Klein Kliphuis clarifications: A reply to Jerardino

Permafrost deposits, which underlie vast areas of Asia, provide valuable information for reconstructing past ecological events. The syngenetic permafrost deposits of the Batagay outcrop preserve valuable data about the palaeo-environment of the Yana Highlands of inland Beringia. The former subcontinent of Beringia connected Eurasia and America during low sea-level stands and hosted a now extinct biomethe mammothsteppe. To unravel the environmental history of West Beringia, the Batagay permafrost sequence was investigated. The first part of the thesis reports the first sedimentological results and provides a stratigraphical and temporal framework of the sequence. The stratigraphy comprises five units, including two ice complexes, two sand units and one woody layer. OSL and AMS dating suggest that the sequence started to accumulate during the late Middle Pleistocene and extends through the Late Pleistocene, with interruptions and erosional events. The second part of the thesis presents the palaeo-environmental reconstruction at the Batagay site during marine isotope stages (MIS) 62. Plant macrofossil, palynological, entomological, and charcoal analyses were performed on the samples from the Batagay outcrop. Palaeontological data indicate that the Yana Highlands were a northern refugium for larch, steppe communities, and herbivores. That larch stands and meadow steppes persisted at the site from MIS 6 to 2 indicating environmental stability in the region. The third part of the thesis discusses the phylogeographical history of the endemic steppe plant Stellaria jacutica of the Last Interglacial age. A finding of this single seed suggests that modern steppes of the region did not establish as late as in the Holocene. Instead, they are relics of a formerly closed central Siberiannortheast Yakutian steppe belt. The data obtained from the inland Batagay outcrop provide valuable information about the evolution of vegetation in continental settings of West Beringia.

We present a taxonomic and palaeoecological analysis of a continental mollusc fauna from a mammoth-bearing succession near Bullendorf in Lower Austria. The taxonomic analysis comprises morphological descriptions and SEM documentation of 15 Pleistocene gastropod species. A Principal Component Analysis of the quantitative and qualitative composition of the investigated samples reveals a stratigraphic succession of four mollusc assemblages defined herein as Galba truncatula assemblage, Succinella oblonga assemblage, Pupilla muscorum/loessica and Pupilla alpicola/sterrii assemblages. The autecological requirements of the species of each assemblage allow a reconstruction of the palaeoenvironmental history of the section with alternating dry and humid conditions within a general cooling trend. Despite generally low mollusc density and species richness, the Bullendorf site allows important insight into latest Quaternary regional environmental conditions and climate. Based on the comparison with similar mollusc sites across Europe, a biostratigraphic correlation with the Late Pleistocene (~110–12 ka) is proposed.

The first detailed stratigraphic record from a deep-water carbonate mound in the Northeast Atlantic based on absolute datings (U/Th and AMS 14C) and stable oxygen isotope records reveals that its top sediment sequences are condensed by numerous hiatuses. According to stable isotope data, mainly sediments with an intermediate signal are preserved on the mound, while almost all fully glacial and interglacial sediments have either not been deposited or have been eroded later. The resulting hiatuses reduce the Late Pleistocene sediment accumulation at Propeller Mound to amounts smaller than the background sedimentation.The hiatuses most likely result due to the sweeping of the mound in turn with the re-establishment of vigour interglacial circulation patterns after sluggish current regimes during glacials. Thus, within the discussion if internal, fluid-driven or external environmentally driven processes control the evolution of such carbonate mounds, our findings for Propeller Mound clearly point to environmental forcing as the dominant mechanism shaping deep-water carbonate mounds in the NE Atlantic during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene.

On the basis of the results of former studies by the present authors five main groups of bears are recognized: Ursus gr. minimus - thibetanus (black bears), Ursus gr. etruscus (etruscan bears), Ursus gr. arctos (brown bears), Ursus gr. deningei - spelaeus (cave bears) and Ursus gr. maritimus (white bears). Black bears seem to have disappeared from Europe during the Late Pliocene, immigrated again at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, and definitively died out in Europe at the beginning of the Late Pleistocene. Etruscan bears occur more or less contemporaneously in the southern areas of Europe and Asia during the Late Pliocene. The Asian branch apparently became extinct at the end of this period, while the European stock survived, giving rise to more advanced representatives during the Early Pleistocene. Brown bears seem to have originated in Asia. This group dispersed widely in holoarctic areas diversifying into a great number of varieties. They reached Europe presumably at the very end of the Early Pleistocene. The arrival of brown bears in Europe is a crucial event, which approximately coincides with the great faunal turnover which marks the Early-Middle Pleistocene transition. Brown bears replaced the etruscan bears, typical of the Villafranchian faunal assemblages, and gave rise to the cave bear line. Cave bears were very successful in Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene and disappeared at the end of the last glaciation or even at the very beginning of the Holocene. White bears presumably originated from northern Eurasian brown bear populations during the Late Pleistocene.

