Abrupt change of Antarctic moisture origin at the end of Termination II

The deuterium excess of polar ice cores documents past changes in evaporation conditions and moisture origin. New data obtained from the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica Dome C East Antarctic ice core provide new insights on the sequence of events involved in Termination II, the transition between the penultimate glacial and interglacial periods. This termination is marked by a north–south seesaw behavior, with first a slow methane concentration rise associated with a strong Antarctic temperature warming and a slow deuterium excess rise. This first step is followed by an abrupt north Atlantic warming, an abrupt resumption of the East Asian summer monsoon, a sharp methane rise, and a CO₂ overshoot, which coincide within dating uncertainties with the end of Antarctic optimum. Here, we show that this second phase is marked by a very sharp Dome C centennial deuterium excess rise, revealing abrupt reorganization of atmospheric circulation in the southern Indian Ocean sector.     

Paleoclimate studies and natural-resource management in the Murray-Darling Basin I: past,present and future climates

This paper provides an incisive review of paleoclimate science and its relevance to natural-resource management within the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB). The drought of 1997–2010 focussed scientific, public and media attention on intrinsic climate variability and the confounding effect of human activity, especially in terms of water-resource management. Many policy and research reviews make statements about future planning with little consideration of climate change and without useful actionable knowledge. In order to understand future climate changes, modellers need, and demand, better paleoclimate data to constrain their model projections. Here, we present an insight into a number of existing long-term paleoclimate studies relevant to the MDB. Past records of climate, in response to orbital forcing (glacial–interglacial cycles) are found within, and immediately outside, the MDB. High-resolution temperature records, spanning the last 10⁵ years, exist from floodplains and cave speleothems, as well as evidence from lakes and their associated lunettes. More recently, historical climate records show major changes in relation to El Niño–Southern Oscillation cycles and decadal shifts in rainfall regimes. A considerable body of research currently exists on the past climates of southeastern Australia but, this has not been collated and validated over large spatial scales. It is clear that a number of knowledge gaps still exist, and there is a pressing need for the establishment of new paleoclimatic research within the MDB catchment and within adjacent, sensitive catchments if past climate science is to fulfil its potential to provide policy-relevant information to natural-resource management into the future.     

Millennial‐Length Records of Streamflow From Three Major Upper Colorado River Tributaries1

Gray, Stephen T., Jeffrey J. Lukas, and Connie A. Woodhouse, 2011. Millennial‐Length Records of Streamflow From Three Major Upper Colorado River Tributaries. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(4):702‐712. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2011.00535.x Abstract: Drought, climate change, and shifting consumptive use are prompting a widespread reassessment of water availability in the Upper Colorado River basin. Here, we present millennial‐length records of water year (October‐September) streamflow for key Upper Colorado tributaries: the White, Yampa, and Little Snake Rivers. Based on tree rings, these records represent the first paleohydrological reconstructions from these subbasins to overlap with a series of Medieval droughts (∼ad 800 to 1300). The reconstructions show marked interannual variability imbedded in nonstationary behavior over decadal to multidecadal time scales. These reconstructions suggest that, even in a millennial context, gaged flows from a handful of years (e.g., 1977 and 2002) were extremely dry. However, droughts of much greater duration and magnitude than any in the instrumental record were regular features prior to 1900. Likewise these reconstructions point to the unusual wetness of the gage period, and the potential for recent observations to paint an overly optimistic picture of regional water supplies. The future of the Upper Colorado River will be determined by a combination of inherent hydroclimatic variability and a broad range of human‐induced changes. It is then essential that regional water managers, water users, and policy makers alike consider a broader range of hydroclimatic scenarios than is offered by the gage record alone.     

New Hormaphididae(Hemiptera,Aphidomorpha)from the Baltic Amber and its Palaeogeographic Significance

The present study describes a new genus and species Unicohormaphis sorini, which belongs to the subfamily Cerataphidinae. The contemporary distribution of aphids belonging to the Hormaphididae family is summarized and analyzed. According to the obtained data, the climate warming in Eocene was conducive to the expansion of the family over the areas of Europe. Subsequent climate changes, resulting from epeirogenic and orogenic movements towards the end of Eocene, led to a considerable cooling and drying of climate in the northern hemisphere. These processes contributed to the shrinking down of areas covered by subtropical forests, which constituted the habitat of Hormaphididae (Cerataphidinae). Retaining their way of life, the Cerataphidinae were forced to limit their distribution, and the representatives of the family in Europe became completely extinct.     

