We investigated the developmental and hydrological history of a Sphagnum-dominated, kettle peatland in Upper Michigan using testate amoebae, plant macrofossils, and pollen. Our primary objective was to determine if the paleohydrological record of the peatland represents a record of past climate variability at subcentennial to millennial time scales. To assess the role of millennial-scale climate variability on peatland paleohydrology, we compared the timing of peatland and upland vegetation changes. To investigate the role of higher-frequency climate variability on peatland paleohydrology, we used testate amoebae to reconstruct a high-resolution, hydrologic history of the peatland for the past 5100 years, and compared this record to other regional records of paleoclimate and vegetation. Comparisons revealed coherent patterns of hydrological, vegetational, and climatic changes, suggesting that peatland paleohydrology responded to climate variability at millennial to sub-centennial time scales. Although ombrotrophic peatlands have been the focus of most high-resolution peatland paleoclimate research, paleohydrological records from Sphagnum-dominated, closed-basin peatlands record high-frequency and low-magnitude climatic changes and thus represent a significant source of unexplored paleoclimate data.

Holocene high-resolution cores from the margin of the Arctic Ocean are rare. Core P189AR-P45 collected in 405-m water depth on the Beaufort Sea slope, west of the Mackenzie River delta (70°33.03′N and 141°52.08′W), is in close vertical proximity to the present-day upper limit of modified Atlantic water. The 5.11-m core spans the interval between ∼6800 and 10,400 14C yr B.P. (with an 800-yr ocean reservoir correction). The sediment is primarily silty clay with an average grain-size of 9 φ. The chronology is constrained by seven radiocarbon dates. The rate of sediment accumulation averaged 1.35 mm/yr. Stable isotopic data (δ18O and δ13C) were obtained on the polar planktonic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (s) and the benthic infaunal species Cassidulina neoteretis. A distinct low-δ18O event is captured in both the benthic and planktonic data at ∼10,000 14C yr B.P.—probably recording the glacial Lake Agassiz outburst flood associated with the North Atlantic preboreal cold event. The benthic foraminifera are dominated in the earliest Holocene by C. neoteretis, a species associated with modified Atlantic water masses. This species decreases toward the core top with a marked environmental reversal occurring ∼7800 14C yr B.P. possibly coincident with the northern hemisphere 8200 cal yr B.P. cold event.

We reconstructed annual mean temperature (Tann) trends from three radiocarbon-dated Holocene pollen stratigraphies from lake sediments in Estonia, northern Europe. The reconstructions were carried out using a North-European pollen-climate calibration model based on weighted averaging partial least-squares regression. The cross-validated prediction error of the model is 0.89°C and the coefficient of determination between observed modern Tann values and those predicted by the model is 0.88. In the reconstruction, the Holocene thermal maximum (HTM) is distinguishable at 8000–4500 cal yr B.P. with the expansion of thermophilous tree species and Tann on average 2.5°C higher than at present. The pollen-stratigraphical data reflect progressively warmer and drier summers during the HTM. Analogously with the modern decadal-scale climatic variability in North Europe, we interpret this as an indication of increasing climatic continentality due to the intensification of anticyclonic circulation and meridional air flow. Post-HTM cooling started abruptly at around 4500 cal yr B.P. All three reconstructions show a transient (ca. 300 years) cooling of 1.5–2.0°C at 8600–8000 cal yr B.P. We tentatively correlate this cold event with the North-Atlantic “8.2 ka event” at 8400–8000 cal yr B.P. Provided that the 8.2 ka event was caused by freshening of the North-Atlantic surface water, our data provide evidence of the climatic and vegetational responsiveness of the boundary of the temperate and boreal zones to the weakening of the North-Atlantic thermohaline circulation and the zonal energy transport over Europe. No other cold events of comparable magnitude are indicated during the last 8000 years.

Oxygen isotope profiles along the growth axis of fossil bivalve shells of Macoma calcarea were established to reconstruct hydrographical changes in the eastern Laptev Sea since 8400 cal yr B.P. The variability of the oxygen isotopes (δ18O) in the individual records is mainly attributed to variations in the salinity of bottom waters in the Laptev Sea with a modern ratio of 0.50‰/salinity. The high-resolution δ18O profiles exhibit distinct and annual cycles from which the seasonal and annual salinity variations at the investigated site can be reconstructed. Based on the modern analogue approach oxygen isotope profiles of radiocarbon-dated bivalve shells from a sediment core located northeast of the Lena Delta provide seasonal and subdecadal insights into past hydrological conditions and their relation to the Holocene transgressional history of the Laptev Sea shelf. Under the assumption that the modern relationship between δ18Ow and salinity has been constant throughout the time, the δ18O of an 8400-cal-yr-old bivalves would suggest that bottom-water salinity was reduced and the temperature was slightly warmer, both suggesting a stronger mixture of riverine water to the bottom water. Reconstruction of the inundation history of the Laptev Sea shelf indicates local sea level ∼27 m below present at this time and a closer proximity of the site to the coastline and the Lena River mouth. Due to continuing sea level rise and a southward retreat of the river mouth, bottom-water salinity increased at 7200 cal yr B.P. along with an increase in seasonal variability. Conditions comparable to the modern hydrography were achieved by 3800 cal yr B.P.

