A Survey of Tetrapod Tracksites Preserved in Pyroclastic Sediments,with Special Reference to Footprints of Hominids,Other Mammals and Birds

Pyroclastic sediments provide an unusual and favorable medium for the recording, burial, and preservation of tetrapod tracks and other traces. Twenty-two tracksites were reviewed for the purpose of determining how these deposits contribute to track formation, burial, and preservation. These include Jurassic sites in Argentina and Mexico, Cretaceous sites in Korea, Miocene sites in Mexico and the United States, Pliocene sites in Tanzania, Pleistocene sites in Mexico, Korea, and Italy, and Holocene sites in Mexico, Turkey, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nicaragua, and the United States. Twelve of the sites contain hominid tracks.

Tracksites occur most commonly in reworked tephra on the shorelines of rivers, lakes, and seas. They also occur on pyroclastic falls, flows, and surges, and on lahars. Most tracksites are in volcanic arcs, especially around the Pacific Rim. A few occur in continental rifts or near intraplate volcanoes. Most older tracksites (Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Miocene) occur in silicic tephras such as rhyolite and dacite. The younger tracksites are mostly associated with basaltic tephra, though other compositions are also represented.

Volcanic eruptions contribute to formation of substrates suitable for recording tracks by producing abundant fine-grained pyroclasts that interact physically and chemically with water to become cohesive. Hiatuses between eruptions provide time for tracks to accumulate, and in some cases, to lithify rapidly. Both physical processes (drying and compaction) and chemical processes (mineral precipitation) appear to be involved in early lithification. Eruptions also contribute to burial of tracks through rapid sedimentation and aggradation that typically follow a pyroclastic eruption. Multiple, closely spaced track horizons are common in pyroclastic sequences. Most tracksites are buried by either fallout tephra or reworked, waterlain deposits. Others are buried by lahars, pyroclastic flows and surges, or windblown ash. Upon exhumation pyroclastic deposits contribute to the formation of bedding planes through clay drapes, friable ash layers, and biotite-rich layers. Precipitation of authigenic minerals contributes to erosional resistance within beds. Bedding plane formation and erosional resistance facilitate discovery and study of tracks.     

Late Quaternary pelagic sedimentation on the southern Calabrian Ridge and western Mediterranean Ridge,eastern Mediterranean

Cores from plateaus, lying some 150–200 m above the basin floors in areas of strong vertical relief visited during the Cobblestone Project, consist entirely of pelagic marls with sapropels and tephras as minor lithologies. All the plateau cores were correlated by means of isochronous lithologies and biostratigraphically calibrated. A core from Area 3 (No. 29) and two cores from Area 4 (No. 45 and 6) were selected as reference sections and studied quantitatively in terms of grain sizes, carbonate content and microfossil content.Faunal curves based on selected species of planktonic foraminifers correlate between the three cores, which extend back in time to approximately 185 000 yr for Area 4 and to 430 000 yr for Area 3. Winnowing resulted in a reduced sedimentation rate in Area 3, in unusually high percentages of the coarser sediment fraction and in extended hiatuses at the top of the cores.The highest temperature in surficial waters as indicated by the foraminiferal faunas is recorded in all three references sections at the base of an interval correlative with isotopic stage 5e (～ 125 000 yr B.P.), within sapropel S-5.Clay mineralogy indicates basically uniform conditions in the two areas, with the exception that smectite is more abundant in the Calabrian Ridge, which is closer to its source area (Sicily, Sicily Channel). Carbonates include calcite, magnesian calcite and some dolomite.Sapropels, sedimentary expression of stagnation, represent up to 25% of the sedimentary column in an interval encompassing isotopic stage 5 through 7. The average organic carbon content in analysed sapropels is 3.1%, versus 0.29% in normal pelagic sediments. Sapropels S-6 and S-8 are consistently accompanied by a foraminiferal fauna that is indicative of low-salinity cool surficial waters, whereas sapropels S-1, S-5 and S-7 occur in coincidence with the warmest peaks of the climatic faunal curve.Average sedimentation rate is 3.2 cm/1000 yr for Core 29; 5.5 cm/1000 yr for Core 45. Sedimentation rates calculated for basin cores are five to ten times higher. Sedimentation rates of sapropels and tephras are independent from regional sedimentation rates.Hiatuses in plateau cores correlate with debris flows in base-of-slope cores, both occurring during times of enhanced bottom circulation and submarine erosion related to low stands of sea level in cold periods.     

