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Holocene ice wedge formation in the Eureka Sound Lowlands, high Arctic Canada Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-02-23 Kethra Campbell-Heaton; Denis Lacelle; David Fisher; Wayne Pollard
Ice wedges are ubiquitous periglacial features in permafrost terrain. This study investigates the timing of ice wedge formation in the Fosheim Peninsula (Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands). In this region, ice wedge polygons occupy ~50% of the landscape, the majority occurring below the marine limit in the Eureka Sound Lowlands. Numerical simulations suggest that ice wedges may crack to depths of
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Patterns of aeolian deposition in subtropical Australia through the last glacial and deglacial periods Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-02-08 Richard J. Lewis; John Tibby; Lee J. Arnold; Patricia Gadd; Geraldine Jacobsen; Cameron Barr; Peter M. Negus; Michela Mariani; Daniel Penny; David Chittleborough; Edward Moss
Debate about the nature of climate and the magnitude of ecological change across Australia during the last glacial maximum (LGM; 26.5–19 ka) persists despite considerable research into the late Pleistocene. This is partly due to a lack of detailed paleoenvironmental records and reliable chronological frameworks. Geochemical and geochronological analyses of a 60 ka sedimentary record from Brown Lake
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Timing and extent of Late Pleistocene glaciation in the Chugach Mountains, Alaska Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-02-08 Joshua D. Valentino; Lewis A. Owen; James A. Spotila; Jason M. Cesta; Marc W. Caffee
Geomorphic mapping, landform and sediment analysis, and cosmogenic 10Be and 36Cl ages from erratics, moraine boulders, and glacially polished bedrock help define the timing of the Wisconsinan glaciations in the Chugach Mountains of south-central Alaska. The maximum extent of glaciation in the Chugach Mountains during the last glacial period (marine isotope stages [MIS] 5d through 2) occurred at ~50
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Charcoal evidence for environmental change ca. 3.5 ka and its influence on ancient people in the West Liao River Basin of northeastern China Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-02-05 Xin Jia; Shuzhi Wang; Yonggang Sun; Yiyin Li; Yanjing Jiao; Zhijun Zhao; Harry F. Lee
Fossil charcoals from archaeological sites provide direct evidence for the relationship between environmental change and ancient peoples’ livelihoods in the past. Our identification of 5811 fossil charcoal fragments from 84 samples suggested temperate deciduous and mixed conifer-broadleaved forests as the dominant vegetation at the Erdaojingzi site in northeastern China ca. 3500 cal yr BP; the major
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Evidence for strong relations between the upper Tagus loess formation (central Iberia) and the marine atmosphere off the Iberian margin during the last glacial period Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-02-03 Daniel Wolf; Thomas Kolb; Karolin Ryborz; Susann Heinrich; Imke Schäfer; Ruben Calvo; Jesus Sanchez; Ulrich Hambach; Roland Zech; Ludwig Zöller; Dominik Faust
During glacial times, the North Atlantic region was affected by serious climate changes corresponding to Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles that were linked to dramatic shifts in sea temperature and moisture transfer to the continents. However, considerable efforts are still needed to understand the effects of these shifts on terrestrial environments. In this context, the Iberian Peninsula is particularly interesting
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Aleutian Low variability for the last 7500 years and its relation to the Westerly Jet Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-02-02 Kana Nagashima; Jason Addison; Tomohisa Irino; Takayuki Omori; Kei Yoshimura; Naomi Harada
The Aleutian Low (AL) is one of the major atmospheric systems that determines environmental conditions during winter in the North Pacific Ocean, with impacts that affect the climates of both Asia and North America from mid- to high latitudes. However, the multi-centennial and longer scale behavior of the AL during the Holocene is not fully understood. In this study, AL variability since 7.5 ka was
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Little Ice Age to modern lake-level fluctuations from Ferguson's Gulf, Lake Turkana, Kenya, based on sedimentology and ostracod assemblages Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-02-01 Catherine C. Beck; Craig S. Feibel; Richard A. Mortlock; Rhonda L. Quinn; James D. Wright
Lacustrine sedimentary records and the proxies contained within them are valuable archives of past climate. However, the resolution of these records is frequently coarse or contains a high degree of uncertainty, making it difficult to resolve how climatic variability impacts the ecosystems on which humans depend. The goal of this study is to couple recent sediment cores sampled at centimeter-scale
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Quantitative assessment of the oxygen isotope composition of fish otoliths from Lake Mungo, Australia Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-02-01 Kelsie Long; David Heslop; Eelco J. Rohling
