organic geochemical proxies of paleoceanographic paleolimnologic and paleoclimatic processes abstract organic matter constitutes a minor fraction of marine and freshwater sediments yet its important contribution to the sedimentary record can be used to reconstruct marine and continental paleoenvironments the organic matter content of sediments is the residue of past biota the amounts and types of organic matter present in sediments consequently reflect environmental conditions that impacted ecosystems at different past times general sources of the organic matter are inferred from bulk properties such as elemental compositions carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios rock eval pyrolysis data and organic petrography details of organic matter origins are refined by analyses of biomarker molecular compositions source changes are proxies for fluctuations in sea level oceanic surface currents and continental climates algal paleoproductivity rates are indicated by organic carbon mass accumulation rates and carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic compositions these parameters record past availability of nutrients and therefore are proxies of surface mixing in the oceans and amount of land runoff to lakes sea surface paleotemperatures are recorded by the number of carbon carbon double bonds in lipid biomarkers produced by marine algae larger proportions of the double bonds are proxies for the cooler surface waters that accompanied periods of global glaciation and intervals of enhanced upwelling the 13c and d values of plant organic matter record past concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and changes in delivery of atmospheric moisture respectively diagenesis which causes the concentration and composition of organic matter in sedimentary settings to differ from those of the original biologically synthesized materials can bias organic geochemical paleoenvironmental records the magnitude of this potential source of misinformation must always be considered and evaluated comparison of multiple organic geochemical proxies of past conditions helps to compensate for the effects of diagenetic alterations and thereby to improve interpretations of paleoenvironmental change

variability of el nino southern oscillation activity at millennial timescales during the holocene epoch the variability of el nino southern oscillation enso during the holocene epoch in particular on millennial timescales is poorly understood palaeoclimate studies have documented enso variability for selected intervals in the holocene but most records are either too short or insufficiently resolved to investigate variability on millennial scales1 2 3 here we present a record of sedimentation in laguna pallcacocha southern ecuador which is strongly influenced by enso variability and covers the past 12 000 years continuously we find that changes on a timescale of 2 8 years which we attribute to warm enso events become more frequent over the holocene until about 1 200 years ago and then decline towards the present periods of relatively high and low enso activity alternating at a timescale of about 2 000 years are superimposed on this long term trend we attribute the long term trend to orbitally induced changes in insolation and suggest internal enso dynamics as a possible cause of the millennial variability however the millennial oscillation will need to be confirmed in other enso proxy records

core and intact polar glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers gdgts in sand pond warwick rhode island usa insights into the origin of lacustrine gdgts branched and isoprenoidal glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers gdgts are abundant in lake sediments and have potential use for determining past changes in climate and limnology however emerging evidence suggests that both classes of gdgts can be associated with both allochthonous soil organic matter and in situ production potentially complicating interpretation of these compounds in lacustrine sedimentary environments here we investigate the dual source issue surrounding lacustrine gdgts with an emphasis on the branched gdgts by studying both core and intact polar gdgts within a pond and its watershed in warwick ri significant differences in both absolute concentrations of branched gdgts and the percent of branched gdgts present as ipls between the soils and shallow lake sediments suggests in situ production of these compounds within the lake environment principal components analysis of gdgt lipid concentrations and environmental parameters in sand pond sediments and soils highlights two prominent trends in the data one related to the absolute concentrations of type i branched gdgts brgdgt i ib ic and the majority of the isoprenoidal gdgts and another related to the concentration of the more methylated type iii branched gdgts brgdgt iii iiib iiic and isoprenoidal gdgt 0 the latter trend exhibits a subsurface maximum in the sediment column potentially indicating in situ production of more highly methylated branched gdgts and gdgt 0 within the lacustrine sediment column trends in the distributions of branched gdgts as reflected by the mbt and cbt indices imply mixing of two distinct sources of branched gdgts soil derived and in situ or alternatively two or more different microbial producers both possibilities present a challenge to the application of brgdgt based paleoenvironmental proxies in lakes this study highlights the importance of determining the sources of gdgts to the lacustrine environment prior to paleoenvironmental application

effects of earthquake induced landslides on sediment budget and transport over a 50 yr period landsliding during a magnitude 7 7 earthquake in 1929 in northwestern south island new zealand delivered up to 400 000 m 3 km 2 of sediment to stream channels first to third order channels were buried to depths of as much as 10 m with sedimentary rock debris for distances ranging from 2 of the 92 km 2 study area because of the coarse grain size of the sedimentary rock debris and trapping of sediment in numerous landslide dammed lakes sand and pebble sized debris originating from landslides on a 6 6 km 2 area of granite has been transported downstream no more than 10 km at least 50 to 75 of this granitic debris is retained in the fourth order 92 km 2 catchment 50 yr after the earthquake the long retention times of sediment and the volume of debris supplied by landslides during a large earthquake suggest that earthquake induced landsliding is the principal sediment supply mechanism in the region

natural hazards extreme events and mountain topography the hazard of any natural process can be expressed as a function of its magnitude and the annual probability of its occurrence in a particular region here we expand on the hypothesis that natural hazards have size frequency relationships that in parts resemble inverse power laws we illustrate that these trends apply to extremely large events such as mega landslides huge volcanic debris avalanches and outburst flows from failures of natural dams we review quantitative evidence that supports the important contribution of extreme events to landscape development in mountains throughout the world and propose that their common underreporting in the quaternary record may lead to substantial underestimates of mean process rates we find that magnitude frequency relationships provide a link between quaternary science and natural hazard research with a degree of synergism and societal importance that neither discipline alone can deliver quaternary geomorphology stratigraphy and geochronology allow the reconstruction of times magnitudes and frequencies of extreme events whereas natural hazard research raises public awareness of the importance of reconstructing events that have not happened historically but have the potential to cause extreme destruction and loss of life in the future

the formation and failure of natural dams of the numerous kinds of dams that form by natural processes dams formed from landslides glacial ice and late neoglacial moraines present the greatest threat to people and property landslide dams form in a wide range of physiographic settings the most common types of mass movements that form landslide dams are rock and debris avalanches rock and soil slumps and slides and mud debris and earth flows the most common initiation mechanisms for dam forming landslides are excessive rainfall and snowmelt and earthquakes landslide dams can be classified into six categories based on their relation with the valley floor type i dams 11 of 184 landslide dams from around the world that we were able to classify do not reach from one valley side to the other type ii dams 44 span the entire valley floor in some cases depositing material high on opposite valley sides type iii dams 41 move considerable distances both upstream and downstream from the landslide failure type iv dams 1 are rare and involve the contemporaneous failure of material from both sides of a valley type v dams 1 also are rare and are created when a single landslide sends multiple tongues of debris into a valley and forms two or more landslide dams in the same reach of river type vi dams 3 involve one or more failure surfaces that extend under the stream or valley and emerge on the opposite valley side many landslide dams fail shortly after formation in our sample of 73 documented landslide dam failures 27 of the landslide dams failed less than 1 day after formation and about 50 failed within 10 days over topping is by far the most common cause of failure the timing of failure and the magnitude of the resulting floods are controlled by dam size and geometry material characteristics of the blockage rate of inflow to the impoundment size and depth of the impoundment bedrock control of flow and engineering controls such as artificial spill ways diversions tunnels and planned breaching by blasting or conventional excavation glacial ice dams can produce at least nine kinds of ice dammed lakes the most dangerous are lakes formed in main valleys dammed by tributary glaciers failure can occur by erosion of a drainage tunnel under or through the ice dam or by a channel over the ice dam cold polar ice dams generally drain supraglacially or marginally by downmelting of an outlet channel warmer temperate ice dams tend to fail by sudden englacial or subglacial breaching and drainage late neoglacial moraine dammed lakes are located in steep mountain areas affected by the advances and retreats of valley glaciers in the last several centuries these late neoglacial dams pose hazards because 1 they are sufficiently young that vegetation has not stabilized their slopes 2 many dam faces are steeper than the angle of repose 3 these dams and lakes are immediately downslope from steep crevassed glaciers and near vertical rock slopes and 4 downstream from these dams are steep canyons with easily erodible materials that can be incorporated in the flow and increase flood peaks the most common reported failure mechanism is overtopping and breaching by a wave or series of waves in the lake generated by icefalls rockfalls or snow or rock avalanches melting of ice cores or frozen ground and piping and seepage are other possible failure mechanisms natural dams may cause upstream flooding as the lake rises and downstream flooding as a result of failure of the dam although data are few for the same potential energy at the dam site ownstream flood peaks from the failure of glacier ice dams are smaller than those from landslide moraine and structed earth fill and rock fill dam failures moraine dam failures appear to produce some of the largest downstream flood peaks for potential energy at the dam site greater than 1011 1012 joules differences in flood peaks natural dam failures appear to be controlled by dam characteristics and failure mechanisms

