evolution of the indian summer monsoon and terrestrial vegetation in the bengal region during the past 18 ka the indian summer monsoon ism is a major global climatic phenomenon long term precipitation proxy records of the ism however are often fragmented and discontinuous impeding an estimation of the magnitude of precipitation variability from the last glacial to the present to improve our understanding of past ism variability we provide a continuous reconstructed record of precipitation and continental vegetation changes from the lower ganges brahmaputra meghna catchment and the indo burman ranges over the last 18 000 years 18 ka the records derive from a marine sediment core from the northern bay of bengal nbob and are complemented by numerical model results of spatial moisture transport and precipitation distribution over the bengal region the isotopic composition of terrestrial plant waxes dd and d13c of n alkanes are compared to results from an isotope enabled general atmospheric circulation model isocam for selected time slices pre industrial mid holocene and heinrich stadial 1 comparison of proxy and model results indicate that past changes in the dd of precipitation and plant waxes were mainly driven by the amount effect and strongly influenced by ism rainfall maximum precipitation is detected for the early holocene climatic optimum ehco 10 5 6 ka bp whereas minimum precipitation occurred during the heinrich stadial 1 hs1 16 9 15 4 ka bp the isocam model results support the hypothesis of a constant moisture source i e the nbob throughout the study period relative to the pre industrial period the model reconstructions show 20 more rain during the mid holocene 6 ka bp and 20 less rain during the heinrich stadial 1 hs1 respectively a shift from c4 plant dominated ecosystems during the glacial to subsequent c3 c4 mixed ones during the interglacial took place vegetation changes were predominantly driven by precipitation variability as evidenced by the significant correlation between the dd and d13c alkane records when compared to other records across the ism domain precipitation and vegetation changes inferred from our records and the numerical model results provide evidence for a coherent regional variability of the ism from the last glacial to the present

provenance of the late quaternary sediments in the andaman sea implications for monsoon variability and ocean circulation we present a geochemical and sr nd isotopic study on a sediment core collected from the andaman sea in an attempt to reconstruct the late quaternary weathering and erosion patterns in the watersheds of the river systems of myanmar and understand their controlling factors age control is based on nine radiocarbon dates and 18o stratigraphy the rate of sedimentation was strongly controlled by fluctuations of the monsoon we identify three major sediment provenances 1 the irrawaddy catchment 2 the western slopes of the indo burman arakan iba mountain ranges and the andaman islands and 3 the catchments of salween and sittang and the bengal shelf with the first two contributing 30 60 of the material enhanced contributions from juvenile sources and corresponding positive shifts of 18o are observed at seven time periods 11 14 20 23 36 45 53 57 and 62 ka of which five are synchronous with cooling of the northern hemisphere suggesting a link between the changes in sediment provenances and the shifting of the locus of the summer monsoon southward from the himalayas without substantial reduction in intensity our data and that from other cores in the region suggest that an eastward moving surface current disperses sediments derived from the bengal shelf and western margin of myanmar from the eastern bay of bengal into the western andaman sea and that its strength has increased since the lgm the existence of this current during the lgm implies that the andaman sea and the bay of bengal were well connected during the last glacial period

distribution of clay minerals in surface sediments of the western gulf of thailand sources and transport patterns abstract a high density sampling program during two joint china thailand scientific cruises in 2011 2012 included collection of 152 gravity box cores in the gulf of thailand got samples from the top 5 cm of each core were analyzed by x ray diffraction for clay mineral content several systemic analytical approaches were applied to examine the distribution pattern and the constraint factors of clay minerals in the surface sediments of the western got the clay minerals mainly comprise illite kaolinite chlorite and smectite having the average weight percent distributions of 50 34 14 and 2 respectively based on the spatial distribution characteristics and statistical results the study area can be classified into three provinces province i contains high concentrations of smectite and covers the northern got sediments in this province are mainly from rivers discharging into the upper got especially the chao phraya and mae klong rivers sediments in province ii are characterized by higher values of illite located in the central got where fine sediments are contributed by the mekong river and from the south china sea province in the coastal regions of southwestern got close to malaysia exhibits a clay mineral assemblage with complex distribution patterns and may contain terrestrial materials from the mae klong river as well as re suspended sediments results of integrative analysis also demonstrate that the hydrodynamic environment in the study area especially the seasonal various circumfluence and eddies play an important role in the spatial distribution and dispersal of clay fraction in sediments

response of the ganges dispersal system to climate change a source to sink view since the last interstade the forcing of sediment dispersal systems by climate is widely accepted but there remains disagreement on the general responses to climate change such as how resulting signals propagate downstream and ultimately how they are preserved in the stratigraphic record towards a better understanding of these issues this paper presents a comprehensive overview of ganges dispersal system behavior since the last interstade which reveals major coeval responses to changes in the south asian monsoon at 3000 km from its mountain headwaters to deep sea fan the ganges dispersal system is immense and yet shows tight coupling between source area catchment basin and coastal and marine depocenters furthermore system wide responses and downstream transfer of the signal appear to occur at least as fast as current temporal resolution of 1 2 ky this tight linkage of source to sink components is considered a function of the southwest summer monsoon s overwhelming control on regional hydrology about 80 of the ganges discharge and 95 of its sediment load are delivered to the margin during only 4 months making the system extremely sensitive to this seasonal forcing in addition the regional scale and distribution of the monsoon weather system means that changes in atmospheric circulation affect the entire drainage basin rather than local subcomponents finally despite its present intensity strength of the summer monsoon has varied significantly over the past 150 ky under orbitally driven changes in insolation and global glacial boundary conditions the resulting changes in precipitation both well above and below modern values have forced system wide responses ranging from glacier advance retreat to sediment fluxes to the margin and deep sea fan the overall conclusions are 1 that this immense dispersal system responds to multimillennial scale 104 years climate change in a system wide and largely contemporaneous manner and 2 that major sedimentary signals can be transferred rapidly from source to sink with little apparent attenuation furthermore these acute responses to climate change have produced sedimentary stratigraphic features that diverge from traditional sequence models in their nature and timing

