Detailed records of δ18O, δ13C, percentage and mass accumulation rate of CaCO3, and eolian percentage, mass accumulation rate, and grainsize generated for core RC11-210 from the equatorial Pacific reveal the timing of paleoclimatic events over the past 950,000 yr. The CaCO3 percentage record shows the standard Pacific correlation of high CaCO3 content with glacial periods, but displays a marked change of character about 490,000 yr ago with older stages showing much less variability. The carbonate mass flux record, however, does not show such a noticeable change. Sedimentation rates vary from about 0.5 to 3.0 cm/1000 yr and, during the past 490,000 yr, sections with enhanced sedimentation rates correspond to periods of high CaCO3 percentage. Eolian mass accumulation rates, an indication of the aridity of the source region, are usually higher during glacial times. Eolian grainsize, an indication of the intensity of atmospheric circulation, generally fluctuates at a higher frequency than the 100,000-yr glacial cycle. The mid-Brunhes climatic event centered at 300,000 yr ago appears as a 50,000-yr interval of low intensity and reduced variability of atmospheric circulation. Furthermore, the nature of this entire record changes then, with the younger portion indicating less variation in wind intensity than the older part of the record. The late Matuyama increase in amplitude of paleoclimatic signals begins 875,000 yr ago in the eolian record, 25,000 yr before the δ18O and CaCO3 percentage amplitude increases about 850,000 yr ago.

The rhyolitic Lake Tapps tephra was deposited about 1.0 myr ago, shortly after culmination of the early phase of the Salmon Springs Glaciation in the Puget Lowland. It is contained within sediments that were deposited in ponds or lakes in front of the reteating glacier. An herb-dominated tundra existed in the southern Puget Lowland at that time. Lake Tapps tephra is most likely the product of an eruption that in part was phreatomagmatic. It forms an early Pleistocene stratigraphic marker across the southern sector of the Puget Lowland and provides a link between Puget lobe sediments of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet and sediments deposited by Olympic alpine glaciers.

Thermoluminescence (TL) ages were obtained for five loess samples taken from the Zhaitang section near Beijing, China, using the coarse-grain quartz technique. The paleodose values have been determined by the method of total sample bleaching and regeneration of the TL growth curve. The method appears to be suitable for the age determination of loess samples up to about 150,000 yr where the annual dose-rate values are of the order 3–4 mGy/yr. This limit is a function of the total accumulated dose. The ages are in good agreement with those obtained by a fine-grain TL technique and are consistent with geological and geomagnetostratigraphic evidence.

Three to seven oriented paleomagnetic samples were collected from 16 sites in the Nelson Bay and Bridgewater formations at Portland, Victoria, which contains the recently discovered Nelson Bay local fauna (L.F.). The entire section has reversed polarity. These results, along with Globorotalia truncatulinoides within the section, and the presence of underlying middle Pliocene-dated basalts, indicate that the Portland section, and the included Nelson Bay L.F., was deposited within the late Matuyama Chron between 1.66 and 0.73 myr ago. This represents the first well-documented pre-14C Pleistocene mammalian fauna in Australia calibrated in direct stratigraphic context with absolute dating methods. In addition, the reversed polarity for the Bridgewater Formation confirms the previous hypothesis that the depositional history of this beach-sand deposit is time-transgressive across the Brunhes-Matuyama boundary.

The chronostratigraphy of mostly Holocene sediments in the Northern Negev desert of Israel was studied through amino acid epimerization analysis (alloisoleucine/isoleucine ratio, A/I) of individual land snail shells and 14C analysis of bulk samples of land snail shells contained within the sediments. Analysis of 31 deposits shows a very strong correlation between A/I and 14C age. A/I analyses indicate that age mixtures occur within all colluvial and in some fluvial deposits. Consequently, radiocarbon dates of bulk samples, which give an average age, overestimate the time of deposition. Sedimentation rates were generally rapid in both fluvial and colluvial deposits. Colluviation shows a maximum in the early Holocene and decreases progressively thereafter, in accordance with the change in average rainfall. Accumulation of fluvial sediments shows a distinct mid-Holocene maximum and apparently relates to the interaction between variation in rainfall, extent of bedrock exposure, and vegetation density. Late Holocene fluvial deposition may relate to agricultural activity. The understanding of the chronology of sedimentation is dependent on an integrated approach employing amino acid epimerization analysis to study age variation within a layer and 14C analyses for establishment of an absolute chronology.

Surface soil samples from the forested Chuska Mountains to the arid steppe of the Chinle Valley, Northeastern Arizona, show close correlation between modern pollen rain and vegetation. In contrast, modern alluvium is dominated by Pinus pollen throughout the canyon; it reflects neither the surrounding floodplain nor plateau vegetation. Pollen in surface soils is deposited by wind; pollen grains in alluvium are deposited by a stream as sedimentary particles. Clay-size particles correlate significantly with Pinus, Quercus, and Populus pollen. These pollen types settle, as clay does, in slack water. Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthus, Artemisia, other Tubuliflorae, and indeterminate pollen types correlate with sand-size particles, and are deposited by more turbulent water. Fluctuating pollen frequencies in alluvial deposits are related to sedimentology and do not reflect the local or regional vegetation where the sediments were deposited. Alluvial pollen is unreliable for reconstruction of paleoenvironments.

A 15-m sedimentary core from Lake Salpeten provides the first complete Holocene sequence for the lowlying Peten District, Guatemala. Today, Lake Salpeten is a brackish, calcium sulfate lake near saturation surrounded by tropical semievergreen forest. The basal pollen record depicts sparse juniper scrub surrounding a lake basin that held ephermal pools and halophytic marshes. The lake rapidly deepened to > 27 m in the early Holocene and may have been meromictic, because nearly 2 m of gypsum “mush” was deposited. Mesic forests were quickly established and persisted until the Maya entered the district 3000 yr ago and caused extensive deforestation. Any climatic information contained in the pollen record of the Maya period is thus masked, but a regional pollen sequence linked to the archaeological record is substantiated because environmental disturbance was pervasive. Local intensification of occupation and population growth are seen as an increased deposition of pollen of agricultural weeds and colluviation into the lake, while the Classic Maya collapse is marked by a temporary decline in Compositae pollen. Effects of perturbations induced by the Maya persist in the pollen and limnetic record 400 yr after the Spanish conquest.

A humerus, coracoid, and pedal phalanx of the California Condor, Gymnogyps californianus, were recovered from the Hiscock Site in western New York, in an inorganic stratum containing wood that is 11,000 radiocarbon years old. Associated vertebrates include mastodont, wapiti, and caribou. Pollen and plant macrofossils from the sediments indicate a spruce-jack pine woodland and a local, herb-dominated wetland community. Historic records (all from western North America) and previous late Pleistocene fossils of the California Condor are associated mainly with warm-temperate climates and floras. The New York fossils show that this bird was able to live in a colder climate and in a boreal, coniferous setting at a time when appropriate food (large mammal carrion) was available. The California Condor, which survives only in captivity, has suffered a greater reduction in geographical range than previously suspected. Much of this reduction in range probably occurred ca. 11,000 yr B.P. when the extinction many North American large mammals resulted in severely reduced availability of food for the California Condor and other large scavenging birds.