The history of the low-elevation forest and forest-steppe ecotone on the east side of the Andes is revealed in pollen and charcoal records obtained from mid-latitude lakes. Prior to 15,000 cal yr BP, the vegetation was characterized by steppe vegetation with isolated stands of Nothofagus. The climate was generally dry, and the sparse vegetation apparently lacked sufficient fuels to burn extensively. After 15,000 cal yr BP, a mixture of Nothofagus forest and shrubland/steppe developed. Fire activity increased between 13,250 and 11,400 cal yr BP, contemporaneous with a regionally defined cold dry period (Huelmo/Mascardi Cold Reversal). The early-Holocene period was characterized by an open Nothofagus forest/shrubland mosaic, and fire frequency was high in dry sites and low in wet sites; the data suggest a sharp decrease in moisture eastward from the Andes. A shift to a surface-fire regime occurred at 7500 cal yr BP at the wet site and at 4400 cal yr BP at the dry site, preceding the expansion of Austrocedrus by 1000–1500 yr. The spread of Austrocedrus is explained by a shift towards a cooler and wetter climate in the middle and late Holocene. The change to a surface-fire regime is consistent with increased interannual climate variability and the onset or strengthening of ENSO. The present-day mixed forest dominated by Nothofagus and Austrocedrus was established in the last few millennia.

The mid-to-late Pleistocene Devils Hole δ18O record has been extended from 60,000 to 4500 yr ago. The new δ18O time series, in conjunction with the one previously published, is shown to be a proxy of Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) off the coast of California. During marine oxygen isotope stages (MIS) 2 and 6, the Devil Hole and SST time series exhibit a steady warming that began 5000 to > 10,000 yr prior to the last and penultimate deglaciations. Several possible proximate causes for this early warming are evaluated. The magnitude of the peak δ18O or SST during the last interglacial (LIG) is significantly greater (1 per mill and 2 to 3°C, respectively) than the peak value of these parameters for the Holocene; in contrast, benthic δ18O records of ice volume show only a few tenths per mill difference in the peak value for these interglacials. Statistical analysis provides an estimate of the large shared information (variation) between the Devils Hole and Eastern Pacific SST time series from ∼ 41 to ∼ 2°N and enforces the concept of a common forcing among all of these records. The extended Devils Hole record adds to evidence of the importance of uplands bordering the eastern Pacific as a source of archives for reconstructing Pacific climate variability.

Lithostratigraphic and palynological analysis of two cores recovered from the ‘Grand Lac’ (New Caledonia), combined with 35 14C AMS dates, yields a paleoenvironmental record spanning the last 2000 yr. The lithology is represented mainly by clayey or laminated layers. A catastrophic event, which is marked by very coarse deposits, occurred probably between ca 1070–960 cal yr B.P. and possibly is associated with an unusually severe La Niña event. Before and after this event, a similar combination of the two main sediment types is recorded. The repeated alternation of laminated and clayey layers is interpreted as the response to local hydrologic forcing, which may reflect a shift from relatively wet to relatively drier conditions, respectively. Variable amount of micro-charcoal is detected all along the profile. Without additional evidence, notwithstanding the initial local human settlement documented since ca 2900 14C yr B.P., micro-charcoal occurrence and variability cannot be linked directly to an anthropogenic origin. No distinct palynological zonations in relation to the lithology are observed, and the vegetation changes may only represent minor transitions across environmental limits.

