We present a new stratigraphic (pollen and nonpollen microfossils and charcoal particle) sequence with five AMS dates, covering about the last 9000 yr, of a core collected from the Spanish northern meseta, one of the territories of the Iberian Peninsula for which little paleobotanical information is available. The results support the hypothesis of the permanence of the pine forests, in more or less pure masses or large timber stands, during the Holocene in some Iberian continental zones. The typical substitution in postglacial dynamics of heliophyllous species, such as pines or Cupressaceae, by broadleaf trees did not occur in this inland region. Presumably, factors linked to the substrate, in this case very deep sand dunes covering vast areas, may have contributed to the scarce local competitiveness of the broadleaf trees, which would account for the hegemony of pines in this region. Based on the dynamics of aquatic plants and nonpollen microfossils, an initial phase previous to 7500 14C yr B.P. of high levels in the lake can be identified by high percentages of hydrophytes. A progressive increase in helophytes and the gradual infilling of the lake over the last 5000 yr appear to indicate a phase of aridification similar to those established for the western Mediterranean. Study of charcoal particles, more abundant in the last 2500 yr, has given rise to certain hypotheses regarding the incidence of recurring fires of a local or regional nature.

13C/12C and 18O/16O ratios of aragonite shells of modern land snails from the southern Great Plains of North America were measured for samples from twelve localities in a narrow east–west corridor that extended from the Flint Hills in North Central Oklahoma to the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Northern New Mexico, USA. Across the study area, shell δ18O values (PDB scale) ranged from −4.1‰ to 1.2‰, while δ13C values ranged from −13.2‰ to 0.0‰. δ18O values of the shell aragonite were predicted with a published, steady state, evaporative flux balance model. The predicted values differed (with one exception) by less than 1‰ from locality averages of measured δ18O values. This similarity suggests that relative humidity at the time of snail activity is an important control on the δ18O values of the aragonite and emphasizes the seasonal nature of the climatic information preserved in the shells. Correlated δ13C values of coexisting Vallonia and Gastrocopta suggest similar feeding habits and imply that these genera can provide information on variations in southern Great Plains plant ecology. Although there is considerable scatter, multispecies, transect average δ13C values of the modern aragonite shells are related to variations in the type of photosynthesis (i.e., C3, C4) in the local plant communities. The results of this study emphasize the desirability of obtaining isotope ratios representing averages of many shells in a locale to reduce possible biases associated with local variations among individuals, species, etc., and thus better represent the “neighborhood” scale temporal and/or spatial environmental variations of interest in studies of modern and ancient systems.

Well-preserved aragonitic land snail shells (Vallonia) from late Pleistocene Eolian sediment in the Folsom archaeological site in New Mexico exhibit an overall decrease of δ18OPDB from maximum values of +2.7‰ (more positive than modern) to younger samples with lower average values of about −3.6‰ (within the modern range). The age of the samples (approximately 10,500 14C yr B.P.) suggests that the decrease in δ18O may manifest climatic changes associated with the Younger Dryas. Some combination of increased relative humidity and cooler temperatures with decreased δ18O of precipitation during the times of snail activity can explain the decrease in shell δ18O. A well-known Paleoindian bison kill occurred at the Folsom site during this inferred environmental transition.

Average δ13C values of the aragonite shells of the fossil Vallonia range from −7.3 to −6.0‰ among different archaeological levels and are not as negative as modern values. This suggests that the proportion of C4 vegetation at the Folsom site approximately 10,500 14C yr B.P. was greater than at present; a result which is consistent with other evidence for higher proportions of C4 plants in the region at that time.

