Cosmogenic isotope (Cl) surface exposure dating of the Norber erratics, Yorkshire Dales: Further constraints on the timing of the LGM deglaciation in Britain     

Peter J. Vincent  Peter Wilson  Tom C. Lord  Christoph Schnabel 《Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. Geologists' Association》2010,121(1):24-31

Cosmogenic isotope (³⁶Cl) surface exposure dating of four of the erratic boulders at Norber in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, northwest England, yielded mean ages of ∼22.2 ± 2.0 ka BP and ∼18.0 ± 1.6 ka BP for their emplacement. These two mean values derive from different ³⁶Cl production rates used for exposure age calculation. The ages are uncorrected for temporal variations in production rates and may underestimate the true ages by 5-7%. The former age, although implying early deglaciation for this area of the British ice sheet, is not incompatible with minimum deglaciation ages from other contexts and locations in northwest England. However, the latter age is more consistent with the same minimum deglaciation ages and geochronological evidence for ice-free conditions in parts of the northern sector of the Irish Sea. Within uncertainties, the younger of the mean ages from Norber may indicate that boulder emplacement was associated with North Atlantic Heinrich event 1. The limited spatial (downvalley) extent of the Norber boulders implies that at the time of their deposition the ice margin was coincident with the distal margin of the erratic train. Loss of ice cover at Norber was followed by persistent stadial conditions until the abrupt opening of the Lateglacial Interstadial when large carnivorous mammals colonised the area. The ³⁶Cl ages are between ∼3.0 ka and ∼13.0 ka older than previous estimates based on rates of limestone dissolution derived from the heights of pedestals beneath the erratics.  相似文献   

Anthropogenic hillslope terraces and swidden agriculture in Jiuzhaigou National Park, northern Sichuan, China   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

Amanda Henck  James Taylor  Yongxian Li  Barbara Grub  Alicia Robbins  Tom Hinckley  Lauren Urgenson  Xinxin Hu  Yaowu Yuan  Xun Liao 《Quaternary Research》2010,73(2):201-207

Small, irregular terraces on hillslopes, or terracettes, are common landscape features throughout west central China. Despite their prevalence, there is limited understanding of the nature of these topographic features, the processes that form them, and the role humans played in their formation. We used an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the geology, ecology, and cultural history of terracette development within Jiuzhaigou National Park, Sichuan Province, China. Terracettes occur on south facing, 20° slopes at 2500 m elevation, which appears to coincide with places people historically preferred to build villages. Ethnographic interviews suggest that traditional swidden agricultural cycles removed tree roots, causing the loess sediments to lose cohesion, slump, and the terrace risers to retreat uphill over time. This evidence is supported by landslide debris at terracette faces. Archaeological analysis of terracette sites reveal remains of rammed spread soil structures, bones, stone tools, and ceramics dating from at least 2200 years before present within a distinct paleosol layer. Radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating of terracette sediments ranged in age from between 1500 and 2000 ¹⁴C yr BP and between 16 and 0.30 ka, respectively. These multiple lines of evidence indicate a long history of human habitation within Jiuzhaigou National Park and, taken together, suggest strong links between terracette formation and human-landuse interactions.  相似文献   

Gypsum karst evolution in a diapir: a case study (Pinoso,Alicante, Spain)     

Tomás Rodríguez-Estrella  Antonio Pulido-Bosch 《Environmental Earth Sciences》2010,59(5):1057-1063

Gypsum deposits are highly soluble, and can undergo rapid weathering, especially where water intervenes, though certain human activities can accelerate the karstification processes. An example of karst formed in gypsum at Pinoso (Alicante, Spain) is analysed to show how human activity has impacted on its evolution. The karst here is associated with a huge diapir in the Triassic terrain that boasts of a large number of highly unusual exokarstic landforms. Here, rock salt has been extracted commercially for over 25 years using solution mining via deep boreholes. The brine extracted contains in excess of 300 g/L; over the whole period, more than 12 million tonnes of salt have been extracted using this method. After preliminary treatment to remove impurities, it travels along a brine pipeline to the coast. The enormous volume of the voids generated have probably favoured the acceleration of certain exokarstic and endokarstic processes.  相似文献