- Email: [email protected]
Mineralogy of bat guano in the Gossi Cave, Korea
252
Abstracts / Quaternary International 279-280 (2012) 233–345
BIOSTRATIGRAPHY AND ZONATION OF THE MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS OF THE CENTRAL RUSSIAN PLAIN USING SMALL MAMMALS AND MOLLUSKS Peter Kondrashov. A.T. Still University of Health Sciences, United States E-mail address: [email protected]
The Middle Pleistocene deposits of the Central Russian Plain include three major moraines with extensive series of alluvial deposits, fossil soils, and loesses between them, which produced rich small mammal and mollusk faunas. The main glacial stages on the Central Russian Plain correspond to marine isotopic stages (MIS) 18 (Setunian), 16 (Donian), 12 (Okian), and 6 (Moskovian) and correlate well with the glacials known from Central and Western Europe. Tiraspolian (Cromerian) faunas of the early Middle Pleistocene are known from the deposits of Petropavlovian, Pokrovian, Ilyinian, and Muchkapian horizons (MIS 15-20). Tiraspolian faunas known from below the Donian till (MIS 17-20) are characterized by the dominance of the vole Mimomys pusillus. Mollusk faunas of the lower part of the Tiraspolian complex are characterized by the presence of Tanousia krasnenkovi, Viviparus diluvianus, and Parafossarulus. The upper Tiraspolian faunas (MIS 15) are characterized by the dominance of the vole Mimomys intermedius, presence of the gastropod Borysthenia intermedia and absence of Tanousia and Parafossarulus. The transition between the Tiraspolian and Ikoretsian faunas corresponds to the final stage of the Cromerian (MIS 13) and is marked by the disappearance of Mimomys and first appearance of Arvicola. The mollusk faunas are characterized by the disappearance of Borysthenia intermedia. The Likhvinian (Holsteinian) molluskan faunas (MIS 11) are characterized by high land snail diversity and are similar to modern Central European faunas in the presence of Acicula polita and several clausilid species. New data from numerous localities on the Central Russian Plain show a complex history of evolution of small mammal and mollusk faunas during the Middle Pleistocene, characterized by the appearance and disappearance of several taxa. The new data contribute to the development of a more detailed stratigraphic scale of European Quaternary continental deposits. A HIGH-RESOLUTION STALAGMITE d13C RECORD FROM SANBAO CAVE OVER THE PENULTIMATE Xinggong Kong. Nanjing Normal University, China E-mail address: [email protected]
Two stalagmites (SB24 and SB42) recovered from Sanbao Cave in Shennongjia, China, established with 24 230Th ages and 637 d13C data, provides a continuous, high-resolution, precisely dated palaeoclimate record covering the coldest part of the penultimate glacial (1911.8-1330.6 ka BP). Stable carbon isotope ratios from Sanbao Cave show prominent orbital- to millennial-scale variations, which is interpreted in terms of changes in soil biological activity, mainly controlled by the temperature. Comparison to Sanbao d18O, insolation, and global ice volume, the two proxies (d13C and d18O) are regulated by two different orbital rhythms. The Shennongjia temperature respond predominantly to the 100ka orbital cycle, whereas the AM rainfall vigor oscillates at the 23ka precession cycle. Sanbao d13C exhibit largely and clearly millennial-scale oscillations, which could be correlated to the DO events off the Western Iberian margin. Six ice rafting debris in the North Atlantic are also imprinted in stalagmite d13C profile. We show for the first time that specific millennial-scale climatic events occurred more or less synchronously between AM and northern Atlantic. These spatially correlated evens suggest that the millennial-scale fluctuations would be of global significance, supporting the north Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation exert an important influence in the AM. MINERALOGY OF BAT GUANO IN THE GOSSI CAVE, KOREA Dal-Yong Kong. National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Korea E-mail address: [email protected]
Mineralogical characterization was studied from bat guano deposited in carbonate cave, named Gossi Cave, Korea using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Precipitated minerals in bat guano pile were mostly composed of
phosphate and sulfate minerals. A variety of phosphate minerals including francoanellite, taranakite, brushite and monetite were identified throughout the profile and sulfate minerals such as gypsum and barite were also present within the section. Phase of phosphate minerals were different according to the depth (monetite, brushite, ardealite, francoanellite and taranakite in an ascending order), which may reflect pH variation due to degradation of guano organic materials. Precipitation and variation of phosphates among depth profile indicates that microenvironment in the bat guano was retained in low pH and relatively dry circumstance. DO CONTEMPORARY GLACIAL EROSION QUATERNARY LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION?
