Hideaki Maemoku

Quartz OSL dating of sand dunes in Ghaggar Basin, northwestern India

Several studies have used luminescence dating to investigate sand mobilization activity in extreme western areas and the southern margin of the Thar Desert, India. However, room exists for a chronology of sand profiles for the northern margins of the Thar Desert. The Ghaggar River flood plain at Rajasthan, northwestern India, in the northern margin of the Thar Desert, is bordered by sand dunes. Elucidation of the environmental changes of the Ghaggar Basin requires knowledge of many aspects of sand dune formation.We measured optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) using the single aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol for sand of eight palaeo-dunes and two flood silts of both sides of the present Ghaggar Basin and Chautang Basin flood plains. Their OSL ages were obtained respectively, as 15–10 ka or 5 ka, and 9–8 ka. Results of this study reinforce the hypothesis that sand dune deposition had started or had already been completed by 15‐10 ka. Aeolian deposition was subdued by enhanced moisture during 9–8 ka. Our interpretation is that, at least since 5 ka, the scale of the flood plain of the Ghaggar River has remained equivalent to that of the present day.

Evidence of past migration of the ice divide between the Shirase and Sôya drainage basins derived from chemical characteristics of the marginal ice in the Sôya drainage basin, East Antarctica

Ice originating near the inland ice divide of the ice sheet can reappear as marginal ice at the surface near the ice terminal in the ablation area. We have analyzed d 18 O values and ion concentrations of the Skallen, Skarvsnes and Hamna terminal ice sections, located along the estuary line in the Soya drainage basin, East Antarctica. The data suggest that the upper part of the Skallen terminal ice section could have originated from inland precipitation on the Shirase drainage basin during marine isotope stage (MIS) 5e, while the upper part of Skarvsnes and Hamna terminal ice sections could have originated from inland precipitation on the Soya drainage basin. We calculate past elevation maps for the Antarctic ice sheet using the three-dimensional model, SICOPOLIS. This model suggests that the upstream portion of the Soya drainage basin during the glacial period (MIS 2, 3 or 4) was located to the northeast of its present location. A flow history is proposed wherein ice from the inland Shirase drainage area flowed over the present ice-divide line from the Shirase to the Soya drainage basin during the glacial period. The ice in the Soya drainage basin then flowed to the marginal part of the sheet after the ice divide had assumed its present position.

A Well-Preserved Beach Landform and Sedimentary Structure on the East Antarctic Coast Affected by Glacial Isostatic Rebound

A well-marked stepped topography is observed on a beach that faces an inner cove of the East Antarctic coast. The beach area is subject to mild wave action and glacial isostatic upheaval. The sedimentary structure suggests that the landform was formed by gradual migration of progradational processes of the upper shore-face slope in the offshore direction during the upheaval after Antarctic ice retreat.