma and is marked by a practically total rejuvenation of the fauna with the appearance of new types of adaptation unknown in the villafranchian this faunal revolution is easily recognized all over eurasia and is accompanied by wide ranging changes in climate and vegetation this whole sequence of phenomena may have been triggered by extensive tectonic movements in the mountain belts of central and southern asia

compilation of geophysical geochronological and geochemical evidence indicates a rapid mediterranean derived submergence of the black sea s shelf and subsequent substantial salinification in the early holocene abstract our knowledge of rate and processes in which semi enclosed environments alternate from lacustrine to marine is commonly limited because of the paucity of specific proxies for sea level and salinity here we investigate the timing rate and key mechanisms involved in the transformation of the previously isolated black sea lake to the modern partly enclosed marine sea using a suite of geophysical geochemical and geochronological methods cores were collected in transects across shelves of ukraine romania bulgaria and turkey biogenic carbonate from these cores was analyzed for radiocarbon and strontium oxygen and carbon isotopes strontium results indicate that the submergence of the black sea shelf at 9300 calendar years bp was caused by the ingress of mediterranean water and was abrupt taking radiocarbon years are calibrated to calendar years by tuning the oxygen and carbon isotope composition of the mollusk record to that of the u th dated sofular cave stalagmites the match shows a reduction of the lake s prior high reservoir age accompanying the inflow of the mediterranean water in 900 years the salinity reached a threshold that excluded all previous black sea lacustrine fauna these results imply that any substantial postglacial submergence of the black sea shelves did not occur prior to entry of mediterranean water

extensional collapse related to compressional uplift in the alpine chain off northern tunisia central mediterranean abstract geophysical and geological marine data recently collected allow to outline the structure of the basement involved fold thrust belt developed during the late cenozoic between sardinia and tunisia along the africa europe plate boundary by integrating these with inland data it is possible to document step by step the progression of crustal thickening from north to south and the collapse of the first uplifted northern units while collision was still going on the geodynamic setting suggests that coupled extensional collapse and fold thrust propagation were driven by island arc drifting above a southward retreating subduction zone

glacial holocene salinity changes in the mediterranean sea hydrographic and depositional effects oxygen isotope changes as recorded by pleistocene foraminifera from open ocean sediments are primarily a function of changes in the isotopic composition of the global seawater reservoir caused by ice volume changes with a secondary temperature component1 oxygen isotope records from marginal basins such as the gulf of mexico2 the mediterranean sea3 5 and the red sea6 also exhibit the global signal but are far more complicated owing to the strong overprint of local climate conditions in particular glacial interglacial changes in continental aridity and river runoff produce significant salinity changes in these semi enclosed basins using available oxygen isotope records we estimate that glacial 18 000 yr bp salinities in the eastern and western mediterranean sea were 2 7 and 1 2 higher respectively than at present these elevated glacial salinities played an important part in preconditioning the eastern mediterranean for the eventual accumulation of organic carbon rich sediments sapropels at the end of deglaciation

dispersal of the canini mammalia canidae caninae across eurasia during the late miocene to early pleistocene abstract an analysis of the taxonomy and distribution of the mio pliocene and pleistocene eucyon like and canis like canids of the tribe canini of eurasia was performed with a description of several fossils from the late miocene and early pliocene of asia the changes in the assemblages of the canini generally coincided with the most significant eurasian faunal turnovers but the european and asian diversities of the canini peaked asynchronously in the late miocene a wide expansion of the genus eucyon to the old world took place being designated here as the eucyon event the diversity of eucyon like canini peaked at the beginning of the early pliocene in asia and at the end of the early pliocene in europe the wolf sized species of the canis group made their first appearance in eurasia in the middle pliocene the canis event the peak of their diversity occurred in the late pliocene in asia and at the beginning of the early pleistocene in europe at the end of the pliocene eucyon and eucyon like canids completely went extinct in eurasia the diversity of the canis group appreciably decreased by the end of the early to middle pleistocene being limited by the occurrence of small wolves of the canis mosbachensis canis variabilis group and large hypercarnivorous canis xenocyon lycaonoides in eurasia the true gray wolves made their appearance at the end of the middle pleistocene at about 0 5 0 3 ma

a two stage rifting in the basins of the corsica sardinian straits abstract a set of seismic and field data from the corsica sardinian straits allowed us to define three well separated oligocene deep basins the castelsardo and porto torres basins forming the northern end of the sardinian graben and the bonifacio basin on the continental shelf of the bonifacio straits a seismostratigraphic investigation of these three basins revealed two major tectonic events a first oligocene to middle aquitanian rifting phase followed by oceanic spreading in the western mediterranean and then a second rifting event between corsica and sardinia in lower burdigalian time the first rifting is noticed in the three basins but the second one only in the porto torres and castelsardo basins

mediterranean climate and oceanography and the periodic development of anoxic events sapropels mediterranean sapropels are layers with elevated organic carbon concentrations that contrast with surrounding sediments which are organic poor sapropels occur quasi periodically in sedimentary sequences of the last 13 5 million years and exist both in the eastern and western mediterranean sub basins they have been the subject of extensive study based on records from both short conventional and long ocean drilling program sediment cores and from a wide variety of uplifted marine sediment sequences on the basin margins and islands previous syntheses in the 1990s and 2000s have discussed how the formation of sapropels is commonly ascribed to deep sea anoxia enhanced export productivity or a combination of these effects however a wealth of new evidence and insights has emerged during the past 1 2 decades based on traditional and novel proxy data as well as modelling which has revealed intriguing new aspects and nuances to the reconstructed conditions hence it is timely to present a new synthesis of current understanding of the processes behind the formation of sapropels which have over the past decade also become a matter of commercial interest in sub salt hydrocarbon exploration in this review we present a context of modern mediterranean climate and oceanography followed by an integrated assessment of the growing understanding of climatological and ocean circulation changes that were associated with sapropel deposition we find that sapropels predominantly formed during astronomically timed episodes when climatic and oceanographic conditions and ecological responses broadly preconditioned the basin for sapropel deposition there is strong correspondence with times of monsoon intensification fuelling runoff from north africa into the mediterranean sea while preconditioning due to sea level rise and regional precipitation and runoff may have contributed as well within these broad episodes of surface buoyancy gain and resultant decline in deep water ventilation specific deposition under dysoxic anoxic or even euxinic conditions occurred within a clearly dynamic system that was characterised by complex spatial and depth dependent patterns gradients with distinct temporal variability on at least decadal to centennial millennial timescales in the final section we evaluate the implications of different modes of deep water removal from silled basins to investigate why sapropels are more frequently and often more intensely developed in the eastern mediterranean than in the western mediterranean

carbon and oxygen isotope composition of globigerinoides ruber in two deep sea cores from the levantine basin eastern mediterranean abstract carbon and oxygen isotope analyses have been carried out on 114 samples of globigerinoides ruber from two deepsea cores ban 82 15 pc and ban 82 18 gc raised on the outer slopes of the mediterranean ridge these cores 1050 and 462 cm long respectively contain the sedimentary history of the eastern mediterranean in the last 300 000 years and include sapropelitic layers s 1 to s 10 the climatic fluctuations recorded by the isotopic signal are in general well correlatable with those obtained in previous studies on the mediterranean quaternary most sapropelitic intervals correspond to warm climatic conditions with a maximum recorded in core 15 pc at approximately 125 000 yrs b p isotope stage 5e only s 6 and partially s 8 reflect glacial conditions thus indicating the existence of an alternative model for the deposition of organic rich layers the magnitude of fluctuations in oxygen isotope composition about 7 is unusually wide for the eastern mediterranean and the record is generally shifted toward negative values for approximately 1 this is probably due to the nile discharge that strongly affects these levantine basin cores oxygen and carbon curves are in phase showing the large influence of organic productivity on the carbon isotope composition

