Quaternary environments

Grasslands and savannas occupy one forth of the total surface of South America continent , and within it , the Pampean plain region, located in the central area of eastern Argentina, covers an area of 1,200,000 km2. The dominant soils are Mollisolls generally deep, developed from welldrained loessic parental material and characterized by a silty-loam texture. Pampean Plains is one of the most fertile regions of the world. Intense agricultural activities are carried out there and this, in turn, has strongly modified the native plant communities, especially grasslands. Depending on the environmental and pedological conditions, silicophytoliths are affected by diverse taphonomical processes, both in natural and anthropic environments. They can be preserved, dissolved or fragmented , and also be transported by different agents (wind, water, animals and people). Other taphonomical aspects also important to evaluate are the methodologies used in silicophytolith studies, from soil sampling...

The Sands of the Blackstone archaeological site, in southeastern Massachusetts, is a PaleoIndian campsite that is represented by an unambiguous diagnostic lithic assemblage of artifacts and debitage from source areas across the Northeast (Leveillee 2016). Among the assemblage, two artifacts stand out (Figure 1). One is the base of a fluted point repurposed and utilized as a "pieces esquillees"/ bone splitter. The second is a graver.

La presencia de depósitos arqueológicos en contextos dominados
por la sedimentación eólica es frecuente en áreas costeras y en algunos sectores continentales. La dinámica de esta sedimentación presenta algunas características recurrentes y otras disímiles de acuerdo al marco geomorfológico del que se trate, pero en cada caso se verá expresada, junto a otros factores, en los procesos de formación del registro. En este estudio se comparan conjuntos arqueológicos en formas eólicas móviles y fijas, procedentes de localidades del centro y sur de la Argentina, con el fin de obtener un panorama de las semejanzas y diferencias involucradas. Tal comparación se efectúa a partir de siete variables geoarqueológicas que afectan propiedades espaciales y temporales del registro arqueológico, entre ellas, la génesis y dinámica de la acumulación eólica, los procesos de incorporación al sustrato de la evidencia cultural, el desarrollo de suelos y discontinuidades erosivas, las condiciones geoquímicas de preservación y los factores de perturbación. Como
resultado, el trabajo avanza en una caracterización comparativa que permite generar expectativas respecto a algunas propiedades que presentará el registro arqueológico en los sitios ubicados en esos contextos, lo cual colabora en su estudio e interpretación.

La presencia de depósitos arqueológicos en contextos dominados
por la sedimentación eólica es frecuente en áreas costeras y en algunos sectores continentales. La dinámica de esta sedimentación presenta algunas características recurrentes y otras disímiles de acuerdo al marco geomorfológico del que se trate, pero en cada caso se verá expresada, junto a otros factores, en los procesos de formación del registro. En este estudio se comparan conjuntos arqueológicos en formas eólicas móviles y fijas, procedentes de localidades del centro y sur de la Argentina, con el fin de obtener un panorama de las semejanzas y diferencias involucradas. Tal comparación se efectúa a partir de siete variables geoarqueológicas que afectan propiedades espaciales y temporales del registro  arqueológico, entre ellas, la génesis y dinámica de la acumulación eólica, los procesos de incorporación al sustrato de la evidencia cultural, el desarrollo de suelos y discontinuidades erosivas, las condiciones geoquímicas de preservación y los factores de perturbación. Como
resultado, el trabajo avanza en una caracterización comparativa que permite generar expectativas respecto a algunas propiedades que presentará el registro arqueológico en los sitios ubicados en esos contextos, lo cual colabora en su estudio e interpretación.

La presencia de depósitos arqueológicos en contextos dominados
por la sedimentación eólica es frecuente en áreas costeras y en algunos sectores continentales. La dinámica de esta sedimentación presenta algunas características recurrentes y otras disímiles de acuerdo al marco geomorfológico del que se trate, pero en cada caso se verá expresada, junto a otros factores, en los procesos de formación del registro. En este estudio se comparan conjuntos arqueológicos en formas eólicas móviles y fijas, procedentes de localidades del centro y sur de la Argentina, con el fin de obtener un panorama de las semejanzas y diferencias involucradas. Tal comparación se efectúa a partir de siete variables geoarqueológicas
que afectan propiedades espaciales y temporales del registro arqueológico, entre ellas, la génesis y dinámica de la acumulación eólica, los procesos de incorporación al sustrato de la evidencia cultural, el desarrollo de suelos y discontinuidades erosivas, las condiciones geoquímicas de preservación y los factores de perturbación. Como
resultado, el trabajo avanza en una caracterización comparativa que permite generar expectativas respecto a algunas propiedades que presentará el registro arqueológico en los sitios ubicados en esos contextos, lo cual colabora en su estudio e interpretación.

