Old radiocarbon ages in the southwest Pacific Ocean during the last glacial period and deglaciation

Marine radiocarbon (14C) dates are widely used for dating oceanic events and as tracers of ocean circulation, essential components for understanding ocean-climate interactions. Past ocean ventilation rates have been determined by the difference between radiocarbon ages of deep-water and surface-water reservoirs, but the apparent age of surface waters (currently approximately 400 years in the tropics and approximately 1,200 years in Antarctic waters) might not be constant through time, as has been assumed in radiocarbon chronologies and palaeoclimate studies. Here we present independent estimates of surface-water and deep-water reservoir ages in the New Zealand region since the last glacial period, using volcanic ejecta (tephras) deposited in both marine and terrestrial sediments as stratigraphic markers. Compared to present-day values, surface-reservoir ages from 11,900 14C years ago were twice as large (800 years) and during glacial times were five times as large (2,000 years), contradicting the assumption of constant surface age. Furthermore, the ages of glacial deep-water reservoirs were much older (3,000-5,000 years). The increase in surface-to-deep water age differences in the glacial Southern Ocean suggests that there was decreased ocean ventilation during this period.     

闽江河口第四纪地层划分和地质年代研究

本文系统地研究了闽江河口琅岐岛钻孔揭示的第四纪地层。根据孢粉、微古、硅藻和~(14)C测年等资料分析了沉积物形成时的气候波动、沉积相和沉积物年代,将闽江河口第四纪地层划分为上更新统上段(厚>15米)和全新统(厚49.80米)。全新统又可分为下全新统下段和上段、中全新统和上全新统。气候演化为:冷干→温暖略干→温暖湿润→炎热潮湿→温暖略干。沉积相演化为:冲积相、冲洪积相、湖沼相→冲积相、湖沼相→河口相、湖沼相→海湾相→河口相。     

闽江河口第四纪地层划分和地质年代研究

本文系统地研究了闽江河口琅岐岛钻孔揭示的第四纪地层。根据孢粉、微古、硅藻和~(14)C测年等资料分析了沉积物形成时的气候波动、沉积相和沉积物年代,将闽江河口第四纪地层划分为上更新统上段(厚>15米)和全新统(厚49.80米)。全新统又可分为下全新统下段和上段、中全新统和上全新统。气候演化为:冷干→温暖略干→温暖湿润→炎热潮湿→温暖略干。沉积相演化为:冲积相、冲洪积相、湖沼相→冲积相、湖沼相→河口相、湖沼相→海湾相→河口相。     

Placing late Neanderthals in a climatic context

Attempts to place Palaeolithic finds within a precise climatic framework are complicated by both uncertainty over the radiocarbon calibration beyond about 21,500 14C years bp and the absence of a master calendar chronology for climate events from reference archives such as Greenland ice cores or speleothems. Here we present an alternative approach, in which 14C dates of interest are mapped directly onto the palaeoclimate record of the Cariaco Basin by means of its 14C series, circumventing calendar age model and correlation uncertainties, and placing dated events in the millennial-scale climate context of the last glacial period. This is applied to different sets of dates from levels with Mousterian artefacts, presumably produced by late Neanderthals, from Gorham's Cave in Gibraltar: first, generally accepted estimates of about 32,000 14C years bp for the uppermost Mousterian levels; second, a possible extended Middle Palaeolithic occupation until about 28,000 14C years bp; and third, more contentious evidence for persistence until about 24,000 14C years bp. This study shows that the three sets translate to different scenarios on the role of climate in Neanderthal extinction. The first two correspond to intervals of general climatic instability between stadials and interstadials that characterized most of the Middle Pleniglacial and are not coeval with Heinrich Events. In contrast, if accepted, the youngest date indicates that late Neanderthals may have persisted up to the onset of a major environmental shift, which included an expansion in global ice volume and an increased latitudinal temperature gradient. More generally, our radiocarbon climatostratigraphic approach can be applied to any 'snapshot' date from discontinuous records in a variety of deposits and can become a powerful tool in evaluating the climatic signature of critical intervals in Late Pleistocene human evolution.     

