Soils on uplifted Quaternary reef terraces of Barbados, ∼125,000 to ∼700,000 yr old, form a climo-chronosequence and show changes in physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties with terrace age. Parent materials are dust derived from the Sahara, volcanic ash from the Lesser Antilles island arc, and detrital carbonate from the underlying reef limestone. Although some terrace soils are probably eroded, soils or their remnants are redder and more clay-rich with increasing terrace age. Profile-average Al2O3 and Fe2O3 content increases with terrace age, which partially reflects the increasing clay content, but dithionite-extractable Fe also increases with terrace age. Profile-average K2O/TiO2, Na2O/TiO2, and P2O5/TiO2 values decrease with terrace age, reflecting the depletion of primary minerals. Average SiO2/Al2O3 values also decrease with terrace age and reflect not only loss of primary minerals but also evolution of secondary clay minerals. Although they are not present in any of the parent materials, the youngest terrace soils are dominated by smectite and interstratified kaolinite-smectite, which gradually alter to relatively pure kaolinite over ∼700,000 yr. Comparisons with other tropical islands, where precipitation is higher and rates of dust fall may be lower, show that Barbados soils are less weathered than soils of comparable age. It is concluded that many soil properties in tropical regions can be potentially useful relative-age indicators in Quaternary stratigraphic studies, even when soils are eroded or changes in soil morphology are not dramatic.

The waters off northern Iceland are subjected to extreme hydrographic variability on annual to decadal timescales. In years when cold low-salinity water moves coastward and sea ice is prevalent (i.e., the late 1960s), marine productivity of surface waters is low because the water column is well stratified. In the opposite oceanographic mode, warm, salty Atlantic Water dominates the shelf and vertical mixing results in high productivity. We track these two contrasting modes by measuring the carbonate content of marine sediments, a proxy for productivity, in three cores from northern Iceland. The fjord record (B997-328PC) is anchored by eleven 14C AMS dates and has a resolution of one sample every 50 yr. Thirteen oscillations occurred over the last 4800 cal yr with an average length of 370 yr; these are superimposed on a long-term decrease in net carbonate accumulation. The Little Ice Age is marked by the largest decrease in carbonate content and in flux, with smaller minima at 2300 and 3000 cal yr B.P. Marked peaks in carbonate (optima) occurred at 2000 and 3800 cal yr B.P. The carbonate record from B997-328PC can be correlated with records on the inner shelf (B997-330PC) and midshelf (B997-327PC), indicating that significant regional changes in oceanography occurred at the southern margin of the Norwegian–Greenland Sea. The marine carbonate fluctuations closely track temperature reconstructions from the Greenland Summit site for the last 2000 cal yr and show similar, but slightly offset, oscillations between 2000 and ca. 4800 cal yr B.P.

In the midwestern United States, large rivers draining the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) were the most important sources of Peoria Loess, deposited during the last glaciation. Loess deposition near those rivers may have responded primarily to ice-sheet dynamics rather than direct effects of climatic change. In contrast, it has been proposed that thick Peoria Loess on the central Great Plains was derived mainly from unglaciated landscapes northwest of the main loess deposits. In this study, transport directions inferred from more than 600 measurements of Peoria Loess thickness in Nebraska are used to test the hypothesis that much of the Peoria Loess on the Great Plains is nonglaciogenic. A strong northwest to southeast thickness trend indicates that most Peoria Loess in Nebraska was transported from one or more unglaciated northwestern source areas rather than from glacially influenced river floodplains. The Missouri River (draining the LIS), the Platte River (draining alpine glaciers), and the Elkhorn River (unglaciated basin) were secondary sources. Their contribution is not detectable beyond a distance of 40–60 km. Peoria Loess deposition on the central Great Plains was largely a direct response to climatic change in the unglaciated source region.