comprende un intervalo temporal de unos 400 años adscritos a la primera mitad del Tercer Milenio antes de nuestra era. La interpretación del registro polínico, así como de las evidencias arqueológicas, sugieren el impacto que la minería y producción temprana del cobre ejercería sobre la vegetación en la zona de estudio. Se describen también algunas secuencias contemporáneas que refl ejan procesos de degradación del medio, como la del Cabezo Juré en Alosno, Huelva, que desarrolla y establece una economía claramente vinculada a la explotación del cobre.

comprende un intervalo temporal de unos 400 años adscritos a la primera mitad del Tercer Milenio antes de nuestra era. La interpretación del registro polínico, así como de las evidencias arqueológicas, sugieren el impacto que la minería y producción temprana del cobre ejercería sobre la vegetación en la zona de estudio. Se describen también algunas secuencias contemporáneas que refl ejan procesos de degradación del medio, como la del Cabezo Juré en Alosno, Huelva, que desarrolla y establece una economía claramente vinculada a la explotación del cobre.

We present an overview of selected papers published since 2000 that interpret Late Quaternary multi-proxy palaeoclimate records from Turkey and the surrounding region of the Near-Middle East and Mediterranean region. Existing records in Turkey are rather limited in their resolution, and the locations studied thus far re ect a limited spatial and temporal distribution. Because Turkey is a very large country with numerous mountains that a ect local weather conditions and create complex feedbacks, it is di cult to correlate trends across the broad landscape, and beyond. Published instrumental records are too short, and most palaeoclimate proxy records, including many lakes studied in Cappadocia and Konya, are low resolution. e Anatolian peninsula is sensitive to spatial and temporal shi s in the con guration, strength and persistence of global circulation patterns a ecting the Mediterranean climate zone, including the mid-latitude westerlies, the continental climate system anchored over northern Asia and Siberia, and the Afro-Asian monsoonal system. As such, there is a strong need for additional new, high quality, well dated, and high-resolution multi-proxy records from more sites in Turkey. Deciphering the complexities of environmental change in central-interior and eastern regions of Turkey is particularly problematic, due to the paucity of published records. Additional observations of climate variability at the decadal-to-centennial scale are essential to better understand the ascendant controls on climate variation, the in uence of rapid climate changes (RCCs) recognized in the marine record, and the causal mechanisms involved. Because the IPCC models forecast desiccation for Turkey and other drought-prone regions, it is particularly important to understand the natural baseline of hydroclimate variation across the broader Middle East and Mediterranean region. Additional study of past conditions has tremendous potential to inform the policy and practices of the future.

Os objetivos deste trabalho foram em sete municípios do Oeste Baiano: i) realizar o levantamento das espécies vegetais em parcelas estabelecidas; ii) delimitar os ambientes savânicos de interflúvios, hidromórficos e de transição Cerrado/Caatinga; iii) agrupar as espécies pelos ambientes delimitados; e iv) verificar se as espécies registradas estão na lista vermelha de espécies em extinção. Parcelas e subparcelas foram estabelecidas de 10 em 10 km2 para identificação das: i) espécies vegetais arbóreas (> 5 cm de diâmetro a 30 cm do solo), na parcela 50 x 50 m; ii) espécies arbustivas em uma área quadrada de 25 m2; e iii) gramíneas, ervas e trepadeiras, em uma área quadrada de 1 m2. A delimitação espacial dos ambientes de interflúvio, hidromórfico e de transição Cerrado/Caatinga foram realizadas através de interpretação das imagens de satélite Alos e Landsat. Análise de Correspondência canônica foi utilizada para agrupar as espécies aos ambientes. 658 espécies vegetais foram amostr...

ue to time and distance problems of the authors, a road log for this field trip is being issued separately. For similar reasons and because exposures of glacial deposits in this area are so ephemeral, specific field trip stops are not identified in this article. Detailed descriptions and interpretations are included, however, for the most likely stops. We intend to visit at least one glacial lake spillway, an exposure of collapsed lake sediments overlain by noncollapsed stream-terrace deposits, and exposures of deltaic deposits that pertain to the problems of lake damming, lacustrine and bog sedimentation, and postglacial uplift. Other appropriate stops can be made as time permits. * U. S. Geological Survey,

The prevailing view suggests that the Eemian interglacial on the European Plain was characterized by largely negligible geomorphic activity beyond the coastal areas. However, systematic geomorphological studies are sparse. Here we present a detailed reconstruction of Eemian to Early Weichselian landscape evolution in the vicinity of a small fingerlake on the northern margin of the Salzwedel Palaeolake in Lower Saxony (Germany). We apply a combination of seismics, sediment coring, pollen analysis and luminescence dating on a complex sequence of colluvial, paludal and lacustrine sediments. Results suggest two pronounced phases of geomorphic activity, directly before the onset and at the end of the Eemian period, with an intermediate period of pronounced landscape stability. The dynamic phases were largely driven by incomplete vegetation cover, but likely accentuated by fluvial incision in the neighbouring Elbe Valley. Furthermore, we discovered Neanderthal occupation at the lakeshore during Eemian pollen zone (PZ) E IV, which is chronologically in line with other known Eemian sites of central Europe. Our highly-resolved spatio-temporal data substantially contribute to the understanding of climate-induced geomorphic processes throughout and directly after the last interglacial period. It helps unraveling the landscape dynamics between the coastal areas to the north and the loess belt to the south.