differential uplift along the northern margin of the central anatolian plateau inferences from marine terraces abstract emerged marine terraces and paleoshorelines along plate margins are prominent geomorphic markers that can be used to quantify the rates and patterns of crustal deformation the northern margin of the central anatolian plateau has been interpreted as an actively deforming orogenic wedge between the north anatolian fault and the black sea here we use uplifted marine terraces across principal faults on the sinop peninsula at the central northern side of the pontide orogenic wedge to unravel patterns of quaternary faulting and orogenic wedge behavior we leveled the present day elevations of paleoshorelines and dated marine terrace deposits using optically stimulated luminescence osl to determine coastal uplift the elevations of the paleoshorelines vary between 4 0 2 and 67 1 4 m above sea level and osl ages suggest terrace formation episodes during interglacial periods at ca 125 190 400 and 570 ka corresponding to marine isotopic stages mis 5e 7a 11 and 15 mean apparent vertical displacement rates without eustatic correction deduced from these terraces range between 0 02 and 0 18 mm a with intermittent faster rates of up to 0 26 mm a we obtained higher rates at the eastern and southern parts of the peninsula toward the hinterland indicating non uniform uplift across the different morphotectonic segments of the peninsula our data are consistent with active on and offshore faulting across the sinop peninsula when integrated with regional tectonic observations the faulting pattern reflects shortening distributed over a broad region of the northern margin of the central anatolian plateau during the quaternary

late quaternary planktonic foraminiferal biostratrigraphy strait of sicily mediterranean sea abstract the development of a detailed planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy for the late quaternary latest 180 000 years has allowed the dating and correlation of sediments from the strait of sicily principal component analysis of the assemblages has extracted a climatic history similar to that based upon oxygen isotopic oscillations intercore correlations are supported by tephrochronology and sapropel layer stratigraphy identification of termination ia and ib in several high sedimentation rate cores indicates that the mediterranean sea experienced a two stage warming during the last deglaciation cores collected between water depths of 200 and 600 m contain an erosional hiatus near their tops reflecting an increase in the levantine intermediate water flow sometime since 25 000 years b p and as recently as 7000 years b p during deposition of the youngest sapropel layer a distinct and unusual planktonic foraminiferal succession is associated with sapropel layers this begins in a protosapropel layer immediately beneath a sapropel horizon and continues upwards to the immediately overlying oxidized layer

la structure de la marge occidentale de la sardaigne et la fragmentation de l ile au cenozoique abstract sardinia is commonly considered as part of a continental arc during the early miocene 21 19 ma anticlockwise rotation of the island and oceanic drifting led to the opening of the western mediterranean basin among the structures inherited from the rifting phase late oligocene the 30 40 km wide n s sardinian graben is the salient tectonic feature of the island it divides the hercynian basement into two blocks the main eastern massif and on the western side the nurra massif and the iglesiente sulcis further west the continental margin extends 100 km towards the western mediterranean basin the western continental margin is divided by a large median nw se fracture zone into two areas a northern part where the two sets of faults coexist and a southern part where the ne sw set progressively disappears towards the south the southwestern margin of the island is therefore affected only by the remaining broadly nw se faults the median fracture is a composite zone consisting of an array of normal faults locally featuring a narrow graben it runs from the bottom of the slope and presumably the ocean continent boundary to the southern end of a small ne sw graben underlying the continental shelf of oristano at its northern end the oristano shelf graben is bounded by another major nw se fracture the south bounding fault of the campidano graben this fault runs from the gulf of oristano to the gulf of cagliari and separates the iglesiente sulcis block from the eastern sardinian massif the island is thus crossed from the bottom of the western slope to the gulf of cagliari by a continuous set of nw se enechelon faults this en echelon system is contemporaneous with the rifting phase in the western mediterranean basin and delineates three crustal blocks through the sardinian basement although this set of faults displays mainly extensional activity apparent flower structures are present in some seismic records from the western margin suggesting left lateral strike slip displacement in plio quaternary times a new extensional event overprinted the earlier structures in the campidano area the fragmentation of the sardinian basement is therefore still active the displacement of blocks related to the opening of the nw se plio quaternary campidano graben is indeed transformed at both ends by two strike slip structures along the ichnusa seamount at the southern end and to the north along a reactivated ne sw hercynian fault the latter runs across the eastern massif from the gulf of oristano to the capo comino to the east and is accompanied by plio quaternary basic volcanics hence except for brief and low intensity miocene compressive events sardinia appears to be mostly affected by extension and fragmentation from the end of the oceanic drifting to the recent therefore the corso sardinian block does not seem to transmit the compressional stress to southern europe due to the northward displacement of the african plate

a gis based approach to documenting large canid damage to bones abstract experimental studies of modern carnivore tooth marking patterns are integral to understanding the nature of carnivore involvement in archeological bone assemblages however modern bone damage data for most carnivore taxa are limited this is particularly true for canids this study presents bone damage data collected from feeding experiments conducted with mexican gray wolves canis lupus baileyi and red wolves canis rufus this is the largest experimental assemblage reported for canids to date the image analysis gis approach described by marean et al 2001 is expanded on here and used to document bone preservation and tooth mark distribution for the first time in a carnivore modified bone assemblage further we introduce the use of the arcgis spatial analyst to identify significant concentrations of bone modifications results show that the distribution of tooth pits varies considerably across elements as well as across different portions of the same element and that significant clusters of tooth pits occur on all long bones we suggest that with a large enough sample the gis spatial analyst can be a useful tool for analyzing the distribution of bone modifications with greater resolution than previous methods this method facilitates comparisons between experimental and fossil assemblages which may aid in identifying the timing of access to carcasses by carnivores involved in modifying fossil assemblages finally the use of this rigorous methodology is a step toward increasing standardization in methods of taphonomic analysis

earliest record of sinicuon in zanda basin southern tibet and implications for hypercarnivores in cold environments abstract the out of tibet hypothesis envisions late cenozoic tibetan mammals acquiring adaptations to cold environments and being ancestral to several eurasian megafaunal species in the pleistocene here we report an early record of a hypercarnivorous canid sinicuon cf sinicuon dubius from zanda basin in the himalaya range although the new record is recovered from reworked sediments in a pleistocene alluvium we can constrain the fossil to within a narrow age range of 3 8 3 4 ma in the middle pliocene presence of this hypercarnivorous canid in the pliocene of tibet along with the recently described pantherine cat and arctic fox suggests a predator guild with predominately carnivorous diet characteristic of modern arctic carnivorans such as the arctic fox and polar bear wintering in extremely cold climates may have been the cause of such adaptations sinicuon shows transitional morphology to modern hypercarnivorous hunting dogs in southern asia cuon suggesting linkage of the high tibetan plateau to the southern continents

atlantic mediterranean water exchange during the late neocene the nature of water exchange between the mediterranean and the atlantic is examined for three time periods during the late neogene in order to assess the impact of flow patterns between these basins on bottom water conditions in the oceans the large volume of carbonates and evaporites deposited in the mediterranean during the messinian salinity crisis appears to have caused the open ocean to become more undersaturated in calcium carbonate resulting in increased dissolution of deep sea carbonates during the latest miocene during the earliest pliocene an estuarine type of flow existed between the atlantic and mediterranean waters entered the mediterranean at depth and flowed out at the surface benthic foraminiferal stable isotopic evidence from the north atlantic indicates that north atlantic deep water nadw was produced throughout the early pliocene and that the absence of saline mediterranean outflow did not have a significant effect on bottom water production eustatic lowering of sea level during the last glacial maximum 18 000 years b p reduced water exchange between the atlantic and the mediterranean as a result salinities in the mediterranean increased substantially but it seems unlikely that diminished nadw production during the last glacial episode can be attributed to a reduction in mediterranean outflow

paleotemperature and paleosalinity history of the estern mediterranean during the late quaternary abstract faunal and isotopic studies of continuous deep sea cores were used to determine the paleotemperature and paleosalinity history of the eastern mediterranean for the last 500 000 years temperature related changes in the planktonic foraminiferal assemblages appear to be synchronous with glacial interglacial changes in the open ocean the oxygen isotopic records reveal fluctuations of up to 5 much higher than the average open ocean glacial interglacial amplitude the abnormally high depletions in both 18 o and 13 c are consistently associated with sapropel layers and they are considered to be due to reduced surface salinities the apparent phase difference between the isotopic and faunal records for stages 1 7 last 250 000 years does not represent real temporal leads or lags but is due instead to regional salinity changes in the isotopic record superimposed on the global ice volume effect a detailed study of termination ii 127 000 yr b p in a core east of crete reveals a distinct set of paleoceanographic events associated with this rapid deglaciation these include 1 a rapid increase in surface water temperatures at about 127 000 yr b p 2 the deposition of sapropel d at about 125 000 yr b p 3 a localized increase in surface productivity also at 125 000 yr b p and 4 the return to normal open marine conditions by about 120 000 yr b p

