This study concerns the palaeoglaciation of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, with emphasis on the Bayan Har Shan (Shan = Mountain) in the headwaters of Huang He (Yellow River). To reconstruct past glacier development multiple techniques, including remote sensing, field investigations, cosmogenic exposure dating, and numerical modelling have been employed. Analysis of the large-scale geomorphology indicates that glacial erosion has been dominant in the elevated mountain areas on the low-relief plateau, whereas fluvial erosion outpaces glacial erosion along the plateau margin. Landform and sediment records yield evidence for multiple local glaciations, restricted to the highest mountain areas, and a maximum glaciation beyond the mountain front. Absence of data supporting the former presence of proposed ice sheets, plateau-wide or regional, tentatively indicates that no ice sheet glaciation occurred on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Cosmogenic exposure dating of boulders, surface pebbles, and sediment sections in central Bayan Har Shan indicates that its record of past glaciations predates the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Based on a world-wide analysis, yielding that wide age disparity within apparent exposure age datasets is most likely caused by post-glacial shielding processes, the Bayan Har Shan exposure ages constrain four periods of glaciation with minimum ages of 40-65 ka, 60-100 ka, 95-165 ka, and undetermined oldest stage. Similar to Bayan Har Shan, the plateau-wide distribution of boulders with pre-LGM exposure ages close to present-day glaciers shows that its LGM glaciers were generally not much larger than today. The results of a high resolution glacier model applied to nine regions across the plateau indicates that temperature depressions of 2-4 K are enough to expand glaciers beyond their global LGM extent, implying that during periods of Northern Hemisphere glaciation the Tibetan Plateau was not much colder than today or became exceedingly dry. / At the time of doctoral defence the following publications were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript. Paper 5: Manuscript.

Earth science is a dynamic system science that explores the structures and processes of the earth. Knowledge about the earth is important for citizens since the science is a vital part in the sustainable development of the society. Without good basic knowledge the citizens don’t have the possibility to anticipate in the questions and decision-making that concerns e.g. anthropogenic climate change. In the Swedish school system earth science is not an independent subject until academically studies at the University’s. The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of knowledge among citizens and policymakers in Sweden and to find out if there is any illiteracy for earth science in Sweden. The method conducted of two web-based surveys and the questions in the surveys are focused around the subject of anthropogenic climate change because it is one of the most well known areas of earth science amongst the citizens. The survey results are based on 159 answers from each survey and shows that there is illiteracy for earth science in Sweden. It is also possible to se that the policymakers have better knowledge about earth science than the citizens. The results also show that there is a concern amongst the citizens regarding the effects that humans do to anthropogenic climate change. One solution to the illiteracy and worries amongst the public is better education in earth science. How to best teach a subject is developed in the research area of didactics but for earth science this is a relatively young science, in need of more research both in Sweden and internationally. / Geovetenskap är en dynamisk systemvetenskap som utforskar jordens utveckling och uppbyggnad. Geovetenskapliga kunskaper är vitala för det moderna hållbara samhället, men i Sverige finns ämnet geovetenskap bara som fristående ämne på akademisk nivå. Utan grundkunskaper har medborgarna inte lika stora möjligheter att delta i debatter och fatta beslut i frågor som exempelvis antropogena klimatförändringar. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka det geovetenskapliga kunskapsläget i Sverige och om frånvaron av denna undervisning i skolan/gymnasiet kan orsaka geovetenskaplig analfabetism. Undersökningen genomfördes via två internetbaserade enkäter en riktade sig mot Sverige allmänhet och en mot tjänstemän/politiker. Frågorna i enkäterna byggdes upp kring antropogena klimatförändringar då detta område är mer allmänt känt än ämnet geovetenskap och de övrigt innefattande områdena. Resultatet från undersökningen baseras på 159 svar från respektive enkät och visar att det finns en geovetenskaplig analfabetism i båda undersökningsgrupperna. Det går att utläsa en liten skillnad i kunskapsnivå mellan de två undersökningsgrupperna, beslutsfattare/tjänstemän har en något högre kunskapsnivå än allmänheten. Resultaten visar också att det finns en oro bland allmänheten för olika effekter av klimatförändringar som att Golfströmmen kan stanna och att antalet tsunamivågor kan komma att öka. Dessutom tror en mindre del (16%) av allmänheten att jordbävningen i Chile 2010 orsakades av antropogena klimatförändringar. För att kunna förbättra de geovetenskapliga kunskapsnivåerna krävs utbildning av både barn och vuxna. Dessutom krävs det mer forskning i geovetenskaplig didaktik som är ett ungt och outforskat område både i Sverige och internationellt.