The Willandra Lakes region is a series of once interconnected and now-dry lake basins in the arid zone of southeastern Australia. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site of cultural, archaeological, and geological significance, preserving records of Aboriginal occupation and environmental change stretching back to at least 50 ka. Linking the archaeology with the commensurate palaeoenvironmental information
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Causes and climatic influence of centennial-scale denitrification variability in the southeastern Arabian Sea since the last glacial period Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-01-29 Sidhesh Nagoji; Manish Tiwari
Denitrification occurring in the oxygen minimum zone of the Arabian Sea produces nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms controlling denitrification's intensity and evaluate its influence on the global climate at various timescales. We studied multiple geochemical and isotopic proxies in a sediment core from the southeastern Arabian Sea (SEAS)
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Seasonal temperature and moisture changes in interior semi‐arid Spain from the last interglacial to the Late Holocene Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-01-29 Dongyang Wei; Penélope González-Sampériz; Graciela Gil-Romera; Sandy P. Harrison; I. Colin Prentice
The El Cañizar de Villarquemado pollen record covers the last part of MIS 6 to the Late Holocene. We use Tolerance-Weighted Averaging Partial Least Squares (TWA-PLS) to reconstruct mean temperature of the coldest month (MTCO) and growing degree days above 0°C (GDD0) and the ratio of annual precipitation to annual potential evapotranspiration (MI), accounting for the ecophysiological effect of changing
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Lithic technological responses to environmental change during the penultimate glacial cycle (MIS 7–6) at the Yangshang site, western Chinese Loess Plateau Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-01-26 Yuchao Zhao; Jing Zhou; Fuyou Chen; Xiaomin Wang; Junyi Ge; Xing Gao; Brian A. Stewart; Feng Li
A multidisciplinary fieldwork and research project was recently begun at the Yangshang site (220–140 ka), a late Early Paleolithic locale in the western Chinese Loess Plateau. 1696 lithic artifacts and 337 faunal remains were recovered during the excavation. Sedimentological and paleoenvironmental investigations indicate the site preserves a relatively long and minimally disturbed archaeological sequence
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The δ13C, δ18O and Δ47 records in biogenic, pedogenic and geogenic carbonate types from paleosol-loess sequence and their paleoenvironmental meaning Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-01-22 Kazem Zamanian; Alex R. Lechler; Andrew J. Schauer; Yakov Kuzyakov; Katharine W. Huntington
Paleoenvironmental reconstructions are commonly based on isotopic signatures of a variety of carbonate types, including rhizoliths and land-snail shells, present in paleosol-loess sequences. However, various carbonate types are formed through distinct biotic and abiotic processes over various periods, and therefore may record diverging environmental information in the same sedimentological layer. Here
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Stable isotopes confirm the Banwell Bone Cave Mammal Assemblage Zone represents an MIS 5 fauna Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-01-20 Rhiannon E. Stevens; Hazel Reade
The position of the Banwell Bone Cave mammal assemblage zone (MAZ) in the mammalian biostratigraphy of the British Isles has been the focus of debate for decades. Dominated by fauna typical of cold environments it was originally linked to the marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 4 stadial (ca. 72–59 ka). Subsequently it was argued that the Banwell Bone Cave MAZ more likely relates to the temperate interstadial
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Ecomorphology and ecology of the grassland specialist, Rusingoryx atopocranion (Artiodactyla: Bovidae), from the late Pleistocene of western Kenya Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-01-19 Kris Kovarovic; J. Tyler Faith; Kirsten E. Jenkins; Christian A. Tryon; Daniel J. Peppe
Rusingoryx atopocranion is an extinct alcelaphin bovid from the late Pleistocene of Kenya, known for its distinctive hollow nasal crest. A bonebed of R. atopocranion from the Lake Victoria Basin provides a unique opportunity to examine the nearly complete postcranial ecomorphology of an extinct species, and yields data that are important to studying paleoenvironments and human-environment interaction
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Massive deposition of Sahelian dust on the Canary Island Lanzarote during North Atlantic Heinrich Events Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-01-19 Hartmut Heinrich; Christoph Schmidt; Florian Ziemen; Uwe Mikolajewicz; Christopher-Bastian Roettig
New IRSL ages of eolianites close to Muñique (Lanzarote) demonstrate the influence of millennial scale climatic variability on the sedimentary dynamics on the Canary Islands during the last glacial cycle. The repetitive succession of interstadial and stadial climatic conditions formed multiple sequences of eolian deposits, each in general comprising three depositional types. DepoType 1 and DepoType