correlation of selected late cenozoic european mammal faunas with the magnetic polarity time scale abstract three key late cenozoic european mammal faunas e g valensole faunas of southern france triversa or villafranca d asti faunas of northern italy and the hajnacka fauna of southern slovakia are correlated with the magnetic polarity time scale the valensole sequence with mn 13 17 faunas is from sediments correlated with the upper gilbert gauss and lower to middle matuyama magnetic chrons the triversa sequence includes the arondelli fauna mn 16a and the fornace rdb fauna considered herein as mn 15 the fornace rdb fauna is from sediments correlated with the late gilbert magnetic chron the hajnacka sequence with mn 16a fauna is from sediments correlated with the gauss magnetic chron taken separately these mammal sequences would be very difficult to place relative to the magnetic polarity time scale they can be placed now with confidence only because of the abundant paleomagnetic and faunal data from the cabriel jucar and teruel basins of spain in that context there remain some problems of chronologic resolution but collectively the data illustrate a clear pattern that permits correlation of these european late cenozoic mammal faunas with the magnetic polarity time scale

oligo miocene rotation of sardinia kar ages and paleomagnetic data of tertiary volcanics abstract conventional k ar dating was carried out on mineral separates mostly plagioclases from middle tertiary volcanics of sardinia along with paleomagnetic studies the close agreement of dates from the two methods establishes the rotation age of sardinia relative to europe within a rather short time span of 1 5 ma between 20 5 and 19 ma from correlation of our results with the geomagnetic time scale it is suggested that the rotation took place shortly after the magnetic anomaly 6

oligo miocene half graben structure in western sardinian shelf western mediterranean reflection seismic and aeromagnetic data comparison abstract an improved model of the tectonic structure of the central sector of the western sardinian shelf off the gulf of oristano from integrated interpretation of seismic and magnetic data is presented from the analysis of the aquapulse seismic reflection profiles and sparker and airgun high resolution seismic data it was possible to define the major structural features of the study area that were previously not extensively known from these analyses it was possible to recognize a prevalently nne trending extensional system the interpretation of the aeromagnetic data was performed by the analytic signal method and euler deconvolution technique in the geological context of the study area these methods show a high resolution power by solving sharp lateral magnetic discontinuities like subvertical structures and basement steps the results of the magnetic interpretation were taken as a support for the seismic interpretation and they allowed a better definition of the tectonic structure of the study area this structure of extensional type is considered as a western conjugate branch of the oligo miocene sardinian rift its evolution is related to the oligo miocene andesitic volcanism at the bottom and with a marine infilling that at the top is messinian in age

fluvial terrace formation and controls in the lower river danube se romania abstract the black sea climatically driven level change is the main control of the lower danube incision and aggradation in the long term subsiding setting of the eastern romanian plain the interglacial episodes of aggradation suggest a decreasing fluvial accommodation while t4 terrace fill partially buried the cut terrace t5 in the upstream part of the studied area lower danube arges d mbovi a younger deposition did not compensate the previous incisions black sea level fallings during glaciations were followed by lower danube incisions which propagated upward through knickpoints loess deposits can be correlated with these periods five episodes of incision were recognized based on terrace levels t5 to t1 their ages and of the covering loess were obtained through optically stimulated luminescence osl and were correlated with mis 6 mis 3 and classic glacial chronological events latest rissian middle wurmian the maximum limiting age of danube oldest terrace t5 in the studied area is 141 25 kyr while of the youngest t1 is 50 6 kyr the equivalent terraces on tributaries are younger the time delays between terrace incisions on the lower danube system were estimated the 32 7 15 9 kyr danube floodplain deposits and the 5 kyr forests buried up to 7 m under arges floodplain suggest that younger than 44 40 kyr terraces may be buried

early middle pleistocene transitions linking terrestrial and marine realms abstract marked by a progressive increase in the amplitude of climate oscillations an evolving waveform and a shift towards a quasi 100 ky frequency the early middle pleistocene transition empt previously known as the mid pleistocene transition or mid pleistocene revolution 1 4 0 4 ma represents a fundamental transformation in the earth s climate state the empt began with a substantial change in climate dynamics and ended with the mid brunhes event signaling the establishment of a new steady state the reasons for the empt while uncertain appear to involve a non linear response of the earth climate system the physical and biotic responses to this transition amplified by the growth of northern hemisphere ice sheets have been profound two important chronostratigraphic markers characterize the empt the jaramillo subchron 1 070 0 988 ma and the matuyama brunhes chron boundary 773 ka the latter has been chosen as the primary guide for the lower middle pleistocene subseries boundary as it lies at the approximate midpoint of the empt and aids in global recognition both in marine and terrestrial deposits the jaramillo subchron has received less attention but the late early pleistocene is important in europe because it saw the progressive transition from the villafranchian to galerian mammal faunas and expansion of hominins into western and northern europe the jaramillo subchron is represented by marine isotope stages mis 31 to 28 with mis 30 already showing the asymmetrical sawtooth pattern characteristic of the middle pleistocene indeed while variation in the 40 ky band obliquity remains strong throughout the empt low frequency variability begins at around 1250 1200 ky which coincides with a progressive increase in global ice volume against a backdrop of increasingly severe glacial cycles notably during mis 36 34 24 22 the so called 0 9 ma event 16 and 12 pronounced phases of warming are also documented globally including the super interglacial mis 31 the early phase of the empt is characterized by important glaciations beginning with mis 36 and continuing to mis 24 22 a major intensification of the east asian monsoon system intensification of loess deposition in northern europe development of open landscapes in western siberia increased fluvial incision higher amplitude sea level change and spread of large mammals across northern eurasia and a strong reduction in the north atlantic thermohaline circulation in europe the loss of thermophilous plant taxa during the empt and indeed throughout the quaternary is a reminder of the progressive cooling that took place here and elsewhere

quantitative analysis of paratethys sea level change during the messinian salinity crisis at the time of the messinian salinity crisis in the mediterranean sea i e the pontian stage of the paratethys the paratethys sea level dropped also evidence found in the sedimentary record of the black sea and the caspian sea has been interpreted to indicate that a sea level fall occurred between 5 6 and 5 5 ma estimates for the magnitude of this fall range between tens of meters to more than 1500 m the purpose of this study is to provide quantitative insight into the sensitivity of the water level of the black sea and the caspian sea to the hydrologic budget for a scenario in which the paratethys is disconnected from the mediterranean using a late miocene bathymetry based on a palaeographic map we quantify the fall in sea level the mean salinity and the time to reach equilibrium for a wide range of negative hydrologic budgets by combining our results with i estimates calculated from a set of recent global late miocene climate simulations and ii reconstructed basin salinities we are able to rule out a drop in sea level of the order of 1000 m in the caspian sea during this time period in the black sea however such a large sea level fall cannot be fully discarded

late cenozoic base level variations of the caspian sea a review of its history and proposed driving mechanisms abstract the caspian sea is characterized by significant variations in its base level during the late cenozoic and provides an important repository for long term records of both regional climate and tectonics due to its position within the interior of the eurasian continent and at the northern margin of the ongoing arabia eurasia collision zone the caspian also serves as an important moisture source for eastern eurasia including the northern tibetan plateau and thus the history of caspian base level variations represents an important and poorly understood constraint on paleoclimate reconstructions throughout eurasia prior work in the caspian region has largely focused on developing biostratigraphic age divisions and investigating the history of connection between the caspian black and mediterranean seas as well as the global ocean recent geochronologic work in the caspian and related basins has questioned previous correlations of hydrologic events in these different basins as a result prior estimates of the chronology and magnitude of caspian sea level variations may be incorrect here we synthesize previous work to develop a new caspian base level curve starting at the beginning of the meotian regional stage 7 ma we also present a new synthesis of potential driving mechanisms for the large variations in caspian base level and speculate on a possible cause for the enigmatic akchagyl transgression this synthesis highlights the dynamic range of caspian sea level which varied from 200 m above to in excess of 1000 m below its current level during the late cenozoic and provides a basis for future work investigating the tectonic and climatic drivers behind variations in caspian base level

