Two buried paleocatenas were studied to determine some features and techniques by which buried soils could be recognized, and to define their pedological characteristics, their lateral variation, and their contemporary environment. At Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, a ferric podzol to sandy gley sequence was developed in sands under marine clay and fen peat. The peat was radiocarbon dated at about 4100 yr BP. The buried soil was evident from its obvious catenary character and the soil characteristics and contemporary environment were determined using sand mineralogy, micromorphology, and pollen analysis. At West Runton, Norfolk, an apparently similar ferric podzol sequence occurred in Beestonian sands and gravels under a layer of Cromerian organic muds. However, only the uppermost profile contained definite evidence of soil formation. Other lower profiles contained pseudosoil features produced by sedimentation or diagenetic subsurface iron mobilization. It is suggested that the occurrence of a paleocatena is the most important criterion for the identification of a buried soil. Sedimentation and diagenesis cannot reproduce this lateral variation.

Lichen distribution and growth were examined at several sites in the Canadian Rockies between Mt. Robson and Banff townsite to determine the feasibility of lichenometry on calcareous deposits. The only lichen common enough to be of use is Xanthoria elegans, a bright orange lichen with round or elliptical thalli. It is not an ideal species for lichenometry because (a) it grows fairly quickly and has a range of only a few centuries, (b) growth is influenced by the presence of animal dung, (c) parts of some thalli weather away before maximum size is attained, (d) thalli may thicken as well as grow laterally with age, (e) the species is succeeded by other species relatively quickly in heavily forested environments, and (f) the species is not abundant on some deposits due to sometimes-unexplained environmental influences. However, when used with caution the species is still useful for dating purposes.

A growth curve for Xanthoria elegans was developed using moraines dated dendro-chronologically and man-made structures. After an ecesis interval of one or two decades the lichen grows at a rate of 0.68 mm/yr for several decades, then slows down to a rate of 0.22 mm/yr.

Pollen influx and percentage diagrams were prepared from an 11.4 m core from Moulton Pond, Maine. The pond basin was deglaciated about 14,000 y. a., after which it was located on an island in a sea of subarctic character until about 12,400 y. a. when the surrounding area emerged from the sea. The terrestrial vegetation was tundra until about 10,000 y. a. A change in the tundra vegetation is synchronous with the emergence from the sea, but synchroneity with the Pineo Ridge glacial readvance, which reached its maximum 50 km to the east of the pond about 12,700 y. a., is also possible because of imprecision in the dating. Comparisons of the Moulton Pond results with late-glacial pollen sequences elsewhere in eastern United States and adjacent Canada reveal a lack of synchroneity in vegetational changes casting doubt on claims of major broad-scale climatic shifts over the entire area.

The tundra period at Moulton Pond ended with a transition of a few hundred years to partly open, relatively xeric forests of low diversity dominated by white pine, oak, and birch trees. There was no intervening boreal forest. In the postglacial period the vegetation was continually changing, including in the early portion a series of immigrations of temperate tree taxa which later became important in the forests. The transient nature of these assemblages is further indicated by their differences from the closest modern analogs. From about 7100 y. a. until settlement by Europeans 200 y. a., the forests were closed. A major decline of conifers centering about 4700 y. a. was followed by maxima of mesic hardwoods about a thousand years later. In the most recent 2000 yr, the pollen record suggests greater environmental severity, evidenced by increasing spruce. But for the entire postglacial period, the closest modern vegetational analogs are all in the conifer-hardwood region. Much of the postglacial pollen sequence is inexplicable in climatic terms, as evidenced by nonsynchronous behavior of hemlock and beech.

The pollen influx diagram is useful for distinguishing tundra from forest, but for the postglacial period it is difficult to interpret. Pollen influx data are strongly affected by shifts in the pattern of sedimentation in lakes. We propose that such shifts account for the major changes in influx in mid- and late-postglacial time at Moulton Pond and at Rogers Lake, Connecticut. This complicates the interpretation of influx data which otherwise are superior to percentage data.

