Most scientists have concluded previously that the west coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, remained ice-free during the late Weichselian, between 25,000 and 10,000 yr B.P. We conclude that the glaciation was more extensive. Terraces that were postulated to have been ice-free are covered by a thin, late Weichselian till. Sudden drop in the marine limit and basal radiocarbon dates of raised glaciomarine sediments demonstrates that the glaciers in the main fjords, Isfjorden and Van Mijenfjorden, terminated west (outside) of the fjord mouths. Basal radiocarbon dates from glaciomarine clay above till in cores from the continental shelf west of Spitsbergen yielded ages of about 12,500 yr B.P., from which we conclude that the ice extended to the shelf edge. Based on the extent of amino acid diagenesis in radiocarbon-dated molluscs, the duration of the maximum extension of the late Weichselian glaciation was short, certainly less than 10,000 years. During the ice-free period preceding that glaciation, at least back to 40,000 yr B.P., the glaciers on Svalbard were not significantly larger than at present, as shown by marine deposits close to the glacier snouts. Many radiocarbon dates place deglaciation of the outer coast at about 12,500 yr B.P. At about 10,000 yr B.P., the rest of the archipelago rapidly became ice-free.

A 52-m core from Qidong at the tip of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) delta provides a history of sea-level change, deltaic development, and vegetational and climatic changes during the last 12,000 yr. About 12,000 yr ago, when sea level was about 60 m below the present level, the coring site was situated in the innermost part of the exposed continental shelf. The late-Pleistocene vegetation on the uplands of the Lower Yangtze River valley was a mixed forest of deciduous and broadleaved evergreen trees in which Betula, Ulmus, Tsuga, and Cupressaceae were slightly more abundant than at present. Abies and Picea were probably present as relict populations on mountains bordering the region. Rapidly rising sea level converted the Qidong area to a coastal or estuarine environment between 11,000 and 10,800 yr B.P., leading to widespread development of wetlands dominated by Gramineae and Cyperaceae. During the next 2500 yr coastal erosion due to marine transgression obliterated the sedimentary record. Deltaic sedimentation predominated from 8300 to 3800 yr B.P., as the Yangtze River delta prograded by successively building a series of estuarine sand bars. During the mid-Holocene, the climate was slightly warmer and more humid than at present, allowing the subtropical broadleaved evergreen trees to increase their populations. Pinus and Quercus became more abundant after 3800 yr B.P. in response to climatic cooling. The present deltaic plain in Qidong formed less than 200 yr ago.

Paleomagnetic records are used to correlate sedimentary sequences from pluvial Lakes Chewaucan and Russell in the western Great Basin. This correlation is the basis for age control in the relatively poorly dated sequence from Lake Chewaucan. The resulting chronology supports a lack of sedimentation in Lake Chewaucan during the interval 27,400 to 23,200 yr B.P., an assertion supported by the presence of a lag deposit at the corresponding stratigraphic horizon. Because the Lake Chewaucan outcrop (near Summer Lake, Oregon) is near the bottom of the lake basin, we conclude that Lake Chewaucan was at a lowstand during this time interval. The Chewaucan lowstand is coeval with the lowstand accompanying the Wizard's Beach Recession (isotope stage 3) previously seen in the geologic record from nearby pluvial Lake Lahontan. The ages of six tephra layers, including the Trego Hot Springs tephra, were also estimated using the paleomagnetic correlation. Together, the new age of the Trego Hot Springs tephra (21,800 yr B.P.) and the lake surface level prehistory of Lake Chewaucan imply a revised model for the lake surface level prehistory of Lake Lahontan. The revised model includes a longer duration for the Wizard's Beach Recession and the occurrence of a younger lowstand of short duration soon after the lowstand corresponding to the Wizard's Beach Recession.

Stratigraphic, sedimentologic, and pedologic studies of beach ridge and lacustrine deposits indicate that up to five times during the Holocene, shallow lakes covered Silver Lake playa in southeastern California for periods of years to decades. The two youngest lacustrine events (at about 390 ± 90 yr B. P. and 3620 ± 70 yr B. P.) coincide with the early and late Neoglacial episodes of North America. Increasing evidence in recent years from other nonglaciated areas leads us to conclude that the effects of these climatic episodes were much more widespread than previously thought. The climate during these episodes was characterized by an increased frequency of winter storms in the southwestern United States, causing wetter conditions that affected diverse, hyperarid environments in the Mojave Desert and adjacent regions. We propose that this wide areal coverage was caused by large-scale, winter atmospheric circulation patterns, which are probably related to changes in sea-surface temperatures and oceanic circulation in the eastern North Pacific Ocean.