Late Pleistocene glaciations in Beringia included rapid expansion of valley glaciers directly after the last interglacial interval (marine isotope stage (MIS) 5e). Glaciation during MIS 4 is referred to as the Early Wisconsin in North America and the Zyryan in northeastern Russia. With the exception of the Alaska Range and Chugach/St. Elias Mountains, the MIS 4 glacial ice caps and mountain glacier complexes throughout much of Beringia were considerably more extensive than during the subsequent Late Wisconsin/Sartan glaciation in MIS 2.

Successively smaller glacial extents have been proposed for continental Eurasia during the stadials of the last glacial period leading up to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). At the same time the large mountainous region east of Lake Baikal, Transbaikalia, has remained unexplored in terms of glacial chronology despite clear geomorphological evidence of substantial past glaciations. We have applied cosmogenic 10Be exposure dating and optically stimulated luminescence to establish the first quantitative glacial chronology for this region. Based on eighteen exposure ages from five moraine complexes, we propose that large mountain ice fields existed in the Kodar and Udokan mountains during Oxygen Isotope Stage 2, commensurate with the global LGM. These ice fields fed valley glaciers (>100 km in length) reaching down to the Chara Depression between the Kodar and Udokan mountains and to the valley of the Vitim River northwest of the Kodar Mountains. Two of the investigated moraines date to the Late Glacial, but indications of incomplete exposure among some of the sampled boulders obscure the specific details of the post-LGM glacial history. In addition to the LGM ice fields in the highest mountains of Transbaikalia, we report geomorphological evidence of a much more extensive, ice-cap type glaciation at a time that is yet to be firmly resolved.

Records of past climate variability and associated vegetation response exist in various regions throughout Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). To date, there has been no coherent synthesis of the existing palaeorecords. During an INTIMATE meeting (Cluj Napoca, Romania) focused on identifying CEE paleo-records, it was decided to address this gap by presenting the palaeo-community with a compilation of high-

Este trabalho teve como objetivo o estudo da vegetação no Domínio das Araucárias no Município de Erechim (Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil). Os métodos adotados desenvolveram-se a partir de duas fases: a primeira referiu-se a uma análise bibliográfica/cartográfica, e a segunda através de inspeções em campo e análises relativas aos aspectos fitogeográficos. Em Erechim, as condições da vegetação potencial são difíceis de definir, não só pela alta taxa de transformações, mas também pela elevada complexidade do ponto de vista abiótico. O componente vegetacional atual da área em estudo manifesta, ao nível da composição florística, fisionomia e estrutura das comunidades dominantes, uma forte perturbação, resultante dos reflexos das atividades antrópicas ou da influência de perturbações de caráter periódico. Por meio do presente estudo verificou-se que o Domínio das Araucárias na área de Erechim se encontra altamente ameaçado pelo crescimento das atividades agrosilviopastoris, que historicamente ocupam a região com pecuária extensiva e substituem as paisagens naturais por grandes áreas de cultivo de trigo e soja. A substituição das paisagens naturais por pastagens artificiais parece ser o maior entrave para uma política de ordenamento territorial ecologicamente sustentável para o Domínio das Araucárias em Erechim.

Surface artifacts dominate the archaeological record of arid landscapes, particularly the Saharo‐Arabian belt, a pivotal region in dispersals out of Africa. Discarded by hominins, these artifacts are key to understanding past landscape use and dispersals, yet behavioral interpretation of present‐day artifact distributions cannot be carried out without understanding how geomorphological processes have controlled, and continue to control, artifact preservation, exposure and visibility at multiple scales. We employ a geoarchaeological approach to unraveling the formation of a surface assemblage of 2,970 Palaeolithic and later lithic artifacts at Wadi Dabsa, Saudi Arabia, the richest locality recorded to date in the southwestern Red Sea coastal region. Wadi Dabsa basin, within the volcanic Harrat Al Birk, contains extensive tufa deposits formed during wetter conditions. We employ regional landscape mapping and automatic classification of surface conditions using satellite imagery, field...

Si bottom! SI Figure 3: Geographic distribution of the samples complying with the 1-mile distance to the coast (shaded area). SI Figure 4: Relationship between total marine diatom abundance ln (# valves /g) and a 47yr mean annual geostrophic Ekman transport determined upwelling index, for the total dataset. Color scheme as in Figure 1.