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Diverse floodplain deposits of reworked loess in a monsoon climate (Hanzhong Basin, central China) Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-01-13 Jef Vandenberghe; Xun Yang; Xianyan Wang; Shejiang Wang; Huayu Lu
This paper describes an assemblage of diverse floodplain facies of reworked loess (facies b, c) in a Middle Pleistocene monsoonal setting of the Hanzhong Basin, central China. The vertical and lateral sedimentary sequences show changing energy conditions. Apart from the highest energy in the channel facies (facies a), a relatively high energy floodplain environment (facies b) prevailed in waterlogged
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Oldest Dryas hydroclimate reorganization in the eastern Iberian Peninsula after the iceberg discharges of Heinrich Event 1 Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-01-13 Carlos Pérez-Mejías; Ana Moreno; Juan Bernal-Wormull; Isabel Cacho; M. Cinta Osácar; R. Lawrence Edwards; Hai Cheng
This study examines the first precisely dated and temporally highly resolved speleothem record from Iberia that reconstructs the Oldest Dryas (OD). The onset of cold conditions in the study area, contemporary with the beginning of Heinrich Stadial 1, is recorded at 18.13 ± 0.08 ka, with a pronounced drop of 6.1‰ in δ13C in 250 years. Henceforth, stadial conditions depict a period of instability in
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Provenance and paleoclimatic implications of loess deposits in Shandong Province, eastern China Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-01-13 Yongda Wang; Shiling Yang; Zhongli Ding
The loess deposits in Shandong Province in eastern China potentially provide valuable insights into past environmental changes. However, their precise provenance and paleoclimatic implications are unclear. We studied three loess sections located in the piedmont of the Central Shandong Mountains (PCSM) and in an offshore island in Bohai Gulf. Both the glacial loess and interglacial paleosol units are
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Pleistocene golden mole and sand-swimming trace fossils from the Cape coast of South Africa Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-01-12 Martin G. Lockley; Charles W. Helm; Hayley C. Cawthra; Jan C. De Vynck; Michael R. Perrin
More than 250 Pleistocene vertebrate trace fossil sites have been identified on the Cape south coast of South Africa in aeolianites and cemented foreshore deposits. These discoveries, representing the epifaunal tracks of animals that moved over these sand substrates, complement traditional body fossil studies, and contribute to palaeo-environmental reconstruction. Not described in detail until now
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Spatial variation of East Asian winter monsoon evolution between northern and southern China since the last glacial maximum Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2021-01-12 Qin Li; Haibin Wu; Jun Cheng; Shuya Zhu; Chunxia Zhang; Jianyu Wu; Yating Lin; Pei Li; Xiangbin Ren; Deai Zhao; Yan Zhang
The East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) is one of the most dynamic components of the global climate system. Although poorly understood, knowledge of long-term spatial differences in EAWM variability during the glacial–interglacial cycles is important for understanding the dynamic processes of the EAWM. We reconstructed the spatiotemporal characteristics of the EAWM since the last glacial maximum (LGM)
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Collapse of Holocene mangrove ecosystems along the coastline of Oman Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-12-29 Valeska Decker; Michaela Falkenroth; Susanne Lindauer; Jessica Landgraf; Zahra Al-Lawati; Huda Al-Rahbi; Sven Oliver Franz; Gösta Hoffmann
Sedimentological, geochemical, and paleontological investigations of the coastline of northeastern Oman have provided the authors with an in-depth insight into Holocene sea levels and climate conditions. The spatial distribution and species assemblage of mangrove ecosystems are analyzed. These ecosystems are sensitive to changes in sea level and precipitation and thus reflect ecological conditions
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Historical Perspectives on Exceptional Climatic Years at the Labrador/Nunatsiavut Coast 1780 to 1950 Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-12-28 Marie-Michèle Ouellet-Bernier; Anne de Vernal; Daniel Chartier; Étienne Boucher
This interdisciplinary study presents a human perspective on climatic variations by combining documentary, discursive, instrumental, and proxy data. Historical sources were used to characterize climate variations along the coast of Labrador/Nunatsiavut during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Written and early instrumental archives provided original information on the state and
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Sand calcites as a key to Pleistocene periglacial landscapes Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-12-28 Médard Thiry; Christophe Innocent; Jean-Pierre Girard; Anthony Richard Milnes; Christine Franke; Sophie Guillon
We tested the potential for sand calcites to serve as a novel paleoclimate archive by investigating their age and formation conditions. Fontainebleau sand calcites are Pleistocene in age (based on 14C and U-Th dating) and were primarily formed during glacial periods. δ13C values increase with the depth at which these sand calcites formed, consistent with open and closed CO2 systems. Interpretation