the bengal depositional system from rift to orogeny abstract the bengal depositional system is defined as the surface depositional environments and the underlying sediment accumulation extending from the alluvial lacustrine and paludal sediments of the lower ganges and brahmaputra rivers across the bengal delta the bangladesh continental shelf and slope to and including the bengal fan together it is one of the greatest sediment accumulations in the modern world and is comparable in volume to the great sediment accumulations of the geological past the history of formation started with the mesozoic breakup of eastern gondwanaland the northward drift of india its collision with the southern margin of asia rotation and bending of the western sunda arc and the penetration of the indian continental mass into southern asia during this history the regional tectonics evolved and sources and provenance of the sediments changed with the ultimate uplift of the tibetan plateau and the himalayas

long timescale variation in bulk and clay mineral composition of indian continental margin sediments in the bay of bengal arabian sea and andaman sea abstract this study documents x ray diffraction results from bulk powders and oriented clay size aggregates using samples from sites drilled and cored during the indian national gas hydrate expedition 01 nghp01 these sites are located in the krishna godavari basin mahanadi basin and andaman accretionary wedge of the bay of bengal and the kerala konkan basin of the arabian sea calcite is more abundant at the pelagic sites of the andaman sea and kerala konkan basin which is consistent with previous studies of biological productivity and dilution by lithogenous influx hemipelagic sediments in the krishna godavari basin and mahanadi basin are comprised primarily of smectite rich and illite rich clay mineral assemblages respectively we attribute those contrasts to differences in detrital sources between the deccan basalts smectite sources and precambrian rocks of the eastern ghats belt those sources remained consistent over the entire history of sedimentation 0 9 ma higher quartz content in the mahanadi basin and higher feldspar content at the krishna godavari basin reinforce these interpretations of detrital provenance smectite is the most abundant clay mineral in the andaman sea sediments likely due to weathering of volcanic sources along the sunda arc strata from the kerala konkan basin show a shift at 23 ma from a smectite kaolinite clay mineral assemblage to an increasingly illite rich assemblage we also see steady decreases in kaolinite and increases in chlorite and quartz over the 30 myr record which indicates increasing influences of material derived from physical weathering the higher abundance of fully hydrated smectite in the krishna godavari basin may play a minor role in gas hydrate formation by sustaining higher permeabilities at any given value of mudstone porosity or void ratio

major ion chemistry of the ganga brahmaputra river system weathering processes and fluxes to the bay of bengal the ganga brahmaputra one of the world s largest river systems is first in terms of sediment transport and fourth in terms of water discharge a detailed and systematic study of the major ion chemistry of these rivers and their tributaries as well as the clay mineral composition of the bed sediments has been conducted the chemistry of the highland rivers upper reaches of the ganga the yamuna the brahmaputra the gandak and the ghaghra are all dominated by carbonate weathering ca mg and hco3 account for about 80 of the cations and anions in the lowland rivers the chambal the betwa and the ken hco3 excess over ca mg and a relatively high contribution of na k to the total cations indicate that silicate weathering and or contributions from alkaline saline soils and groundwaters could be important sources of major ions to these waters the chemistry of the ganga and the yamuna in the lower reaches is by and large dictated by the chemistry of their tributaries and their mixing proportions illite is the dominant clay mineral about 80 in the bedload sediments of the highland rivers kaolinite and chlorite together constitute the remaining 20 of the clays in the chambal betwa and ken smectite accounts for about 80 of the clays this difference in the clay mineral composition of the bed sediments is a reflection of the differences in the geology of their drainage basins the highland rivers weather acidic rocks whereas the others flow initially through basic effusives the ganga brahmaputra river system transports about 130 million tons of dissolved salts to the bay of bengal which is nearly 3 of the global river flux to the oceans the chemical denudation rates for the ganga and the brahmaputra basins are about 72 and 105 tons km yr 1 respectively which are factors of 2 to 3 higher than the global average the high denudation rate particularly in the brahmaputra is attributable to high relief and heavy rainfall

environmental signal propagation in sedimentary systems across timescales abstract earth surface processes operate across erosionally dominated landscapes and deliver sediment to depositional systems that can be preserved over a range of timescales the geomorphic and stratigraphic products of this source to sink sediment transfer record signals of external environmental forcings as well as internal or autogenic dynamics of the sedimentary system here we evaluate environmental signal propagation across sediment routing systems with emphasis on sediment supply qs as the carrier of up system forcings we review experimental numerical and natural examples of source to sink sediment routing and signal propagation during three timescales 1 historic which includes measurement and monitoring of events and processes of landscape change and deposition during decades to centuries 2 centuries to several millions of years referred to as intermediate timescale and 3 deep time we discuss issues related to autogenic dynamics of sediment transport transient storage and release that can introduce noise lags and or completely mask signals of external environmental forcings we provide a set of conceptual and practical tools for evaluating sediment supply within a source to sink context which can inform interpretations of signals from the sedimentary record these tools include stratigraphic and sediment routing system characterization sediment budgets geochronology detrital mineral analysis e g thermochronology comparative analog approaches and modeling techniques to measure calculate or estimate the magnitude and frequency of external forcings compared to the characteristic response time of the sediment routing systems