reversed magnetic polarity at an early lower palaeolithic site in central italy isernia la pineta central italy is an extensive open air archaeological site of early lower palaeolithic aspect radiometric and palaeomagnetic dating place it in the matuyama reversed epoch hence before 0 73 myr its early date stratified context abundant stone tool industry of choppers and flakes and rich faunal remains make it one of the most important localities for the question of the earliest human colonization of europe the archaeological horizons fig 1 were discovered during recent road building operations at 4 m below surface near the city of isernia upper volturno basin province of molise see fig 2 excavations in 1979 and 1980 carried out in two areas sectors i and ii fig 2 revealed dense scatters of limestone choppers flint flakes and disarticulated bones of large mammals similar occurrences have been found elsewhere in the valley previous accounts1 2 are revised herein

late quaternary changes in mediterranean intermediate water density and formation rate three recently acquired eastern mediterranean cores containing late quaternary sediments display a marked faunal contrast between the holocene and older sapropels it is suggested that the absence of neogloboquadrinids in the holocene sapropel and their abundance in older sapropels reflect differences in food availability related to the extent of development of a deep chlorophyll maximum layer dcm and the intensity of new primary production associated with this layer the depth of such a layer which consists of phytoplankton with a characteristic taxonomic composition is determined by the vertical hydrodynamical structure during deposition of the older sapropels the pycnocline was apparently positioned well above the base of the euphotic layer a situation that favors a pronounced dcm and an associated relatively high rate of new production shallowing of the pycnocline implies a relatively low density of the mediterranean intermediate water miw on the other hand during deposition of the holocene sapropel the pycnocline had apparently vanished due to termination of miw formation

sedimentary history of za hajovnou cave moravia czech republic a unique middle pleistocene palaeontological site za hajovnou cave in the javoricko karst moravia czech republic has a rich record of middle pleistocene typical holsteinian flora and fauna dominated by bear ursus deningeri sedimentological geochemical mineralogical geophysical palynological and zoopalaeontological analyses of the sediments along with u th dating of flowstones place the deposits into a numerical timeframe the cave origin dates to a period before the mid miocene badenian transgression the oldest fluvial deposits are lower pleistocene spanning the brunhes matuyama boundary the later terrestrial deposits range from middle pleistocene to holocene the most important result of u th dating is that the main holsteinian senso lato fossil bed can be correlated with mis 9 the lower fossil bed is probably mis 11 and the upper fossil bed mis 5e this represents one of the still relatively few numerically dated holsteinian sites contradicts the global chronostratigraphical correlation table that places the holsteinian only in mis 11 and supports the concept that the holsteinian is not a single unit and likely not confined to a single interglacial c 2013 elsevier ltd and inqua all rights reserved

pleistocene water intrusions from the mediterranean and caspian seas into the black sea the hydrological balance of the black sea is governed by riverine input and by the exchange with the mediterranean sea a speleothem record from a cave in northern turkey that tracks the isotopic signature of black sea surface water suggests an open connection to the mediterranean sea in at least twelve periods in the past 670 000 years

middle pleistocene replacement of stenonid horses by caballoid horses ecological implications abstract climatic preferences and different niche width are believed to be the most important causes for the abrupt and almost complete replacement in eurasia during the galerian 1 0 4 m y ago of an ancestral group of horses by a more recent one

ecological background to plio pleistocene hominin occupation in north africa the vertebrate faunas from ain boucherit ain hanech and el kherba and paleosol stable carbon isotope studies from el kherba algeria in contrast to well studied paleoenvironments of plio pleistocene hominin sites in east africa little is known about the ecology of the earliest north african human occupation sites the recent studies at ain hanech and el kherba in northeastern algeria have broadened the range of plio pleistocene hominin ecology to include the earliest known archaeological sites documented in north africa ain hanech and el kherba are significant for yielding savanna like faunas associated with oldowan stone tools dated back to approximately 1 8 million years ago this paper focuses on reconstructing the ecology of ain hanech and el kherba based on excavated faunas and stable carbon isotope of pedogenic carbonates from el kherba stratigraphic profile the results point out to an overall open paleolandscape and a c3 predominantly paleovegetation both woody and grasses in addition the stable carbon isotopic evidence shows a clear environmental change through time at el kherba which likely impacted hominin foraging activities in level a

paleoenvironmental changes from stable isotopes in planktonic foraminifera from eastern mediterranean sapropels abstract parallel stable oxygen isotope analyses of six planktonic foraminiferal species from an eastern mediterranean deep sea core present clear evidence for abnormal hydrographic regimes during deposition of sapropels s6 and s7 samples from s7 are characterized by a strong depletion of 18 o in epipelagic species while meso and bathypelagic forms are much less depleted this indicates a shallow pycnocline during deposition of s6 all species show a tendency towards lower values pointing to a far more extended pycnocline density stratification of the watercolumn is suggested by the isotopic differences between the species neogloboquadrina dutertrei globigerina bulloides and globorotalia scitula the latter represents the deepest element and shows the highest 18 o values carbon isotopes show two species groups each containing an epi meso and bathypelagic species under normal marine conditions group i globigerinoides ruber neogloboquadrina dutertrei and globorotalia truncatulinoides has relatively high 13 c values while species of group ii globigerina bulloides globorotalia scitula and globigerina quinqueloba show relatively low 13 c values indicating a stronger vital effect during sapropel deposition 12 c isotopes are enriched which we interpreted as the result of increased biological activity due to low oxygen stress conditions g scitula shows different eco phenotypes during times of sapropel deposition and the same may be true for the other members of group ii failure to adapt to adverse environmental conditions may be the cause for the absence of the two group i members globigerinoides ruber and globorotalia truncatulinoides in sapropel s6

electrical conductivity investigation of the corso sardinian microplate area abstract the analysis of magnetovariational data from an array quasi simultaneously covering sardinia italy and corsica france from summer 1988 to spring 1991 indicates the existence of two major conducting bodies one north of corsica the other south of sardinia fourier maps also show local conductivity anomalies along the campidano graben sardinia across the bonifacio straits and in the northernmost part of corsica two dimensional 2d modelling and inversion procedures have been carried out in order to find the optimum conductivity and geometrical characteristics of the conductive bodies deduced from fourier maps induction arrows and pseudosections studies as a result of the 2d inversion two zones with enhanced electrical conductivity are found respectively in the sardinia channel and in the bonifacio straits the former can be related to the thermal characteristics of the area the latter shallower can be ascribed to an accumulation of sediments some short period magnetovariational anomalies in northern corsica can be related to recent reheating processes that occurred there as well as to the crustal thinning in the ligurian sea

late quaternary paleoceanography of the eastern mediterranean the deep sea record the paleoceanographic history of the eastern mediterranean based on microfaunal data suggests that surface water temperatures during glacial maxima were 3 4 c lower in winter and 3 c lower in summer salinities were at least 1 higher than today subsurface water temperatures were 3 lower and salinities were 1 higher as compared to present day values intermittent warming of the surface water together with flooding of the basin with large volumes of fresh and low salinity water resulted in stagnation of subsurface water and deposition of sapropels during the last 350 ka the overprint of tectonic activity is widespread in the mediterranean as indicated by the occurrence of numerous ash layers and turbidite and slump deposits as well as by hiatuses in sedimentation

