First lacustrine varve chronologies from Mexico: impact of droughts,ENSO and human activity since AD 1840 as recorded in maar sediments from Valle de Santiago

We present varve chronologies for sediments from two maar lakes in the Valle de Santiago region (Central Mexico): Hoya La Alberca (AD 1852–1973) and Hoya Rincón de Parangueo (AD 1839–1943). These are the first varve chronologies for Mexican lakes. The varved sections were anchored with tephras from Colima (1913) and Paricutín (1943/1944) and ²¹⁰Pb ages. We compare the sequences using the thickness of seasonal laminae and element counts (Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ti, Mn, Fe, and Sr) determined by micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The formation of the varve sublaminae is attributed to the strongly seasonal climate regime. Limited rainfall and high evaporation rates in winter and spring induce precipitation of carbonates (high Ca, Sr) enriched in ¹³C and ¹⁸O, whereas rainfall in summer increases organic and clastic input (plagioclase, quartz) with high counts of lithogenic elements (K, Al, Ti, and Si). Eolian input of Ti occurs also in the dry season. Moving correlations (5-yr windows) of the Ca and Ti counts show similar development in both sequences until the 1930s. Positive correlations indicate mixing of allochthonous Ti and autochthonous Ca, while negative correlations indicate their separation in sublaminae. Negative excursions in the correlations correspond with historic and reconstructed droughts, El Niño events, and positive SST anomalies. Based on our data, droughts (3–7 year duration) were severe and centred around the following years: the early 1850s, 1865, 1880, 1895, 1905, 1915 and the late 1920s with continuation into the 1930s. The latter dry period brought both lake systems into a critical state making them susceptible to further drying. Groundwater overexploitation due to the expansion of irrigation agriculture in the region after 1940 induced the transition from calcite to aragonite precipitation in Alberca and halite infiltration in Rincón. The proxy data indicate a faster response to increased evaporation for Rincón, the lake with the larger maar dimensions, solar radiation receipt and higher conductivity, whereas the smaller, steeper Alberca maar responded rapidly to increased precipitation.     

High‐resolution studies of double‐layered ejecta craters: Morphology,inherent structure,and a phenomenological formation model

The ejecta blankets of impact craters in volatile‐rich environments often possess characteristic layered ejecta morphologies. The so‐called double‐layered ejecta (DLE) craters are characterized by two ejecta layers with distinct morphologies. The analysis of high‐resolution image data, especially HiRISE and CTX, provides new insights into the formation of DLE craters. A new phenomenological excavation and ejecta emplacement model for DLE craters is proposed based on a detailed case study of the Martian crater Steinheim—a well‐preserved DLE crater—and studies of other DLE craters. The observations show that the outer ejecta layer is emplaced as medial and distal ejecta that propagate outwards in a debris avalanche or (if saturated with water) a debris flow mode after landing, overrunning previously formed secondary craters. In contrast, the inner ejecta layer is formed by a translational slide of the proximal ejecta deposits during the emplacement stage that overrun and superimpose parts of the outer ejecta layer. Based on our model, DLE craters on Mars are the result of an impact event into a rock/ice mixture that produces large amounts of shock‐induced vaporization and melting of ground ice, leading to high ejection angles, proximal landing positions, and an ejecta curtain with relatively wet (in terms of water in liquid form) composition in the distal part versus dryer composition in the proximal part. As a consequence, basal melting of ice components in the ejecta at the transient crater rim, which is induced by frictional heating and the enhanced pressure at depth, initiates an outwards directed collapse of crater rim material in a translational slide mode. Our results indicate that similar processes may also be applicable for other planetary bodies with volatile‐rich environments, such as Ganymede, Europa, and the Earth.     

Evolution of sandstone peak‐forest landscapes – insights from quantifying erosional processes with cosmogenic nuclides

The sandstone peak‐forest landscape in Zhangjiajie UNESCO Global Geopark of Hunan Province, China, is characterized by >3000 vertical pillars and peak walls of up to 350 m height, representing a spectacular example of sandstone landform variety. Few studies have addressed the mechanisms and timescales of the longer‐term evolution of this landscape, and have focused on fluvial incision. We use in situ cosmogenic nuclides combined with GIS analysis to investigate the erosional processes contributing to the formation of pillars and peak‐forests, and discuss their relative roles in the formation and decay of the landscape. Model maximum‐limiting bedrock erosion rates are the highest along the narrow fluvial channels and valleys at the base of the sandstone pillars (~83–122 mm kyr^?1), and lowest on the peak wall tops (~2.5 mm kyr^?1). Erosion rates are highly variable and intermediate along vertical sandstone peak walls and pillars (~30 to 84 mm kyr^?1). Catchment‐wide denudation rates from river sediment vary between ~26 and 96 mm kyr^?1 and are generally consistent with vertical wall retreat rates. This highlights the importance of wall retreat for overall erosion in the sandstone peak‐forest. In combination with GIS‐derived erosional volumes, our results suggest that the peak‐forest formation in Zhangjiajie commenced in the Pliocene, and that the general evolution of the landscape followed our sequential refined model: (i) slow lowering rates following initial uplift; (ii) fast plateau dissection by headward knickpoint propagation along joints and faults followed by; (iii) increasing contribution of wall retreat in the well‐developed pillars and peak‐forests and a gradual decrease in overall denudation rates, leading to; (iv) the final consumption of pillars and peak‐forests. Our study provides an approach for quantifying the complex interplay between multiple geomorphic processes as required to assess the evolutionary pathways of other sandstone peak‐forest landscapes across the globe. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

First evidence of a distal early Holocene ash layer in Eastern Mediterranean deep-sea sediments derived from the Anatolian volcanic province

