Evolution and sedimentology of a channel fill in the sandy braided South Saskatchewan River and its comparison to the deposits of an adjacent compound bar     

PHILIP J. ASHWORTH  GREGORY H. SAMBROOK SMITH  JAMES L. BEST  JOHN S. BRIDGE  STUART N. LANE  IAN. A. LUNT  ARNOLD J. H. REESINK  CHRISTOPHER J. SIMPSON  ROBERT E. THOMAS 《Sedimentology》2011,58(7):1860-1883

The depositional stratigraphy of within‐channel deposits in sandy braided rivers is dominated by a variety of barforms (both singular ‘unit’ bars and complex ‘compound’ bars), as well as the infill of individual channels (herein termed ‘channel fills’). The deposits of bars and channel fills define the key components of facies models for braided rivers and their within‐channel heterogeneity, knowledge of which is important for reservoir characterization. However, few studies have sought to address the question of whether the deposits of bars and channel fills can be readily differentiated from each other. This paper presents the first quantitative study to achieve this aim, using aerial images of an evolving modern sandy braided river and geophysical imaging of its subsurface deposits. Aerial photographs taken between 2000 and 2004 document the abandonment and fill of a 1·3 km long, 80 m wide anabranch channel in the sandy braided South Saskatchewan River, Canada. Upstream river regulation traps the majority of very fine sediment and there is little clay (< 1%) in the bed sediments. Channel abandonment was initiated by a series of unit bars that stalled and progressively blocked the anabranch entrance, together with dune deposition and stacking at the anabranch entrance and exit. Complete channel abandonment and subsequent fill of up to 3 m of sediment took approximately two years. Thirteen kilometres of ground‐penetrating radar surveys, coupled with 18 cores, were obtained over the channel fill and an adjacent 750 m long, 400 m wide, compound bar, enabling a quantitative analysis of the channel and bar deposits. Results show that, in terms of grain‐size trends, facies proportions and scale of deposits, there are only subtle differences between the channel fill and bar deposits which, therefore, renders them indistinguishable. Thus, it may be inappropriate to assign different geometric and sedimentological attributes to channel fill and bar facies in object‐based models of sandy braided river alluvial architecture.  相似文献   

Radiocarbon wiggle matching of Swedish lake varves reveals asynchronous climate changes around the 8.2 kyr cold event     

IAN SNOWBALL  RAIMUND MUSCHELER  LOVISA ZILLÉN  PER SANDGREN  TANIA STANTON  KARL LJUNG 《Boreas: An International Journal of Quaternary Research》2010,39(4):720-733

Snowball, I., Muscheler, R., Zillén, L., Sandgren, P., Stanton, T. & Ljung, K. 2010: Radiocarbon wiggle matching of Swedish lake varves reveals asynchronous climate changes around the 8.2 kyr cold event. Boreas, Vol. 39, pp. 720–733. 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00167.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. A series of nine radiocarbon measurements obtained at increments of 50 years was used to wiggle match varved sediments in Lake Kälksjön (west central Sweden) to the calendar year time scale provided by the tree‐ring‐derived radiocarbon calibration curve. The anchor point for a series of 400 varves known to span the ‘8.2 kyr cold event’ was derived from a combination of correlation analysis, Monte Carlo statistics and Bayesian age modelling. The GRIP and NorthGRIP ice‐cores were matched to the same absolute time scale by comparing ¹⁰Be data and tree‐ring Δ¹⁴C. The radiocarbon‐based wiggle match, organic carbon measurements, mineral magnetic parameters and XRF data reconstruct a distinct period of enhanced erosion in Kälksjön's catchment between 8066 ± 25 and 7920 ± 25 cal. yr BP. Prior to human impact, the increased erosion in the boreal environment is assigned to increased winter precipitation in the form of snow, which caused spring meltwater discharge to intensify. Our results suggest that the abrupt onset of increased winter precipitation in west central Sweden started at least 50 years after the onset of the ‘8.2 kyr cold event’ as defined by oxygen isotope data from Greenland. The study highlights the value of synchronized time scales in the reconstruction of abrupt climate changes based on proxy data.  相似文献   

Anomalous luminescence of subglacial sediment at Haut Glacier d'Arolla,Switzerland – a consequence of resetting at the glacier bed?     

