Relative-age criteria permit deposits of successive Andean glacier advances in the southern Lake District of Chile to be divided into four mappable drift sheets, the oldest two of which overlie Tertiary bedrock along the eastern flank of the Cordillera de la Costa. Only the youngest drift (Llanquihue) is datable by radiocarbon. During the most extensive ice advance of the last glaciation the Lago Llanquihue glacier was about 95 km long and reached an estimated maximum thickness of between 1000 and 1300 m. Glacier equilibrium lines at that time lay about 1000 m below their present level and rose eastward with a gradient of about 5 m/km. Successive ice advances in the Lago Llanquihue basin, which resulted in construction of end moraines and associated outwash plains beyond the lake margin, culminated sometime before about 20,000 yr ago and between 20,000 and 19,000 yr ago. A later readvance, inferred from the sedimentary record of lake-level fluctuations in the basin, had begun by about 15,000 yr ago and culminated shortly after 13,000 yr ago. A comparable, but less-closely dated, record of ice advances is found northwest of Seno Reloncaví and on Isla Chiloé. Deglaciation following the latest advance is likely to have been rapid, for the major glacier lobes fronted on deep water bodies that would have promoted extensive calving.

Pollen and spores in stratigraphic sections located between 40 and 42°S range in age from the Holocene, through much of the Llanquihue Glaciation, to the last interglaciation. Chronology of the stratigraphy derives from some 35 14C ages and the age relations of Llanquihue Drift and related deposits. Q-Mode, rotated, principal-components analysis of four key pollen records covering the last interglacial-glacial cycle resulted in four leading components: Nothofagus dombeyi type, Gramineae, Weinmannia-Fitzroya type, and Myrtaceae. Analysis emphasizes interaction between the first two components. Loadings of Gramineae during the interglaciation are high, unlike the Holocene; Weinmannia-Fitzroya-type loadings, prominent in the Holocene, are negligible during the interglaciation. N. dombeyi type is the primary component during Llanquihue Glaciation; it becomes modified by increases of Gramineae sometime after 31,000 and before 14,000 yr B.P. and of Myrtaceae later. The Myrtaceae with Weinmannia-Fitzroya type also registers some activity around 42,000 yr B.P. Fluctuations in the belt of westerly winds, reflecting changing meteorological conditions in polar latitudes, are suggested by these data. With the belt located farther south than it is today, interglacial climate was much drier and warmer than during the Holocene; more northerly displacement of the belt obtained when climate was colder during Llanquihue Glaciation. Evidence from comparable latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere points toward a synchrony of major climatic events indicating harmonious fluctuations in the position of the westerlies.

Kylen Lake, located within the Toimi drumlin field, is critically positioned in relation to Late Wisconsin glacial advances, for it lies between the areas covered by the Superior and St. Louis glacial lobes between 12,000 and 16,000 yr B.P. The pollen and plant-macrofossil record suggests the presence of open species-rich “tundra barrens” from 13,600 to 15,850 yr B.P. Small changes in percentages of Artemisia pollen between 14,300 and 13,600 yr B.P. appear to be artifacts of pollen-percentage data. Shrub-tundra with dwarf birch, willow, and Rhododendron lapponicum developed between 13,600 and 12,000 yr B.P. Black and white spruce and tamarack then expanded to form a vegetation not dissimilar to that of the modern forest-tundra ecotone of northern Canada. At 10,700 B.P. spruce and jack pine increased to form a mosaic dominated by jack pine and white spruce on dry sites and black spruce, tamarack, and deciduous trees such as elm and ash on moist fertile sites. At 9250 yr B.P. red pine and paper birch became dominant to form a vegetation that may have resembled the dry northern forests of Wisconsin today. The diagram terminates at 8410 ± 85 yr B.P. Climatic interpretation of this vegetational succession suggests a progressive increase in temperature since 14,300 yr B.P. This unidirectional trend in climate contrasts with the glacial history of the area. Hypotheses are presented to explain this lack of correspondence between pollen stratigraphy and glacial history. The preferred hypothesis is that the ice-margin fluctuations were controlled primarily by changes in winter snow accumulation in the source area of the glacier, whereas the vegetation and hence the pollen stratigraphy were controlled by climatic changes in front of the ice margin.

