Beach ridges are depositional features that allow reconstruction of past sea-level variations, sediment dynamics, and storm activity. However, there are still very few systematic studies focusing on beach ridges available from the Gulf of Thailand. Along the east coast, satellite images provide evidence of beach ridges in the Chanthaburi Province, extending as far as 6 km inland, oriented parallel to the current coastline. These can be divided into a set of landward ridges (5.3–6.0 km inland) and seaward ridges (0.4–1.8 km inland) that are separated by an arm of the Chanthaburi estuary. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of 26 sand samples from 12 pits of ridge profiles suggests that the landward set of beach ridges formed ca. 3500 yr ago, while the seaward set of ridges formed between ca. 2100–1200 years ago, which also includes the modern active beach. It appears that the landward set of beach ridges developed during a period of relatively stable sea level followed by a rapid regression presently occupied by the arm of the Chanthaburi estuary. The seaward set of beach ridges apparently reflects a millennium of slowly retreating coastline until the modern beach ridge formed.

We explore the long-term environmental and human history of a small outer coast archipelago on the Northwest Coast in western Canada. Using relative sea-level change, we reconstruct ancient landscapes to design archaeological surveys that document a rich archaeological record spanning at least 11 000 years and demonstrate the cultural centrality of this geographically marginal landscape.

The modern Nile delta developed in the Middle and Late Holocene, and at its most northern-central point is situated at the Burullus Lagoon, which is environmentally diverse, including salt marshes, mudflats, and sand plains, and separated from a sea by a sand barrier overtopped with high sand dunes. The lagoon has been fed since the Middle Holocene by the Sebennitic branch of the Nile and marine intrusions through the Bughaz inlet. A sediment core (BO-1) was collected at the northeastern shore of the lagoon and sampled at centennial scale resolution in order to reconstruct the development of the lagoon. The results show that an initial and limited lagoon had developed at the end of the Early Holocene, but after a dry period ca. 7.2 cal ka BP it has been progressively transformed into a marshy area, with occasional inflows of sea water. Lower water level and higher salinity of the Burullus Lagoon at 6.0–5.5 and 4.8–4.2 cal ka BP reflected droughts in the Nile catchment. Thereafter, the river reactivated in the Burullus Lagoon area, and since 2.8 cal ka BP was accompanied by occasional inflows of sea water. Since ca. 0.8 cal ka BP, increased fluvial activity occurred in this part of the Nile delta, which terminated after construction of the Aswan dams in the twentieth century.

Around 8150 BP, the Storegga tsunami struck North-west Europe. The size of this wave has led many to assume that it had a devastating impact upon contemporaneous Mesolithic communities, including the final inundation of Doggerland, the now submerged Mesolithic North Sea landscape. Here, the authors present the first evidence of the tsunami from the southern North Sea, and suggest that traditional notions of a catastrophically destructive event may need rethinking. In providing a more nuanced interpretation by incorporating the role of local topographic variation within the study of the Storegga event, we are better placed to understand the impact of such dramatic occurrences and their larger significance in settlement studies.

To help characterise the palaeogeographic and lacustrine environmental changes that resulted from the Holocene transgression and residual subsidence in the eastern Kanto Plain of central Japan, we analysed four drill cores and reviewed other core data from the southern part of the Lake Inba area. Fossil diatom assemblages yielded evidence of centennial-scale palaeogeographic and salinity responses to sea-level changes since the late Pleistocene. We determined that the seawater incursion into the Lake Inba area during the Holocene transgression occurred at approximately 9000 yr. We also recognised a late Holocene regression event corresponding to the Yayoi regression, considered to have occurred from ca. 3000 to ca. 2000 yr, and a subsequent transgression. Our data clarify some of the palaeogeographic changes that occurred in the Lake Inba area and document an overall trend toward lower salinity in the lake during the regression. In particular, the environment in Lake Inba changed from brackish to freshwater no later than 1000 yr. From the detailed palaeogeographic and palaeo-sea-level reconstruction, we recognised that residual subsidence occurred during the Holocene in this area. Thus, comparison of sea-level reconstructions based on modelling and fossil diatom assemblages is effective in interpreting Holocene long-term subsidence.