The 36Cl dating method is increasingly being used to determine the surface-exposure history of Quaternary landforms. Production rates for the 36Cl isotopic system, a critical component of the dating method, have now been refined using the well-constrained radiocarbon-based deglaciation history of Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands, Washington. The calculated total production rates due to calcium and potassium are 91±5 atoms 36Cl (g Ca)−1 yr−1 and are 228±18 atoms 36Cl (g K)−1 yr−1, respectively. The calculated ground-level secondary neutron production rate in air, Pf(0), inferred from thermal neutron absorption by 35Cl is 762±28 neutrons (g air)−1 yr−1 for samples with low water content (1–2 wt.%). Neutron absorption by serpentinized harzburgite samples of the same exposure age, having higher water content (8–12 wt.%), is ∼40% greater relative to that for dry samples. These data suggest that existing models do not adequately describe thermalization and capture of neutrons for hydrous rock samples. Calculated 36Cl ages of samples collected from the surfaces of a well-dated dacite flow (10,600–12,800 cal yr B.P.) and three disparate deglaciated localities are consistent with close limiting calibrated 14C ages, thereby supporting the validity of our 36Cl production rates integrated over the last ∼15,500 cal yr between latitudes of 46.5° and 51°N. Although our production rates are internally consistent and yield reasonable exposure ages for other localities, there nevertheless are significant differences between these production rates and those of other investigators.

We present a record of climate variability spanning the last 2000 years obtained from sediment cores retrieved south and west of Puerto Rico in the northeastern Caribbean Sea. The records include lithological and mineral magnetic parameters as well as planktonic foraminifer data. For chronostratigraphic control, AMS 14C and 210Pb/137Cs measurements were made. Harmonic analysis of the values of the mineral magnetic parameters “saturation isothermal remanent magnetization” (SIRM), “anhysteric remanent magnetization divided by magnetic susceptibility” (ARM/χ), and “saturation isothermal remanent magnetization divided by magnetic susceptibility” (SIRM/χ) indicate the existence of a ∼200-year-long climate cycle in the northeastern Caribbean during the last 2000 years. The detected cycle may reflect changes in precipitation patterns over the low-latitude North Atlantic Ocean and surrounding continental areas. Higher organic carbon contents appear in the sediments both off southern and western Puerto Rico before and at the onset of the Little Ice Age around A.D. 1300 to 1500. This is indicative of increased run off and/or enhanced surface productivity possibly associated with more intense wind-induced upwelling. Major changes in the geochemical and mineral magnetic records around A.D. 850–1000 concur with changes in other records from the Caribbean and North African regions indicating a shift toward a more humid climate over the low-latitude North Atlantic.

Time series of terrigenous source elements (Al, K, Ti, Zr) from core GeoB4901-8 recovered from the deep-sea fan of the Niger River record variations in riverine sediment discharge over the past 245,000 yr. Although the flux rates of all the elements depend on physical erosion, which is mainly controlled by the extent of vegetation coverage in central Africa, element/Al ratios reflect conditions for chemical weathering in the river basin. Maximum sediment input to the ocean occurs during cold and arid periods, when precipitation intensity and associated freshwater runoff are reduced. High carbonate contents during the same periods indicate that the sediment supply has a positive effect on river-induced marine productivity. In general, variations in the terrestrial signals contain a strong precessional component in tune with changes in low-latitude solar radiation. However, the terrestrial signal lags the insolation signal by several thousand years. K/Al, Ti/Al, and Zr/Al records reveal that African monsoonal precipitation depends on high-latitude forcing. We attribute the shift between insolation cycle and river discharge to the frequently reported nonlinear response of African climate to primary orbital configurations, which may be caused by a complex interaction of the secondary control parameters, such as surface albedo and/or thermohaline circulation.

Palynological analysis of a core from the Atlantic rain forest region in Brazil provides unprecedented insight into late Quaternary vegetational and climate dynamics within this southern tropical lowland. The 576-cm-long sediment core is from a former beach-ridge “valley,” located 3 km inland from the Atlantic Ocean. Radio-carbon dates suggest that sediment deposition began prior to 35,000 14C yr B.P. Between ca. 37,500 and ca. 27,500 14C yr B.P. and during the last glacial maximum (LGM; ca. 27,500 to ca. 14,500 14C yr B.P.), the coastal rain forest was replaced by grassland and patches of cold-adapted forest. Tropical trees, such as Alchornea, Moraceae/Urticaceae, and Arecaceae, were almost completely absent during the LGM. Furthermore, their distributions were shifted at least 750 km further north, suggesting a cooling between 3°C and 7°C and a strengthening of Antarctic cold fronts during full-glacial times. A depauperate tropical rain forest developed as part of a successional sequence after ca. 12,300 14C yr B.P. There is no evidence that Araucaria trees occurred in the Atlantic lowland during glacial times. The rain forest was disturbed by marine incursions during the early Holocene period until ca. 6100 14C yr B.P., as indicated by the presence of microforaminifera. A closed Atlantic rain forest then developed at the study site.