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Thermal impact of Heinrich stadials in cave temperature and speleothem oxygen isotope records Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-12-22 David Domínguez-Villar; Kristina Krklec; José Antonio López-Sáez; Francisco J. Sierro
During each Heinrich stadial (HS), temperatures in southern Europe typically dropped several degrees during several hundred to few thousand years. We have developed a one-dimensional thermal conduction model that transfers the typical surface temperature anomaly of a HS to a series of hypothetical underlying caves. The results show that with increasing depth, the thermal anomaly is attenuated, the
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Historical and prehistorical water levels of Mormon Lake, Arizona as a measure of climate change on the southwest Colorado Plateau, USA Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-12-18 Richard Hereford; Lee Amoroso
Mormon Lake, elevation 2166 m with maximum historic surface area of 31.4 km2, lies in a forested endorheic basin covering 103 km2. It is the largest unaltered freshwater body on the 337,000 km2 Colorado Plateau. Prehistorical (before AD 1878) highstands were ca. 9 and 24 m relative to depocenter datum. These levels likely occurred during four multidecadal episodes of cool, wet conditions between ca
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Late Pleistocene glaciolacustrine MIS 3 record at Fagnano Lake, Central Tierra del Fuego, southern Argentina Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-12-14 Romina Sanci; María J. Orgeira; Andrea Coronato; Rita Tófalo; Héctor O. Panarello; Diego Quiroga; Ramiro López; Pedro Palermo; Claudia S. Gogorza
A late Pleistocene glaciolacustrine record was studied at Fagnano Lake (54°35´S, 67°20´W), central Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, southernmost South America. Two profiles from the Río Valdéz outcrop were collected for isotopic, geochemical, sedimentological, and geophysical analyses. The sedimentological characteristics, such as rhythmites, presence of dropstones, absence of fossil record, and scarce
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Moisture evolution in North Xinjiang (northwest China) during the last 8000 years linked to the westerlies’ winter half-year precipitation Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-12-14 Xiaonan Zhang; Aifeng Zhou; Zhendong Huang; Chengbang An; Yongtao Zhao; Liying Yin; James M. Russell
Winter half-year precipitation dominates variations in hydroclimatic conditions in North Xinjiang, but few researchers have focused on this very important aspect of the Holocene climate. Here we report multiproxy evidence of Holocene hydroclimate changes from the sediments of Wulungu Lake in North Xinjiang. The site is a closed terminal lake fed mainly by meltwater from snow and ice, and today the
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A palaeoenvironmental record of the Southern Hemisphere last glacial maximum from the Mount Cass loess section, North Canterbury, Aotearoa/New Zealand Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-12-14 Peter C. Almond; Sándor Gulyás; Pál Sümegi; Balázs P. Sümegi; Stephen Covey-Crump; Merren Jones; Joseph Shaw; Andrew Parker
Calcareous loess in North Canterbury, eastern South Island, New Zealand (NZ), preserves subfossil bird bone, terrestrial gastropods, and eggshell, whose abundances and radiocarbon ages allowed us to reconstruct aspects of palaeoenvironment at high resolution through 25 to 21 cal ka BP. This interval includes millennial-scale climatic variability during the extended last glacial maximum (30–18 ka) of
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An investigation of the possibility of non-Laurentide ice stream contributions to Heinrich event 3 Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-11-24 Jesse Velay-Vitow; W. Richard Peltier; Gordan R. Stuhne
The ocean floor sedimentological signature of Heinrich event 3 (H3) is markedly different from that of other Heinrich events that are known to have originated in Hudson Strait. It has therefore been suggested that the H3 contribution to iceberg flux may have been delivered by ice streams located in the eastern sector of the North Atlantic, from the Fennoscandian or British Isles ice sheets. To investigate
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Geomorphological evolution of the Petrovaradin Fortress Palaeolithic site (Novi Sad, Serbia) Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-11-23 Slobodan B. Marković; Jef Vandenberghe; Thomas Stevens; Dušan Mihailović; Milivoj B. Gavrilov; Milica G. Radaković; Christian Zeeden; Igor Obreht; Zoran M. Perić; Janina J. Nett; Frank Lehmkuhl
Two phases of archaeological investigation were performed in the Novi Sad City Museum at Petrovaradin Fortress. In this study, we summarize the results of geo-archaeological investigations of the second period of excavation inside the Novi Sad City Museum building. The fortress is situated on a Danube terrace with the top of the bedrock at ca.123 m asl. The investigated section consists of undisturbed