Effects of the Hekla 4 tephra on vegetation in Northwest Iceland

Vegetation plays a key role in preventing the remobilisation of tephra and aeolian activity following tephra fall. Recent volcanic eruptions in Iceland have highlighted the consequences of tephra fall for ecosystems and human health. Improved understanding of the mechanisms behind ecosystem recovery following tephra fall is particularly important for Iceland. Today?~42% of the country is classified as desert and unvegetated and sparsely vegetated areas are unable to trap tephra fall and prevent subsequent wind erosion. This paper presents palaeoenvironmental reconstructions before and after the Hekla 4 tephra from two lakes in Northwest Iceland, from within a woodland in the lowland, and in open woodland under stress at the highland margin. The c. 4,200 cal bp. Hekla 4 tephra is one of the most extensive Icelandic Holocene tephra layers and the eruption produced an estimated?~9 km³ of tephra. The palaeoecological reconstructions provide an insight into the responses of two relatively stable ecosystems to thick tephra deposits during a period of cooling climate. The understory vegetation in the lowland woodland was buried by the tephra, however Betula pubescens trees were not severely affected and the woodland recovered relatively quickly. In contrast, open woodland at the highland margin that was already at its ecological limit, shifted to dwarf shrub heath, a more resilient vegetation community in response to the tephra fall and cooling climate.     

甘肃石峡口旧石器遗址第1地点发掘报告

石峡口遗址第1地点位于甘肃省张家川回族自治县川王乡石峡口村,遗址埋藏在清水河右岸一级阶地中。遗址地层分为7层,其中第5、6层中包含丰富的文化遗物,分别命名为第1、2文化层。2015年对该遗址的试掘共发现用火遗迹2处、石制品406件、动物化石201件、古人类牙齿化石1件、串珠装饰品2件以及烧骨、大量的石质碎屑和碎骨等。遗址两个文化层的文化特征基本一致,是一处包含较多细石叶技术产品的遗址。石制品总体以微型、小型居多;原料主要为石英、燧石;细石核类型丰富,除楔形、柱形、锥形外,古人类还直接选用形态不规则的块状毛坯剥离细石叶,显示了熟练的细石叶工艺;普通石片的生产方法主要为硬锤锤击法,偶见砸击法;石器类型包括边刮器、端刮器和两面尖状器等。动物化石比较破碎,经初步鉴定有普氏羚羊、马科、鸵鸟等种类。遗址的年代为17.2~18.5ka cal BP,处于末次盛冰期(LGM),文化时代属于旧石器时代晚期晚段。     

From the Bay of Naples to the River Don: the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption and the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in Eastern Europe

The Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) eruption, dated by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and various stratigraphic methods to ca. 39,000 cal BP, generated a massive ash plume from its source in southern Italy across Southeastern and Eastern Europe. At the Kostenki-Borshchevo open-air sites on the Middle Don River in Russia, Upper Paleolithic artifact assemblages are buried below, within, and above the CI tephra (which is redeposited by slope action at most sites) on the second terrace. Luminescence and radiocarbon dating, paleomagnetism, and soil and pollen stratigraphy provide further basis for correlation with the Greenland and North Atlantic climate stratigraphy. The oldest Upper Paleolithic occupation layers at Kostenki-Borshchevo may be broadly correlated with warm intervals that preceded the CI event and Heinrich Event 4 (HE4; Greenland Interstadial: GI 12-GI 9) dating to ca. 45,000-41,000 cal BP. These layers contain an industry not currently recognized in other parts of Europe. Early Upper Paleolithic layers above the CI tephra are correlated with HE4 and warm intervals that occurred during 38,000-30,000 cal BP (GI 8-GI 5), and include an assemblage that is assigned to the Aurigancian industry, associated with skeletal remains of modern humans.     

