A test of models of fluvial architecture and palaeosol development: Camp Rice Formation (Upper Pliocene-Lower Pleistocene), southern Rio Grande rift, New Mexico, USA     

GREG H. MACK  RISA D. MADOFF 《Sedimentology》2005,52(1):191-211

Numerical, experimental and theoretical models of fluvial architecture and palaeosol development are tested with outcrops of Upper Pliocene-Lower Pleistocene sediment in the southern Rio Grande rift, New Mexico. The sediment was deposited and subsequently exhumed in the Jornada del Muerto basin, a westward-tilted half graben whose footwall corresponds to the Rincon Hills and San Diego Mountain fault blocks. The axial river, the ancestral Rio Grande, shared time between the Jornada del Muerto basin and the adjacent Corralitos basin. The ancestral Rio Grande entered the Jornada del Muerto basin via a gap between the footwall blocks, periodically flowing southward towards San Diego Mountain, or making a broad northward sweep into the northern fluvial salient towards the Rincon Hills fault block and unfaulted northern edge of the basin. Ten logged sections up to 35 m thick are correlated using the top of the formation (La Mesa surface), a 1·59 Ma pumice conglomerate, and a ground-water carbonate/opal bed. Additionally, one of the sections is dated by reversal magnetostratigraphy. Consistent with the model of Bridge & Leeder (1979 ) and Bridge & Mackey (1993a ), differential tilting of the Jornada del Muerto half graben resulted in sections directly adjacent to the faults that consist almost exclusively of multistorey channel sands/sandstones, whereas more distal sections contain a greater proportion of crevasse-splay fine sand and overbank mudstone and calcic palaeosols. Along the axis of the northern fluvial salient, a northward decrease in channel/floodplain ratio, a decrease in channel recurrence interval from 171 kyr to 685 kyr, and an increase in the maturity of calcic palaeosols are consistent with southward tilt of the unfaulted northern edge of the basin. An upsection decrease in sediment accumulation rate in the northern fluvial salient from 0·036 mm/ yr to 0·017 mm/ yr corresponds to an increase in the ratio of channel/floodplain facies and in the number of multistorey channel sands/sandstones, and is consistent with the model of Bridge & Leeder (1979 ) in which avulsion frequency is independent of sediment accumulation rate. Stage II and III calcic palaeosols indicate 10³−10⁵ year of landscape stability and soil formation between periods of floodplain deposition in response not only to basin tilting but also because the ancestral Rio Grande had multiple paths within the Jornada del Muerto basin and shared time between the Corralitos and Jornada del Muerto basins.  相似文献   

Recognition of ancient carbonate wind deposits: lessons from a modern analogue, Chrissi Island, Crete   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

PIERRE LE GUERN  ERIC DAVAUD 《Sedimentology》2005,52(5):915-926

Carbonate aeolian deposits are common along arid to semiarid, wind-exposed, present-day coastlines bordered by productive carbonate ramps. Lithified carbonate dunes (aeolianites) have been described around the world in marine terraces of Quaternary age, but these deposits have seldom been identified in the Pre-Quaternary record. Several authors have suggested that this scarcity reflects that these deposits form and are preserved only during icehouse periods characterized by high-amplitude sea-level changes. Others [e.g. McKee and Ward Carbonate Depositional Environments (1983) , AAPG Memoirs, Vol. 33, pp. 131–170] suggest that the scarcity of aeolianites in the Pre-Quaternary record could reflect the ‘great difficulty in recognising wind blown carbonate deposits and in differentiating between them [aeolianites] and other carbonate sands of nearshore environments’. It has been considered that carbonate shoreface/foreshore deposits are very difficult to discriminate petrographically from backshore deposits. This petrographic study of recent sediments from the shoreface to backshore along the northern coast of Chrissi Island, Crete, confirms that carbonate aeolian sands can be very easily misinterpreted as shoreface deposits. Textural examination of thin sections by image analysis techniques indicates, however, that grain orientation patterns differ between facies. Shoreface deposits exhibit a unimodal distribution of grain orientation (flat rose diagram), whereas backshore deposits show a tendency towards a bimodal distribution with a significant proportion of vertical grains. This observation has been confirmed in Pleistocene aeolianites from Tunisia and Western Australia. Grain verticality thus seems to be a reliable criterion for discriminating wind-lain carbonate bodies from shoreface deposits. Vertical grains in aeolian carbonate deposits could reflect gravity effects (e.g. reorientation of grains because of meteoric water percolation and air pull-up). Laboratory experiments conducted on carbonate sands under the action of percolating waters confirm this hypothesis. This reorganization process is preferentially developed in recently deposited and loosely packed sands resulting from grainfall and/or grainflow. In addition, this suggests that the presence of vertical grain orientation might be an indicator of the frequency and intensity of rainfalls during deposition.  相似文献   