RATES
REPRESENT
Michele Koppes. University of British Columbia, Canada E-mail address: [email protected]
Contemporary glacial erosion rates based on current sediment yields from glaciated basins in temperate orogens in Alaska and Patagonia are up to a factor of five higher than erosion rates averaged over a glacial cycle, and up to an order of magnitude higher than long-term exhumation rates derived from detrital apatite thermochronometry. One issue likely to contribute to these high contemporary sediment yields is the fact that most of the glaciers studied have been in rapid retreat since the end of the Little Ice Age. The marked retreat and thinning of these glaciers suggests that more ice is being conveyed through the system than can be sustained by the input of snow, resulting in steeper surface slopes, associated acceleration of sliding at the bed, and more rapid erosion. The order of magnitude difference in rates across timescales suggests that current rates of erosion are highly anomalous and reflect only periods of warming climate and enhanced glacial retreat. To investigate this influence of transient and warming climate and changing ice dynamics on glacial erosion rates, we can also compare annual to decadal sediment yields to reconstructed fluxes of ice for glaciers across a range of temperate to polar climatic regimes. Centennially-averaged basin-wide erosion rates decrease by almost two orders of magnitude between temperate and polar glaciers with similar ice fluxes, from over 16 mm/yr in temperate Northern Patagonia to 0.02 mm/yr in the Antarctic Peninsula, suggesting that climate, and not ice volume, is the primary driver of glacial erosion. The substantial increase in glacier erosion rates as many glaciers shift from polar to temperate regimes implies significant changes in geomorphic response and sediment delivery to the continental shelves as climatic boundary conditions change, which needs to be taken into consideration when evaluating orogenic processes and denudation rates throughout the Quaternary. COMBINING HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE MODELING APPROACHES IN A GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT - A CASE STUDY FROM NAGA, CENTRAL SUDAN Janina Körper. Freie Universität Berlin/Institute for Space Science, Germany E-mail address: [email protected]
While paleoclimatic proxy data for precipitation often represent annual means or sums, local adaptation strategies for water harvesting in arid and semiarid environments, often rely on rainfall events on shorter (daily or subdaily) time scales. In this study hydrological and climate models are combined to investigate the environmental conditions sufficient for the usage of water harvesting strategies on a monthly to subdaily time scale. The ancient Meroitic city of Naga is located 40 km south of the river Nile and dated back from the 4th century BCE to the 4th century CE. To adapt to the low frequency occurrence of runoff events the residents of the ancient city constructed a hand-dug water reservoir, the “Great Hafir of Naga”. To analyse rainfall trends of the annual wet season during northern hemisphere summer a statistical downscaling model for July precipitation in Naga is developed. The important threshold for a rainfall amount that leads to runoff, which can be collected and stored in the Hafir, is derived from a hydrological model. Time-slice experiments with the global general circulation model ECHAM5 with a spectral horizontal resolution of T106, (approx. 1.1 lat x1.1 lon), driven with changes of the orbital parameters, solar irradiation and greenhouse gases are employed to investigate the reoccurrence interval of the necessary rainfall events. The statistically
Abstracts / Quaternary International 279-280 (2012) 233–345
BIOSTRATIGRAPHY AND ZONATION OF THE MIDDLE PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS OF THE CENTRAL RUSSIAN PLAIN USING SMALL MAMMALS AND MOLLUSKS Peter Kondrashov. A.T. Still University of Health Sciences, United States E-mail address: [email protected]
The Middle Pleistocene deposits of the Central Russian Plain include three major moraines with extensive series of alluvial deposits, fossil soils, and loesses between them, which produced rich small mammal and mollusk faunas. The main glacial stages on the Central Russian Plain correspond to marine isotopic stages (MIS) 18 (Setunian), 16 (Donian), 12 (Okian), and 6 (Moskovian) and correlate well with the glacials known from Central and Western Europe. Tiraspolian (Cromerian) faunas of the early Middle Pleistocene are known from the deposits of Petropavlovian, Pokrovian, Ilyinian, and Muchkapian horizons (MIS 15-20). Tiraspolian faunas known from below the Donian till (MIS 17-20) are characterized by the dominance of the vole Mimomys pusillus. Mollusk faunas of the lower part of the Tiraspolian complex are characterized by the presence of Tanousia krasnenkovi, Viviparus diluvianus, and Parafossarulus. The upper Tiraspolian faunas (MIS 15) are characterized by the dominance of the vole Mimomys intermedius, presence of the gastropod Borysthenia intermedia and absence of Tanousia and Parafossarulus. The transition between the Tiraspolian and Ikoretsian faunas corresponds to the final stage of the Cromerian (MIS 13) and is marked by the disappearance of Mimomys and first appearance of Arvicola. The mollusk faunas are characterized by the disappearance of Borysthenia intermedia. The Likhvinian (Holsteinian) molluskan faunas (MIS 11) are characterized by high land snail diversity and are similar to modern Central European faunas in the presence of Acicula polita and several clausilid species. New data from numerous localities on the Central Russian Plain show a complex history of evolution of small mammal and mollusk faunas during the Middle Pleistocene, characterized by the appearance and disappearance of several taxa. The new data contribute to the development of a more detailed stratigraphic scale of European Quaternary continental deposits. A HIGH-RESOLUTION STALAGMITE d13C RECORD FROM SANBAO CAVE OVER THE PENULTIMATE Xinggong Kong. Nanjing Normal University, China E-mail address: [email protected]