late quaternary palaeoecology and palaeoclimatology from pollen records of the savannas of the llanos orientales in colombia abstract pollen analysis of sediment cores from laguna angel 4 28 n 70 34 w 200 m elevation and laguna sardinas 4 58 n 69 28 w 80 m a s l in the savannas of the llanos orientales of colombia are presented the pollen record of laguna angel includes 7 radiocarbon dates and shows the holocene vegetation and climatic history since 10 030 yr b p the record of laguna sardinas includes 7 radiocarbon dates and shows the late glacial and holocene history since 11 570 yr b p both pollen records show that the present day savanna vegetation dominated by grassland poaceae with only few woody savanna taxa e g curatella bryrsonima was present since the late glacial indicating dry climatic conditions with a marked dry season shrubs and trees of forest and or gallery forest e g mauritia mauritiella moraceae urticaceae melastomataceae alchornea and myrtaceae are well represented during the recorded period the proportions between forest and savanna were subject to change in the past but also the composition of the forest and savanna ecosystems changed laguna sardinas shows a greater abundance during the late glacial holocene transition than today for alchornea especially from 10 680 to 10 070 yr b p for this interval synchronous to the el abra stadial younger dryas equivalent in colombia more humid climatic conditions have been inferred which are primarily the result of higher moisture levels under colder conditions during the early and middle holocene from 9730 to 5260 yr b p in laguna angel and from 9390 to 6390 yr b p in laguna sardinas the maximum expansion of grassland occurred indicating very dry climatic conditions the following period from 5260 to 3890 yr b p in laguna angel and from 6390 to 3680 yr b p in laguna sardinas shows a decrease of savanna herbs and an increase of forest and gallery forests reflecting a wetter period probably with a shorter annual dry season in both lake records the period after ca 3500 yr b p is incomplete but is characterized by a high representation of the palm genera mauritiella in laguna angel and mauritia in laguna sardinas this marked change has been interpreted as evidence of strong a anthropogenic influence on the vegetation but also wetter climatic conditions than during the late glacial and early and middle holocene periods

geomorphic imprint of landslides on alpine river systems southwest new zealand an inventory of 846 mass movements mainly landslides in two alpine regions of southwest new zealand was created to explore the geomorphic impacts of slope failure processes on river channels and valley floors in total 213 i e 27 per cent of the slope failures descended to valley floors affecting the geomorphology of trunk channels catchment area ac 10 km2 and valley floors in recurring patterns a nominal classification system is introduced for characterizing a the physical contact nature between landslides and river channels and b the resulting geomorphic consequences for drainage although landslide area a is useful for estimating the length of channel directly impacted by debris it does not necessarily predict the direction of fluvial response or type of impact dominant persistent geomorphic imprints of bedrock landslides include channel occlusions and landslide dams in south westland and fiordland respectively differences in size distribution and geomorphic effects on river systems between the two study regions are attributed to bedrock geology tectonics and sediment flux although south westland rivers are more frequently affected by landslides disrupting long term effects such as blockage are more persistent in fiordland copyright 2005 john wiley sons ltd

persistent alluvial fanhead trenching resulting from large infrequent sediment inputs we present laboratory and field evidence that in mountainous catchment fan systems persistent alluvial fanhead aggradation and trenching may result from infrequent large sediment inputs we suggest that the river fan systems along the fault bounded range front of the western southern alps new zealand are likely to be in a dynamic equilibrium on 103 yr timescales superimposed on which their fanheads undergo long term cumulative episodic aggradation these fanheads are active only in rare events do not take part in the usual behaviour of the catchment fan system and require much longer to exhibit dynamic equilibrium than the rest of the fan these findings 1 increase our knowledge of the effects of extreme events on alluvial fan morphodynamics in humid climates 2 question the general applicability of inferring past climatic or tectonic regimes from alluvial fan morphology and stratigraphy and 3 provide a conceptual basis for hazard zonation on alluvial fans copyright 2006 john wiley sons ltd

a novel proxy for terrestrial organic matter in sediments based on branched and isoprenoid tetraether lipids we propose a novel tracer for terrestrial organic carbon in sediments based on the analysis of tetraether lipids using high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry hplc ms analysis of terrestrial soil and peats shows that branched tetraether lipids are predominant in terrestrial environments in contrast to crenarchaeol the characteristic membrane lipid of non thermophilic crenarchaeota which is especially abundant in the marine and lacustrine environment based on these findings an index was developed the so called branched and isoprenoid tetraether bit index based on the relative abundance of terrestrially derived tetraether lipids versus crenarchaeol this bit index was applied to surface sediments from the angola basin where it was shown to trace the outflow of the congo river furthermore analyses of particulate organic matter from the north sea showed relatively higher bit indices in water column particulate organic matter near large river inputs a survey of globally distributed marine and lacustrine surface sediments shows that the bit index in these environments correlates with the relative fluvial input of terrestrial organic material making this index generally applicable the new proxy allows the rapid assessment of the fluvial input of terrestrial organic material in immature sediments up to 100 ma old

on intermediate term earthquake prediction in central italy the time of increased probability tip for the occurrence of a strong earthquake is determined in central italy this is done with an algorithm that has been successfully applied in other regions of the world algorithm cn from the initials of california and nevada where the first diagnoses of tips were made the use of normalized functions allows direct application of the orginal algorithm to the new region being studied without anyad hoc adjustment of the parameters

reduction of long term bedrock incision efficiency by short term alluvial cover intermittency fluctuations of the sediment volume stored in mountain channels are driven by stochastic variations of discharge and sediment supply and can inhibit bedrock incision if sediment thickness is too large here i study how this short term stochasticity propagates into the long term reduction of bedrock incision efficiency the cover effect at geological time scales i introduce a new numerical model that resolves sediment transport and bedrock incision at daily time scales and is run for thousands of years it incorporates 1 a transport threshold and daily stochastic variations in water discharge and sediment supply 2 a freely evolving channel width and slope and 3 an explicit treatment of alluvial thickness variations and corresponding bed incision reduction for typical mountain river conditions the model predicts that alluvial cover oscillates between complete and negligible incision reduction in this intermittent regime the long term cover effect is mainly set by the fraction of time spent in full cover and the present day extent of alluvial cover is not representative of long term dynamics the long term integrated cover effect law differs strongly from proposed theoretical and experimental models and it is controlled by sediment supply stochasticity rather than the details of cover development at the hydraulic time scale model results also suggest that steady state channel configuration always depends on sediment supply rate while being never limited by transport capacity or strictly detachment limited these results point out that discharge and sediment supply stochasticity should not be considered less important than the intricate details of incision laws to model long term bedrock channel dynamics

slope distributions threshold hillslopes and steady state topography digital elevation models of two steady state mountain ranges the olympic mountains om and oregon coast range ocr are used to examine relationships between slope distributions the development of threshold hillslopes and steady state topography plots of drainage area versus slope for these mountain ranges exhibit substantial scatter that complicates comparison of range form to analytical theories and landscape evolution models contour plots of the density of such data reveal an attractor at the scale of the transition from hillslope processes to channel processes and log bin averaging reveals trends that parallel predictions of steady state erosion laws but with different rate laws for five distinct process domains hillslopes valley heads and colluvial bedrock and alluvial valley segments slope histograms computed for 100 km2 areas defined by a 10 10 km grid throughout the om exhibit approximately normal or exponential distributions in areas of active rock uplift and depositional topography respectively local slope distributions in the ocr also tend to be normally distributed but some are left skewed in areas with gentler slopes mean slopes determined both over the above referenced grid and a 10 km diam moving window are relatively invariant in the core of the om in spite of strong contrasts in bedrock erodibility and gradients in long term rock uplift rates in contrast the mean slopes in the ocr parallel latitudinal gradients in rock uplift rates and bedrock erodibility hence the slope distributions in the om and ocr reflect distinct relationships between development of threshold bedrock and soil mantled hillslopes and steady state topography

holocene environmental changes in the central amazon basin inferred from lago calado brazil abstract holocene environments have been reconstructed by sedimentological mineralogical geochemical and high resolution pollen analysis of a 1190 cm long core from lago calado near manaus in central amazonia the sediment core dated by eight ams radiocarbon dates has a basal age of 8330 50 14 c yr bp and documents the landscape development from a river valley before 8280 14c yr bp to a lake environment this change is related to the rise of the central amazonian water level controlled by the postglacial sea level rise pollen analytical results show the formation of a local mauritia palm swamp along the river margin between 8280 and 7700 14c yr bp at that time highly diverse terra firme unflooded upland amazon rainforest and poorly developed varzea igapo inundated forests along the river characterized the vegetation the expansion of varzea igapo forests and a strong presence of aquatic plants started at 7700 14c yr bp reflecting the rise of the amazonian water level and the formation of the lago calado the occurrence of abundant poaceae and cyperaceae pollen in the lake sediments since 7770 14c yr bp suggest both the local colonization of unflooded mud banks around the lake margin and the formation of flooding meadows open exposed unflooded mud areas periodically colonized by herbs are related to seasonal amazonian high and low water stands in respect to the abundance of poaceae pollen during the early and mid holocene these open areas must have been large suggesting brief annual high and extensive annual low amazonian water stands after 4070 14c yr bp the proportion of varzea igapo forest areas was larger than before herbs were less abundant probably due to the smaller area of unflooded mud banks the amazonian water levels must have been higher and the period of the annual high water stands was probably longer than before since 2080 14c yr bp the largest proportion of varzea igapo forests is recorded reflecting the highest amazonian water level herbs were rare suggesting that open unflooded mud areas around the lake were relatively small this may perhaps also indicate that the seasonal period of the amazonian high water level was the longest since 2080 14c yr bp the increase of cecropia poaceae and alternanthera during the last 150 yr suggests stronger human impact on the local vegetation changes to higher amazonian water levels are related to the rise of the atlantic sea level relatively short annual high water levels during the early holocene and relatively long annual high water levels since 4070 and especially since 2080 14c yr bp can be interpreted as a climate change from a drier early holocene with lower annual rainfall rates and longer dry periods until 4070 14c yr bp to a wetter late holocene

