Marcus J. Vandergoes

Regional insolation forcing of late Quaternary climate change in the Southern Hemisphere

In agreement with the Milankovitch orbital forcing hypothesis it is often assumed that glacial–interglacial climate transitions occurred synchronously in the Northern and Southern hemispheres of the Earth. It is difficult to test this assumption, because of the paucity of long, continuous climate records from the Southern Hemisphere that have not been dated by tuning them to the presumed Northern Hemisphere signals. Here we present an independently dated terrestrial pollen record from a peat bog on South Island, New Zealand, to investigate global and local factors in Southern Hemisphere climate changes during the last two glacial–interglacial cycles. Our record largely corroborates the Milankovitch model of orbital forcing but also exhibits some differences: in particular, an earlier onset and longer duration of the Last Glacial Maximum. Our results suggest that Southern Hemisphere insolation may have been responsible for these differences in timing. Our findings question the validity of applying orbital tuning to Southern Hemisphere records and suggest an alternative mechanism to the bipolar seesaw for generating interhemispheric asynchrony in climate change.

Late glacial to Holocene vegetation and climate change in the eastern Takitimu Mountains, western Southland, New Zealand

Pollen analysis of a core from a raised bog has provided a late glacial and Holocene vegetation record for the Takitimu Mountains in western Southland, New Zealand. The record shows a change from alpine grassland‐shrubland at 12 600 yr BP to a low broadleaf bushland by 9800 yr BP. The bushland was succeeded by tall podocarp forest after 9400 yr BP which was replaced by cool montane mixed temperate forest dominated by Nothofagus menziesii after 4000 yr BP. Since 4000 yr BP, the only major changes in vegetation have been a slow increase in the values of Nothofagus fusca type pollen. An increase in Pteridium together with an increase in charcoal within the last 600 years may record Polynesian burning, and the later appearance of Abies and Pinus, together with an increase in grassland, records European influences. Comparison with other pollen profiles from southern New Zealand shows that many of the changes in vegetation associations are broadly synchronous and may be related directly to climate change. Diffe...

A 2000 yr rupture history for the Alpine fault derived from Lake Ellery, South Island, New Zealand

Determining the earthquake segmentation of plate-boundary transform faults remains a scientific challenge because paleoseismic data sets rarely resolve the end points of past ruptures. In this study, we test whether lacustrine paleoseismology can be used to assess rupture end points and the earthquake segmentation of the Alpine fault, one of the longest and fastest-slipping plate-boundary transform faults on Earth. Sediment cores from Lake Ellery record eight episodes of high-intensity shaking (modified Mercalli intensity [MM] IX) from Alpine fault earthquakes as event sequences of a turbidite produced by coseismic subaqueous mass wasting, overlain by deposits representing sediment flux from co- and postseismic landsliding in the fluvial catchment. Age-depth modeling constrains the timing of shaking events at a decadal resolution, facilitating correlation with two previously published lake records to reconstruct the spatial distribution of MM IX shaking along ~150 km of the Alpine fault. When resolved with existing on- and near-fault paleoseismic records, the lake data set demonstrates that independent ruptures of the South Westland and Central segments occurred in A.D. 845–775 and A.D. 739–646, and A.D. 646–592 and A.D. 416–370, respectively. Lakes adjacent to the Alpine fault provide paleoseismic records with sufficient spatial and temporal resolution to define along-strike differences in the pattern of rupture capable of distinguishing rupture termination at a geometric segment boundary. This multilake study suggests that locating the end points of ruptures using lacustrine paleoseismology will be most applicable in midlatitude convergent plate-boundary settings where along-strike topography and Quaternary glaciation have resulted in the widespread distribution of suitable lakes.

Behaviour of subglacial sediment and basal ice in a cold glacier

Abstract Tunnels in glaciers offer unique opportunities for examining basal processes. At Suess Glacier in the Taylor Valley, Antarctica, a 25 m tunnel excavated into the bed of the glacier provides access to a 3.2m thick basal zone and the ice-substrate contact. Measurements of ice velocity over two years together with glaciotectonic structures show that there are distinct strain concentrations, a sliding interface and thin shear zones or shear planes within the basal ice. Comparison of ice composition, debris concentrations and the shear strength of basal ice samples suggest that strength is controlled by ice chemistry and debris concentration. The highest strain rates occur in fine-grained amber ice with solute concentrations higher than adjacent ice. Sliding occurs at the base of the ice that experiences the highest strain rates. The substrate and blocks of the substrate within basal ice are characterized by brittle and slow ductile deformation whereas ice with low debris concentrations behaves in a ductile manner. The range of structures observed in the basal ice suggests that deformation occurs in a self-enhancing system. As debris begins to deform, debris and ice are mixed resulting in decreased debris concentrations. Subsequent deformation becomes more rapid and increasingly ductile as the debris and sedimentary structures within the debris are attenuated by glacier flow. The structural complexity and thickness of the resulting basal ice are considerably greater than previous descriptions of cold glaciers and demonstrate that the glacier is or was closely coupled to its bed.

Seasonal variability in turbidity currents in Lake Ohau, New Zealand, and their influence on sedimentation

Layers of sediment that are deposited on the floor of Lake Ohau, New Zealand, offer a means to reconstruct past climate conditions in the Southern Hemisphere at subdecadal and annual resolution. A robust understanding of the modern physical processes that control the influx and dispersal of sediment in the lake is required to reconstruct climate from these sedimentary archives. In this study, water temperature and velocity measurements collected during 2012–13 were analysed to determine the primary physical processes that influence sediment transport in the lake. Sediment input from river inflow occurs throughout the year but exhibits strong seasonal variation. Large inflow events (Q>500m3s–1) that follow strong summer rainstorms trigger high-concentration turbidity currents, which are the main agents for sediment delivery and deposition. During winter, smaller turbidity currents also occur after rain events and contribute to annual sediment accumulation. In addition, large internal waves were observed during the summer and may influence sedimentation. In conclusion, several processes including river inflow, internal waves and convectively driven flows control sediment deposition and accumulation in the Lake Ohau system. We utilise these observations to establish a conceptual model to explain the observed infill stratigraphy in Lake Ohau and guide interpretation of the longer sedimentary record.