Abandonment chronology of glacial Lake Agassiz's Northwestern outlet

Spillway scour lakes and basins in northwestern Saskatchewan were cored to determine when the spillways were abandoned. The cores contained the target contact of organic muck (gyttja) overlying inorganic sand or silty-clay rhythmites. New AMS radiocarbon dates on terrestrial macrofossils, in conjunction with previously published and unpublished data from the area, indicate that the spillways were abandoned between 9.07 and 9.59 ¹⁴C kyr BP (10,220-10,810 cal yr BP). Of great interest is whether the channels are associated with northwestern drainage from glacial Lake Agassiz. The radiocarbon ages recording spillway abandonment are consistent with previous work, which claims that overflow through the northwestern outlet ended ∼ 9.5 ¹⁴C kyr BP (10,700 cal yr BP); this is consistent with shifting drainage to the southern outlet at this time. The scarcity of dates from the northwestern outlets and other outlets of Lake Agassiz underscores the need to establish a tighter chronological control on outlet switching before outburst flooding from Lake Agassiz can be assumed to be the trigger for abrupt climate change.     

Isostatic rebound in the northwestern part of the Lake Agassiz basin: Isobase changes and overflow

Based on new GPS elevation data on the Upper and Lower Campbell strandlines in the northwestern part of the glacial Lake Agassiz basin, the trend of isobases representing differential glacio-isostatic rebound in that region is shown to bend and assume a nearly west-east orientation. This differs from the northwest-southeast orientation to the southeast of the study area, which others had projected into the northwestern corner of the Lake Agassiz basin; this means that there was more isostatic depression than previously thought north of ∼ 53°N. The difference in slopes on reconstructed water planes of the Upper and Lower Campbell beaches is less with these isobases, which better reflects the short period of time between their formation. It is likely that the change in orientation of isobases reflects the presence of a thick Keewatin ice center to the north. Our revised west-east isobase reconstruction indicates that when the lake was at the Campbell beach levels, ∼ 9900-9400 ¹⁴C B.P., Lake Agassiz overflowed across the paleo-divide at Wycherley Lake, Saskatchewan, which controlled flow through the Northwestern Outlet of Lake Agassiz during part of its history; overflow would not have occurred through the Wycherley Lake channels at this time using the old isobase projections.     

Evidence from the Lake Champlain Valley for a later onset of the Champlain Sea and implications for late glacial meltwater routing to the North Atlantic

Ocean circulation models indicate that freshwater runoff from the North American continent during the last deglaciation may have had an effect on North Atlantic Ocean circulation, and thereby have altered regional climate. One such example is a flood from Lake Agassiz, which has been proposed by previous workers to have caused the onset of the Younger Dryas at around 12,850 calibrated years B.P. by entering the North Atlantic through the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We present two radiocarbon ages from terrestrial organic sources in the Champlain Valley that we associate with the pre-Champlain Sea proglacial lake phases; a musk-ox bone with an AMS age of 11,362 ± 115 ¹⁴C years B.P. (13,438-13,020 calibrated years B.P.), and a wood fragment with an AMS age of 10,901 ± 76 ¹⁴C years B.P. (12,995-12,793 calibrated years B.P.). These ages together with a glacial lacustrine varve estimate suggest that the initiation of the Champlain Sea may not have occurred until after the onset of the Younger Dryas. If the Lake Agassiz flood event occurred before the opening of the Champlain Sea then the floodwaters would have been diverted down the Champlain and Hudson valleys to the North Atlantic. Another possibility is that the Agassiz flood may have been contemporaneous with the opening of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is also possible that there may have been a large enough flood produced by meltwater originating in the Champlain Valley and St. Lawrence Lowlands at the inception of the Champlain Sea to have affected ocean circulation without the influence of Lake Agassiz.     