fluxes and distribution of tetraether lipids in an equatorial african lake constraints on the application of the tex86 palaeothermometer and bit index in lacustrine settings abstract the distribution of isoprenoid and branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether gdgt lipids was studied in material from various sources in and around lake challa a crater lake on the southeastern slope of mt kilimanjaro tanzania to examine the provenance of gdgts in lake sediments and their potential application as palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic proxies the study material included samples collected at monthly intervals in a sediment trap over one complete annual cycle particles suspended in the stratified water column profundal surface sediments and soils surrounding the lake the sediment trap time series revealed that crenarchaeol and related isoprenoid gdgts were predominantly produced in january and february following the locally prominent short rain season november december the tex 86 inferred temperature derived from sedimenting particles corresponded well with lake surface water temperature at this time of largest crenarchaeol flux molecular ecological analysis showed that group 1 1a and 1 1b crenarchaeota are the most likely source organisms of these gdgts gdgt 0 in the lake sediments does not only originate from lake surface dwelling crenarchaeota but seems predominantly derived from archaea residing in the deeper anoxic part of the water column the main flux of branched gdgts to the sediment was during the short rain season and is most probably derived from eroded catchment soils in surface run off however a contribution from in situ production of branched gdgts in the lake sediment or water or in groundwater cannot be fully excluded we conclude that palaeoclimatic reconstruction based on branched gdgt distributions in lake sediments should only be performed when the origin of those branched gdgts is well constrained

a multiproxy palaeoecological record of holocene lake sediments from the rio tapajos eastern amazonia abstract two sediment cores up to 42 m in length were raised from the wide deep section of the lower tapajos river amazonia referred to as lago tapajos these cores reveal a history of subtle environmental change that began with the formation of lago tapajos as sea level rose about 11 000 years ago the sediments of the lake were deposited fairly quickly at a rate of ca 4 m per millennium and are uniformly fine grained with low organic content the fossil pollen record derived from these sediments reveals that forest surrounded this site throughout the holocene the largest change in the core took place between ca 5500 and 4200 cal years bp and reflects a transition from coarser to finer sediments coincident with the change in sediment is a slight transition in the pollen spectra with an increase in poaceae abundance at the expense of the pioneer tree cecropia cecropia a tentative explanation is offered in which increased human activity possibly spurred by climatic change resulted in the formation of some local grasslands however despite the apparent actions of humans there is no indication of basin wide transformation of landscapes in this record the holocene persistence of forest as the dominant landscape matrix around lago tapajos is supported by low 13 c values and by the constant geochemistry and mineralogy of the lake sediments

rates of flood plain sedimentation on the central amazon river field measurements of water and sediment discharge and floodplain topography numerical simulations of hydrology and landsat data on sediment concentrations were combined to estimate rates of transport and the fate of water and sediment in a 200 km reach of the central amazon river results from field data collected during the annual flood in july 1986 indicate that sediment was transported to the flood plain at rates ranging from 3 to 5 t d 1 m 1 with percentage deposition 80 yielding vertical rates of 0 8 to 1 6 cm day comparable rates were calculated from geographic information system overlays of numerically simulated specific water discharge and land sat derived sediment concentrations rates for july 31 1977 include 4 to 18 t d 1 m 1 of transport onto the flood plain and an average of 64 deposition at vertical rates from 0 4 to 3 3 cm d a 1 m higher flow on august 2 1989 yielded on average higher rates of transport onto the flood plain 8 to 15 t d 1 m 1 but lower percentage 46 deposition implying vertical rates between 0 3 and 2 9 cm d

landscape response to tectonic forcing digital elevation model analysis of stream profiles in the mendocino triple junction region northern california the topographic evolution of orogens is fundamentally dictated by rates and patterns of bedrock channel incision quantitative field assessments of process based laws are needed to accurately describe landscape uplift and denudation in response to tectonics and climate we evaluate and calibrate the shear stress or similar unit stream power bedrock incision model by studying stream profiles in a tectonically active mountain range previous work on emergent marine terraces in the mendocino triple junction region of northern california provides spatial and temporal control on rock uplift rates digital elevation models and field data are used to quantify differences in landscape morphology associated with along strike northwest to southeast changes in tectonic and climatic conditions analysis of longitudinal profiles supports the hypothesis that the study area channels are in equilibrium with current uplift and climatic conditions consistent with theoretical calculations of system response time based on the shear stress model within uncertainty the profile concavity of the trunk streams is constant throughout the study area 0 43 as predicted by the model channel steepness correlates with uplift rate these data help constrain the two key unknown model parameters the coefficient of erosion k and the exponent associated with channel gradient n this analysis shows that k cannot be treated as a constant throughout the study area despite generally homogeneous substrate properties for a reasonable range of slope exponent values n best fit values of k are positively correlated with uplift rate this correlation has important implications for landscape evolution models and likely reflects dynamic adjustment of k to tectonic changes due to variations in orographic precipitation and perhaps channel width sediment load and frequency of debris flows the apparent variation in k makes a unique value of n impossible to constrain with present data

major changes in glacial and holocene terrestrial temperatures and sources of organic carbon recorded in the amazon fan by tetraether lipids the amazon basin is a major component of the global carbon and hydrological cycles a significant natural source of methane and home to remarkable biodiversity and endemism reconstructing past climate changes in the amazon basin is important for a better understanding of the effect of such changes on these critical functions of the basin using a novel biomarker proxy based on the membrane lipids of soil bacteria with a new regional calibration we present a reconstruction of changes in mean annual air temperatures for the amazon catchment during the last 37 kyr b p biomarkers were extracted from ocean drilling program sediment core odp942 recovered from the amazon fan the amazon fan is a major depository for terrestrial sediments with the advantage that the terrestrial material captured reflects a regional integration of the whole river catchment the reconstructed tropical amazonian temperatures were similar to 5 degrees c cooler at the last glacial maximum similar to 21 degrees c compared to modern values similar to 26 degrees c this is in agreement with previous estimates of tropical continental temperatures in the tropical amazon basin and tropical africa during the last glacial maximum moreover we also illustrate how the soil bacterial membrane lipid record reveals major changes in basin dynamics and sediment provenance during the glacial holocene transition impacting the biomarker reconstructions from similar to 11 kyr onward

use of multi proxy approaches to determine the origin and depositional processes in modern lacustrine sediments carajas plateau southeastern amazon brazil abstract geochemical and isotopic compositions of surficial sediments from a plateau lake in carajas southeastern amazon region were investigated to understand the spatial distribution of major and trace elements 13 c 15 n and c n ratio depositional processes and the origin of inorganic and organic fractions the 13 c 15 n and c n ratio indicate mainly an autochthonous source with siliceous sponge spicules and algae being the major source of organic matter in the center of the lake sector 3 while an allochthonous source mainly derived from c3 vascular forest plants dominates in the shallowest portion of the lake sector 1 consequently there was an apparent dilution of c4 plants montane savanna in the sediment water interface among major elements fe 2 o 3 is highly enriched in sector 3 which is controlled by the erosion of catchment laterites and underwater topography while al 2 o 3 and p 2 o 5 enrichment near the northern border of the lake is controlled by the weathering of mafic rocks similar spatial distribution of sio 2 with total organic carbon toc and isotopic evidence indicate that si distribution is partially controlled by organic components such as siliceous sponge spicules and algae the occurrence of most of the trace and rare earth elements ree is independent of fe 2 o 3 and toc but controlled by detrital aluminum silicates and heavy minerals indicating a lack of post depositional diagenetic control on their distribution the distribution of as and mo are possibly controlled by organic matter mineralization during early diagenesis and subsequently precipitation of fe phases the values of the chemical index of alteration cia in the sediments are very high 94 99 and similar to those of the source rocks suggesting that sediment composition is mainly controlled by mechanical weathering rather than chemical weathering geochemical indices al k ti k al ti la th ti zr zr hf hf nb la al co th ba sr and th sc together with the a cn k plot suggest that the provenance of the inorganic sediments remained relatively uniform or constant during the depositional period and that they were mainly derived from laterite crusts and subordinately from mafic soils this inference was further substantiated by the chondrite normalized ree patterns and discrimination plots geochemical indices such as u th authigenic u mo al and v cr indicate that the sediments were deposited under an oxic environment