The Colorado Creek section of Alaska is an important paleontological site first excavated and reported on in the early 1980s and 1990s. The remains of two individual mammoths (the “Upper” and “Lower”), and elements of horse, bison, and caribou make this a unique faunal assemblage for a region in interior western Alaska, and the western edge of eastern Beringia. The mammoth remains were the only portions of the faunal assemblage radiocarbon dated in the 1980s. The Upper mammoth ages were widespread between 13,000 and 16,200 BP with the older dates being more accepted for the death of the individual. A single age on the Lower mammoth was produced at 22,880 14 C yr BP. New accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates generally confirm the accepted ages for the two mammoths and provide more precise ages of 16,200 ± 50 and 22,710 ± 90 14 C yr BP for the Upper and Lower mammoths, respectively. AMS dates on caribou and horse are similar to ages on the Upper mammoth and show an overlap in their ecological ranges in interior western Alaska between 16,000 and 17,000 14 C yr BP during the Late Glacial, similar to other areas of the state. The sole AMS date on bison produced an infinite 14 C age (>43,500 14 C yr BP), considerably older than the Upper and Lower mammoths’ remains, and indicates that older deposits are present at the site. A dearth of dated Quaternary paleontological specimens from western Alaska hinders our understanding of this region’s paleoecology. This study enhances our conception of the geographic and chronological spread of late Pleistocene large terrestrial mammals in Alaska and Beringia. DOI: 10.2458/azu_rc.57.18436

The late-pleistocene and holocene sediments of two mesotrophic lakes, Stora Kroksjon and Lilla Toeklsjon in Blekinge, Southern Sweden, were analysed for chironomid, diatom and pollen remains. From both lakes, ca. 3.5m sediment were retrieved; the correlation of single cores was achieved using 14C dating and matching of the loss-on-ignition curve. The Stora Kroksjon sequence incorporated ca. 14,000 years, the Lilla Torkelsjon sequence ca. 10,000 years. Using the chironomid stratigraphy and a calibration data set, mean July air temperatures were reconstructed for both sites. At Stora Kroksjon, chironomid data indicate significantly lowered temperatures during the Younger Dryas and rising trophic status in the late Holocene. Temperature trends agreed well with other central- and northeuropean reconstructions. For the Younger Dyras, around 10,200 and 8200 cal BP, significantly cool temperatures were reconstructed. In shallow Lilla Torkelsjon, chironomid and diatom data point towards significantly lowered water levels bewteen 4500 and 2700 cal BP. In this part of the sequence, the diatom flora was near-exclusively benthic and profundal cironomids were rare. Reconstructed temperatures were uncommonly high due to reduced water depth. There were indications of mild pH fluctuations during the Holocene at Lilla Torkelsjon.