Isotopic evolution of Glacial Lake Agassiz: New insights from cellulose and porewater isotopic archives

Significantly differing estimates of the oxygen-isotope composition of Lake Agassiz have been obtained from two co-existing isotopic archives within a sediment core originating from Montcalm, Manitoba, in the southern basin of the ancient proglacial lake. Oxygen-isotope analysis of cellulose extracted from the sediments, which originated during the Lockhart phase ∼ 11,700-11,000 ¹⁴C yr BP, suggests that phytoplankton lived in surface waters having δ¹⁸O around − 18 ± 1‰ VSMOW, substantially enriched relative to connate porewaters in the same core, which indicate bottom waters had much lower values of around − 24.5 ± 0.5‰ VSMOW. This difference may be attributable to seasonal isotopic stratification of the upper part of the water column in the 250 m-deep lake. Modern observations from analogous environments in northern Canada suggest that inflow of evaporatively enriched runoff from the large area of deglaciated terrain contributing to Lake Agassiz, possibly enhanced by evaporation from the surface of the lake itself, could readily account for sufficient seasonal ¹⁸O enrichment in the epilimnion. Sediment porewaters, in contrast, have preserved the isotopic signature of hypolimnion waters supplied by a mixture of glacial meltwater and precipitation-derived runoff from the Laurentide Ice Sheet, and lack discernable isotopic alteration by evaporation. These new estimates are combined with inferred lake water compositions from other isotopic archives to develop a speculative framework for the isotopic evolution of the lake, providing improved constraints on the probable isotopic composition of Lake Agassiz outflow over time, which has important implications for efforts to trace and model its changing discharge.     

Patterns of genetic diversity in Great Lakes bloaters (Coregonus hoyi) with a view to future reintroduction in Lake Ontario

The originally diverse ciscoe fish fauna of the Laurentian Great Lakes has suffered many extinctions and local extirpations. Bloaters (Coregonus hoyi) are presumed extirpated from Lake Ontario and the reintroduction of this deepwater fish is under consideration. Given the demographic fluctuations of this species in the other Great Lakes and its recent intralacustrine origin, we sought to identify a genetically diverse and similar source of C. hoyi via an analysis of genetic diversity and population structure using 10 microsatellite loci. Despite well-documented demographic declines, we found no genetic evidence of bottlenecks in 12 C. hoyi samples from the four potential donor lakes (Huron, Michigan, Superior and Nipigon). By contrast, evidence of bottlenecks in historical samples of C. artedi from Lake Ontario suggested that standard genetic methods frequently used to identify population bottlenecks can only detect very severe and long-lasting demographic declines in naturally large populations. Patterns of genetic differentiation and assignment tests indicated that C. hoyi from Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, which are not differentiated, are genetically most similar to Lake Ontario ciscoes. The small available sample of deepwater ciscoes recently caught in Lake Ontario did not allow determining if these represent a small undetected C. hoyi population or a recent invasion of the deep section by C. artedi. On the basis of genetic criteria, we conclude that C. hoyi from any location within Lake Huron or Lake Michigan would be judicious sources of breeders for reintroducing C. hoyi in Lake Ontario.     

Cooling in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and estuary region at 9.7 to 7.2 C ka (11.2-8.0 cal ka): Palynological response to the PBO and 8.2 cal ka cold events, Laurentide Ice Sheet air-mass circulation and enhanced freshwater runoff