The valleys southwest of Storuman has been exploration targets for sulfide mineralizations like the Laisvall Pb-Zn deposit since the late 1900 when several mineralized boulders where found. No previous glaciogeological survey has been made. This report focus on the directions of local paleoiceflows and glacial transportation in the area of Skikkisjön, the location of the westernmost mineralized boulder, found in 2010. The aim of this study has been to create a picture of the glaciogeological evolution of the area in order to determinate possible hostrock areas. My results suggest that the geomorphology and transportation occurred during a western icedivide located in the nearby mountainrange. The survey area is characterized by topographically controlled iceflows witch appears to be linked between the valleys. The iceflow velocity was considerably higher in the major valleys compared to the surrounding areas indicated by the distribution of longtransported material.

The area around the stream Orsundaan, which runs trough the valley Harsbacksdalen, is famous for its beautiful landscape. The upper area of Orsundaan and Harsbacksdalen is situated just south of Heby in Uppland, Sweden. Even though the area is protected by different nature conservation acts, it is difficult to find any information about the geodiversity in the area. Geodiversity, or geological and geomorphological diversity, includes the concepts of geoprocesses and geoelements. Very high geodiversity could be seen at an inventory of the geomorphology in the upper area of Orsundaan and Harsbacksdalen. Geodiversity in not only important for understanding the geological development of the landscape, which in turn can be connected to global climate changes, but it is also very important for the biodiversity in the area. Thus, it is of great importance that people working with nature conservation issues are familiar with the geodiversity in the area. This also applies to those working with development plans of the area. Furthermore, it is of interest that visitors will be given a chance to learn more about the landscape development of Harsbacksdalen and Orsundaan and for them to get an understanding of the geoprocesses and geoelements found in the area.

One special feature in the Swedish nature, mainly in the county of Uppland is one distinctive kind of dip, which can be distinguished from its fast and unaccounted drainage. These dips are called “glupar” and can mainly be found in coarse-grained pebbled moraine under the highest shoreline (HK). During spring, and particularly when snowmelting occur, the wateramliptude fluctuates a lot until late summer or the beginning of fall comes; these dips are then often almost fully drained. During winter however, the waterlevel stands high. Therefore, “glupar” can for some time be falsely interpreted as a small pond. Areas around Jumkil just outside Uppsala are charaterized for their large amount of these kinds of dips. The origin of “glupar” is poorly studied or described through the literature, which to a large extent is the main reason for this study.

Pocatello Valley in southeastern Idaho and northern Utah is a structural and topographic basin bounded on all sides by mountains composed of Paleozoic platform carbonates and elastics. In the late Pleistocene it contained pluvial Lake Utaho, which, prior to 1981, was considered to have been an arm of Lake Bonneville. This study corroborates the finding of Currey (1981) that the two lakes were separate. The Quaternary deposits examined in this study are divided into two broad groups: those that were deposited prior to the last pluvial lake cycle, and those that were deposited during and after the pluvial lake maximum, (since approximately 16 ka) when the area was occupied by Lake Utaho and Lake Bonneville. Pediment gravels, alluvial fans, piedmont colluvium, and talus comprise the older group: the younger deposits include stream channel deposits, lacustrine sediments, and loess. Quantitative front sinuosity height ratios) geomorphological techniques (mountain ratios and valley floor width-valley indicate that the bounding ranges on the east and west margins of Pocatello Valley are slightly to moderately active tectonically. Precise surveying of the Lake Utaho highstand shoreline revealed significant deviations from the smooth, isostatically rebounded shoreline elevation curve of Crittenden (1963). The greatest deflections occur where the sinuous shoreline crosses the more linear inferred range front faults at the base of Samaria Mountain, on the east margin of the valley. The deflections (as much as 6.4 m over a horizontal distance of 900 m) suggest that movement has occurred along the range front faults since the shorelines were created approximately 16 ka, but no fault scarps were formed. A buried colluvium estimated to be 95 ka + 15 ka that was exposed draped toward in a over the trench at the range the inferred fault, valley. There are front is monoclinally and dips as much as 49° no fractures in the colluvium, which suggests that, although relative movement between the mountain and valley blocks has occurred, the displacement has only warped the colluvium. This further suggests that any earthquakes accompanying the movements must have been below the magnitude threshold (ML 6.2-6.3) necessary for surface rupture.

No description available.