陕西山阳盆地白垩系—第三系界限地层地球化学特征及古气候意义

通过对陕西山阳盆地上白垩统-古新统界限地层——山阳组和鹃岭组地层学、元素地球化学及地层中化石特征的研究表明：山阳盆地的上白垩统和古新统构成完整的沉积旋回；古气候以干热为主，且在晚白垩世晚期干热程度尤为严重，这种干热的气候很可能对恐龙在白垩纪末的绝灭起到了推波助澜的作用。     

The current refugial rainforests of Sundaland are unrepresentative of their biogeographic past and highly vulnerable to disturbance

Understanding the historical dynamics of forest communities is a critical element for accurate prediction of their response to future change. Here, we examine evergreen rainforest distribution in the Sunda Shelf region at the last glacial maximum (LGM), using a spatially explicit model incorporating geographic, paleoclimatic, and geologic evidence. Results indicate that at the LGM, Sundaland rainforests covered a substantially larger area than currently present. Extrapolation of the model over the past million years demonstrates that the current “island archipelago” setting in Sundaland is extremely unusual given the majority of its history and the dramatic biogeographic transitions caused by global deglaciation were rapid and brief. Compared with dominant glacial conditions, lowland forests were probably reduced from approximately 1.3 to 0.8 × 10⁶ km² while upland forests were probably reduced by half, from approximately 2.0 to 1.0 × 10⁵ km². Coastal mangrove and swamp forests experienced the most dramatic change during deglaciations, going through a complete and major biogeographic relocation. The Sundaland forest dynamics of fragmentation and contraction and subsequent expansion, driven by glacial cycles, occur in the opposite phase as those in the northern hemisphere and equatorial Africa, indicating that Sundaland evergreen rainforest communities are currently in a refugial stage. Widespread human-mediated reduction and conversion of these forests in their refugial stage, when most species are passing through significant population bottlenecks, strongly emphasizes the urgency of conservation and management efforts. Further research into the natural process of fragmentation and contraction during deglaciation is necessary to understand the long-term effect of human activity on forest species.     

Pliocene aridity and Neogene landscape evolution recorded by a fluvial sediment system (Campaspe Formation) in northeast Queensland

Campaspe Formation, a surficial, fluviatile, sand-dominated unit, is extensively developed in the Charters Towers region of north Queensland where it covers an area of 11 000 km², overlying Paleozoic basement and erosional remnants of Paleogene Southern Cross Formation. In the northern part of its distribution, it is interlayered with, and overlain by, flows of Nulla Basalt. It is dated as mid-Pliocene, based on the 3.48 Ma age of the Myrrilumbing Flow interlayered with its upper part, an antiquity consistent with thin ferricrete locally developed at its surface. The formation defines the Campaspe Surface at an elevation of 200–440 m in the present landscape, falling gently from upland to the west towards the current channel of the Burdekin River. This surface is a relict alluvial plain little incised by easterly flowing tributaries of the Burdekin River and has survived, essentially intact, from the early Pliocene. Geometry of the formation is established from some 2000 mineral exploration drill holes and seismic profiling. It has an average thickness of some 60 m, reaching a maximum of over 200 m. It blankets a pre-existing, low relief landscape in which a basement ridge divides it into two sub-basins that mirror the present drainage. The formation consists of poorly sorted sandstone with minor conglomerate and siltstone, and contains paleosol horizons with associated calcrete. Matrix supported sandstone in the succession, indicates deposition in part from hyperconcentrated flows. Sandstones generally show poorly defined planar layering as typical of ephemeral overbank and terminal splay sediment bodies but beds with cross-lamination, indicating fluvial channel bed forms, are also present. They are characterised by pore-filling silt and mud, largely emplaced by post-depositional infiltration, such that the unit produces essentially no groundwater. Facies attributes are consistent with fluvial deposition in ephemeral, dry climate, distributary system, with inefficient cross-drainage discharge that induced aggradation, resulting in a substantial sediment body perched in the landscape. Framework grain compositions show the formation to be mineralogically mature, representing erosional debris derived from intense weathering in an earlier climatic regime recorded, at least in part, by duricrust developed in the fluviatile–lacustrine Southern Cross Formation of Paleogene age. Such duricrust intervals are now upstanding in the landscape, representing erosional remnants from inverted relief developed in a mid-Cenozoic, pluvial, landscape cycle. Paleoclimatic signature of the Campaspe Formation extends the record of Pliocene aridity, widely recognised elsewhere in Australia, to northeast Queensland. In large part the landscape of the Charters Towers district is relict from the early Pliocene and is in the process of readjusting to more pluvial climatic regimes. By implication, Pliocene aridity has, on a small scale, exerted a strong influence on the present physiography of Australian landscapes.     