An examination of post-Younger Dryas (YD) pollen stratigraphies in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and St. Lawrence estuary region reveals features in the pollen records that represent breaks in the normal vegetation succession, widespread vegetation suppression, and a delay in migration of plant taxa between 9.7 and 7.2 ¹⁴C ka (11.2 and 8.0 cal ka). The domination of Alnus crispa at sites bordering the St. Lawrence estuary-Gulf region in Gaspésie and northern New Brunswick within this timeframe represents a diversion from the typical vegetation progression from Picea and/or Populus or Picea/Betula to Pinus and/or Betula, and signifies a shift to a cooler, drier climate. Coinciding with the A. crispa expansion and domination in that region was the contraction of Picea populations in other areas. In southwestern New Brunswick and eastern and southeastern Nova Scotia, Picea was replaced by the first appearance of tree birch, B. papyrifera; whereas in western and southwestern Newfoundland, Picea gave way to a resurgence of shrub birch, Betula glandulosa. The Picea contraction and immediate resurgence of Betula represents cooling, and is reliably dated at 9720 ± 110 ¹⁴C BP (10,800-11,240 cal BP) in southwest Newfoundland. This first post-YD episode of widespread cooling is correlated with the North Atlantic Preboreal Oscillation (PBO) centered around 9650 ¹⁴C BP (10,900-11,180 cal BP) in the adjacent Great Lakes region. Sites exposed to winds from the Gulf of St. Lawrence in eastern New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and northern Nova Scotia show a lingering persistence of Picea and delay in arrival of Pinus to 8.0 and 7.7 ¹⁴C ka (9.0 and 8.4 cal ka), yet Pinus was dominant as early as 9.4 ¹⁴C ka (10.6 cal ka) in southwestern New Brunswick. At the same time, tundra vegetation persisted at high elevations in western and southwestern Newfoundland only to be replaced by upslope migration of shrub-birch heath by 8 ¹⁴C ka. Prolonged broad-scale cooling to 8 ¹⁴C ka and to as late as 7.7 ¹⁴C ka extended up to 200 km inland in areas exposed to the St. Lawrence estuary and Gulf region and was in response to strong, cold, dry anticyclonic winds coming off the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet in combination with enhanced freshwater runoff through the Gulf of St. Lawrence.The end of the period of prolonged cooling and onset of regional warming coincided with the diversion of western Canada runoff and Agassiz-Ojibway drainage to Hudson Bay and reduced effect or final break-up of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Several sites document a subsequent cold shift, that interrupted regional warming at 7650 to 7200 ¹⁴C BP (8400 to 8000 cal BP), and which is variously represented by the suppression of Pinus and resurgence of Picea, sometimes with A. crispa (Québec-Maritime region), or by an abrupt decrease of Picea and resurgence of Betula (western Newfoundland). This second post-YD cool interval is equated with the 8200 cal BP cold event registered in the Greenland ice isotopic record.     

Lake Sediment Records on Climate Change and Human Activities in the Xingyun Lake Catchment,SW China

Sediments from Xinyun Lake in central Yunnan, southwest China, provide a record of environmental history since the Holocene. With the application of multi-proxy indicators (total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N isotopes, C/N ratio, grain size, magnetic susceptibility (MS) and CaCO₃ content), as well as accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) ¹⁴C datings, four major climatic stages during the Holocene have been identified in Xingyun′s catchment. A marked increase in lacustrine palaeoproductivity occurred from 11.06 to 9.98 cal. ka BP, which likely resulted from an enhanced Asian southwest monsoon and warm-humid climate. Between 9.98 and 5.93 cal. ka BP, a gradually increased lake level might have reached the optimum water depth, causing a marked decline in coverage by aquatic plants and lake productivity of the lake. This was caused by strong Asian southwest monsoon, and coincided with the global Holocene Optimum. During the period of 5.60–1.35 cal. ka BP, it resulted in a warm and dry climate at this stage, which is comparable to the aridification of India during the mid- and late Holocene. The intensifying human activity and land-use in the lake catchment since the early Tang Dynasty (∼1.35 cal. ka BP) were associated with the ancient Dian culture within Xingyun’s catchment. The extensive deforestation and development of agriculture in the lake catchment caused heavy soil loss. Our study clearly shows that long-term human activities and land-use change have strongly impacted the evolution of the lake environment and therefore modulated the sediment records of the regional climate in central Yunnan for more than one thousand years.     

Stratigraphic and sedimentological evidence for late Wisconsinan sub-glacial outburst floods to Laurentian Fan

