Uranium-series dating of sediments from searles lake: differences between continental and marine climate records

One of the major unresolved questions in Pleistocene paleoclimatology has been whether continental climatic transitions are consistent with the glacial delta(18)O marine record. Searles Lake in California, now a dry salt pan, is underlain by sediment layers deposited in a succession of lakes whose levels and salinities have fluctuated in response to changes in climate over the last 3 x 10(6) years. Uraniumseries dates on the salt beds range from 35 x 10(3) to 231x 10(3) years. This range of dates allows identification of lake-sediment horizons that are time correlatives of the boundaries of marine isotope stages from the recent 3/4 boundary back to the 8/9 boundary. The 5/6 boundary coincided with a deepening of the lake, but the analogous 1/2 boundary coincided with desiccation. The 3/4, 4/5, 6/7, 7/8, and 8/9 boundaries correspond in age to horizons that record little or no change in sedimentation or climate. These hydrologic results demonstrate that the continental paleoclimate record at this mid-latitude site does not mimic the marine record.     

Earthquake-induced structures in sediments of van Norman lake, san fernando, california

The 9 February 1971 earthquake in the San Fernando Valley damaged the Lower Van Norman Dam severely enough to warrant draining the reservoir. In March 1972 the sediment deposited on the reservoir floor was examined to determine whether the 1971 earthquake had induced sediment deformation and, if so, what types. A zone of deformational structures characterized by small-scale loads and slightly recumbent folds associated with the 1971 earthquake was discovered, in addition to two older zones of load structures. Each of the zones has been tentatively correlated with an historic earthquake.     

Plutonium speciation in water from mono lake, california

The solubility of plutonium in Mono Lake water is enhanced by the presence of large concentrations of indigenous carbonate ions and moderate concentrations of fluoride ions. In spite of the complex chemical composition of this water, only a few ions govern the behavior of plutonium, as demonstrated by the fact that it was possible to duplicate plutonium speciation in a synthetic water containing only the principal components of Mono Lake water.     

Radionuclides in mono lake, california

Several radioisotopes of the naturally occurring uranium and thorium decay series, in addition to fallout plutonium, have unusually high concentrations in the water column of Mono Lake, a natural alkaline, saline lake. Complexing by carbonate ions appears to be responsible for the enhanced solubility of actinide elements with oxidation states of IV to VI. In contrast, fallout strontium-90 has been largely removed from the water, probably as a result of coprecipitation with calcium carbonate. The daughter/parent activity ratios of thorium, radium, and uranium isotopes suggest that thorium is removed from the water column to the sediments on time scales substantially longer than a month and that the desorption of thorium from the sediments to the water column requires less than a few years.     

Calcite-impregnated defluidization structures in littoral sands of mono lake, california

Associated locally with well-known tufa mounds and towers of Mono Lake, California, are subvertical, concretionary sand structures through which fresh calcium-containing artesian waters moved up to sites of calcium carbonate precipitation beneath and adjacent to the lake. The structures include closely spaced calcite-impregnated columns, tubes, and other configurations with subcylindrical to bizarre cross sections and predominantly vertical orientation in coarse, barely coherent pumice sands along the south shore of the lake. Many structures terminate upward in extensive calcareous layers of caliche and tufa. Locally they enter the bases of tufa mounds and towers. A common form superficially resembles root casts and animal burrows except that branching is mostly up instead of down. Similar defluidization structures in ancient sedimentary rocks have been mistakenly interpreted as fossil burrows.     

Uranium series dating of human skeletal remains from the del mar and sunnyvale sites, california

Uranium series analyses of human bone samples from the Del Mar and Sunnyvale sites indicate ages of 11,000 and 8,300 years, respectively. The dates are supported by internal concordancy between thorium-230 and protactinium-231 decay systems. These ages are significantly younger than the estimates of 48,000 and 70,000 years based on amino acid racemization, and indicate that the individuals could derive from the population waves that came across the Bering Strait during the last sea-level low.     

Temperature and precipitation estimates through the last glacial cycle from clear lake, california, pollen data

Modern pollen surface samples from six lake and marsh sites in the northern California Coast Ranges establish a linear relation between elevation and the oakl(oak + pine) pollen ratio. Modern temperature and precipitation lapse rates were used to convert variations in the pollen ratio into temperature and precipitation changes. Pollen data from two cores from Clear Lake, Lake County, California, spanning the past 40,000 and 130,000 years were used to estimate temperature and precipitation changes through the last full glacial cycle. The maximum glacial cooling is estimated to be 7 degrees to 8 degrees C; the last full interglacial period was about 1.5 degrees C warmer than the Holocene, and a mid-Holocene interval was warmer than the present. The estimated precipitation changes are probably less reliable than the estimated temperature changes.     

Fallout plutonium in an alkaline, saline lake

Plutonium isotopes, derived from global fallout following atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, have been measured in the water and sediments of a natural alkaline, saline lake. The activities of fallout plutonium in the water column are about two orders of magnitude greater than in most freshwater lakes, where these nuclides are found predominantly in the sediments.     

