关中东部地区全新世土壤发育及记录的水文事件

通过对华县老官台全新世黄土-古土壤高分辨率的研究,揭示关中盆地在全新世曾有两个重要的湿润多雨、地表径流活跃的时期。其中第一个时期发生在全新世初期的90 0 0～85 0 0aBP ,它表现为末次冰期结束后气候在向全新世大暖期发展过程中,湿度的增加滞后于温度的增加。第二个时期发生在4 0 0 0～36 0 0aBP ,此时正是夏代文化发展的时期,在研究地点周围,人类活动对环境的影响加强了面流侵蚀和堆积作用的过程     

Impact of mediaeval agriculture on the alluvium in the San River headwaters (Polish Eastern Carpathians)

An abrupt change in sedimentary processes occurs in the alluvium of the San River headwaters in the Bieszczady mountains, Polish Eastern Carpathians. Older gravels are overlain, with a sharp boundary, by an extensive cover of sand and silt, which is enriched in wood debris, partly burned, at the base. The spatial distribution of the fine-grained alluvium, the wood debris composition and radiocarbon ages are best explained by a relatively sudden onset of deforestation and cultivation of the valley bottom and slopes in the middle of the second millennium. This corresponds well with palynological, archaeological and historical data on the agricultural colonisation of the valley.     

Holocene alluvial morphopedosedimentary record and environmental changes in the Bardenas Reales Natural Park (NE Spain)

A Holocene alluvial morphostratigraphy, based on geomorphological mapping, sedimentological analysis, soil development and radiocarbon chronology is presented for the semiarid Blanca basin in the Bardenas Reales Natural Park (NE, Spain). Four morphopedosedimentary alluvial units (MU1, MU2, MU3 and MU4) were differentiated, which may correspond to two palaeogeographical stages. The first one includes the morphopedosedimentary unit MU1 and is the most extensive in the area. It is made up of a complex aggradation (fill up) sequence comprising a braided channel system, a sand–mud flat (9200–7900 cal BP) and a playa-lake environment related to a nearly closed depression. An intensive fluvial entrenchment period is recognized, leading the opening of the Blanca basin, before the second stage that includes the units MU2, MU3 and MU4. This set of units forms a sequence of cut-and-fill and nested fill terraces recording the alluvial activity in the Blanca basin during the last 6 ka. The MU2 unit, 5900–3300 cal BP in age, represents a period of high geomorphic instability with rapid alluvial sedimentation/channel incision oscillating changes. On the other hand, the MU3 unit has an age of 1050–500 cal BP and appears as a thin extensive alluvial cover overlying previous units. Finally, the MU4 unit comprises superposition of numerous flood depositional sequences, centimetric in scale, dated from 450–10 cal BP. The established soil chronosequence supports the numerical chronology of the four units. These accumulation periods (MU1, MU2, MU3, MU4) are associated with dry phases and/or high hydrological variability (floods and droughts) at a regional scale. Changes on the North Atlantic atmospheric circulation mode over Southern Europe may provide the key to explain the nature of alluvial activity during Holocene in Bardenas Reales.     

Late Holocene paleopedological records contained in tephra from El Chichón volcano, Chiapas, Mexico

High rates of pedogenesis on unconsolidated volcanic materials imply the accelerated generation of the soil memory. The purpose of this research was to extract the high resolution (centennial scale) paleopedological records from the Late Holocene paleosols of the El Chichón volcano formed during the last 2000 years. We studied buried monogenetic Andosols on the dated tephras and a pedocomplex formed from a set of thin ash layers deposited on older Acrisol derived from shales. Particle size distribution, DCB-extractable Fe, oxalate-extractable Fe, Al and Si, sand and clay mineralogy, organic carbon content and stable C isotope composition in humus were evaluated and interpreted as the elements of the soil memory. However, some differences were found in properties of two buried soils, especially in the kind of A horizons. We attribute such differences of individual Andosols to be caused by ancient human impact because it has been demonstrated that humid conditions persisted during the last 1300 years. Thus the drought that was supposed to provoke the collapse of the Maya civilization at the end of I millennium A.D., should have been a short-term event, below the resolution of this paleopedological record. The Andic Acrisol pedocomplex demonstrated the domination of the humid tropical climate over longer time intervals (probably major part of the Holocene) with possible minor dry episodes.     