The Ordovician–Silurian (O–S) transition was a critical interval in geological history. Multiple geochemical methods are used to explore the changes in oceanic environment. The Nd isotopic compositions in the Yangtze Sea are controlled by two sources: the continental erosion and the Panthalassa Ocean. High εNd(t) values during the Katian, late Hirnantian and Rhuddanian intervals are associated with the high sea level, which resulted in less terrestrial input based on the low Ti/Al and Zr/Al ratios. In contrast, low εNd(t) values during the early Hirnantian interval are related to the sea-level fall; in this case, the exposure of submarine highs and the growth of Yangtze Oldlands could lead to more continental materials being transported into the Yangtze Sea based on high Ti/Al and Zr/Al ratios. In addition, the negative εNd(t) excursion can also be attributed to the weak circulation between the Yangtze Sea and Panthalassa Ocean when sea level was low. Furthermore, the sea-level eustacy plays a significant role in the changes in redox water conditions. The redox indices, mainly UEF, Ce/Ce* and Corg/PT, across the O–S transition show a predominance of anoxic ocean over the Yangtze Sea during the Katian, late Hirnantian and Rhuddanian intervals, and an oxygenated episode was briefly introduced during the early Hirnantian period because of the fall in sea level. The Late Ordovician biotic crisis was marked by two-phase extinction events, and the change in sea level and redox chemistry may be the important kill mechanisms.

Clay minerals from the tidal flat sediments along the coast of Youngjong Island, west of mainland Korea, were studied to ascertain their potential as an indicator of sea-level fluctuation. Semi-quantitative analysis of their clay-size fractions by XRD shows that the vertical distribution of clay minerals can be separated into four clay mineral assemblage units. Based on the relative contents of chlorite, four sedimentary units are distinguishable, and the abundance of chlorite is inversely related to that of smectite. The kaolinite content is constant, and so it is clear that chlorite originating from the Han River was transformed to smectite by pedogenesis during regression periods. Therefore, the relative contents of clay minerals from the unconsolidated materials in the tidal flat of Youngjong Island canbe used as indicators of transgression and regression in accordance with the sea-level fluctuation.

A sediment core (14DH-C01) obtained from the mouth of Gomso Bay, on the west coast of South Korea, was used to obtain high-resolution palynomorph, grain-size, and 14C age data to investigate the Holocene sedimentary environment. The results indicated a transgressive depositional process with four stages controlled by sea-level change, as follows: river-dominated fluvial deposition from the early Holocene to 8.48 cal ka BP; tide-dominated tidal channel fill transgression from 8.48 to 8.08 cal ka BP; tide- to wave-dominated tidal channel fill transgression from 8.08 to 6.98 cal ka BP; and wave-dominated marine transgression from 6.98 cal ka BP to the present. Tidal channel filling was the primary mid-Holocene depositional process, accounting for the high sedimentation rate observed. The different hydrodynamics of the river-dominated, tide-dominated, tide- to wave-dominated, and wave-dominated processes following the changes in sea level may have controlled the transgressive depositional process. This transgressive sedimentary model differs from those of other large river mouth areas (e.g., the Changjiang River) since the mid-Holocene, perhaps resulting from the limited sediment supply in the study area.

Archaeological records of the Neolithic settlements on the eastern China coast between 35°N and 30°N, an area covering the abandoned Yellow River and the Yangtze River delta plains, reveal that Neolithic people moved from the Yellow River basin onto the northern coast for fishing, hunting and dry-land agriculture ~ 7000 yr ago. Marine transgression interrupted their activities on the low-lying (2–5 m in elevation) coastal wetlands between 6000 and 5000 yr ago, after which they reclaimed their land near the river mouths. Their migration routes on the southern Yangtze delta plain indicate another scenario: early Neolithic communities moved onto the plain for wet-rice cultivation. Despite relative sea-level rise from 7000 to 4000 yr ago, a large number of settlements were established on the lowlands between the eastern Chenier Ridges and the western Taihu Lake depression. The Chenier Ridges, with ~ 1.0 m higher topography than the adjacent coastal area, played a role in sheltering the Neolithic people. Subsequently, settlements waned considerably, possibly due to further marine inundation combined with cold climate. The present study shows that migration patterns of the Neolithic settlements are closely associated with a gradually rising sea level between 7000 and 4000 yr ago.