Pleistocene fluvial gravel terraces appear to be useful to decipher neotectonic movements. To achieve this, however, chronologic and sedimentologic data on the terraces are required. Thus, this thesis represents a multidisciplinary approach. After presenting methodological aspects of U/Th (Uranium-series disequilibrium) dating, compared to OSL (Optically Stimulated Luminescence), the ages obtained are used, together with sedimentological data, to constrain the formation processes and timing of the Late Pleistocene terraces in the Hochrhein area. Finally, the geometry of these terraces is interpreted in terms of neotectonics. Hitherto, dating coarse-grained sediment has proved often impossible due the lack of datable material, and developing new methods in this domain is thus of crucial importance. U/Th is a well established method, often used for speleothems and coral dating, and it is tested here on pedogenetic crusts growing within the Late Pleistocene gravels of the Hochrhein area. These results are compared to OSL ages from the same sampling sites. Our results show that this method has a development potential, but is highly dependant on a sufficient and stable Uranium content of the samples, which is partly controlled by bacterial activity. Comparisons with OSL ages highlight the fact that the event that is dated by mean of U/Th is the precipitation of the crust, not the deposition of the sediment. Sedimentological and morphological data show that the Late Pleistocene gravels (Lower Terrace) were deposited as a braided river, where flood events played a major shaping role. The gravels are arranged into terrace levels, where the highest level is an accumulation level, and the lower levels are erosion level with minor re-accumulation. The flood deposits are mostly conserved on top of the different terrace levels because the general incision regime prevented them from being reworked. OSL ages show that the main gravel accumulation occurred between 27 an 11 ka in the Hochrhein area, but minor re-accumulation occurred until historical times. The accumulation level was thus formed during the Younger Dryas, and the lower levels were formed from the Youger Dryas on, until historical times. These results are confirmed by radiocarbon ages from fossil trees and U/Th ages from speleothems. Terrace longitudinal profiles are used to assess neotectonic activity in the Hochrhein area. Four main groups of Pleistocene terrace exist in this area: the Earliest Pleistocene Higher Deckenschotter, the Early Pleistocene Lower Deckenschotter, the Middle-Late Pleistocene High Terrace and the Late Pleistocene Lower Terrace. The three older terrace groups do not show original surfaces anymore, so outcrop altitudes are used to build the longitudinal profi le. This profi le shows that the gradient of the terraces increases with their age, and each of the terrace groups show an increased gradient at the location where the profi le crosses the eastern main border fault (MBF) of the Upper Rhine Graben (URG). The terraces converge, cross and fi nally continue as basin fi lling. This suggests a relative uplift of the headwater area and extensional activity for the MBF during Pleistocene. The Lower Terrace features still well preserved surfaces and these are analysed with a high precision Digital Terrain Model (DTM). Using a high precision DTM highlights the complex arrangement of sublevels and the irregularities of the surfaces, which are mostly caused by sedimentary and erosive processes. NW of Basel in the URG, fi eld evidences indicate Late Pleistocene activity of NW-SE striking normal faults.

Esta investigação apresenta alguns resultados obtidos durante os estudos geoarqueológicos realizados na localidade Touro Passo, município de Uruguaiana, Brasil. Ali foram relocalizados os sítios paleoíndios estudados pela equipe do Programa de Pesquisas Paleoindígenas - PROPA (1972-1978) - Smithsonian Institution e foram reconhecidos novos sítios de interesse geoarqueológico e paleontológico. Os sítios estão situados em planícies aluviais do Rio Uruguai e do Arroio Touro Passo, correspondem a transição Pleistoceno tardio - Holoceno temprano. Neste artigo foram selecionados 3 sítios para discutir os estudos geoarqueológicos intensivos na sub-bacia do Arroio Touro Passo, são eles: Barranca Grande, RS-I-66: Milton Almeida y Comis II. O enfoque geoarqueológico permitiu a compreensão da sequência estratigráfica e dos processos de formação e perturbação pós-deposicional dos sítios arqueológicos em ambiente fluvial. Além de oferecer novas datações 14C para a área de estudo.

New and detailed taphonomic and stratigraphical analyses have been carried out at the early Late Pleistocene site of “La Grave”, nearby Avetrana (Taranto, Southern Italy). These, together with population analyses of the principal species represented ( Bos primigenius , Dama dama , Cervus elaphus , Sus scrofa and Stephanorhinus hemitoechus ), suggest that the fossiliferous deposits were probably accumulated rapidly, over a short time span, by exceptional events of heavy rainfall with overbank flooding. These results are supported particularly by comparison of the mammalian death assemblages from Avetrana with data from recent and Pleistocene catastrophic death assemblages documented in the literature. Furthermore, population analysis of species pinpoints the time of death between late autumn and winter. Periods with abundant and heavy rainfall are recorded in Late Pleistocene Mediterranean marine cores by the presence of sapropel levels, and in continental pollen diagrams covering the same time. Finally, observations on the morphometric variations in the bones of Bos primigenius reveal an increase in size of the species during the early Late Pleistocene and a decrease in size during the late Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. SHORT NOTE-NOTA BREVE