A hitherto unknown distal volcanic ash layer has been detected in a sediment core recovered from the southeastern Levantine Sea (Eastern Mediterranean Sea). Radiometric, stratigraphic and sedimentological data show that the tephra, here termed as S1 tephra, was deposited between 8970 and 8690 cal yr BP. The high-silica rhyolitic composition excludes an origin from any known eruptions of the Italian, Aegean or Arabian volcanic provinces but suggests a prevailing Central Anatolian provenance. We compare the S1 tephra with proximal to medial-distal tephra deposits from well-known Mediterranean ash layers and ash fall deposits from the Central Anatolian volcanic field using electron probe microanalyses on volcanic glass shards and morphological analyses on ash particles. We postulate a correlation with the Early Holocene ‘Dikkart?n’ dome eruption of Erciyes Da? volcano (Cappadocia, Turkey). So far, no tephra of the Central Anatolian volcanic province has been detected in marine sediment archives in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The occurrence of the S1 tephra in the south-eastern part of the Levantine Sea indicates a wide dispersal of pyroclastic material from Erciyes Da? more than 600 km to the south and is therefore an important tephrostratigraphical marker in sediments of the easternmost Mediterranean Sea and the adjacent hinterland.     

Living in a High Mountain Border Region： the Case of the ＇Bhotiyas＇ of the Indo-Chinese Border Region

This article introduces one of South Asia＇s most important border regions into academic discourse, namely, the Central Himalayan mountain rim separating India and the Tibetan Autonomous Region （People＇s Republic of China）. What makes this border region so interesting is a tangled interplay of changing environmental, cultural, and political forms to which the local populations constantly have to adapt in order to make a living there. We focused on the so-called ＇Bhotiyas＇ of Uttarakhand, former trans- Himalayan traders whose ethnicity and livelihood was traditionally associated with the Indo-Chinese border that was sealed as a result of the India-China war in 1962. Drawing on the work of borderland scholarship, we identified the key processes and developments that changed the perspective of this area. Competing political aspirations as well as the ＇Bhotiyas＇ countervailing strategies were considered equally important for understanding local livelihoods and identities within the dynamics of a ＇high mountain border region＇. Through an exemplary analysis of historical differences of power in one ＇Bhotiya＇ valley, we further explored the ways in which shifting socio-spatial constellations are creatively re-interpreted by the borderlanders.     

The role of climate in the spread of modern humans into Europe

The spread of anatomically modern humans (AMH) into Europe occurred when shifts in the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation triggered a series of large and abrupt climate changes during the last glacial. However, the role of climate forcing in this process has remained unclear. Here we present a last glacial record that provides insight into climate-related environmental shifts in the eastern Mediterranean region, i.e. the gateway for the colonisation of Europe by AMH. We show that the environmental impact of the Heinrich Event H5 climatic deterioration c. 48 kyr ago was as extreme as that of the glacial maximum of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 when most of Europe was deserted by Neanderthals. We argue that Heinrich H5 resulted in a similar demographic vacuum so that invasive AMH populations had the opportunity to spread into Europe and occupy large parts before the Neanderthals were able to reoccupy this territory. This spread followed the resumption of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation at the beginning of Greenland Interstadial (GIS) 12 c. 47 kyr ago that triggered an extreme and rapid shift from desert-steppe to open woodland biomes in the gateway to Europe. We conclude that the extreme environmental impact of Heinrich H5 within a situation of competitive exclusion between two closely related hominids species shifted the balance in favour of modern humans.     

The Palaeoproterozoic Kangerluluk gold–copper mineralization (southeast Greenland): Pb and Nd isotopic constraints on its timing and genesis

The Ketilidian Mobile Belt (KMB) in South Greenland is dominated by the Palaeoproterozoic Julianehåb Batholith (1,850–1,770?Ma) and is bordered by supracrustal sequences. The batholith is composed of granite, granodiorite, tonalite, diorite and subordinate gabbro and appinite and formed in a juvenile magmatic arc. The supracrustal rocks consist of psammites, pelites and subordinate, interstratified mafic volcanic rocks. A Rapakivi granite suite (1,755–1,735?Ma) intrudes them. Gold is an important metal in the KMB and occurs in various settings and element associations. Here, emphasis is placed on the Kangerluluk Cu–Au mineralization in the eastern part of the mobile belt. It is hosted within a remnant supracrustal succession dominated by redundant pillowed basalts. Structurally, a syn-volcanic association with gold can be distinguished from one that is clearly related to crosscutting quartz veins. In between, calc-silicate formation in the volcanic rocks occurred contemporaneously with a pervasive sericitization (bleaching) of leucocratic granitoids that are intrusive into the volcanic sequence. Bulk rock and mineral (sulfide) Pb isotope data are comparable in the Pb isotope space. The data define two groups of mineralization where one group is characterized by relatively higher ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb at given ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios than the other. Pb stepwise leaching (PbSL) dating experiments performed on garnet and epidote associated with both groups of mineralization confirm the offset in the Pb isotope data. With the geochronological information from PbSL, the results indicate: (1) the initial gold mineralization was genetically related to metalliferous fluids associated with the emplacement of late intrusive stages of the Julianehåb Batholith (1,800–1,770?Ma); and (2) local remobilization of the initial mineralization (1,700–1,750) involved a Pb isotopically evolved fluid, which tentatively can be correlated with the intrusion of the Rapakivi granites in the area. Radiogenic Pb was not only found in altered host rocks but also in various sulfides, suggesting that fluids may have percolated through and/or originated from uranium-bearing graphitic schists which are abundant in the sedimentary package of the KMB. Lead isotopic results suggest that the Rapakivi granites may have supplied heat for renewed circulation of fluids within the supracrustal rock pile.