late quaternary vegetation dynamics in the southern amazon basin inferred from carbon isotopes in soil organic matter abstract carbon isotopes of soil organic matter som were used to evaluate and establish the chronology of the vegetation dynamics of an ecosystem presently composed of savannas surrounded by forests the study was carried out on a 200 km transect along highway br 319 on the border of amazonas and rondonia states in southern amazon brazil large ranges in 13 c values were observed in som collected from profiles in the savanna 27 to 14 and forest regions 26 to 19 reflecting changing distribution of 13 c depleted c 3 forest and 13 c enriched c 4 savanna vegetation in response to climate change these results indicate that from about 17 000 to 9000 14 c yr b p the study area was covered by forest vegetation between approximately 9000 and 3000 14 c yr b p savanna vegetation expanded at the expense of the forest although the expansion of savanna did not occur with the same intensity along the study transect this process was very clearly registered by 13 c enrichment in the som since 3000 14 c yr b p the carbon isotope data suggest that forested regions have expanded this study adds to the mounting evidence that extensive forested areas existed in the amazon during the last glaciation and that savanna vegetation expanded in response to warm and dry conditions during the early to middle holocene

holocene environmental changes from the rio curua record in the caxiuana region eastern amazon basin abstract holocene environments have been reconstructed by multiproxy studies of an 850 cm long core from rio curua dating to 8000 14 c yr b p the low energy river lies in the eastern amazon rain forest in the caxiuana national forest reserve 350 km west of belem in northern brazil sedimentological mineralogical and geochemical dates demonstrate that the deposits correspond to two different environments sediments of an active river before 8000 14 c yr b p and later a passive river system the pollen analytical results indicate four different local and regional holocene paleoenvironmental periods 1 a transition to a passive fluvial system and a well drained terra firme unflooded upland amazon rain forest with very limited development of inundated forests varzea and igapo 7990 7030 14 c yr b p 2 a sluggish river with a local mauritia palm swamp and similar regional vegetation as before 7030 5970 14 c yr b p 3 a passive river forming shallow lake conditions and with still abundant terra firme forest in the study region 5970 2470 14 c yr b p and 4 a blocked river with high water levels and marked increase of inundated forests during the last 2470 14 c yr b p increased charcoal during this last period suggests the first strong presence of humans in this region the atlantic sea level rise was probably the major factor in paleoenvironmental changes but high water stands might also be due to greater annual rainfall during the late holocene

palaeofires in amazon interplay between land use change and palaeoclimatic events interpreting the geological record of amazon biomass combustion requires comparing charcoal accumulation rates in various biomes at different time scales charcoal accumulation rates a proxy for palaeofire records were obtained in sediment cores from amazon lakes surrounded by several vegetation types and from a reservoirs in an intense land use change region the records presented in this study were obtained in the following areas i a reservoirs in alta floresta region northern mato grosso state ii lago do saci southern para state a lake close to alta floresta and located at the southern border of para state iii a bog in an ecotone area in the humaita region southern amazonas state iv lakes in lateritic iron crust of the carajas hills southeastern para state v lago comprido a floodplain lake close to the amazon river and surrounded by tropical rain forest monte alegre para state vi lagoa da pata in the morro dos seis lagos alkaline complex sao gabriel da cachoeira amazonas state and vii lago caracarana a secluded lake in the northern amazon cerrado roraima state the highest charcoal accumulation rates were observed for modern records related to an intense change in land use at alta floresta which had no precedent during the holocene history of the amazon high charcoal accumulation rates that were observed in the carajas region during low lake level phases in the amazon in the mid holocene were comparable to those at the onset of the human settlement in alta floresta region an increase in charcoal accumulation rate was observed in the late holocene when the lake level was high suggesting an interaction between climates and human presence low charcoal accumulation rates are typical of modern high rainfall environments as observed in lagoa da pata where the environment is not susceptible to occurrences of wildfires even during relatively drier climatic phases low charcoal accumulation rates also exist in the relatively dry cerrado savanna type biome even during relatively dry phases in the caracarana region where the savanna type vegetation biomass is lower and thus generates less charcoal particles than forest ecosystems

variations of the amazonian rainforest environment a sedimentological record covering 30 000 years abstract two cores css 2 and css 10 were collected from two lakes situated in the carajas area 6 35 s 49 30 w that show different stages of silting up the results of geochemical and petrographic organic analyses backed up by 14 c radiometric dating lead to a reconstruction of the variations in the hydrological regime of these lakes over the last 30 000 years evidence is revealed for a period of drying up characterized by a sedimentary hiatus between 22 000 and 13 000 14 c years bp followed by a period of refilling between 13 000 and 11 000 14 c years bp 15 400 12 900 cal years bp the latter interval is primarily characterized by a mainly clastic sedimentary input rich in quartz kaolinite and iron hydroxides leading on to the authigenic formation of siderite this type of sedimentation implies the erosion of the small catchment basin during periods of transition between arid and humid climatic regimes from 8000 to 4000 14 c years bp 8900 4500 cal years bp as well as from 2700 to 1500 14 c years bp 2780 1360 cal years bp special hydrological conditions prevailed they are characterized in the sedimentary record by the presence of micro laminae containing wood charcoal interlayered with sponge spicule material this interlamination reflects the rapid alternation of dry and humid periods a comparison with the results obtained by pollen analysis shows that sedimentological indicators once filtered for strictly local effects can provide a full record of the regional scale variations in the environment

palaeohydrological controls on sedimentary organic matter in an amazon floodplain lake lake maraca brazil during the late holocene in order to understand the impact of hydrological changes of the amazon river on sedimentary organic matter om composition in amazonian floodplain lakes three sediment cores were collected from lake maraca eastern amazonia along a transect from the amazon river main channel to inland the cores were dated with 14c accelerator mass spectrometry ams and studied by x ray mineralogical composition total organic carbon toc and total nitrogen tn contents stable isotopic composition of toc and tn 13coc and 15n and glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether gdgt distributions two distinctive sedimentary depositional phases were identified based on the mineralogical composition and the geochemical characteristics of sedimentary om during the early mid holocene 13 000 3200 cal yr bp low values of toc followed by a break in sedimentation suggest a complete drying of the lake caused by drier climatic conditions between 3600 and 3200 cal yr bp this lake received a reduced influence of the amazo

catastrophic rock slope failures and late quaternary developments in the nanga parbat haramosh massif upper indus basin northern pakistan abstract the nanga parbat haramosh massif has some of the greatest relief on earth and highest measured rates of uplift denudation and river incision in bedrock many studies have sought to understand how its morphology relates to geotectonic evolution and glaciations however few catastrophic rock slope failures had been recognised and many of their impacts had been attributed to other processes recently more than 150 of these landslides have been found within a 100 km radius of nanga parbat 8125 m new discoveries are reported east north and west of nanga parbat along the indus streams most generated long run out rock avalanches that dammed the indus or its tributaries some impounding large lakes they initiated episodes of intermontane sedimentation followed by trenching and removal of sediment valley floor features record a complex interplay of impoundment and sedimentation episodes superimposition of streams in pre landslide valley floors and exhumation of buried features these findings depart from existing reconstructions of quaternary events a number of the rock avalanche deposits were previously misinterpreted as tills or moraine and their associated lacustrine deposits attributed to glacial lakes features up to 1000 m above the indus formerly seen as tectonically raised terraces are depositional features emplaced by landslides or erosion terraces recording the trenching of valley fill in landslide interrupted river reaches unquestionably tectonics and glaciation have been important but decisive and misread formative events of the holocene involve a post glacial landslide fragmented fluvial system the latter has kept valley developments in a chronic state of disequilibrium with respect to climatic and geotectonic controls accepted glacial chronologies are put in doubt particularly the extent and timing of the last major glaciation the pace and role processes in the holocene have been seriously underestimated

preservation of elemental and isotopic source identification of sedimentary organic matter the amount and type of organic matter in the sediments of lakes and oceans contribute to their paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatological records only a small fraction of the initial aquatic organic matter survives destruction and alteration during sinking and sedimentation selective degradation modifies the character of the surviving small fraction of organic matter which becomes incorporated in bottom sediments organic matter alterations can continue to sub bottom depths of hundreds of meters corresponding to millions of years source and paleoenvironmental information nonetheless remains preserved in the molecular elemental and isotopic compositions of organic matter c n and 13c values of total organic matter in particular appear to retain paleoenvironmental information for multi myr time periods

bedrock incision rock uplift and threshold hillslopes in the northwestern himalayas the topography of tectonically active mountain ranges reflects a poorly understood competition between bedrock uplift and erosion dating of abandoned river cut surfaces in the northwestern himalayas reveals that the indus river incises through the bedrock at extremely high rates 2 12 mm yr 1 in the surrounding mountains the average angles of hillslopes are steep and essentially independent of erosion rate suggesting control by a common threshold process in this rapidly deforming region an equilibrium is maintained between bedrock uplift and river incision with landsliding allowing hillslopes to adjust efficiently to rapid river down cutting

