Pollen analysis was carried out on the infilling succession of the Fossa San Vito sinkhole, at the NE foothills of the Sarno Plain (Italy). Four 14C dates and six tephra layers constrain the pollen sequence between ca. 6000 and 500 cal yr BP. A forested environment, with a few signs of human activities, characterizes the pre-protohistoric period (ca. 6000–2750 yr BP). Stability of the arboreal pollen grains to non-arboreal pollen grains (AP/NAP) curve is due to climate-related opposite oscillations of deciduous and evergreen forest. In this period, the pyroclastic products from Neapolitan volcanoes that reached the upper Sarno Plain seem to have affected neither vegetation nor human activities. In the archaic and classic periods (ca. 2750–1500 yr BP), intensive deforestation and increase in anthropogenic indicators indicate the occurrence of grazing and crop activities managed by the main urban centers located in the plain: Pompeii, Stabiae, and Nuceria. After the Pompeii eruption in CE 79, a rapid re-afforestation and decline in all anthropogenic indicators testify to the temporary abandonment of the area, linked to the disastrous demise of the main economic centers. The upper plain was repopulated and exploited in the Late Ancient and Middle Ages (ca. 1700–500 yr BP), as indicated by the increase in all crop and grazing indicators.

Photogrammetry was used to elucidate complex strata relationships between isolated outcrops of the Palaeocene lava fields of SW Mull, part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province. Subsequent sampling for lava geochemistry and palynology was undertaken based on interpretation of these photogrammetry models. Coherent units of Plateau- and Staffa-type lavas were identified using lava geochemistry, in particular using rare earth elements (REEs), divisions supported by multivariate statistics. Lavas with three different REE compositional clusters were identified within the Staffa magma type and four within the Plateau type of SW Mull. Understanding the distribution of these lava types was achieved using the interpreted photogrammetry models and analysis of prominent interbedded sedimentary rock units and their correlative unconformities. Probably the most renowned rocks of SW Mull are the thick columnar jointed lavas, including those of the Isle of Staffa. REE geochemistry reveals that lavas of both Staffa- and Plateau-type geochemistry occur as columnar jointed facies associated with what has previously been attributed to the Staffa Lava Formation. Instead, the SW Mull Lava Field was initiated by eruption of Plateau-type lava into a fault-controlled valley. Subsequent eruptions of Staffa-type lavas partially infilled this structure, which was finally overfilled by a thick succession of younger Plateau-type lavas. The geochemical characteristics of this Plateau–Staffa–Plateau lava succession indicate that magma reservoirs deep in the crust were succeeded by shallow melts during a period of crustal extension. This phase of shallow melting induced topographical instability and formation of sedimentary interbeds and correlative unconformities that characterise the Staffa-type lava succession. Subsequent compressive tectonics forced a return to deep crustal melts. Interbed palynofloral compositional data indicate that eruption of the later Plateau-type lavas likely took place within a period of ~2.5 million years during the Selandian to early Thanetian period.

Detailed sedimentological, geochemical, palynological, and aquatic-microfossil analyses on a new composite profile (Para-Reference Profile Schöningen 13 II and Zeugenblock 13 II [2018]) exposed at the archaeological excavation site of Schöningen 13 II reflect several phases of newly recorded lake level fluctuations and vegetation changes. A pronounced deforestation and the expansion of grasses and herbal plant communities characterize the first steppe (open woodland) phase, which follows the interglacial forest communities. A succeeding tripartite woodland phase predominantly marked by Betula and Pinus is followed by another rather dry steppe phase and a second woodland period, which includes the famous archaeological “spear horizon” 13 II-4ab. Transition into a cold period is indicated by progressive desiccation of the lake and a shift to a steppe/tundra vegetation. Novel 3D images of the 10 most characteristic phases of the Reinsdorf sequence have been constructed based on the botanical data (macro remains as well as palynomorphs), terrestrial vertebrate faunal, geochemical, sedimentological, and previously established data from aquatic microfossils. In addition, a tentative correlation between the post-interglacial phases of the Reinsdorf sequence and Marine Isotope Substages 9d–9a, based on biostratigraphical as well as sedimentological data, is proposed.