geomorphic tectonic control of sediment discharge to the ocean the importance of small mountainous rivers analysis of data from 280 rivers discharging to the ocean indicates that sediment loads yields are a log linear function of basin area and maximum elevation of the river basin other factors controlling sediment discharge e g climate runoff appear to have secondary importance a notable exception is the influence of human activity climate and geology on the rivers draining southern asia and oceania sediment fluxes from small mountainous rivers many of which discharge directly onto active margins e g western south and north america and most high standing oceanic islands have been greatly underestimated in previous global sediment budgets perhaps by as much as a factor of three in contrast sediment fluxes to the ocean from large rivers nearly all of which discharge onto passive margins or marginal seas have been overestimated as some of the sediment load is subaerially sequestered in subsiding deltas before the proliferation of dam construction in the latter half of this century rivers

climatic and topographic controls on the style and timing of late quaternary glaciation throughout tibet and the himalaya defined by 10be cosmogenic radionuclide surface exposure dating abstract temporal and spatial changes in glacier cover throughout the late quaternary in tibet and the bordering mountains are poorly defined because of the inaccessibility and vastness of the region and the lack of numerical dating to help reconstruct the timing and extent of glaciation throughout tibet and the bordering mountains we use geomorphic mapping and 10 be cosmogenic radionuclide crn surface dating in study areas in southeastern gonga shan southern karola pass and central western nyainqentanggulha shan and tanggula shan tibet and we compare these with recently determined numerical chronologies in other parts of the plateau and its borderlands each of the study regions receives its precipitation mainly during the south asian summer monsoon when it falls as snow at high altitudes gonga shan receives the most precipitation 2000 mm a 1 while near the margins of monsoon influence the karola pass receives moderate amounts of precipitation 500 600 mm a 1 and in the interior of the plateau little precipitation falls on the western nyainqentanggulha shan 300 mm a 1 and the tanggula shan 400 700 mm a 1 the higher precipitation values for the tanggula shan are due to strong orographic effects in each region at least three sets of moraines and associated landforms are preserved providing evidence for multiple glaciations the 10 be crn surface exposure dating shows that the formation of moraines in gonga shan occurred during the early mid holocene neoglacial and little ice age on the karola pass during the lateglacial early holocene and neoglacial in the nyainqentanggulha shan date during the early part of the last glacial cycle global last glacial maximum and lateglacial and on the tanggula shan during the penultimate glacial cycle and the early part of the last glacial cycle the oldest moraine succession in each of these regions varies from the early holocene gonga shan lateglacial karola pass early last glacial western nyainqentanggulha shan and penultimate glacial cycle tanggula shan we believe that the regional patterns and timing of glaciation reflect temporal and spatial variability in the south asian monsoon and in particular in regional precipitation gradients in zones of greater aridity the extent of glaciation has become increasingly restricted throughout the late quaternary leading to the preservation of old 100 ka glacial landforms in contrast in regions that are very strongly influenced by the monsoon 1600 mm a 1 the preservation potential of pre lateglacial moraine successions is generally extremely poor this is possibly because lateglacial and holocene glacial advances may have been more extensive than early glaciations and hence may have destroyed any landform or sedimentary evidence of earlier glaciations furthermore the intense denudation mainly by fluvial and mass movement processes which characterize these wetter environments results in rapid erosion and re sedimentation of glacial and associated landforms which also contributes to their poor preservation potential

increasing chemical weathering in the himalayan system since the last glacial maximum continental chemical weathering is central in earth s surface biogeochemical cycles as it redistributes elements across reservoirs such as the crust and the oceans however the evolution of weathering through time and its response to external forcing such as changes in climate remain poorly constrained in this work a composite sediment record from the bay of bengal is used to document the evolution of chemical weathering in the himalayan system himalayan range and indo gangetic floodplain the world largest sediment conveyor to the oceans since the last glacial maximum lgm the degree of weathering of the sediments is documented using mobile to immobile ratios such as k si and h2o si as well as detrital calcite abundance robust weathering proxies are derived by correcting the chemical composition of sediment for sorting effects that occur during transport and deposition the bay of bengal record is also further compared to the chemical composition of modern river sediments from the ganga and brahmaputra basin weathering proxies all indicate that the sediments exported by the ganga and brahmaputra rivers became increasingly weathered over the past 21 kyr whereas sr nd and major elements suggest a constant sediment provenance in the system over the last 21 kyr these changes in the degree of weathering of the sediments show that the weathering flux exported by the system to the indian ocean during the lgm was significantly lower than at present and demonstrate that chemical weathering in continental scale basins such as the ganga and brahmaputra responds to late quaternary climate changes

sr nd isotopic evidence of terrigenous flux variations in the bay of bengal implications of monsoons during the last 34 000 years 1 sr and nd isotopic compositions of a sediment core from the bay of bengal are used to constrain the provenance and transport pathways of their terrigenous component during the 3 to 34 14c kyr bp the results clearly demonstrate a distinctly different source for detrital fluxes on the ninetyeast ridge from that of distal and western fan sediments there is a systematic pattern of climate related variability in 87sr 86sr and nd o values at the studied location pulses of low 87sr 86sr higher radiogenic nd and high silt content occurring at 5 7 kyr intervals suggest significant changes in the detrital source increased supply of irrawaddy derived sediments appears to be the dominant source for these pulses our results support the hypothesis that rapid cold events of north atlantic heinrich events are characterized by the intensified northeast monsoon

