Abstracts / Quaternary International 279-280 (2012) 346–461
Archival documents have been used to reconstruct the hydroclimatic
variability occurring in the high basin of the Bermejo River (Argentina-
Bolivia) during the last centuries as well as its effects on the droughts,
floods and swellings in the middle basin.
Administrative documents from the Hispanic-American colonial and
republican periods have provided useful information to reconstruct the
climate and the hydrology of the region. Documents from the Archivo
General de Indias in Seville, Archivo Nacional de Bolivia, and Archivo
General de la Nación(Argentina) have been used to identify extreme
events in the high and middle-basin of the Rio Bermejo from the 17 th
century to the first decades of the 20 th century. Old maps of the region
were also used.
The archival documents show abrupt hydrological changes in response
to the climatic fluctuations in the headwaters region. More than 20
distinct floods, low water periods and droughts have been identified
between 1800 and 2000. There is also historical evidence suggesting
that flood events have increased in frequency and intensity during the
last century.
Analyses of instrumental records from the 20th century show con-
trasting trends in discharge from rivers located north and south of the
South American “Arid Diagonal”. During the 20th century streamflow
for basins north of the “Arid Diagonal” have increased whereas those to
the south of it have decreased. In this case, the positive trend from the
Bermejo River contrasts with the negative trend and the increased
variability of the hydrological cycle of the Mendoza River in the Central
Andes.
To corroborate the differences between both north and south river
streamflows, the historical reconstruction of the Mendoza River stream-
flow from 18th century (Neukom et al 2009) was correlated with the
reconstruction of the Bermejo River streamflow. According to the results, it
is possible to speculate that, due to warming, the contribution of the
Atlantic moisture over the continent has increased at subtropical latitudes
during the 20 th century, whereas the Pacific input has decreased at
middle and high latitudes.
PROVENANCE DISCRIMINATION AND SEDIMENT DISPERSAL IN
A MACROTIDAL REGIME, GULF OF KACHCHH, WESTERN INDIA:
IMPLICATIONS IN SOURCE TO SINK STUDIES
Siddharth Prizomwala. Department of Geology, The M. S. University of Bar,
India
E-mail address: siddharth_prizomwala@yahoo.co.in
The understanding of sediment dispersal system in a macrotidal regime is
a complex phenomenon. Source to sink studies emphasises the role of
different end members in the region contributing to the ‘ultimate sink’,
and hence we employed several conventional as well as modern tech-
niques to identify the signatures of all possible end members contributing
to this macrotidal regime – the Gulf of Kachchh. Geomorphic assemblages
and granulometric analysis used to classify the entire coastline into four
major segments namely, (1) Straight sandy segment, (2) Transition zone
segment, (3) Mudflat bearing inner gulf segment and (4) Narrow sand/
mudflat and rocky cliff bearing coastal segment. The techniques employed
for provenance discrimination study include grain size analysis, heavy
mineral assemblages, environmental magnetism parameters, concentra-
tion of major oxides and clay mineralogy. The results elucidate three major
end members which contribute to the Gulf of Kachchh regime, namely 1)
River Indus, 2) Kachchh mainland and 3) Saurashtra peninsula. The con-
trasting lithology in their catchment, high degree of variations in their
climatic regimes, relief, the shape and bathymetry of the Gulf of Kachchh
are the major factors influencing this contrasting mineralogical signatures
found along the Gulf of Kachchh coast. The results reveal that the mouth of
northern coast of Gulf of Kachchh has a dominant Kachchh mainland
provenance signature, which is taken over by the River Indus in the inner
Gulf of Kachchh coast, whereas the southern coast has a strong signature of
Saurashtra peninsula. However, the dominance in provenance is strongly
grain size dependent as the coarse fraction (>63 micron) has hinterland
signatures and the finer fraction (<63 micron) has either River Indus
dominant or mixed signatures. Also we attempt to evaluate the application
and advantages of conventional and modern sediment tracing techniques
in a multi source setting.