Areas of southeastern Alaska and the Queen Charlotte Islands of the northwestern Pacific coast of North America were considered to be ice free during the late Wisconsinan glaciation and glacial refugia existed. However, a glacier extended from mainland North America to the shelfbreak in Dixon Entrance separating Alaska and the Queen Charlotte Islands. Glacial retreat to the east began sometime after 15,000 to 16,00014C yr B.P. and ice had completely left Dixon Entrance by 13,500 to 13,00014C yr B.P. A rapid sea-level regression occurred soon after deglaciation began, due to isostatic rebound, with relative sea level falling to approximately 150 m below present in central Dixon Entrance, decreasing the size of the inlet by about 30 percent by 12,40014C yr B.P. The late Quaternary glacial and postglacial stratigraphic sequence is more than 100 m thick overlying older Pleistocene sediments and Tertiary bedrock. A late Wisconsinan diamicton is overlain by glaciomarine muds formed between approximately 14,400 and 13,00014C yr B.P. Contemporaneous with the deposition of the glaciomarine muds an extensive outwash deposit formed off the northern coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands to a present depth of 150 m. During the sea-level lowstand and subsequent transgression, a reworked sand unit was deposited over much of the seafloor to depths greater than 450 m. The unit is exposed at the seafloor over much of the region, suggesting that seabed hydrodynamic energy levels were high after 13,00014C yr B.P. and remain so today.

The architecture of coastal sequences in tectonically-active regions results mostly from a combination of sea-level and land-level changes. The objective of this study is to unravel these signals by combining sequence stratigraphy and sedimentology of near-shore sedimentary sequences in wave-built terraces. We focus on Santa María Island at the south-central Chile margin, which hosts excellent exposures of coastal sediments from Marine Isotope Stage 3. A novel method based on statistical analysis of grain-size distributions coupled with facies descriptions provided a detailed account of transgressive–regressive cycles. Radiocarbon ages from paleosols constrain the chronology between > 53 and ~ 31 cal ka BP. Because the influence of glaciations can be neglected, we calculated relative sea-level curves by tying the onset of deposition on a bedrock abrasion platform to a global sea-level curve. The observed depositional cycles match those predicted for uplift rates between 1.2 and 1.8 m/ka. The studied sedimentary units represent depositional cycles that resulted in reoccupation events of an existing marine terrace. Our study demonstrates wave-built marine terrace deposits along clastic shorelines in temperate regions can be used to distinguish between tectonic uplift and climate-induced sea-level changes.

The fossil remains of 43 bowhead whales were mapped on the raised beaches of western Wollaston Peninsula, Victoria Island, Canadian Arctic, near the historic summer range limit of the Bering Sea stock in the Beaufort Sea. The elevations and radiocarbon ages of the remains demonstrate that the bowhead ranged commonly into the region following the submergence of Bering Strait at ca. 10,000 14C yr B.P. until ca. 8500 14C yr B.P. During the same interval, bowheads ranged widely from the Beaufort Sea to Baffin Bay. Subsequently, no whales reached Wollaston Peninsula until ca. 1500 14C yr B.P. Late Holocene populations evidently were small, or occupations were brief, in comparison to those of the early Holocene. Although the late Holocene recurrence may relate to the expansion of pioneering Thule whalers eastward from Alaska, there are few Thule sites and limited evidence of Thule whaling in the area surveyed to support this suggestion.

The relationship of sea-level changes and short-term climatic changes with turbidite deposition is poorly documented, although the mechanisms of gravity-driven sediment transport in submarine canyons during sea-level changes have been reported from many regions. This study focuses on the activity of the Dakar Canyon off southern Senegal in response to major glacial/interglacial sea-level shifts and variability in the NW-African continental climate. The sedimentary record from the canyon allows us to determine the timing of turbidite events and on the basis of XRF-scanning element data, we have identified the climate signal at a sub-millennial time scale from the surrounding hemipelagic sediments. Over the late Quaternary the highest frequency in turbidite activity in the Dakar Canyon is confined to major climatic terminations when remobilisation of sediments from the shelf was triggered by the eustatic sea-level rise. However, episodic turbidite events coincide with the timing of Heinrich events in the North Atlantic. During these times continental climate has changed rapidly, with evidence for higher dust supply over NW Africa which has fed turbidity currents. Increased aridity and enhanced wind strength in the southern Saharan–Sahelian zone may have provided a source for this dust.