clay minerals and sr nd isotopic composition of the bay of bengal sediments implications for sediment provenance and climate control since 40 ka abstract grain size clay mineralogy 87sr 86sr end and ams14c analyses of deep sea sediments cored in the central bay of bengal are used to reconstruct the evolution of provenances and climate control since the last glacial period clay minerals 87sr 86sr ratios and end values indicate a mixture of sediment from the himalaya source indian peninsula and indo burman ranges irrawaddy river these analyses show that the himalaya mountains and indo burman ranges irrawaddy river are the main suppliers before the holocene period while the inputs of erosion materials from the indo gangetic floodplain and the indian peninsula increase during the holocene period accompanied by reduced inputs of the indo burman ranges and irrawaddy sediments the regional source sink process is significantly controlled by the climate warm and wet climate conditions and enhanced indian monsoon intensity during the holocene period are responsible for the increase of sediment input from the indo gangetic plain and the indian peninsula by improving erosion in the source area input from the floodplain to the river channel and the intensity of the southwest monsoon current in contrast due to the decrease of the northeast monsoon current during the holocene period sediment input from the irrawaddy and indo burman ranges are constrained deposition center transition between the submarine fan and shelf during the last glacial period and the holocene period occurs in response to the sea level change which controls the sedimentary mode and thus significantly influences the transportation and deposition processes in the bay of bengal bob

c4 plants decline in the himalayan basin since the last glacial maximum abstract the bengal fan turbiditic system supplied by the ganga brahmaputra river system provides an integrated record of himalayan system erosion thanks to minor inputs of marine organic matter and almost complete preservation of riverine organic carbon organic matter buried in bengal fan sediments is a proxy of himalayan basin paleo vegetation the active channel levee system of the middle fan documents the last 19 ka and allows the reconstruction of vegetation change in the himalayan basin since the last glacial maximum lgm we measured 13 c of organic carbon c org in order to track changes in the proportions of c3 and c4 plants in the himalayan basin from lgm to mid holocene 13 c of bulk c org shifts of 3 4 towards more negative values relative abundance of individual n alkanes reveals that terrestrial higher plant inputs represent a dominant fraction of c org buried in bengal fan sediments 13 c of higher plants biomarkers mimic that of bulk c org showing that the later can be used as continental paleo vegetation proxy 13 c negative shift from lgm to mid holocene mostly indicates the transition from a dominant input of c4 plants to a dominant input of c3 plants and therefore reveals that c4 plants were more abundant in the basin under glacial conditions vegetation repartition in the basin simulated using the caraib dynamic vegetation model is consistent with c org data the model indicates a dominance of c4 plants in the gangetic plain during the lgm while eastern part of the basin remains dominated by c3 plants the comparison between our data and proxies of regional paleo climate suggests that the large decline of c4 plants after the lgm was due to combined increase of atmospheric co 2 and humidity levels integrated record of himalayan basin paleo vegetation suggests more arid conditions during the lgm than during the mid holocene and agrees with reconstructions of the monsoon indicating stronger sw monsoon during interglacial and stronger ne monsoon during glacial periods

a note on the extent of glaciation throughout the himalaya during the global last glacial maximum abstract quantitative chronologies for the impressive glacial successions that occur throughout the himalaya have until recently been almost totally lacking within the last decade two new techniques have promised to remedy this situation these techniques optically stimulated luminescence and cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating enable the age of many glacial features to be determined and have allowed us to study the extent and timing of himalayan glaciation in the late quaternary new data show that the local last glacial maximum lgm occurred during the early part of the last glacial cycle in most areas during marine isotope stage 3 mis 3 mis 3 was a time of increased insolation when the south asian summer monsoon strengthened and penetrated further north into the himalaya the concomitant increased precipitation occurring as snow at high altitudes produced positive glacier mass balances thereby allowing glaciers to advance on the other hand during the global lgm 18 24 ka himalayan glaciation was very restricted in extent generally extending

glacial to interglacial contrasts in the northern indian ocean differences between the 18o 16o ratios of planktonic foraminifera deposited during the last glacial maximum about 18 000 yr ago and those deposited during the holocene show that in the indian ocean the south west monsoon was weaker than today but that the north east monsoon was stronger the upwelling observed in modern conditions along the southern coast of arabia had disappeared because of the low speed of the southwestern winds during glacial summers the reduction in rainfall and runoff over the continent caused a reduction of the salinity gradient in the bay of bengal and along the western coast of india increased precipitation fell on the sea south of 10 n while strong evaporation over the northernmost arabian sea produced an enhanced salinity gradient in that area

major and trace element geochemistry of bay of bengal sediments implications to provenances and their controlling factors major and trace elements of sediments from a 13 m long piston core sk187 pc33 from the western bay of bengal have been investigated in this study to infer about the changes in provenances and related controlling factors during the last glacial interglacial period factor analysis of these geochemical dataset ascertains dominant role of riverine supply of sediments in regulating the geochemistry of sk187 pc33 sediments the al normalized major k and ti and trace elemental cu and cr ratios of these marine sediments fall within the ranges observed for their major provenances viz ganga brahmaputra and the godavari krishna gk rivers and depth profiles of these ratios showed significant variations with synchronous excursion at around the last glacial maxima lgm implying a change in their provenances with relatively reduced himalayan contribution during this climatic event relatively higher cia and ti ca ratios with lower k al ratios of these sediments during the holocene hint intense chemical weathering in the river basins in response to strengthened monsoon during this period inverse model calculation of al normalized elemental ratios of the sediments estimated an average sediment contribution of 66 13 and 34 13 from the himalayan and the peninsular indian rivers to the core site respectively consistent with the depth profiles of elemental ratios the estimated sediment contributions from the himalayan rivers are observed to decrease by 20 from the himalayan rivers particularly that of the ganga to the studied location during the lgm lowering of sediment supply from the himalaya ganga during the lgm is due to weakening of south west monsoon and reduction in available exposure area for weathering due to extent of glacier cover outcomes of this study underscore the strong linkage between erosion and climate