Unexpectedly recent dates for human remains from Vogelherd

The human skeletal remains from the Vogelherd cave in the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany are at present seen as the best evidence that modern humans produced the artefacts of the early Aurignacian. Radiocarbon measurements from all the key fossils from Vogelherd show that these human remains actually date to the late Neolithic, between 3,900 and 5,000 radiocarbon years before present (bp). Although many questions remain unresolved, these results weaken the arguments for the Danube Corridor hypothesis--that there was an early migration of modern humans into the Upper Danube drainage--and strengthen the view that Neanderthals may have contributed significantly to the development of Upper Palaeolithic cultural traits independent of the arrival of modern humans.     

The age of formation of the mirabilite and sand wedges in the Hexi Corridor and their paleoclimatic interpretation

The Hexi Corridor is located at the transition zone of the Asian summer monsoon and westerly airflow, and lies in an important position in terms of its ecological fragility and climatic sensitivity. During a recent field expedition to this region, we found a sedimentary mirabilite layer in a number of localities including Suwushan, Yanchi, Baitujing, Yanchi Gaotai, Huahai, Yumen, Halanuo扙r, and Dunhuang (Fig. 1), which have the potential to provide important information about environmenta…     

New carbon dates link climatic change with human colonization and Pleistocene extinctions

Drastic ecological restructuring, species redistribution and extinctions mark the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, but an insufficiency of numbers of well-dated large mammal fossils from this transition have impeded progress in understanding the various causative links. Here I add many new radiocarbon dates to those already published on late Pleistocene fossils from Alaska and the Yukon Territory (AK-YT) and show previously unrecognized patterns. Species that survived the Pleistocene, for example, bison (Bison priscus, which evolved into Bison bison), wapiti (Cervus canadensis) and, to a smaller degree, moose (Alces alces), began to increase in numbers and continued to do so before and during human colonization and before the regional extinction of horse (Equus ferus) and mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius). These patterns allow us to reject, at least in AK-YT, some hypotheses of late Pleistocene extinction: 'Blitzkrieg' version of simultaneous human overkill, 'keystone' removal, and 'palaeo-disease'. Hypotheses of a subtler human impact and/or ecological replacement or displacement are more consistent with the data. The new patterns of dates indicate a radical ecological sorting during a uniquely forage-rich transitional period, affecting all large mammals, including humans.     

Radiocarbon evidence of mid-Holocene mammoths stranded on an Alaskan Bering Sea island

Island colonization and subsequent dwarfing of Pleistocene proboscideans is one of the more dramatic evolutionary and ecological occurrences, especially in situations where island populations survived end-Pleistocene extinctions whereas those on the nearby mainland did not. For example, Holocene mammoths have been dated from Wrangel Island in northern Russia. In most of these cases, few details are available about the dynamics of how island colonization and extinction occurred. As part of a large radiocarbon dating project of Alaskan mammoth fossils, I addressed this question by including mammoth specimens from Bering Sea islands known to have formed during the end-Pleistocene sea transgression. One date of 7,908 +/- 100 yr bp (radiocarbon years before present) established the presence of Holocene mammoths on St Paul Island, a first Holocene island record for the Americas. Four lines of evidence--265 accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) radiocarbon dates from Alaskan mainland mammoths, 13 new dates from Alaskan island mammoths, recent reconstructions of bathymetric plots and sea transgression rates from the Bering Sea--made it possible to reconstruct how mammoths became stranded in the Pribilofs and why this apparently did not happen on other Alaskan Bering Sea islands.     

Further geological and palaeoanthropological investigations at the Maludong hominin site, Yunnan Province, Southwest China

Three-dimensional mapping and section work undertaken by us in 2008 have identified 11 stratigraphic units at Maludong site. AMS radiocarbon dating of charcoal established an accurate and internally consistent age profile for the sequence of 17.8±0.2 ka to 13.2±0.1 ka. Archaeomagnetic analysis showed changes in externally derived pedogenically enhanced material consistent with a warming in climate between the cold period of Henrich Event 1 and the Blling-AllerCd interstadial. Human remains recovered during the 1989 excavation were derived from a deposit dating to this interstadial, or between 14.3±0.3 ka and 13.5±0.1 ka. An- thropogenic features, including burnt rocks, baked sediment and thick charcoal and ash layers, were identified and examined through archaeomagnetic analysis. Two monkey fossils are described here, one of them being reassigned from Macaca robustus to M. aft＇. M. assamensis. They confirm the young age of the site and also show signs of anthropogenic alteration in the form of burning. Additional human cranial remains are reported for the first time and new data are provided for some specimens described previously. A range of new features is identified that strengthen the affinities of the Maludong remains to archaic humans. The presence of this globally unique mosaic of archaic and modern features raises important questions about human evolutionary his- tory in East Asia during the Late Upper Pleistocene.     