Paleoenvironmental data, including pollen and sediment analyses, radiocarbon ages, and tephra identifications of a core recovered from a fen, provide a ca. 16,500 14C yr B.P. record of late Quaternary vegetation and climate change in the Long Valley area of west-central Idaho. The fen was deglaciated prior to ca. 16,500 14C yr B.P., after which the pollen rain was dominated by Artemisia, suggesting that a cold, dry climate prevailed until ca. 12,200 14C yr B.P. From ca. 12,200 to 9750 14C yr B.P. temperatures gradually increased and a cool, moist climate similar to the present prevailed. During this period a closed spruce–pine forest surrounded the fen. This cool, moist climate was briefly interrupted by a dry and/or cold interval between ca. 10,800 and 10,400 14C yr B.P. that may be related to the Younger Dryas climatic oscillation. From ca. 9750 to 3200 14C yr B.P. the regional climate was significantly warmer and drier than at present and an open pine forest dominated the area around the fen. Maximum aridity occurred after the deposition of the Mazama tephra (ca. 6730 14C yr B.P.). After 3200 14C yr B.P. regional cooling brought cool, moist conditions to the area; the establishment of the modern montane forest around the fen and present-day cool and moist climate began at ca. 2000 14C yr B.P.

Major Holocene monsoon changes in continental Southeast Asia are reconstructed from analysis of 14C-dated changes in pollen and organic/inorganic carbon in sediment cores taken from permanent, closed-basin, volcanic lakes in Ratanakiri Province, northeastern Cambodia. Analysis focuses on the nature and timing of monsoon changes, inferred from changes in vegetation and lake conditions. These data provide the first well-dated palynological record, covering most of the Holocene and continuous up to the present, from a terrestrial site in mainland Southeast Asia. The record from a 15-m core retrieved from Kara Lake, representing the last 9300 years, shows that the late Glacial conditions ended about 8500 14C yr B.P., more than 1000 years later than sites in southwest China. Summer monsoon intensity increased over the period ca. 8400–5300 14C yr B.P., similar to most other sites in the Asian monsoon region. A subsequent expansion of secondary forests at the expense of dense semievergreen forests suggest a drier climate leading to more frequent fire disturbance. After ca. 3500 14C yr B.P. disturbance frequency may have increased further with increasing seasonality. From ca. 2500 14C yr B.P. to the present, dense forest has recovered in a mosaic with annually burned dry forest, but climate may not be the main control on local vegetation dynamics in the late Holocene.

We present six new radiocarbon-dated emergence curves that provide a detailed record of postglacial emergence of northern Novaya Zemlya and ages which constrain the emergence of Vaygach Island in the southern archipelago. Radiocarbon ages on Hiatella sp. from a lateral moraine in Russkaya Gavan' and abundances of foraminifea in a marine core from Nordenskiold Bay, 300 km south of our study area, indicate that coastal deglaciation occurred prior to ∼10,000 cal yr B.P. However, postglacial emergence commenced ∼7000 cal yr B.P., with stabilization of global sea level. The total emergence is 13–11 m above sea level (asl) with apparent uplift rates of 1–2 mm/yr for the past 2000 yr, indicating modest glacier loads (<1 km), early (>11,000 cal yr B.P.) deglaciation, or both. The isobase pattern, showing no east–west tilt across Novaya Zemlya, and offshore moraines suggest a separate ice-dispersal center over Novaya Zemlya for the later stages of the Late Weichselian glacial cycle and possibly earlier.

