Volli Kalm

Chemistry, mineralogy and microbiology of termite mound soil eaten by the chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains, Western Tanzania

Subsamples of termite mound soil used by chimpanzees for geophagy, and topsoil never ingested by them, from the forest floor in the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania, were analysed to determine the possible stimulus or stimuli for geophagy. The ingested samples have a dominant clay texture equivalent to a claystone, whereas the control samples are predominantly sandy clay loam or sandy loam, which indicates that particle size plays a significant role in soil selection for this behaviour. One potential function of the clays is to bind and adsorb toxins. Although both termite mound and control samples have similar alkaloid-binding capacities, they are in every case very high, with the majority of the samples being above 80%. The clay size material (<2 μm) contains metahalloysite and halloysite, the latter a hydrated aluminosilicate (Al 2 Si 2 O 4 -nH 2 O), present in the majority of both the termite mound soil and control soil samples. Metahalloysite, one of the principal ingredients found in the pharmaceutical Kaopectate is used to treat minor gastric ailments in humans. The soils commonly ingested could also function as antacids, as over half had pH values between 7.2 and 8.6. The mean concentrations of the majority of elements measured were greater in the termite mound soils than in the control soils. The termite mound soils had more filamentous bacteria, whereas the control soils contained greater numbers of unicellular bacteria and fungi.

Pleistocene Glaciations in Estonia

Abstract Sedimentary evidence of two Pleistocene interglacials – Holsteinian (Karukula) and Eemian (Prangli) and three glacials – Elsterian (Sangaste), Saalian (Ugandi) and Weichselian (Jarva), are present in Estonia. Pleistocene chronostratigraphy is based on 69 sites and sections, studied by means of 14 C, OSL/TL, 10 Be and varved clay chronology methods.

Paleopedology of Middle Wisconsin/Weichselian paleosols in the Mérida Andes, Venezuela

Abstract Buried Spodosols (podzols) within a thick lithostratigraphic section in the northern Venezuelan Andes are interbedded with tills and a succession of multicyclic lacustrine clays, silts and sands from the early and middle stades of the Wisconsinan/Weichselian Glaciation. The peats, dated by AMS radiocarbon, allow calculations of the time required for pedogenesis. These Spodosols were studied to determine compositional changes from initial to full soil development. During lake low water stands, peats of variable thickness developed, along with soils belonging to the Spodosol order. On a relative time scale, the initial stage of soil genesis produced peat with a weathered mineral zone (Bs)—initial spodic horizon of a few centimeters thickness. With a longer time for soil genesis of a few centuries, a thin Spodosol developed with an E/Bs horizon sequence. With still longer time spans of a few thousand years, between 55 and 60 ka, more mature Spodosols with E/Bs/Cox/Cu profiles formed beneath very thick peat in conjunction with groundwater fluctuations. The lowermost peat (VII) in the section varies from 15 to 26.5 cm in thickness. The paleosols are sandy, with little evidence of either clay transformations, or silt accretion from airfall influx, apparent from the particle size analysis. XRD analysis of the clay fraction shows minor weathering of illite to vermiculite and chlorite in the Bs horizons. Chemically extractable forms of Fe and Al show increases of both soluble and insoluble minerals from the E to the Bs horizons in the buried Spodosols, a considerably different trend compared with the surface soils (Entisols). Geochemical trace element analysis shows a moderate degree of translocation of soluble chemical elements from the E to the Bs horizons.

Middle-Holocene timberline fuctuation: influence on the genesis of Podzols (Spodosols), Norra Storfjället Massif, northern Sweden

Fluctuations of the altitudinal position and composition of the timberline in northern Sweden have occurred in response to climatic changes following deglaciation (c. 8800 yrs BP). In this study a soil sequence of predominantly Podzols (Spodosols) was analysed to determine if the soil profiles located above the present timberline were actively forming in the low-alpine environment, or whether they represent relict features of a once stronger pedogenic regime. The results of the soil analysis indicate a relatively uniform parent material with increasing fines near the surface reflecting aeolian influxed sediment. The soil profiles located above the timberline are generally characterized by darker colours, although with a lower accumulation of organic carbon and either similar or higher iron and aluminium in the spodic horizon than are found in the profiles located below the timberline. The alpine Podzols, generally located in protected swales, are quite distinct from Brunisols (Inceptisols) and Regosols (Entisols) found in slopes and swells on the predominantly undulating morainic and glaciofluvial landscape. This appears to indicate that Spodosols located above the present timberline are not actively being modified under the present low-alpine environmental conditions, but rather were initiated during the Atlantic Chronozone when a dwarf or stunted forest extended to approximately 900 m above sea level.

