黄土剖面古土壤和生物化石^(14)C测年对比

精确、可靠测定古土壤和生物化石年代是重建环境变化过程、探讨人地关系的关键.研究古土壤中不同组分年代的异同对于分析土壤中碳附存状态和碳储存库十分重要.对甘肃省榆中县境内兴隆山典型黄土剖面采集的动物化石、土壤无机质、土壤有机质3个样品进行常规14C和AMS测年,发现同一地层相同点样品不同组分的测年结果相差悬殊,样品无机质比其有机质年龄(3682±70)a偏老2624a.对其14C测年可靠性对比分析发现,常规14C和AMS对骨骼和牙齿化石测年相差仅为13a,校正为日历年后几乎相等,认为实验室产生的误差很小,而碳的来源、组成及其“死碳”混入的比例是影响测年结果的主要因素.化石年龄与土壤有机质年龄之间的差别,揭示该剖面可能存在持续时间达千年以上的沉积间断.由于同一层位骨化石、土壤有机质、土壤无机质14C测年结果差异,在进行化石年代确定、考古及古文明研究、生态植被恢复、土壤无机碳存储库研究中,年龄的界定应选择相应的测年数据.

^(14)C测年技术新进展

^(14)C测年技术的进展主要表现为3个方面：1）^(14)C常规测定技术向高精度发展比较成熟，目前已可以普及；2）加速器质谱技术的建立和普及，使测定要求的样品碳量减少到mg级，甚至μg级，虽然目前的精度尚未超过常规方法，但由于所需样品量极少，测定时间短而工效高，大大拓宽了应用范围；3）高精度^(14)C－树轮年龄校正曲线的建立，不但可将样品的^(14)C年龄转换到日历年龄，而且对有时序的系列样品的^(14)C年龄数据通过曲线拟合方法转换到日历年龄时年龄误差大为缩小。

Early Holocene environment at a key location of the northwest boundary of the Asian summer monsoon: a synthesis on chronologies of Zhuye Lake, Northwest China

The intensified monsoon increases summer rainfall and creates wet conditions in the Asian summer monsoon region during the early Holocene. Along with millennial-scale changes of the monsoon intensity, it is still unclear whether the boundary of the monsoon region changes according to monsoon variability. Investigations into the early Holocene environment in monsoon marginal zones are crucial for understanding the monsoon boundary changes. Zhuye Lake is located at the northwest edge of the Asian summer monsoon, the northern Qilian Mountains, which are less affected by modern summer monsoon water vapor. Previous studies have reached different conclusions regarding the early Holocene climatic and environmental changes based on different dating methods（^14C and OSL（optically stimulated luminescence）） and materials（shells, carbonate, pollen concentrates and bulk organic carbon）. In this study, we synthesized 102 ^14C dates and 35 OSL dates from ten Holocene sedimentary sections and ten paleo-shorelines in the lake basin. A comparison between ages from different dating methods and materials generally shows that carbon reservoir effects are relatively slight in Zhuye Lake while the disordered chronologies are mainly related to the erosion processes and reworking effects. In addition, proxy data, including lithology, pollen, total organic carbon and carbonate, were collected from different sites of Zhuye Lake. According to the new synthesis, the early Holocene environment was relatively humid, associated with high runoff and lake water levels. The result indicates that the monsoon boundary moves to the north during the period of the intensified monsoon. A typical arid-area lake was formed during the mid-Holocene when carbonate accumulation and high organic matter contents were the main features of this period. The lake retreated strongly during the late Holocene, showing a drought trend. Overall, the lake evolution is generally consistent with the Holocene Asian summer monsoon change, showing the monsoon influence to monsoon marginal zones.

Radiocarbon ages of different fractions of peat on coastal lowland of Bohai Bay: marine influence?

