Large areas in western China were wetlands or less arid between 40 and 30 ka, corresponding to the “Greatest Lake Period” on the adjacent Tibetan Plateau. During the last glacial maximum, some of these western Chinese deserts again experienced wetter conditions; however, at the same time the sandy lands in the eastern Chinese desert belt experienced an activation of aeolian dunes. While interpretations of the mid-Holocene environment in the deserts of China are controversial, it is quite likely that it was more humid not only in the eastern areas influenced by monsoon climate systems but also in the western deserts where moisture is currently associated with westerlies. Evaluation of lacustrine records in the lakes recharged by dryland rivers and the complex interactions of these systems, as well as other paleoenvironmental proxies such as the Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae ratio, should be interpreted with greater caution. Facing the highlighted uncertainties in our understanding of climate changes in Chinese deserts, it is hoped that this special issue will improve our knowledge considerably.

Analyses of sediment cores from Jellybean Lake, a small, evaporation-insensitive groundwater-fed lake, provide a record of changes in North Pacific atmospheric circulation for the last ∽7500 yr at 5- to 30-yr resolution. Isotope hydrology data from the southern Yukon indicate that the oxygen isotope composition of water from Jellybean Lake reflects the composition of mean-annual precipitation, δ18Op. Recent changes in the δ18O of Jellybean sedimentary calcite (δ18Oca) correspond to changes in the North Pacific Index (NPI), a measure of the intensity and position of the Aleutian Low (AL) pressure system. This suggests that δ18Op variability was related to the degree of fractionation during moisture transport from the Gulf of Alaska across the St. Elias Mountains and that Holocene shifts were controlled by the intensity and position of the AL. Following this model, between ∽7500 and 4500 cal yr B.P., long-term trends suggest a predominantly weaker and/or westward AL. Between ∽4500 and 3000 cal yr B.P. the AL shifted eastward or intensified before shifting westward or weakening between ∽3000 and 2000 cal yr B.P. Rapid shifts eastward and/or intensification occurred ∽1200 and 300 cal yr B.P. Holocene changes in North Pacific atmospheric circulation inferred from Jellybean Lake oxygen isotopes correspond with late Holocene glacial advances in the St. Elias Mountains, changes in North Pacific salmon abundance, and shifts in atmospheric circulation over the Beaufort Sea.

Although many of the current hypotheses to explain the origin and distribution of the Amazon biodiversity has been based directly or indirectly on geological data, the reconstruction of the geological history of the Amazon region is still inadequate to analyze its relationship with the biodiversity. This work has the main goal to characterize the sedimentary successions formed in the Brazilian Amazon in the Neogene-Quaternary discussing the evolution of the depositional systems through time and analyzing their main controlling mechanisms in order to fill up this gap. Radar image interpretation, sedimentological studies, and radiocarbon dating allowed the mapping of Plio-Pleistocene to Holocene units along the Solimões-Amazonas River, Brazil. This integrated work led to the characterization of five sedimentary successions overlying Miocene deposits of the Solimões/Pebas Formation, which include the following: Içá Formation (Plio-Pleistocene), deposits Q1 (37,400–43,700 14C yr B.P.), deposits Q2 (27,200 14C yr B.P.), deposits Q3 (6730–2480 14C yr B.P.), and deposits Q4 (280–130 14C yr B.P.). These deposits occur mostly to the west of Manaus, forming NW–SE elongated belts that are progressively younger from SW to NE, indicating a subsiding basin with a depocenter that migrated to the NE. The reconstruction of the depositional history is consistent with significant changes in the landscapes. Hence, the closure of a large lake system at the end of the Miocene gave rise to the development of a Plio-Pleistocene fluvial system. This was yet very distinct from the modern drainage, with shallow, energetic, highly migrating, braided to anastomosed channels having an overall northeast outlet. This fluvial system formed probably under climatic conditions relatively drier than today's. During the early Pleistocene, there was pronounced erosion, followed by a renewed depositional phase ca. 40,000 14C yr B.P., with the development of prograding lobes and/or crevasse splays associated with a lake system (i.e., fan-delta) and/or fluvial flood plain areas. After a period of erosion, a fluvial system with eastward draining channels started to develop at around 27,000 14C yr B.P. The fluvial channels were overflooded in mid-Holocene time. This flooding is attributed to an increased period of humidity, with a peak between 5000 and 2500 14C yr B.P. The data presented herein support that, rather than being a monotonous area, the Amazonia was a place with frequent changes in landscape throughout the Neogene-Quaternary, probably as a result of climatic and tectonic factors. We hypothesize that these changes in the physical environment stressed the biota, resulting in speciation and thus had a great impact on modern biodiversity.