Holocene driftwood is found on postglacial raised beaches of Wollaston Peninsula, Victoria Island. The highest driftwood appears on the 12- to 13-m beach, which formed about 4000 yr B.P., and is common on beaches 12–6 m in elevation. The earliest Paleoeskimo dwelling features also occur on the 12- to 13-m beach. Wood increases on the 5- to 6-m beach, which formed about 2000 yr B.P., and is abundant below that level. Thus, zonation of wood suggests the following hypotheses: (1) that the coastal Mackenzie Current, the source of modern driftwood, did not operate before 4000 yr B.P. and lacked its present vigor or persistence until 2000 yr B.P.; and (2) that the apparent sudden influx of driftwood at 4000 yr B.P. may have provided a fuel resource and (or) may have been related to conditions that enabled first peopling. Radiocarbon ages indicate that (1) the first wood arrived about 4700 yr B.P.; (2) little wood arrived from 4700–2000 yr B.P.; and (3) influx of wood was episodic after 2000 yr B.P. Much of the wood that arrived after 1100 yr B.P. was redistributed by people and scattered on higher beaches. Explanation of the evident correlation between highest wood and highest dwelling features must await archaeological studies.

A combination of ‘bomb spike’ calibration and conventional calibration of AMS 14C dating has been used to determine a detailed age-depth model for a 1-m sediment section collected from a salt marsh in Poole Harbour, southern England. These data were compared with the chronology obtained from 210Pb analysis and 137Cs age markers. We report post bomb values of over 1.46 F14C (> 146% modern 14C), and both the rising and falling limbs of the atmospheric ‘bomb spike’ are identified. Five pre-bomb samples were analysed using multi-target high-precision 2‰ AMS analysis, and after the replicates were combined the one-sigma uncertainty was as low as ± 9 14C yr on some ages. These data, and an additional three normal-precision pre-bomb 14C samples, were calibrated using CALIB 5.0 and the chronology constrained using the ‘prior knowledge’ of independent age markers obtained from the analysis of pollen and spheroidal carbonaceous particle (SCPs). No agreement was found between the 14C ‘bomb spike’ dates and the CRS 210Pb chronology modelled for this sequence. In addition, poor agreement was found between the signal of the 1960s weapons test fallout indicated by the 14C ‘bomb spike’ dates and the timing suggested by the 137Cs data. This disagreement is attributed to the influence of the local discharge of 137Cs from the former UKAEA site at Winfrith. We use our new chronology to confirm the existence of an acceleration in sedimentation rates in Poole Harbour during the last 100 yr previously reported for this site by Long et al. (Long, A.J., Scaife, R.G., Edwards, R.J. 1999. Pine Pollen in intertidal sediments from Poole Harbour, UK; implications for late-Holocene sediment accretion rates and sea-level rise. Quaternary International, 55, 3–16.), and conclude that ‘bomb spike’ 14C calibration dating may offer a more robust alternative to the use of 210Pb chronologies for dating sediment deposition in salt-marsh environments. In addition, we demonstrate how the use of high-precision AMS analysis has the potential for reducing some of the uncertainties involved in the high-resolution dating of recent salt-marsh sediments.

The widely quarried and commercially exploited Gonioclymenia Limestone of the western and southern Tafilalt Platform (Anti-Atlas, SE Morocco) represents a transgressive but strongly condensed and shallowing upwards unit that overlies conformably or unconformably Famennian to Lower Devonian deposits. It is characterized by abundant, giant-sized Gonioclymenia speciosa, which characterizes the Famennian V-B, and rare Leviclymenia ramula sp. nov. Associated conodont faunas fall in the Bispathodus costatus Subzone of the B. aculeatus aculeatus (= Middle expansa) Zone. A rare outcrop at Jebel Ihrs West proved that Kalloclymenia and conodont faunas of the B. ultimus ultimus (= Upper expansa) Zone occur in a separate, overlying unit of the lower part of Famennian VI. Consequently, joint occurrences of Gonioclymenia and Kalloclymenia on large limestone slabs that are on offer in rock shops are artificial assemblages; there is no evidence for a regional co-occurrence of both genera. This is supported by correlation into thicker sections of the adjacent Maider and Tafilalt Basins. The Tafilalt Gonioclymenia Transgression may represent the regional expression of a eustatic pulse in the B. costatus Subzone that is known on the Ardennes Shelf as the transgressive Epinette Event. The conodont faunas yielded Neopolygnathus fibula sp. nov., Pseudopolygnathus primus tafilensis ssp. nov., new morphotypes of B. spinulicostatus and Pseudopolygnathus primus primus, the oldest Siphonodella (Eosiphonodella) and variable ‘siphonodelloids’ that are currently left in open nomenclature.

