2008 SEP 29 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to a study from Lund, Sweden, "Early peat surveys demonstrated the potential to detect Holocene climatic changes in southern Sweden through analysis of the degree of decomposition of Sphagnum peat and motivated systematic collection of peat-strati graphic information during subsequent geological mappings in central and northern Sweden. The resulting (published and unpublished) data was compiled and reanalysed, taking into account unpublished radiocarbon data and developments in radiocarbon calibration and pollen-stratigraphic dating. ...read more

  2008 APR 14 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "Neogene sediments in the northern Chilean forearc display a wide range of near syndepositional structures. Analysis of the origin and distribution of these structures in space and time offers new insights into the development of the forearc basins," scientists writing in the Journal of the Geological Society report.

  "The structures are described in detail and show many features associated with soft-sediment deformation, pseudo-diapirism and slope failure. Synsedimentary deformation reached a peak in the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene while the sediments were saturated in a largely plastic state, and many of the structures were probably triggered by seismic shock. Late-stage tilting of the forearc generated shear stresses in the sediments leading to slumping and sliding. Base-level revision and drainage incision led to sediment bypass and cessation of lacustrine sedimentation that was not necessarily linked to climate change. Compaction and dewatering of the basins caused transition of the sediments from a plastic to a brittle state. The age and distribution of structures associated with seismicity appears to correlate with increasing subduction erosion and westward drift of South America but not with basin subsidence, shortening rates or plate convergence," wrote J. Houston and colleagues ...read more

  2008 APR 7 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "U-Pb ages obtained from detrital zircon from terrigenous sediments are used to determine the sources. Present fluvial sand-bars of the Ogooue river yield age spectra of detrital zircons in agreement with Archean and Early Proterozoic Sources found in the drainage," scientists in Montpellier, France report.

  "The large proportion of Late Proterozoic zircons cannot be derived from primary erosion of the watershed basement rocks, since there is no formation of that age in the area. This later group of zircons is in good agreement with reworking of the aeolian Paleogene Bateke Sands, by regressive erosion in the upper reaches of the Ogooue river, as they contain a majority of Late Proterozoic age zircons. The sources of Late Proterozoic zircons in the Bateke Sand are very distant, and transported and reworked - at least in part - by aeolian processes. Our results, together with the widely distributed Paleogene sediments over continental Africa, suggests that Paleogene was it time of subdued erosion of the cratonic areas and extensive reworking, transport and deposition within continental Africa. In contrast, our results from the Ogooue river indicate active present incision of the cratonic area, erosion of the previous continental sediments, and export of the river bed-load to the continental margin," wrote M. Seranne and colleagues, University of Montpellier ...read more