This PhD research utilises, for the first time, sedimentary evidence for mid to late Quaternary environmental change in the Tequixquiac region of Central-eastern Mexico. This project has logged over 50 stratigraphic sections and geochemically analysed a 55 m lithostratigraphic sequence for multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental information. The main research objective was to develop a spatial and temporal Palaeogeographic and Palaeoenvironmental model for the study area the covered the late Pleistocene to early Holocene. The findings of the study, based on the analysis of sedimentology, micromorphology, stable isotopes δ18Ocarbonate and δ13CDIC as well as ICP-OES sediment and tephra geochemistry, LOI, AMS radiocarbon, 40Ar/39Ar and Uranium-series dating has allowed a chronologically constrained paleoenvironmental and palaeogeographic reconstruction of the study area. The results of the study suggest that the Tequixquiac Basin has undergone a significant hydrological change from perennial lacustrine to ephemeral fluvial conditions between MIS15 – MIS 1 controlled by a combination of; climatic fluctuations, expressed as depositional cyclicity driven by precessional fluctuations to insolation levels. On shorter time-scales, changes in the mean position of the ITCZ related to SST, latitudinal gradients, atmospheric surface pressure gradients, the extent of Northern Hemisphere land and sea ice cover, and oceanic circulation patterns. Fluctuations in the TOC content of sediments are thought to be related to El Nino-like (dry) and La Nina-like (wet) events. While climate is thought to have been critical to the development the Quaternary localised uplift, deformation and normal faulting have also influenced palaeohydrology and water-table elevation during the recorded depositional period (Figs 8.15 d & 8.16 d).

The La Janda basin in southern Spain is a near-shore geo-bio-archive comprising a variable Quaternary depositional history, with shallow marine, lacustrine, palustrine, and terrestrial strata. In the 1930s the lake was drained and is serving now as a huge agricultural area. The 33 m-core recovered in fall 2016 along with several shallower drill cores up to c. 15 m, reveals insights into a unique mixed terrestrial palaeo-environmental archive in Andalucia influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and hence the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) within the Gulf of Cadiz. The basin's evolution was influenced both by the postglacial marine transgression and by an active tectonic fault controlling most of the accommodation space by causing subsidence. Our long core was accompanied by further corings along an E-W striking transect in order to reveal also the relation of the influence of tectonic activity with sedimentary sequences. Multi-Sensor Core Logging has been completed. Results of sedimentological, geochemical and micropalaeontological analyses will be presented in the frame of the climate variations during the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene, along with a preliminary age-depth model based on radiocarbon (AMS-14C) and optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating techniques. Our investigations ultimately aim at providing valuable information on major Late Pleistocene to Holocene climatic and palaeo-environmental fluctuations in the southernmost part of the Iberian Peninsula.

Late Quaternary depositional systems of the Po Plain exhibit distinct, predictable and chronologically constrained facies patterns that are useful as modern analogs for interpreting the ancient record. Proximal segments of alluvial successions are characterized by a complex succession of floodplain clays and fluvial-channel sand bodies. The distal portions, on the other hand, record the transition from alluvial clay deposits to swamp, lagoonal and marine-influenced facies associations, the internal configuration of which has been predominantly neglected. This Ph.D. thesis focuses on the Late Pleistocene-Holocene succession of the Po Plain, providing firstly a stratigraphic analysis of paleosols with a focus on their lateral traceability, and then a millennial-scale subdivision of the coastal succession. The stratigraphic architecture of the Late Pleistocene fluvial succession consists of non-pedogenized alluvial strata in alternation with weakly developed paleosols spanning intervals of time of a few thousand years, and genetically related to coeval aggradationally-stacked channel-belt bodies. Two prominent paleosols were recognized and mapped: one developed at the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and the less developed Younger Dryas (YD) paleosol, reflecting different duration and magnitude of these two cooling events. Above the YD paleosol, the Holocene depositional history of the Po coastal plain was reconstructed through stratigraphic correlation of eight parasequences, small-scale packages bounded by marine flooding surfaces and their equivalents, developed on millennial time scales. Parasequences document how climatic variations may affect the fluvial environment over short time scales: eustasy appears to be a dominant control on stratigraphic architecture of Early Holocene parasequences, whilst parasequence development in Middle to Late Holocene deposits appears to have been controlled dominantly by autogenic processes during the generalized phase of sea-level stabilization. High-accommodation fluvial settings can respond to sea-level fall with very minor or no degradation, leading to aggradationally stacked channel-belt sand bodies, in lieu of well-defined paleovalley systems.