Peaty, tidal-marsh soils interbedded with estuarine mud in late Holocene stratigraphic sequences near Coos Bay, Oregon, may have been submerged and buried during great (M > 8) subduction earthquakes, smaller localized earthquakes, or by nontectonic processes. Radiocarbon dating might help distinguish among these alternatives by showing that soils at different sites were submerged at different times along this part of the Cascadia subduction zone. But comparison of conventional 14C ages for different materials from the same buried soils shows that they contain materials that differ in age by many hundreds of years. Errors in calibrated soil ages represent about the same length of time as recurrence times for submergence events (150–500 yr)—this similarity precludes using conventional 14C ages to distinguish buried soils along the southern Oregon coast. Accelerator mass spectrometer 14C ages of carefully selected macrofossils from the tops of peaty soils should provide more precise estimates of the times of submergence events.

A 7.86-m sediment core from Swamp Lake in Yosemite National Park, California, provides a continuous record of environmental change over the last ca. 16,000 yr, as inferred from pollen, macrofossil, and microscopic charcoal analyses. The core stratigraphy documents late Wisconsin (Tioga stage) deglaciation between >16,000 and 13,700 yr B.P., approximately 6000-3500 yr earlier than higher-elevation Sierra Nevada records. The core includes five volcanic ash layers, chemically identified as four Mono Craters ashes and the Tsoyawata ash (Mt. Mazama, Oregon). The fossil record shows that herbs and sagebrush dominated the glacial environment at Swamp Lake. By 12,000 yr B.P., a mixed conifer forest composed of high- and mid-elevation conifers grew around the lake, suggesting a cool, wet late-glacial environment. The modern Sierra montane forest did not become established until ca. 10,400 yr B.P., when maximum charcoal concentrations and minimum fir pollen percentages indicate an early Holocene xeric period. The record suggests that a cooling trend began ca. 6500 yr B.P. and persisted until ca. 3700 yr B.P. when the modern climatic regime was established.

The composition, magnetic characteristics, and pollen content of sediments from two small kettle lakes near the prairie-forest border in west-central Minnesota were used to infer changes in terrestrial vegetation, shoreline erosion, eolian inputs, carbonate deposition, and aquatic productivity. Several important changes in sediment stratigraphy coincide closely with changes in the terrestrial pollen assemblage. Accumulation rates of organic, inorganic, and carbonate sediment fractions as well as the concentration of magnetic particulates increased abruptly as prairie replaced pine forest, and decreased gradually throughout the subsequent transitions to oak scrub, and later, mixed woodland. Results suggest that by its mediation of wind exposure, local vegetation may affect (1) influx of eolian particulates, (2) erosion of shorelines, (3) water circulation, and (4) carbonate equilibria. In addition, low rates of accumulation of organic matter and increased humidicity during periods of conifer vegetation suggest that humic matter leached from forest soils may influence lake-water chemistry and reduce productivity. Changes in lake level caused by differential rates of evapotranspiration of the various vegetation types (conifer forest, deciduous hardwood forest, brush scrub, and prairie) could not be detected. Sediment-forming processes can therefore be altered by changes in local terrestrial vegetation through several mechanisms that are independent of changes in lake level.

The Gesher Benot Ya'aqov archaeological site in the northern Dead Sea Rift of Israel contains Acheulian artifacts and middle Pleistocene fossils. Initial results of a new interdisciplinary study have shown that fluviolacustrine sediments of the Benot Ya'aqov Formation, which contains several archaeological occupations, were deposited in an embayment of the Hula Basin. They were subsequently deformed by tectonic activity associated with the Dead Sea Rift. Biostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, and K-Ar dating serve to constrain the age of the Benot Ya'aqov Formation to between 240,000 and 730,000 yr B.P. Archaeological excavation of three areas and two trenches at the new study area have produced abundant basalt, flint, and limestone artifacts, mammalian and avian fossils, and considerable plant material. The lithic materials provide an excellent opportunity to study large assemblages of in situ Acheulian artifacts, a rare phenomenon in the middle Pleistocene Levantine record. In addition, the organic materials will facilitate paleoenvironmental reconstructions from an ecological-floral perspective.

The Holocene pollen sequence in the Minnesota area is “asymmetric” around the so-called prairie period: the early Holocene is dominated by elm (with pine in the north) and the late Holocene by oak. The elm zone is interpreted as a manifestation of summer monsoonal rains enhanced by the Milankovitch insolation maximum, and the pine in the north is interpreted as a result of summer cooling near the retreating ice sheet. As the summer insolation waned during the Holocene, its associated monsoonal rains from the Caribbean moisture source lasted longer in the south (northeastern Iowa and southern Wisconsin), where the inferred mesic elm forest changed to prairie as late as 5000 yr B.P., compared to 8000 yr. B.P. in Minnesota (and 9000 yr B.P. in the Dakotas).