meltwater events and the mediterranean reconnection at the saalian eemian transition in the black sea abstract the last glacial interglacial transition or termination i t i is well documented in the black sea whereas little is known about climate and environmental dynamics during the penultimate termination t ii here we present a multi proxy study based on a sediment core from the se black sea covering the penultimate glacial and almost the entire eemian interglacial 133 5 0 7 122 5 1 7 ka bp proxies comprise ice rafted debris ird o and sr isotopes as well as sr ca mg ca and u ca ratios of benthic ostracods organic and inorganic sediment geochemistry as well as tex 86 and u k 37 derived water temperatures the ending penultimate glacial mis 6 133 5 to 129 9 0 7 ka bp is characterised by mean annual lake surface temperatures of about 9 c as estimated from the tex 86 palaeothermometer this period is impacted by two black sea melt water pulses bswp ii 1 and 2 as indicated by very low sr ca ostracods but high sedimentary k al values anomalously high radiogenic 87 sr 86 sr ostracod values max 0 70945 during bswp ii 2 suggest a potential himalayan source communicated via the caspian sea the t ii warming started at 129 9 0 7 ka bp witnessed by abrupt disappearance of ird increasing 18 o ostracod values and a first tex 86 derived temperature rise of about 2 5 c a second abrupt warming step to ca 15 5 c as the prelude of the eemian warm period is documented at 128 3 ka bp the mediterranean black sea reconnection most likely occurred at 128 1 0 7 ka bp as demonstrated by increasing sr ca ostracods and u ca ostracods values the disappearance of ostracods and toc contents 2 document the onset of eemian sapropel formation at 127 6 ka bp during sapropel formation tex 86 temperatures dropped and stabilised at around 9 c while u k 37 temperatures remain on average 17 c this difference is possibly caused by a habitat shift of thaumarchaeota communities from surface towards nutrient rich deeper and colder waters located above the gradually establishing halo and redoxcline

mid pleistocene change in large mammal faunas of east africa abstract single crystal 40ar 39ar age estimates of 392 000 4000 to 330 000 6000 yr from lainyamok a middle pleistocene fossil locality in the southern kenya rift document the oldest evidence from sub saharan africa of a diverse large mammal fauna consisting entirely of extant species the inferred age of this fauna implies an upper limit for extinction of species that characterize well calibrated mid pleistocene fossil assemblages in east africa for its age and species richness the lainyamok fauna is surprising for its lack of extinct forms e g the bovine pelorovis well documented in later faunal assemblages of east and south africa definitive presence of the south african blesbok damaliscus dorcas is also unexpected especially as this alcelaphine bovid is the dominant large mammal in the lainyamok fauna these age estimates and the faunal composition at lainyamok indicate that geographic ranges and taxonomic associations of extant largebodied mammals were susceptible to wide fluctuations in sub saharan africa over the past 330 000 yr this inference is consistent with the hypothesis of nonanalogue or ephemeral biotas believed to characterize late quaternary ecosystems of northern continents

seasonality in sea surface temperatures from δ18o in cladocora caespitosa modern adriatic to late pleistocene gulf of corinth high resolution stable isotope analysis of coral skeletons is an established method to help reconstruct seawater growth temperatures for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions here we investigated the temperate colonial mediterranean scleractinian coral cladocora caespitosa we first studied modern adriatic corals from mljet croatia where growth temperatures were known a clear sinusoidal cyclicity is present in the d18o of the modern coral skeletons with average cycle minima 3 3 and average maxima 1 6 cyclicity approximately matches the number of seasonal growth band pairs in each sample implying a genetic link between d18o cyclicity and factors that determine seasonal growth band development here mainly water temperature a derived and calibrated species specific d18o temperature relationship was then used to reconstruct growth temperatures from fossil c caespitosa this was applied to well preserved material collected from late pleistocene deposits mis 1 5 and 7 around the gulf of corinth greece clear seasonal d18o signals are seen in all the fossil samples mis 5e was the warmest period studied with a lower than modern seasonal temperature range the early to mid holocene probably experienced the lowest temperatures while conditions in mis 7a c were probably the wettest with most freshwater input into the gulf

late quaternary mediterranean sapropels iii assessment of source of input and palaeotemperature as derived from biological markers abstract sources of input contributing to the organic matter of four different mediterranean sapropels s1 s5 s6 s7 are inferred from the relative distributions of terrigenous and marine biological markers in these quaternary deposits the relative terrigenous contribution does not vary significantly within the marine contribution there is a significant compositional variation a contribution from dinoflagellates is relatively important in the s1 sapropel whereas sapropels s6 and s7 are characterized by a relatively large contribution from prymnesiophyte algae and planktonic cyanobacteria the abundance of diatoms in sapropel s5 as deduced from microscopic observations is probably reflected by a high concentration of loliolide variations in sea surface water temperatures can be deduced from the relative abundance of di and triunsaturated c37 ketones uk37 index and from the relative abundance of esterified 27 nor 24 methylcholesta 5 22e dien 3 ol and cholesta 5 22e dien 3 ol sti index these two molecular temperature indices are consistent with the 18o record and with the pollen record of the sapropels investigated

age of the plio pleistocene boundary in the vrica section southern italy new palaeomagnetic data from the proposed plio pleistocene boundary stratotype section vrica section southern italy are presented here in order to improve the correlation of these sediments to the magnetic polarity time scale if the interpretation preferred here is correct the boundary falls above the olduvai normal subchron at approximately 1 6 myr

evaluation of the olduvai subchron in the orce ravine se spain implications for plio pleistocene mammal biostratigraphy and the age of orce archeological sites abstract the barranco de orce bo section in the baza basin se spain exposes several fossiliferous layers o 1 to o 7 with plio pleistocene micro and macromammals biostratigraphic and magnetostratigraphic data from this and other sections in the basin have been extensively used to calibrate the plio pleistocene chronology based on mammal biozonations because of its stratigraphic and geographic proximity the bo section has also been used to date the paleontological and archeological sites of barranco leon fuentenueva 3 and venta micena this study shows that the bo section crosses a mega landslide that produces partial repetitions of the sedimentary sequence the seven fossiliferous layers are actually the repetition of only two o 6 and o 7 which are found in situ in the upper part of the ravine new paleomagnetic results demonstrate the presence of reverse magnetization throughout this section contradicting the normal event previously reported and assigned to the olduvai subchron c2n published and new magnetostratigraphic data show that all archeological and paleontological sites in the orce area are within a reverse magnetochron presumably c1r 2r late matuyama the use of bo in the magnetobiostratigraphical calibration of the pliocene pleistocene boundary for western europe is not advised

quaternary time scales for the pontocaspian domain interbasinal connectivity and faunal evolution the pontocaspian black sea caspian sea region has a very dynamic history of basin development and biotic evolution the region is the remnant of a once vast paratethys sea it contains some of the best eurasian geological records of tectonic climatic and paleoenvironmental change the pliocene quaternary co evolution of the black sea caspian sea is dominated by major changes in water lake and sea levels resulting in a pulsating system of connected and isolated basins understanding the history of the region including the drivers of lake level and faunal evolution is hampered by indistinct stratigraphic nomenclature and contradicting time constraints for regional sedimentary successions in this paper we review and update the late pliocene to quaternary stratigraphic framework of the pontocaspian domain focusing on the black sea basin caspian basin marmara sea and the terrestrial environments surrounding these large mostly endorheic lake sea systems

towards a high resolution global deep sea chronology for the last 750 000 years abstract variations in the ratio of 18 o 16 o as measured in shells of marine calcareous microfossils are primarily dominated by changes in global ice volume hence these variations provide a set of global time lines in deep sea sediments it is likely that the timing of major changes in oxygen isotope values is strongly influenced if not controlled by variations in the geometry of the earth s orbit since the variation of orbital parameters can be accurately calculated the opportunity exists for transforming this orbital chronology into a geological chronology through careful correlation of oxygen isotope records in a set of deep sea cores from the sub antarctic south atlantic and equatorial pacific we have assembled a composite isotopic section spanning the last 750 000 years with an average sedimentation rate of 2 3 cm 1000 years a new chronology for this time period was developed by adjusting the ages of the oxygen isotope stage boundaries in this composite section so as to extend the consistent phase relationships that exist between variations in oxygen isotope ratios and changes in obliquity and precession during the last 300 000 years to the entire 750 000 year record previously identified difficulties in phase locking precession with the filtered isotopic signal between 365 000 and 465 000 years b p have been resolved with the recognition that precessional variations have an average period of 19 000 years and not 23 000 years during this interval since this new age model yields the best match between variations in obliquity and precession and their corresponding frequency components in the oxygen isotope record we believe that it presents the most accurate chronology yet developed for deep sea sediments with this new age model providing the time control power spectral analyses of south atlantic and sub antarctic chemical and biotic indices show that there is a strong tendency for variance to be concentrated at frequencies corresponding to periods of 100 000 41 000 and 23 000 years

