Search results for "Quaternary"

Structural control on the presence and character of calas: Observations from Balearic Islands limestones rock coast macroforms

2013

Calas are characteristic embayed rocky coastline landforms related to steep-sided drowned valleys that were deeply incised during low sea-level stages into carbonate plateaus. This paper studies the factors that control the presence and character of calas in three different islands of the Balearic Archipelago (Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera) by means of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) reconstructions, embayment and catchment morphometric analysis and through the compilation of fault and joint orientations. All islands exhibit emerged carbonate platforms (Upper Miocene in age) characterised by horizontal or very gently-dipping bedding. Two distinct patterns observed at all study sites are th…

STOP 10: Kame terrace in the Upper Daugava depression at Rakuti, near Krāslava

2014

Late Quaternary Variations in the South American Monsoon System as Inferred by Speleothems – New Perspectives Using the SISAL Database

2018

Here we present an overview of speleothem δ18O records from South America, most of which are available in the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and Analysis (SISAL_v1) database. South American tropical and subtropical speleothem δ18O time series are primarily interpreted to reflect changes in precipitation amount, the amount effect, and consequently history of convection intensity variability of convergence zones such as the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the South America Monsoon System (SAMS). We investigate past hydroclimate scenarios in South America related to the South American Monsoon System in three different time periods: Late Pleistocene, Holocene, and the last two millenni…

STOP 14: Morphology and internal structure of the Lāči drumlin at Tērvete village, Zemgale Drumlin Field

2014

Focused and diffuse effluxes of CO2 from mud volcanoes and mofettes south of Mt. Etna (Italy).

2007

Abstract Several sites with anomalous emissions of carbon dioxide were investigated in the region south of Mt. Etna volcano in order to assess the types of emission (focused and/or diffuse), their surface extension and the total output of CO 2 . Most of the studied emissions are located on the southwest boundary of Mt. Etna, near the town of Paterno. They consist of three mud volcanoes (known as Salinelle), one spring with bubbling gas (Acqua Grassa) and one area of diffuse degassing (Pescheria). Another site (Naftia Lake) with remarkable gas emissions (bubbling gas into a lake as well as adjacent areas of diffuse soil degassing) is located further southwest of Mt. Etna in an area of extinc…

Phylogeography of a Tertiary relict plant,Meconopsis cambrica(Papaveraceae), implies the existence of northern refugia for a temperate herb

2012

The perennial herb Meconopsis cambrica, a western European endemic, is the only European species of the otherwise Himalayan genus Meconopsis and has been interpreted as a Tertiary relict species. Using rbcL and ITS sequence variation, we date the split between M. cambrica and its sister clade Papaver s.str. to the Middle to Upper Miocene (12.8 Myr, 6.4–19.2 Myr HPD). Within M. cambrica, cpDNA sequence variation reveals the existence of two groups of populations with a comparable level of genetic variation: a northern group from Great Britain, the Massif Central, the western Pyrenees and the Iberian System, and a southern group from the central and eastern Pyrenees. Populations from the Cant…

Stratigraphy, geochemistry and geochronology of a Quaternary pyroclastic sequence of the Chichontepec volcano, El Salvador

2013

In this paper we present sedimentological, chemical and geochronological data on a pyroclasticsequence deposited at Chichontepeque Volcano (El Salvador) during a caldera-forming Plinian phase.Granulometric analyses and width distribution patterns of airfall pyroclastics showed that these are the result ofat least two eruptions, the oldest being the more complete. The Basal Fall, which marks the beginning of thePlinian eruption, shows the typical features of Plinian air-fall deposits.Chemical trends mirror roughly a downward tapping from a zoned magma chamber; inside each fall unit crys-tal fractionation trends can be recognized. 39Ar/40Ar dating of lavas underlying and overlying the pyrocla…

Vertical movements in NE Sicily and its offshore: Outcome of tectonic uplift during the last 125 ky

2013

New data in the coastal area between Acquedolci and Patti (northeastern Sicily, Italy) have been collected to calculate vertical tectonic rates in a key sector between the Kabilian-Calabrian and the Sicilian-Maghrebian chain. The comparison among marine geology data (multibeam and seismic reflection profiles) on the continental shelf-slope system and the radiocarbon ages on geomorphological markers collected during a coastal survey, provided new stratigraphic, geomorphological and biological data, contributing to the knowledge of the geological evolution of this sector for the last 125 ky.This coastal area is framed between two main structural features active during the Pleistocene in north…

Middle-Late Pleistocene marine terraces and fault activity in the Sant’Agata di Militello coastal area (north-eastern Sicily)

2012

Abstract The coastal sector of Sant’Agata di Militello (north-eastern Sicily) is characterized by a flight of raised Middle-Upper Pleistocene marine terraces occurring at different heights with respect to present sea level. In particular, the geomorphological survey and the analysis of stereo-pairs of aerial photographs allowed to recognize at least five main orders of well preserved Quaternary surfaces and relative deposits mostly located at the hanging wall and at the footwall of the Pleistocene northwest-dipping Capo d’Orlando normal fault, which controlled the geomorphological evolution of the coastal area. The marine terraces show an overall good morphological continuity and are formed…

1999

The Quaternary karstic site of Sierra de Quibas (Abanilla, Murcia, Spain) has provided a wide faunistic list with 53 species distributed among gastropods, myriapods, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Especially interesting among the gastropods is Palaeoglandina that became extinct in Europe during the Pliocene. It remains as a relict genus in the Pleistocene of the Iberian Peninsula. Two of the birds, Gypaetus barbatus and Geronticus eremita, and a snake, Elaphe cf. E. sealaris, are scarcely represented in the fossil record. For several birds, it is the first record in the Lower Pleistocene of the Iberian Peninsula. Among the mammals, the presence of the Cercopithecine Macaca sylvanu…