郧县人遗址石核的研究

在郧县人遗址中发现的石核占整个遗址石制品总数的26%。虽然数量仅77件,但从石核上可以看出打片以锤击法为主,采用硬锤直接打击。其利用率不高。石核的打片长度基本上只占该台面周长的一半以下,多在台面的一个边打片,剥片面上的石片疤多为单层,有些打下一块石片后就不再继续打片了。     

Chlorophylla and adenosine triphosphate levels in Antarctic and temperate lake sediments

Analysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from surficial sediment layers in two antarctic lakes and two temperate lakes showed a high degree of similarity in spite of differences between trophic state, mictic state, or geographic location. Adenosine triphosphate was found at all levels sampled in temperate lake sediment cores but occasionally was present only in surficial layers of antarctic cores. Surficial sediment layers from antarctic lakes contained high chlorophylla (Chla) levels due to the extensive benthic algal mats which occur there. In some antarctic cores, Chla was detectable in deep, old mat layers, whereas Chla was not found in any of the temperate lake cores. Antarctic lake sediments appear to be unique environments where Chla molecules can remain intact for long periods of time due to low light, temperature, and microbial activity. As such, these lakes are important natural laboratories where a long history of microbial interactions can be studied without metazoan perturbation effects. Although there was much variability in concentration of Chla and ATP between samples, there appears to be no relationship between Chla or ATP levels to mictic or trophic states of the lakes. These data suggest that sediment microbial communities may be independent of environmental and biological properties of the overlying water masses.     

Effect of tephra depth on vegetation development in areas affected by volcanism

Plant establishment on sites affected by major volcanic disturbances is limited by several factors, such as lack of suitable microsites for germination and establishment in sites affected by tephra from volcanic eruptions. Even after long periods of time, tephra deposited over un-vegetated areas (agricultural fields and other barren areas) lack closed vegetation cover and in many cases late successional species. To assess limiting factors for plant establishment, a field survey in a tephra deposit from the Paricutin volcano eruption (19°30′42.4′′ N, 102°12′03.0′′) and greenhouse experiments were carried out. The field survey determined the relationship between tephra depth and vegetation distribution. Greenhouse experiments determined the effect of tephra depth on establishment and growth of two dominant species in the tephra deposit surveyed, Eupatorium glabratum and Lupinus elegans. Our results suggest that size and spatial distribution of vegetation patches is related to tephra depth in the field (77% of the vegetation patches were on tephra 38.8 cm deep or less and only 2% on tephra of more than 46.8 cm). Under greenhouse conditions, Eupatorium glabratum and Lupinus elegans height sharply decreased as depth of the tephra layer increased. Lupinus elegans plants growing in tephra less than 30 cm deep had a mean weight of 10.56 g (±0.53 g) compared with 3.11 g (±0.46 g) for plants growing in tephra more than 30 cm deep. Our results suggest that tephra depth is a limiting factor for canopy development in barren areas affected by tephra deposition.     