Rapid body size decline in Alaskan Pleistocene horses before extinction

About 70% of North American large mammal species were lost at the end of the Pleistocene epoch. The causes of this extinction--the role of humans versus that of climate--have been the focus of much controversy. Horses have figured centrally in that debate, because equid species dominated North American late Pleistocene faunas in terms of abundance, geographical distribution, and species variety, yet none survived into the Holocene epoch. The timing of these equid regional extinctions and accompanying evolutionary changes are poorly known. In an attempt to document better the decline and demise of two Alaskan Pleistocene equids, I selected a large number of fossils from the latest Pleistocene for radiocarbon dating. Here I show that horses underwent a rapid decline in body size before extinction, and I propose that the size decline and subsequent regional extinction at 12,500 radiocarbon years before present are best attributed to a coincident climatic/vegetational shift. The present data do not support human overkill and several other proposed extinction causes, and also show that large mammal species responded somewhat individualistically to climate changes at the end of the Pleistocene.     

对岱海地区冰缘分期问题的初步研究

根据对岱海地区河湖相地层内所夹的上、中、下三层冻融褶皱及周围山地冰缘地貌的观察与分析,结合其所在地层的层位关系和~(14)C年代测定,划分了本区晚更新世晚期以来的三个冰缘期、两个间冰缘期和一个冰缘期后,并讨论了晚更新世晚期以来的气候变化。     

玉树巴塘断裂晚第四纪滑动速率及其构造意义

玉树巴塘断裂是甘孜-玉树断裂带玉树段的一条主要的分支断裂, 沿线发育第四纪巴塘盆地、波洛滩和当涌滩。通过遥感影像解译、野外构造地貌填图、断层剖面分析以及断错地貌面的光释光和14C年代测定, 发现该断裂沿线河流阶地、洪积扇断错明显, 是一条以左旋走滑为主, 兼具逆冲分量的全新世活动断裂。该断裂最新活动时代为全新世晚期, 距今2.72 ka。晚更新世晚期以来的左旋滑动速率为2.3~3.7 mm/a, 垂直滑动速率为0.2~0.6 mm/a, 该断裂在甘孜-玉树断裂带玉树段起着变形分解作用, 吸收了玉树段内约1/3的走滑变形。研究结果可以解释甘孜-玉树断裂带内玉树断裂走滑速率偏小的构造现象, 并为评价甘孜-玉树断裂带玉树段的地震危险性提供基础资料。     

A preliminary study of chronology for a newly-discovered ancient city and five archaeological sites in Lop Nor,China

In the past century, it has long been debated in the archeological, historical, geographical, and many other related communities where the capital of the Luolan and Shanshan states was in the Lop Nor region. This paper presents three AMS radiocarbon ages from a newly-discovered ancient city at about 6.3 km to the northwest of the Xiaohe Graveyard, and fifteen new radiocarbon ages from the Loulan (LA), LE, Qieerqiduke, Milan, and Tuyin sites in Lop Nor. The new investigation shows that the age of newly-disco...     

类蛋白质阻垢剂聚天门冬氨酸的合成研究

以L－天门冬氨酸（L－Asp)为原料，采用分散悬浮聚合法合成出具有优异阻垢性能的聚天门冬氨酸。通过正交试验设计确定了适宜的反应条件，并讨论了催化剂用量、聚合温度、聚合时间、原料粒度等对产品性能及分子量的影响。利用IR、^13CNMR和^1H NMR对聚合物进行了表征。研究表明适量催化剂可保护－NH2基，减少副反应，加快反应速度，同时可提高分子量，能催化剂过量时起封端作用。具有优异阻垢性能的聚天门冬氨酸盐的聚合度约为100。     

Progress in the stratigraphy and geochronology of the Shuidonggou site, Ningxia, North China

In the past years we carried out further stratigraphy division in field and it is found that rich stone artifacts can be found in fluvial-shallow lake-alluvial sediments on the terrace Ⅱ of Biangou River, inShuidonggou site, Ningxia and they are SDG1, 2 and 7. More luminescence and AMS ^14C dating in laboratory show that Paleolithic culture develops during the Upper Paleolithic period with ages of 35--20 ka. The Paleolithic culture of SDG 1 is a little earlier than that of SDG 2 similar to SDG 7. The sandy sediments on terrace Ⅱ of Biangou River deposits in the past 72--18 ka, corresponding to Last Glacial. SDG2 has a stable sedimentary environment, resulting in the continuous stratigraphy, thickest deposits and rich environment and culture information, which can be regarded as the important and classic paleoanthropological section of Late Pleistocene in this region.     

