Lake Bosumtwi is one of the most widely studied palaeoclimate archives in West Africa. Results from numerous AMS 14C dates of samples from four piston cores from Lake Bosumtwi show that an abrupt sedimentary transition from a mid-Holocene sapropel to calcareous laminated muds occurred at about 3200 cal yr B.P. High-resolution analyses of the nitrogen isotopic composition of organic matter across this transition confirm its abrupt nature, and suggest that the change may signal a step toward increased aridity and intensified surface winds that affected western equatorial Africa from Ghana to the Congo basin. Northern and Eastern Africa experienced a similar abrupt shift toward aridity during the late Holocene, but at about 5000 cal yr B.P., a difference in timing that illustrates the regional nature of climate changes during the Holocene and the importance of feedback mechanisms in regulating Holocene climate variability. Furthermore, an abrupt change at about 3000 cal yr B.P. occurs at several sites adjacent to the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, which may hint at major changes in the surface temperatures of the tropical Atlantic and/or Pacific at this time.

Records from South America show that modern ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation) did not exist 7000 cal yr B.P. and has developed progressively since then. There has been little information available on oceanic conditions in the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) to constrain explanations for ENSO onset. We report quantitative observations on thermocline and mixed-layer conditions in the EEP during ENSO start up. We found important changes in both the thermocline and the mixed layer, indicating increased upwelling of cooler waters since 7000 cal yr B.P. This resulted from change in the source and/or properties of waters supplying the Equatorial Undercurrent, which feeds upwelling along the equator and the Peru margin. Modeling shows that ENSO is sensitive to subsurface conditions in the eastern equatorial Pacific and that the changes in the thermocline we observed were driven by extratropical processes, giving these a role in conditioning the development of ENSO. This is in contrast to models that call for control of equatorial Pacific oceanography by tropical processes only. These infer stronger upwelling and cooler surface waters for the EEP during the mid-Holocene, which is not supported by our results.

This study combines different methods, including grain size, macrofossil, and pollen analyses, to reconstruct paleogeographical and paleoclimatological conditions for periods before, during, and after the isolation of a small lake (Lake Kachishayoot) in northern Québec. After the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet around 8000 14C yr B.P., the area was submerged by the Tyrrell Sea. The transition from marine to lacustrine environment occurred about 5400 yr B.P. Two major periods of water-level fluctuations were inferred from organic and mineral sediments: a high water level that occurred after 3200 yr B.P. and a low water level that started before 2200 yr B.P. Our chronological data for the first period are consistent with those from nearby Lac des Pluviers and from other lakes in east central Canada and in the northeastern United States. During the low-water-level period, however, there is no evidence for minor fluctuations, whereas other lakes in northern Québec and east-central Canada underwent several brief lowerings. Long-term changes in atmospheric circulation caused by changing global boundary conditions likely explained long-term water-level fluctuations of Lake Kachishayoot.

Relative sea level (RSL) data derived from isolation basins at Innaarsuit, a site on the south shores of the large marine embayment of Disko Bugt, West Greenland, record rapid RSL fall from the marine limit (ca. 108 m) at 10,300–9900 cal yr B.P. to reach the present sea level at 3500 cal yr B.P. Since 2000 cal yr B.P., RSL rose ca. 3 m to the present. When compared with data from elsewhere in Disko Bugt, our results suggest that the embayment was deglaciated later and more quickly than previously thought, at or slightly before 10,300 cal yr B.P. The northern part of Disko Bugt experienced less rebound (ca. 10 m at 6000 cal yr B.P.) compared with areas to the south. Submergence during the late Holocene supports a model of crustal down-warping as a result of renewed ice-sheet growth during the neoglacial. There is little evidence for west to east differences in crustal rebound across the southern shores of Disko Bugt.

We present the first application of cross-dating (Th/U measured by thermo-ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) and 14C measured by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)) of calcite covering prehistoric paintings. Th/U age estimates of cave drapery range from 9800 to 27,300 yr B.P. while conventional 14C age is estimated between 9900 and 7610 yr B.P. depending on the dead carbon correction. The age discrepancy is attributed to a disturbance of Th/U and/or 14C geochemical systems, showing the limits of the geochronological approach applied to this kind of material. For the Th/U system, the poor consistency of U data (U content, 234U/238U activity ratios) and apparent ages argue for open system conditions. For 14C system, variation of the dead carbon fraction (dcf) and a possible mixing of successive generations of calcite could account for age discrepancy. Nevertheless, one sample shows concordant ages for the two methods. Compatible ages through corrections for open system conditions are assumed for other samples. Then, the cross-dating suggests 9900 yr as the minimum age of the piece of drapery; the underlying painting must be older. This study of rock art demonstrates the presence of a Pleistocene population before 9900 yr in the southeast of Borneo, whereas previously the only population in evidence in this area was of Austronesian type from ∼5000 to 6000 yrs ago.