weathering processes in the ganges brahmaputra basin and the riverine alkalinity budget abstract we present river chemistry data for a network of rivers draining the western and central nepal himalaya our sampling locations cover the system from the sources of rivers in tibet to the gangetic plain water samples were collected throughout the year including the monsoon season for rivers in nepal and for the ganges and brahmaputra in bangladesh rivers draining the north himalaya are characterized by low discharge under a cold and arid climate main stream waters have 13 c dic near 0 and high so42 so42 hco3 ratios xso4 with values around 40 eq and high cl ca is the dominant cation ca2 cations 55 to 75 eq after correction of sodium by chloride dissolved sulfate is produced in waters from the tethian sedimentary series whereas chlorine is related to thermal waters dissolved sulfate is primarily derived from sulfide oxidation rather than evaporite dissolution 13 c dic values of up to 3 9 show that metamorphic co2 is an important weathering agent rivers of the north himalayan basins have about 50 of their alkalinity derived from carbonate dissolution 20 from biogenic activity and 30 from metamorphic co2 on the south flank of the himalaya rivers are more depleted in 13 c and have on average lower xso4 most rivers have 13 c dic and xso4 values compatible with a simple mixing between soil co2 and sulfate derived from sulfide oxidation during the monsoon discharge increases by a factor 20 but the total dissolved concentration is only slightly reduced xso4 and 13 c decrease while ca cations increases implying enhanced dissolution of pedogenic calcite as a whole the g b riverine flux of alkalinity derived from silicate weathering is around 2 7 1011 mol year modest at the global scale sulphuric acid controls 20 30 of the weathering reaction in the brahmaputra and 6 to 9 in the ganges na and k balance 60 to 65 of the silicate derived alkalinity flux and the long term co2 consumption by ganges and brahmaputra is near 6 4 1010 mol year the flux of metamorphic co2 converted to alkalinity via weathering reactions is ca 1 1010 mol year

clay mineral and grain size studies of sediment provenances and paleoenvironment evolution in the middle okinawa trough since 17 ka okinawa trough receives a large amount of fluvial sediment transported by complex oceanographic circulations and is an ideal location for the study of paleoceanography and paleoenvironment changes however our knowledge of the sediment provenance and paleoenvironment evolution in the trough during the past 17 ka is still limited based on high resolution grain size clay minerals and ams c 14 data of the core oki04 we present new evidences of the provenances and paleoenvironment evolution in the middle okinawa trough during the last 17 ka our results indicate that clay sized terrigenous sediment deposited in the middle okinawa trough is mainly from those rivers flowing into east china sea and yellow sea e g yangtze and yellow rivers and taiwanese rivers their contributions varied greatly in space and time during the past 17 ka from 16 5 to 13 8 ka sediment was mainly derived from the yangtze and yellow rivers with little contribution from taiwan from 13 8 to 5 4 ka the contributions from the yangtze and yellow rivers oscillated multiple times low in 13 8 11 6 ka high in 11 6 7 6 ka and back to low in 7 6 5 4 ka whereas the pattern of taiwanese contribution was opposite after 5 4 ka when the sea level was high and shoreline was far away from the okinawa trough the yangtze river and eastern taiwanese rivers became the main provenances the contribution from the yellow river decreased which is probably because yellow river mouth was far away from the middle trough sediment grain size data show that two environmentally sensitive populations are 71 7 mu m and 7 0 5 mu m the variation of the populations mean grain size and content shows that the strength of kuroshio current was weak during 16 5 11 6 ka and became strong in 11 6 5 4 ka in which tsushima warm current and yellow sea warm current formed around 8 5 and 6 5 ka respectively the strength of kuroshio current decreased in 5 4 ka and increased since 3 2 ka based on clay mineralogical analysis we find that the kaolinite chlorite could be used as a new effective indicator for the east asian winter monsoon s evolution in the trough since 17 ka c 2015 elsevier b v all rights reserved

oxygen isotope evidence for a stronger winter monsoon current during the last glaciation a variety of palaeoclimate data from the northern indian ocean has shown that the asian summer monsoon was weaker during the last glacial maximum 18 000 years ago than it is today1 5 it has also been inferred from these data that the winter monsoon was stronger at that time5 here we present evidence that the transport of low salinity water from the bay of bengal to the arabian sea caused by the winter monsoon6 was higher during the last glacial maximum this inference is based on a negative excursion up to about 1 in magnitude in the oxygen isotope ratios of three planktonic foraminiferal species detected in a sediment core from the arabian sea by high resolution 1 2 cm sampling our results place an upper limit of about 4 000 years on the length of time during which the winter monsoon was stronger than today

the effect of sea level on glacial indo pacific climate the indo pacific warm pool is the largest source of heat and moisture vapour to the atmosphere proxy reconstructions and model simulations suggest that during the last glacial maximum the exposure of the sunda shelf of southeast asia weakened deep convection over the warm pool

volcanogenic hydrothermal iron rich materials from the southern part of the central indian ocean basin abstract we report the occurrences of magnetite rich spherules ti rich particles and possibly nontronite recovered at 19 s and 76 e from the pelagic clay in the central indian ocean basin ciob it is proposed that the magnetite spherules were formed as a result of volcanic activity in this part of the ciob while the presence of nontronite suggests localized hydrothermal activity the magnetic spherules and the associated materials are compared with similar occurrences 555 km to the north in the vicinity of the 76 30 e fracture zone considering radiolarian age dating of the sediment the age of the volcano hydrothermal episode responsible for the formation of these materials seems to be between 425 and 650 ka it is inferred that there could have been widespread local volcanism in the ciob