Speleological, stratigraphic, paleomagnetic and faunal data is presented for the Buffalo Cave fossil site in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Speleothems and clastic deposits were sampled for paleomagnetic and mineral magnetic analysis from the northern part of the site, where stratigraphic relationships could be more easily defined and a magnetostratigraphy could therefore be developed for the site. This is also where excavations recovered the fossil material described. A comparison of the east and South African first and last appearance data with the Buffalo Cave fauna was then used to constrain the magnetostratigraphy to produce a more secure age for the site. The magnetostratigraphy showed a change from normal to reversed polarity in the basal speleothems followed by a short normal polarity period in the base of the clastic deposits and a slow change to reversed directions for the remainder of the sequence. The biochronology suggested an optimal age range of between 1.0 Ma and 600,000 yr based on faunal correlation with eastern and southern Africa. A comparison of the magnetobiostratigraphy with the GPTS suggests that the sequence covers the time period from the Olduvai event between 1.95 and 1.78 Ma, through the Jaramillo event at 1.07 Ma to 990,000 yr, until the Bruhnes–Matuyama boundary at 780,000 yr. The faunal-bearing clastic deposits are thus dated between 1.07 Ma and 780,000 yr with the main faunal remains occurring in sediments dated to just after the end of the Jaramillo Event at 990,000 yr.

We present a fossil pollen analysis from a swamp forest in the semiarid coast of Chile (32°05′S; 71°30′W), at the northern influence zone of southern westerly wind belt. A ∼10,000 cal yr BP (calendar years before 1950) palynological sequence indicates a humid phase characterized by dense swamp forest taxa dated between ∼9900 and 8700 cal yr BP. The presence of pollen-starved sediments with only scant evidence for semiarid vegetation indicates that extreme aridity ensued until ∼5700 cal yr BP. The swamp forest recovered slowly afterwards, helped by a significant increase in moisture at ∼4200 cal yr BP. A new swamp forest contraction suggests that another slightly less intense drought occurred between ∼3000 and 2200 cal yr BP. The swamp forest expansion begins again at ∼2200 cal yr BP, punctuated by a highly variable climate. Comparisons between the record presented here with other records across the region imply major variations in the extent of the southern westerlies during the Holocene. This variability could have been caused either by latitudinal displacements from the present mean position of southern westerlies wind belt or by changes in the intensity of the South Pacific Subtropical Anticyclone, both of which affect winter precipitation in the region.

An accumulation terrace close to the El'gygytgyn Impact Crater in northeastern Siberia contains stratigraphic and periglacial evidence of the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic history and permafrost dynamics during late Quaternary time. A succession of paleo active-layer deposits that mirror environmental changes records periods favorable for the establishment and growth of ice-wedge polygonal networks and sediment variations. These two elements of the periglacial landscape serve as complementary paleoenvironmental archives that can be traced back to ∼ 14,000 cal yr BP. The slope sediments and the ground ice contained therein have prominent relative maxima and minima in properties (grain size, total organic content, oxygen isotopes). They document a regional early Holocene thermal maximum at about 9000 cal yr BP, followed by a transition to slightly cooler conditions, and a subsequent transition to slightly warmer conditions after about 4000 cal yr BP. Results from sedimentary analysis resemble morphological and geochemical (oxygen and hydrogen isotopes) results from ice wedge studies, in which successive generations of ice-wedge polygonal networks record warmer winters in late Holocene time. Moreover, peaks of light soluble cation contents and quartz-grain surface textures reveal distinct traces of cryogenic weathering. We propose a conclusive sedimentation model illustrating terrace formation in a permafrost terrain.

Deadwood tree stems scattered above treeline on tephra-covered slopes of Whitewing Mtn (3051 m) and San Joaquin Ridge (3122 m) show evidence of being killed in an eruption from adjacent Glass Creek Vent, Inyo Craters. Using tree-ring methods, we dated deadwood to AD 815–1350 and infer from death dates that the eruption occurred in late summer AD 1350. Based on wood anatomy, we identified deadwood species as Pinus albicaulis, P. monticola, P. lambertiana, P. contorta, P. jeffreyi, and Tsuga mertensiana. Only P. albicaulis grows at these elevations currently; P. lambertiana is not locally native. Using contemporary distributions of the species, we modeled paleoclimate during the time of sympatry to be significantly warmer (+3.2°C annual minimum temperature) and slightly drier (−24 mm annual precipitation) than present, resembling values projected for California in the next 70–100 yr.