Although recent studies have recognized peatlands as a sink for atmospheric CO2, little is known about the role of Siberian peatlands in the global carbon cycle. We have estimated the Holocene peat and carbon accumulation rate in the peatlands of the southern taiga and subtaiga zones of western Siberia. We explain the accumulation rates by calculating the average peat accumulation rate and the long-term apparent rate of carbon accumulation (LORCA) and by using the model of Clymo (1984, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B 303, 605–654). At three key areas in the southern taiga and subtaiga zones we studied eight sites, at which the dry bulk density, ash content, and carbon content were measured every 10 cm. Age was established by radiocarbon dating. The average peat accumulation rate at the eight sites varied from 0.35 ± 0.03 to 1.13 ± 0.02 mm yr−1 and the LORCA values of bogs and fens varied from 19.0 ± 1.1 to 69.0 ± 4.4 g C m−2 yr−1. The accumulation rates had different trends especially during the early Holocene, caused by variations in vegetation succession resulting in differences in peat and carbon accumulation rates. The indirect effects of climate change through local hydrology appeared to be more important than direct influences of changes in precipitation and temperature. River valley fens were more drained during wetter periods as a result of deeper river incision, while bogs became wetter. From our dry bulk density results and our age–depth profiles we conclude that compaction is negligible and decay was not a relevant factor for undrained peatlands. These results contribute to our understanding of the influence of peatlands on the global carbon cycle and their potential impact on global change.

A review of Holocene climatic variations in different parts of China shows that they were asynchronous. Proxy data from ice cores, pollen, loess, lacustrine sediments, and changes of sea and lake levels demonstrate that many warm and cold oscillations have occurred in China during the Holocene, including a most important climatic event known as the “Holocene optimum,” a milder and wetter period, and that the duration and amplitude of the optimum period, as well as its start and end times, differed in different parts of China. Uplift of the Tibetan plateau over the past millions of years led to the development of the monsoon climate and to complex atmospheric circulation over continental China during the Holocene. As a result, the Holocene optimum began and terminated earlier in high-altitude regions of western China than at lower elevations in eastern China, and the amplitude of the variations was lower in the east. This suggests that the western higher-altitude areas were more sensitive to climatic change than were the eastern lower-altitude areas. Holocene climatic records in the Dunde and Guliya ice cores do not correspond. Inverse δ18O variations between the two cores indicate that the effects of climate and atmospheric processes on the stable isotopes at the two sites differed. The correlation between the isotopic composition of carbonates in lake deposits in western China and climatic variations is similar to that in the ice cores. The climatic resolution in ice cores and lake sediments is higher than that in other media. The lack of precise correspondence of climatic records constructed on the basis of proxy data from different parts of China is a result of the different locations and elevations of the sampling sites, the different resolutions of the source material, and the varied climatic conditions within China. Further work is needed to confirm both the conclusions and the inferences presented here.

Oxygen isotopes of goethite from ferricrete deposits were measured from both northern and southern Rocky Mountain localities to assess geographic variability in regional Holocene paleoclimate change. A ∼3.7‰ increase in oxygen isotope values of 14C-dated goethites in the northern Rocky Mountains suggests a regional-scale relative increase in amounts of isotopically heavy summer precipitation since the early Holocene. In contrast, oxygen isotope values from the southern Rocky Mountains increase abruptly ∼2.1‰ at ∼6200 14C yr B.P. then decrease ∼2.4‰ between ∼2000 14C yr B.P. and the present. We interpret this period of relatively high δ18O values as evidence for a middle Holocene warm period combined with a relatively strong summer monsoon. These variable climate records suggest that the Rocky Mountains of the western United States have had a spatially heterogeneous Holocene climate history.