The Lancaster Cave and Mine Research Society was responsible for archaeological investigations at a number of cave sites across Cumbria and North-West Lancashire. It also undertook industrial archaeological investigative work on both surface and underground sites focussing on the area around Warton Crag. During the thirteen years of the society's existence it recorded this work in a number of society publications as well as more widely in the regional and national caving science press. On the cessation of the society activities much material was dispersed and lost but the work they undertook and published is still pivotal to our understanding of the archaeology, speleology and mining history of the region.

The Iberian Margin is a sensitive area to track high and low latitude processes, and is a key location to understand major past climatic and oceanographic changes. Here we present new biomarker data from IODP Site U1385 ("Shackleton site") (1017e336 ka) that, when combined with existing data from Cores MD01-2443/4 (last 335 ka), allows us to assess the evolution of sea surface temperature (SST) and meltwater influx over the last 1 Ma at the Iberian Margin. Interglacial periods throughout the last 1 Ma show SST close to 20 C, even during the so-called "luke-warm" interglacials that are marked by relatively low atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. During glacial periods, extremely cold stadial events are recognized at the Iberian Margin, and are very likely related to meltwater discharges from the European and British-Irish ice sheets into the NE Atlantic, which were transported southwards by the Portugal Current. We subdivided the record into four intervals on the basis of the timing and the magnitude of these extremely cold stadials: 1) from 1017 to ~900 ka, only minor sporadic freshwater input occurred during deglaciations; 2) from 900 to 675 ka extreme cold events occur as terminal stadial events at the beginning of the deglaciations, which results in abrupt deglacial SST shifts; 3) from 675 to 450 ka only a few, very short-lived events are recorded and seldom is there freshwater input at the Iberian Margin; 4) during the last 450 ka the extreme cold events occurred under full glacial conditions, with particularly severe events during MIS 6 and 8. We propose these mid eglacial events are associated with a strong discharges of European ice sheet (EIS). The fact that these extreme cold events do not coincide with deglaciations questions the role of European ice sheet discharges in triggering deglaciations.

Upper Pleistocene (MIS 4-2) loess sequences occur in most of continental Europe and in Northern Italy along the Po Plain Loess Basin. Loess is distributed along the flanks of the Po Plain and was deposited on glacial deposits, fluvial terraces, uplifted isolated hills, karst plateaus, slopes and basins of secondary valleys. Loess bodies are generally tiny and affected by pedogenesis, being locally slightly reworked by slope processes and bioturbation. Notwithstanding, loess in the Po Plain is an important archive of paleoenviron-mental record and its mapping provides new insights in paleoenvironmental and palaeoseismic reconstructions of Northern Italy

In-stream mining is a common aggregate mining practice around the world. However, the impacts of such practice are not always taken into account when the mines are established, and the environmental cost of in-stream aggregate mining is generally not assessed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impacts of aggregate mining conducted in La Puerta River (Tafí valley, Northwest Argentina), a dry-pit instream mine, by considering the geomorphological, geoarchaeological, and human effects. Multitemporal analysis of the area using remote sensors (aerial photographs and satellite images 1970-2020), high-resolution drone digital elevation models and orthomosaics (2018)(2019), and an intensive survey demonstrated that the mining area grew exponentially between 2002 and 2020 under unregulated mining. As a result, this practice exerts great environmental impact, including channel section alterations and destabilization of riverbanks, soil loss, river profile changes, and the formation of lag deposits of discarded materials, thus increasing environmental hazard under unpredictable flows. Finally, this is a highly touristic area that has suffered substantial landscape degradation and irreversible archaeological damage.

Quaternary site at Drmno (comprised of Middle and Late Pleistocene loess-palaeosol sequences) near Kostolac, northeast Serbia, has attracted the attention of general public and scientific society when several steppe mammoth and other mammal skeletons from Middle Pleistocene fluvial deposits were discovered in 2009 and 2012. This paper presents the combination of malacological and enviromagnetic analyses, preliminary luminescence dating, litho-pedostratigraphic and palaeo-relief investigations that were applied to the Nosak loess-palaeosol sequence for the findings from 2012. The results hereby presented should confirm and emphasise the antiquity of the sediments preserved in the Nosak section and demonstrate the significance of the detailed and relatively complete palaeoenvironmental record they contain. These discoveries can significantly contribute to setting the background for better understanding of the evolution of mammoths on the European continent.

