IN his fascinating and well written book Lockyer argues that the ancient British monuments and stone circles are astronomical in nature, as are the ancient monuments in Egypt. Lockyer, considered the founder of solar astrophysics, also founded the Science Museum in London and also the science journal NATURE.

This digital document is a journal article from Quaternary Science Reviews, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
A new composite BDP-96 biogenic silica record over the entire Pleistocene was generated by splicing BDP-96-1 and BDP-96-2 drill cores from Lake Baikal, crosschecked against a similar record from a nearby BDP-98 drill core. A new astronomically tuned age model is proposed based on correlating peak biogenic silica responses with the timing of September perihelia. This target is derived from analysis of regional climate proxy responses during the Holocene, the last interglacial and around paleomagnetic reversals. By resolving virtually every precessional cycle during the Pleistocene, the new age model represents a major improvement compared with previously reported Lake Baikal timescales. The astronomically tuned ages of the Pleistocene paleomagnetic reversals are consistent with published dates. The minimal tuning approach we used (precession only) has also aligned high signal power in a narrow obliquity band, confirming the strong presence of orbital forcing. There are also strong ca 100-ka scale cycles, but these are not aligned with the orbital eccentricity. Despite the location of Lake Baikal in a continental interior that is highly sensitive to insolation forcing, the tuned biogenic silica record reveals a consistent phase difference of -32^o (ca 4ka) relative to insolation in the obliquity band. An inherent lag embedded in a continental proxy record, not driven by global ice volume, is an intriguing finding. Another new observation is that long-term changes in sedimentation rates in Lake Baikal appear to be related to the amplitude of orbital forcing; both amplitudes and sedimentation rates undergo significant changes during MIS 24-MIS 19 interval corresponding to the Middle Pleistocene Transition. With potential for linking continental and marine climato-stratigraphies, the new Baikal record serves a new benchmark correlation target in continental Eurasia, as an alternative to June 65^oN insolation and ODP-correlated timescales.

This book is a replica, produced from digital images of the original. It was scanned at the University of Toronto Libraries and may contain defects, missing pages or blemishes due to the original source content. The UT libraries have worked with various digital partners to provide the best possible customer experience and hope you enjoy the results.