New stratigraphic and geochronologic data from the Killpecker Dunes in southwestern Wyoming facilitate a more precise understanding of the dune field’s history. Prior investigations suggested that evidence for late Pleistocene eolian activity in the dune field was lacking. However, luminescence ages from eolian sand of ∼15,000 yr, as well as Folsom (12,950–11,950 cal yr B.P.) and Agate Basin (12,600–10,700 cal yr) artifacts overlying eolian sand, indicate the dune field existed at least during the latest Pleistocene, with initial eolian sedimentation probably occurring under a dry periglacial climate. The period between ∼13,000 and 8900 cal yr B.P. was characterized by relatively slow eolian sedimentation concomitant with soil formation. Erosion occurred between ∼8182 and 6600 cal yr B.P. on the upwind region of the dune field, followed by relative stability and soil formation between ∼5900 and 2700 cal yr B.P. The first of at least two latest Holocene episodes of eolian sedimentation occurred between ∼2000 and 1500 yr, followed by a brief (∼500 yr) episode of soil formation; a second episode of sedimentation, occurring by at least ∼700 yr, may coincide with a hypothesized Medieval warm period. Recent stabilization of the western Killpecker Dunes likely occurred during the Little Ice Age (∼350–100 yr B.P.). The eolian chronology of the western Killpecker Dunes correlates reasonably well with those of other major dune fields in the Wyoming Basin, suggesting that dune field reactivation resulted primarily due to departures toward aridity during the late Quaternary. Similar to dune fields on the central Great Plains, dune fields in the Wyoming Basin have been active under a periglacial climate during the late Pleistocene, as well as under near-modern conditions during the latest Holocene.

Wet climatic episodes are known to have prevailed in the Egyptian Sahara several times during the late Quaternary, most recently during the Holocene 8000 yr ago. Earlier wet episodes have been recognized as having occurred during the past 300,000 yr and have been dated by U-series methods in speleothems and in lake travertines. We show here that the times of enhanced groundwater movement can also be determined by 230Th/234U dating of secondary U in ores of uranium, iron, and phosphate. We also present evidence that such acceleration of groundwater movements is indicated by relatively low 234U/238U activity ratios in the secondary uranium. Our new data show that pluvial periods in Egypt occurred during marine oxygen isotope stages 4, 5, 6, and 7 and therefore are consistent with the view that the wet episodes are the results of migration of the tropical monsoonal belt driven primarily by the 23,000-yr precession cycle of the Milankovich curve, modulated by the 100,000-yr eccentricity cycle.

Despite the hypothesized importance of the tropics in the global climate system, few tropical paleoclimatic records extend to periods earlier than the last glacial maximum (LGM), about 20,000 years before present. We present a well-dated 170,000-year time series of hydrologic variation from the southern hemisphere tropics of South America that extends from modern times through most of the penultimate glacial period. Alternating mud and salt units in a core from Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia reflect alternations between wet and dry periods. The most striking feature of the sequence is that the duration of paleolakes increased in the late Quaternary. This change may reflect increased precipitation, geomorphic or tectonic processes that affected basin hydrology, or some combination of both. The dominance of salt between 170,000 and 140,000 yr ago indicates that much of the penultimate glacial period was dry, in contrast to wet conditions in the LGM. Our analyses also suggest that the relative influence of insolation forcing on regional moisture budgets may have been stronger during the past 50,000 years than in earlier times.

Luminescence dating of extensive dune fields and associated eolian sandsheets provided a chronology of recently recognized Pleistocene and early Holocene dry climate episodes in the currently humid warm temperate northern–northeastern Gulf of Mexico region. Scattered parabolic dunes and clusters of intersecting parabolic dunes, along with elongated shore-transverse and shore-parallel dunes, developed. These landforms occur in a 390-km-long and 2- to 3-km-wide, semicontinuous belt in southeast Alabama and northwestern Florida. Dune elevations reach ± 22 m. Sangamon coastal barrier sectors were the primary source of the eolian sand. Deflation was coeval with early Wisconsin to mid-Holocene marine low sea-levels and associated distant shorelines. Early Holocene dune dates were synchronous, with indications of a hypsithermal dry interval in southeast Louisiana, the Yucatan, and the south Atlantic seaboard. Overlapping with dry episodes in Yucatan and the High Plains, Texas dunes and Louisiana and Texas prairie mounds, especially in the southwest Texas coast still dominated by dry climate, suggests intervals of early to late Holocene drought. The dates provide the basis for identifying and correlating Wisconsin, early, and late Holocene climate phases between currently semiarid and humid, coastal and interior areas. They contribute to future studies, including interregional paleoclimate modeling. Although Pleistocene coastal eolian deposition coincided with glaciation in the northern interior and with cooler temperatures of a reduced Gulf of Mexico, Holocene aridity phases may have been related to major variations in the position of high-pressure cells, storm tracks, and branches of the jet stream, and even to prolonged La Niña conditions.