Geoarchaeological studies of landscapes immediately adjacent to archaeological sites can contribute information on the direct impact of small-scale societies on their associated landscapes. This direct connection allows us to understand aspects of the motivations, economic decision-making and agricultural strategies and how they affected local site catchments. The origin and spreading of farming communities onto the Loess Plateau of northern China provides a good example of this. We recorded sediment profiles that were immediately adjacent to the site of Huizui in the Yiluo River Basin. Here we identified evidence for human land-use beginning with the early Mid-Holocene deposits which are consistent with stable hillslope soils, indicating that the first mixed forager-millet farmers of the Peiligang Neolithic had a very light ecological footprint on the landscape. This is in contrast to the later middle Neolithic Yangshao Period farmers. Sediments from the Yangshao Period revealed paleolandscape and phytolith evidence for the earliest Neolithic paddy farming well outside of the natural habitat of wild rice. In addition to evidence for massive deforestation and soil erosion, a 15 m deep sediment sequence containing sets of gravels (beginning ca. 7200 cal BP) and gleyed soils dating from ca. 6600 cal BP, contained rice phytoliths, archaeological waste suggesting manuring, and micromorphological data indicating trampling. These signs of intensive landscape management go hand-in-hand with rapidly increasing social complexity.

RESUMEN La ensenada de San Simón, forma la parte más interna de la ría de Vigo. Su sector intermareal está constituido por dos medios sedimentarios bien diferenciados: un estuario y una llanura intermareal. El paso de uno a otro es de forma gradual e irregular. ...

espanolLa cicloestratigrafia es el estudio de los procesos periodicos que quedan registrados en las sucesiones estratigraficas. En los ultimos 20 anos, ha experimentado un espectacular desarrollo asociado al reconocimiento, caracterizacion e interpretacion de ciclos climaticos inducidos por variaciones en los elementos de la orbita terrestre (oblicuidad, precesion, excentricidad) que tienen periodos en el rango de 104 a 105 anos. Las principales metas de esta disciplina son tres: 1) construir la “escala de tiempo astronomico” (“astronomical time scale”), la cual esta permitiendo calibrar la escala de los tiempos geologicos con una resolucion sin precedentes, y situar de forma precisa los eventos de la historia de la Tierra; 2) mejorar la comprension de los cambios climaticos que se producen a las escalas de tiempo mencionadas, de sus causas y sus consecuencias, y en particular del comportamiento del sistema climatico frente a los sutiles cambios en los patrones estacionales de la in...

atlántica. Tiene forma semicircular con dimensiones de unos 55 km de N a S y de unos 40 de E a W; el rango mareal oscila entre 3,2 y 10,5 m. Existen dos áreas de sedimentación características muy diferentes: la Península del Parámo, formada por playas de gravas y la bahía, propiamente dicha, cuya zona intermareal tiene una anchura de 7 a 10 km durante la marea baja equinoccial, en la que se pueden diferenciar las siguientes áreas de sedimentación: llanuras mareales fangosas; llanura de cheniers con llanura fangosa; playa de arenagrava y llanura mareal mixta; costa acantilada sin sedimentación apreciable y complejo playa-lagoon. El viento del W, que supera los 60 km más de 200 días al año es otro factor dominante en los procesos de sedimentación del área, sobre todo en su parte más alta.

Ancient human-made earthworks such as mounds, middens, levees, raised or terraced fields, enclosures and forts are omnipresent in many areas across the globe. They may offer rich and important information on past societies. However, harvesting such data is significantly hampered by the general lack of robust earthwork chronologies. Dating earthworks is notoriously difficult due to a variety of factors, including a scarcity of closely datable archaeological finds, the frequent absence of suitable and relevant material for radiocarbon dating, and lacking or ambiguous historical sources. Luminescence dating may provide a solution for these problems because it enables direct dating of sediment, a ubiquitous and relevant material in earthwork construction. In this paper we focus on ringforts: circular or semi-circular defensive structures surrounded by earthen banks and ditches, which originated in the first millennium CE and appear to reflect major transformations in early historical societies. We present the results of a detailed luminescence study of a ringfort underlying the modern town centre of Den Burg, on the Wadden Isle of Texel in the Netherlands. We dated samples from different sedimentary contexts (bank and ditch infills) using both quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and feldspar single-grain post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (pIRIR). We analyze the results in the context of age interpretations based on other proxy data (radiocarbon dates, archaeological finds, historical evidence). This yields a new, robust dating chronology that changes the biography of the ringfort. The initial construction dates between 730 and 840 CE, making Den Burg the oldest known ringfort in the Low Countries. We reflect on the best practices for luminescence dating of earthworks and on archaeological implications for other ringforts in the Netherlands and beyond.