Mudstones from the Argiles de Châtillon Formation exposed in the Boulonnais region of Northern France represent a proximal lateral equivalent of the organic-rich Kimmeridge Clay Formation. The Argiles de Châtillon Formation is composed of two subunits that straddle the Kimmeridgian–Tithonian boundary. Each subunit contains an organic-rich interval. The two conspicuous organic-rich intervals have been linked to either periods of high sea level or greenhouse warming. Here, we use palynology to further understand climate and environmental mechanisms that drove organic matter enrichment. We use bulk organic carbon isotope records (δ13Corg) to correlate the Boulonnais sections with those of the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. The palynological results suggest that the stratigraphically lower organic-rich interval (Kimmeridgian) was deposited under suboxic to anoxic stratified conditions. A large-scale climate shift from cooler/humid to warmer/arid conditions marked the Kimmeridgian–Tithonian boundary, influencing organic matter enrichment in the stratigraphically higher organic-rich interval (Tithonian). In contrast with the lower organic-rich interval, there are no indications of stratified conditions for the higher organic-rich interval. Within this thicker organic-rich interval, cyclic variations in amorphous organic matter distribution, total organic carbon and δ13Corg trends on a 2 m scale are observed. They co-occur with fluctuations of the palynological assemblages, indicative of more humid versus arid climate conditions, likely alternating on a ∼100 kyr eccentricity timescale. Our results show that under the most humid phases of these overall arid climate conditions, sulfurization of carbohydrates was the dominant control on organic matter preservation. This climate-controlled process that drives organic matter enrichment in the Tithonian can be recognized on a basin-wide scale.

Heathlands are unique cultural landscapes that once existed across vast stretches of northern Europe. Their deep-time persistence has formed an intrinsic part of economic and cultural practices. Such a complex interaction requires interdisciplinary approaches, including archaeology, across multiple regions to fully grasp all its aspects. The authors of this article review how research has been conducted in prehistoric heathlands across six nations in north-western Europe and outline the heaths’ general characteristics. They discuss the major issues in that research, namely recurring narratives derived from history, an overall absence of consideration of the cultural aspects of heathlands, and a paucity of cross-regional initiatives. They suggest a series of theoretical and methodological approaches to improve this situation across expanded geographical and temporal scales.

The Jurassic to Cretaceous strata exposed in the Rollrock Section, Sverdrup Basin, Arctic Canada, represent one of the northernmost continuous outcrops spanning this poorly understood transition. The Oxfordian–Valanginian mudstones of the Rollrock Section were deposited in a shallow marine environment and, as such, provide the ideal lithology to investigate the response of high latitude dinoflagellate cyst populations to the frequent environmental perturbations of this time. Using a multivariate statistical approach, distinct palaeoecologically significant groups are identified and directly linked to time and palaeoenvironments, allowing for the reconstruction of underlying long term palaeoenvironmental trends. These palaeoenvironmental trends are identified to be driven by sequence stratigraphic cycles. For the first time, fourth order sequences are recorded from this pivotal period in the Sverdrup Basin and reveal an additional level of short term climatic events that complicate the identification of long term trends. The relationship existing between marine phytoplankton and climate is utilised to decipher the interplay of long-term and short-term climate fluctuations, distinguishing them from evolutionary trends. Two groups of dinoflagellate cysts, identified by process morphology, are recorded to act as environmental proxies. High percentages of proximochorate dinoflagellate cysts, such as Trichodinium erinaceoides, indicate more proximal, high energy, nutrient rich conditions and are dominant in fourth order transgressive systems tracts. High percentages of chorate dinoflagellate cysts, such as Oligosphaeridium complex, signify distal, low energy, nutrient depleted conditions and are dominant in fourth order highstand systems tracts.

New palynological results from the Gafo Formation (southern sector of the Pulo do Lobo Domain, South Portuguese Zone) are integrated with recently studied sections and drillholes from the Portuguese and Spanish sectors. A total of 44 samples were studied, 27 of which were positive for palynomorph taxonomy. This research revealed well preserved palynological assemblages, including 73 spore species allocated to 28 genera, four acritarch genera, three prasinophyte algae genera plus common chitinozoan remains. Some additional forms were retained under open nomenclature. From this, the first complete age determination for the Gafo Formation in Portugal and Spain was achieved, indicating a middle Famennian (Grandispora gracilis–Grandispora famenensis, GF Biozone) to a late Famennian (Grandispora echinata, VH Biozone) age. A greywacke sample from the same Gafo Formation was dated by U–Pb zircon geochronology and a maximum depositional age of 369 ± 2.5 Ma was obtained. A correlation between these palynological and U–Pb zircon data and the palynoflora assemblages of previous authors was made, as well as with the ages of felsic volcanic rocks found intercalated in the Gafo Formation, confirming the complex stratigraphy of Pulo do Lobo Domain. The results are consistent with stratigraphic mapping and structural interpretations, allowing a middle–late Famennian age (GF and VH Biozone) to be assigned to the Gafo Formation sedimentary rocks. This work has also contributed to a reinterpretation of Gafo Formation depositional facies correlatives (e.g. the Santa Barbara Group in Spain) as being the same lithological unit.