abrupt changes in the asian southwest monsoon during the holocene and their links to the north atlantic ocean during the last ice age the indian ocean southwest monsoon exhibited abrupt changes that were closely correlated with millennial scale climate events in the north atlantic region1 2 3 suggesting a mechanistic link in the holocene epoch which had a more stable climate the amplitude of abrupt changes in north atlantic climate was much smaller and it has been unclear whether these changes are related to monsoon variability here we present a continuous record of centennial scale monsoon variability throughout the holocene from rapidly accumulating and minimally bioturbated sediments in the anoxic arabian sea our monsoon proxy record reveals several intervals of weak summer monsoon that coincide with cold periods documented in the north atlantic region4 including the most recent climate changes from the medieval warm period to the little ice age and then to the present we therefore suggest that the link between north atlantic climate and the asian monsoon is a persistent aspect of global climate

surface deformation and tectonic background of the 2019 ms 6 0 changning earthquake sichuan basin sw china abstract the june 17 2019 ms 6 0 changning earthquake at a depth of 3 5 km struck the changning anticline fold system no active faults have been observed in the region some studies have attributed the earthquake to the regional shale gas exploitation following the earthquake we conducted a field survey to investigate co seismic surface deformation in the area and observed many surface fractures and uplifted areas our work indicated that the deformation followed a riedel shear pattern the fractures and uplifted areas represent t fractures and s extrusions respectively the observed riedel shear pattern is indicative of left lateral strike slip motion to ascertain the relationship between the riedel shear pattern and regional tectonics we investigated the trends in layer striations and fault scratches the results indicated that there were two stages in the evolution of the anticline in the first stage the principal compressive stress that dominated the original formation of the anticline trended ne sw in the second stage the regional principal compressive stress shifted to the current e w trend generating oblique motion that included reverse and left lateral components we propose that the tectonic stress field in this region had a strong bearing on the focal mechanism of the mainshock and the co seismic surface deformation both the eastward expansion of the xianshuihe area and southeastward expansion of the longmen shan have affected the current changning anticline fold system

heavy metal and clay mineral analyses in the sediments of upper gulf of thailand and their implications on sedimentary provenance and dispersion pattern abstract forty eight sediment samples collected in the upper gulf of thailand ugot and its nearby rivers including the mae klong tha chin chao phraya and bang pakong were analyzed for grain size heavy metals cu pb zn cr and cd and clay minerals the results reveal that fine grained sediments with mz 1 than in other sampling areas meanwhile cd content is greater than 120 g kg 1 in sediments near the bang pakong river mouth and area between the tha chin and mae klong rivers mouth the concentrations of heavy metals are higher than background data and statistical analysis of geo accumulation index indicates that the study area is either unpolluted to moderately polluted or moderately polluted by heavy metals our results also verify that illite is the dominant clay mineral followed by kaolinite chlorite and smectite in terms of semi quantitative content smectite kaolinite can be used as an indicator to trace the riverine sediment in the study area which present a counterclockwise dispersion pattern of sediment from the chao phraya river

sediment volume and mass beneath the bay of bengal rates of sediment accumulation and the amount of sedimentary fill in depocenters lying downstream of erosion in the himalayas and tibet can provide some insight into tectonics and geological history the objective of this paper is to put on record the best estimates which are possible with existing data of the volume and mass of sediments sedimentary rock and metasedimentary rock beneath the sea floor of the bay of bengal the sedimentary section in the bay of bengal is divided into two parts 1 eocene through holocene sediments and sedimentary rocks which post date the initial india asia collision volume 12 5 106 km3 mass 2 88 1016 t this is most of the bengal fan including its eastern lobe the nicobar fan plus some of the outer bengal delta 2 early cretaceous through paleocene pre collision sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks volume 4 36 106 km3 mass 1 13 to 1 18 1016 t these are interpreted as continental rise and pelagic deposits

clay mineral sedimentation in high northern latitude deep sea basins since the middle miocene odp leg 151 naag high resolution clay mineralogical investigations and their comparison with other sedimentological data from odp sites 908 and 909 central fram strait were used to reconstruct the paleoclimate and paleoceanography in the high northern latitudes since the middle miocene ice rafting has probably occurred since 15 ma the comparison of sand sized components and clay mineral distribution demonstrate that both were not delivered by the same transport process the input of the clay fraction is related to transport through sea ice and or oceanic currents a provenance change at 11 2 ma is indicated by variations within clay mineral distribution and increased accumulation rates this is interpreted as a result of an increase in water mass exchange through the fram strait decreases of the smectite to illite and chlorite ratio at site 909 suggest a middle miocene cooling phase between 14 8 and 14 6 ma and a further cooling phase between 10 and 9 ma the intensification of glaciation in the northern hemisphere is documented by an increase of illite and chlorite from 3 4 to 3 3 ma which is synchronous to the onset of major northern hemisphere glaciation as indicated by oxygen isotope data

u series disequilibria in suspended river sediments and implication for sediment transfer time in alluvial plains the case of the himalayan rivers 238u 234u 230th radioactive disequilibria were analyzed in suspended sediments collected at different depths from the ganges river and one of its main tributaries the narayani gandak river results associated with bedload sediment data suggest that uranium series u series disequilibria in river sediments of the ganges basin vary with grain size and sampling location the range of observed u series disequilibria is explained by a mixing model between a coarse grained sediment end member represented by bedload and bank sediments and a fine grained end member that both originate from himalaya but undergo different transfer histories within the plain the coarse grained sediment end member transits slowly i e several 100 s ky in the plain whereas the fine grained sediment end member is transferred much faster 20 25 ky as indicated by the absence of significant variations in th isotope composition of the fine grained sediment end members these results show that u series isotopes can be used to quantify the various transfer times of river sediments of different sizes and infer that there can be an order of magnitude of difference or more between the transfer time of suspended and bedload sediments this underlines that a good knowledge of the proportion of suspended vs bedload sediments transported in the river is required to accurately assess how fast erosion products are transferred in a catchment and how fast a catchment is likely to respond to external forcing factors