Phobos: preliminary results from mariner 7

Analysis of an image of Phobos on Mariner 7 frame 7F91 indicates that the martian satellite is larger and has a darker surface than had previously been thought. The limb profile measures 18 by 22 kilometers and is elongated along the orbital plane. Phobos has an average visual geometric albedo of 0.065 lower than that known for any other body in the solar system. It seems probable that Phobos did not form by accretion around primordial Mars, but was captured at some later time.     

Methane efflux from lake sediments through water lilies

During winter, when water lilies have no surface leaves, the gases in the rhizome lacunae approach equilibrium with the gases of the sediment water. The resulting increase of internal pressure is manifested by the sustained streams of bubbles (up to 37 percent methane and 6 percent carbon dioxide) that escape when emerging leaves are torn in the spring. Methane continues to enter the roots and rhizome during summer, rapidly moves up the petioles, and passes out through the emergent leaves into the atmosphere.     

Purines and pyrimidines in sediments from lake erie

Quantitative analyses of purines and pyrimidines in sequential sections of cores from the central and eastern basins of Lake Erie show steeply increasing concentrations in the youngest sediments. This may be related to increased loading of nutrients and recent cultural eutrophication of the lake. The purine and pyrimidine distributions suggest the operation of a specific degradative process for uracil at an extremely early stage in, or prior to, sediment formation.     

The variability of holocene climate change: evidence from varved lake sediments

Varved sediments from a lake near the present forest-prairie border in northwestern Minnesota provide an annual record of climate change for the last 10,400 years. Climate-sensitive mineral, chemical, and biological components show that the mid-Holocene dry interval between 8500 and 4000 years ago is asymmetrical and actually consists of two distinct drier pulses separated by a moister interval that lasted about 600 years. Cyclic fluctuations with periods of several hundred years were abrupt and persistent throughout the Holocene and are most clearly recorded within the two drier pulses.     

Methylmercury: bacterial degradation in lake sediments

During the first 50 days of a long-term period of incubation of lake sediments with inorganic mercury (Hg(2+)), low concentrations of methylinercury were observed to build up. Upon continued incubation there was a rapid decrease in amount of methylmercury in the system and a concomitant evolution of volatile inorganic mercury (Hg(0)). Transfer of the mixed culture to growth media containing methylmercury resulted in the degradation of methylmercury and the volatilization of Hg(0). Four bacterial isolates were obtained from the mixed culture which, in pure culture, rapidly degraded methylmercury to methane and Hg(0). The presence of methane in head space gases was confirmed by flameionization gas chromatography, and the presence of Hg(0) in head space gases was confirmed by mass spectrometry.     

Laminated diatomaceous sediments from the guaymas basin slope (central gulf of california): 250,000-year climate record

During Deep Sea Drilling Project-International Program of Ocean Drilling leg 64, December 1978 to January 1979, the initial test of the Deep Sea Drilling Project's hydraulic piston corer obtained an almost undisturbed section from a 152-meter hole into the sediments of the oxygen minimum zone at a depth of 655 meters along the Guaymas slope in the central Gulf of California. The section records variations in climate, productivity, and circulation for more than 250,000 years of Late Pleistocene to Holocene history with recordings of seasonal variations in these parameters in the laminated sections.     

Ultraviolet observations of venus from mariner 10: preliminary results

An objective grating spectrometer on Mariner 10 has measured air-glow in the wavelength range 200 to 1700 angstroms. The data reveal the presence of significant concentrations of hydrogen, helium, carbon, and oxygen atoms in the upper atmosphere of Venus. A preliminary analysis of the hydrogen data indicates an exospheric temperature of 400 degrees K. There is evidence for intense air-glow emission at wavelengths longward of 1350 angstroms; the nature of this emission is unclear, but the radiation is spatially extensive and detectable on both day and night sides of the planet.     

Intensive pre-Incan metallurgy recorded by lake sediments from the Bolivian Andes

The history of pre-Columbian metallurgy in South America is incomplete because looting of metal artifacts has been pervasive. Here, we reconstruct a millennium of metallurgical activity in southern Bolivia using the stratigraphy of metals associated with smelting (Pb, Sb, Bi, Ag, Sn) from lake sediments deposited near the major silver deposit of Cerro Rico de Potosí. Pronounced metal enrichment events coincide with the terminal stages of Tiwanaku culture (1000 to 1200 A.D.) and Inca through early Colonial times (1400 to 1650 A.D.). The earliest of these events suggests that Cerro Rico ores were actively smelted at a large scale in the Late Intermediate Period, providing evidence for a major pre-Incan silver industry.     

Venus lower atmospheric composition: preliminary results from pioneer venus

Initial examination of data from the neutral mass spectrometer on the Pioneer Venus sounder probe indicates that the abundances of argon-36, argon-38, and neon-20 in the Venus atmosphere are much higher than those of the corresponding gases in Earth's atmosphere, although the abundance of radiogenic argon-40 is apparently similar for both planets. The lower atmosphere of Venus includes significant concentrations of various gaseous sulfur compounds. The inlet leak to the mass spectrometer was temporarily blocked by an apparently liquid component of the Venus clouds during passage through the dense cloud layer. Analysis of gases released during the evaporation of the droplets shows the presence of water vapor to some compound or compounds of sulfur.