The rise of Holocene (ground)water level as a function of relative sea-level rise has been extensively investigated in the western Netherlands, whereas few studies focused on the Flevo lagoon in the central Netherlands. In this study, all available 14C dates from the base of basal peat overlying the top of compaction-free Pleistocene sand in the former Flevo lagoon were evaluated in order to reconstruct water-level rise for the period 5300-2000 cal. yr BC. The present basal peat 14C data set from Flevoland consists of two subsets: (1) the largely new Almere data (41 dates) representing the southern part of the former Flevo lagoon, with 26 dates especially carried out for this study, and (2) the existing Schokland data (21 dates) representing the eastern part of the lagoon. The Schokland area is located about 50 km from the Almere area. The quality of all basal peat time-depth data was palaeo-ecologically and geologically evaluated, all 14C dates were calibrated to the same standards, and error margins of age and altitude determination were estimated. After plotting the data as error boxes in time-depth graphs, lower limit curves for water-level rise were constructed for both data sets. Comparison with the mean sea-level curve for The Netherlands (Van de Plassche, 1982) suggests that water-level rise in the Almere area between 5300 and 2000 cal. yr BC corresponded closely to the rise in mean sea level. The same holds for the Schokland area for the period 5000-4200 cal. yr BC. For the period 4200-2000 cal. yr BC, however, the Schokland data suggest water-level rise to have been slower than mean sea-level rise, leading to local water levels apparently below mean sea level, which is virtually impossible. Hypothetical explanations for this discrepancy include: errors and uncertainties in mean sea-level and local water-level reconstruction, basin subsidence and temporal differences in intra-coastal tidal damping. The presently available data are inconclusive at this point and Holocene water-level rise in the Flevo lagoon awaits further investigations.

Ra’s al-Hamra 6 (RH-6) is one of the earliest stratified archaeological sites along the eastern littoral of the Arabian Peninsula. This shell midden was radiocarbon dated to the 6th–5th millennium cal BC, but the majority of the dates were obtained before the advent of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dating and suffer from large uncertainties. In addition, most of these dates were obtained on marine and mangrove shells and required correction for local variations from the global average marine 14C reservoir age (MRA). This proved difficult because no consensus value exists for this period in the area. Recent excavations at RH-6 offered the opportunity to redate this important site in order to precisely determine its occupation history and later use as a graveyard, and establish the marine reservoir effect for this time period. Thirty-eight samples of charcoal, shells, and human bone apatite were selected for 14C dating. Bayesian modeling of the 14C dates suggests that the formation of the shell midden spanned ~1 millennium, between the mid-6th and the mid-5th millennium cal BC. Positive and consistent ΔR values were calculated throughout the entire sequence, ranging from 99±27 to 207±43 14C yr. At the beginning of the 4th millennium cal BC, RH-6 was used as a graveyard, as suggested by the 14C dating of a shell in strict association with an individual buried at the surface of the site. 14C dating of human bone apatite allowed us to calculate that 89% of this individual’s diet derived from marine resources. This finding confirms previous observations showing the overwhelming presence of marine and mangrove-dwelling species in the faunal and charcoal assemblage, and implies a low mobility, or mobility restricted to the coast for this population during the 4th millennium cal BC.

The North Sea subsurface shows the marks of long-term tectonic subsidence. Much of it contains a thick record of glacial and interglacial deposits and landscapes, formed during multiple glacial cycles and the associated regressions and transgressions during the past two million years. At times of lower sea level than today, areas that are presently submerged were fertile lowlands more favourable for hunting and gathering than the surrounding upland. These drowned lowlands are not captured by traditional 1:250,000 geological maps of the North Sea subsurface because the underlying seismic and core data are commonly too widely spaced to achieve this. Palaeolandscape mapping requires identification of building blocks with spatial scales in the order of 1 km or less. As high-density 2D and high-quality 3D seismics are becoming available for an increasing part of the North Sea, glacial and interglacial palaeolandscapes can be reconstructed for more and more areas. An overview of published palaeolandscape reconstructions shows that shallow time slices through 3D data provide map views that are very suitable for the identification of landscape elements. For optimal results, each time slice needs to be validated and ground-truthed with 2D seismics and with descriptions and analyses of cores and borehole samples. Interpretations should be made by teams of geoscientists with a sufficiently broad range of expertise to recognise and classify even subtle or unfamiliar patterns and features. The resulting reconstructions will provide a context and an environmental setting for Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic societies and finds.