西藏林芝地区第四系新知   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

尹光侯  张留青包钢包俊跃段国玺苏学军 《地层学杂志》2005,29(11):626-630

对西藏林芝米林盆地的更新世及其以后的沉积进行了调查研究，磁性地层分析表明这些湖积物的历史不到4万年，在米林的古湖泊沉积物中采获Polypodiaceae等晚更新世孢粉，于米林县白过多更新世湖积之上全新统冲积中新发现林芝智人的头盖骨、牙齿及石斧等，为研究青藏高原第四纪地质作用和古环境、古气候变化及古人类活动等提供了新资料。  相似文献   

Field meeting: Coastal Suffolk Crag weekend, 23-25 April 2004     

R.G. Dixon 《Proceedings of the Geologists' Association. Geologists' Association》2005,116(2):149-160

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New geological framework for Western Amazonia (Brazil) and implications for biogeography and evolution     

Dilce de Fátima Rossetti  Peter Mann de Toledo 《Quaternary Research》2005,63(1):78-89

Although many of the current hypotheses to explain the origin and distribution of the Amazon biodiversity has been based directly or indirectly on geological data, the reconstruction of the geological history of the Amazon region is still inadequate to analyze its relationship with the biodiversity. This work has the main goal to characterize the sedimentary successions formed in the Brazilian Amazon in the Neogene-Quaternary discussing the evolution of the depositional systems through time and analyzing their main controlling mechanisms in order to fill up this gap. Radar image interpretation, sedimentological studies, and radiocarbon dating allowed the mapping of Plio-Pleistocene to Holocene units along the Solimões-Amazonas River, Brazil. This integrated work led to the characterization of five sedimentary successions overlying Miocene deposits of the Solimões/Pebas Formation, which include the following: Içá Formation (Plio-Pleistocene), deposits Q1 (37,400-43,700 ¹⁴C yr B.P.), deposits Q2 (27,200 ¹⁴C yr B.P.), deposits Q3 (6730-2480 ¹⁴C yr B.P.), and deposits Q4 (280-130 ¹⁴C yr B.P.). These deposits occur mostly to the west of Manaus, forming NW-SE elongated belts that are progressively younger from SW to NE, indicating a subsiding basin with a depocenter that migrated to the NE. The reconstruction of the depositional history is consistent with significant changes in the landscapes. Hence, the closure of a large lake system at the end of the Miocene gave rise to the development of a Plio-Pleistocene fluvial system. This was yet very distinct from the modern drainage, with shallow, energetic, highly migrating, braided to anastomosed channels having an overall northeast outlet. This fluvial system formed probably under climatic conditions relatively drier than today's. During the early Pleistocene, there was pronounced erosion, followed by a renewed depositional phase ca. 40,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., with the development of prograding lobes and/or crevasse splays associated with a lake system (i.e., fan-delta) and/or fluvial flood plain areas. After a period of erosion, a fluvial system with eastward draining channels started to develop at around 27,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. The fluvial channels were overflooded in mid-Holocene time. This flooding is attributed to an increased period of humidity, with a peak between 5000 and 2500 ¹⁴C yr B.P. The data presented herein support that, rather than being a monotonous area, the Amazonia was a place with frequent changes in landscape throughout the Neogene-Quaternary, probably as a result of climatic and tectonic factors. We hypothesize that these changes in the physical environment stressed the biota, resulting in speciation and thus had a great impact on modern biodiversity.  相似文献   

Late Pleistocene and Holocene climate and geomorphic histories as interpreted from a 23,000 C yr B.P. paleosol and floodplain soils, southeastern West Virginia, USA     

