Luminescence Sensitivity of Rhine Valley Loess: Indicators of Source Variability?

Loess provides a valuable terrestrial record of past environmental conditions, including the dynamics and trajectories of air mass circulation responsible for dust transport. Here we explore variations in the luminescence sensitivity characteristics of sedimentary quartz and feldspar as possible tools for identifying changes in source down a loess-palaeosol sequence (LPS). Luminescence sensitivity is a rapidly measurable index which is the product of interplay between source lithology and the history of the quartz or feldspar clasts. Variations in sensitivity of down profile may therefore reflect changes in sediment provenance as well as other factors such as weathering through pedogenesis. We undertake an empirical investigation of the luminescence sensitivity of quartz and feldspar from different grain-size fractions from the Schwalbenberg LPS in the German Rhine valley. We compare samples from a 30 m core spanning the last full glacial cycle with samples of oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 3–2 age exposed within nearby profile. We find an overall inverse relationship between quartz and feldspar sensitivity, as well as variability in sensitivity between different quartz grain sizes. Statistical analyses yield a significant correlation between IR50 sensitivity from unprocessed sediments and clay content, and feldspar sensitivity and Si/Al ratios down the core. Since Si/Al ratios may indicate changes in provenance, the latter correlation suggests that IR50 measurements on unprocessed samples may be used to provide a reliable, rapid scan of source variability over millennial timescales.

Deglacial Land-Ocean Linkages at the Alaskan Continental Margin in the Bering Sea

A marine sediment record from the central Bering Sea, spanning the last 20 thousand years (ka), was studied to unravel the depositional history with regard to terrigenous sediment supply and biogenic sedimentation. Methodic approaches comprised the inference of accumulation rates of siliciclastic and biogenic components, grain-size analysis, and (clay) mineralogy, as well as paleoclimatic modelling. Changes in the depositional history provides insight into land-ocean linkages of paleoenvironmental changes. During the finale of the Last Glacial Maximum, the depositional environment was characterized by hemipelagic background sedimentation. A marked change in the terrigenous sediment provenance during the late Heinrich 1 Stadial (15.7–14.5 ka), indicated by increases in kaolinite and a high glaciofluvial influx of clay, gives evidence of the deglaciation of the Brooks Range in the hinterland of Alaska. This meltwater pulse also stimulated the postglacial onset of biological productivity. Glacial melt implies regional climate warming during a time of widespread cooling on the northern hemisphere. Our simulation experiment with a coupled climate model suggests atmospheric teleconnections to the North Atlantic, with impacts on the dynamics of the Aleutian Low system that gave rise to warmer winters and an early onset of spring during that time. The late deglacial period between 14.5 and 11.0 ka was characterized by enhanced fluvial runoff and biological productivity in the course of climate amelioration, sea-level rise, seasonal sea-ice retreat, and permafrost thaw in the hinterland. The latter processes temporarily stalled during the Younger Dryas stadial (12.9-11.7 ka) and commenced again during the Preboreal (earliest Holocene), after 11.7 ka. High river runoff might have fertilized the Bering Sea and contributed to enhanced upper ocean stratification. Since 11.0 ka, advanced transgression has shifted the coast line and fluvial influence of the Yukon River away from the study site. The opening of the Bering Strait strengthened contour currents along the continental slope, leaving behind winnowed sand-rich sediments through the early to mid-Holocene, with non-deposition occurring since about 6.0 ka.

Geological Controls on Mineralogical Characteristic Differences of Coals from the Main Coal Fields in Shaanxi, North China

Shaanxi is among the provinces with abundant coal resources in North China. These enormous coal resources (approx. 4143 Gt) are widely distributed in the Ordos Basin and its marginal fold belts. The main coal-bearing strata consist of the late Carboniferous Taiyuan Formation, the early Permain Shanxi Formation, the late Triassic Wayaobao Formation, and the middle Jurassic Yan’an Formation, which were respectively deposited in coastal plains and a lagoon environment, a continental environment, an inland open lake and a confined lake environment. The Permo-Carboniferous coals are low volatile bituminous and characterized by relatively high vitrinite content, which decreases from south to north, and from the lower coal seams upwards. By contrast, the late Triassic and middle Jurassic coals are highly volatile bituminous, but are respectively characterized by relatively high vitrinite and high inertinite content. Minerals in the Permo-Carboniferous coals, the late Triassic coals, and the middle Jurassic coals, are respectively dominated by kaolinite and calcite, quartz and kaolinite, and quartz and calcite. Furthermore, contemporary coals deposited in different coal fields or even different mines of the same coal field present different mineral characteristics. The Permain Shanxi Formation coals from the Shanbei C-P coalfield in the north of Shaanxi Province are characterized by higher kaolinite and lower carbonate contents compared to those from the Weibei C-P coalfield in the south of Shaanxi Province. The distinctive mineralogical characteristics of coals formed in different coalfields and different geological ages were ascribed to integrated influences of different terrigenous detrital input from sediment provenance, sedimentary settings (e.g., subsidence rate, sea transgression, and regression process), and hydrothermal activities.

Interactions between the prograding Giant Foresets Formation and a subsiding depocentre: Insights from the Parihaka 3D & ES89 2D seismic surveys

<p>This seismic interpretation project provides new insights into the interaction between the Pliocene-aged Giant Foresets Formation and the faults bounding the Northern Graben. A newly named fault-bounded depocentre within the North Taranaki Graben, the Arawa Sub-Basin, has subsided during the Pliocene, attracting volumes of sediment across the Parihaka Fault within large-scale channels. The study images kilometer-scale channels and explores the interplay between the progradation of the Giant Foresets Formation and normal faulting along the Cape Egmont Fault Zone. A focus is placed on imaging the provenance and depositional facies of sedimentary packages throughout the foresetting sequence of the Giant Foresets Formation. Mapping of the Waipipian-Nukumaruan-aged foresetting sequence within the offshore northern Taranaki Basin has previously shown the primary sediment transport direction is primarily NNW. This is contradicted by sediment-transport features mapped within the study area showing the sediment transport direction fluctuates between NE and SE. The primary mechanism of sediment redirection is faulting along the Cape Egmont Fault Zone and subsidence within the North Taranaki Graben, an elongate SW-NE graben within the northern Taranaki Basin. Smaller (˜10s m-scale) channels concentrate into much larger (˜100s m- to km-scale) mega-channels that travel E/NE into the subsiding Arawa Sub-Basin. Volcanic intrusions of the Mohakatino Volcanic Formation have also influenced the evolution of the mega-channels in the study area, via uplift and doming of the seafloor which provided a barrier to the transport of sediment. The Parihaka 3D and ES89 2D seismic surveys are interpreted using the IHS Kingdom software package to create a basic framework of horizons and faults over the Pliocene-Recent interval. Depth grid maps are produced from the grid of horizon picks. Isochore maps are produced which span key intervals between depth grids. A coherency cube of the Parihaka 3D is generated from the 3D seismic volume using OpendTect. Using the framework of faults and horizons within the coherency cube, imaging sediment transport and deposition features in the vicinity of normal faulting is made possible by flattening on a top foresets horizon and horizontally slicing the data at regular intervals. This recreates past conditions by removing the effects of fault-slip and differential compaction. These “time-slices” contain clear images of channels, canyons and fan-deposits allowing sediment provenance and transport direction to be mapped and interpreted. Finally, seismic section images from the Parihaka 3D and ES89 2D seismic surveys are generated along paths intersecting key geological features within the study area.</p>