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Modern and Holocene microbial mats and associated microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS) on the southeastern coast of Tunisia (Mediterranean Sea) Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-11-20 Rached Lakhdar; Mohamed Soussi; Rachida Talbi
On the southeastern Tunisian coastline, very diverse living microbial mats colonize the lower supratidal and intertidal zones, and locally may extend into the upper infratidal zone. The interaction between the benthic cyanobacteria and their siliciclastic substratum leads to the development of several types of microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS). The mapping of the microbial mats has
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Ancient Egyptian mummified shrews (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae) and mice (Rodentia: Muridae) from the Spanish Mission to Dra Abu el-Naga, and their implications for environmental change in the Nile valley during the past two millennia Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-11-16 Neal Woodman; Salima Ikram
Excavation of Ptolemaic Period (ca. 309–30 BC) strata within Theban Tombs 11, 12, -399-, and UE194A by the Spanish Mission to Dra Abu el-Naga (also known as the Djehuty Project), on the west bank of the Nile River opposite Luxor, Egypt, yielded remains of at least 175 individual small mammals that include four species of shrews (Eulipotypha: Soricidae) and two species of rodents (Rodentia: Muridae)
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Causes and implications of Mid- to Late Holocene relative sea-level change in the Gulf of Kachchh, western India Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-11-16 Shubhra Sharma; Gaurav Chauhan; Anil Dutt Shukla; Romi Nambiar; Ravi Bhushan; Bhawanisingh G. Desai; Shilpa Pandey; Madhavi Dabhi; Subhash Bhandari; Suraj Bhosale; Abhishek Lakhote; Navin Juyal
The relict intertidal deposits from the Kharod River Estuary, Gulf of Kachchh, and the distal end of Kori Creek are used to infer the Mid- to Late Holocene relative sea-level (RSL) change in western India. Employing sedimentology, geochemistry, palynology, ichnology, and optical and radiocarbon dating, the study suggests the dominance of fluvial activity between 16.5 ± 1.6 and 9.9 ± 0.7 ka. After ~7
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Geoarchaeological investigation of occupation deposits in Blombos Cave in South Africa indicate changes in site use and settlement dynamics in the southern Cape during MIS 5b-4 Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-11-13 Magnus M. Haaland; Christopher E. Miller; Ole F. Unhammer; Jerome P. Reynard; Karen L. van Niekerk; Bertrand Ligouis; Susan M. Mentzer; Christopher S. Henshilwood
The archaeological assemblage recovered from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) levels in Blombos Cave, South Africa, is central to our understanding of the development of early modern humans. Here, we demonstrate that the cultural and technological innovations inferred from the Blombos Cave MSA record also correlate with significant shifts in site use and occupational intensity. Through a comprehensive geoarchaeological
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Geomorphological record and equilibrium line altitude of glaciers during the last glacial maximum in the Rodna Mountains (eastern Carpathians) Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-11-13 Piotr Kłapyta; Marcel Mîndrescu; Jerzy Zasadni
In the eastern Carpathians the legacy of glaciation is preserved in several isolated mountain massifs. This paper presents new mapping results of glaciated valley land systems in the Rodna Mountains, the highest part of the eastern Carpathians (2303 m above seal level). In most of the glacial valleys, the maximal Pleistocene extent is marked by freshly shaped moraines, which are referred in this study
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Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene aeolian deposits of Tasmania and their climatic implications Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-11-13 Peter D. McIntosh; Christina Neudorf; Olav B. Lian; Adrian J. Slee; Brianna Walker; Rolan Eberhard; Richard Doyle; Grant Dixon
Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene aeolian deposits in Tasmania are extensive in the present subhumid climate zone but also occur in areas receiving >1000 mm of rain annually. Thermoluminescence, optically stimulated luminescence, and radiocarbon ages indicate that most of the deposits formed during periods of cold climate. Some dunes are remnants of longitudinal desert dunes sourced from now-inundated
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Bone histology, palaeobiology, and early diagenetic history of extinct equids from Turkey Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-11-06 Carmen Nacarino-Meneses; Anusuya Chinsamy; Serdar Mayda; Tanju Kaya; Ugur Cengiz Erismis
Bone histology has proved to be a valuable tool to obtain information about the palaeobiology and early taphonomic history of fossil vertebrates. However, there are still many extinct taxa for which bone histology studies could be applied to deduce information about their life history and early diagenetic changes. Here, we partially fill this gap by studying bone microstructure and bone micropreservation