The Paleogene lava flows of the Faroe Islands Basalt Group are divided into three relatively thick formations. The oldest, the Beinisvørð Formation is separated from the second lava flow succession, the Malinstindur Formation, by two formations composed primarily of volcaniclastic rocks. The oldest of these, the Prestfjall Formation has been interpreted as a period of eruptive quiescence and linked to changes in mantle melting. It is characterised in the south by the occurrence of coals, while the overlying Hvannhagi Formation is a sequence of primary and remobilised volcaniclastic strata. Field, laboratory, palynology, and photogrammetry studies have been used to investigate variations in facies and architecture within these volcaniclastic formations. The data reveal significantly different depositional systems in the Prestfjall and Hvannhagi formations over the ~40 km from the island of Vágar in the north to the island of Suðuroy in the south. Facies distribution in both the Prestfjall and Hvannhagi formations was found to have been controlled by a complex interaction of regional paleoslope, pre-existing topography, the eruption and local collapse of low-angle shield volcanoes, and minor brittle deformation. Lithological data and photogrammetry have enabled the identification of a > 180 m thick succession of volcaniclastic conglomerates deposited by lahars reworking a low-angle shield sector collapse. Co-occurrence of facies characteristic of the Prestfjall, Hvannhagi and Malinstindur formations indicate that volcanic eruption continued at a lower tempo throughout the Prestfjall Formation interval. Identification of a Beinisvørð Formation low-angle volcano shield northwest of the Faroe Islands alters the previous eruption model for this extensive lava field.

Climate changes over the past two millennia in the central part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence are documented in this paper with the aim of determining and understanding the natural climate variability and the impact of anthropogenic forcing at a regional scale. The palynological content (dinocysts, pollen, and spores) of the composite marine sediment core MSM46-03 collected in the Laurentian Channel was used to reconstruct oceanographic and climatic changes with a multidecadal temporal resolution. Sea-surface conditions, including summer salinity and temperature, sea-ice cover, and primary productivity, were reconstructed from dinocyst assemblages. Results revealed a remarkable cooling trend of about 4°C after 1230 cal yr BP (720 CE) and a culmination with a cold pulse dated to 170–40 cal yr BP (1780–1910 CE), which likely corresponds to the regional signal of the Little Ice Age. This cold interval was followed by a rapid warming of about 3°C. In the pollen assemblages, the decrease of Pinus abundance over the past 1700 yr suggests changes in wind regimes, likely resulting from increased southerly incursions of cold and dry Arctic air masses into southeastern Canada.

The Devonian/Carboniferous Boundary (DCB) interval is associated with mass extinction, isotope excursions and a short glacial episode. This study investigates how boundary extinction and environmental change is expressed in the glacial high-palaeolatitudinal record of the Bolivian Altiplano (western Gondwana). A latest Devonian and early Carboniferous section has been investigated using sedimentology, palynology, total organic carbon and bulk δ13Corganic. The Colpacucho Formation is a Late Devonian shelfal–marine siliciclastic sequence. It is overlain in the study area by a unit of coarse sandstones and sandy diamictites, interpreted as glaciomarine. This distinctive glaciomarine unit is at least 7 km wide and 60–120 m thick with a variably incisive basal contact (<100 m). It is of very latest Famennian age and is a stratigraphic equivalent of proven glacigenic deposits across central South America. The offshore marine Kasa Formation overlies the glacigenic unit above a basal flooding surface. The DCB is 12 m above this flooding surface on the last occurrence of Retispora lepidophyta and significant palynological assemblage changes. This includes the loss of the Umbellasphaeridium saharicum phytoplankton bioprovince, endemic to Gondwana. Marine and terrestrial palynological extinctions are synchronous with a 2 ‰ positive carbon isotope excursion interpreted to be reflective of changes in organic matter delivery and preservation during an interval of environmental stress. These results inform wider debates on global environmental change and mass extinction at the DCB.

