Salinity indicators in sediment through the fluvial-to-marine transition (Fraser River, Canada).

Many sediment attributes have been proposed as proxies for determining salinity conditions under which sediment is deposited, and six attributes (Sr/Ba-HAc, Sr/Ba-NHAc, δC, C/N, and the relative abundances and concentrations of dinoflagellate cysts) are compared here. In this paper, sediment attributes from the Fraser River Delta, Canada and surrounding coastal areas are compared by depositional position along the fluvial-to-marine transition, by salinity, and by sedimentological characteristics. Along the fluvial-to-marine transition, most attributes exhibit distinct trends between parts of the river that experience sustained marine water (saltwater) influence over seasonal and tidal timeframes, and parts that experience only freshwater or periodic saltwater influence.

Insolation-paced sea level and sediment flux during the early Pleistocene in Southeast Asia.

Global marine archives from the early Pleistocene indicate that glacial-interglacial cycles, and their corresponding sea-level cycles, have predominantly a periodicity of ~ 41 kyrs driven by Earth's obliquity. Here, we present a clastic shallow-marine record from the early Pleistocene in Southeast Asia (Cholan Formation, Taiwan). The studied strata comprise stacked cyclic successions deposited in offshore to nearshore environments in the paleo-Taiwan Strait.

The 20-million-year old lair of an ambush-predatory worm preserved in northeast Taiwan.

The feeding behavior of the giant ambush-predator "Bobbit worm" (Eunice aphroditois) is spectacular. They hide in their burrows until they explode upwards grabbing unsuspecting prey with a snap of their powerful jaws. The still living prey are then pulled into the sediment for consumption.

Resolving the Architecture and Early Evolution of a Forearc Basin (Georgia Basin, Canada) Using Detrital Zircon.

Convergent-margin basins (CMBs) are commonly associated with active arcs, and hence are rich in detrital zircon (DZ) whose ages closely reflect the timing of deposition. Consequently, maximum depositional ages (MDA) from DZ geochronology can be employed to resolve the stratigraphy and evolution of CMBs. Herein, we use DZ to revise the internal architecture of the lower Nanaimo Group, which partially comprises the fill of the (forearc) Georgia (or Nanaimo) Basin.