陆相盆地古气候变化与环境演化、聚煤作用

为了揭示陆相盆地古气候变化与沉积环境、聚煤作用耦合关系,应用同位素地球化学、煤岩学等理论和方法,进行了柴北缘中侏罗统大煤沟组上段(巴柔期)主采煤层煤岩组分、有机碳同位素组成(δ13CO)及其古气候意义研究。研究煤层(7号和F煤层)δ13CO值平均为-23.9‰,分别变化在-26.7‰~-21.6‰和-25.6‰~-22.9‰。根据沼泽、陆源碎屑体系交替演化特征和煤层有机碳δ13CO值变化规律,将大煤沟组上段划分为8个阶段并对应于1个长周期旋回(C1)和3个短周期旋回(C2)。认为低变质煤δ13CO值在反映古大气CO2同位素组成及其含量变化的同时,还记录了聚煤期(植物生长至泥炭化阶段末)古气候(温度和湿度)的变化:湿暖古气候有利于成煤植物对碳同位素分馏及贫13C腐殖质(镜质组前身)的形成,煤δ13CO值降低;干热古气候不利于植物对碳同位素的分馏,但有利于富集13C的惰质组(丝质体)形成,进而引起煤δ13CO值升高。从煤层δ13CO值所反映的气候变化与陆源碎屑体系废弃、复活及聚煤发生、终止关系角度提出了陆相盆地古气候与沉积环境、聚煤作用关系模型,指出在盆地构造活动、基底沉降较稳定和均匀的煤系沉积过程中,气候变化通过盆地和流域内径流深度(年平均降雨量减去年平均蒸发量)和植被发育演化控制了绝对湖平面变化、沉积物的产生和搬运(供给)速率,进而引起盆地内沼泽、陆源碎屑两种矛盾体系的交替与演化。     

山东平邑盆地古近系卞桥组一段湖相碳酸盐岩碳氧同位素特征及其地质意义

对山东平邑盆地柏林剖面古近系卞桥组一段19件湖相碳酸盐岩样品的岩性特征、碳氧同位素特征、主量和微量元素进行了分析。结果表明:平邑盆地古近系卞桥组一段的岩性从地层底部到顶部整体变化依次为粗碎屑岩、核形石灰岩、生物碎屑灰岩、颗粒灰岩、泥晶灰岩/泥灰岩。碳酸盐岩δ¹³C值主要为-3.5‰～-2.5‰,平均值为-2.9‰; δ¹⁸O值主要为-8.5‰～-6.5‰,平均值为-7.6‰; 碳氧同位素具有良好的相关性,说明平邑盆地在古近系沉积时期是水体停留时间较长的封闭性湖泊系统。碳酸盐岩Sr/Ba值主要为0.25～31.55,可以认为平邑盆地古近系沉积时期水介质主要为咸水环境; Mg/Ca值主要为0.004 2～0.011 9,结合氧同位素组成,反映平邑盆地古近系沉积时期的古气候变化经历了潮湿环境→半干热环境→干热环境3个阶段。根据岩性序列垂向演化及薄片特征,可以推断出平邑盆地在古近系卞桥组一段沉积时期,湖盆水动力随着地层变新而减弱,湖盆水体逐渐由高能转入低能环境。     

First fossil occurrence of the jewel damselflies (Odonata: Chlorocyphidae): a new species from the Late Miocene of Styria,Austria

The first fossil representative of the jewel damselflies (Calopterygoidea: Chlorocyphidae), a family of large, prominent, and often brilliantly colored Old World tropical Zygoptera, is described and figured. Chlorocypha cordasevae n. sp. was recovered from the Late Miocene (Early Pannonian, Serravalian to Tortonian, c.11 Ma) locality of Paldau, in the Styrian Basin, Austria. The fossil seems to be related to the African genus Chlorocypha Fraser, and within a larger group of African genera also including Stenocypha Dijkstra, Africocypha Pinhey, and Platycypha Fraser, and collectively set apart from southern Asiatic genera. The discovery of a central European species of Chlorocypha as recently as the Late Miocene reveals a much wider range to the family than its generally disjunctive modern distribution, demonstrating a Neogene contraction to their range, likely in connection with climatic cooling, drying, and developing seasonality. Modern chlorocyphids live under warm, humid climates, and the presence of C. cordasevae in the Pannonian fauna of Paldau further corroborates such a subtropical paleoclimate for the locality at that time.