Extensive portions of the continental shelf off the coast of British Columbia were subaerially exposed during Late Wisconsinan deglaciation due to lowering of relative sea level by as much as 150 m. Paleoecological analyses were conducted at two sites on the emergent continental shelf where terrestrial surfaces with in situ conifers are preserved. The woody plant remains confirm that, during the latest period of subaerial exposure, terrestrial vegetation was established on the continental shelf. Microscopic identification of fossil wood, and analyses of pollen and plant macrofossils from the associated paleosols and overlying shallow pond sediments indicate that productive Pinus contorta-dominated communities with abundant Alnus crispa and ferns grew on the shelf adjacent to and on the Queen Charlotte Islands around 12,200 14C yr B.P. Dwarf shrubs including Salix and Empetrum, and herbaceous plants such as Heracleum lanatum and Hippuris vulgaris, were also important components of the shelf vegetation. Near northern Vancouver Island, mixed coniferous forests dominated by Pinus contorta with Picea, Tsuga spp., Alnus spp., and ferns occupied the shelf at 10,500 14C yr B.P.

Continuous pollen and sediment records from two ∼8.5-m-long cores document late Pleistocene and Holocene sedimentation and vegetation change in the Ballston Lake basin, eastern New York State. Pebbles at the base of both cores and the geomorphology of the watershed reflect the presence of the Mohawk River in the basin prior to ∼12,900 ± 70 cal yr B.P. Ballston Lake formed at the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) by an avulsion of the Mohawk River. The transition from clay to gyttja with low magnetic susceptibility (MS), low bulk density, and high organic carbon indicates rapid warming and increased lake productivity beginning 11,020 cal yr B.P. MS measurements reveal that the influx of magnetic particles, associated with pre-Holocene clastic sedimentation, ceased after ∼10,780 cal yr B.P. The pollen record is subdivided into six zones: BL1 (12,920 to 11,020 cal yr B.P.) is dominated by boreal forest pollen; BL2 (11,020 to 10,780 cal yr B.P.) by pine (Pinus) forest pollen; BL3 (10,780 to 5290 cal yr B.P.) by hemlock (Tsuga) and mixed hardwood pollen; BL4 (5290 to 2680 cal yr B.P.) by mixed hardwood pollen; BL5a (2680 cal yr B.P. to 1030 cal yr B.P.) by conifer and mixed hardwood pollen; and BL5b (1030 cal B.P. to present) by increasing ragweed (Ambrosia) pollen. A 62% decrease in spruce (Picea) pollen in <320 cal years during BL1 reflects rapid warming at the end of the YD. Holocene pollen zones record more subtle climatic shifts than occurred at the end of the YD. One of the largest changes in the Holocene pollen spectra began ∼5300 cal yr B.P., and is characterized by a marked decline in hemlock pollen. This has been noted in other pollen records from the region and may record preferential selection of hemlock by a pathogen or parasites.

Field investigations at Dugway Proving Ground in western Utah have produced new data on the chronology and human occupation of late Pleistocene and early Holocene lakes, rivers, and wetlands in the Lake Bonneville basin. We have classified paleo-river channels of these ages as “gravel channels” and “sand channels.” Gravel channels are straight to curved, digitate, and have abrupt bulbous ends. They are composed of fine gravel and coarse sand, and are topographically inverted (i.e., they stand higher than the surrounding mudflats). Sand channels are younger and sand filled, with well-developed meander-scroll morphology that is truncated by deflated mudflat surfaces. Gravel channels were formed by a river that originated as overflow from the Sevier basin along the Old River Bed during the late regressive phases of Lake Bonneville (after 12,500 and prior to 11,000 14C yr B.P.). Dated samples from sand channels and associated fluvial overbank and wetland deposits range in age from 11,000 to 8800 14C yr B.P., and are probably related to continued Sevier-basin overflow and to groundwater discharge. Paleoarchaic foragers occupied numerous sites on gravel-channel landforms and adjacent to sand channels in the extensive early Holocene wetland habitats. Reworking of tools and limited toolstone diversity is consistent with theoretical models suggesting Paleoarchaic foragers in the Old River Bed delta were less mobile than elsewhere in the Great Basin.