Cores and exposed cliff sections in salt marshes around Ho Bugt, a tidal embayment in the northernmost part of the Danish Wadden Sea, were subjected to 14C dating and litho- and biostratigraphical analyses to reconstruct paleoenvironmental changes and to establish a late Holocene relative sea-level history. Four stages in the late Holocene development of Ho Bugt can be identified: (1) groundwater-table rise and growth of basal peat (from at least 2300 BC to AD 0); (2) salt-marsh formation (0 to AD 250); (3) a freshening phase (AD 250 to AD 1600?), culminating in the drying out of the marshes and producing a distinct black horizon followed by an aeolian phase with sand deposition; and (4) renewed salt-marsh deposition (AD 1600? to present). From 16 calibrated AMS radiocarbon ages on fossil plant fragments and 4 calibrated conventional radiocarbon ages on peat, we reconstructed a local relative sea-level history that shows a steady sea-level rise of 4 m since 4000 cal yr BP. Contrary to suggestions made in the literature, the relative sea-level record of Ho Bugt does not contain a late Holocene highstand. Relative sea-level changes at Ho Bugt are controlled by glacio-isostatic subsidence and can be duplicated by a glacial isostatic adjustment model in which no water is added to the world's oceans after ca. 5000 cal yr BP.

The radiocarbon ages of mollusc shells from the Bogenfels Pan on the hyper arid southern coast of Namibia provide constraints on the Holocene evolution of sea level and in particular, the mid-Holocene highstand. The Bogenfels Pan was flooded to depths of 3 m above mean sea level (amsl) to form a large subtidal lagoon from 7300 to 6500 calibrated radiocarbon years before present (cal yr BP). The mollusc assemblage of the wave sheltered lagoon includes Nassarius plicatellus, Lutraria lutraria, and the bivalves Solen capensis and Gastrana matadoa, both of which no longer live along the wave-dominated southern Namibian coast. The radiocarbon ages of mollusc shell from a gravely beach deposit exposed in a diamond exploration trench indicate that sea level fell to near or 1 m below its present-day position between 6500 and 4900 cal yr BP. The rapid emergence of the pan between 6500 and 4900 cal yr BP exceeds that predicted by glacio-isostatic models and may indicate a 3-m eustatic lowering of sea level. The beach deposits at Bogenfels indicate that sea level rose to 1 m amsl between 4800 and 4600 cal yr BP and then fell briefly between 4600 and 4200 cal yr BP before returning to 1 m amsl. Since 4200 cal yr BP sea level has remained within one meter of the present-day level and the beach at Bogenfels has prograded seaward from the delayed arrival of sand by longshore drift from the Orange River. A 6200 cal yr BP coastal midden and a 600 cal yr BP midden 1.7 km from the coast indicate sporadic human utilization of the area. The results of this study are consistent with previous studies and help to refine the Holocene sea-level record for southern Africa.

Glacial Lake Missoula, a source of Channeled Scabland flood waters, inundated valleys of northwest Montana to altitudes of ∼ 1265 m and to depths of >600 m, as evidenced by shorelines and silty lacustrine deposits. This study describes previously unrecognized catastrophic lake-drainage deposits that lie stratigraphically beneath the glacial-lake silts. The unconsolidated gravelly flood alluvium contains imbricated boulder-sized clasts, cross-stratified gravel with slip-face heights of 2–> 35 m, and 70- to 100-m-high gravel bars which all indicate a high-energy, high-volume alluvial environment. Gravel bars and high scablands were formed by catastrophic draining of one or possibly more early, high lake stands (1200–1265 m). Most glacial-lake silt, such as the Ninemile section, was deposited stratigraphically above the earlier deposits, represents a lower lake stand(s) (1050–1150 m), and was not deposited in lake(s) responsible for the highest discharge events. The glaciolacustrine silt-covered benches are incised by relict networks of valleys formed during the drainage of the last glacial lake. Significant erosion associated with the last lake draining was confined to the inner Clark Fork River canyon.