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A wetland oasis at Wadi Gharandal spanning 125–70 ka on the human migration trail in southern Jordan Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-11-05 Bety S. Al-Saqarat; Mahmoud Abbas; Zhongping Lai; Songlin Gong; Mustafa M. Alkuisi; Abdalla M.B. Abu Hamad; Paul A. Carling; John D. Jansen
Former lakes and wetlands can provide valuable insights to the late Pleistocene environments encountered by the first humans to enter the Levant from Africa. Fluvial incision along Wadi Gharandal in hyperarid southern Jordan has exposed remnants of a small riverine wetland that accumulated as a sedimentary sequence up to ~20 m thick. We conducted a chronometric and sedimentological study of this wetland
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Enviromagnetic study of Late Quaternary environmental evolution in Lower Volga loess sequences, Russia Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-10-27 Chiara Költringer; Thomas Stevens; Balázs Bradák; Bjarne Almqvist; Redzhep Kurbanov; Ian Snowball; Sofya Yarovaya
The late Quaternary development of the Lower Volga region of Russia is characterized by an alternating influence of marine and continental environments resulting from fluctuations in Caspian Sea level during the last glaciation. However, sediments deposited under continental conditions have received very little research attention compared to the under- and overlying marine deposits, such that even
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Life histories and niche dynamics in late Quaternary proboscideans from midwestern North America Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-10-23 Chris Widga; Greg Hodgins; Kayla Kolis; Stacey Lengyel; Jeff Saunders; J. Douglas Walker; Alan D. Wanamaker
Stable isotopes of mammoths and mastodons have the potential to illuminate ecological changes in late Pleistocene landscapes and megafaunal populations as these species approached extinction. The ecological factors at play in this extinction remain unresolved, but isotopes of bone collagen (δ13C, δ15N) and tooth enamel (δ13C, δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr) from midwestern North America are leveraged to examine ecological
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A 3000-year record of vegetation changes and fire at a high-elevation wetland on Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-10-23 Colin J. Courtney Mustaphi; Rahab Kinyanjui; Anna Shoemaker; Cassian Mumbi; Veronica Muiruri; Laura Marchant; Stephen M. Rucina; Rob Marchant
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
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Geophysical characterization of late-Quaternary glaciofluvial complex and glacial stratigraphy in the Satakunta sandstone area, Köyliö, southwest Finland Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-10-09 Elina Marita Ahokangas; Georgiana Anca Maries; Joni Kalevi Mäkinen; Antti Heikki Pasanen; Alireza Malehmir; Suvi Elina Heinonen; Matti Ensio Pajunen
We acquired high-resolution reflection seismic data using a broadband digital-based landstreamer system to characterize a depression related to the Mesoproterozoic (Jothnian) Satakunta sandstone basin in the Köyliö study area, southwest Finland. This ca. 800-m-wide depression is infilled with up to 100-m-thick (late) Quaternary interlobate glaciofluvial complex sediments. The seismic images clearly
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A multiproxy record of sedimentation, pedogenesis, and environmental history in the north of West Siberia during the late Pleistocene based on the Belaya Gora section Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-10-09 Vladimir Sheinkman; Sergey Sedov; Lyudmila S. Shumilovskikh; Elena Bezrukova; Dmitriy Dobrynin; Svetlana Timireva; Alexey Rusakov; Fedor Maksimov
Recent revision of the Pleistocene glaciation boundaries in northern Eurasia has encouraged the search for nonglacial geological records of the environmental history of northern West Siberia. We studied an alluvial paleosol-sedimentary sequence of the high terrace of the Vakh River (middle Ob basin) to extract the indicators of environmental change since Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 6. Two levels
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Chronology of Laurentide glaciation in New Jersey and the New York City area, United States Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-10-08 Scott D. Stanford; Byron D. Stone; John C. Ridge; Ron W. Witte; Richard R. Pardi; Gerda E. Reimer
Deposits of at least three glaciations are present in New Jersey and the New York City area. The oldest deposits are magnetically reversed. Pollen and stratigraphic relations suggest that they are from the earliest Laurentide advance at ~2.4 Ma. Deposits of a second advance are overlain by peat dated to 41 ka and so are pre-Marine Isotope Stage (pre-MIS) 2. Their relation to marine deposits indicates
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Late Pleistocene environments of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming-Montana, USA Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-10-05 Thomas A. Minckley; Mark Clementz; Marcel Kornfeld; Mary Lou Larson; Judson B. Finley
Limited numbers of high-resolution records predate the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) making it difficult to quantify the impacts of environmental changes prior to peak glaciation. We examined sediments from Last Canyon Cave in the Pryor Mountains of Montana and Wyoming to construct a >45 ka environmental record from pollen and stable isotope analysis. Artemisia pollen was hyper-abundant at the beginning