Recent investigations of the Semlac loess section in the south-eastern Carpathian Basin, which is situated at an undercut slope position on the right bank of the Mures ¸River in its lower reaches (Banat region, western Romanian), are presented and discussed. Dating back to marine isotope stage (MIS) 10, the more than 10 m thick loess sequence includes four fossil soil-complexes developed in homogenous and relatively fine silty loess. Because of the good preservation of the sediment, Semlac is regarded as a key section for the Carpathian Basin, which offers possibilities to a) improve the understanding of the type and composition (loess homogeneity and pedogenic alteration) of the lowland loess sequences in the Carpathian Basin also beyond the last interglacial palaoesol complex, b) to reconstruct the temporal evolution of the local loess-palaoesol successions, c) gain better insight into the regional paleoenvironments of the last 300 ka and d) to compare the loess of the region to loess-sequences in adjacent areas and to dust proxy data in the northern hemisphere. An integrated age model based on correlation to reference records and luminescence dating is compiled. Applying this age model we compare climate proxy data from Semlac to both global data and to data from the very southeast of the Carpathian Basin (Vojvodina, Serbia). The obtained results provide new insight into the dust accumulation regime for the eastern Carpathian Basin and offer new palaeoenvironmental information for the region and are an important step towards establishing a catena from the thin loess-like sediments of the Banat foothills in the East towards the thicker and seemingly more complete loess sections of the south-eastern and central Carpathian Basin. Disentangling grain size data from soil formation proxies is used to investigate patterns of non-local dust. Patterns of non-pedogenetic fine material are similar to grain size proxies from China and other parts of the northern hemisphere, suggesting western and eastern Eurasian loess to have (at least partly) similar mechanistic/climatic origins.

Recent investigations of the Semlac loess section in the south-eastern Carpathian Basin, which is situated at an undercut slope position on the right bank of the Mures ¸River in its lower reaches (Banat region, western Romanian), are presented and discussed. Dating back to marine isotope stage (MIS) 10, the more than 10 m thick loess sequence includes four fossil soil-complexes developed in homogenous and relatively fine silty loess. Because of the good preservation of the sediment, Semlac is regarded as a key section for the Carpathian Basin, which offers possibilities to a) improve the understanding of the type and composition (loess homogeneity and pedogenic alteration) of the lowland loess sequences in the Carpathian Basin also beyond the last interglacial palaoesol complex, b) to reconstruct the temporal evolution of the local loess-palaoesol successions, c) gain better insight into the regional paleoenvironments of the last 300 ka and d) to compare the loess of the region to loess-sequences in adjacent areas and to dust proxy data in the northern hemisphere. An integrated age model based on correlation to reference records and luminescence dating is compiled. Applying this age model we compare climate proxy data from Semlac to both global data and to data from the very southeast of the Carpathian Basin (Vojvodina, Serbia). The obtained results provide new insight into the dust accumulation regime for the eastern Carpathian Basin and offer new palaeoenvironmental information for the region and are an important step towards establishing a catena from the thin loess-like sediments of the Banat foothills in the East towards the thicker and seemingly more complete loess sections of the south-eastern and central Carpathian Basin. Disentangling grain size data from soil formation proxies is used to investigate patterns of non-local dust. Patterns of non-pedogenetic fine material are similar to grain size proxies from China and other parts of the northern hemisphere, suggesting western and eastern Eurasian loess to have (at least partly) similar mechanistic/climatic origins.

The prevailing view suggests that the Eemian interglacial on the European Plain was characterized by largely negligible geomorphic activity beyond the coastal areas. However, systematic geomorphological studies are sparse. Here we present a detailed reconstruction of Eemian to Early Weichselian landscape evolution in the vicinity of a small fingerlake on the northern margin of the Salzwedel Palaeolake in Lower Saxony (Germany). We apply a combination of seismics, sediment coring, pollen analysis and luminescence dating on a complex sequence of colluvial, paludal and lacustrine sediments. Results suggest two pronounced phases of geomorphic activity, directly before the onset and at the end of the Eemian period, with an intermediate period of pronounced landscape stability. The dynamic phases were largely driven by incomplete vegetation cover, but likely accentuated by fluvial incision in the neighbouring Elbe Valley. Furthermore, we discovered Neanderthal occupation at the lakeshore during Eemian pollen zone (PZ) E IV, which is chronologically in line with other known Eemian sites of central Europe. Our highly-resolved spatio-temporal data substantially contribute to the understanding of climate-induced geomorphic processes throughout and directly after the last interglacial period. It helps unraveling the landscape dynamics between the coastal areas to the north and the loess belt to the south.

High-resolution 2D seismic reflection profiles were examined to explore the stratigraphic architecture of the late Quaternary sediments deposited in the Beibu Gulf (SW off the Hainan Island, South China Sea). Two discontinuities identified in previous research by seismic reflectors R1 (top) and R2 (bottom) allowed to infer the presence of a paleodelta offshore Hainan Island. A detailed analysis of all discontinuities determined the extension of delta body, its thickness and spatial pattern of deltaic clinoforms. Analysis of data obtained by interpretation of seismic records allowed also to depict the relief of lower and upper delta surfaces identified by major erosional discontinuities. The seismic cross-sections provided tools with which to discern all the erosional incisions representing paleo-distributary channels of the delta on both surfaces. In addition, the delta geometry and clinoform dip angles were determined. Analyses have provided information on the direction of sediment transport and sources of deltaic sedimentary material. Distribution of vectors indicating the direction of delta progradation revealed the sediment transport from Hainan Island to be generally southwards to Yinggehai Basin and further towards the shelf edge, thus supporting the hypothesis of Hainan Island as the main source of sediment supply. The vector distribution is unclear in the westernmost part of delta body only, mainly because of an insufficient coverage of this part of the Gulf with seismic tracks and disturbances related to other sediment sources reaching Beibu Gulf in the north, which significantly contributed to the sediment supply.

