A Pliocene age and origin for the strandflat of the Western Isles of Scotland: a speculative hypothesis

2012 ◽  
Vol 150 (2) ◽  
pp. 360-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALASTAIR G. DAWSON ◽  
SUE DAWSON ◽  
J. ANDREW G. COOPER ◽  
ALASTAIR GEMMELL ◽  
RICHARD BATES
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Record ◽  
Outer Hebrides ◽  
Isotope Record ◽  
Speculative Hypothesis ◽  
First Time ◽  
Distal Support ◽  
Shore Platforms

AbstractA series of very wide (up to 15 km) raised shore platforms in the Scottish Hebrides are identified and described for the first time and are considered part of a high rock platform shoreline in the western isles of Scotland described by W. B. Wright in his classic Geological Magazine paper a century ago as a ‘preglacial’ feature. Subsequent interpretations suggesting that the platforms were produced during the Pleistocene are rejected here in favour of a speculative hypothesis that the features are part of the well-known strandflat that is extensively developed across large areas of the northern hemisphere. It is argued that the Scottish strandflat developed during the Pliocene and was later subjected to extensive Pleistocene glacial erosion such that only a few areas of platform have survived in the Scottish Inner Hebrides (ice-proximal) while they are well-preserved in the Outer Hebrides (ice-distal). Support for a Pliocene hypothesis is provided by the marine oxygen isotope record for this time interval which points to prolonged periods of relative sea level stability as would be required for the production of such wide features. This hypothesis for the formation of a Scottish strandflat not only provides an elegant explanation for the origin and age of the raised rock platform fragments that occur throughout the western isles of Scotland, but it may also have relevance for other coastal areas of the northern hemisphere (e.g. Norway, Greenland, Alaska) where the strandflat is a well-developed feature.

The Marine Oxygen Isotope Record in Pleistocene Coral, Barbados, West Indies

1978 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard G. Fairbanks ◽  
R.K. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Oxygen Isotopes ◽  
Time Range ◽  
Acropora Palmata ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Stage ◽  
Average Temperature ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Record ◽  
Isotope Record

The reef-crest coral Acropora palmata from late Pleistocene reefs on Barbados has recorded the same global variations in oxygen isotopes as planktonic and benthonic foraminifera. Although the record of oxygen isotopes in Acropora palmata is discontinuous, it offers several advantages over the isotope records from deep-sea sediments: (1) the coral grows at water depths of less than 5 m; (2) the samples are unmixed; (3) specimens may be sampled from various elevations of paleo-sea level; and (4) aragonitic corals are suitable for 230Th/234U and He/U dating techniques. The latter advantage means that direct dating of the marine oxygen isotope record is possible. Oxygen isotope stage 5e corresponds to Barbados III, dated at 125,000 ± 6000 yr BP. Petrographic and geochemical evidence from five boreholes drilled into the south coast of Barbados indicates a major eustatic lowering (greater than 100 m below present sea level) occurred between 180,000 and 125,000 yr BP. The age and isotopic data suggest correlation of this change in sea level to Emiliani's oxygen isotope stage 6. Acropora palmata deposited at various elevations of sea level during oxygen isotope stage 6 vary by 0.11 ‰ δ18O for each 10 m of change in sea level. We further hypothesize a minimum drop of 2°C in the average temperature occurred during the regressive phase of oxygen isotope stage 6. These data indicate that temperature lowering of surface water near Barbados lagged behind a major glacial buildup during this time period. Using the δ18O vs sea level calibration herein derived, we estimate the relative height of sea stands responsible for Barbados coral reef terraces in the time range 80,000 to 220,000 yr BP.

scholarly journals Dynamics of ~100-kyr glacial cycles during the early Miocene

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 2741-2766
Author(s):  
D. Liebrand ◽  
L. J. Lourens ◽  
D. A. Hodell ◽  
B. de Boer ◽  
R. S. W. van de Wal
Keyword(s):  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Early Miocene ◽  
Glacial Cycles ◽  
Threshold Response ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Eastern Atlantic Ocean ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Record ◽  
Isotope Record

Abstract. Here, we present high-resolution stable isotope records from ODP Site 1264 in the South-Eastern Atlantic Ocean, which resolve the latest Oligocene to early Miocene (23.7–18.9 Ma) climate changes. Using an inverse modelling technique, we decomposed the oxygen isotope record into temperature and ice volume and found that the Antarctic ice sheet expanded during distinct episodes (e.g., Mi zones) of low short-term (~100-kyr) eccentricity forcing, which occur two to four long-term (400-kyr) eccentricity cycles apart. We argue that a~non-linear mechanism, such as the merging of (several) large East Antarctic ice sheets, caused the build-up of a larger ice sheet. During the termination phases of these larger ice sheets, on the contrary, we find a more linear response of ice-sheet variability to orbital forcing and climate became highly sensitive to the ~100-kyr eccentricity cycle. At the Oligocene-Miocene transition the model output indicates a decrease in Northern Hemisphere temperatures such that a small ice cap could develop on Greenland. This Supports the hypothesis of a threshold response for the development of Northern Hemisphere land ice to decreasing pCO2.

Digeneans from deep-sea marine teleosts off the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, including the description of Brachyenteron helicoleni sp. nov. (Zoogonidae)

2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney Bray ◽  
Roman Kuchta
Keyword(s):  
Ventral Sucker ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Genital Pore ◽  
Outer Hebrides ◽  
Helicolenus Dactylopterus ◽  
First Time ◽  
North Western

AbstractFifteen species of digeneans are reported from the waters off the islands of the Outer Hebrides, off north-western Scotland. Trifoliovarium allocytti comb. nov. from Neocyttus helgae is described, figured, and reported for the first time in the northern hemisphere. Brachyenteron helicoleni sp. nov. from Helicolenus dactylopterus is described and considered distinct from other species in the genital pore being at the level of the pharynx, the relatively narrow caeca, the vitellarium being mainly at the level of the ventral sucker and the anterior hindbody, the posteriorly situated, oblique testes, the small amount of post-testicular uterus, the small, delicate cirrus-sac and the large eggs. Derogenes varicus and Lepidapedon arlenae are reported from Caelorhinchus labiatus and Paralepidapedon williamsi is reported from Cottunculus thomsoni for the first time. Steringovermes notacanthi and Prodistomum priedei are reported from off Scotland for the first time. The reports of Derogenes varicus at 1,800 m depth and Zoogonoides viviparus at 1,000 m are deeper records than have previously been published.

scholarly journals Period-Life of a Branching Process with Migration and Continuous Time

Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 868
Author(s):  
Khrystyna Prysyazhnyk ◽  
Iryna Bazylevych ◽  
Ludmila Mitkova ◽  
Iryna Ivanochko
Keyword(s):  
Random Process ◽  
Generating Function ◽  
Continuous Time ◽  
Branching Process ◽  
Probability Generating Function ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
The Moment ◽  
First Time ◽  
Critical Branching Process ◽  
Number Of Particles

The homogeneous branching process with migration and continuous time is considered. We investigated the distribution of the period-life τ, i.e., the length of the time interval between the moment when the process is initiated by a positive number of particles and the moment when there are no individuals in the population for the first time. The probability generating function of the random process, which describes the behavior of the process within the period-life, was obtained. The boundary theorem for the period-life of the subcritical or critical branching process with migration was found.

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