Geomorphological evidence for fluvial change during the Roman period in the lower Rhone valley (southern France)

The hydrological and geomorphological dynamics of the lower Rhone river (southern France) are studied during the Roman period (2nd–1st centuries BC, 2nd–3rd centuries AD). The crossing of archaeological and radiocarbon dating methods allow to study events at a pluridecadal to centennial scale. From the Avignon town to the delta, the 15 sites where Roman fluvial dynamics were recorded show higher flooding frequencies, higher energy levels during floods, rises in the marshes or groundwater levels, and/or active morphological dynamics such as channel migrations from 1st century BC to 1st–2nd centuries AD, with respect to the encircling periods. Although this fluvial change does not reach the amplitude of great climatic events such as the Little Ice Age in the Rhone valley, we show that it is also perceived in other parts of the catchment and could have a climatic origin. However, this event is not recorded in the immediate Mediterranean environment of the lower Rhone, so that the Rhone appears to efficiently transmit a foreign climatic change.     

Human impact in the Holocene fluvial and coastal evolution of the Marche region, Central Italy

Today, the coasts of the Marche region are represented by almost continuous rectilinea sand beaches except in the north, at the border with the Romagna region, and in the central part, around the Conero ridge, where there are active rock cliffs. The sandy coasts are protected almost everywhere by artificial barriers built up as a protection against the general tendency to retreat. Along some tracts, the coastal erosion started at the beginning of this century but became generalized after 1940–1950. This was mainly due, first, to the reduction in sediment supply, following the improvement in agricultural techniques after the Italian Unification, and, later, to the widespread extraction of gravels from the thalwegs related to the rapid increase in urban population in the 1950s. However, in the same period, along the rivers, there was a widespread creation of artificial levees to prevent lateral erosion or flooding and to extend areas suitable for agriculture. Following these practices, the lower-middle tracts of the rivers underwent a strong vertical downcutting which increased as a result of the creation of checkdams downvalley of many bridges which contributed to the store of the sediments in the upper part of the valleys. At present, most of the rivers have an irregular course and are deeply entrenched in the bedrock or inside their own sediments.Up to the beginning of the century, most of the lower tracts of the valleys were characterized by strong aggradation in a braidplain system. This aggradation started as early as the Middle Ages (1100 AD) but increased after the Renaissance as a consequence of a generalized deforestation of the Periadriatic Basin and the following severe soil erosion. In the mean time, the coast underwent a very fast progradation, in some places more than 500 m. Small deltas were created at the mouths of the rivers, and longshore bars and sandy beaches began to occupy the base of the active cliffs which previously extended between one river and another. However, in the mountain parts of the river basins, a meander course existed, and in many cases still exists, expecially where the human interventions were of limited extent.Before 1000–1100 AD, all the rivers had a meander pattern and, at the junction with the sea, entered lagoons and swamps in most cases protected by littoral barrier beaches. These conditions were established earlier than the third century BC and have been attributed to the first systematic land clearance and the following soil erosion during the Bronze and Iron Ages. At that time, the regional coastline became almost rectilinear but with many active cliffs between one river and another.Before being affected by a major human impact (earlier than 4000 years BP) the ‘natural’ coastal environment was represented by active rock cliffs which alternated with pocket beaches corresponding to a river mouth. In some rivers, embayments and beaches were located up to 4–5 km inland from the present-day position. After the Flandrian transgression the evidence presented reveals major changes that can be attributed to human impact.     

Estimated Holocene soil carbon-soil degradation in Nevada and Western Utah, USA

There is much interest in predicting future carbon-soil degradation and that occurring today. We have National Soil Survey Laboratory data to assess some of the soil carbon degradation in the Great Basin and western Utah. For this we included data on 32 Nevada and Utah soils on Pleistocene geomorphic surfaces at elevations of 973 to 3172 m. Their mean annual precipitation (MAP) ranges from 20 to 55 cm and mean annual soil temperatures (MAST) from 5 to 12 °C. The MAP and MAST closely correlate with elevation (E) (r = 0.96 and − 0.97 respectively). Mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle) dominates vegetation at the higher, colder elevations. Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. wyomingensis Beetle and Young) and juniper (Juniperus L.) dominate at intermediate elevations. Little sagebrush (Artemisia arbuscula Nutt.) and related desert species dominate at the lower, warmer elevations. We used acid dichromate digestion and FeSO₄ titration to analyze for soil organic carbon (SOC) and bulk density and coarse fragments in the soils to put the data on a volume basis. The soils are well drained and uncultivated. Accumulation of organic carbon in each pedon (OCp) is correlated to MAP and MAST (r = 0.81, and − 0.78 respectively). We predicted OCp from the relationship,

