A Study on Astronomical Cycle Identification and Environmental Response Characteristics of Lacustrine Deep-Water Fine-Grained Sedimentary Rocks: A Case Study of the Lower Submember of Member 3 of Shahejie Formation in Well Fanye-1 of Dongying Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, China

With the further exploration and development of shale oil and gas, cycle division of fine-grained sedimentary rock strata has been increasingly highly focused on by scholars. Owing to the application of the theory of classical sequence stratigraphy based on water depth changes and its technical methods being unsatisfactory in the isochronous division and correlation of deep-water fine-grained sedimentary strata, the cycle division of fine-grained sedimentary rock strata has always been a difficult point in the study of sequence stratigraphy. In this paper, the Milankovitch cycle recorded from the study interval and the environment response characteristics were studied, with the lacustrine shale in the lower third submember of the Paleogene Shahejie Formation (lower Es3 submember) in Well Fanye-1 of the Dongying sag, Bohai Bay Basin, as the object of study, by such technical means as thin section identification and X-ray whole rock diffraction, based on such data as logging data and geochemistry, combining the methods of spectral analysis, wavelet transform, and modulus extremum. The results showed that the stratigraphic cycle thicknesses caused by long eccentricity, short eccentricity, and obliquity periods were 38.95 m, 12.98 m, and 4.10 m, respectively, and a total of 16 short eccentricity periods and 4.5 long eccentricity periods were identified in the study interval. Thus, it was further calculated that the sedimentation time was approximately 1.905 Ma, and the average sedimentation rate was estimated to be 0.105 m/ka. Studies have shown that the sedimentary environment of lacustrine fine-grained sedimentary rocks is controlled by the astronomical period, based on which the climate as a whole changes from relatively dry and cold to warm and wet when the eccentricity increases. The identification of the Milankovitch cycle of the lacustrine fine-grained sedimentary strata will provide references for the study of high frequency sequence and the division of high-resolution sequence strata, which can effectively solve the scientifically difficult isochronous division and correlation of lacustrine shale strata.

Age and driving mechanisms of the Eocene-Oligocene Transition from astronomical tuning of a lacustrine record (Rennes Basin, France)

The Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT) marks the onset of the Antarctic glaciation and the switch from greenhouse to icehouse climates. However, the driving mechanisms and the precise timing of the EOT remain controversial mostly due to the lack of well-dated stratigraphic records, especially in continental environments. Here we present a cyclo-magnetostratigraphic and sedimentological study of a ∼7.6 Myr-long lacustrine record spanning the late Eocene to the earliest Oligocene, from a drill-core in the Rennes Basin (France). Time-series analysis of natural gamma-ray (NGR) log data shows evidence of Milankovitch cycle bands. In particular, the 405 kyr stable eccentricity is expressed with strong amplitudes. Astronomical calibration to this 405 kyr periodicity yields duration estimates of Chrons C12r through C16n.1n, providing additional constraints on the middle–early Eocene timescale. Correlations between the orbital eccentricity curve and the 405 kyr tuned NGR time series and assumptions on their phase relationships, enable to test previously proposed ages for the EO boundary, indicating that 33.71 and 34.10 Ma are the most likely. Additionally, the 405 kyr tuning calibrates the most pronounced NGR cyclicity to a period of ∼1 Myr matching the g1-g5 eccentricity term. Such cyclicity has been recorded in other continental records, pointing to its significant expression in continental depositional environments. The record of g1-g5 and sometimes g2-g5 eccentricity terms in previously acquired sedimentary facies proxies in CDB1 core led us to hypothesize that the paleolake level may have behaved as a lowpass filter for orbital forcing. Two prominent changes in the sedimentary facies were detected across the EOT, which are temporally equivalent to the two main climatic steps, EOT-1 and Oi-1. Combined with previously acquired geochemical (δ15Norg, TOC), mineralogical (Quartz, clays) and pollen assemblage proxies from CDB1, we suggest that these two facies changes reflect the two major Antarctic cooling/glacial phases via the hydrological cycle, as significant shifts to drier and cooler climate conditions, thus supporting the stepwise nature of the EOT. Remarkably, a strongly dominant obliquity expressed in the latest Eocene corresponds in time to the interval from the EOT precursor glacial event till the EOT-1. We interpret the obliquity dominance as reflecting preconditioning phases for the onset of the major Antarctic glaciation, either from its direct impact on the formation/(in)stability of the incipient Antactic Ice Sheet (AIS), or through its modulation of the North Atlantic Deep Water production given the North Atlantic coastal location of the CDB1 site.