GEOECOLOGY OF THE NORRA STORFJALLET AREA, NORTHERN SWEDEN

The geoecology of the Norra Storfjillet region is reconstructed from the record of deglaciation beginning about 8000 yr BP with the first break-up of the Fenno-Scandian ice sheet (Stage 1). By Stage 2 valleys below 600 m a.s.1. (the Tirna Valley was an exception) had become free of ice. Stage 3 involved a retreat of small valley glaciers to about 700-800 m, major nunataks appeared on the high plateau, and outlet glaciers were considerably reduced in size. Stage 4 was characterized by a warmer and wetter climate (Mid-Atlantic chronozone, 6000-5000 yr BP) when timberline rose to about 900 m. This led to the development of Spodosols (podzols) under stands of dwarf pine in swale topography. This paleo-podzolic signature was not erased during alpine conditions that typified the Sub-Boreal (Stage 5) and Sub-Atlantic (Stage 6) chronozones that followed. These were periods of lower temperatures and with reduced precipitation initially during Stage 5. Precipitation increased during the Sub-Atlantic and, together with temperature, remained similar to the present. Human settlement began about 6000 yr BP and had a recognizable impact on the landscape. This activity accelerated during the Sub-Boreal and Sub-Atlantic, with more intensive use of the mountains for reindeer procurement. The reconstructions are based upon glacial, geomorphological, pedological, and archaeological evidence.

New Evidence from a Black Mat Site in the Northern Andes Supporting a Cosmic Impact 12,800 Years Ago

Previous work has ascribed a cosmic impact origin to black, high-temperature, carbon-encrusted beds (2–3 cm thick), associated with the Younger Dryas readvance of ice at 12.8 ka during the Late Glacial in the northern Andes of Venezuela. The evidence for this includes carbon spherules, aluminosilicate melt rocks, melted coatings of glass-like amorphous carbon, and Fe-Mn on sands and clasts derived from local felsic gneiss and granite. These sediments have been subjected to renewed investigation using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectrometry, and new data show that spherules at site MUM7B exhibit unique morphologies and compositions. Molar oxide weight percentages prove the spherules are not volcanic and show little overlap with cosmic materials. Spherule microstructures display quench melting and, thus, could not have formed from slow geological authigenic, diagenetic, or metamorphic processes. Instead, geochemical values for the Venezuelan samples plot within the limits of impact-related materials, including tektites, ejecta, and impact spherules from a number of craters and strewnfields (cf. Chicxulub Crater, Chesapeake Bay Crater, Tunguska, Australasian tektite field, Lake Bosumtwi Crater, Ries Crater, and others). These results are identical to previously reported spherules from the Younger Dryas boundary layer (YDB) on three continents, North America, Europe, and Asia, and the most likely origin is from a cosmic impact/airburst 12.8 ka, as previously proposed. The MUM7B site is one of the two southernmost sites (Venezuela and Peru) in South America, thus extending the evidence supporting the YDB impact event into a new hemisphere on a new continent.

Thickness distribution of quaternary deposits in the formerly glaciated part of the East European plain

A thickness map of Quaternary deposits in the south-eastern sector of the last Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) and in areas of Middle Pleistocene Moscow (Warthe) and the Dniepr (Drente) stages of the Late Saalian glaciation on the East European Plain is presented (Main Map). The map of the thickness and related statistics of the Quaternary deposits were calculated from the difference between the current digital terrain model and the bedrock surface topography model. The distribution of Quaternary deposits shows that 29% of the mapped territory has sediments less than 25 m thick, 16% more than 100 m and 1.2% more than 200 m. Within the SIS area, the thickness of sediments in the southern sector exceeds threefold the sediment thickness in the eastern flank. This difference is attributed to the bedrock depression in the south-east of the Baltic Syneclise rather than to glacial dynamics. The calculated average thickness of the sediments within the SIS area is ca 50 m, in the formerly glaciated area outside the LGM it is ca 61 m and outside the glaciated area ca 14 m. Our study confirms that, in formerly glaciated areas, the spatial distribution of sediments did amplify the differences in glacial bed topography with the exception of the southern and eastern flanks of the Moscow glaciation area where exceptionally thick Quaternary deposits have inverted bedrock depressions into elevated areas in recent terrain. We suggest that the map presented improves existing knowledge of this area by adding detail and thus contributing to the on-going development of numerical ice-sheet models.