Two stalagmites (SB24 and SB42) recovered from Sanbao Cave in Shennongjia, China, established with 24 230Th ages and 637 d13C data, provides a continuous, high-resolution, precisely dated palaeoclimate record covering the coldest part of the penultimate glacial (1911.8-1330.6 ka BP). Stable carbon isotope ratios from Sanbao Cave show prominent orbital- to millennial-scale variations, which is interpreted in terms of changes in soil biological activity, mainly controlled by the temperature. Comparison to Sanbao d18O, insolation, and global ice volume, the two proxies (d13C and d18O) are regulated by two different orbital rhythms. The Shennongjia temperature respond predominantly to the 100ka orbital cycle, whereas the AM rainfall vigor oscillates at the 23ka precession cycle. Sanbao d13C exhibit largely and clearly millennial-scale oscillations, which could be correlated to the DO events off the Western Iberian margin. Six ice rafting debris in the North Atlantic are also imprinted in stalagmite d13C profile. We show for the first time that specific millennial-scale climatic events occurred more or less synchronously between AM and northern Atlantic. These spatially correlated evens suggest that the millennial-scale fluctuations would be of global significance, supporting the north Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation exert an important influence in the AM. MINERALOGY OF BAT GUANO IN THE GOSSI CAVE, KOREA Dal-Yong Kong. National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Korea E-mail address: [email protected]
Mineralogical characterization was studied from bat guano deposited in carbonate cave, named Gossi Cave, Korea using scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Precipitated minerals in bat guano pile were mostly composed of
phosphate and sulfate minerals. A variety of phosphate minerals including francoanellite, taranakite, brushite and monetite were identified throughout the profile and sulfate minerals such as gypsum and barite were also present within the section. Phase of phosphate minerals were different according to the depth (monetite, brushite, ardealite, francoanellite and taranakite in an ascending order), which may reflect pH variation due to degradation of guano organic materials. Precipitation and variation of phosphates among depth profile indicates that microenvironment in the bat guano was retained in low pH and relatively dry circumstance. DO CONTEMPORARY GLACIAL EROSION QUATERNARY LANDSCAPE EVOLUTION?
RATES
REPRESENT
Michele Koppes. University of British Columbia, Canada E-mail address: [email protected]
Contemporary glacial erosion rates based on current sediment yields from glaciated basins in temperate orogens in Alaska and Patagonia are up to a factor of five higher than erosion rates averaged over a glacial cycle, and up to an order of magnitude higher than long-term exhumation rates derived from detrital apatite thermochronometry. One issue likely to contribute to these high contemporary sediment yields is the fact that most of the glaciers studied have been in rapid retreat since the end of the Little Ice Age. The marked retreat and thinning of these glaciers suggests that more ice is being conveyed through the system than can be sustained by the input of snow, resulting in steeper surface slopes, associated acceleration of sliding at the bed, and more rapid erosion. The order of magnitude difference in rates across timescales suggests that current rates of erosion are highly anomalous and reflect only periods of warming climate and enhanced glacial retreat. To investigate this influence of transient and warming climate and changing ice dynamics on glacial erosion rates, we can also compare annual to decadal sediment yields to reconstructed fluxes of ice for glaciers across a range of temperate to polar climatic regimes. Centennially-averaged basin-wide erosion rates decrease by almost two orders of magnitude between temperate and polar glaciers with similar ice fluxes, from over 16 mm/yr in temperate Northern Patagonia to 0.02 mm/yr in the Antarctic Peninsula, suggesting that climate, and not ice volume, is the primary driver of glacial erosion. The substantial increase in glacier erosion rates as many glaciers shift from polar to temperate regimes implies significant changes in geomorphic response and sediment delivery to the continental shelves as climatic boundary conditions change, which needs to be taken into consideration when evaluating orogenic processes and denudation rates throughout the Quaternary. COMBINING HYDROLOGICAL AND CLIMATE MODELING APPROACHES IN A GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT - A CASE STUDY FROM NAGA, CENTRAL SUDAN Janina Körper. Freie Universität Berlin/Institute for Space Science, Germany E-mail address: [email protected]
While paleoclimatic proxy data for precipitation often represent annual means or sums, local adaptation strategies for water harvesting in arid and semiarid environments, often rely on rainfall events on shorter (daily or subdaily) time scales. In this study hydrological and climate models are combined to investigate the environmental conditions sufficient for the usage of water harvesting strategies on a monthly to subdaily time scale. The ancient Meroitic city of Naga is located 40 km south of the river Nile and dated back from the 4th century BCE to the 4th century CE. To adapt to the low frequency occurrence of runoff events the residents of the ancient city constructed a hand-dug water reservoir, the “Great Hafir of Naga”. To analyse rainfall trends of the annual wet season during northern hemisphere summer a statistical downscaling model for July precipitation in Naga is developed. The important threshold for a rainfall amount that leads to runoff, which can be collected and stored in the Hafir, is derived from a hydrological model. Time-slice experiments with the global general circulation model ECHAM5 with a spectral horizontal resolution of T106, (approx. 1.1 lat x1.1 lon), driven with changes of the orbital parameters, solar irradiation and greenhouse gases are employed to investigate the reoccurrence interval of the necessary rainfall events. The statistically