At the Akkeshi estuary, rapid emergence interrupted Holocene submergence at least four times in the past 3000 years. Each emergence event produced an upward change from estuarine mud to freshwater peat. While the estuarine mud abounds in brackish and marine diatoms, freshwater taxa dominate the peat. Emergence events occurred from 1700 to 2300, 1000 to 1300, and 500 to 700 cal yr B.P. An additional emergence event predated by several decades a volcanic ash that erupted in A.D. 1694. At least three of the events produced contacts abrupt enough to represent uplift during earthquakes. Such uplift may reconcile seemingly conflicting records of vertical crustal movement in eastern Hokkaido. This tectonically active area, which is being subducted by the Pacific plate at 8 cm/yr, contains marine terraces that imply 0.1–0.5 mm/yr of net uplift in the late Quaternary. However, these terraces adjoin tide gages that recorded 8–9 mm/yr of steady submergence in the 20th century. The terrace uplift need not conflict with the gaged submergence if the region is subject to occasional coseismic uplift, as during the emergence events implied by Holocene geology near Akkeshi.

The postglacial vegetation history of Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Québec, was reconstructed from pollen analysis of three sites, providing the first paleoecological data for the island. The earliest plant communities (8550–7770 14C yr B.P.; 9500–8500 cal yr B.P.) were characterized by a high representation of green alder (Alnus crispa), indicating an open environment with sparse spruce (Picea). Between 7770 and 3700 14C yr B.P. (8500–4000 cal yr B.P.), the island was colonized by mixed deciduous and coniferous forests dominated by paper birch (Betula papyrifera) and spruce. A major increase in the abundance of balsam fir (Abies balsamea) occurred ca. 3700 14C yr B.P. (4000 cal yr B.P.), indicating development of the closed fir–spruce forests as they exist today. The island's remoteness from continental seed plant sources influenced plant colonization, afforestation, and ecological succession. The Gulf of St. Lawrence slowed plant migration, and tree species had to spread from the Gaspé Peninsula. Repeated drops in fir pollen percentages during the last 4,000 years may reflect the activity of defoliating insects.

Sediment cores collected along a transect in Crooked Pond, southeastern Massachusetts, provide evidence of water-level changes between 15,000 cal yr B.P. and present. The extent of fine-grained, detrital, organic accumulation in the basin, inferred from sediment and pollen stratigraphies, varied over time and indicates low water levels between 11,200 and 8000 cal yr B.P. and from ca. 5300 to 3200 cal yr B.P. This history is consistent with the paleohydrology records from nearby Makepeace Cedar Swamp and other sites from New England and eastern Canada and with temporal patterns of regional changes in effective soil moisture inferred from pollen data. The similarities among these records indicate that (1) regional conditions were drier than today when white pine (Pinus strobus) grew abundantly in southern New England (11,200 to 9500 cal yr B.P.); (2) higher moisture levels existed between 8000 and 5500 cal yr B.P., possibly caused by increased meridonal circulation as the influence of the Laurentide ice sheet waned; and (3) drier conditions possibly contributed to the regional decline in hemlock (Tsuga) abundances at 5300 cal yr B.P. Although sea-level rise may have been an influence, moist climatic conditions during the late Holocene were the primary reason for a dramatic rise in water-table elevations.

A deep-sea sediment core from the western Portuguese margin has provided a continuous, high-resolution record of millennial-scale climatic oscillations during the interval 9000–65,000 yr B.P. Pollen analysis of the same sequence allows direct, in situ assessment of the phase relationship between the North Atlantic climate system and vegetation changes on the adjacent landmass. This demonstrates for the first time that variability in NW Iberian tree population size closely tracked millennial-scale climate variability.