A sensitivity-corrected Multiple Aliquot Regenerative-dose protocol has been developed for fine-grained quartz OSL dating of Chinese loess. Its reliability has been assessed on the basis of the methodology and by dating reference samples of known age close to the transition from the last interglacial paleosol (S1) to the last glacial loess (L1), which corresponds to the Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5/4 transition. On the basis of the fine-grained quartz OSL-age estimates for 33 loess samples from the upper part of the Luochuan profile, a detailed chronostratigraphy of continuous dust accumulation in the past 130 ka has been proposed. Changes in the accumulation rate occurred during the last glacial period (MIS 4 to MIS 2); unexpectedly, high accumulation rates were found in the weakly developed L1–2(S) paleosol of the last interstadial (MIS 3), rather than in the classic L1–1 and L1–3 loess of the cold–dry glacial condition (MIS 2 and 4). The OSL ages show some disagreement with the previous numerical chronology for the loess–paleosol sequence based on correlation of variations in grain size with sedimentation rate; the latter method resulted in an almost constant accumulation rate from 72 to 12 ka.

We present a record of monsoon variations for the early and middle Holocene that is inferred from the geochemistry of sediment cores from Ahung Co, a lake in central Tibet. The resolution of this record is better than 50 yr and the age model is derived from radiocarbon ages of terrestrial charcoal, which eliminates errors associated with the lake hard-water effect. We made down-core geochemical measurements of % carbonate, % organic carbon, C/N and δ13C of bulk organic matter, δ13C and δ18O of carbonate, and % dolomite. Proxy calibration and modern water-balance reconstruction show that these are proxies for lake depth and the amount of monsoon precipitation. We find that lake level and monsoon precipitation have been decreasing at Ahung Co since the early Holocene (∼7500 cal yr B.P.). Superimposed on this trend are rapid declines in monsoon rainfall at 7000–7500 and 4700 cal yr B.P. and seven century-scale wet–dry oscillations. The cores do not contain sediment from the last ∼4000 yr. Surface sediments from the lake accumulated during the 20th century, however. From this, we argue that lake levels have risen again recently following a late Holocene dry period.

High-resolution pollen analysis of Alborán Sea core MD95-2043 provides a 48-ka continuous vegetation record that can be directly correlated with sea surface and deep-water changes. The reliability of this record is supported by comparison with that of Padul (Sierra Nevada, Spain). Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 was characterised by fluctuations in Quercus forest cover in response to Dansgaard-Oeschger climate variability. MIS 2 was characterised by the dominance of semi-desert vegetation. Despite overall dry and cold conditions during MIS 2, Heinrich events (HEs) 2 and 1 were distinguished from the last glacial maximum by more intensely arid conditions. Taxon-specific vegetation responses to a tripartite climatic structure within the HEs are observed. In MIS 1, the Bölling-Allerød was marked by rapid afforestation, while a re-expansion of semi-desert environments occurred during the Younger Dryas. The maximum development of mixed Quercus forest occurred between 11.7 and 5.4 cal ka BP, with forest decline since 5.4 cal ka BP. On orbital timescales, a long-term expansion of semi-desert vegetation from MIS 3 into MIS 2 reflects global ice-volume trends, while Holocene arboreal decline reflects summer insolation decrease. The influence of precession on the amplitude of forest development and vegetation composition is also detected.