We report new interpretation of >19,500 beach strandlines from waterbodies in the western St. Lawrence and Champlain Lowlands in northern New York and adjacent areas of Vermont, Quebec, and Ontario from ≤2-m-resolution digital elevation models. Strandline evidence supports a deglaciation model in which proglacial lake and marine shoreline deposits adjusted continuously in response to steady shoreline regression linked to outlet incision, differential isostatic adjustments, and postglacial relative sea-level rise. Gaps in strandline preservation reflect times of rapid water-level decline associated with breakout floods and abrupt shifts in drainage to new outlets. Water levels returned to slower, steady decline and renewed beach sedimentation during the later stages of a breakout as water levels in the source and receiving waterbodies equilibrated. Our conclusions contrast with previous models that infer discrete lake stages were controlled by stable outlets then fell abruptly as lower outlets were exhumed from beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet during deglaciation. We present a new deglacial chronology and lake nomenclature that reflects this paradigm and redefines the spatial and temporal distributions of proglacial lake and marine water in the region.

The results of a ground-penetrating radar survey and multiproxy studies of the sediment cores collected from two lakes in the Valdai Highlands (East European Plain) provide new insights into the late glacial and Holocene environmental history of the region situated in the marginal zone of the last Scandinavian ice sheet. The cores were analyzed for organic carbon and nitrogen content, as well as for pollen and diatoms. The chronology of the cores is based on radiocarbon dates and pollen-based stratigraphy. The studied records document that vast dead ice masses and associated ice-dammed lakes existed in the Valdai Highlands area until ∼14 cal ka BP. Open tundra-steppe communities dominated the study area during the Oldest Dryas, Bølling, and Older Dryas (between ca. 17 and 14 cal ka BP), but dwarf birch (Betula nana), shrub alder (Alnus fruticosa), and willow (Salix) were also common. Scots pine forest (Pinus sylvestris) became common for a short interval during the Bølling warming (ca. 14.9 and 14.4 cal ka BP). The appearance of spruce (Picea) forest in the landscape occurred in the beginning of the Allerød warming (∼14 cal ka BP), but the open steppe-like plant communities remained common until the onset of the Holocene. The modern lake systems emerged at ∼10 cal ka BP, marked by an onset of organic-type sedimentation and the appearance of modern-type forests. The Mid-Holocene (∼8–4 cal ka BP) was the warmest time, as documented by the maximal distribution of temperate and broadleaved taxa in the region. The onset of agricultural land use and simultaneous trend of increasing lake trophic state and increasing paludification in the area is recorded at ∼2.5 cal ka BP.

The Đurđevac Sands constitute a wide area of small-scale dune relief in the Podravina (NE Croatia), located along the central part of the southern Drava River valley. Even though it has been the subject of earlier investigations, the timing and characteristics of aeolian activity and pedogenesis remain unclear. In this study, field investigations and laboratory methods are combined to gather information on past aeolian systems in the southern part of the Pannonian Basin. The results indicate that weak soil formation during the Bølling-Allerød interstadial stabilized the dunes after the first episode of aeolian activity that took place since ca. 18 ka. The source material for dune building is thought to be fluvial sand from the Drava River, which was blown from exposed terraces. During the Younger Dryas and/or Early Holocene, a new phase of aeolian activity is recorded, with material showing stronger evidence of weathering compared to the underlying aeolian material. Finally, during the Mid and/or Late Holocene, dunes were overbuilt once again with fresh unweathered sand. In general, these new findings obtained from the Đurđevac Sands area correlate rather well with other regions in the Pannonian Basin, in terms of the timing and characteristics of soil formation and aeolian activity.

Fields of sandy paleodunes have been identified in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and Guyana north of the South American continent. In this study, geochronological data obtained by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) for paleodunes in the Middle Rio Negro region (Brazil) allowed the identification of two stages of dune deposition: the older from 169.74 ± 1.01 ka to 124.38 ± 0.91 ka and the younger from 18.89 ± 0.88 ka to 14.75 ± 0.77 ka. The older interval is the first reported in the Amazon; no correlated sediment has been documented. In contrast, the more recent depositional interval correlates to the interval of paleodune fields of the region called “dry corridor” in the Late Pleistocene–Holocene. In this study, we associated the genesis of paleodunes with the reworking of alluvial deposits from the Negro and Demini rivers, driven by river seasonality during the Pleistocene–Holocene, as evidenced by characteristic microtextural data.