387
HUMANS, OXYGEN ISOTOPES AND THE DANSGAARD-OESCHGER
EVENTS AT THE KOSTENKI SITE CLUSTER (RUSSIAN PLAIN) BETWEEN
50-20KYA
Alexander Pryor. University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
E-mail address: ajep2@cam.ac.uk
The initial colonisation of Europe by anatomically modern humans 50-
20kya took place during a period of rapid, large-magnitude climatic
oscillations known as the Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) cycles. Twelve such
oscillations took place between 50-20kya, which have been associated
with large fluctuations in mean annual temperature in the Greenland ice
cores and periodic cooling to levels similar to those experienced during the
coldest part of the last glacial cycle c.20kya. How these oscillations
impacted in continental European climates is less certain, however, which
has hampered our understanding of how these rapid climate changes
affected the early human occupation of the area. The cluster of Upper
Palaeolithic occupation sites in the vicinity of the Kostenki-Borshchevo
villages (NW Russian Plain, c.500km south of Moscow) comprises
approximately 50 occupation assemblages dated throughout the period
50,000-20,000 years ago, and includes some of the earliest evidence for
human occupation in Europe. This long time depth therefore provides an
opportunity to assess the impact of the D-O events on humans at a single
geographic location, throughout a considerable period of time.
We report the results of a climatic investigation using oxygen isotope
analysis of faunal teeth remains (woolly mammoth, horse and fox species),
which uses the isotopic signal to correlate eight Kostenki assemblages to
the Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles, as reflected in the Greenland ice core d18O
record. The investigated assemblages include two levels from below the
Campagnian Ignimbrite tephra layer (c.39.4kya), and the famous assem-
blage from KI-1 typical for the ‘Kostenki-Avdeevo’ cultural tradition. The
isotopic results are presented alongside existing climatic evidence for the
occupation assemblages, and the implications of the results for the history
of occupation in the Kostenki region are discussed.
MIDDLE PALAEOLITHIC FIRING STRATEGIES AND EXCEPTIONAL
THERMAL BLAST DURING OIS5 AT ABRI DU MARAS (ARDÈCHE, FRANCE)
Simon Puaud. UMR 7194 CNRS-MNHN, France
E-mail address: Simon.Puaud@mnhn.fr
Stratified archaeological sequences in rock-shelters are of great potential
for studying the links between exceptional events and past human
behaviour. This objective is illustrated by the site of Abri du Maras, near the
Rhône Valley, south-east of France. The sequence displays two major
Middle Palaeolithic occupation dated to the end of MIS 5 (level 5) and to
the early MIS 4 (level < 4) based on U-Th series on bones. The sandy-silt
sediment with limestone clasts in layer 5 indicates active disaggregation of
the shelter wall. Calcitic pendents, weak carbonate corrosion, calcitic
coatings and the dark brown excremental fine mass express a marked
seasonal contrast allowing the development of forest soils. Carbonaceous
particles, including black vitrous carbon, polymer fibres and rare charcoal,
together with baked soil aggregates and heated clasts are identified within
distinctive sub-layers. These are typical signatures of hot debris-fall
possibly tracing cosmic airblast of Tunguska type. These exceptional
events would have occasionally devastated the forest cover. The high
concentration of the unusual components in the combustion structures
might reveal collection of the blasted wood as fuel by the Middle Paleo-
lithic occupants at the end of MIS 5. Layer 4 displays well sorted, massive
silty sands, typical of aeolian accumulation with minimal clast production.
The range of biogenic calcitic features and the excremental assemblage
expresses development of an herbaceous vegetation with a dense root
network. The lack of frost-induced and runoff features indicates mild
climate conditions. Unusual carbonaceous components and heated clasts
similar to the ones of layer 5 occur as erratic rounded grains. Rare
concentration of fine charcoal with bone and flints indicates the occasional
combustion of wood. The different firing strategies between layers 4 and 5
are suggested to express human adaptation to distinctive availability of
fuel resources under contrasting conditions.