Quaternary events, processes and landforms are important factors in accoun ng for the variety of landscapes in Cumbria. This paper considers these factors. First, it reflects on how the landscape may have looked immediately prior to the mul ple cold-warm oscilla ons that characterised the period. Second, it draws together informa on pertaining to these oscilla ons of temperature and outlines what is and is not known about the impact that glaciers have had on the landscape. Third, landscape changes since the last glaciers decayed are described, with some being of major landshaping and landform-genera ng significance while others are considerably smaller in scale and can o en go unno ced. Together, the Quaternary landforms of Cumbria give the county its broad scenic diversity but they are not sta c and con nue to evolve in associa on with the vagaries of contemporary climate. Their importance to human welfare is palpable.

Biotic homogenization—increasing similarity of species composition among ecological communities—has been linked to anthropogenic processes operating over the last century. Fossil evidence, however, suggests that humans have had impacts on ecosystems for millennia. We quantify biotic homogenization of North American mammalian assemblages during the late Pleistocene through Holocene (~30,000 ybp to recent), a timespan encompassing increased evidence of humans on the landscape (~20,000–14,000 ybp). From ~10,000 ybp to recent, assemblages became significantly more homogenous (>100% increase in Jaccard similarity), a pattern that cannot be explained by changes in fossil record sampling. Homogenization was most pronounced among mammals larger than 1 kg and occurred in two phases. The first followed the megafaunal extinction at ~10,000 ybp. The second, more rapid phase began during human population growth and early agricultural intensification (~2,000–1,000 ybp). We show that North Amer...

Interest in the evolution of Pleistocene glaciers, environmental change and human occupation in southern Europe is now growing thanks to the availability of fresh dating in different mountains. The demise of Neanderthals in the north of the Iberian Peninsula and the expansion of anatomically modern humans took place between 40 and 30 ka (MIS3) under cold and wet climatic conditions. Hypotheses differ regarding the migration and demise of Neanderthals, relating to environmental, human or cultural factors. The aim of this study is to establish glacial evolution in the eastern Cantabrian Mountains related to environmental changes and climatic evolution during the MIS3 and MIS2 and human occupation including the Neanderthals' demise. The study is based on glaciomorphology by glacial reconstructions, morphostratrigraphic sequences, equilibrium line altitude estimation, numerical dating ( 14 C, AMS, and OSL), palaeoclimate sequences and human occupation. Three glacial stages during MIS3 and MIS2 have been established. S-I took place during MIS3 in a cold and wet environment associated with snowfall coming from cold, humid masses from the N, NW and SW and available dates place S-I at 42e31 ka. S-II was characterised by shorter and thicker glaciers, which point to a cold, dry and more stable climate, and this is coetaneous with the European Last Glacial Maximum. S-III was a brief period, still poorly dated but attributed to the Late Glacial, characterised by small glaciers housed at altitude and absent from lower mountains. A lack of harmony has been detected between environmental cooling and population and this may have been a response to environmental changes in N and NW Europe. Neanderthals disappeared from the Cantabrian region at the time of the S-I glacial advance during a cold and wet period at the end of the MIS3. If they had adapted to environmental changes, including abrupt cold events (H6, H5) with important environmental consequences, factors other than environmental ones may have been the cause. The weight of the cultural hypothesis seems more likely in view of the environmental changes, glacial evolution and the continuity of oceanic climates.

El sitio arqueológico El Pichao está ubicado sobre uno de los grandes conos aluviales del piedemonte de la Sierra de Quilmes. Además de restos de etapas antiguas de conos pleistocenos, la mayor extensión del cono está formada por las unidades 4 y 3, que abarcan el Pleistoceno terminal-Holoceno. La dinámica reciente está representada por barras de época subactual, parcialmente funcionales en grandes crecidas (barras de orden 3º), y por canales y barras de orden 2º y 1º, las más activas. El sitio Arqueológico, situado sobre la unidad 3, se ve afectado por la incisión y erosión lateral de uno de los cauces del río Pichao, así como por coladas de barro y flujos de detritos que pueden alcanzar hasta la unidad 3. Además de la dinámica fluvial, el sitio también presenta una acción  importante de la erosión superficial por escorrentía, esencialmente arroyada de manto y surcos, y acción eólica, generándose verdaderos pavimentos de cantos. Pero la acción erosiva es aún mayor en las terrazas agrícolas y zonas de ocupación en las laderas debido a procesos de derrumbe de muros unido a erosión por arroyada difusa y en manto y actividad del creep (reptación), especialmente el biológico (paso de ganado, personas, galerías de roedores). La progresiva degradación requiere adoptar medidas que frenen estos procesos y permitan una buena conservación de este conjunto del patrimonio prehispánico.