Middle–Late Holocene Paleoclimate and Weathering History in the Norra Storfjället Mountains, Sweden: Deglacial Record and Soil Stratigraphy Applied to Neoglaciation in Lower Latitudes

Abstract The retreat record of the tabre lacier into the orra torfjället mountains, after separation from the massive ärnaån lacier at some undetermined time in the tlantic hron, is documented by recessional moraines in the foreland. While poorly constrained by radiometric dating, the age of the middle group of moraines averages out to less than 4000 cal 14 yr , the older moraine group probably of ate tlantic age, with the youngest deposits of ittle ce ge. Soils/paleosols range from ntisols (youngest) and nceptisols (middle group) to mature podosols (outer group), existing either as single‐story profiles or within pedostratigraphic columns, buried pedons either surfaced with weathered glacial or mass wasted deposits. Some profiles exhibit convoluted properties which could place them in the ryosolic order. The physico‐mineral‐chemical properties of soils/paleosols in recessional deposits across this sequence provide weathering indices over the mid to ate olocene in the wedish sub‐rctic climate. It is likely the middle group of deposits represents stillstand of the retreating glacier offset by climatic deterioration with the onset of Early eoglacial climate which altered the glacial mass balance, at least until termination of the . Correlation to other alpine areas in the middle and tropical latitudes with similar records is attempted and discussed. While the tabre lacier disappeared after the , the nearby ärna lacier remains extant on the land surface, a presumed result of slight elevation differences between the two cirques which affects storm tracks and resultant variations in glacial mass balances.

Geoarchaeological importance of sub-Arctic bird perches dated by lee side turf mound accumulation and identified by lichen plumes

Organic-rich turf mounds, fertilised with bird droppings, may develop in the lee of obstacles, including either natural or human-made structures, boulders and rock cairns in exposed mountain and sub-Arctic and Arctic periglacial/proglacial environments. These boulder-leeside deposits consist mainly of organic materials intermixed with loess trapped in baffling agents (turf), and may sometimes contain archaeological features. Certain animal and bird species may also contribute to turf-mounds by frequenting these locations. Boulders and other natural and human- made obstructions are observed to have lichen plumes, principally Xanthoria spp?, lacing the tops and downwind side of the mound and fertilised by defecating birds and mammals. Turf mounds, consisting of organic soil, can be used for both relative and chronometric age dating, the buried peat providing 14 C dates for archaeological context for specific mountain sites when artefacts are recovered. In addition, field and laboratory analyses of soils provide important palaeoenvironmental and geoarchaeological information about the sites. Examples are provided from a field site in the Norra Storfjallet in the Swedish SubArctic.

Stratigraphy of a site with Eemian interglacial deposits in north Estonia (Juminda Peninsula)

Abstract Sediment lithology, lithofacies relationships, palynological and diatom analysis indicate that two drill cores extracted from ancient valleys of the Juminda Peninsula, north Estonia, represent a previously undetected interglacial sedimentary sequence sandwiched between the Middle and Late Pleistocene glacigenic deposits. Four different coloured major lithofacies associations (units), representing two glacigenic cycles, and deposits with the Late Saalian pollen assemblages zone (LS1), the uppermost Eemian (E9), and Early Weichselian pollen zone (EW) were distinguished at the section. The bottommost depositional unit consists of brownish coloured clay, diamicton and gravel beds. The second depositional unit, correlative to the Eemian Interglacial, consists of a black organic-rich palaeosoil and stratified sand. A thick grey coloured bed of massive and partly stratified Weichselian diamicton, sand, clay and silt comprises the third unit, and the fourth, the topmost depositional unit, consists of yellowish grey sands and silts of the Baltic Sea.