Over 100 whole-rock amino acid racemization (AAR) ratios from outcrops around Rottnest Island (32.0° S Latitude near Perth) indicate distinct pulses of eolian deposition during the late Quaternary. Whole-rock d-alloisoleucine/l-isoleucine (A/I) ratios from bioclastic carbonate deposits fall into three distinct modal classes or “aminozones.” The oldest, Aminozone E, averages 0.33 ± 0.04 (n = 21). Red palaeosol and thick calcrete generally cap the Aminozone E deposits. A younger Aminozone C averages 0.22 ± 0.03 (n = 63); comprising two submodes at 0.26 ± 0.01 (n = 14) and 0.21 ± 0.02 (n = 49). Multiple dune sets of this interval are interrupted by relatively weak, brown to tan “protosols.” A dense, dark brown rendzina palaeosol caps the Aminozone C succession. Ratios from Holocene dune and marine deposits (“Aminozone A”) center on 0.11 ± 0.02 (n = 15), comprising submodes of 0.13 ± 0.01 (9) and 0.09 ± 0.01 (6). Calibration of A/I averages from Aminozones E and A are provided by U/Th and 14C radiometric ages of 125,000 yr (marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 5e and 2000–6000 14C yr B.P. (MIS 1), respectively. The whole-rock A/I results support periodic deposition initiated during MIS 5e, continuing through MIS 5c, and then peaking at the end of MIS 5a, about 70,000–80,000 yr ago. Oceanographic evidence indicates the area was subjected to much colder conditions during MIS 2–4 (10,000 to 70,000 yr ago), greatly slowing the epimerization rate. Eolianite deposition resumed in the mid Holocene (∼6000 yr ago) up to the present. The A/I epimerization pathway constructed from Rottnest Island shows remarkable similarity to that of Bermuda in the North Atlantic (32° N Latitude). These findings suggest that, like Bermuda, the eolian activity on Rottnest occurred primarily during or shortly after interglacial highstands when the shoreline was near the present datum, rather than during glacial lowstands when the coastline was positioned 10–20 km to the west.

Speleothems from Hoti Cave in northern Oman provide a record of continental pluvial periods over the last 330,000 yr. Periods of rapid speleothem deposition occurred from 6000 to 10,500, 78,000 to 82,000, 120,000 to 135,000, 180,000 to 200,000, and 300,000 to 330,000 yr ago, with little or no growth during the intervening periods. During each of these five pluvial periods, δD values of water extracted from speleothem fluid inclusions (δDFI) are between −60 and −20‰ (VSMOW) and δ18O values of speleothem calcite (δ18OC) are between −12 and −4‰ to (VPDB). These values are much more negative than modern rainfall (for δD) or modern stalagmites (for δ18O). Previous work on the isotopic composition of rainfall in Oman has shown that northern and southern moisture sources are isotopically distinct. Combined measurements of the δD values of fluid-inclusion water with calculated δ18O values from peak interglacial speleothems indicate that groundwater was predominantly recharged by the southern (Indian Ocean) moisture source, when the monsoon rainfall belt moved northward and reached Northern Oman during each of these periods.

Lichen thallus measurements from 22 surfaces of known age on Mount Baker, Mount Hood, and Mount Rainier are used to construct a regional Rhizocarpon geographicum growth curve for the Cascade Range of Washington and northern Oregon. Growth rates determined by measuring the largest thallus diameters on the same surfaces at Mount Rainier in 1976 and 2002 are used for comparison with lichenometric data from Mount Baker and Mount Hood. Similar lichen thallus diameter vs age relationships identified in the data from the three mountains suggest the presence of uniform growth rates over the 400-km range. A regional growth curve developed during our study shows three growth phases of successively slower growth: a rapid phase from 8 to 20 yr, a linear phase from 20 to 145 yr, and a slow phase of unknown duration beyond ca. 145 yr. Uncertainty in lichen growth rates beyond 145 yr limits projection of the curve beyond that age; however, the age range of the constrained growth curve covers an important period of recent climate variability. When applied in appropriate settings, our growth curve can be used to determine numeric ages to ±10 yr for surfaces between 20 and 145 years old in areas where other techniques are not applicable or do not provide unique or well-constrained ages.