A study of the average annual- and melt-season albedos for the northwest side of the Devon Island Ice Cap shows that there is no step in the average albedo either at the equilibrium or firn line. Similarly, during a period of increasing glacierization there is nowhere any dramatic increase in the average annual- or melt-season albedo with time as the equilibrium line gradually moves downslope. This means that the inception of ice caps and permanent snowfields does not make a significant change to the rate of increasing albedo and its associated feedback effects during the same period of glacierization. The extension of the annual period of snowcover generally is much more important to the feedback process (by increasing albedo) than the specific lowering of the equilibrium line. A decreased variability of summer climate, and hence the disappearance of “anomalously” warm summers, may be an integral part of the glacierizing process.

Five widespread tephra layers are found in late Quaternary sediments (0–130,000 yr B.P.) of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. These layers have been correlated among abyssal cores and to their respective terrestrial sources by electron-probe microanalysis of glass and pumice shards. Major element variations are sufficient to discriminate unambiguously between the five major layers. Oxygen isotope stratigraphy in one of the cores studied was used to data four of the five layers. Two of the widespread layers are derived from explosive eruptions of the Santorini volcanic complex: the Minoan Ash (3370 yr B.P.) and the Acrotiri Ignimbrite (18,000 yr B.P.). An additional layer, found in one core only, is most likely correlated to the Middle Pumice Series of Santorini (approximately 100,000 yr B.P.). Two layers are correlated to deposits on the islands of Yali and Kos and date to 31,000 and 120,000 yr B.P., respectively. One layer originated from the Neapolitan area of Italy 38,000 yr B.P.

A visually prominent desert soil with a horizon of clay accumulation (Typic Natrargid) has formed under an arid climate in Panamint Valley, California, in sandy, very calcareous, saline fan alluvium in less than about 3500 yr, and probably less than 2000 yr. Such soils can be used as stratigraphic markers, but could be confused with other desert soils with clay-accumulation horizons (Haplargids) which occur much more commonly on desert alluvial fans, are mostly late Pleistocene or older, and do not form in parent materials that are still calcareous. This Natrargid formed in a playa-margin environment, where clay for translocation and sodium salts that engender rapid clay movement probably were provided by dust fall.

At White Pond near Columbia, South Carolina, a pollen assemblage of Pinus banksiana (jack pine), Picea (spruce), and herbs is dated between 19,100 and 12,800 14C yr B.P. Plants of sandhill habitats are more prominent than at other sites of similar age, and pollen of deciduous trees is infrequent. The vegetation was probably a mosaic of pine and spruce stands with prairies and sand-dune vegetation. The climate may have been like that of the eastern boreal forest today. 14C dates of 12,800 and 9500 yr B.P. bracket a time when Quercus (oak), Carya (hickory), Fagus (beech), and Ostrya-Carpinus (ironwood) dominated the vegetation. It is estimated that beech and hickory made up at least 25% of the forest trees. Conifers were rare or absent. The environment is interpreted as hickory-rich mesic deciduous forest with a climate similar to but slightly warmer than that of the northern hardwoods region of western New York State. After 9500 yr B.P. oak and pine forest dominated the landscape, with pine becoming the most important tree genus in the later Holocene.

The Gervais Formation of northwestern Minnesota is the oldest known Quaternary stratigraphic unit in the Red River Valley. Wood from the fossiliferous silt and peat member is > 46,900 yr old. The age of the unit is uncertain but may be early Wisconsinan. A well-preserved beetle assemblage consisting of extant species is described from the fossiliferous horizon. Presently, most of the species are widely distributed and occur in Minnesota. The remainder have restricted northern distributions. Included in this group is the weevil Vitavitus thulius, known only from two localities in Northwest Territories. The sedimentary environment indicated by the beetles was a small lake, rich in aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation. The margins were characterized by open areas and spruce woodland. Species with arctic-alpine distributions indicate a cold environment, but whether it was regional or local in extent could not be determined. If regional, a climate similar to that of the tundra-forest transition zone is postulated with mean July temperatures in the range 11° to 14°C. If the cold environment was restricted, however, the climate may have been similar to that of the Lake Superior region with a mean July temperature of 17°C.