In this paper are exposed the results of statigraphical and sedimentary analysis carried out in the north-western side of the Plio-Pleistocene fluviolacustrine upper Valdarno basin. The deposits of Montevarchi and Torrente Ciuffenna Successions were mapped. These deposits originated during the second and third phases, respectively, of a three-phases sedimentary history. They are separated by an erosional surface extended on the whole basin. According to the existing literature the chronostratigraphic gap extends from the upper part of the Early Pleistocene to the lower part of the Middle Pleistocene. The studied Successions can be classified using the unconformity-bounded stratigraphic units nomenclarure. The Sinthem term is proposed replacing the Succession term. The sedimentary evolution of the studied area is reconstructed starting from the Upper Pliocene. During the deposition of the Montevarchi Sinthem, a fluviolacustrine setting developed in this area. Facies analysis made it possible to recognize coarse-grained fan deltas prograding into a shallow lacustrine environment. The fan delta succession records significant tectonically induced variations of the clastic imput. The lower part of the fan delta succession is characterized by calcareous-arenaceous conglomerates of northwestern provenance. A subsequent rise of the Pratomagno chain lead to a predominance of arenaceous clastic material of eastern provenience. In the fan deltas deposits mammal fossils belonging to the Late Villafranchian and probably to the Early Galerian have been recovered. According ro these data the fluviolacustrine succession developed until the upper part of Lower Pleistocene. The unconformity separating the second and third phase may cover a smaller span of time in the studied area. In the third depositional phase an alluvial setting replaced the fluviolacustrine one previously developed. The alluvial fan succession building up the Torrente Ciuffenna Sinthem, filled the basin during the Middle Pleistocene. The erosion of the northern threshold closing the basin for the most part of the Pleistocene, induced in the Late Pleistocene the beginning of the erosive phase. On the whole the depositional evolution of the studied area was tectonically controlled. The climatic influence over the sedimentation was of lesser importance.

The Quaternary sediment in the Ningbo Coastal Plain was the deposit due to sea-land interaction, which recorded information of past climate changes. The region is therefore an ideal area to study paleoclimate changes and sedimentary characteristics. We determined the stratigraphic division and paleoenvironmental evolution based on 14C and paleomagnetic dating, along with detailed analyses of lithology, pollen assemblage, foraminifera and ostracodes assemblage, and grain size of sediment in core Z02 located in the southeastern Ningbo Coastal Plain. The results showed that the boundary between the Holocene and Upper Pleistocene in the core Z02 record was at 30.5 m, the boundary between the Upper and Middle Pleistocene was at 82.65 m, and the boundary between the Quaternary and Lower Cretaceous was at 90 m. The Middle Pleistocene section of the core contained few sediments, while the Lower Pleistocene section was completely missed. During the late Pleistocene, the hydrodynamic conditions experienced energy levels of medium to medium low to medium, and sedimentary facies changed from alluvial lake to overbank to river to lake to alluvial lake to lake to overbank. During the Holocene, the hydrodynamic changes experienced energy levels of medium low to low to medium, and the sedimentary facies changed from shoreland to shallow sea to shoreland lake. The Ningbo Coastal Plain had experienced tectonic uplift, weathering and erosion stage in the Early and Middle Pleistocene, from warm and humid to dry in the Late Pleistocene, and from warm and humid to dry and cool in the Holocene, as revealed by the core Z02 record. This study provided useful information in investigating past environmental changes in the subtropical coastal region of eastern China.

The results of the research in the western Siskiyou Mountains may be grouped in three principal categories, all of which represent original investigation. The first category deals with the land forms or physiography. Three distinct provinces, the coastal belt, the Klamath oldland, and the Siskiyou upland, are herein described in detail. The coastal province near the California-Oregon line exemplifies emergence and in this process the large terrace, on which Crescent City is situated, was formed. The Klamath oldland, a sub-aerial erosion surface, is found to have been developed in late Pliocene time and later uplifted 1000 to 3000 feet. The Siskiyou upland is fretted with mountain peaks of igneous rocks and has been subjected to Pleistocene glaciation. The second phase of the study, stratigraphy (and petrology) was concerned with the physical characters of the rocks exposed and with defining their position in the geologic sequence of the northwestern Klamath Mountains. The third major problem attacked is the crustal structure of this mountainous region. The principal fault, known as the Orleans fault, is reverse in nature and of large throw. By movement along it the Siskiyou upland has been lifted above the Klamath oldland to the west. The Crescent City fault has outlined the coastal pattern south of that community. By displacement on it the Crescent City terrace has been depressed with respect to the Klamath oldland to the east. The results of folding, intrusion, metamorphism, and faulting give eloquent witness to Klamath Mountains orogeny and indicate the circumferential compression of the group.