<p>Three long sediment cores (BDP-98 – 600 m, BDP-96 – 200 m and BDP-93 – 100 m) drilled in Lake Baikal (Siberia) have been studied with the aims of establishing an absolute chronology and reconstructing paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes in the region. The location of the lake at relatively high latitude and continental interior and a thick continuous sedimentary archive that developed in a rift system tectonic setting provide unique material for this investigation. The cosmogenic isotope ¹⁰Be was used for dating and the results indicate time spans of 8 (+0.8\-0.6) Myr for BDP-98, 5.5 (±0.13) Myr for BDP-96 and >0.7 Myr for BDP-93. Two major sedimentary facies (deltaic and hemipelagic) are distinguished by textural geochemical and mineralogical data. Detrital mineral composition suggests negligible change in provenance during the period studied. Formation of authigenic minerals, such as framboidal pyrite, vivianite and siderite, reflects variable environmental conditions in the lake and climate change in the region. Biogenic silica content shows climatic influence, which is modified by the supply of detrital material and postdepositional alterations. ¹⁰Be dating, combined with lithological analysis of the sediments, makes it possible to place temporal constrains on climate cooling at the Miocene/Pliocene boundary (5 Myr ago) and at the Early/Late Pliocene boundary (3.6 Myr ago) as well as the beginning of the northern hemisphere glaciation at about 2.5–2.6 Myr ago. The regional east-west tectonic extension of south-east Asia, related to Tibetan Plateau uplift, was confined in the Baikal area to between about 7 and 5 Myr ago, with a rifting rate calculated at 7 mm year^-1. Furthermore, the ¹⁰Be data suggest that geomagnetic field intensity strengthened around the Miocene/Pliocene boundary.</p>

Three long sediment cores (BDP-98 – 600 m, BDP-96 – 200 m and BDP-93 – 100 m) drilled in Lake Baikal (Siberia) have been studied with the aims of establishing an absolute chronology and reconstructing paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes in the region. The location of the lake at relatively high latitude and continental interior and a thick continuous sedimentary archive that developed in a rift system tectonic setting provide unique material for this investigation. The cosmogenic isotope 10Be was used for dating and the results indicate time spans of 8 (+0.8\-0.6) Myr for BDP-98, 5.5 (±0.13) Myr for BDP-96 and &gt;0.7 Myr for BDP-93. Two major sedimentary facies (deltaic and hemipelagic) are distinguished by textural geochemical and mineralogical data. Detrital mineral composition suggests negligible change in provenance during the period studied. Formation of authigenic minerals, such as framboidal pyrite, vivianite and siderite, reflects variable environmental conditions in the lake and climate change in the region. Biogenic silica content shows climatic influence, which is modified by the supply of detrital material and postdepositional alterations. 10Be dating, combined with lithological analysis of the sediments, makes it possible to place temporal constrains on climate cooling at the Miocene/Pliocene boundary (5 Myr ago) and at the Early/Late Pliocene boundary (3.6 Myr ago) as well as the beginning of the northern hemisphere glaciation at about 2.5–2.6 Myr ago. The regional east-west tectonic extension of south-east Asia, related to Tibetan Plateau uplift, was confined in the Baikal area to between about 7 and 5 Myr ago, with a rifting rate calculated at 7 mm year-1. Furthermore, the 10Be data suggest that geomagnetic field intensity strengthened around the Miocene/Pliocene boundary.

The primary goal of this project is to develop a relative chronology of events in the geologic history of the Kentucky River, and to consider the geologic controls on those events. This study utilized published geologic and topographic data, as well as field observations and extensive compilation and comparison of digital data, to examine the fluvial record preserved in the Kentucky River valley in central Kentucky. Numerous fluvial features including abandoned paleovalleys, fluvial terraces and deposits, bedrock benches, and relict spillways between adjacent river valleys were identified during the course of the study. The morphology of the modern valley coincides with bedrock lithology and can be used to describe the distribution and preservation of modern and ancient fluvial deposits and features in the study area. Bedrock lithology is the dominant control on valley morphology and on the distribution and preservation of fluvial deposits and features in the study area. Some stream trends are inherited from the late Paleozoic drainage of the Alleghanian orogeny. More recent inheritance of valley morphology has resulted from the erosion of the river from one lithology down into another lithology with differing erosional susceptibility, thus superposing the meander patterns of the overlying valley style onto the underlying lithology. One major drainage reorganization related to a pre-Illinoisan glacial advance disrupted the northward flow of the Old Kentucky River toward the Teays River system and led to organization of the early Ohio River. This greatly reduced the distance to baselevel, and led to abrupt incision and a change in erosional style for the Kentucky River. The successful projection of valley morphologies on the basis of bedrock stratigraphy, the history of erosion suggested by fission track data and the results of this study, as well as soil thickness and development, all argue against the existence of a midto late-Tertiary, low-relief, regional erosional surface. This study instead hypothesizes that the apparent accordance of ridge-top elevations in the study area is a reflection of a fluvially downwasted late Paleozoic depositional surface.