福建北部天湖山全新世泥炭古气候记录的初步研究

通过对福建北部天湖山泥炭沉积记录的有机质含量和腐殖化度等多种环境代用指标的综合分析,在可靠14C测年技术的支持下,恢复了福建北部天湖山近10cal kyr BP以来的气候与环境演变过程.结果发现,泥炭有机含量和腐殖化度敏感地记录了研究区古气候变化信息,其低值指示气候相对暖湿,高值指示气候相对冷干.约10～4cal kyr BP泥炭有机质含量和腐殖化度较高,指示气候暖湿,是该区域水热组合状况最好;4cal kyr BP以来泥炭有机质含量和腐殖化度较低,指示气候相对干冷.细分千年尺度的气候变化阶段有待于测年精度的进一步提高.     

Pleistocene to Holocene extinction dynamics in giant deer and woolly mammoth

The extinction of the many well-known large mammals (megafauna) of the Late Pleistocene epoch has usually been attributed to 'overkill' by human hunters, climatic/vegetational changes or to a combination of both. An accurate knowledge of the geography and chronology of these extinctions is crucial for testing these hypotheses. Previous assumptions that the megafauna of northern Eurasia had disappeared by the Pleistocene/Holocene transition were first challenged a decade ago by the discovery that the latest woolly mammoths on Wrangel Island, northeastern Siberia, were contemporaneous with ancient Egyptian civilization. Here we show that another spectacular megafaunal species, the giant deer or 'Irish elk', survived to around 6,900 radiocarbon yr bp (about 7,700 yr ago) in western Siberia-more than three millennia later than its previously accepted terminal date-and therefore, that the reasons for its ultimate demise are to be sought in Holocene not Pleistocene events. Before their extinction, both giant deer and woolly mammoth underwent dramatic shifts in distribution, driven largely by climatic/vegetational changes. Their differing responses reflect major differences in ecology.     

L-组氨酸不对称转化的研究

L-组氨酸(L-His)在醛的催化下,在羧酸溶剂中能发生消旋.当反应温度升高时,消旋反应速率加快.L-His用(R)-酒石酸((R)-TA)做拆分试剂,在乙酸溶剂中、水杨醛存在下进行不对称转换,合成了D-组氨酸(D-His)的酒石酸盐,经处理得到D-His.在最佳工艺条件下的收率为95.76%,光学纯度大于99.5%.     

High-latitude influence on the eastern equatorial Pacific climate in the early Pleistocene epoch

Many records of tropical sea surface temperature and marine productivity exhibit cycles of 23 kyr (orbital precession) and 100 kyr during the past 0.5 Myr (refs 1-5), whereas high-latitude sea surface temperature records display much more pronounced obliquity cycles at a period of about 41 kyr (ref. 6). Little is known, however, about tropical climate variability before the mid-Pleistocene transition about 900 kyr ago, which marks the change from a climate dominated by 41-kyr cycles (when ice-age cycles and high-latitude sea surface temperature variations were dictated by changes in the Earth's obliquity) to the more recent 100-kyr cycles of ice ages. Here we analyse alkenones from marine sediments in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean to reconstruct sea surface temperatures and marine productivity over the past 1.8 Myr. We find that both records are dominated by the 41-kyr obliquity cycles between 1.8 and 1.2 Myr ago, with a relatively small contribution from orbital precession, and that early Pleistocene sea surface temperatures varied in the opposite sense to local annual insolation in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. We conclude that during the early Pleistocene epoch, climate variability at our study site must have been determined by high-latitude processes that were driven by orbital obliquity forcing.     

陕西韩城矿区三趾马红土层及三门组的发现

在韩城矿区象山山地,于二叠系之上,第四系黄土之下,发现了两套属于新生界的地层单位。根据岩性特点、地层层位和它们所处的地貌部位,可以认为,一套是上中新统三趾马红土层,一套是下更新统三门组。这一发现,增补了韩城矿区新生界地层资料,同时对全面认识矿区地质历史,正确评估新构造运动幅度,都具有重要意义。