Mandibular and dental material of hyaenids from the Central Asian localities of Zasukhino-3 (Russia) and Nalaikha (Mongolia), dating to the late Early Pleistocene (0.9–0.78 Ma) was identified as giant hyena Pachycrocuta brevirostris based on morphological and size similarities. Comparative analysis of Eurasian P. brevirostris from different stratigraphic levels (from 2.1 to 0.5 Ma) revealed two evolutionary stages of the lower cheek teeth of the giant hyenas. The stages are determined as morphotypes A and B, directed toward the differentiation of the function of premolar and enhancing the cutting function of m1. We traced the microprocesses that occurred during the transition from the primitive structure of the m1 talonid to its more advanced state. This event occurred during the transition from the late Villafranchian to the Epivillafranchian (ca. 1.1–0.9 Ma). The stabilized advanced morphotype B was found in samples from Zasukhino-3, Nalaikha, and other close-in-age localities such as Lakhuti-2. The new finds from Asian Russia and Mongolia suggest that P. brevirostris from these regions represent a single giant hyena population occupying the northernmost part of their Asian range.

The prehistoric human habitation of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is well evidenced by the archaeological record, but poorly constrained in time and space. To test the plausibility of in situ survival during the last glacial maximum (LGM) and the coldest periods of the Pleistocene, this paper gauges the effects of LGM conditions and varying local ice coverage on the climate. Three different climate model scenarios are generated, and their outputs are used to drive vegetation simulations. This allows us to evaluate 10 archaeological sites that show evidence of human activity either pre- or post-LGM as possible human refugia. The results show that the higher the level of ice coverage on the plateau, the colder and drier the climate becomes, and barren unproductive land extends farther south. However, there are sites that remain habitable in all scenarios, with the southern and northeastern plateau identified as the areas with the highest likelihood of refugia during the LGM, specifically at the locations of Baishiya Karst Cave and Siling Co. There is a high probability of the TP being habitable during the LGM, as even the scenario with the most ice yields some regions with favourable conditions that are within the habitability criteria.

Cirques are classic glacial erosion landforms, and studying their morphological development provides valuable paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental insights. However, research on cirques on the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding mountain ranges has focused primarily on the southern, eastern, and northwestern plateau, with limited attention given to the northeastern region, hindering comparative analyses between different regions. In this study, 1132 ice-free cirques in the Qilian Mountains on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau are examined, and their spatial distribution patterns and influential factors are analyzed. The results show that the cirques’ aspect in the Qilian Mountains is predominantly north-facing. Influenced by climate and lithology, the size of the cirques gradually increases from east to west, and the elevation parameters of the cirques are significantly affected by aspect.. The cirques in the western section are shaped primarily by lateral erosion, whereas those in the central section experience more balanced erosion, and those in the eastern section are controlled primarily by longitudinal erosion. A comparison with existing cirque morphological data from other regions of the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding mountain ranges reveals that the formation of cirques is affected by both climatic and non-climatic factors, and their formation ages are difficult to determine.

This paper treats new data about small mammals from the Chongphadae Cave Site, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Seven samples from Layers 8–10 and 12–15 included 161 tooth fossils of small mammals. The composition of small mammal assemblage is 3 orders, 5 families, and 11 species, which are 1 insectivore taxon, 1 lagomorph taxon, and 9 rodent taxa. The community development is distinguished into five stages (62.122–19.630 ka), and stage I is characterized by the dominance of xerophilous elements, including Myospalax epsilanus, Microtus brandti, and Cricetulus barabensis. Alternating between mesophilous and xerophilous elements, the last stage (stage IV) of community development is characterized by the existence of only mesophilous elements, such as Ochotona alpina and Erinaceus sp. The dynamics of small mammal communities of the Chongphadae Cave Site demonstrate that alternation between mesophilous and xerophilous elements during the Late Pleistocene contributed to the formation of the modern mosaic landscape consisting of forests, grasslands, and riverside.