The extent of racemization of aspartic acid (Asp) has been used to estimate the ages of 9 shells of the epifaunal calcitic brachiopod Bouchardia rosea and 9 shells of the infaunal aragonitic bivalve Semele casali. Both taxa were collected concurrently from the same sites at depths of 10 m and 30 m off the coast of Brazil. Asp D/L values show an excellent correlation with radiocarbon age at both sites and for both taxa (r2Site 9 B. rosea  = 0.97, r2Site 1 B. rosea = 0.997, r2Site 9 S. casali = 0.9998, r2Site 1 S. casali = 0.93). The Asp ratios plotted against reservoir-corrected AMS radiocarbon ages over the time span of multiple millennia can thus be used to develop reliable and precise geochronologies not only for aragonitic mollusks (widely used for dating previously), but also for calcitic brachiopods. At each collection site, Bouchardia specimens display consistently higher D/L values than specimens of Semele. Thermal differences between sites are also notable and in agreement with theoretical expectations, as extents of racemization for both taxa are greater at the warmer, shallower site than at the cooler, deeper one. In late Holocene marine settings, concurrent time series of aragonitic and calcitic shells can be assembled using Asp racemization dating, and parallel multi-centennial to multi-millennial records can be developed simultaneously for multiple biomineral systems.

The Tedford subfossil locality at Lake Menindee preserves a diverse assemblage of marsupials, monotremes and placental rodents. Of the 38 mammal taxa recorded at the site, almost a third are of extinct megafauna. Some of the bones are articulated or semi-articulated and include almost complete skeletons, indicating that aeolian sediments rapidly buried the animals following death. New optical ages show the site dates to the early part of the last glacial (55,700 ± 1300 yr weighted mean age). This is close to the 51,200–39,800 yr Australia-wide extinction age for megafauna suggested by Roberts et al. [2001, Science 292:1888–1892], but like all previous researchers, we cannot conclusively determine whether humans were implicated in the deaths of the animals. Although an intrusive hearth at the site dating to 45,100 ± 1400 yr ago is the oldest evidence of human occupation of the Darling River, no artifacts were identified in situ within the sub-fossil-bearing unit. Non-anthropogenic causes, such as natural senescence or ecosystem stress due to climatic aridity, probably explain the mortality of the faunal assemblage at Lake Menindee.

The level of Kluane Lake, the largest lake in Yukon Territory, was lower than at present during most of the Holocene. The lake rose rapidly in the late seventeenth century to a level 12 m above present, drowning forest and stranding driftwood on a conspicuous high-stand beach, remnants of which are preserved at the south end of the lake. Kluane Lake fell back to near its present level by the end of the eighteenth century and has fluctuated within a range of about 3 m over the last 50 yr. The primary control on historic fluctuations in lake level is the discharge of Slims River, the largest source of water to the lake. We use tree ring and radiocarbon ages, stratigraphy and sub-bottom acoustic data to evaluate two explanations for the dramatic changes in the level of Kluane Lake. Our data support the hypothesis of Hugh Bostock, who suggested in 1969 that the maximum Little Ice Age advance of Kaskawulsh Glacier deposited large amounts of sediment in the Slims River valley and established the present course of Slims River into Kluane Lake. Bostock argued that these events caused the lake to rise and eventually overflow to the north. The overflowing waters incised the Duke River fan at the north end of Kluane Lake and lowered the lake to its present level. This study highlights the potentially dramatic impacts of climate change on regional hydrology during the Little Ice Age in glacierised mountains.

Chironomid remains from a mid-elevation lake in the Sierra Nevada, California, were used to estimate quantitative summer surface water temperatures during the past ∼15,000 yr. Reconstructed temperatures increased by ∼3°C between lake initiation and the onset of the Holocene at ∼10,600 cal yr BP (calibrated years before present). Temperatures peaked at 6500 cal yr BP, displayed high variability from 6500 to 3500 cal yr BP, and stabilized after 3500 cal yr BP. This record generally tracks reconstructed Santa Barbara Basin sea surface temperatures (SSTs) through much of the Holocene, highlighting the correspondence between SST variability and California land temperatures during this interval.