Sub-glacial meltwater produces a distinctive stratigraphic and sedimentological response on the continental margin. Seismo-stratigraphy of Laurentian Channel reveals thick till deposits at its seaward end that pass laterally into stratified sediment in deeper basins, that may record periods of water build up beneath the ice. Two scales of meltwater discharge are recognised: large scale that caused catastrophic erosion and transported large volumes of coarse sediment to the abyssal plain and smaller scale, yielding principally muddy sediment. Sub-glacial outburst floods from the Laurentian Channel ice stream delivered distinctive red sediment derived from Permian-Carboniferous strata of the Gulf of St. Lawrence directly to Laurentian Fan between ca. 17 and 14 ¹⁴C ka, separate from North Atlantic Heinrich events. On levees of Laurentian Fan, three major pulses of meltwater plume muds are separated by intervals dominated by hemipelagic sediments. These meltwater intervals are recognised distally as periods of plume sedimentation on the Scotian Slope and ice-rafting of hematite-stained quartz to the North Atlantic Ocean. In channels of Laurentian Fan, at least one major sediment transport event is recognised that eroded the upper slope and the major fan valleys, depositing a bed of gravel at least 3 m thick in the characteristically wide fan valleys and thick sand on the Sohm Abyssal Plain. The same event was probably responsible for giant flute-like scours. The age of the gravel bed is directly constrained only by the presence of local overlying Holocene sediment. Much of the surface of the gravel bed was re-worked by the 1929 “Grand Banks” turbidity current. An erosional event on the upper slope, likely correlative with the flood-generated gravel bed, has been dated at 16.5 ¹⁴C ka. Such large scale erosional flood events can be recognised back through several glacial cycles and have played an important role in the architectural evolution of Laurentian Fan.     

6000 years of environmental changes recorded in Blue Lake, South Australia, based on ostracod ecology and valve chemistry

A 4 m long core taken from the freshwater Blue Lake crater near the township of Mount Gambier in southeastern South Australia provided a high-resolution palaeoclimatic record for the last six millennia. Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon (¹⁴C) dates were obtained from organic plant fibres and biogenic carbonates from the laminated sequence of the core and from a modern water sample. Large discrepancies between the radiocarbon ages determined from plant fibres and biogenic carbonates indicate the presence of a time-variable lacustrine reservoir, which is consistent with what is known of the lake's hydrology.Ostracod assemblages, associated with stable isotope (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O) analyses and, in combination with Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca and Na/Ca analyses done on ostracod valves, infer salinity, temperature and water level changes in Blue Lake over the last 6 millenia. The influence of local aquifers through time has also been determined from the Na/Ca of ostracod valves. Approximately 900 year cycles are evident in the δ¹³C record from 5.4 ka to 1.8 ka.The history of Blue Lake records an initial period of high hydrological variability around 6 ka, becoming increasingly deeper as groundwater flowed into the basin. By 4 ka, the lake had reached steady state with the lake level fluctuating by as much as 9 m, although significant geochemical variations represent temperature fluctuations until European settlement near the lake in 1839.     

Sedimentological history of Bryant Canyon area, northwest Gulf of Mexico, during the last 135 kyr (Marine Isotope Stages 1-6): A proxy record of Mississippi River discharge