On the Breaking of the Milankovitch Cycles Triggered by Temperature Increase: The Stochastic Resonance Response

Recent decades have registered the hottest temperature variation in instrumentally recorded data history. The registered temperature rise is particularly significant in the so-called hot spot or sentinel regions, characterized by higher temperature increases in respect to the planet average value and by more marked connected effects. In this framework, in the present work, following the climate stochastic resonance model, the effects, due to a temperature increase independently from a specific trend, connected to the 105 year Milankovitch cycle were tested. As a result, a breaking scenario induced by global warming is forecasted. More specifically, a wavelet analysis, innovatively performed with different sampling times, allowed us, besides to fully characterize the cycles periodicities, to quantitatively determine the stochastic resonance conditions by optimizing the noise level. Starting from these system resonance conditions, numerical simulations for increasing planet temperatures have been performed. The obtained results show that an increase of the Earth temperature boosts a transition towards a chaotic regime where the Milankovitch cycle effects disappear. These results put into evidence the so-called threshold effect, namely the fact that also a small temperature increase can give rise to great effects above a given threshold, furnish a perspective point of view of a possible future climate scenario, and provide an account of the ongoing registered intensity increase of extreme meteorological events.

Grand Unified TheorieS

The author Wan-Chung Hu(born1973) is a MD (National Taiwan University) and PhD (Johns Hopkins University). This book contains theories in physics, chemistry, biology, geosciences, and mathematics. Spinity is a force to drag spacetime to rotate around central mass. Rest mass produces gravity, spinning mass produces spinity; rest charge produces electricity, spinning charge produces magnetism. Gravitospinity Maxwell equations can be obtained. Light is also the gravity wave, and light decides time. Space-time has smallest unit as new Planck volume and Planck time. Flight principle is given. Lightity is dark energy. Photon emitted from galaxy expands the universe acceleratedly via light pressure. General relativity suggests mass induces spacetime curvature; charge relativity suggests charge induces spacetime torsion. There is no dark matter, and spiral galaxies are formed due to charge relativity which replaces quantum electrodynamics. Integrating general relativity, charge relativity, and light pressure, we get 4x4 universe field tensor. The birth and end of universe can be deducted. Unified field theory can also be obtained by integrating electric field, magnetic field, gravity field, spinity field, and temperature field. Combining gravitospinity, electromagnetism, and matter standing wave, I deduct a determinative atom model replacing quantum mechanics. In addition, I propose a new chemical bond theory according to the new atom model. Homochirality is due to co-catalysis of L-amino acids and D-sugars. Extinction is due to Milankovitch cycle. Earthquake is caused by abrupt light release from inner earth which explains electromagnetism/ ionosphere anomaly and intra-tectonic earthquakes replacing plate tectonic earthquake theory. Tornado genesis is related to charge relativity. In mathematics, I propose MilankovitchThis book is very important to earthquake prediction. Many nuclear plants of Taiwan are located near fault areas. If huge earthquake happens, it will cause detrimental effect. I used several nights and weekends to finish this book without affecting my normal work. I am still most interested in biomedicine including vaccine science. Both biomedicine and earthquake research can save millions of lives.

Diagenetic Self-Organization and Stochastic Resonance in a Model of Limestone-Marl Sequences

Banded patterns in limestone-marl sequences (“rhythmites”) form widespread sediments typical of shallow marine environments. They are characterized by alternations of limestone-rich layers and softer calcareous-clayey material (marl) extending over hundreds of meters with a thickness of a few tens of meters. The banded sequences are usually thought to result from systematic variations in the external environment, but the pattern may be distorted by diagenetic nonlinear processes. Here, we present a reactive-transport model for the formation of banded patterns in such a system. The model exhibits interesting features typical of nonlinear dynamical systems: (i) the existence of self-organized oscillating patterns between a calcite-rich mode (“limestone”) and a calcite-poor one (“marl”) for fixed environmental conditions and (ii) bistability between these two modes. We then illustrate the phenomena of stochastic resonance, whereby the multistable system is driven by a small external periodic signal (the 100,000 years’ Milankovitch cycle comes to mind) that is too weak to generate oscillations between the states on its own. In the presence of random fluctuations, however, the system generates transitions between the calcite-rich and calcite-poor states in statistical synchrony with the external forcing. The signal-to-noise ratio exhibits many maxima as the noise strength is varied. Hence, this amplification effect is maximized for specific values of the noise strength.

Several distinct wet periods since 420 ka in the Namib Desert inferred from U-series dates of speleothems

The scarcity of numerical dates of the arid areas in southern Africa is a challenge for reconstructing paleoclimate. This paper presents a chronological reconstruction in the central part of the Namib Desert, Namibia, for the last 420,000 yr. It is based on 230Th/U dates (TIMS) from a large stalagmite and a thick flowstone layer in a small cave located in the hyper-arid central Namib Desert. The results provide for the first time evidence of three or possibly four succeeding wet periods of decreasing intensity since 420 ka through which speleothem deposited at approximately 420–385 ka, 230–207 ka and 120–117 ka following the 100-ka Milankovitch cycle. Speleothem growth was not recorded for the Holocene. These wet periods interrupted the predominantly dry climate of the Namib Desert and coincided with wet phases in deserts of the northern hemisphere in the Murzuq Basin, Sahara, the Negev, Israel, the Nafud Desert, Saudi Arabia, and the arid northern Oman, Arabian Peninsula.