Single sample magnetic susceptibility measurements are used to correlate synchronous levels in 16 cores of dated (210Pb, 137Cs) recent sediment taken from the deep and oligotrophic Llyn Peris, N. Wales, in order to provide a basis for calculating total sediment and chemical influx through time. Results show that sediment influx has steadily increased since c. 1750 A.D. to reach peak levels in the period 1966–1976 A.D., equivalent to a rise in erosion in the catchment from c. 5 t km−2 yr−1 to c. 42 t km−2 yr−1. Comparison of down-core susceptibility fluctuations with sediment pollen and organic pigment data indicates that maximum susceptibility values relate to periods of channel erosion and minimum susceptibility values relate to periods of slate debris inwash from spoil tips in the catchment. A study of historical records reveals that pre-twentieth-century peak levels of erosion were due to the effects of extractive industries, while twentieth-century erosion has been caused by overgrazing, increased trampling pressure, and heavy construction works in the catchment.

July temperatures for the past 6000 yr at 11 sites in northern Canada have been predicted by transfer-function equations. Normalized departures from the mean of each time series at 250-yr intervals are analyzed by principal component (eigenvector) analysis. An initial analysis included 9 sites and the first three principal components accounted for 85.7% of the variance. Maps of the loadings on the principal components show broad spatial coherence on all three components. Temporal coefficients (principal component scores) illustrate major regional and local midsummer temperature variations. An additional 2 sites were then included but the spatial pattern of the loadings remained essentially unchanged. A further test of this approach, with a view toward predicting paleoclimates of northern regions, was to use the spatial coefficients (loadings) to estimate the July temperature departures at an “unknown” site (Long Lake, Keewatin). This reconstruction compares favorably with an independent transfer-function reconstruction (Kay, 1979). Power spectrum analysis of the significant principal component scores (temperature departures) over the 6000 yr showed that the temporal fluctuations associated with the first three principal components follow a “red noise” spectrum, indicative of strong persistence in the reconstructed climatic records. The scores on the fourth principal component approximate a “white noise” spectrum. A peak in power between 2000 and 3000 yr occurs in the variance spectrum of the second principal component (significance 10%). We conclude that eigenvector analysis of Holocene paleoclimatic data has considerable power and may be useful for identifying regional and local climatic variations.

An energy flux balance model has been developed which treats evaporation as a function of air temperature, surface water temperature, precipitable water aloft, the amount, height, and type of sky cover, and the optical air mass. The model has been used to estimate the mean historical evaporation rate for Pyramid Lake, Nevada, using as input climatic data from the Reno area averaged over the period 1950–1975. Estimated and measured values of the mean annual evaporation rate were found to be in good agreement. The model was used to simulate changes in the level, the surface area, and the volume of paleo Lake Lahontan. In particular, possible climatic states responsible for past high stands (1270 and 1330 m) were investigated. A conservative range of discharge values was used in the calculations. Results of the simulations indicate the fundamental importance of sky cover in the creation and destruction of large lake systems.

In 1980 a large proboscidean femur, probably Mammuthus sp., was found in situ in a bluff exposure at the mouth of the Tyone River in the northwestern part of the Copper River Basin, Alaska. The regional setting, stratigraphy, radiocarbon chronology, flora, and implications of the fossil locality, which represents the first documented occurrence of Pleistocene terrestrial mammalian fauna in southern Alaska, are described. Radiocarbon dates and stratigraphic relations at the site indicate that the sediments containing the fossil accumulated during the transition from interstadial to glacial conditions during terminal middle Wisconsin time. During this interval the immediate vicinity was unforested and large areas of south-central Alaska may have been available for faunal and possibly human habitation. This documented find, dated at 29,450 ± 610 14C yr B.P., extends the known range for Pleistocene mammals and possibly steppe-tundra conditions south-ward at least 150 km, and suggests that mountain passes through the Alaska Range to the north were ice free during the last part of the middle Wisconsin interstadial.