tidal influence on suspended sediment distribution and dispersal in the northern andaman sea and gulf of martaban abstract surface and water column profiles of suspended matter collected during april may 2002 and satellite images were used to study factors influencing suspended sediment concentrations sscs and dispersal in the northern andaman sea and gulf of martaban one of the largest highly turbid areas of the world s oceans perennial high ssc in the gulf of martaban is due to a combination of factors including resuspension of sediments by strong tidal currents shallow bathymetry and seasonal sediment influx from rivers from satellite images it was observed that in the central portion of the gulf of martaban the turbidity front oscillates about 150 km in phase with spring neap tidal cycles and the area covered by the turbid zone ssc 15 mg l 1 increases from less than 15 000 km2 during neap tide to more than 45 000 km2 during spring tide the sediment discharged by the ayeyarwady river is transported mainly eastward along the coast into the gulf of martaban occasionally during the winter monsoon period sediment plumes are seen heading westward into the bay of bengal turbidity profiles show that bottom nepheloid layers are actively transporting some of the sediments into the deep andaman sea via the martaban canyon

dominant northern hemisphere climate control over millennial scale glacial sea level variability abstract based on a radiocarbon and paleomagnetically dated sediment record from the northern red sea and the exceptional sensitivity of the regional changes in the oxygen isotope composition of sea water to the sea level dependent water exchange with the indian ocean we provide a new global sea level reconstruction spanning the last glacial period the sea level record has been extracted from the temperature corrected benthic stable oxygen isotopes using coral based sea level data as constraints for the sea level oxygen isotope relationship although the general features of this millennial scale sea level records have strong similarities to the rather symmetric and gradual southern hemisphere climate patterns we observe in constrast to previous findings pronounced sea level rises of up to 25 m to generally correspond with northern hemisphere warmings as recorded in greenland ice core interstadial intervals whereas sea level lowstands mostly occur during cold phases corroborated by climber 2 model results the close connection of millennial scale sea level changes to northern hemisphere temperature variations indicates a primary climatic control on the mass balance of the major northern hemisphere ice sheets and does not require a considerable antarctic contribution

evolution of weathering patterns in the indo burman ranges over the last 280 kyr effects of sediment provenance on 87sr 86sr ratios tracer a high resolution study of mineralogy and major element geochemistry combined with sr and nd isotopes has been conducted on high sedimentation rate cores collected off the irrawaddy river mouth in the andaman sea and the bay of bengal to reconstruct the erosional and weathering history of the irrawaddy river basin in both cores nd 0 values imply that both glacial and interglacial sediments share a common crustal source the irrawaddy river strong glacial interglacial cycles are recorded by 87sr 86sr interglacial periods yield values between 0 713 and 0 717 whereas glacial periods show higher values between 0 717 and 0 719 variations of the pedogenic clays smectite and kaolinite to primary mineral feldspar quartz illite and chlorite ratios show strong precessional cycles suggesting a control by past changes in the summer monsoon intensity each increase in pedogenic clays content is also associated with a net loss of labile elements na k and ca from the detrital minerals under chemical weathering wet periods of summer monsoon reinforcement correspond to an increase in weathering of the irrawaddy plain soils and a decrease of 87sr 86sr ratio plotting 87sr 86sr versus 87rb 86sr gives a pseudo isochrons interpreted as a mixing line representing the strength of chemical weathering during glacial stages enhanced physical erosion induced by glacier scour and frost action in the highland of the irrawaddy river basins produced high volumes of unaltered rb rich minerals the low sea level of glacial times constricted the river to the main channel in the lower reaches and permitted an efficient transport of unaltered rb rich minerals with high radiogenic sr composition from the high relief of the indo burman ranges and the tibetan plateau to the indian ocean

clay mineral distributions in and around the mississippi river watershed and northern gulf of mexico sources and transport patterns abstract maps of the distributions of the four major clay minerals smectite illite kaolinite and chlorite in and around the mississippi river drainage basin and in the northern gulf of mexico have been produced using newly acquired data from erodible alluvial terrestrial sediments and marine surface sediments as well as from previously published data east of the rockies north america can be divided into four large clay mineral provinces 1 the north western mississippi river watershed smectite rich 2 the great lakes area and eastern mississippi river watershed illite and chlorite rich 3 the south eastern united states kaolinite rich and 4 the brazos river and south western mississippi river watersheds illite and kaolinite rich the clay mineral distributions in surface sediments of the present day gulf of mexico are strongly influenced by three main factors 1 by relative fluvial contributions the mississippi river delivers the bulk of the clay input to the northern gulf of mexico whereas the apalachicola mobile brazos and rio grande rivers inputs have more local influences 2 by differential settling of various clay mineral species which is identified for the first time in northern gulf of mexico sediments and 3 by oceanic current transport the gulf of mexico surface and subsurface circulation distributes the clay rich sediments from river mouth sources throughout the northern gulf of mexico

modulation and amplification of climatic changes in the northern hemisphere by the indian summer monsoon during the past 80 k y high frequency suborbital variations dansgaard oeschger cycles characterize the climatic history of the northern hemisphere as observed in greenland ice cores deep sea sediments of the north atlantic the californian borderland the arabian sea the south china sea and the chinese loess area paleoceanographic data from core kl126 from the bay of bengal in combination with data from the other asian monsoonal areas indicate that the feedback processes involving snow and dust of the tibetan plateau vary the summer monsoon capacity to transport moisture into central south asia and into the atmosphere we postulate that the summer monsoon initiates amplifies and terminates these cycles in the northern hemisphere