We present a relative sea-level (RSL) history, constrained by AMS radiocarbon-dated marine–freshwater transitions in isolation basins from a site adjacent to the Lambert Glacier, East Antarctica. The RSL data suggest an initial ice retreat between c. 15,370 and 12,660 cal yr B.P Within this period, meltwater pulse IA (mwp IA, between c. 14,600–14,200 and 14,100–13,700 cal yr B.P.) occurred; an exceptionally large ice melting event, inferred from far-field sea-level records. The RSL curve shows a pronounced highstand of approximately 8 m between c. 7570–7270 and 7250–6950 cal yr B.P. that is consistent with the timing of the RSL highstand in the nearby Vestfold Hills. This is followed by a fall in RSL to the present. In contrast to previous findings, the isolation of the lakes in the Larsemann Hills postdates the isolation of lakes with similar sill heights in the Vestfold Hills. An increase in RSL fall during the late Holocene may record a decline in the rate of isostatic uplift in the Larsemann Hills between c. 7250–6950 and 2847–2509 cal yr B.P., that occurred in response to a documented mid-Holocene glacier readvance followed by a late-Holocene retreat.

Relative sea level at Vancouver, British Columbia rose from below the present datum about 30,000 cal yr B.P. to at least 18 m above sea level 28,000 cal yr B.P. In contrast, eustatic sea level in this interval was at least 85 m lower than at present. The difference in the local and eustatic sea-level positions is attributed to glacio-isostatic depression of the crust in the expanding forefield of the Cordilleran ice sheet during the initial phase of the Fraser Glaciation. Our findings suggest that about 1 km of ice was present in the northern Strait of Georgia 28,000 cal yr B.P., early during the Fraser Glaciation.

The freshwater Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and the hypersaline Dead Sea are remnant lakes, evolved from ancient water bodies that filled the tectonic depressions along the Dead Sea Transform (DST) during the Neogene–Quartenary periods. We reconstructed the limnological history (level and composition) of Lake Kinneret during the past ∼40,000 years and compared it with the history of the contemporaneous Lake Lisan from the aspect of the regional and global climate history. The lake level reconstruction was achieved through a chronological and sedimentological investigation of exposed sedimentary sections in the Kinnarot basin trenches and cores drilled at the Ohalo II archeological site. Shoreline chronology was established by radiocarbon dating of organic remains and of Melanopsis shells.

The major changes in Lake Kinneret level were synchronous with those of the southern Lake Lisan. Both lakes dropped significantly ∼42,000, ∼30,000, 23,800, and 13,000 yr ago and rose ∼39,000, 26,000, 5000, and 1600 yr ago. Between 26,000 and 24,000 yr ago, the lakes merged into a unified water body and lake level achieved its maximum stand of ∼170 m below mean sea level (m bsl). Nevertheless, the fresh and saline water properties of Lake Kinneret and Lake Lisan, respectively, have been preserved throughout the 40,000 years studied. Calcium carbonate was always deposited as calcite in Lake Kinneret and as aragonite in Lake Lisan–Dead Sea, indicating that the Dead Sea brine (which supports aragonite production) never reached or affected Lake Kinneret, even during the period of lake high stand and convergence. The synchronous level fluctuation of lakes Kinneret, Lisan, and the Holocene Dead Sea is consistent with the dominance of the Atlantic–Mediterranean rain system on the catchment of the basin and the regional hydrology. The major drops in Lake Kinneret–Lisan levels coincide with the timing of cold spells in the North Atlantic that caused a shut down of rains in the East Mediterranean and the lakes drainage area.