A rapid method for measuring ATP + ADP + AMP in marine sediment

In this report, I describe a method for rapid measurement of total adenylate (ATP + ADP + AMP) in marine sediment samples for estimating microbial biomass. A simple ‘boil and dilute’ method is described here, whereby adding boiled MilliQ water to sediments increases the detection limit for ATP + ADP + AMP up to 100-fold. The lowered detection limit of this method enabled the detection ATP + ADP + AMP in relatively low-biomass sub-seafloor sediment cores with 10⁴ 16S rRNA gene copies per gram. Concentrations of ATP + ADP + AMP correlated with 16S rRNA gene concentrations from bacteria and archaea across six different sites that range in water depth from 1 to 6000 m indicating that the ATP + ADP + AMP method can be used as an additional biomass proxy. In deep sea microbial communities, the ratio of ATP + ADP + AMP concentrations to 16S rRNA genes >1 m below seafloor was significantly lower compared to communities in the upper 30 cm of sediment, which may be due to reduced cell sizes and or lower ATP + ADP + AMP concentrations per cell in the deep sea sub-seafloor biosphere. The boil and dilute method for ATP + ADP + AMP is demonstrated here to have a detection limit sufficient for measuring low biomass communities from deep sea sub-seafloor cores. The method can be applied to frozen samples, enabling measurements of ATP + ADP + AMP from frozen sediment cores stored in core repositories from past and future international drilling campaigns.     

Hereditary abnormality in tapetum lucidum of the Siamese cats

Summary Gross examination showed a weaker reflection (less shining) of the tapetum lucidum of the Siamese cats compared with common cats. Toluidine blue sections revealed that many tapetal cells were weakly stained and giving vacuolated appearance under high magnification. Further examination with electron microscope showed that those weakly stained cells were filled with disrupted tapetal rods. In these affected cells, the arrangement of the tapetal rods was no longer regular. The membranes of the tapetal rods were either enlarged or disrupted. Some of them appeared to be myelin-like structures. The cores of the tapetal rods were either empty or filled with electron-dense materials which may be the remnant of the original cores. The severity of this type of abnormality or degeneration in the tapetum varied from lavers to layers. Those layers closer to the retina showed a greater number of cells with degeneration. Quantitative analysis of histochemical detection of zinc showed a significantly smaller amount of zinc in tapetal rods of the Siamese cats as compared with common cats. Less zinc and disruption of the regular arrangement of the tapetal rods may result in weaker reflection of light by Siamese cat tapetum. In four of the nine Siamese cats studied, this type of abnormality was observed. It suggests that it is a hereditary disorder of relatively high frequency.     

Video-logging for examining biogenic structures in deep heterogeneous subsurface sediments

Video-logging through a transparent tube is described as an alternative method for examining in situ the distribution of biogenic structures within the deep layers of heterogeneous sediments in which undisturbed cores are hard to be obtained. The method comprises four successive phases: the installation of transparent tubes into the sediment, the lowering of a video-camera for scanning sediments through the tube walls, the numerical treatment of images for correcting deformations and obtaining panoramic views of discrete sediment layers, and the mapping of biogenic structures. The method was used successfully to determine the density and depth distribution of galleries made by the oligochaetae Tubifex tubifex (Müller, 1874) within the infiltration bed of a stormwater basin.     

大荔人化石地点第二次发掘简报

对大荔人化石地点进行再次的发掘,不仅发现了新的文化层,而且在含大荔人化石层中找到了384件石器和一些哺乳动物化石,为探讨“大荔人”文化的性质及其时代提供了有意义的资料。     

Palaeolimnological studies of laminated sediments from the Shropshire-Cheshire meres

Studies of frozen and soft mud cores from Ellesmere Mere, Rostherne Mere and Berrington Pool, the three deepest of the Shropshire-Cheshire meres of the English Midlands, reveal the presence of laminations which may be varves. This hypothesis is being tested by means of fine resolution diatom and other microfossil analysis after the method of Simola (1977). Even where the laminations are faint and disrupted, it appears that seasonal signals from algal blooms are preserved.Organic geochemical analyses of sediments from Ellesmere show that the uppermost layers contain abundant organic matter (over 17% total dry matter) and that the extractable lipid fractions from different horizons exhibit clear compositional differences. These are produced by temporal changes in the organic inputs to the sediments, and also by diagnetic effects.The clastic and organic content of the cores also provides evidence for lake level variations in this area over the last 250 years.     

