The global model of postglacial relative sea level variations that has been developed over the past decade is employed to investigate the constraints that it may be invoked to place on the timing of the deglaciation of West Antarctica. The analyses presented here confirm the suggestion of P. Wu and W. R. Peltier (1983, Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 74 , 377–450) that the model of this event employed in J. A. Clark and C. S. Lingle (1979Quaternary Research 11 , 279–298) may be simply modified to rectify the misfits between theory and observation that are otherwise obtained at Southern Hemisphere sites. A large number of Southern Hemisphere relative sea level data are shown to require that the retreat of Antarctic ice substantially lagged the retreat of Northern Hemisphere ice if the deglaciation of Antarctica was abrupt. The time of onset of Antarctic deglaciation is thereby shown to coincide with the time of most rapid Northern Hemisphere deglaciation. Sensitivity tests are performed which demonstrate that this result is relatively insensitive to the discretization employed to represent the ocean basins; the only exception to this general rule obtains at some coastal sites at which a trade-off is revealed between the delay of West Antarctic melting and the thickness of the lithosphere required to reconcile the observed local variations of relative sea level. At such sites, which are all in the far field of the ice sheets, some attention must be paid to the accuracy of the local finite element representation of the oceans and to the details of the Antarctic deglaciation history.

Radiocarbon age control on the type Glenwood, Calumet, and Toleston shoreline features and on the abandoned Chicago outlet at the south end of the Lake Michigan basin provides a basis for reevaluating the timing and causes of high lake phases in the basin. Radiocarbon dates suggest that Glenwood-level (195 m) shoreline features formed between 14,100 and 12,700 yr B.P. (Glenwood I and II phases), Calumet-level (189 m) between 12,700 and 11,000 yr B.P. (Calumet I and II phases), and Toleston-level (184.5 m) between 5000 and 4000 yr B.P. (Nipissing phase), and that the Chicago outlet was cut to its present level (180 m) on bedrock while the lake was at the Glenwood level. This new chronology is inconsistent with J H. Bretz' hypothesis ((1951) American Journal of Science 249 , 401–429) that the progressive lowering of lake level resulted from episodic down-cutting of the outlet. Instead, the changes in lake level appear to relate to changes in the amount of glacial meltwater and precipitation entering the basin. We hypothesize that the Glenwood phases correspond with times when discharge from the Huron and Erie basins also entered the Lake Michigan basin (Lake Border and early Port Huron glacial phases), the Calumet phases with times when drainage was from the Lake Michigan basin alone (late Port Huron and Two Rivers glacial phases), and the Nipissing phase with the postglacial middle Holocene transgression caused by differential uplift in the basin. Estimates of relative net inputs to the basin during the Glenwood, Calumet, and Nipissing lake phases are consistent with estimates of relative outputs (i.e., discharge through the Chicago outlet); the magnitude of relative differences in inputs and outputs between phases is sufficient to explain lake-level changes of 4.5 to 6 m.

Ostracod and pelecypod carbonate preserved since the latest Pleistocene in the bottom sediments of Lake Zürich was probably formed under constant temperature conditions. Temporal shifts in the oxygen-isotype ratios for those carbonates therefore correspond to shifts in the isotopic character of the net lake inflow. Alpine deglaciation, which released isotopically light meltwaters, commenced prior to ca. 15,000 yr B.P. and was essentially completed in northern Switzerland by 12,4000 ± 250 yr B.P., well before substantially increased atmospheric heat was available from either increased insolation or an increased atmospheric CO2 content. The early Holocene climate for the region was characterized by minor short-term fluctuations in mean annual air temperatures and an overall amelioration of up to 2°C. Contemporaneously precipitated authigenic and biogenic carbonates have recorded partitioning of carbon isotopes between surface and bottom waters during photosynthetic production and subsequent oxidation of organic matter in the lake. The degree of that partitioning provides an index of the relative production rates, which were low in the late Pleistocene meltwater lake but considerably enhanced during the Holocene.

Deep-sea sediment cores recovered from the Northeast Atlantic Ocean were examined in order to elucidate the influence of the Earth's orbital parameters on major ice rafting. Analyses of coarse-grained ice-rafted debris and planktonic foraminifers revealed a strong reaction to the precession signal. Since 130,000 yr B.P., dropstone layers have been deposited each half period of a precessional cycle (11,000 ± 1000 yr). Ice rafting occurs during times of winter minimum/summer maximum insolation and summer minimum/winter maximum insolation. In the first case, high summer insolation forces meltwater discharge from the ice sheets into the polar seas which subsequently enhances formation of sea ice during the winter. In the second case, growth of continental ice enhances iceberg production which also leads to a salinity reduction of surface seawater. Both situations result in a southward penetration of polar water. Thus, the marine record of dropstones documents ice rafting not only during Weichselian stades but also during cold events within interstades. The regularity of ice rafting yields a useful framework to calibrate and elucidate climatic changes, not only in the region of the North Atlantic Ocean but also in remote areas such as the Pacific Ocean and the Antarctic.

Surficial sediments of Gulf St. Vincent, South Australia, are predominantly bioclastic, cool-temperate carbonates. Benthic foraminifera are abundant and distribution of species is closely related to water depth. For example, Massilina milletti is most common at depths ca. 40 m, while Discorbis dimidiatus is characteristics of shallow, subtidal environments. Elphidium crispum, a shallow-water species, and E. macelliforme, favoring deeper water, provide a useful numerical ratio. Their logarithmic relative abundance, in the sediment size fraction 0.50–0.25 mm, correlates strongly with water depth. Vibrocores SV 4 and SV 5 recovered undisturbed sections of Quaternary strata from the deepest part (ca. 40 m) of Gulf St. Vincent. Amino acid racemization and radiocarbon age determinations show that late Pleistocene sections of the cores were deposited over the time ca. 45,000 to 30,000 yr B.P. Species of fossil foraminifera, recovered from these sections, are mostly extant in modern Gulf St. Vincent, thus allowing paleoecological inferences of late Pleistocene sea levels. These inferred sea-level maxima can be correlated with those determined from study of Huon Peninsula coral reef terraces. Initial estimates of tectonically corrected sea levels for transgressions in Gulf St. Vincent at 40,000 and 31,000 yr B.P. are −22.5 m and −22 m, respectively. The intervening regression lowered sea level to −28 m.

Strata at Landguard Bluff, near Wanganui, New Zealand preserve a clear record of relative sea-level changes during oxygen-isotope stage 7. Two relative high sea-level stands (during stages 7a about 210,000 yr ago and 7c about 240,000 yr ago) are separated by a relative low sea level (stage 7b) that was at least 32 m lower than present. Pollen analysis of sediment deposited during stage 7b indicates climate at the time was up to 3°C cooler than present. The climate and sea-level evidence from Landguard Bluff are consistent with oxygen-isotopic evidence from deep-sea cores indicating a marked cooling during stage 7, which is closely associated with a summer radiation minimum centered at about 230,000 yr ago in the Northern Hemisphere.