The last meal of Tollund Man, a bog body from Early Iron Age Denmark, has been re-examined using new analyses of plant macrofossils, pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, steroid markers and proteins found in his gut. Some 12–24 hours before he was killed, he ate a porridge containing barley, pale persicaria and flax, and probably some fish. Proteins and eggs from intestinal worms indicate that he was infected with parasites. Although the meal may reflect ordinary Iron Age fare, the inclusion of threshing waste could possibly relate to ritual practices. This re-analysis illustrates that new techniques can throw fresh light on old questions and contribute to understanding life and death in the Danish Early Iron Age.

Analyses of macroscopic charcoal, sediment geochemistry (%C, %N, C/N, δ13C, δ15N), and fossil pollen were conducted on a sediment core recovered from Stella Lake, Nevada, establishing a 2000 year record of fire history and vegetation change for the Great Basin. Charcoal accumulation rates (CHAR) indicate that fire activity, which was minimal from the beginning of the first millennium to AD 750, increased slightly at the onset of the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA). Observed changes in catchment vegetation were driven by hydroclimate variability during the early MCA. Two notable increases in CHAR, which occurred during the Little Ice Age (LIA), were identified as major fire events within the catchment. Increased C/N, enriched δ15N, and depleted δ13C values correspond with these events, providing additional evidence for the occurrence of catchment-scale fire events during the late fifteenth and late sixteenth centuries. Shifts in the vegetation community composition and structure accompanied these fires, with Pinus and Picea decreasing in relative abundance and Poaceae increasing in relative abundance following the fire events. During the LIA, the vegetation change and lacustrine geochemical response was most directly influenced by the occurrence of catchment-scale fires, not regional hydroclimate.

Se presentan los resultados del examen de un perfil estratigráfico ubicado en el sureste del Complejo Maranga-Lima, en el valle bajo del Rímac. Las evidencias recuperadas permiten fechar la ocupación de dicho sector entre los 620 dC y los 780 dC. Se analiza también la geomorfología vinculada con la ocupación humana, que incluyó eventos aluviales asociados con su abandono. También se analiza una columna palinológica que sugiere un ecosistema semi-árido impactado por el establecimiento de Maranga.

Knowledge of the stratigraphic development of pre-Carboniferous strata in the subsurface of the Netherlands is very limited, leaving the lithostratigraphic nomenclature for this time interval informal. In two wells from the southwestern Netherlands, Silurian strata have repeatedly been reported, suggesting that these are the oldest ever recovered in the Netherlands. The hypothesised presence of Silurian-aged strata has not been tested by biostratigraphic analysis. A similar lack of biostratigraphic control applies to the overlying Devonian succession. We present the results of a palynological study of core material from wells KTG-01 and S05-01. Relatively low-diversity and poorly preserved miospore associations were recorded. These, nonetheless, provide new insights into the regional stratigraphic development of the pre-Carboniferous of the SW Netherlands. The lower two cores from well KTG-01 are of a late Silurian (Ludlow–Pridoli Epoch) to earliest Devonian (Lochkovian) age, confirming that these are the oldest sedimentary strata ever recovered in the Netherlands. The results from the upper cored section from the pre-Carboniferous succession in well KTG-01 and the cored sections from the pre-Carboniferous succession in well S05-01 are more ambiguous. This inferred Devonian succession is, in the current informal lithostratigraphy of the Netherlands, assigned to the Banjaard group and its subordinate Bollen Claystone formation, of presumed Frasnian (i.e. early Late Devonian) age. Age-indicative Middle to Late Devonian palynomorphs were, however, not recorded, and the overall character of the poorly preserved palynological associations in wells KTG-01 and S05-01 may also suggest an Early Devonian age. In terms of lithofacies, however, the cores in well S05-01 can be correlated to the upper Frasnian – lower Famennian Falisolle Formation in the Campine Basin in Belgium. Hence, it remains plausible that an unconformity separates Silurian to Lower Devonian strata from Upper Devonian (Frasnian–Famennian) strata in the SW Netherlands. In general, the abundance of miospore associations points to the presence of a vegetated hinterland and a relatively proximal yet relatively deep marine setting during late Silurian and Early Devonian times. This differs markedly from the open marine depositional settings reported from the Brabant Massif area to the south in present-day Belgium, suggesting a sediment source to the north. The episodic presence of reworked (marine) acritarchs of Ordovician age suggests the influx of sedimentary material from uplifted elements on the present-day Brabant Massif to the south, possibly in relation to the activation of a Brabant Arch system.