Marine ostracodes from 50 localities were studied to determine the age and elevation of Pleistocene sea levels in the Atlantic coastal plain from Maryland to northern Florida. Using ostracode taxon and concurrent ranges, published planktic biostratigraphic, paleomagnetic, and radiometric data, ostracode assemblage zones representing early (1.8-1.0 my), middle (0.7-0.4 my), and late (0.3-0.01 my) Pleistocene deposition were recognized and used as a basis for correlation. Ostracode biofacies signifying lagoonal, oyster bank, estuarine, open sound, and inner sublittoral environments provided estimated ranges of paleodepths for each locality. From these data the following minimum and maximum Pleistocene sea-level estimates were determined for the southeastern coastal plain: late Pleistocene, 2–10 m from Maryland to northern Florida; middle Pleistocene, 6–15 m in northern South Carolina; early Pleistocene, 4–22 m in central North Carolina, 13–35 m in southern North Carolina, and 6–27 m in South Carolina. Climatically induced glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations adequately account for the late Pleistocene sea-level data, but other factors, possibly differential crustal uplift, may have complicated the early Pleistocene record.

A quantitative study on faunal density and faunal diversity was carried out on benthic foraminifers from 15 samples of two eastern Mediterranean deep-sea cores. Samples were taken beneath, within, and above three distinctive levels well correlatable for over 1000 km: (a) Sapropel S-5, late Pleistocene in age, correlative with marine isotopic stage 5e and with the Tyrrhenian transgression, with an interpolated age of ∼ 125,000 yr: (b) the “Ischia” tephra Y-5, the most widespread ash layer of the eastern Mediterranean, correlative with the transition from isotopic stages 3 to 2 and having an interpolated age of ∼ 35,000 yr; and (c) Sapropel S-1, Holocene in age, correlative with the Flandrian transgression, radiometrically dated at ∼8000 yr B.P. The most severe effects on benthic life were induced by stagnation (a). Deglaciation corresponding to Termination II was so rapid that the benthic assemblages could not adapt themselves to the too-rapidly decreasing oxygen levels and were entirely destroyed. More than 1000 yr after the termination of stagnant conditions no recolonization had yet started. The lesser disturbance was induced in the benthic community by the ash fall (b). The faunal destruction was ephemeral in duration and the colonizing population did not differ from that predating the ash fall. A progressive faunal change, with increasing abundance of taxa tolerant to low oxygen levels, was recorded beneath Sapropel S-1 (c). The recolonizing assemblage differs from the previously existing one, and is more similar to those recorded from the floor of the Mediterranean.

Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), and gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) were examined for clinal variation during the Holocene. Modern samples of all three species displayed strong east-west patterns along the western edge of the eastern deciduous forest: S. floridanus and S. niger decrease and S. carolinensis increases in size. Archeological samples of S. carolinensis from Rodgers Shelter (23BE125), Benton County, Missouri, and Graham Cave (23MT2), Montgomery County, Missouri, indicated an increase in size from early to middle Holocene. Sylvilagus floridanus from Rodgers Shelter decreased in size from early to middle Holocene and then increased during the late Holocene to modern proportions. A literature survey reveals that clinal variation is a common phenomenon among modern homeotherms. In introduced species, clinal variation has developed after relatively few generations, indicating rapid adaptations to environmental conditions; often winter climatic variables are implicated. Morphological variation in the study species during the Holocene is interpreted as a response to changing climates. Studies of morphological clines may lead to another valuable data source for reconstructing past ecologies.

An extensive ancient archeologic site containing lithic artifacts and associated with mammoth remains was reported at Chinitna Bay, southern Alaska in 1943. The presence of such a site adjacent to the continental shelf at the base of the rugged Aleutian Range suggested that humans may have inhabited the inner shelf environment during the late Pleistocene at times of lowered sea level. Because of the site's potential significance, an interdisciplinary research team relocated and reinvestigated the area in 1978, but failed to find evidence of prehistoric human habitation. Geologic studies and radiocarbon dating indicate that the strata reported at the site are intertidal in origin, very late Holocene in age, and have undergone significant tectonic movement in the recent past. These observations indicate that the previously published observations of the Chinitna Bay site are probably invalid.