Environnement et archéologie durant le Paléolithique final dans la région du Rhin moyen (Rhénanie, Allemagne) : conclusions des 15 dernières années de recherches

The Laacher See volcano erupted at 10,966 cal BC covered the whole Central Rhineland with huge tephra layers which are exploited now for some 150 years. During the last 15 years of research several new find locations exhibiting tree trunks of the hemi-boreal woodland, leaf imprints and animal tracks preserved in pumice and ashes reveal detailed insights into the (younger) Allerød environment. Five final Paleolithic (Federmessergruppen) habitation sites without any evident settlement structures but providing exogenous raw materials from outcrops in distances up to 170 km demonstrate the highly mobile mode of life of these hunter-gatherers groups some 13,000 years ago.     

Internal wave-induced redox shifts affect biogeochemistry and microbial activity in sediments: a simulation experiment

Internal waves (seiches) are well-studied physical processes in stratified lakes, but their effects on sediment porewater chemistry and microbiology are still largely unexplored. Due to pycnocline oscillations, sediments are exposed to recurrent changes between epilimnetic and hypolimnetic water. This results in strong differences of environmental conditions, which should be reflected in the responses of redox-sensitive biogeochemical processes at both, the sediment–water interface and deeper sediment layers. We tested in a series of mesocosm experiments the influence of seiche-induced redox changes on porewater chemistry and bacterial activity in the sediments under well controlled conditions. Thereby, we excluded effects of changes in current and temperature regimes. For a period of 10 days, intact sediment cores from oligotrophic Lake Stechlin were incubated under constant (either oxic or anoxic) or alternating redox conditions. Solute concentrations were measured as porewater profiles in the sediment, while microbial activity was determined in the upper 0.5 cm of sediment. Oxic and alternating redox conditions resulted in similar ammonium, phosphate, and methane porewater concentrations, while concentrations of each analyte were considerably higher in anoxic cores. Microbial activity was clearly lower in the anoxic cores than in the oxic and the alternating cores. In conclusion, cores with intermittent anoxic phases of up to 24 hours do not differ in biogeochemistry and microbial activities from static oxic sediments. However, due to various physical processes seiches cause oxygen to penetrate deeper into sediment layers, which affects sediment redox gradients and increase microbial activity in seiche-influenced sediments.     

The influence of plants on concentration and fractionation of Zn, Pb, and Cu in salt marsh sediments (Tagus Estuary, Portugal)

Sediment cores were collected from two sites of the Tagus estuary salt marshes which differed in degree of metal contamination. At each site, six 60-cm-long cores were taken, three from a non-vegetated intertidal zone, and one from each of areas colonized by salt marsh plants, Spartina maritima, Halimione portulacoides and Arthrocnemum fruticosum, respectively. Total concentrations and concentrations in sequential extractions of Zn, Pb, and Cu were determined in several sediment layers. Sediment slices containing most of the roots (5–15-cm depth) were enriched in metals in comparison with other depths in the core and with non-vegetated cores. Additionally, metals in sediment slices with roots were preferentially linked to the residual fraction. These results are evidence that aquatic plant roots can have a strong influence on metal concentration and speciation in sediments. Since metals become immobilized in vegetated sediments, the preservation of salt marshes or the creation of artificial wetlands could be considered as an efficient natural means for maintaining ecosystem health or restoring ecosystem quality.     

The laminated lake sediments of the Eckfeld maar (Middle Eocene, Germany): Types of stratification and role of organic matter