(1)

r² = 0.64, S.E. = 1.30, n = 32. The soil OC degradation that may have occurred through the Holocene ranges from 35% at sites of the present Aridisols and Vertisols to 22% for the sites of the Mollisols and Alfisols. Eq. (1) shows that today, MAST rises of 1 to 3 °C would produce further OCp degradation from today's levels of 1% to 13% in Aridisols and Vertisols and 12% to 25% in the Mollisols and Alfisols respectively. It also shows that if the MAST drop of 6 °C predicted for the Pleistocene occurred, many of the Aridisols and Vertisols likely would have been Mollisols or Alfisols during the Pleistocene. A temperature rise of 1 °C in a century would likely move the Mollisol–Aridisol boundary from its present 2300 m elevation to an elevation of about 2900 m. A temperature rise of 3 °C in a century would likely move the Mollisol–Aridisol boundary from its present 2300 m elevation to elevations of the highest elevations in Nevada and to the middle of Idaho. Increasing the temperature by 3 °C will likely also increase the area affected by severe desertification in the southern Great Basin north by about 20%.     

中国全新世气候变迁相位差与亚洲季风及西风带的联系

不同区域由于其主导气候影响因素的差异而表现出不同的全新世气候变化特征,对这些机制的研究,可以很好地理解各种自然要素的发展变化过程、气候影响机制及相互耦合关系。通过中国不同区域全新世气候变化研究成果的对比分析,发现黄土高原区与西北干旱区全新世期间气候特征主要表现为干冷的早全新世、暖湿的中全新世、气候恶化的晚全新世,而西南季风区与东部季风区全新世期间表现出两次季风加强阶段,但西南季风要比东南季风加强提前约3～4ka。该文认为黄土高原区与西北干旱区可能受同一气候系统制约,从而表现出类似的气候变化特征。西南季风区与东部季风区全新世气候变化特征有很好的对比性,可能是由于亚洲西南季风与东南季风在全新世的推进与退缩共同受到行星风带南北移动的影响,使其气候表现出类似的变化特征,但由于海洋巨大的热容导致东南季风的加强延后,从而导致西南季风区与东南季风区全新世的气候变化具有不同步性。     

黄河壶口至龙门段全新世古洪水滞流沉积物研究

通过野外考察,在黄河晋陕峡谷发现全新世古洪水滞流沉积物地层。对于采取的沉积物和黄土古土壤样品,进行磁化率、烧失量、碳酸钙和粒度成分的测试分析。综合野外观测和实验分析结果,确定它们是黄河悬移质泥沙在高水位滞流环境当中的沉积物。其主要成分是粉沙,次要成分为细沙,据此确定其质地属于细沙质粉沙。其磁化率略高于黄河河床相沙质沉积物,但是远低于全新世风成黄土和古土壤。其频率曲线为极正偏态,主峰高而且尖锐,表明分析性很好,粒度成分很集中。这是因为其在黄河洪水当中长距离搬运分选的结果。与泾河、洛河和漆水河比较,黄河晋陕峡谷全新世古洪水沉积物粒度成分偏粗。这表明黄河洪水搬运动力较强,且其悬移质泥沙是流域内黄土地区和风沙地区水土流失产物的混合物。这些特大洪水沉积层之间,被坡积角砾石或者石渣土层分隔开来,每一层记录了一个古洪水事件。     

Establishing a Holocene sediment budget for the river Dijle

A Holocene sediment budget was constructed for the 758 km² Dijle catchment in the Belgian loess belt, in order to understand long-term sediment dynamics. Hillslope sediment redistribution was calculated using soil profile information from 809 soil augerings, which was extrapolated to the entire catchment using morphometric classes. As large parts of the forests within the catchment prove to have undergone little or no erosion since medieval times, a correction was applied for the presence of forests. Total Holocene erosion amounts 817 ± 66 Mt for the catchment, of which 327 ± 34 Mt was deposited as colluvium. This corresponds with a net Holocene soil erosion rate of 10.8 ± 0.8 × 10³ Mg ha^− 1 for the entire Dijle catchment. Alluvial deposits were studied through 187 augerings spread over 17 cross-valley transects. The total alluvial sediment deposition equals 352 ± 11 Mt or 42% of total eroded sediment mass. Results indicate that at the scale of a medium-sized catchment the colluvial sediment sink is as important as the alluvial sediment sink and should not be neglected. As a result the estimation of erosion through alluvial storage and sediment export would yield large errors. Dating of sediment units show an important increase in alluvial deposition from medieval times onwards, indicating the important influence of agricultural activities that developed from that period. Mean sediment export rates from the catchment for the last 1000–1200 years range between 0.8 and 1.3 Mg ha^− 1 a^− 1 and are consistent with present suspended sediment measurements in the Dijle. Erosion for agricultural land for this period is 9.2 ± 2.2 Mg ha^− 1 a^− 1. Sediment budgets for the various tributary catchments provide an insight in the sources and sinks of sediment at different scales within the catchment.