improved preservation of organic matter and pollen in eastern mediterranean sapropels here we investigate the processes leading to high organic content and high pollen concentration in pelagic marine sediments three marine cores near the base of the nile river cone display the classical quaternary sequence of sapropels and hemipelagic muds large variations in total pollen concentration as well as in percentage composition of the pollen assemblage are clearly linked to the two lithological types all pollen types have much higher concentration in sapropels than in muds by 3 or 4 orders of magnitude within sapropels the percentages of gymnosperms pinus and cedrus pollen and pteridophyte spores are very low and the pollen spectrum is dominated by various angiosperms these variations in total pollen concentration as well as in percentages cannot be accounted for by variations in pollen production or in efficiency of transport because they similarly involve pollen of different areas and climates transported to the sea by different means the cause for these variations can only be a difference in preservation of pollen preservation is good in sapropels for all pollen types but generally poor in muds we believe that sapropels were deposited under reducing bottom waters which allowed a better preservation of the organic matter including pollen

hydrology in the sea of marmara during the last 23 ka implications for timing of black sea connections and sapropel deposition 1 sediments deposited under lacustrine and marine conditions in the sea of marmara hold a late quaternary record for water exchange between the black sea and the mediterranean sea here we report a multiproxy data set based on oxygen and strontium isotope results obtained from carbonate shells major and trace elements and specific organic biomarker measurements as well as a micropaleontological study from a 14c dated sediment core retrieved from the sea of marmara pronounced changes occurred in 18o and 87sr 86sr values at the fresh and marine water transition providing additional information in relation to micropaleontological data organic biomarker concentrations documented the marine origin of the sapropelic layer while changes in n alkane concentrations clearly indicated an enhanced contribution for organic matter of terrestrial origin before and after the event when compared with the black sea record the results suggest that the black sea was outflowing to the sea of marmara from the last glacial maximum until the warmer bolling allerod the first marine incursion in the sea of marmara occurred at 14 7 cal ka b p however salinification of the basin was gradual indicating that black sea freshwaters were still contributing to the marmara seawater budget after the younger dryas which is associated with a high input of organic matter of terrestrial origin both basins were disconnected resulting in a salinity increase in the sea of marmara the deposition of organic rich sapropel that followed was mainly related to enhanced primary productivity characterized by a reorganization of the phytoplankton population

evidence of late gelasian dispersal of african fauna at coste san giacomo anagni basin central italy early pleistocene environments and the background of early human occupation in europe since the late 70s the early pleistocene gelasian site of coste san giacomo anagni basin central italy has been known amongst palaeontologists for its diverse vertebrate fauna during the last 5 years new excavations and the drilling of a 46 m deep core have provided novel pieces of information palaeomagnetic data pollen and small vertebrates analyses are presented here for the first time and combined with the updated list of the large vertebrates and ostracod analysis in a multidisciplinary perspective large and small mammals pollen and ostracod analyses have allowed an integrated palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the sedimentary sequence depicting the evolution of the alluvial plain in the surrounding landscape moreover magnetostratigraphy pollen and small mammal biochronological data have confirmed the position of the coste san giacomo faunal unit focusing the possible age of the mammal assemblage around 2 1 ma in a reversed phase before the base of the olduvai chron in particular the occurrence of the large vole mimomys pliocaenicus has important biochronological significance the coste san giacomo site offers a unique opportunity to investigate the faunal and environmental changes that occurred in mediterranean europe during the early pleistocene coinciding with major climatic changes at a global scale the occurrence of taxa such as hippopotamus sp in the assemblage provides evidence of early dispersal events of african taxa prior to the early homo diffusion into europe

isotopic character and origin of brine leaks in the avery island salt mine south louisiana u s a twelve brine leaks in the avery island salt mine have the isotopic signature of meteoric waters and are isotopically similar to shallow wells around the salt dome the mine leaks are interpreted as meteoric waters which have penetrated the salt one leak at the 275 m 900 ft level is drastically enriched in 18o relative to the other waters this water is similar to 18o rich waters in other gulf of mexico coast salt domes and is interpreted as formation water which became incorporated in the salt during diapiric rise of the dome while water encounterd in other salt domes is primarily formation water the water encountered in the avery island salt is primarily meteoric this may be related to the shallow depth of the mine close proximity of the salt top to the surface absence of caprock and or duration and technique of mining

palaeoseismology of the l aquila faults central italy 2009 mw 6 3 earthquake implications for active fault linkage summary urgent urban planning problems related to the 2009 april mw 6 3 l aquila earthquake prompted immediate excavation of palaeoseismological trenches across the active faults bordering the aterno river valley namely the mt marine mt pettino and paganica faults cross cutting correlations amongst existing and new trenches that were strengthened by radiocarbon ages and archaeological constraints show unambiguously that these three investigated structures have been active since the last glacial maximum period as seen by the metric offset that affected the whole slope alluvial sedimentary succession up to the historical deposits moreover in agreement with both 18th century accounts and previous palaeoseismological data we can affirm now that these faults were responsible for the catastrophic 1703 february 2 earthquake mw 6 7 the data indicate that the paganica san demetrio fault system has ruptured in the past both together with the conterminous mt pettino mt marine fault system along more than 30 km and causing an mw 6 7 earthquake and on its own along ca 19 km as in the recent 2009 event and in the similar 1461 ad event this behaviour of the l aquila faults has important implications in terms of seismic hazard assessment while it also casts new light on the ongoing fault linkage processes amongst these l aquila faults

the site of coste san giacomo early pleistocene central italy palaeoenvironmental analysis and biochronological overview abstract facies and ostracod analyses have been performed on a continental core drilled at coste san giacomo anagni central italy where a middle villafranchian faunal assemblage was first discovered in 1978 the core intercepted the palaeontological level and penetrated the underlying sedimentary succession previously largely unknown for a total sediment recovery of 40 m in addition new field surveys led to the discovery of hippopotamus sp remains at the faunal site thus pre dating the dispersal of this large ungulate into europe to the middle villafranchian the new sedimentological and palaeoecological data allowed to define a palaeoenvironment mainly ascribable to an alluvial plain characterized by a marsh evolving into a floodplain with overbank deposits and a sand bed fluvial channel this scenario is supported by the reassessed coste san giacomo faunal assemblage consistent with running and or clear waters as well as prairies and grasslands under mild climatic conditions

seasonal interannual and mesoscale variability of the black sea upper layer circulation derived from altimeter data 1 topex poseidon and ers altimeter data comprising the period from may 1992 to may 1999 are assimilated into a shallow water model for providing a dynamically consistent interpretation of the sea surface height variations and estimation of the temporal and spatial characteristics of the upper layer circulation in the black sea these 7 year long observations offer a new capability for interpretation of major transient and quasi permanent features of the upper layer circulation the instantaneous flow fields involve a complex eddy dominated system with different types of structural organizations in which the eddies and the gyres of the interior cyclonic cell interact continuously among themselves and with meanders and filaments of the rim current the circulation possesses a distinct seasonal cycle whose major characteristic features repeat every year with some year to year variability an organized two gyre winter circulation system disintegrates gradually into a series of interconnecting eddies in the summer and autumn months which are also characterized by more pronounced and complex mesoscale activity in the peripheral flow system our analyses suggest a revised schematic circulation picture of the major quasi permanent and recurrent elements of the black sea

late quaternary climatic changes on the southwestern balearic slope western mediterranean isotopic faunal and mineralogical relationships abstract we report the results of a research on the carbonate mineralogy planktonic foraminifera distribution and oxygen and carbon isotope composition of g bulloides in hemipelagic carbonate oozes of the southwestern balearic slope western mediterranean to contribute to the understanding of climatic and ecological variations during the last quaternary interglacial glacial cycle and their influences on the carbonate sedimentary processes of the western mediterranean oxygen isotope stages 1 2 and 3 have been identified and correlated to those established in tyrrhenian cores the carbon isotope records display several anomalies which are explained by productivity variations and diagenetic processes pelagic carbbonates low mg calcite and aragonite and detrital minerals quartz high mg calcite and dolomite display variations that are climate related pelagic carbonates increase during warm intervals while intense low mg calcite dissolution and greater quantities of detrital minerals are found in colder intervals our results suggest that the carbonate distribution of the western mediterranean correlates to the reported from the atlantic ocean nevertheless the molar mgco3 content in low mg calcite disagree to the established temperature relationship in other oceans