topography and its isostatic compensation as a cause of seismicity a revision abstract the maximum shear stress mss generated in a spherical shell by the load of a mountain range and the buoyancy of its isostatic compensation has been computed in a previous paper caputo et al 1984 by simulating the effect of the buoyant body force with a surface force applied to the inner surface of the shell in this paper the buoyant force is modeled more exactly with a body force in a multilayered earth model the results show that the previous model is only accurate when the load is above the buoyant mass case a and not when the two are displaced case b the more accurate modelling of this paper shows that in case a the mss is reduced to less than 25 of the load by half way down in the second layer while in case b the mss extends to a much greater depth for example for a surface load of 350 bar isostatically compensated with a second layer 80 km thick the mss is less than 70 bar at a depth of 70 km from the surface in case a in case b this depth is close to 210 km also the very large mss found for case b in the model of the previous paper caputo et al 1984 is greatly reduced with the more accurate model of this paper

earthquake dammed lakes in new zealand eleven small lakes were formed by landslides caused by the 1929 buller earthquake four others were formed by other historic earthquakes in new zealand at least nine other new zealand lakes are also dammed by landslides and were probably formed by prehistoric earthquakes when recognized by morphology synchronous age and areal distribution earthquake dammed lakes could provide an estimate of paleoseismicity for the past few hundred or thousand years

an automated method for producing synoptic regional maps of river gradient variation procedure accuracy tests and comparison with other knickpoint mapping methods abstract the study of abrupt changes in longitudinal river profiles or knickpoints is currently approached through an empirical power law the slope area relationship results based on digital elevation model dem analyses and stream extractions are generally intended to determine crustal uplift rates and identify transient landscape conditions in this article we present an alternative geomorphometric method for locating knickpoints and knickzones based on local slope gradient and curvature attributes intended as a rapid regional scale automated knickpoint detection technique the accuracy of this slope curvature method is tested on two digital elevation grids nasa s srtm ground resolution of 90 m resampled here to 75 m and the aster dem 15 m in the sierra nacimiento new mexico usa a basement cored mountain range recently exhumed by waves of headward drainage integration in response to remote tectonic deformation in the adjacent rio grande rift out of every 10 gradient anomalies detected by the srtm derived numeric routine up to 8 are certifiable knickpoints recognized among a population of georeferenced occurrences surveyed in the field an independent comparison with the slope area method provided a further accuracy test which was particularly useful at sites that could not be validated in the field for practical reasons given the low tectonic activity of the study area the majority of knickpoints was also found to coincide with lithologic boundaries making it difficult without further geomorphological data to single out dynamic knickpoints directly caused by the upstream propagation of channel instabilities relating to base level change

rock slope failure and the river long profile this study examines the geomorphic effects of large 10 6 m 3 rock slope failures on long profiles of rivers in the swiss alps and the new zealand southern alps regression of channel slope versus drainage basin area objectively highlights knickpoints separating incised from aggraded reaches that often correspond to locations of large rock slope failures for a fixed concavity index the highest values of the steepness index and erosion index along a given profile spatially coincide with breach channels cut into formerly river damming rockslide debris as old as 10 k y assuming that the knickpoints do not predate slope failure data show that high profile steepness and inferred specific stream power are not always the cause but often a result of large river blocking rock slope failure in mountain basins omission of rockslide data from slope area plots lowers the steepness index and increases the concavity index on average yet only in few cases more than one standard deviation

glacier and landslide feedbacks to topographic relief in the himalayan syntaxes despite longstanding research on the age and formation of the tibetan plateau the controls on the erosional decay of its margins remain controversial pronounced aridity and highly localized rock uplift have traditionally been viewed as limits to the dissection of the plateau by bedrock rivers recently however glacier dynamics and landsliding have been argued to retard headward fluvial erosion into the plateau interior by forming dams and protective alluvial fill here we report a conspicuous clustering of hundreds of natural dams along the indus and the tsangpo rivers where these cross the himalayan syntaxes the indus is riddled by hundreds of dams composed of debris from catastrophic rock avalanches forming the largest concentration of giant landslide dams known worldwide whereas the tsangpo seems devoid of comparable landslide dams in contrast glacial dams such as river blocking moraines in the headwaters of both rivers are limited to where isolated mountain ranges intersect the regional snowline we find that to first order high local topographic relief along both rivers corresponds to conspicuously different knickzones and differences in the type and potential longevity of these dams in both syntaxes glacier and landslide dams act as a negative feedback in response to fluvial dissection of the plateau margins natural damming protects bedrock from river incision and delays headward knickpoint migration thereby helping stabilize the southwestern and southeastern margins of the tibetan plateau in concert with the effects of upstream aridity and localized rock uplift

the occurrence of large earthquakes in south italy abstract an analysis of the data in the catalogues of italian earthquakes indicates that large earthquakes which occur in the area of radius of about 140 km centered in the straits of messina occur in sequences each sequence is generally formed by two events and covers an average time window of 10 years the last four sequences occurred in the time windows 1783 1891 1818 1823 1865 1870 1905 1908 and are separated by about 40 years indicating that in that area there is now a gap in the time domain the analysis of the data in the catalogue for the region between the latitudes 39 n and 41 50 n indicates that in that region the large earthquakes occurred in 13 sequences each sequence is formed by 3 events in average and covers an average time window of 7 years this indicates that after the earthquake of nov 1980 which occurred after a gap of 67 years other moderately large earthquakes may be expected in that area in the next few years

a 2 300 year long annually resolved record of the south american summer monsoon from the peruvian andes decadal and centennial mean state changes in south american summer monsoon sasm precipitation during the last 2 300 years are detailed using an annually resolved authigenic calcite record of precipitation 18o from a varved lake in the central peruvian andes this unique sediment record shows that 18o peaked during the medieval climate anomaly mca from a d 900 to 1100 providing evidence that the sasm weakened considerably during this period minimum 18o values occurred during the little ice age lia between a d 1400 and 1820 reflecting a prolonged intensification of the sasm that was regionally synchronous after the lia 18o increased rapidly particularly during the current warm period cwp a d 1900 to present indicating a return to reduced sasm precipitation that was more abrupt and sustained than the onset of the mca diminished sasm precipitation during the mca and cwp tracks reconstructed northern hemisphere and north atlantic warming and a northward displacement of the intertropical convergence zone itcz over the atlantic and likely the pacific intensified sasm precipitation during the lia follows reconstructed northern hemisphere and north atlantic cooling el nino like warming in the pacific and a southward displacement of the itcz over both oceans these results suggest that sasm mean state changes are sensitive to itcz variability as mediated by western hemisphere tropical sea surface temperatures particularly in the atlantic continued northern hemisphere and north atlantic warming may therefore help perpetuate the recent reductions in sasm precipitation that characterize the last 100 years which would negatively impact andean water resources

distributions of branched gdgts in a tropical lake system implications for lacustrine application of the mbt cbt paleoproxy branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether gdgt lipids are abundant and ubiquitous in lake sediments potentially allowing for a paleolimnological application of the so called mbt cbt proxy methylation index of branched tetraethers cyclization ratio of branched tetraethers to investigate the origin and characteristics of these compounds in lacustrine environments we examined the distributions of gdgts in soils river sediments and lake sediments from lake towuti on the island of sulawesi indonesia we found significant differences in the degree of methylation and cyclization expressed by way of the mbt and cbt indices between the soil samples and the aquatic samples suggesting that there may be in situ production of gdgts in the aquatic environment based on these findings we urge caution in the application of the mbt cbt paleoproxy to lake sediments and encourage more rigorous study of these compounds in freshwater environments

quaternary moraines vs catastrophic rock avalanches in the karakoram himalaya northern pakistan a history and conception of glacial events for the central karakoram himalaya proposed some 80 years ago by giotto dainelli are largely accepted today however certain deposits identified as terminal moraine complexes marking glacial episodes were actually emplaced by rock avalanches in the skardu and shigar intermontane basins of baltistan at least 15 rock avalanche events were previously mapped as moraine or till criteria used for distinguishing these catastrophic landslide deposits emphasize homogeneous lithology of rubble and matrix clast shape facies characteristics the large scale unity of emplacement and morphological relations to valley topography the deposits of three events at katzarah satpura and the north end of shigar valley have been reconstructed in detail thick supraglacial debris does not result in similar deposits extensive valley fills river terraces large sediment fans and lacustrine sediments formerly attributed to late glacial conditions are reinterpreted as postglacial events involving rock avalanches that interrupted fluvial development existing reconstructions of glaciations are left in doubt especially late glacial events in the central karakoram as are the roles assigned to karakoram main indus valley and western himalayan ice