Planktonic foraminiferal assemblages have been examined in 25 trigger core top samples and 51 piston core top samples collected between latitudes 28° S and 55° S and longitudes 79° E and 120° E from the southern Indian Ocean during cruises of the U.S.N.S. Eltanin. Samples taken from water depths exceeding 4000 m and/or showing evidence of calcium carbonate dissolution were eliminated from further analysis. The final piston core data set consists of 34 samples; the trigger core data set containing 21 samples. A close relationship exists between changes in the planktonic foraminiferal assemblages in the surface sediments and surface water temperatures. Species diversity values were computed for each of the core top assemblages using the Shannon-Wiener Index and the Brillouin Index, each of which takes into consideration the number of species and the proportionment of individuals among the species. The Shannon and Brillouin diversity values for all samples are positively correlated (correlation coefficient (r) = +.999). Regression analysis of latitude versus Shannon diversity values in the trigger core samples clearly shows a decrease in diversity with increasing latitude (r = −.979). Furthermore, a strong correlation (r = +.977) exists between decreasing species diversity (Shannon) and decreasing average summer-winter temperature of the overlying surface waters. A paleotemperature equation derived from the relationship of diversity in trigger core samples and surface water temperature was used to generate paleotemperature curves for five trigger cores and a 6 m piston core of Late Pleistocene age, located beneath the present position of the Subtropical Convergence. A 7–8° C temperature range is suggested between the interglacial and glacial episodes in this Late Pleistocene sequence, and probably reflects latitudinal shifts of the Subtropical Convergence and Australasian Front during the Late Pleistocene.

The following note on a new method for extracting pollen from fossil pollen grains summarizes two articles in French, published in Annales de la Société Géologique de Belgique (Juvigné, 1973a; 1973b).

The new method proposed has three important parts: (1) Elutriation of the sediment in water; (2) the specific gravity of the heavy liquid must be between 2.25 and 2.5; and (3) the dispersion of the sediment in the heavy liquid is made with a high-speed mixer.

Several factors influence the long-term 13C record of the organic component in lake sediments. Two of the more predominant ones are changes in hardness of the water and changes in organic productivity. In general, during colder climatic episodes, 13C values are lower. Of 12 lakes studied, 4 have 13C records with large changes in 13C content that are to a certain degree correlative with climatic changes.

This study concerns the pollen and plant macrofossils from Mid-Wisconsinan Interstadial sites within the Wisconsinan ice margin in eastern North America. The time period covered is from about 55,000 years BP to 22,500 years BP, an interval much longer than the postglacial. Sediments examined are principally those of large lakes deposited in the Erie and Ontario basins during intervals of ice retreat.

The Port Talbot I Interval (from about 55,000 to 50,000 years BP) in the Erie basin is characterized by pollen assemblages alternating from Pinus-dominated zones to ones with abundant Pinus, Quercus, and nonarboreal pollen. These assemblages are interpreted as indicating relatively warm and dry conditions. Mean July temperatures fluctuated between 15 and 21°C.

During the succeeding Port Talbot II Interval and Plum Point Interstadial, in both the Erie and Ontario basins, pollen assemblages are characterized by dominant Pinus and Picea. Characteristic macrofossils include needles of the boreal Picea and Larix and leaves of species with a more northerly distribution, such as Dryas integrifolia, Betula glandulosa var. glandulosa, Vaccinium uliginosum var. alpinum, and Salix herbacea. These fossil assemblages are interpreted as indicating cooler and moister conditions in a forest-tundra environment. Mean July temperatures fluctuated between 10 and 15°C during the Port Talbot II Interval and Plum Point Interstadial.

The length (more than 300 km) and size of the St. Narcisse morainic system suggest that it represents an important glacial event, probably climatically controlled and not related to a surge. Dates on marine material (shells) both from within and external to the moraine suggest that its time of emplacement was roughly 11,000 years ago, well after the beginning of the Champlain Sea Episode, but still possibly correlative with the Valders event of the Lake Michigan area.

The mean apparent radiocarbon ages of marine shells, colleted alive before the initiation of atomic bomb testing, and also before the main input of dead carbon derived from fossil fuels, are found to be 440 yr for the coast of Norway, 510 yr for Spitsbergen, and 750 yr for Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada. The relationship between these apparent ages and the oceanic circulation pattern, is discussed. Also possible variations of the apparent ages back in time are discussed.

The relative frequencies of different skeletal elements within the bone assemblage recovered from a late Pleistocene fissure fill at Swartklip (South-Western Cape Province, South Africa) are shown to resemble those in the assemblage from the Transvaal australopithecine site of Makapansgat. Since there is evidence that carnivores, probably hyenas, accumulated the bones at Swartklip, it follows that carnivores, rather than hominids, may have accumulated the bones at Makapansgat.

The Northwestern Plains provide evidence of human occupation from Clovis times. The human groups involved were not spectacular and operated at the band level as hunters and gatherers. Changes in climate during the Altithermal Period may have caused some shifts in animal populations as a result of aridity with concomitant shifts in human occupations. The human groups were not adapted to storage of large quantities of food and as a result were operating in close harmony with the environment. Interdisciplinary efforts are needed to further resolve the past activities of human groups on the Plains.