Although many of the current hypotheses to explain the origin and distribution of the Amazon biodiversity has been based directly or indirectly on geological data, the reconstruction of the geological history of the Amazon region is still inadequate to analyze its relationship with the biodiversity. This work has the main goal to characterize the sedimentary successions formed in the Brazilian Amazon in the Neogene-Quaternary discussing the evolution of the depositional systems through time and analyzing their main controlling mechanisms in order to fill up this gap. Radar image interpretation, sedimentological studies, and radiocarbon dating allowed the mapping of Plio-Pleistocene to Holocene units along the Solimões-Amazonas River, Brazil. This integrated work led to the characterization of five sedimentary successions overlying Miocene deposits of the Solimões/Pebas Formation, which include the following: Içá Formation (Plio-Pleistocene), deposits Q1 (37,400–43,700 14C yr B.P.), deposits Q2 (27,200 14C yr B.P.), deposits Q3 (6730–2480 14C yr B.P.), and deposits Q4 (280–130 14C yr B.P.). These deposits occur mostly to the west of Manaus, forming NW–SE elongated belts that are progressively younger from SW to NE, indicating a subsiding basin with a depocenter that migrated to the NE. The reconstruction of the depositional history is consistent with significant changes in the landscapes. Hence, the closure of a large lake system at the end of the Miocene gave rise to the development of a Plio-Pleistocene fluvial system. This was yet very distinct from the modern drainage, with shallow, energetic, highly migrating, braided to anastomosed channels having an overall northeast outlet. This fluvial system formed probably under climatic conditions relatively drier than today's. During the early Pleistocene, there was pronounced erosion, followed by a renewed depositional phase ca. 40,000 14C yr B.P., with the development of prograding lobes and/or crevasse splays associated with a lake system (i.e., fan-delta) and/or fluvial flood plain areas. After a period of erosion, a fluvial system with eastward draining channels started to develop at around 27,000 14C yr B.P. The fluvial channels were overflooded in mid-Holocene time. This flooding is attributed to an increased period of humidity, with a peak between 5000 and 2500 14C yr B.P. The data presented herein support that, rather than being a monotonous area, the Amazonia was a place with frequent changes in landscape throughout the Neogene-Quaternary, probably as a result of climatic and tectonic factors. We hypothesize that these changes in the physical environment stressed the biota, resulting in speciation and thus had a great impact on modern biodiversity.

A 90,000-yr record of environmental change before 18,000 cal yr B.P. has been constructed using pollen analyses from a sediment core obtained from Salar de Uyuni (3653 m above sea level) on the Bolivian Altiplano. The sequence consists of alternating mud and salt, which reflect shifts between wet and dry periods. Low abundances of aquatic species between 108,000 and 50,000 yr ago (such as Myriophyllum and Isoëtes) and marked fluctuations in Pediastrum suggest generally dry conditions dominated by saltpans. Between 50,000 yr ago and 36,000 cal yr B.P., lacustrine sediments become increasingly dominant. The transition to the formation of paleolake “Minchin” begins with marked rises in Isoëtes and Myriophyllum, suggesting a lake of moderate depth. Similarly, between 36,000 and 26,000 cal yr B.P., the transition to paleolake Tauca is also initiated by rises in Isoëtes and Myriophyllum; the sustained presence of Isoëtes indicates the development of flooded littoral communities associated with a lake maintained at a higher water level. Polylepis tarapacana-dominated communities were probably an important component of the Altiplano terrestrial vegetation during much of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and previous wet phases.

Holocene evolution and human occupation of the Sixteen Mile Beach barrier dunes on the southwest coast of South Africa between Yzerfontein and Saldanha Bay are inferred from the radiocarbon ages of calcareous dune sand, limpet shell (Patella spp.) manuports and gull-dropped white mussel shells (Donax serra). A series of coast-parallel dunes have prograded seaward in response to an overall marine regression since the mid-Holocene with dated shell from relict foredunes indicating periods of shoreline progradation that correspond to drops in sea level at around 5900, 4500 and 2400 calibrated years before the present (cal yr B.P.). However, the active foredune, extensively covered by a layer of gull-dropped shell, has migrated 500 m inland by the recycling of eroded dune sand in response to an approximate 1 m sea level rise over the last 700 yr. Manuported limpet shells from relict blowouts on landward vegetated dunes indicate human occupation of coastal dune sites at 6200 and 6000 cal yr B.P. and help to fill the mid-Holocene gap in the regional archaeological record. Coastal midden shells associated with small hearth sites exposed in blowouts on the active foredune are contemporaneous (1600–500 cal yr B.P.) with large midden sites on the western margin of Langebaan Lagoon and suggest an increase in marine resource utilisation associated with the arrival of pastoralism in the Western Cape.