high resolution palaeoclimatology of the last millennium a review of current status and future prospects this review of late holocene palaeoclimatology represents the results from a pages clivar intersection panel meeting that took place in june 2006 the review is in three parts the principal high resolution proxy disciplines trees corals ice cores and documentary evidence emphasizing current issues in their use for climate reconstruction the various approaches that have been adopted to combine multiple climate proxy records to provide estimates of past annual to decadal timescale northern hemisphere surface temperatures and other climate variables such as large scale circulation indices and the forcing histories used in climate model simulations of the past millennium we discuss the need to develop a framework through which current and new approaches to interpreting these proxy data may be rigorously assessed using pseudo proxies derived from climate model runs where the answer is known the article concludes with a list of recommendations first more raw proxy data are required from the diverse disciplines and from more locations as well as replication for all proxy sources of the basic raw measurements to improve absolute dating and to better distinguish the proxy climate signal from noise second more effort is required to improve the understanding of what individual proxies respond to supported by more site measurements and process studies these activities should also be mindful of the correlation structure of instrumental data indicating which adjacent proxy records ought to be in agreement and which not third large scale climate reconstructions should be attempted using a wide variety of techniques emphasizing those for which quantified errors can be estimated at specified timescales fourth a greater use of climate model simulations is needed to guide the choice of reconstruction techniques the pseudo proxy concept and possibly help determine where given limited resources future sampling should be concentrated

carbon sedimentation at lago grande de curuai a floodplain lake in the low amazon region insights into sedimentation rates we studied recent organic carbon sedimentation in an amazonian floodplain using sediment trap samples and one core sediment traps were placed in several lakes of the lago grande de curuai floodplain during different water level phases the end of the period of water level reduction falling water and the start of the period of water level increase rising water vertical seasonal fluxes of settling particles sp are very difficult to estimate and interpret especially during falling water periods when the concentration of suspended matter in the water column is greater than during rising water periods probably due to resuspension processes vertical fluxes of settling particles sp varied between ca 4 and 2000 g m 2 day 1 fluxes of organic carbon ranged between 5 50 g c m 2 day 1 during the falling water and between 0 041 4 g c m 2 day 1 during the rising water the core is characterised by two laminated sedimentological units sediments in the upper unit which generally coarsens upwards are interpreted as a progradation sequence of the sand and silt flat at the entrance of an inflow channel where the core was collected this unit is composed of three sub units a superficial layer reworked by bioturbation a lower sub unit characterised by horizontal and sub horizontal laminations of fine sands and silts and a basal sub unit composed of horizontal laminations of fine silts and clays the lower unit is characterised by horizontal and sub horizontal laminations of fine sands and silts and corresponds to the top of an older accumulating sequence these changes show that the sedimentary environment is very dynamic at the centennial scale sedimentation rates generally ranged between 0 42 and 1 34 cm year 1 and were estimated to range from 0 56 to 1 35 cm year 1 after normalisation for clay sized particles 4 m floodplain sediment accumulation generally varies between 0 42 1 16 and 1 10 g m 2 year 1 within the first second and third sub units respectively in the second unit the non supported 210pb date is close to the detection limit carbon content is relatively low around 1 sediment weight through the core although mean carbon accumulation rates are very high generally 100 g m 2 year 1 and peaking at 250 g m 2 year 1 these results suggest that amazon floodplain lakes may constitute an important sink for organic carbon

exchanges of sediment between the flood plain and channel of the amazon river in brazil sediment transport through the brazilian sector of the amazon river valley a distance of 2010 km involves exchanges between the channel and the flood plain that in each direction exceed the annual flux of sediment out of the river at obidos 1200 mt yr 1 the exchanges occur through bank erosion bar deposition settling from diffuse overbank flow and sedimentation in flood plain channels we estimated the magnitude of these exchanges for each of 10 reaches of the valley and combined them with calculations of sediment transport into and out of the reaches based on sediment sampling and flow records to define a sediment budget for each reach residuals in the sediment budget of a reach include errors of estimation and erosion or deposition within the channel the annual supply of sediment entering the channel from bank erosion was estimated to average 1570 mt yr 1 1 3 the obidos flux and the amount transferred from channel transport to the bars 380 mt yr 1 and the flood plain 460 mt yr 1 in channelized flow 1230 mt yr 1 in diffuse overbank flow totaled 2070 mt yr 1 1 7 the obidos flux thus deposition on the bars and flood plain exceeded bank erosion by 500 mt yr 1 over a 10 16 yr period sampling and calculation of sediment loads in the channel indicate a net accumulation in the valley floor of approximately 200 mt yr 1 over 16 yr crudely validating the process based calculations of the sediment budget which in turn illuminate the physical controls on each exchange process another 300 400 mt yr 1 are deposited in a delta plain downstream of obidos the components of the sediment budget reflect hydrologic characteristics of the valley floor and geomorphic characteristics of the channel and flood plain which in turn are influenced by tectonic features of the amazon structural trough

clay mineral composition of river sediments in the amazon basin abstract clay minerals are important in evaluating the maturity of suspended sediments weathering intensity and source area however there are processes that can change the mineral assemblage such as river transportation deposition remobilization and tributary inputs in terms of water discharge and sediment yield the amazon is one of the largest rivers in the world most of the suspended sediments come from the andes crossing the lowlands before reaching the ocean this study measures the spatial distribution of clay mineral assemblages over the entire amazon basin the results obtained show the main features of the amazon river main stem and larger tributaries from their sources to their confluence clay mineral composition highlights the evolution of the madeira and maranon solimoes river which start in the andes with high illite chlorite content downstream smectite contents increase moreover all shield tributaries show high kaolinite content the lower amazon river is characterized by relative high smectite content different from the andean sources the clay mineral results show that suspended sediments of the amazon river have three main sources 1 the andes mountains 2 the amazon shields and 3 the piedmont basins especially the pastaza alluvial megafan and the fitzcarrald arch basin lateral bank erosion plays also a significant role by the introduction of more mature sediments into the river enriched in smectite

sediment flux from a mountain belt derived by landslide mapping in humid uplands landsliding is the dominant mass wasting process in the western southern alps of new zealand landslides are scale invariant and have a power law magnitude frequency distribution independent studies from other regions suggest that this is a general property of landsliding this observation is of critical importance to the evaluation of the impact of events of different length scales over different time intervals on landscape evolution it is particularly useful when estimating regional geomorphic rates because it constrains the frequency and overall significance of extreme events which cannot otherwise be evaluated by integrating the complete response of the system we estimate the regional denudation rate due to landsliding to be 9 4 mm yr 1 sediment discharge from the western southern alps is dominated by landslide derived material

quantitative relationships between uplift and relief parameters for the southern alps new zealand as determined by fission track analysis the southern alps mountain chain new zealand has formed as a consequence of late cenozoic collision of the continental parts of the pacific and australia plates fission track analysis has yielded estimates of the amount age of initiation and rate of late cenozoic rock uplift for 82 surface samples taken from transects across the southern alps the mean surface summit and valley elevations in the vicinity of each of the rock sample sites have also been measured regression of the geomorphic variables on the uplift variables has been used to establish quantitative relationships between uplift and geomorphology there are strong and consistent linear associations between uplift and the elevations of the mean surface summits and valleys the preferred regression models have uniform slope but varying elevation response between transects substitution of space for time has allowed the evolution of landforms to be studied to the east of the main divide elevation and relief are proportional to and closely related to the age of initiation of rock uplift uplift age and the amount of rock uplift r2 0 8 mean surface uplift was delayed for 2 ma after the start of rock uplift a result of the stripping of a soft cover rock succession that prior to rock uplift overlaid the harder greywacke basement inter transect variations in regression response and x intercept are inferred therefore to reflect the variable preuplift thickness of cover rocks however the regular regression slope for the transects reflects the consistent nature of the interaction between uplift and the erodibility of greywacke basement uplift of the mean surface proceeded at 0 4 km km and 0 4 km ma of rock uplift while the rock uplift rate was 0 8 km ma summit elevations have increased at a rate of 0 6 km ma and valley elevations have increased at 0 2 km ma regression lines relating mean surface summit and valley elevations to rock uplift and uplift age diverge from common intercepts it is concluded therefore that the mountains east of the main divide have continued to increase in elevation and relief and change in form over time since the start of mean surface uplift mountain elevation has little relationship with late cenozoic mean rock uplift rates of 0 8 1 0 km ma or inferred contemporary rock uplift rates r2 0 3 in contrast to the west of the main divide elevation is shown to be closely related to rock uplift rate r2 0 3 in contrast to the west of the main divide elevation is shown to be closely related to rock uplift rate r2 0 8 transects with higher rock uplift rates support higher topography landforms are therefore in a stable equilibrium with rock uplift rate and the landscape contains no residual evidence of the total amount of rock uplift or the age of uplift lithological variation appears to have no relationship with elevation