Peat in boreholes is the most important ^(14)C dating material used for constructing age framework. 20 bulk peat samples were collected from five boreholes, the ^(14)C ages of two fractions(organic sediment fraction and peat fraction) of the bulk peat samples were investigated by AMS-dating and which fraction is better to help construct an age framework for the boreholes were compared and discussed. The results indicated that the peat fraction give a good dating results sequence in the boreholes, compared with the corresponding organic sediment fraction. And the dating results of organic sediment fraction show 161-6 702 years older than corresponding peat fraction, which was caused by marine influence. Then, we suggest an experience formula as y =0.99 x-466.5 by the correlation analysis for correcting the marine influenced organic sediment ages within the conventional ages between 4 000 to 9 000 yrs BP, and more study should be carried out for the AMS ^(14)C dating of the bulk organic sediments.

Sedimentary facies and paleoenvironmental interpretation of a Holocene marsh in the Gironde Estuary in France

The Monards Marsh is located on the northeastern bank of the Gironde Estuary in France. Lithological, sedimentolngical and mi- cropalacontological investigations were made on four cores to determine the evolution of Holocene sedimentary environments and processes in this area over the last 6 000 a. Three main lithological facies are distinguished from bottom to top： （ 1 ） grey laminated silty-sandy clay ; （2） homogeneous dark grey silty clay ; and （ 3 ） compact silty clay. About 26 benthic foraminifera species are identified and divided into six groups according to their ecological characteristics. In association with lithology, sedimentary structures and grainuiometry, the distribution of foraminifera group is used to define external slikke, internal slikke, external schorre, internal schorre, and continental marsh facies. Combined with 14C（AMS） dating, these data indicate four successive paleoenvironments in the Monards Marsh： （ 1 ） Holocene transgression resuited in the development of a basal schorre facies overlying fluvial deposits that transformed to slikke facies sedimentation; the transgression maximum occurred around 5 600 to 5 4430 a BP and was inferred to be associated with the last phase of the rapid Holocene sea-level rise; （2） post-trangressive maximum sedimentation resuited in a regressive sequence of deposits prograding towards the estuary, corresponding to the stahilisation of sea level after 5 4430 a BP; （3） a slight positive tendency in the sea level around 2 800 a BP recorded in the central part of the marsh; and （4） the wetland to a continental marsh environment. The sequential pattern for the evolution of wetlands in this estuarine area during the Holocene is fluvial facies - blackish schorre facies - slikke facies - blackish schorre facies - continental marsh facies. Characteristics of sedimentary facies distribution and evolution reveal that the development of Holocene salt marsh in this area was controlled by the sea-level change and tidal range. The sedimentary facies show an obvious surficial and vertical banding distribution in which the texture and structure, authigenie mineral, foraminifera distribution and bioturbation indicate many distinct difference characteristics.

Human disturbance exacerbated erosion and deposition in the karst peak-cluster depressions during the Ming and Qing dynasties

Under the background of large-scale ecological restoration, China's southwestern karst region has become a hotspot of global vegetation cover “greening” in the past 20 years. However, because of geological constraints, it is difficult to restore the forest landscapes in some areas. It is urgent to understand the impacts of human disturbances during the historical period on the difficult-to-forestation rocky-desertification areas of the karst region in order to guide future afforestation. In this study, we quantified the changes of specific sediment yield in typical karst depressions over the past 500 years by using ^(137)Cs,^(210)Pb, and ^(14)C dating methods in karst depressions, and identified the main human disturbances related to historical erosion and sedimentation by combining with historical data. The results showed that the erosion and sedimentation of the three depressions in 1921–1963 were significantly higher than that in 1963–2021, and the sedimentation rate(0.64–1.33 cm a^(-1)) and the specific sediment yield(2.51–13.11 t ha^(-1)a^(-1)) during Ming and Qing dynasties(1504–1812) were higher than the sedimentation rate(0.26–0.95 cm a^(-1)) and specific sediment yield(0.95–6.99 t ha^(-1)a^(-1)) in the recent century(1921–2021). Reconstruction data and literature from the Ming and Qing dynasties show an empirical link between changes in population, arable land, food, forest area,and deforestation events during the same period. It was found that the population and arable land in Guangxi increased more than three-fold and the forest area decreased significantly in the 17th century after the migration of the Yao ethnic group and the introduction of maize to the region, which may be the main reason for intensifying the erosion of depressions. This study is of great significance to understanding the evolution history of rocky desertification in this region and to answer the potential of afforestation.