Ulrich Hambach

High-resolution chronologies for loess: comparing AMS 14C and optical dating results

The NuXloch loess section in South West Germany is famous in Central Europe for its thick deposits from the Last Glacial Maximum. It has therefore been intensively studied during the past few years and offers an excellent opportunity to compare the performance of different dating techniques covering the period 15–45 ka. Here we present results fromoptical and AMS 14 C dating. The silt-sized polymineral fraction of the clastic sediments and a multiple-aliquot approach was used for IR-OSL dating. 14 C dating was carried out on organic macro-remnants and humin fractions extracted fromthe sedim ents. With the exception of samples taken from the uppermost 1.5 m of the section, IR-OSL and calibrated 14 C-AMS ages are consistent over the entire period. The inconsistencies in the upper meters are thought to be due to disturbances during soil formation in the Holocene. The good agreement obtained on the remaining sequence demonstrates the high accuracy of both methods when studying loess sections: for the IR-OSL ages no significant age underestimations are obvious. The results clearly document that accurate chronologies can be developed for such continental sedimentary sequences. This gives access to archives that can now be studied with a high temporal resolution and allows the establishment of new paleoclimatic proxies for the study of terrestrial responses to past climatic changes. r 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aeolian dust dynamics in central Asia during the Pleistocene: Driven by the long‐term migration, seasonality, and permanency of the Asiatic polar front

Loess-paleosol sequences preserve detailed archives of climate change, reflecting the dynamics of aeolian dust sedimentation and the paleodust content of the atmosphere. The detailed investigation of particle size distributions (PSDs) of windblown sediments is an increasingly used approach to assess the paleorecord of aeolian dust dynamics. The central Asian loess belt offers the potential to reconstruct Pleistocene atmospheric circulation patterns along an adjacent west-east transect within interior Eurasia through granulometric studies. In this study we present the aeolian dust record of the loess sequence at Remisowka (SE Kazakhstan), which reflects a detailed signal of glacial-interglacial climate and atmospheric dynamics in central Asia. On the basis of radiocarbon and amino acid geochronologic data, long-term semicontinuous trends in the aeolian dust record of the Last Glacial Cycle are observed and interpreted to reveal their paleoclimate signal. In consideration of the modern synoptical atmospheric circulation patterns and aeolian dust transport in central Asia, it is likely that the observed trends reflect the long-term migration, seasonal duration, and permanency of the polar front during the late Pleistocene. Previously published models, which focused on the reciprocal glacial-interglacial influence of the zonal Westerlies and the Asiatic high on the aeolian dust transport in central Asia, were overly simplified and should be modified to include the major influence of the Asiatic polar front. As the polar front activity is intimately connected with the development and position of the interhemispherically active, high-level planetary frontal zone (HPFZ), the presented data give insight to long-term aeolian dust dynamics and climate variability of interior Eurasia, which are linked with interhemispheric climates.

Loess in the Vojvodina region (Northern Serbia): An essential link between European and Asian Pleistocene environments

Loess in the Vojvodina region (Northern Serbia) : an essential link between European and Asian Pleistocene environments

The progressive evolution of a continental climate in southeast-central European lowlands during the Middle Pleistocene recorded in loess paleosol sequences

1 ABSTRACT Little is known about the long-term Quaternary climate evolution of central and south- east Europe, because suitable terrestrial paleoenvironmental records are scarce. We present a multiproxy record of loess paleosol sequences in the Middle and Lower Danube Basins over the past 700 k.y. In these lowlands, the continentality of interglacial climate progressively increased during the Middle Pleistocene. Corresponding trends are seen in other climate prox- ies in the same region and in the lowlands of the northern Black Sea, but not, or less clearly, in climate archives from outside these lowlands. We conclude that a small-scale increase in paleoelevation of central European mountain ranges (the Alps, Carpathians, and Dinarides) during the Middle Pleistocene might be the cause of the progressive increase in climate conti- nentality of southeast European lowlands.