Bryant and Eastern Canyons are located in northwest Gulf of Mexico, and are characterized by a complex sedimentological history related to glacioeustatic cycles, river discharges, and interactions between depositional and halokinetic processes. This study is based on detailed sedimentological analysis from forty-eight long cores from these two canyons. This paper determines the evolutionary history of the canyons and assesses the response of sedimentary processes to morphological, climatic, hydrological, and sea-level changes.During the last glaciation, the upper and middle continental slope was supplied with sediments by low density turbidity currents derived from the depositional segregation (deposition of the coarsest material in the most proximal locations) of large turbidity currents initiated on the outer shelf. The lower continental slope was supplied with sediment by westward flowing bottom currents, originated from the entrainment of the most diluted wash-load and tails of turbidity currents from the Mississippi Fan.Bryant and Eastern Canyon systems were active during the penultimate glaciation, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6, and were supplied with sediments by an ancestral shelf-margin Mississippi River delta. Gravity flows transported enormous amounts of sediment to the continental slope and abyssal plain of the northwest Gulf of Mexico. The sea-level rise at MIS 5 led to confinement of river-sourced sediments to the widespread continental shelf of the northwest Gulf of Mexico, and consequently to the cessation of gravity flows. During the first 40 kyr of MIS 5, salt diapirs transformed the canyons into a network of intraslope basins.The sea level dropped to the mid-shelf during MIS 3 and 4, but never reached the shelf-break, and therefore, river-sourced sediments remained largely confined to the shelf. However, seaward sediment transportation was achieved occasionally through turbidity currents related to sediment failures, storms, and high-river discharges. Four high river discharge events have been identified during this period. The first three were centred at 37, 45, and 53 cal ka BP. The last high river discharge occurred at the end of MIS 3 (29.4-33.2 cal ka BP), and resulted in the deposition of closely-spaced, mud turbidites over the entire continental slope. The Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) was restricted north of the upper Mississippi River valley during 60 to ∼ 30 cal ka BP and therefore, the high river discharge events are interpreted as melt-water events, related to brief southward advancements of the LIS, which resulted in the flooding of Mississippi River. The extensive lowering of sea level during the last glacial maximum (MIS 2) resulted in the almost direct discharge of Mississippi River sediments to the upper continental slope leading to the development of abundant turbidity currents. Eleven wet-dry cycles during this period are defined; they probably originated from episodic subglacial melt-water floods, released from southern parts of the LIS.The last deglaciation event is characterized by the development of a major melt water event at 16.5-13 cal ka BP that resulted in the deposition of distinct, organic-rich sediments. At about 13 cal ka BP, the melt water discharges of the LIS in North America switched from the Mississippi River to either the St. Lawrence or Mackenzie River valleys, causing the domination of hemipelagic sedimentation on the continental slope of the northwest Gulf of Mexico. Isotopic data indicate that melt-water discharges returned to the Mississippi River Valley at ∼ 11.4 cal ka BP. The absence of any sedimentological indication on the continental slope of the northwest Gulf of Mexico of the return of the melt-water discharges to the Mississippi River is attributed to the confinement of river-sourced sediments on the continental shelf due to the rise of the sea level.     

Reconstruction of environmental and climate changes at Braamhoek wetland,eastern escarpment South Africa,during the last 16,000 years with emphasis on the Pleistocene–Holocene transition

A paleo-environmental record covering the last 16 ka (16,000 cal yrs BP) from the eastern areas of the summer rainfall region in South Africa is presented. This area is until now sparsely investigated due to the lack of well preserved natural archives. For this study, we used a peat section from a wetland situated close to the Drakensberg escarpment, where the high annual rainfall amounts supported a continuous peat accumulation since c. 16 ka. One peat core was analysed in terms of fossil pollen composition, carbon and nitrogen content, isotope composition (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N) and microscopic charcoal concentration. The greatest degree of temporal resolution was achieved from the late Pleistocene and early Holocene section, where proxy-records indicate relatively dry conditions between ca. 16–13.7 ka, 12.8–10.5 ka, 9.5–8.2 ka, and wet conditions between c. 13.7–12.8 ka and 10.5–9.5 ka. A weak moisture signal is also evident at c. 8.2–7.5 ka. The late Pleistocene to early Holocene period was relatively cool, while conditions became generally warmer after 11–8 ka. The interpretation of the mid- and late-Holocene sequence is limited due to a slow accumulation and low sample resolution, but the available data suggest relatively dry conditions until c. 1.5 ka, followed by more humid conditions until c. 0.5 ka. We suggest that the millennial scale variability within the record can be attributed to shifts in the circulation systems dominating the region, i.e. the latitudinal movements of the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and the dynamics of the mid-latitude low pressure belts.     