DARREL A. SWIFT  DAVID C. W. SANDERSON  PETER W. NIENOW  ROBERT G. BINGHAM  IAN C. COCHRANE 《Boreas: An International Journal of Quaternary Research》2011,40(3):446-458

Swift, D. A., Sanderson, D. C. W., Nienow, P. W., Bingham, R. G. & Cochrane, I. C. 2010: Anomalous luminescence of subglacial sediment at Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland – a consequence of resetting at the glacier bed? Boreas, Vol. 40, pp. 446–458. 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00196.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Luminescence has the potential to elucidate glacial geomorphic processes because primary glacial sediment sources and transport pathways are associated with contrasting degrees of exposure to light. Most notably, sediment entrained from extraglacial sources should be at least partially reset, whereas sediment produced by glacial erosion of subglacial bedrock should retain substantial luminescence commensurate with a geological irradiation history. We set out to test the validity of this assumption at Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland using sediment sampled extraglacially and from the glacier bed. Contrary to our expectations, the subglacial samples exhibited natural signals that were substantially lower than those of other sample groups, and further (albeit limited) analyses have indicated no obvious differences in sample‐group luminescence characteristics or behaviour that could account for this observation. For glaciological reasons, we can eliminate the possibilities that the subglacial sediment has been extraglacially reset or exposed in situ to heat or light. We therefore advocate investigation of possible resetting processes related to subglacial crushing and grinding, and speculate that such processes, if more generally present, may enable the dating of subglacially deposited tills using luminescence‐based techniques.  相似文献   

Establishment of modern circulation pattern at c. 6000 cal a BP in Disko Bugt,central West Greenland: opening of the Vaigat Strait     

KERSTIN PERNER  MATTHIAS MOROS  IAN SNOWBALL  JEREMY M. LLOYD  ANTOON KUIJPERS  THOMAS RICHTER 《第四纪科学杂志》2013,28(5):480-489

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Urban geology: Glasgow's hidden industrial heritage     

MICHAEL A. E. BROWNE  REW A. McMILLAN  IAN H. FORSYTH 《Geology Today》1986,2(3):74-78

The growth of Glasgow from a small town into a heavily industrialised conurbation depended greatly on its local geological riches. Extensive mining and quarrying of a range of minerals took place from the 18th century onwards. The early underground stoop and room (pillar and stall) workings, and the backfilled quarries, together with variably consolidated natural superficial deposits, have bequeathed to the city a heritage of unwanted engineering problems which cannot easily be quantified. Recent work by the British Geological Survey (BGS) illustrates the scale of both geological and man-made problems.  相似文献   

Drilling Blake Nose: the search for evidence of extreme Palaeogene–Cretaceous climates and extraterrestrial events     

KROON  NORRIS  KLAUS  IAN T. ALEXANDER  LEON PAUL BARDOT  CHARLES E. BARKER  JEAN-PIERRE BELLIER  CHARLES D. BLOME  LEON J. CLARKE  JOCHEN ERBACHER  KRISTINA L. FAUL  MARY ANNE HOLMES  BRIAN T. HUBER  MIRIAM E. KATZ  KENNETH G. MACLEOD  SANDRA MARCA  FRANCISA C. MARTINEZ-RUIZ  ISAO MITA  MUTSUMI NAKAI  JAMES G. OGG  DOROTHY K. PAK  THOMAS K. PLETSCH  JEAN M. SELF-TRIAL  NICHOLAS J. SHACKLETON  JAN SMIT  WILLIAM USSLERIII  DAVID K. WATKINS  JOEN WIDMARK  & PAUL A. WILSON 《Geology Today》1998,14(6):222-226

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Occurrence of varved lake sediment sequences in Varmland, west central Sweden: lake characteristics, varve chronology and AMS radiocarbon dating     

LOVISA ZILLÉN  IAN SNOWBALL  PER SANDGREN  TANIA STANTON 《Boreas: An International Journal of Quaternary Research》2003,32(4):612-626

