Geology topics

T.-L. Ku

Publications and source records attributed to T.-L. Ku.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2008

Modeled tephra ages from lake sediments, base of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska

A 5.6-m-long lake sediment core from Bear Lake, Alaska, located 22 km southeast of Redoubt Volcano, contains 67 tephra layers deposited over the last 8750 cal yr, comprising 15% of the total thickness of recovered sediment. Using 12 AMS 14C ages, along with the 137Cs and 210Pb activities of recent sediment, we evaluated different models to determine the age-depth relation of the core, and to determine the age of each tephra deposit. The selected age model is based on a mixed-effect regression that was passed through the adjusted tephra-free depth of each dated layer. The estimated age uncertainty of the 67 tephras averages ??105 yr (95% confidence intervals). Tephra-fall frequency at Bear Lake was among the highest during the past 500 yr, with eight tephras deposited compared to an average of 3.7/500 yr over the last 8500 yr. Other periods of increased tephra fall occurred 2500-3500, 4500-5000, and 7000-7500 cal yr. Our record suggests that Bear Lake experienced extended periods (1000-2000 yr) of increased tephra fall separated by shorter periods (500-1000 yr) of apparent quiescence. The Bear Lake sediment core affords the most comprehensive tephrochronology from the base of the Redoubt Volcano to date, with an average tephra-fall frequency of one every 130 yr. ?? 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quaternary Geochronology↗

USGS2004

New U-series dates at the Caune de l'Arago, France

In the beginning of the 1980s, the Caune de l'Arago was the focus of an interdisciplinary effort to establish the chronology of the Homo heidelbergensis (Preneandertals) fossils using a variety of techniques on bones and on speleothems. The result was a very large spread of dates particularly on bone samples. Amid the large spread of results, some radiometric data on speleothems showed a convergence in agreement with inferences from faunal studies. We present new U-series results on the stalagmitic formation located at the bottom of Unit IV (at the base of the Upper Stratigraphic Complex). Samples and splits were collaboratively analyzed in the four different laboratories with excellent interlaboratory agreement. Results show the complex sequence of this stalagmitic formation. The most ancient part is systematically at internal isotopic equilibrium (>350 ka) suggesting growth during or before isotopic stage 9, representing a minimum age for the human remains found in Unit III of the Middle Stratigraphical Complex which is stratigraphically under the basis of the studied stalagmitic formation. Overlaying parts of the speleothem date to the beginning of marine isotope stages 7 and 5. ?? 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Caune de l'Arago↗

USGS2004

Climate and hydrology of the last interglaciation (MIS 5) in Owens Basin, California: Isotopic and geochemical evidence from core OL-92

??18O, ??13C, total organic carbon, total inorganic carbon, and acid-leachable Li, Mg and Sr concentrations on 443 samples from 32 to 83 m depth in Owens Lake core OL-92 were analyzed to study the climatic and hydrological conditions between 60 and 155 ka with a resolution of ???200 a. The multi-proxy data show that Owens Lake overflowed during wet/cold conditions of marine isotope stages (MIS) 4, 5b and 6, and was closed during the dry/warm conditions of MIS 5a, c and e. The lake partially overflowed during MIS 5d. Our age model places the MIS 4/5 boundary at ca 72.5 ka and the MIS 5/6 boundary (Termination II) at ca 140 ka, agreeing with the Devils Hole chronology. The diametrical precipitation intensities between the Great Basin (cold/wet) and eastern China (cold/dry) on Milankovitch time scales imply a climatic teleconnection across the Pacific. It also probably reflects the effect of high-latitude ice sheets on the southward shifts of both the summer monsoon frontal zone in eastern Asia and the polar jet stream in western North America during glacial periods. ?? 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quaternary Science Reviews↗

USGS1994

Mobilization of beryllium in the sedimentary column at convergent margins

Studies of Be distributions in subduction zone sediments will help to understand questions regarding the enrichments of cosmogenic Be-10 in arc volcanic rocks. Analyses of Be-10 and Be-9 in sediments of Ocean Drilling Program Site 808, Nankai Trough and Be-9 in porewaters of Site 808 and Sites 671 and 672, Barbados ridge complex, show significant decreases in solid phase Be-10 and large increases of porewater Be-9 at the location of the décollement zone and below or at potential flow conduits. These data imply the potential mobilization of Be during pore fluid expulsion upon sediment burial. Experiments involving reaction between a décollement sediment and a synthetic NaCl-CaCl 2 solution at elevated pressure and temperatures were conducted in an attempt to mimic early subduction zone processes. The results demonstrate that Be is mobilized under elevated pressure and temperature with a strong pH dependence. The Be mobilization provides an explanation of Be-10 enrichment in arc volcanic rocks and supports the argument of the importance of the fluid processes in subduction zones at convergent margins.

Nankai Trough, Pacific Ocean↗

USGS1981

Fluxes of metals to a manganese nodule: Radiochemical, chemical, structural, and mineralogical studies

Fluxes of metals to the top and bottom surfaces of a manganese nodule were determined by combining radiochemical ( 230 Th, 231 Pa, 232 Th, 238 U, 234 U) and detailed chemical data. The top of the nodule had been growing in its collected orientation at 4.7 mm Myr −1 for at least 0.5 Myr and accreting Mn at 200 μg cm −2 kyr −1 . The bottom of the nodule had been growing in its collected orientation at about 12 mm Myr −1 for at least 0.3 Myr and accreting Mn at about 700 μg cm −2 yr −1 . Although the top of the nodule was enriched in iron relative to the bottom, the nodule had been accreting Fe 50% faster on the bottom. 232 Th was also accumulating more rapidly in the bottom despite a 20-fold enrichment of 230 Th on the top. The distribution of alpha-emitting nuclides calculated from detailed radiochemical measurements matched closely the pattern revealed by 109-day exposures of alpha-sensitive film to the nodule. However, the shape and slope of the total alpha profile with depth into the nodule was affected strongly by 226 Ra and 222 Rn migrations making the alpha-track technique alone an inadequate method of measuring nodule growth rates. Diffusion of radium in the nodule may have been affected by diagenetic reactions which produce barite, phillipsite and todorokite within 1 mm of the nodule surface; however, our sampling interval was too broad to document the effect. We have not been able to resolve the importance of nodule diagenesis on the gross chemistry of the nodule.

Earth and Planetary Science Letters↗