The El Pichao archaeological site is located over one of the largest alluvial cone of the piedmont of Quilmes Ranges. Beside of older stages of Pleistocene cones, most of the extension of the cone is formed by units 4 and 3. They belong to Late Pleistocene and Holocene periods. Recent dynamics is represented by recent river bars, partially functional on largest floods (3rd order bars), and channels and bars of 2nd and 1st orders,
the ones with higher activity. The archaeological site, located over the unit 3, is affected by incision and lateral erosion of one of the channels of Pichao River, as well as mudflows and debris flows that could reach
unit 3 level. Besides of the fluvial dynamics, the site also shows high runoff erosion, especially sheet flood and rills, and aeolian processes, giving place to the developent of stone pavements. The erosive action is
even worst at the agricultural terraces area by rill wash, sheet flood and creep, espacially biological (by human and cattle circulation and rodent caves). The progressive degradation requires the implementation of
measures to mitigate this processes to allow a good conservation of this archaeological site.

In the locality of Oblazowa Cave (Polish Carpathians), in addition to the remains of ancient man, mammals, birds, and mollusks, the remains of cold-blooded terrestrial vertebrates have been found. The absolute age of the remains is approximately 33000 years. This corresponds to the absolute dating of layer VIII of the cave accumulations. We have identified the following species of amphibians and reptiles:

I do not support modern ideas regarding the sheltering of northern species of amphibians and reptiles in southern refugia during glacial periods. The current article presents arguments that reject the traditional point of view. The northern species did not fall within southern refugia, and therefore new forms (haplotypes) appeared within the periglacial hyperzone. I describe how these processes may have taken place.

The African continent is characterised by a wide range of hydroclimate regimes, ranging from humid equatorial West Africa to the arid deserts in the northern and southern subtropics. The livelihoods of much of its population are also vulnerable to future climate change, mainly through variability in rainfall affecting water resource availability. A growing number of data sources indicate that such hydroclimatic variability is an intrinsic component of Africa's natural environment. This paper, co-authored by members of the PAGES Africa 2k Working Group, presents an extensive assessment and discussion of proxy, historical and instrumental evidence for hydroclimatic variability across the African continent, spanning the last two millennia. While the African palaeoenvironmental record is characterised by spatially disjunctive datasets, with often less-than-optimal temporal resolution and chronological control, the available evidence allows the assessment of prominent spatial patterns of palaeomoisture variability through time. In this study, we focus sequentially on data for six major time windows: the first millennium AD, the Medieval Climate Anomaly (900-1250 CE), the Little Ice Age (1250-1750 CE), the end of the LIA (1750-1850 CE), the Early Modern Period , and the period of recent warming (1950 onwards). This results in a continentwide synthesis of regional moisture-balance trends through history, allowing consideration of possible driving mechanisms, and suggestions for future research.

This outline summarizes a presentation I made on August 28, 2013 at the 8th International Conference on Geomorphology organized by the International Geomorphological Association at the Cite des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris, France. The presentation was titled “The utility of portable optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) readers in providing temporal contexts in clastic depositional systems: opportunities in geomorphology” Luminescence readers are devices that are used to detect low levels of light emitted by geological samples when stimulated by heat or another light source. The light from the samples comes from energy that accumulates in mineral grains such as quartz or feldspar as a result of low level radioactivity that occurs naturally in earth materials. This energy accumulates over time as long at the samples are shielded from light. Therefore luminescence signals can be used to measure burial age of the samples. Over the last 5-6 years, portable versions of the regu...

The early Mesolithic site at Ullafelsen is at the centre of a landscape-archaeological project on the Mesolithic in Tyrol (Austria). In this project, for the first time in a subalpine open air site in Austria, mesolithic living floors were identified and explored in great detail. The analysis of the natural sedimentation and soil-scientific processes confirmed that Mesolithic people had manipulated the surface of the living floor, for instance to produce organic tar from birch bark through controlled, oxygen- reduced burning processes. Our C14 dating indicates that the use of subalpine sites in the Austrian Alps started as early as the early Preboreal. Analyses of the introduced cherts revealed that they originated from sometimes quite distant geological sources in Bavaria and in northern Italy. This is proof of people crossing the Alps even in the early Holocene and makes contacts between the southern alpine Sauveterrian and the southern German Beuronian technocomplexes highly likely.