chemical weathering in the krishna basin and western ghats of the deccan traps india rates of basalt weathering and their controls rates of chemical and silicate weathering of the deccan trap basalts india have been determined through major ion measurements in the headwaters of the krishna and the bhima rivers their tributaries and the west flowing streams of the western ghats all of which flow almost entirely through the deccan basalts samples n 63 for this study were collected from 23 rivers during two consecutive monsoon seasons of 2001 and 2002 the total dissolved solid tds in the samples range from 27 to 640 mg l 1 the rivers draining the western ghats that flow through patches of cation deficient lateritic soils have lower tds average 74 mg l 1 whereas the bhima except at origin and its tributaries that seem to receive na cl and so4 from saline soils and anthropogenic inputs have values in excess of 170 mg l 1 many of the rivers sampled are supersaturated with respect to calcite the chemical weathering rates cwr of selected basins which exclude rivers supersaturated in calcite and which have high cl and so4 are in range of 3 to 60 t km 2 y 1 this yields an area weighted average cwr of 16 t km 2 y 1 for the deccan traps this is a factor of 2 lower than that reported for the narmada tapti wainganga ntw systems draining the more northern regions of the deccan the difference can be because of i natural variations in cwr among the different basins of the deccan ii selection of river basin for cwr calculation in this study and iii possible contribution of major ions from sources in addition to basalts to rivers of the northern deccan traps silicate weathering rates swr in the selected basins calculated using dissolved mg as an index varies between 3 to 60 t km 2 y 1 nearly identical to their cwr the ca mg and na mg in these rivers after correcting for rain input are quite similar to those in average basalts of the region suggesting near congruent release of ca mg and na from basalts to rivers comparison of calculated and measured silicate ca in these rivers indicates that at most 30 of ca can be of nonsilicate origin a likely source being carbonates in basalts and sediments the chemical and silicate weathering rates of the west flowing rivers of the deccan are 4 times higher than the east flowing rivers this difference is due to the correspondingly higher rainfall and runoff in the western region and thus reemphasises the dominant role of runoff in regulating weathering rates the silicon weathering rate swr in the krishna basin is 15 t km 2 y 1 within a factor of 2 to those in the yamuna bhagirathi and alaknanda basins of the himalaya suggesting that under favourable conditions intense physical weathering high runoff granites and the other silicates in the himalaya weather at rates similar to those of deccan basalts the co2 consumption rate for the deccan is deduced to be 3 6 105 moles km 2 y 1 based on the swr the rate though is two to three times lower than reported for the ntw rivers system it still reinforces the earlier findings that in general basalts weather more rapidly than other silicates and that they significantly influence the atmospheric co2 budget on long term scales

holocene forcing of the indian monsoon recorded in a stalagmite from southern oman a high resolution oxygen isotope record from a thorium uranium dated stalagmite from southern oman reflects variations in the amount of monsoon precipitation for the periods from 10 3 to 2 7 and 1 4 to 0 4 thousand years before the present ky b p between 10 3 and 8 ky b p decadal to centennial variations in monsoon precipitation are in phase with temperature fluctuations recorded in greenland ice cores indicating that early holocene monsoon intensity is largely controlled by glacial boundary conditions after approximately 8 ky b p monsoon precipitation decreases gradually in response to changing northern hemisphere summer solar insolation with decadal to multidecadal variations in monsoon precipitation being linked to solar activity

centennial to millennial scale variability of the indian monsoon during the early holocene from a sediment pollen and isotope record from the desert of yemen lacustrine deposits of al hawa 15 52 n 46 53 e 710 m above sea level document the climatic and environmental history of the inland desert of yemen during the early to mid holocene a freshwater lake expanded in one of the most arid areas of the world in response to increased indian monsoon fluxes from 12 000 to 7500 cal b p three dry intervals punctuated the lacustrine phase recording episodes of weaker summer monsoon activity over arabia dry intervals were coeval with cold periods recorded in the north atlantic confirming the links between the indian monsoon and the north atlantic systems during the holocene we demonstrate that the regional vegetation remained of semi arid character throughout the lacustrine period

weathering of the ganga alluvial plain northern india implications from fluvial geochemistry of the gomati river abstract in the northern part of the indian sub continent the ganga alluvial plain gap feeds its weathering products to the ganga brahmaputra river system one of the world s largest fluvial systems the authors present a geochemical study of the gap weathering products transported by the gomati river the ganga river tributary to understand weathering processes of an alluvial plain in a humid sub tropical climate a total of 28 sediment samples were collected during the monsoon season and were analysed by x ray fluorescence spectrometry for 25 major and trace elements bulk chemistry of the channel flood and suspended sediments mostly consists 90 80 and 75 respectively of three elements al si and fe major element concentrations normalised with respect to upper continental crust ucc show strong depletion of highly mobile elements na ca and enrichment of immobile elements ti si silica enrichment in the sand fraction is probably caused by chemical weathering of feldspar mineral sorting during fluvial transportation acts as the single important factor that controls the geochemistry of these weathering products and also strongly influences major and trace element distribution in the individual sediment samples trace element ba cr cu nb ni pb v and zn concentrations were strongly correlated with major element si al fe mn and k concentrations indicating that the abundance of trace elements is controlled by the same processes that control the major element distribution in these sediments the gap weathering products were geochemically distinguished as arkose to litharenite in rock classification chemical mobility normalised with respect to tio 2 in ucc indicates that si na zr ba and sr mainly derived from feldspar muscovite and biotite are lost during weathering iron and zn remained immobile during weathering and were strongly adsorbed by phyllosilicates and concentrated in fine grained sediment fractions the chemical index of alteration indicates that the gap has experienced chemical weathering of incipient to moderate intensity the gap weathering products also demonstrated a progressive incomplete alteration in the alluvial sequence made up of the himalayan derived sediments a model has been proposed to better understand weathering processes and products of the gap in temporary storage of 50 ka in a humid sub tropical climate

estimation of atmospheric co2 uptake by silicate weathering in the himalayas and the tibetan plateau a review of existing fluvial geochemical data