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Size distribution of Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) in the North Pacific Ocean over 6 millennia Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-09-28 Catherine F. West; Michael A. Etnier; Steven Barbeaux; Megan A. Partlow; Alexei M. Orlov
In this paper, we compile estimates of cod size distributions based on zooarchaeological data and contemporary length-frequency data to look at variability in size composition through time across the North Pacific, from the northern Kuril Islands through the Aleutian Islands to southeast Alaska. The results suggest that a strong longitudinal trend in cod size has remained consistent over time, with
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Cave life histories of non-anthropogenic sediments help us understand associated archaeological contexts Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-09-22 Panagiotis Karkanas; Curtis Marean; Mira Bar-Matthews; Zenobia Jacobs; Eric Fisher; Kerstin Braun
Pinnacle Point (PP) near Mossel Bay in the Western Cape Province, South Africa, is known for a series of archaeological caves with important archaeological finds. Extensive excavations and studies in two of them (PP13B and PP5-6) have documented alternating periods of anthropogenic-dominated and geogenic-dominated sedimentation. A variety of caves do not bear evidence of anthropogenic remains. We have
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Paleoclimatic reconstruction in the Tatra Mountains of the western Carpathians during MIS 9–7 inferred from a multiproxy speleothem record Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-09-11 Marcin Błaszczyk; Helena Hercman; Jacek Pawlak; Jacek Szczygieł
The SC-3 speleothem from Szczelina Chochołowska Cave, located in the Tatra Mountains, was studied in detail. U-series dating and age–depth modeling allowed us to constrain the period of speleothem growth to between approximately 330 and 200 ka, that is, during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 9–7. The complementary use of stable isotope analyses, petrographic studies, and trace element analyses allowed
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Water Provenance at the Old River Bed Inland Delta and Ground Water Flow from the Sevier Basin of Central Utah during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-09-04 Christopher D. Bradbury; Paul W. Jewell; Diego P. Fernandez; Jory C. Lerback; Jennifer V. DeGraffenried; Erich U. Petersen
To ascertain the provenance of water reaching wetlands in an area sustaining a population of Pleistocene–Holocene foragers, 87-strontium/86-strontium isotopic ratios (87Sr/86Sr) of mollusks from channels of the Old River Bed inland delta of central Utah were measured. Potential provenances examined included overflow from Pleistocene–Holocene Lake Gunnison, ground water flow from the Sevier basin, ground
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Late Pleistocene lake level, glaciation and climate change in the Mongolian Altai deduced from sedimentological and palynological archives Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-09-03 Michael Klinge; Frank Schlütz; Anja Zander; Daniela Hülle; Ochirbat Batkhishig; Frank Lehmkuhl
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
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In-phase and out-of-phase behavior of the East Asian summer and winter monsoons recorded in the South Yellow Sea sediment over the past 9.5 ka Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-09-01 Liyan Wang; Guangxue Li; Linmiao Wang; Wenchao Zhang; Yang Zhang; Yong Liu; Xiangdong Wang; Haoyin Wang
The variability of the East Asian monsoon (EAM) during the Holocene exhibits significant regional response, and its evolution needs further discussion. A well-dated, high-resolution sea-surface temperature record based on long-chain unsaturated alkenones, grain-size data, and clay mineral assemblages from the South Yellow Sea sediment is presented to investigate the sedimentary provenance and reconstruct
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Optimizing extraction and targeted capture of ancient environmental DNA for reconstructing past environments using the PalaeoChip Arctic-1.0 bait-set Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-09-01 Tyler J. Murchie; Melanie Kuch; Ana T. Duggan; Marissa L. Ledger; Kévin Roche; Jennifer Klunk; Emil Karpinski; Dirk Hackenberger; Tara Sadoway; Ross MacPhee; Duane Froese; Hendrik Poinar
Sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) has been established as a viable biomolecular proxy for tracking taxon presence through time in a local environment, even in the total absence of surviving tissues. SedaDNA is thought to survive through mineral binding, facilitating long-term biomolecular preservation, but also challenging DNA isolation. Two common limitations in sedaDNA extraction are the carryover
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Toward a standardized procedure for charcoal analysis Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-09-01 Margarita Tsakiridou; Laura Cunningham; Mark Hardiman