tracing soil organic carbon in the lower amazon river and its tributaries using gdgt distributions and bulk organic matter properties abstract in order to trace the transport of soil organic carbon oc in the lower amazon basin we investigated the distributions of crenarchaeol and branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers gdgts by analyzing riverbed sediments and river suspended particulate matter spm collected in the solimoes amazon river mainstem and its tributaries the branched and isoprenoid tetraether bit index a proxy for river transported soil oc into the ocean was determined from the distributions of these gdgts the gdgt derived parameters were compared with other bulk geochemical data i e c n ratio and stable carbon isotopic composition the gdgt derived and bulk geochemical data indicate that riverine spm and riverbed sediments in the lower amazon river and its tributaries are a mixture of c3 plant derived soil oc and aquatic derived oc the branched gdgts in the spm and riverbed sediments did not predominantly originate from the high andes soils 2500 m in altitude as was suggested previously however further constraint on the soil source area of branched gdgts was hampered due to the deficiency of soil data from the lower montane forest areas in the andes our study also revealed seasonal and interannual variation in gdgt composition as well as soil oc discharge which was closely related to the hydrological cycle by way of a simple binary mixing model using the flux weighted bit values at obidos the last gauging station in the amazon river we estimated that 70 80 of the poc pool in the river was derived of soil oc however care should be taken to use the bit index since it showed a non conservative behaviour along the river continuum due to the aquatic production of crenarchaeol further investigation using a continuous sampling strategy following the full hydrological cycle is required to fully understand how soil derived gdgt signals are transformed in large tropical river systems through their transport pathway to the ocean

a high resolution palaeoclimatic record for the last 27 500 years in tropical west africa from the carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of lacustrine organic matter variations in the carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition of bulk organic matter in the sediments of lake bosumtwi ghana reflect climatically induced changes to the lake and the catchment flora cores spanning the last 27 5 kyr of sedimentation in the lake show large oscillations in 13corg pdb and 15norg air the late pleistocene record is particularly detailed showing changes of ca 20 in carbon and ca 10 in nitrogen isotopic compositions these variations are of complex origin although different in magnitude major isotopic excursions in the two records are generally in phase and reveal the occurrence of two major dry intervals at and immediately following the last glacial maximum the allerod younger dryas period also seems to have been marked by generally dry conditions in this part of tropical west africa nitrogen isotopic evidence suggests that during the period 9 2 3 2 kyr the lake had an extremely stable water column probably due to the absence of a windy or cool dry season or both regular circulation of the water column recommenced during the late holocene and has persisted until the present day

a mineralogical and organic geochemical overview of the effects of holocene changes in amazon river flow on three floodplain lakes abstract a synthesis of the impacts of the amazon river hydrological changes on the sedimentation process of organic matter om in three different floodplain lakes santa ninha maraca and comprido lakes is presented in this study today the santa ninha and maraca lakes are directly and permanently connected with the main channel of the amazon river in contrast to comprido lake which is indirectly and periodically influenced by the amazon river due to its greater distance from the main channel all three lake sediment records showed a reduced river inflow due to dry climatic conditions during the early and middle holocene followed by an increased fluvial input during the wetter late holocene in santa ninha and maraca lakes the reduced river inflow period was recorded by sediments with a low abundance of smectite on average 20 wt a clay mineral mainly transported by the fluvial system high total organic carbon toc contents on average 8 2 wt and a predominantly acidic soil om input evidenced by high concentrations on average 180 g gtoc 1 of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers gdgt during the late holocene a higher smectite abundance on average 43 wt and a lower toc content on average 1 4 wt pointed to greater dilution by riverine lithogenic matter this change was accompanied by a proportional increase in the aquatically produced crenarchaeol suggesting a higher lake water level in comprido lake a sedimentation gap occurred during the early and middle holocene the wetter late holocene since 3000 cal years bp was characterized by high toc values on average 9 wt and a sharp increase in soil om input as recorded by an increase in branched gdgt concentrations on average 81 g gtoc 1 but the smectite content was low on average 14 this combination suggests that the soil om input to comprido lake from the local catchment area became dominant during the wet climate late holocene due to the large distance of the lake from the amazon river main channel consequently our study shows that the sedimentation processes of om in amazonian floodplain lakes were strongly influenced by variations in the hydrodynamic regime of the amazon river during the holocene however the impacts of the variations on the three floodplain lakes were different depending on the distance of each lake from the main channel of the amazon river

southward migration of the intertropical convergence zone through the holocene titanium and iron concentration data from the anoxic cariaco basin off the venezuelan coast can be used to infer variations in the hydrological cycle over northern south america during the past 14 000 years with subdecadal resolution following a dry younger dryas a period of increased precipitation and riverine discharge occurred during the holocene thermal maximum since approximately 5400 years ago a trend toward drier conditions is evident from the data with high amplitude fluctuations and precipitation minima during the time interval 3800 to 2800 years ago and during the little ice age these regional changes in precipitation are best explained by shifts in the mean latitude of the atlantic intertropical convergence zone itcz potentially driven by pacific based climate variability the cariaco basin record exhibits strong correlations with climate records from distant regions including the high latitude northern hemisphere providing evidence for global teleconnections among regional climates

paleoenvironmental dynamics in south amazonia brazil during the last 35 000 years inferred from pollen and geochemical records of lago do saci abstract paleoenvironmental changes for the last 35 000 years were reconstructed from palynological sedimentological and organic geochemical evidence from a well dated sediment core from lago do saci south amazonia dry climatic conditions occurred between 35 000 and 18 200 cal yr bp as recorded by high frequencies of open savanna taxa and low lake level indicated by sagittaria and low total organic carbon content cold temperatures are indicated by the presence of podocarpus and ilex a sedimentation hiatus observed between 18 200 and 9200 cal yr bp was likely related to dry conditions the beginning of the holocene was marked by rainforest expansion and an increase in carbon content that represented high lake levels and warmer and wetter climate conditions between 7500 and 5000 cal yr bp the expansion of open savanna seasonal forest elements and abundant black carbon suggests a dry phase after 5000 cal yr bp rainforest expansion and higher lake levels indicate a return to wetter conditions a reduction of flooding taxa celtis and mauritia between 1800 and 1300 cal yr bp high lake level conditions and maintenance of a forest physiognomy suggests a decrease of regional precipitation and subsequent reduction of the flooded areas in a still humid climate regime

catastrophic landslides and their effects on the upper indus streams karakoram himalaya northern pakistan abstract the paper examines the nature and geomorphic influences of deposits from rock avalanches that obstruct rivers most of the 115 rockslide rock avalanche events identified in the karakoram himalaya straddled one or more stream valleys at least 73 of these landslides formerly dammed the indus or its tributaries upstream of the barriers remnants exist of once very extensive lacustrine deposits the stability and long term survival of dams from large rock avalanches is addressed and the reasons for the gradual or phased rather than catastrophic and sudden breaching case histories emphasise the erosional and depositional forms associated with the barriers they are reconstructed in terms of the emplacement and properties of the deposits from rock avalanches and the response of the river to interruption by them these barriers have exerted a substantial control over stream response and development for most of the holocene at least today they are associated with distinctive features of channel form and thalweg river terrace systems intermontane sediment sinks and sources and local erosional forms in bedrock more broadly the landslide barriers have created a naturally fragmented river system deposition and erosion in the lower few tens or hundreds of meters of the upper indus stream valleys have been dominated by epicycles of aggradation trenching and downcutting that mainly reflect the scale timing and history of each barrier the landforms involved are only indirectly related to the late glacial and paraglacial conditions that have hitherto been regarded as the main explanation

an abrupt wind shift in western europe at the onset of the younger dryas cold period the younger dryas cold reversal during the last glacial termination is one of the most abrupt climate change events observed in the northern hemisphere analyses of varved lake sediments from western germany suggest that storminess in the north atlantic region increased within a single year at this time providing a mechanistic link between a decrease in the meridional overturning circulation and western european cooling the younger dryas cooling 12 700 years ago is one of the most abrupt climate changes observed in northern hemisphere palaeoclimate records1 2 3 4 annually laminated lake sediments are ideally suited to record the dynamics of such abrupt changes as the seasonal deposition responds immediately to climate and the varve counts provide an accurate estimate of the timing of the change here we present sub annual records of varve microfacies and geochemistry from lake meerfelder maar in western germany providing one of the best dated records of this climate transition5 our data indicate an abrupt increase in storminess during the autumn to spring seasons occurring from one year to the next at 12 679 yr bp broadly coincident with other changes in this region we suggest that this shift in wind strength represents an abrupt change in the north atlantic westerlies towards a stronger and more zonal jet changes in meridional overturning circulation alone cannot fully explain the changes in european climate6 7 we suggest the observed wind shift provides the mechanism for the strong temporal link between north atlantic ocean overturning circulation and european climate during deglaciation

source parameters of earthquakes in the strait of messina italy during this century abstract basic source parameters of earthquakes that have occurred in the seismogenic source region of the strait of messina southern italy are analyzed from seismological data and vertical ground displacements in particular faulting parameters associated with the 1908 ms 7 1 messina earthquake have been analyzed through inversion of coseismic displacements and available seismograms this normal faulting earthquake was located in the upper 15 km of the crust and had a source dislocation of 1 5 m on a fault plane striking n s and dipping 40 e this seismogenic region was quiescent before 1908 and later on this century but its surroundings i e the southern segment of calabrian arc is one of the most seismically active regions of italy with sequences of large earthquakes m 7 7 5 in 1638 1693 1783 and 1905 probably also associated with normal faulting as suggested by the regional tectonics during this century in the strait of messina small earthquakes occurred in 1952 ml 4 5 1961 ml 4 7 1975 ml 4 7 and in 1985 ml 4 1 this last being the first documented swarm sequence hypocenter distribution fault plane solutions seismic moments and stress drops have been computed from the data of a local seismic network consisting of up to eight stations the scaling law of the swarm events seems to show a departure from self similarity with earthquakes having a constant source radius of about 300 m