Nutrient release rates from the sediments of Saginaw Bay,Lake Huron

Direct measurements of net production rates and pore water profiles of solutes in the fine-grained sediments of Saginaw Bay, imply corresponding steady-state fluxes to the overlying water of 1.1–1.3 (I), 450–1010 (NH₄ ⁺), 1250–2650 (Si(OH)₄), 3000–3400 (Ca²⁺), 440–1330 (Mg²⁺), 1.5–728 (Fe²⁺), and 179–281 (Mn²⁺) moles/m²/day and 11.0–11.8 (alkalinity) meq/m²/day at 17.5 °C. Silica production rates in sediments apparently follow first order kinetics with a rate coefficient of 0.09/day and a steady-state silica concentration of 1.2 mM at 23.5°C. The remaining solutes follow kinetics approximately independent of solute concentration over the range of concentrations observed. Measured solute production rates are consistent with observed solute profiles only if lateral diffusion gradients are maintained in the sediments by the burrowing and irrigation activity of benthic organisms such asChironomous, the dominant burrower in Saginaw Bay. Assuming that solute fluxes from Saginaw Bay are representative of all of the post-glacial sediments of Lake Huron, the iodine flux from sediments is comparable to the total fluvial input of iodine. The extrapolated silica fluxes from Lake Huron sediments balance the estimated biogenic silica flux to the sediments.     

Mid to Late Holocene palaeoenvironment of Lake Eastern Juyanze (north-western China) based on ostracods and stable isotopes

An exposed section of nearly 13 m thick was investigated in the ancient depression of Lake Eastern Juyanze, north-eastern China. The succession of lacustrine and aeolian deposits covers a period from about 5400 to 2700 cal. a BP as indicated by four radiocarbon ages of macro-plant debris. Fifteen ostracod taxa were identified of which Limnocythere inopinata and Darwinula stevensoni are by far the most abundant species. Stable isotope (O, C) data of ostracod calcite as well as ostracod species abundances and X-ray diffraction results of bulk sediment samples were used to reconstruct the history of Lake Eastern Juyanze. Highest lake levels (water depth ∼10 m) occurred between 5100 and 4100 cal. a BP and were succeeded by intermediate and low levels until about 3150 cal. a BP. Three short-term events of complete desiccation were recorded between 3150 and 2900 cal. a BP. The lake experienced relatively high levels again for some decades at about 3000 cal. a BP and for at least two centuries after 2900 cal. a BP. According to the ostracod and gastropod record and the high abundance of a large diatom (Campylodiscus clypeus) in the lake sediments oligohaline to slightly mesohaline conditions were reconstructed for most of the lake periods (4-6 g/l). Geochemical and palaeontological records of Lake Eastern Juyanze reveal the retreat of the Asian monsoon after China’s Hypsithermal culminating in climate instability at about 3000 cal. a BP.     

Vegetation history with implication of climate changes and human impacts over the last 9000 years in the Lake Nanyi area,Anhui Province,East China

Palynological analyses in combination with radiocarbon dating on a Holocene borehole from the Lake Nanyi, Anhui Province, East China demonstrate a well-documented local vegetation evolution since 9000 cal BP, which is the first record of Holocene climate change and human impact in this region. Since 9000 cal BP a mixed evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved forest dominated by Cyclobalanopsis and Quercus developed in this area, indicating a warm climate condition with enhanced insolation. A mixed evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved forest was fully developed between 6600–4500 cal BP, which corresponds to the Holocene Climate Optimum with the strong influence of East Asian summer monsoon (EASM). After 3000 cal BP the broad-leaved forest decreased rapidly, while land herbs and ferns increased. It seems that the climate condition in East China was similar to the present after Holocene Climate Optimum. Pollen results show a potential interface between environment changes and human activities. Pollen diagram demonstrates that human impacts on the natural vegetation remained weak at the early stage but significantly enhanced upwards. The distinctive fluctuations of the pollen contents among AP (trees and shrubs), and the possible agriculture indicators might infer the potential human behaviors for environment changes. Due to the enlargement of organized farming and increase in population, natural forest was eventually replaced by farmland since 3000 cal BP. This study would increase our knowledge of Holocene vegetation transition related to the monsoon dynamics on a long timescale in East China and provide an environmental background for more detailed studies on cultural developments in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River region.     