Steven G. Driese  Zheng-Hua Li 《Quaternary Research》2005,63(2):136-149

Field, micromorphological, pollen, whole soil (XRF), and stable isotope geochemical methods were used to evaluate the latest Pleistocene to Holocene climate record from a floodplain-terrace system in southeastern West Virginia. A late Pleistocene (22,940 ± 150 ¹⁴C yr B.P.) silt paleosol with low-chroma colors formed from fluviolacustrine sediment deposited during the last glacial maximum (Wisconsinan) and records a cooler full-glacial paleoclimate. Fluvial gravel deposited between the latest Pleistocene and earliest Holocene (prior to 6360 ± 40 ¹⁴C yr B.P.) was weathered in the middle Holocene under warmer, drier climate conditions, possibly correlated with the Hypsithermal and Altithermal Events of the eastern and southwestern United States, respectively. The glacial to interglacial climate shift is recorded by: (1) changes from a poorly drained landscape with fine-textured soil, characterized by high organic C and redoximorphic features related to Fe removal and concentration, to a well-drained, coarse-textured setting without gley and with significant argillic (Bt) horizon development; (2) changes from a high Zr and Ti silt-dominated parent material to locally derived, coarse fluvial gravels lower in Zr and Ti; (3) a shift from dominantly conifer and sedge pollen in the paleosol to a modern oak/hickory hardwood assemblage; and (4) a shift in δ¹³C values of soil organic matter from −28‰ to −24‰ PDB, suggesting an ecosystem shift from cooler, C3-dominated flora to one that was mixed C3 and C4, but still predominantly composed of C3 plants. A root-restrictive placic horizon developed between the late Pleistocene silt paleosol and the overlying fluvial gravel because of the high permeability contrast between the two textures of soil materials. This layer formed a barrier that effectively isolated the Pleistocene paleosol from later Holocene pedogenic processes.  相似文献   

Magnetostratigraphic dating of the Donggutuo and Maliang Paleolithic sites in the Nihewan Basin, North China     

Hongqiang Wang  Chenglong Deng  Eric Boëda 《Quaternary Research》2005,64(1):1-11

A detailed magnetostratigraphic investigation, coupled with rock-magnetic studies, was carried out on a lacustrine sequence in the eastern Nihewan Basin, Northern China, which contains the Donggutuo and Maliang Paleolithic sites. Magnetite and hematite were identified as the main carriers for the characteristic remanent magnetizations. Magnetostratigraphic results show that the lacustrine sequence recorded the late Matuyama and Brunhes chrons. Furthermore, the Maliang artifact layer occurs just below the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary, and the Donggutuo artifact layer is just below the Jaramillo onset. Therefore, the age of the Maliang and Donggutuo artifact layers can be definitely estimated to be about 0.78 myr and 1.1 myr, respectively. These two paleomagnetic ages, coupled with previously obtained paleomagnetic data of the Majuangou, Xiaochangliang, Banshan, Lantian, and Xihoudu Paleolithic sites, suggest an expansion and lengthy flourishing of human groups from northern to north-central China during the entire Early Pleistocene.  相似文献   

Late Pleistocene and Holocene depositional systems and the palaeogeography of the Dogger Bank, North Sea     

Simon Fitch  Ken Thomson  Vince Gaffney 《Quaternary Research》2005,64(2):185-196

3D seismic data from the Dogger Bank, North Sea, allow the mapping of Late Pleistocene and Holocene depositional systems in unprecedented detail. The data demonstrate that glacial processes resulted in the development of incised tunnel valley systems during the Weichselian and that these were subsequently modified by fluvial processes in a pro-glacial setting. Subsequently, the Dogger Bank formed an emergent plain during the Holocene with a complex meandering river system, associated tributary or distributary channels and lakes, dominating the region. Prior to the sea level rising sufficiently to submerge the Dogger Bank around 7500 yr ago, the meandering river system was replaced by a dendritic channel network of potential fluvial, estuarine or intertidal origin. As the Holocene depositional features bear no systematic relationship to the bathymetry this study demonstrates that previously published bathymetry-based models for the Holocene palaeogeographic development of the North Sea require modification.  相似文献   

三江并流形成时代的初步探讨   总被引：4，自引：2，他引：4  

明庆忠  史正涛 《云南地理环境研究》2006,18(4):1-4

滇西北三江并流区是世界上独特的纵向岭谷地貌区、世界自然遗产地。金沙江、怒江、澜沧江3条大江的阶地、河谷主要沉积物均为中更新世以来所形成，说明三江并流这-独特地貌-水文现象形成于中更新世及以后的时间。中更新世昆黄运动是西南纵向岭谷乃至中国的地貌-河流发育重要转型事件，奠定了西南纵向岭谷区的自然地理格局，影响了三江并流区的现代地表过程和生态环境变化。  相似文献   

藏西南纳木那尼峰地区第四纪以来的冰川演化          下载免费PDF全文

杨建强  易朝路  L.A.Owen  N.Davis 《第四纪研究》2006,26(2):211-219

藏西南纳木那尼峰地区第四纪以来经历了多阶段的冰川演化,遗留了各个阶段不同类型的冰川堆积地貌和冰川侵蚀地貌。文章通过对各阶段冰积地貌的分布范围、特征的描述,并根据保存程度确定其相对地貌年龄,初步认为本地区第四纪以来倒数第3次冰期发育了规模最大的冰原冰川,倒数第2次冰期时冰原缩小并逐渐解体,末次冰期以来完全解体为山谷冰川。根据本地区槽谷的形态特征及冰川堆积物的分布,认为本地区末次间冰期前后有一次活跃的构造运动。  相似文献