Kilimanjaro is experiencing the consequences of climate change and multiple land-use pressures. Few paleoenvironmental and archeological records exist to examine historical patterns of late Holocene ecosystem changes on Kilimanjaro. Here we present pollen, phytolith, and charcoal (>125 μm) data from a palustrine sediment core that provide a 3000-year radiocarbon-dated record collected from a wetland near the headwaters of the Maua watershed in the alpine and ericaceous vegetation zones. From 3000 to 800 cal yr BP, the pollen, phytolith, and charcoal records show subtle variability in ericaceous and montane forest assemblages with apparent multicentennial secular variability and a long-term pattern of increasing Poaceae and charcoal. From 800 to 600 cal yr BP, montane forest taxa varied rapidly, Cyperaceae abundances increased, and charcoal remained distinctly low. From 600 yr cal BP to the present, woody taxa decreased, and ericaceous taxa and Poaceae dominated, with a conspicuously increased charcoal influx. Uphill wetland ecosystems are crucial for ecological and socioeconomic resilience on and surrounding the mountain. The results were synthesized with the existing paleoenvironmental and archaeological data to explore the high spatiotemporal complexity of Kilimanjaro and to understand historical human-environment interactions. These paleoenvironmental records create a long-term context for current climate, biodiversity, and land-use changes on and around Kilimanjaro.

Glacial and lacustrine sediments from the Mongolian Altai provide paleoclimatic information for the late Pleistocene in Mongolia, for which only a few sufficiently studied archives exist. Glacial stages referred to global cooling events are reported for the last glacial maximum (27–21 ka) and the late glacial period (18–16 ka). Sedimentary archives from the first part of the last glacial period are infrequent. We present proxy data for this period from two different archives (88–63 and 57–30 ka). Due to the limitation of effective moisture, an increase of precipitation is discussed as one trigger for glacier development in the cold-arid regions of central Asia. Our pollen analysis from periods of high paleolake levels in small catchments indicate that the vegetation was sparse and of dry desert type between 42–29 and 17–11 ka. This apparent contradiction between high lake levels and dry landscape conditions, the latter supported by intensified eolian processes, points to lower temperatures and cooler conditions causing reduced evaporation to be the main trigger for the high lake levels during glacier advances. Rising temperatures that cause melting of glacier and permafrost ice and geomorphological processes play a role in paleolake conditions. Interpreting lake-level changes as regional or global paleoclimate signals requires detailed investigation of geomorphological settings and mountain–basin relationships.

A geochemical and biostratigraphic approach has been applied to investigate the spatial and stratigraphic variability of Palaeogene sandstones from key wells in Taranaki Basin, New Zealand. Chronostratigraphic control is predominantly based on miospore zonation, while differences in the composition of Paleocene and Eocene sandstones are supported by geochemical evidence. Stratigraphic changes are manifested by a significant decrease in Na2O across the New Zealand miospore PM3b/MH1 early Eocene zonal boundary, at approximately 53.5 Ma. The change in Na2O is associated with a decrease in baseline concentrations of many other major (MnO, CaO, TiO2) and trace elements, and is interpreted to reflect a significant change in sandstone maturity. Paleocene sandstones are characterized by abundant plagioclase (albite and locally Na–Ca plagioclase), significant biotite and a range of heavy minerals, while Eocene sandstones are typically quartzose, with K-feldspar dominant over plagioclase, low mica contents and rare heavy minerals comprising a resistant suite. This change could reflect a change in provenance from local plutonic basement during the Paleocene Epoch to relatively quartz- and K-feldspar-rich granitic sources during Eocene time. However, significant quartz enrichment of Eocene sediment was also likely due to transportation reworking/winnowing along the palaeoshoreface and enhanced chemical weathering, driven in part by long-term global warming associated with the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. The broad-ranging changes in major-element composition overprint local variations in sediment provenance, which are only detectable from the immobile trace-element geochemistry.

On 26 June 2018 Waldo Heliodoor Zagwijn died at the age of 89. He was an Emeritus Professor of the Faculty of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. As a geologist, palynologist and palaeobotanist he focused on developing a stratigraphy of the Netherlands based on changes in vegetation and climate. The Dutch setting of a subsiding basin, and the clear signal of a sequence of glacial–interglacial cycles, was promising. As early as the late 1950s it became clear that the Quaternary Period included more than the previously assumed four ice ages in the Netherlands. In his PhD thesis Zagwijn defined the start of the Quaternary around 2.5 million years before the present (2.5 Ma). The international community accepted Zagwijn’s arguments after he retired. He showed how the rivers Meuse, Scheldt and Rhine had built the Netherlands in four dimensions. He is the instigator and architect of the climate- and chronostratigraphy of the Quaternary Period of Western Europe.