A catastrophic meltwater flood event and the formation of the Hudson Shelf Valley

The Hudson Shelf Valley (HSV) is the largest physiographic feature on the U.S. mid-Atlantic continental shelf. The 150-km long valley is the submerged extension of the ancestral Hudson River Valley that connects to the Hudson Canyon. Unlike other incised valleys on the mid-Atlantic shelf, it has not been infilled with sediment during the Holocene. Analyses of multibeam bathymetry, acoustic backscatter intensity, and high-resolution seismic reflection profiles reveal morphologic and stratigraphic evidence for a catastrophic meltwater flood event that formed the modern HSV. The valley and its distal deposits record a discrete flood event that carved 15-m high banks, formed a 120-km² field of 3- to 6-m high bedforms, and deposited a subaqueous delta on the outer shelf. The HSV is inferred to have been carved initially by precipitation and meltwater runoff during the advance of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, and later by the drainage of early proglacial lakes through stable spillways. A flood resulting from the failure of the terminal moraine dam at the Narrows between Staten Island and Long Island, New York, allowed glacial lakes in the Hudson and Ontario basins to drain across the continental shelf. Water level changes in the Hudson River basin associated with the catastrophic drainage of glacial lakes Iroquois, Vermont, and Albany around 11,450 ¹⁴C year BP (∼ 13,350 cal BP) may have precipitated dam failure at the Narrows. This 3200 km³ discharge of freshwater entered the North Atlantic proximal to the Gulf Stream and may have affected thermohaline circulation at the onset of the Intra-Allerød Cold Period. Based on bedform characteristics and fluvial morphology in the HSV, the maximum freshwater flux during the flood event is estimated to be ∼ 0.46 Sv for a duration of ∼ 80 days.     

Glacial and postglacial sedimentation in the Fryxell basin, Taylor Valley, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica

A 9.14 m long sediment sequence was recovered from Lake Fryxell, Taylor Valley, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica, and investigated for its chronology and sedimentological, mineralogical, and biogeochemical changes. The basal part of the sequence is dominated by coarse clastic matter, i.e., mainly sand. The sediment composition suggests that a lake existed in Fryxell basin during the Middle Weichselian by ca. 48,000 cal. year BP. After a short period of lake-level lowstand ca. 43,000 cal. year BP, lower Taylor Valley became occupied by the proglacial Lake Washburn, which was at least partly supplied by meltwater and sediments from the Ross Ice Sheet that was advanced to the mouth of Taylor Valley. Evaporation of Lake Washburn to lower levels started during the Last Glacial Maximum at ca. 22,000 cal. year BP, long before the Ross Ice Sheet retreated significantly. Lake-level lowering was discontinuous with a series of high and low stands. From ca. 4000 cal. year BP environmental conditions were similar to those of today and lower Fryxell basin was occupied by a small lake. This lake evaporated to a saline or hypersaline pond between ca. 2500 and 1000 cal. year BP and refilled subsequently.     

Zooplankton boom and ice amphipod bust below melting sea ice in the Amundsen Gulf, Arctic Canada

Early summer in the Arctic with extensive ice melt and break-up represents a dramatic change for sympagic–pelagic fauna below seasonal sea ice. As part of the International Polar Year-Circumpolar Flaw Lead system study (IPY-CFL), this investigation quantified zooplankton in the meltwater layer below landfast ice and remaining ice fauna below melting ice during June (2008) in Franklin Bay and Darnley Bay, Amundsen Gulf, Canada. The ice was in a state of advanced melt, with fully developed melt ponds. Intense melting resulted in a 0.3- to 0.5-m-thick meltwater layer below the ice, with a strong halocline to the Arctic water below. Zooplankton under the ice, in and below the meltwater layer, was sampled by SCUBA divers. Dense concentrations (max. 1,400 ind. m⁻³) of Calanus glacialis were associated with the meltwater layer, with dominant copepodid stages CIV and CV and high abundance of nauplii. Less abundant species included Pseudocalanus spp., Oithona similis and C. hyperboreus. The copepods were likely feeding on phytoplankton (0.5–2.3 mg Chl-a m⁻³) in the meltwater layer. Ice amphipods were present at low abundance (<10 ind. m⁻²) and wet biomass (<0.2 g m⁻²). Onisimus glacialis and Apherusa glacialis made up 64 and 51% of the total ice faunal abundance in Darnley Bay and Franklin Bay, respectively. During early summer, the autochthonous ice fauna becomes gradually replaced by allochthonous zooplankton, with an abundance boom near the meltwater layer. The ice amphipod bust occurs during late stages of melting and break-up, when their sympagic habitat is diminished then lost.     