Rodent (Abrocoma, Lagidium, Phyllotis) middens collected from 2350 to 2750 m elevation near Arequipa, Peru (16°S), provide an ∼9600-yr vegetation history of the northern Atacama Desert, based on identification of >50 species of plant macrofossils. These midden floras show considerable stability throughout the Holocene, with slightly more mesophytic plant assemblages in the middle Holocene. Unlike the southwestern United States, rodent middens of mid-Holocene age are common. In the Arequipa area, the midden record does not reflect any effects of a mid-Holocene mega drought proposed from the extreme lowstand (100 m below modern levels, >6000 to 3500 yr B.P.) of Lake Titicaca, only 200 km east of Arequipa. This is perhaps not surprising, given other evidence for wetter summers on the Pacific slope of the Andes during the middle Holocene as well as the poor correlation of summer rainfall among modern weather stations in the central Andes-Atacama Desert. The apparent difference in paleoclimatic reconstructions suggests that it is premature to relate changes observed during the Holocene to changes in El Niño Southern Oscillation modes.

Cyclostratigraphic analysis of the Pliocene Zújar section (Guadix-Baza Basin, southeastern Spain) has enabled the recognition of a number of climatically forced cycles reflecting alternating dry and wet periods. Peaks of aridity are recorded at ca. 3.95, 3.55, 3.2, 2.8, and 1.8 myr B.P. The first dry period at about 4.0 myr B.P. corresponds to the early Ruscinian Mammal age, while the second arid interval at about 3.6 myr B.P. corresponds to the establishment of the Mediterranean double seasonality. The significant mammal turnover between the late Ruscinian and early Villanyian stages is placed between chron 2An.2n and the very base of chron 2An.1n, coincident with the dry phase recognized at about 3.2 myr B.P. The fourth aridity maximum at 2.8 myr B.P. roughly coincides with the Equus event in western Europe and is probably related to the beginning of the glacial–interglacial dynamics in the Northern Hemisphere. Finally, the last dry peak at about 1.8 myr B.P. is probably related to the set of mammalian events characterizing the transition from the late Pliocene faunas to those of the early Pleistocene.

Celtis sp. (commonly known as “hackberry”) fruits were collected from 101 North American sites located in 13 states and one Canadian province between the years of 1979–1994. The biomineralized carbonate endocarp of the hackberry, which is a common botanical fossil found throughout the Quaternary sediments of the Great Plains, was analyzed for its δ18O value and plotted against the δ18O value of site environmental water to demonstrate the potential of the hackberry as a paleoclimate indicator. This correlation was reinforced by intensive studies on extracted tissue-water δ18O value and hackberry endocarp carbonate δ18O value from three trees in Sterling, Colorado. The observed correlation in the large data set between hackberry endocarp carbonate δ18O value and environmental water is [endocarp δ18O=38.56+0.69×environmental water δ18O] (R=0.88; R2=0.78; p value<0.0001). The relation of the hackberry carbonate to temperature in the Great Plains was the following: (average daily-maximum growing season temperature [°C])=6.33+0.67 (δ18O of endocarp carbonate) (R=0.73; R2=0.54; p value=0.0133). The δ18O value of early Holocene fossil hackberry carbonate in the Pintwater Cave, southern Nevada, suggested precipitation δ18O values more positive than today (∼−4‰ early Holocene vs ∼−9 to −10‰ today). This shift, combined with paleobotanical data, suggests an influx of summer monsoonal moisture to this region in the early Holocene. Alternatively, the more positive δ18O values could be viewed as suggestive of warmer temperatures, although the direct use of Great Plains hackberry/temperature relationships to the Great Basin is of debatable value.

Lake Johnston cirque contains some of the best subalpine rainforest in Tasmania. Pollen from the sediments shows Lagarostrobos franklinii, which presently reaches 1040 m, may be a glacial relict. Nothofagus cunninghamii–Nothofagus gunnii subalpine rainforest developed between 9000 and 6000 14C yr B.P., with a maximum at 8700 14C yr B.P. After 6000 14C yr B.P. Nothofagus gunnii became more important, and from 3600 14C yr B.P. sclerophyll and heath components increased. Partial burning of the catchment occurred periodically. Early Holocene climate was warmer and wetter than late Holocene climate. The vegetation and climate changes are similar to those recorded from western South Island New Zealand and Chile. Radiocarbon dates give a sedimentation rate of 0.43 mm/yr. Cores are correlated by magnetic susceptibility. Magnetic ages are assigned by matching with the 14C-dated secular variation master curve for southeastern Australia. Magnetic ages are consistent with the 14C chronology when the former are adjusted by 350 years.