Varved lake sediments can be used to set multiple environmental proxies within a calendar year time scale. We undertook a systematic survey of lakes in the Province of Värmland, west central Sweden, with the aim of finding continuous varved lake sediment sequences covering the majority of the Holocene. In Fennoscandia, such sediments have previously only been recorded in northern Sweden and in southern and central Finland. By following a selective process and fieldwork we discovered three new varved sites (i.e. Furskogstjärnet, Mötterudstjärnet and Kälksjön). We found that lakes with varved sediments have several common lake morphometry properties and lake catchment characteristics such as maximum water depth, maximum water depth/lake surface area ratio, catchment soil types, altitude and number of inflows. Varve chronologies, supported by AMS-¹⁴C dating and tephrochronology were established for two of the sediment profiles. These varve chronologies are the longest geological records with an annual resolution known to exist in Sweden. In Furskogstjärnet, the AMS- ¹⁴C dates based on terrestrial plant macrofossils at several levels deviate significantly from the varve based time-depth curve. In Motterudstjarnet, a fully reasonable time-depth model based on the ¹⁴C dates gives older ages in the lower part of the sequence compared to the varve chronology. These results highlight that seemingly acceptable AMS radiocarbon dates may be erroneous. They also point to the fact that varved lake sediments are reliable geological archives with respect to chronological control and accuracy. Thus, these archives should be of prime interest for studies of climate and environmental change undertaken with the aim of providing sub-decadal resolution proxy data sets.  相似文献   

Binary interactions between polar lows     

IAN A. RENFREW  G. W. K. MOORE  AASHISH A. CLERK 《地球，A辑:动力气象学与海洋学》1997,49(5):577-594

In this study, the movement of polar lows is addressed from a novel and perspicuous viewpoint. The usual assumption has been that these mesoscale systems are, to a first approximation, advected by the larger scale flow in which they are embedded. However, when there are two or more polar lows in the same vicinity, binary interactions between pairs of polar lows can cause a cyclonic co-rotation of the pair. In geographic coordinates these interactions can appear as unusual loops, twists and turns in the low tracks, due to the interplay between the cyclonic co-rotation and the translation of the binary pair by the ambient flow. However when the tracks are replotted in centroid relative coordinates, a mutual rotation is unmistakable. Satellite imagery from several case studies has been examined to accurately determine the polar low tracks, and thus the co-rotations. Using surface wind observations, a theoretical rotation rate can be estimated, based on barotropic vortex dynamics. There is a good correspondence between the observed and calculated rotation rates. Recognizing the existence of binary interactions between polar lows emphasises the connection between polar lows and tropical cyclones, where binary interactions have been described in several studies. Indeed, in the cases studied here, binary interactions are strongest during the secondary (convective) stage of polar low development where the lows are somewhat analogous to arctic hurricanes.  相似文献   

The Late Weichselian sea level history of the Kullen Peninsula in northwest Skåne, southern Sweden     

PER SANDGREN  IAN SNOWBALL 《Boreas: An International Journal of Quaternary Research》2001,30(2):115-130

The Kullen Peninsula in northwest Skåne, at the time of the Weichselian deglaciation an island surrounded by the Kattegat Sea, is the earliest known deglaciated area in Sweden. Sediment stratigraphic and mineral magnetic properties, combined with radiocarbon dating, were used to determine and date the isolation of present-day lake basins from the sea. Significant environmental changes, which reflect the isolations, are supported by previously published palaeoecological data and cannot be related to climate changes. Basins situated above the marine limit (ML) have short (in the order of centimetres) minerogenic sequences that are magnetically characterized by low concentrations of detrital magnetite. In contrast, the pre-isolation sediments in basins below the ML, especially those deposited in sheltered positions in the landscape, have thick sequences (in the order of metres) of authigenic greigite-bearing sediments. Age determinations of the isolation level are based on the AMS radiocarbon dating of terrestrial plant macrofossil remains and previously published pollen stratigraphical investigations. Supported by the upper level of a sandy beach deposit preserved on the generally steep till covered slopes, the marine limit can be determined to 88–89 m a.s.l., which developed at the regional deglaciation c. 17000 calendar years ago. The results indicate that the deglaciation shoreline level remained fairly constant, relative to the sea level, for c. 1000 years and was followed by a gentle regression. The presented shoreline displacement curve from the Kullen Peninsula extends c. 1000 calendar years further back in time than any previously published records from the Swedish west coast.  相似文献   

The sensitivity of deduced CO₂ sources and sinks to variations in transport and imposed surface concentrations     

RACHEL LAW  IAN SIMMONDS 《Tellus. Series B, Chemical and physical meteorology》1996,48(5):613-625

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