stratigraphy and sedimentation in the western strabo trench eastern mediterranean abstract three piston cores ranging in length from 501 to 921 cm raised from the adjacent mediterranean tyro and kretheus basins and their intervening sill confirmed previous findings of persistent anoxia and extended our knowledge of the stratigraphic record the two cores from the basinal settings contain a bronze age homogenite this tsunami induced turbidite is only 28 cm thick in the shallower kretheus basin whereas it has a thickness of 235 cm in the deeper tyro basin the recovery of the homogenite in these subbasins of the western strabo trench demonstrates that the tsunami wave turned west of crete and arrived here with a velocity sufficient to remobilize unconsolidated sediments draping the basin slopes the holocene and uppermost pleistocene sedimentary record is characterized by numerous millimetric to centimetric sand layers containing reworked pliocene and miocene foraminifers the repetitive siliciclastic turbidites interfered with the normal eastern mediterranean succession of sapropels and tephras and document a strong neotectonic activity related to the presence of an active trench on the floor of ponded rimmed basins like the tyro and kretheus basins the sand layers are associated with anoxic sediments whereas they are associated with normal well oxygenated marls on the sill which lies above the anoxic oxic interface basin anoxia is interpreted as the result of submarine dissolution of messinian evaporites giving rise to deep seated brines extraformational reworking documents the occurrence of pre messinian fossiliferous sediments exposed on the trench wall and subject to submarine erosion the stratigraphic time framework is given by nannofossil biostratigraphy corroborated by lithostratigraphic correlation of isochronous lithologies sapropel and tephra chronology a drastic change in sedimentary regime is recorded at approximately 70 ka b p emiliania huxleyi acme e huxleyi zonal boundary older sediments which were only recovered in core 37 from the sill separating the tyro and kretheus basins are pelagic with an almost typical eastern mediterranean succession of sapropels and tephras no siliciclastic turbidites and no extraformational reworking are noticed in sediments older than 70 000 years we conclude that the trench system became active just at that time a thick layer of plurimillimetric pumice bubbles was discovered within sapropel s 6 indicating a strong explosion of a nearby volcano at 180 ka b p but we have no analytical data yet to substantiate the provenance of the volcanogenic deposits

late pliocene to early mid pleistocene mammals in eurasia faunal succession and dispersal events abstract four major dispersal events mark european villafranchian and galerian faunas about 3 2 0 4 ma the beginning of the villafranchian is evidenced by the arrival of leptobos and of large cervids and felids the fauna still retains typical forest elements mammut tapirus etc the elephant equus event about 2 5 2 6 ma brought in grassland elements elephant horse while several forest dwellers disappeared the massive arrival of a primitive wolf a large hyaena and leptobos etruscus approximately marks the plio pleistocene boundary wolf event about 1 7 ma this was followed by a new wave of prairie fauna praeovibos leptobos vallisarni allophaiomys canis arnensis a coyote canis falconeri possibly a lycaonid cervalces and hippopotamus also arrived at this time the villafranchian galerian transition saw a total faunal turnover with massive extinctions and new previously unknown adaptations end villafranchian event 1 0 0 9 ma the late pleistocene and living fauna of eurasia took its origin at this time mammalian stratigraphy of asia is more poorly known but faunas are easily correlated with european ones and the end villafranchian event is clearly recognised faunal events are correlated with climatic and physiographic changes late himalayan orogeny

biochronology and biochron boundaries a real dilemma or a false problem an example based on the pleistocene large mammalian faunas from italy abstract reconstructing the neogene quaternary biostratigraphy in continental environments and recognising boundaries between successive mammalian faunal complexes is a problematic task the definition and application of biochronology has been often tainted by references to and inferences from biostratigraphy actually the discontinuities in the continental sedimentary record environmental conditions taphonomic and sampling biases are responsible for the fact that the stratigraphical order of the lowest and highest occurrences of fossil remains stratigraphic datum does not necessarily reflect the temporal order of actual first last appearances of taxa palaeobiological events in time nonetheless the first last appearance bioevents recorded by lowest highest occurrences of fossil remains in fossiliferous levels of different continental stratigraphical successions have been the principal foundation for establishing the biochronological setting of continental mammal faunas therefore from a theoretical point of view boundaries should be defined by the oldest and or youngest historical occurrence of one or more taxa what about an operational approach some examples of the italian faunas are presented focusing on the transition from the villafranchian to the galerian and from the galerian to the aurelian land mammal ages the results obtained indicate the difficulty of defining a stable scheme that can be applied for correlation by the international scientific community

catastrophic flooding of the black sea abstract decades of seabed mapping reflection profiling and seabed sampling reveal that throughout the past two million years the black sea was predominantly a freshwater lake interrupted only briefly by saltwater invasions coincident with global sea level highstand when the exterior ocean lay below the relatively shallow sill of the bosporus outlet the black sea operated in two modes as in the neighboring caspian sea a cold climate mode corresponded with an expanded lake and a warm climate mode with a shrunken lake thus during much of the cold glacial quaternary the expanded black sea s lake spilled into to the marmara sea and from there to the mediterranean however in the warm climate mode after receiving a vast volume of ice sheet meltwater the shoreline of the shrinking lake contracted to the outer shelf and on a few occasions even beyond the shelf edge if the confluence of a falling interior lake and a rising global ocean persisted to the moment when the rising ocean penetrated across

early middle pleistocene transitions an overview and recommendation for the defining boundary the early middle pleistocene transition c 1 2 0 5 ma sometimes known as the mid pleistocene revolution represents a major episode in earth history low amplitude 41 ka obliq uity forced climate cycles of the earlier pleistocene were replaced progressively in the later pleistocene by high amplitude 100 ka cycles these later cycles are indicative of slow ice build up and subsequent rapid melting and imply a transition to a strongly non linear forced climate system changes were accompanied by substantially increased global ice volume at 940 ka these climate transformations particularly the increasing severity and duration of cold stages have had a pro found effect on the biota and the physical landscape especially in the northern hemisphere this review assesses and integrates the marine and terrestrial evidence for change across this transition based on the literature and especially the following 17 chapters in the present volume orbital and non orbital climate forcing palaeoceanography stable isotopes organic geochemistry marine micropalaeontology glacial history loess palaeosol sequences pollen analysis large and small mammal palaeoecology and stratigraphy and human evolution and dispersal are all considered and a series of discrete events is identified from marine isotope stage mis 36 c 1 2 ma to mis 13 c 540 460 ma of these the cold mis 22 c 880 870 ka is perhaps the most profound however we here endorse earlier views that on practical grounds the matuyama brunhes palaeomagnetic chron boundary mid point at 773 ka with an estimated duration of 7 ka would serve as the best overall guide for establishing the early middle pleistocene subseries boundary

climatostratigraphic scheme of the black sea pleistocene and its correlation with the oxygen isotope scale and glacial events abstract new evidence from the asov sea black sea region shows that after the cobb mountain magnetic event 1 1 myr there were 8 saline water events with mediterranean molluscs penetrating into the asov sea five times farther than the western manych strait and 7 or 10 cold freshwater events during the freshening phase the caspian sea molluscan fauna penetrated into the black sea each time the caspian mollusc assemblage was characterized by a new species of didacna thus some 18 20 bioclimatostratigraphic units can be distinguished in the asov sea black sea section for the last 1 myr their numerical age is estimated by some dozen thermoluminescence dates and 12 magnetic polarity datum planes the karangatian s lato corresponds to the interval 300 000 50 000 yr the uzunlarian to 580 000 300 000 yr and the chaudian to 1 100 000 600 000 yr the karangatian and tyrrhenian marine terraces correspond to marine isotope stages 5 and 7 the uzunlarian and milazzian to stages 11 15 and the chaudian and sicilian to stages 16 28 the number and ages of glacial interglacial cycles in continental europe are identical to the climatic cycles in the black sea and mediterranean

radiometric and paleomagnetic evidence for the emperor reversed polarity event at 0 46 0 05 m y in basalt lava flows from the eastern snake river plain idaho k ar and paleomagnetic data from cores through a sequence of basalt flows in the eastern snake river plain provide evidence for a brief 0 005 to 0 01 m y reversal of the geomagnetic field 0 46 0 05 m y ago this reversed polarity event has also been found in sea floor magnetic anomalies and in sediment cores and is probably the emperor event of ryan 1972