Sedimentary charcoal records are used for understanding fire as an earth system process; however, no standardized laboratory methodology exists. Varying sample volumes and chemical treatments (i.e., type of chemical for length of time) are used for the deflocculation and extraction of charcoal from sediment samples. Here, we present the first systematic assessment of the effect of commonly used chemicals
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Coastal occupation and foraging during the last glacial maximum and early Holocene at Waterfall Bluff, eastern Pondoland, South Africa – Erratum Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-07-09 Erich C. Fisher; Hayley C. Cawthra; Irene Esteban; Antonieta Jerardino; Frank H. Neumann; Annette Oertle; Justin Pargeter; Rosaria B. Saktura; Katherine Szabó; Stephan Winkler; Irit Zohar
Waterfall Bluff is a rock shelter in eastern Pondoland, South Africa, adjacent to a narrow continental shelf that limited coastline movements across glacial/interglacial cycles. The archaeological deposits are characterized by well-preserved stratigraphy, faunal, and botanical remains alongside abundant stone artifacts and other materials. A comprehensive dating protocol consisting of 5 optically stimulated
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Atapuerca Neanderthal landscape at Fuente Mudarra site in Burgos, Spain, during Marine Isotope Stages 5–3 Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-08-25 Marta Santamaría; Marta Navazo; Alfonso Benito-Calvo; Rodrigo Alonso; Gloria I. López; Eudald Carbonell
Fuente Mudarra is on a gentle slope on the left bank of the Pico River, near Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain. A 12−m2 test pit was dug at this large open-air site between 2012 and 2017. Several upper Pleistocene archaeological levels were documented. Results from Fuente Mudarra confirm that Neanderthal groups, little represented at cave sites, occupied Sierra de Atapuerca from the end of the middle
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Relating pollen representation to an evolving Amazonian landscape between the last glacial maximum and Late Holocene Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-08-25 Richard J. Smith; Francis E. Mayle; S. Yoshi Maezumi; Mitchell J. Power
In contrast to temperate regions, relationships between basin characteristics (e.g., type/size) and fossil pollen archives have received little attention in Amazonia. Here, we compare fossil pollen records of a small palm swamp (Cuatro Vientos; CV) and a nearby large lake (Laguna Chaplin, LCH) in Bolivian Amazonia, demonstrating that palm swamps can yield Quaternary pollen archives recording the history
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Interpreting the lake-status record of the East Asian monsoon using a hydrological model Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-08-20 Ge Yu; Liangtao Ye; Zhengyu Liu; Bin Xue
The East Asian monsoon (EAM) has experienced significant changes over the past 10,000 years that influenced East Asian agricultural development. However, the magnitude and extent of the EAM precipitation fluctuations at 6 ka remain unresolved, owing to uncertainty in individual lake records and substantial variations in the expansion limits in simulations of the mid-Holocene EAM precipitation. Here
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Evidence for Middle Palaeolithic occupation and landscape change in central Armenia at the open-air site of Alapars-1 Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-08-14 Ariel Malinsky-Buller; Phil Glauberman; Keith Wilkinson; Bo Li; Ellery Frahm; Boris Gasparyan; Rhys Timms; Daniel S. Adler; Jennifer Sherriff
Here we report the findings from excavations at the open-air Middle Palaeolithic site of Alapars-1 in central Armenia. Three stratified Palaeolithic artefact assemblages were found within a 6-m-thick alluvial-aeolian sequence, located on the flanks of an obsidian-bearing lava dome. Combined sedimentological and chronological analyses reveal three phases of sedimentation and soil development. During
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Mismatches of scale in the application of paleoclimatic research to Chinese archaeology Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-08-13 Yitzchak Y. Jaffe; Lorenzo Castellano; Gideon Shelach-Lavi; Roderick B. Campbell
Issues surrounding the difficult task of correlating archaeological and climatic trajectories are directly impacting the study of human-environmental interaction in Ancient China. We have chosen to focus on the 4.2 ka BP event due to the widespread belief in recent Chinese archaeological publications that it brought about the collapse of Neolithic cultures in multiple regions of China. Following a
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Spatiotemporal variations and implications of luminescence sensitivity of quartz grains on the Chinese Loess Plateau since the last interglaciation Quat. Res. (IF 2.31) Pub Date : 2020-07-16 Tongyan Lü; Jimin Sun; James K. Feathers; Dongxia Sun
Although luminescence sensitivity of quartz grains of desert sands has been used in discriminating provenance, it still remains unclear about its spatiotemporal variations and climatic implications. In this paper, the luminescence sensitivity of quartz grains from the northern margin of the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) was studied using single-aliquot optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and “pseudo”
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