accumulation of organic carbon in five brazilian lakes during the holocene abstract a comparative study was made of organic carbon accumulation in five lacustrine environments in brazil large open water lake ponds with floating meadows and marshes the most representative cores were used to calculate the accumulation of total organic carbon toc in the sediment over the past 12 000 cal years bp carbon accumulation rates were determined using the toc concentration sediment in situ density 14 c calibrated ages and the interpolated sedimentation rate cm year 1 or sediment accumulation rate g m 2 year 1 the c n ratio and microscopic observations were used to characterise the sedimentary organic matter recent toc accumulation in the lakes was estimated at 7 41 g m 2 year 1 by averaging the last 500 years this variation roughly correlated with the present day ratio of watershed area vs lake area indicating that nutrient input is important for the modern accumulation of organic matter the accumulation rates were greatest in lakes with floating macrophytes the largest lake dom helvecio with a strong thermal stratification low primary production and low carbon accumulation had relatively well preserved organic matter when its low watershed area lake area ratio was considered the general increase in carbon accumulation during the holocene followed the expansion of lakes and the development of a wetter climate due to a growing penetration of the atlantic and amazonian wet air mass over brazil driven by insolation changes this change in carbon accumulation was not controlled by the higher water and nutrient inputs alone more organic matter was decomposed when lake levels were low at the beginning of the holocene some lakes were also influenced by higher inputs of allochthonous organic matter during the early and middle holocene these inputs included high concentrations of charcoal fragments lake morphology and its changes as the lake level rose as well as the nature of primary producers strongly influenced the carbon accumulation rates our understanding of how climate changes are linked to changes in the lacustrine environment should not be based on measuring organic matter alone but requires a good description of the organic matter and other limnological parameters

reconstructing the transport history of glacigenic sediments a new approach based on the co variance of clast form indices abstract two indices are used to describe the aggregate shape and roundness characteristics of glacially transported clasts the c40 index the percentage of clasts with c a ratios 0 4 and the ra index the percentage of very angular and angular clasts in a sample analysis of the between and within sample co variance of these indices provides a powerful tool for discriminating actively and passively transported clasts in glacigenic deposits use of these indices is illustrated in an analysis of the form characteristics of clasts from lateral and frontal moraines at storbreen jotunheimen these fall between those of actively transported clasts in basal till low c40 and ra values and those of unmodified frost weathered clasts high c40 and ra values both indices decline down moraine within sample analyses of clast shape demonstrates that these aggregate clast form gradients reflect changes in the relative proportions of actively and passively transported debris on the moraines rather than progressive modification of actively transported clasts these analyses also indicate that actively transported clasts form the dominant component of the moraines particularly near the former glacier terminus further applications of the approach developed here are suggested

post rock avalanche dam outburst flood sedimentation in ram creek southern alps new zealand rock avalanches are common in mountainous regions that are tectonically active they are capable of forming natural dams of uncertain persistence that have significant impacts on the river system over wide spatial scales and possibly over geological time scales here we combine field data and digital elevation model dem analysis to show the response of ram creek new zealand to 28 years of sediment dispersion following the 1968 emplacement of a co seismic rock avalanche dam that breached catastrophically in 1981 the results show a system that has not attained equilibrium being unable to move the quantity of dam derived sediments and will likely not attain equilibrium before the next major sediment input it is in a state of persistent disturbance where localised reworking dominates erosion in ram creek is focussed on lateral bevelling and bedrock gorge widening rather than vertical incision to keep pace with tectonic uplift importantly for studies of tectonic geomorphology this widening which if sustained will form a strath terrace does not represent a period of reduced uplift stream metrics concavity and steepness are unable to differentiate the identified rock avalanche induced knickpoint from tectonic and lithological knickpoints

the role of landslides in mountain range evolution abstract we review the role of landslides in current concepts of the topographic development of mountain ranges we find that many studies in this field address basin or orogen scale competition between rock uplift and fluvial bedrock erosion hillslopes in general and bedrock landslides in particular are often assumed to respond rapidly to incision and development of the fluvial drainage network this leads to a one sided view of the geomorphic coupling between hillslopes and rivers that emphasizes the fluvial control of hillslopes but ignores the alternative view that landslides can affect the fluvial network there is growing evidence that landslides are a dominant source of sediment in mountain belts and that they exert a direct geomorphic control on fluvial processes landslides can influence the river network in a variety of ways from determining basin area and drainage divide positions to setting streamwise variations in sediment load and calibre the geomorphic legacy of large landslides on hillslope and channel morphologies may persist for up to 104 yr adding considerable variability to fluvial erosion and sedimentation patterns over these timescales we identify a number of questions for future research and conclude that a better understanding and quantification of the geomorphic feedbacks between landslides and river channels builds an important link between short term 105 yr landscape evolution models

episodic sediment accumulation on amazonian flood plains influenced by el nino southern oscillation continental scale rivers with a sandy bed sequester a significant proportion of their sediment load in flood plains the spatial extent and depths of such deposits have been described and flood plain accumulation has been determined at decadal timescales but it has not been possible to identify discrete events or to resolve deposition on near annual timescales here we analyse 210 pb activity profiles from sediment cores taken in the pristine beni and mamore river basins which together comprise 720 000 km2 of the amazon basin to investigate sediment accumulation patterns in the andean amazonian foreland we find that in most locations sediment stratigraphy is dominated by discrete packages of sediments of uniform age which are typically 20 80 cm thick with system wide recurrence intervals of about 8 yr indicating relatively rare episodic deposition events ocean temperature and stream flow records link these episodic events to rapidly rising floods associated with la nina events which debouch extraordinary volumes of sediments from the andes we conclude that transient processes driven by the el nino southern oscillation cycle control the formation of the bolivian flood plains and modulate downstream delivery of sediments as well as associated carbon nutrients and pollutants to the amazon main stem

a fragmentation spreading model for long runout rock avalanches based on the observation that deposits of large rock avalanches consist predominantly of intensely fragmented rock debris it is proposed that the processes of rock fragmentation are significant ca

inland variability of carbon nitrogen concentrations and δ13c in amazon floodplain varzea vegetation and sediment we analysed carbon nitrogen and 13c values in sediment sampled in the amazon floodplains the surface sediment samples were collected along inland transects divided according to their vegetation cover a forest where the dominant vegetation was inundation forests b grass where the dominant vegetation was grasses mainly from echnochloa polystachya c mixed where the vegetation changed from grasses near the river bank to forest inland the average sediment carbon and nitrogen concentrations were significantly higher in forest samples c 0 99 n 0 12 than in grass samples c 0 84 n 0 10 the average sediment 13c was significantly heavier in grass 26 7 than in forest samples 28 6 reflecting the isotopically heavier c4 grasses carbon in the forest and mixed transects inland increases in the carbon and nitrogen concentrations were observed at approximately 50 to 60 m from the riverbank the concentration of carbon and nitrogen became similar to the river particulate organic carbon poc concentration which is the primary floodplain sediment source we hypothesized that this trend is caused by the deposition of carbon and nitrogen depleted sand size particles in the first few metres of the floodplain whereas the more enriched silt clay particles are preferentially deposited far inland in contrast to inland trends no significant downriver trend was observed in the carbon and nitrogen concentrations however a downriver 13c increase was observed for sediment in grass covered areas based on 13c values in different varzea environments we estimated the relative contribution of riverine poc and vegetation material present in the varzea sediments under different vegetation covers for forest sediment samples we estimated that 60 of the carbon was derived from the riverine poc and the forests provided the remaining 40 for open areas covered with grasses we estimated that only 10 was derived from these plants and 90 was derived from riverine poc copyright 2003 john wiley sons ltd

environmental changes in southeastern amazonia during the last 25 000 yr revealed from a paleoecological record abstract new pollen micro charcoal sediment and mineral analyses of a radiocarbon dated sediment core from the serra sul dos carajas southeast amazonia indicate changes between drier and wetter climatic conditions during the past 25 000 yr reflected by fire events expansion of savanna vegetation and no analog amazonian forest communities a cool and dry last glacial maximum lgm and late glacial were followed by a wet phase in the early holocene lasting for ca 1200 yr when tropical forest occurred under stable humid conditions subsequently an increasingly warm seasonal climate established the onset of seasonality falls within the early holocene warm period with possibly longer dry seasons from 10 200 to 3400 cal yr bp and an explicitly drier phase from 9000 to 3700 cal yr bp modern conditions with shorter dry seasons became established after 3400 cal yr bp taken together with paleoenvironmental evidence from elsewhere in the amazon basin the observed changes in late pleistocene and holocene vegetation in the serra sul dos carajas likely reflect large scale shifts in precipitation patterns driven by the latitudinal displacement of the inter tropical convergence zone and changes in sea surface temperatures in the tropical atlantic