Large sedimentation rate in the Bengal delta: Magnetostratigraphic dating of Cenozoic sediments from northeastern Bangladesh

A 4.3-km-thick section of clastic sediments of the Surma basin, northeastern Bangladesh, that is exposed along the Shari River was sampled for a magnetostratigraphic study. Miocene through Pleistocene ages have been discussed previously; however, there has been no firm dating through biostratigraphy, or radiometric or other methods. Primary paleomagnetic remanent magnetizations of normal or reversed polarity were determined for most of the 300 collected samples. On the basis of assumptions of (1) constant sedimentation rates, on average, throughout the deposition of the sedimentary sequence, (2) no major gaps in sedimentation, and (3) a fairly young (< 2 Ma) age for the topmost Dupi Tila deposits, we find good agreement between the measured profile and the geomagnetic polarity time scale if the entire sedimentary sequence is between 4.9 and 1.4 Ma in age. The Upper Marine Shales, an important seismic marker horizon, are dated as 3.5 Ma and are therefore ∼1.5 m.y. younger than previously assigned by biostratigraphic results. The Upper Marine Shales presumably correspond to the last pre-Pleistocene sea-level highstand. The dating of rock units below the Upper Marine Shales is tentative because of a large gap in exposure. The inferred sedimentation rate—and thus the rate of delta subsidence—of 1.2 m/k.y. is much larger than previously assumed; it appears to be one of the highest sedimentation rates in Earth history that was sustained for millions of years.

The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption: new data on volcanic ash dispersal and its potential impact on human evolution.

The Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) volcanic eruption was the most explosive in Europe in the last 200,000 years. The event coincided with the onset of an extremely cold climatic phase known as Heinrich Event 4 (HE4) approximately 40,000 years ago. Their combined effect may have exacerbated the severity of the climate through positive feedbacks across Europe and possibly globally. The CI event is of particular interest not only to investigate the role of volcanism on climate forcing and palaeoenvironments, but also because its timing coincides with the arrival into Europe of anatomically modern humans, the demise of Neanderthals, and an associated major shift in lithic technology. At this stage, however, the degree of interaction between these factors is poorly known, based on fragmentary and widely dispersed data points. In this study we provide important new data from Eastern Europe which indicate that the magnitude of the CI eruption and impact of associated distal ash (tephra) deposits may have been substantially greater than existing models suggest. The scale of the eruption is modelled by tephra distribution and thickness, supported by local data points. CI ashfall extends as far as the Russian Plain, Eastern Mediterranean and northern Africa. However, modelling input is limited by very few data points in Eastern Europe. Here we investigate an unexpectedly thick CI tephra deposit in the southeast Romanian loess steppe, positively identified using geochemical and geochronological analyses. We establish the tephra as a widespread primary deposit, which blanketed the topography both thickly and rapidly, with potentially catastrophic impacts on local ecosystems. Our discovery not only highlights the need to reassess models for the magnitude of the eruption and its role in climatic transition, but also suggests that it may have substantially influenced hominin population and subsistence dynamics in a region strategic for human migration into Europe.

On the evidence for human use and control of fire at Schöningen

When and how humans began to control fire has been a central debate in Paleolithic archaeology for decades. Fire plays an important role in technology, social organization, subsistence, and manipulation of the environment and is widely seen as a necessary adaptation for the colonization of northern latitudes. Many researchers view purported hearths, burnt wooden implements, and heated flints from Schöningen as providing the best evidence for the control of fire in the Lower Paleolithic of Northern Europe. Here we present results of a multianalytical study of the purported hearths along with a critical examination of other possible evidence of human use or control of fire at Schöningen. We conclude that the analyzed features and artifacts present no convincing evidence for human use or control of fire. Our study also shows that a multianalytical, micro-contextual approach is the best methodology for evaluating claims of early evidence of human-controlled fire. We advise caution with macroscopic, qualitative identification of combustion features, burnt flint, and burnt wood without the application of such techniques as micromorphology, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, organic petrology, luminescence, and analysis of mineral magnetic parameters. The lack of evidence for the human control of fire at Schöningen raises the possibility that fire control was not a necessary adaptation for the human settlement of northern latitudes in the Lower Paleolithic.

Tracing the influence of Mediterranean climate on Southeastern Europe during the past 350,000 years

Loess-palaeosol sequences are valuable archives of past environmental changes. Although regional palaeoclimatic trends and conditions in Southeastern Europe have been inferred from loess sequences, large scale forcing mechanisms responsible for their formation have yet to be determined. Southeastern Europe is a climatically sensitive region, existing under the strong influence of both Mediterranean and continental climates. Establishment of the spatial and temporal evolution and interaction of these climatic areas is essential to understand the mechanisms of loess formation. Here we present high-resolution grain-size, environmental magnetic, spectrophotometric and geochemical data from the Stalać section in the Central Balkans (Serbia) for the past ~350,000 years. The goal of this study is to determine the influence of the Mediterranean climate during this period. Data show that the Central Balkans were under different atmospheric circulation regimes, especially during Marine Isotope Stages 9 and 7, while continental climate prevailed further north. We observe a general weakening of the Mediterranean climate influence with time. Our data suggest that Marine Isotope Stage 5 was the first interglacial in the Central Balkans that had continental climate characteristics. This prominent shift in climatic conditions resulted in unexpectedly warm and humid conditions during the last glacial.