Summary The Middle Eocene lake sediments of the Eckfeld maar are situated on the southwestern margin of the Tertiary High-Eifel volcanic field (Germany) and are well known for excellently preserved fossil remains. During a driling campaign in 1996 six well sections were cored at three different locations. Three cores (E1/96, E2/96 and E3/96) penetrated deposition of the central lake facies, which is dominated by laminated organic-rich pelites within the uppermost 40 m. It is the aim of this paper to present a brief survey over the main types of stratification observed within the organic-rich portions of the Eckfeld lake sediments. Based on the varying distribution of mineral and organic matter three sediment sequences are distinguished representing different phases of lake development. The “minerogenic laminites” represent the purely clastic mineral sedimentation in a lake, which was surrounded during this early phase by a tephra rim barren of vegetation. The gradual overgrowth of the tephra rim by vegetation is reflected by the predominance of land plant detritus in the sediments of the “transtion beds”, though the siliciclastic input is still significant. In contrast, the succeeding sequence of the “biogenic laminites” is characterised by the frequent occurrence of centric diatoms (mainly of the planktonic speciesAulacoseira cf.granulata) and Chlorophyceae (mainlyBotryococcus andTetraedron) documenting the increase in autochthonous organic sedimentation in a meromictic lake.     

Detrital layers marking flood events in recent sediments of Lago Maggiore (N. Italy) and their comparison with instrumental data

1. A succession of 20 detrital layers was detected in five short cores from the Pallanza Basin in the western part of Lago Maggiore (Italy) by combining thin‐section analyses and high‐resolution micro‐X‐ray fluorescence (μ‐XRF) scanning techniques. The detrital layers range in thickness from 0.6 to 17.4 mm and appear most distinct in the upper 20–25 cm of each core, where eutrophication since the early 1960s resulted in the deposition of a dark, organic sediment matrix. 2. The age‐depth model of previously dated cores was transferred by precise intra‐basin correlation of distinct marker layers, thus providing a reliable chronology for the 20 detrital layers covering the time period 1965–2006. 3. All detrital layers are related to regional floods as recorded by short‐term lake level rises and peaks in discharge of the River Toce, the main tributary to the Pallanza Basin. 4. Detailed intra‐basin correlation of detrital layers allows us to distinguish river run‐off events from local erosion, as well as evaluate the relation between detrital layer thickness and flood amplitude. Massive clay accumulation on top of the thickest detrital layers might have affected lake ecology by attenuating light and influencing metabolic activity. 5. In the clastic‐dominated sediments deposited before 1965, detrital layers are less clearly discernible because of the predominantly clastic pelagic sediment matrix. The combination of thin‐section and μ‐XRF techniques, however, shows the potential to establish even longer flood layer time series from Lago Maggiore sediments.     

Resilience and alternative equilibria in a mire plant community after experimental disturbance by volcanic ash

Following disturbance events vegetation can either be resilient and return to its original state, or there can be shifts in vegetation composition and abundance patterns that may indicate alternative equilibiria. We conducted a long‐term field experiment that simulated impact by aerially transported volcanic ejecta (tephra) in a Sphagnum‐dominated plant community in order to test the effects of this type of large‐scale disturbance. Sixty plots of 1.4 × 1.4 m were established at Sarobetsu mire in northern Hokkaido, Japan and subjected to seven treatments (including the control) with natural tephra or ground glass shards differing in grain size, layer thickness and season of application. Water chemistry and vegetation were surveyed before tephra application and during five and eight years after the perturbation, respectively. Leaching of ions from fine‐grained glass shards caused a sustained increase of soil water pH and electric conductivity. Under coarser materials water quality differed little from the control, but a short‐lived peak of potassium suggested that mechanisms like nutrient release from decomposing plant material may influence water chemistry after volcanic disturbance. The perturbation initially reduced the cover of the dominant functional group (Sphagnum mosses) in all treatments; vascular plants were less affected. All species were able to recover by growing through the tephra, and open tephra surfaces were colonized by ubiquitous cryptogams, but not by spermatophytes. In contrast to the overall resilient behaviour of the vegetation, in some plots that received natural tephra an alternative state with high cover of the dwarf shrub Myrica gale developed. The patterns indicated that physical and chemical properties of the tephra determined the initial effects on plants, but that stochastic processes contributed to subsequent succession. These are likely to have effects on ecosystem functioning, e.g. hydrological processes and carbon sequestration.