Études du Paléolithique du Japon à partir des téphras

Many studies and discussions have been made on the problem of when the earliest human beings appeared in Japan. In general, hominid fossils in the latest Pleistocene are not preserved except for coralline limestone sequence in Ryukyu islands, but earlier Paleolithic tools were excavated from volcanic ash soil with a ¹⁴C age of about 30,000–35,000 yr. BP or younger at several archeological sites in almost all Japan. Recent studies, however, show a need for revision and refinement of these ages because calibration techniques have progressed from conventional to calendar ages and high-resolution oxygen isotope chronology has given a global standard sequence. Aïra-Tn tephra (AT), the most important time-marker of the Paleolithic age in Japan, was formerly dated at 21,000–22,000 yr ¹⁴C BP by conventional radiocarbon methods but was dated again at ca. 24,500 yr ¹⁴C BP by accelerated mass spectrometry radiocarbon methods. However, it has been further calibrated to a high-resolution calendar age of 30,000 cal yr. by varve chronology of lake sediments of Suigetsu of central Japan, well matched with combined date between oxygen isotope dates based and calibration from AMS radiocarbon dates. As the earliest Paleolithic tools in south Kanto are found in volcanic ash soil significantly below AT ash and above Sambe-Ikeda ash (SI, ca.46 ka), just above the oxygen isotopic stage 3.3, they are estimated to be dated slightly older than 40 ka. Palaeo-environment at that time is estimated mild to cool climate and relatively low sea level after the oxygen isotope stage 3.3. Sill land bridges between Japan islands and continents have not been formed at major straits. We have not yet obtained useful data for calibration older than ca. 45 ka. Also, correlation of oxygen isotopic fluctuation with the terrestrial sequences is incomplete in Stage 3.     

Holocene environmental changes as recorded by mineral magnetism of sediments from Anguli-nuur Lake,southeastern Inner Mongolia Plateau,China

Two cores, one 1141-cm long (An-S) and the other 885-cm long (An-A), were retrieved from Anguli-nuur Lake (41°18′–24′N, 114°20′–27′E, ～ 1315 masl), one of the largest lakes in the transition zone between a semi-humid and semi-arid climate parallel to the present limit of the southeast monsoon along the southeastern Inner Mongolia Plateau in north China. Mineral-magnetic parameters (χ_lf, ARM, IRM_300mT, SIRM and IRM_? 300mT) were measured on An-S and two additional parameters (χ_ARM and HIRM) and four inter-parametric ratios (χ_ARM/SIRM, IRM_300mT/SIRM, IRM_? 300mT/SIRM and SIRM/χ_lf) were calculated. Potential sources of these lake sediments (catchment soils and dune materials close to the lake and in a distant sand plain) were sampled, and the magnetic properties of the surface-material specimens were measured. A chronological model was developed for An-S by comparing and combining AMS¹⁴C dates of An-S with ¹³⁷Cs, ²¹⁰Pb and AMS¹⁴C dates of An-A. With the help of surface-material magnetism, the magnetic data of An-S in combination with particle size, TOC and C/N and pollen analyses indicate the environmental changes during the last ～ 10,000 years around this lake. Conditions began to ameliorate at 10,900 cal. yr BP (9600 ¹⁴C yr BP) and thus relatively wet and warm environments prevailed during 10,900–8900 cal. yr BP (9600–8000 ¹⁴C yr BP). The Holocene optimum or the wettest and warmest conditions, was during 8900–7400 cal. yr BP (8000–6500 ¹⁴C yr BP). The environment began to deteriorate from 7400 cal. yr BP (6500 ¹⁴C yr BP) and the driest and coolest conditions occurred during 2200–480 cal. yr BP. There may have been a minor amelioration after 480 cal. yr BP. The inferred changes in palaeoenvironmental conditions around Anguli-nuur Lake are broadly in agreement with those around most other sites on the Inner Mongolia Plateau.