Response of alluvial systems to Late Pleistocene climate changes recorded by environmental magnetism in the Añavieja Basin (Iberian range, NE Spain)

Environmental magnetic proxies were analyzed in a relatively monotonous, ~25.3m thick alluvial sedimentary sequence drilled in the Añavieja Basin (NE Spain). Results from the core AÑ2 suggest that the concentration dependent magnetic parameters mainly reflect variations in the content of detrital ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Oliva-Urcia, B., Muñoz, A., Larasoaña, J.C., Luzón, A., Pérez, A., González, Á., Jiang, Z., Liu, Q., Román-Berdiel, T.
Other Authors: UAM. Departamento de Geología y Geoquímica
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Universitat de Barcelona 2016
Subjects:
Alluvial sequence
Añavieja Basin
Environmental magnetism
Magnetite
NGRIP curve
Temperature
Vegetation cover
Geología
NGRIP
North Atlantic
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/675627
https://doi.org/10.1344/GeologicaActa2016.14.2.4
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Summary:Environmental magnetic proxies were analyzed in a relatively monotonous, ~25.3m thick alluvial sedimentary sequence drilled in the Añavieja Basin (NE Spain). Results from the core AÑ2 suggest that the concentration dependent magnetic parameters mainly reflect variations in the content of detrital magnetite, sourced in the catchment rocks and soils of the basin, via changes in the dynamics of alluvial fans due to temperature changes in the northern hemisphere during the Late Pleistocene. The correspondence between the magnetic proxies and the temperature variations in the North Atlantic region (NGRIP curve) indicates that higher (lower) concentrations and finer (coarser) magnetite grains coincide with warm (cold) periods. We propose that during cold periods, a sparser vegetation cover favored the incoming of higher energy runoff bearing coarser sediments to the basin that are relatively impoverished in magnetite. In contrast, during warm periods, the wider distribution of the vegetation cover associated with the lower runoff energy lead to finer, magnetite-richer sediment input to the basin. Maghemite, presumably of pedogenic origin, appears to be present also in the studied alluvial sediments. Further studies are necessary to unravel its palaeoclimatic significance This study has been supported by research projects CGL2009-09165/BTE and CGL2009-08969, funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación from Spain and FEDER UZ 2008-CIE-12. The Groups “Análisis de cuencas sedimentarias continentales” (E-28), “Geotransfer” and “Geomorfología y Cambio Global” (E-68) of the Aragón Government Fondo Social Europeo also supported the study. Q. Liu thanks support from the Chinese Academy of Sciences

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