new data on the early villafranchian fauna from vialette haute loire france based on the collection of the crozatier museum le puy en velay haute loire france abstract vialette 3 14 ma like seneze chilhac sainzelles ceyssaguet or soleilhac is one of the historical sites located in haute loire france the lacustrine sediments of vialette are the result of a dammed lake formed by a basalt flow above oligocene layers and show a geological setting typical for this area where many localities are connected with maar structures that have allowed intra crateric lacustrine deposits to accumulate based on previous studies and this work a faunal list of 17 species of large mammals has been established eight species typical of this time period and well known occur in the collection of the crozatier museum of le puy en velay pliocrocuta perrieri lynx issiodorensis mammut borsoni anancus arvernensis stephanorhinus jeanvireti tapirus arvernensis cervus pardinensis and croizetoceros ramosus the presence of gazella cf g borbonica is newly established in addition to which the oldest known occurrences of canis sp cf eucladoceros sp and of the genus equus in western europe are also described these are the new data which pushed back the age of the arrival of the genus equus cf eucladoceros and canis in western europe five taxa are not found in the crozatier collection primates indet agriotherium sp ursus gr minimus thibetanus bovidae middle sized pliotragus ardei or gallogoral meneghinii procapreolus cf cusanus

soil evolution and accumulation of loess like material in the chechen depression northern caucasus russia abstract morphological and biomorphic studies of a soil chronosequence in the chechen depression of the northern caucasus russia indicate soil evolution and plant successions during the second half of the holocene the chronosequence consists of palaeosols buried under archaeological monuments dated to 5000 3800 4000 and 1600 1700 bp and modern surface soils the palaeosols buried at 5000 and 3800 4000 bp were developed in somewhat warmer and drier climatic conditions compared to those buried at 1600 1700 bp and the modern surface soils the late atlantic period ca 5000 yr bp was characterized by the mean annual air temperature 0 5 c higher and a mean annual precipitation 100 mm per year lower than the present the transition to the subboreal period was marked by unstable climatic conditions and the subboreal period was cooler and more humid than the atlantic since then the climate has fluctuated little pedogenesis in the last half of the holocene was accompanied by synchronous accumulation of loess like material the holocene soils of the depression have developed by a synlithogenic model of soil formation alternating periods of active sedimentation and pedogenesis on a stable land surface occurred in the late pleistocene the studied holocene soils probably represent one the present pedogenic stage in a sequence pedogenic and lithogenic events that affected this region during the late quaternary

mediterranean quaternary sapropels an immediate response of the african monsoon to variation of insolation abstract in the subsurface of the east mediterranean sea eleven discrete basin wide organic rich black sapropels were deposited during the last 465 000 years they are dated by oxygen isotopic chronostratigraphy the most recent sapropel has been shown to be the consequence of heavy nile river summer floods due to increased monsoonal summer precipitation over ethiopia and not of scandinavian ice sheet meltwater influx into the east mediterranean sea as was previously believed while most sapropels were deposited during interglacials two thick sapropels formed during glacial periods as shown by their position in the oxygen isotopic stratigraphy and by their pollen record in core rc9 181 the new evidence presented here is that the sapropel sequence in this core including the two glacial sapropels correlates on a one to one basis with the highest values of an index of insolation on top of the atmosphere the concept of this index derives from an analysis of the african monsoon process the index variation is computed for the last 465 000 years from the caloric northern summer insolation in the tropical latitudes controlled by variations of the earth s orbital parameters it is conjectured that this index might be linked through the climate system to the monsoonal precipitation which in africa produces the nile river summer flood

character of brines from the belle isle and weeks island salt mines louisiana u s a abstract kumar m b and martinez j d 1981 character of brines from the belle isle and weeks island salt mines louisiana u s a in w back and r letolle guest editors symposium on geochemistry of groundwater 26th international geological congress j hydrol 54 107ndash 140 this paper is based on the chemical analyses of 110 samples of brines collected from the belle isle and weeks island salt mines of louisiana u s a these brines are manifested by the active leaks puddles of water and stalagmites stalactites in the mines most of the waters are a sodium calcium chloride brine with minor concentrations of additional ionic species the ionic compositions of these brines are compared with average seawater seawater concentrated by evaporation and formation waters oil field brines the ionic distributions of the mine brines resemble those of formation waters except that the mine brines are relatively high in potassium strontium boron and bromide the higher concentrations of potassium and bromide in these brines relative to formation waters indicate a similarity to a residual brine and suggest some genetic relationship however the high concentration of ca exceeding the concentration of k and in some instances even that of na in the mine brine is highly indicative of formation water it is concluded that the mine brines may represent an admixture of ca rich formation water and k br rich residual brine or a formation water of unusual character with high concentrations of ca k and bromide isotopic data strongly support the formation water hypothesis

relative sea level fall since the last interglacial stage are coasts uplifting worldwide the growing interest in quantification of vertical ground motion stems from the need to understand in detail how the earth s crust behaves for both scientific and social reasons however only recently has the refinement of dating techniques made possible the use of paleoshorelines as reliable tools for tectonic studies although there are many local studies of quaternary vertical motions of coastlines we know of no comprehensive worldwide synthesis here we provide a compilation of 890 records of paleoshoreline sequences with particular emphasis on the last interglacial stage marine isotopic stage mis 5e 122 ka the quality of dating mis 5e makes it a reliable marker to evaluate vertical ground motion rates during the late quaternary on a global scale the results show that most coastal segments have risen relative to sea level with a mean uplift rate higher than 0 2 mm yr i e more than four times faster than the estimated eustatic drop in sea level the results also reveal that the uplift rate is faster on average for active margins than for passive margins neither dynamic topography nor glacio hydro isostasy may explain sustained uplift of all continental margins as revealed by the wide distribution of uplifted sequences of paleoshorelines instead we suggest that only plate tectonic processes reconcile all observations of quaternary coastal uplift we propose that long term continental accretion has led to compression of continental plates and uplift of their margins therefore this study concludes that plate tectonics processes impact all margins and emphasizes the fact that the notion of a stable platform is unrealistic these results therefore seriously challenge the evaluation of past sea levels from the fossil shoreline record

review and new aspects concerning the formation of eastern mediterranean sapropels abstract in this paper it is proposed that the formation of eastern mediterranean sapropels occurred in an anti estuarine type of circulation which was to some degree weakened relative to the present in response to reduction of the eastern mediterranean excess of evaporation over freshwater input this reduction of excess evaporation would have been imposed by intensifications of 1 the indian ocean summer sw monsoon influencing the eastern mediterranean via increased nile discharge and 2 the system of mediterranean depressions an element of the westerly atlantic system causing increased precipitation and decreased evaporation both the indian ocean summer monsoon and the westerly atlantic system would be intensified in response to the occurrence of distinct minima in the cycle of precession it is demonstrated that reduced excess evaporation whether or not coinciding with global phases of deglaciation would lead to reduction of surface water salinities in the eastern mediterranean causing isolation of previously formed high salinity cooler deep water thus mixing was severely reduced possibly even restricted to eddy diffusion with only occasional convective events that because of the existing density gradient hardly ever would reach the deepest parts of the basin the consequently diminished oxygen advection down from a few hundred meters in the water column favoured preservation of the sinking organic matter this would however suffice only to enable the formation of sapropels with low organic carbon contents the high organic carbon contents observed in various sapropels are argued to reflect superimposed increases of export production the described scenario accounts for previously reported 1 increases of organic carbon content with increasing depth of deposition within individual sapropels and 2 asymmetrical sequences of sapropel deposition characterized by gradual build up and rather abrupt ending it is furthermore in agreement with 3 isotopic and faunal reconstructions of the history of exchange transports through both the strait of sicily and the strait of gibraltar and 4 faunal and floral reflections of the presence or absence of a distinct deep chlorophyll maximum with its associated increases in export production indicating the presence or absence of a shallow pycnocline within the euphotic layer moreover the described scenario 5 is in no way conflicting with the reports of sapropels in the western mediterranean and 6 seems to be endorsed by occasionally intercalated intervals suggestive of somewhat improved oxygenation amidst anoxic benthic desert levels a situation that has been observed in a few quaternary and pliocene sapropels