Late Maastrichtian paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic changes inferred from Sr/Ca ratio and stable isotopes

Abstract Milankovitch-scale cycles can be recognized in high-resolution δ13C, δ18O, Sr/Ca, mineralogical, and magnetic susceptibility data in hemipelagic sediments that span the last 700 kyr of the Maastrichtian at Elles, Tunisia. Oxygen isotope data reveal three cool periods between 65.50 and 65.55 Ma (21.5–23.5 m), 65.26 and 65.33 Ma (8–11 m), and 65.04 and 65.12 Ma (1.5–4 m), and three warm periods between 65.33 and 65.38 Ma (12–16 m), 65.12 and 65.26 Ma (4–8 m), and 65.00 and 65.04 Ma (0–1.5 m). The cool periods are characterized by small surface-to-deep temperature gradients that reflect intensive mixing of the water column. The surface-to-deep Sr/Ca gradient generally correlates with the oscillating ΔT trend (temperature difference between surface and bottom waters). The carbon isotope composition of planktonic foraminifera indicates a continuous decrease in surface bioproductivity during Late Maastrichtian. Decreasing Δ13C values (difference between the δ13C values of surface and bottom dwelling foraminifera) and the carbon isotope ratios of the planktonic species at the onset of gradual warming at 65.50 Ma reflect a reduction in surface productivity as a result of decreased upwelling that accompanied global warming and possibly increased atmospheric pCO2 related to Deccan Trap volcanism. Time series analysis applied to magnetic susceptibility, δ18O, and Sr/Ca data identifies the 20 kyr precession, 40 kyr obliquity, and 100 kyr eccentricity Milankovich cycles.

22. Interglacial and glacial fingerprints from lake deposits in the Gobi Desert, NW China

Abstract A 230-m long sediment core from the centre of the Gaxun Nur Basin, Gobi Desert, NW China provides evidence for climate induced changes in water balance during the last glacial cycle. Millennial scale and short-term variations of geochemical precipitates and grain size show that freshwater fluxes from the Tibetan Plateau by surface run-off were the main controlling factors for lake evolution in the Tibetan dry forelands for about the last 250 kyr. Periods of positive water balance with strong lake extension and reverse developments generally coincide with changes in the global ice volume and with oxygen-18 records from Tibet and Greenland as well, documenting the close relationship between environmental conditions in remote desert regions of NW China and orbitally forced Northern Hemisphere high mountain mid-latitude and high-latitude climates on a regional and global scale. Our data imply that both the East Asian summer monsoon and the extra-tropical westerlies are the major feedback mechanisms for effective moisture supply over NW China. During the 10-kyr long interglacial warmmoist substage 5.5, summer monsoon moisture dominated owing to its strong northward shift beyond the modern limit. At that time, a large and slightly saline lake filled the entire Gaxun Nur basin as a result of strong river inflow from the Tibetan catchment by melt water supply and by enhanced summer monsoon precipitation. Aeolian transport was weak. The Eemian interglacial in the Gaxun Nur region started at about 129 kyr, with warm and moist environmental conditions between 128 and 121 kyr BP and terminated around 119 kyr, documented by a strong climate shift towards dry conditions and enhanced mobilization of aeolian sand. During interstadial climates, contemporaneous with D/O events in Greenland ice cores, both wind systems most likely supplemented each other, while in transitional phases towards cold conditions, moisture supply by the westerlies seems to have dominated. Cold-dry stages, recorded in the Gaxun Nur core, are synchronous with the global climate. They induced strong lake-level declines and promoted aeolian transport of exposed lake sediments southwards due to the enhanced winter monsoon. Loess records from the Chinese Loess Plateau confirm that the temporal distribution of loess mobilization recorded in the Gaxun Nur sediments was synchronous with depositional phases on the Loess Plateau.