Quaternary marine transgressions in eastern China

The Boiano Basin is one of the largest Quaternary intermontane basins of the central‐southern Apennines within one of the most tectonically active areas of the Mediterranean region. In order to reconstruct its entire Quaternary stratigraphic, tectonic, and palaeoenvironment evolution, lithofacies and palaeomagnetic analyses have been performed on a 900 m‐deep borehole (CP1) drilled in the southwestern sector of the basin. The Quaternary succession consists of an alternating of alluvial fan and fluvial–marshy deposits for a total thickness of 240 m, unconformably laying on Lower Miocene deposits of the Sannio Unit, thrusted on upper Miocene deposits of the Molise Flysch. In addition, the stratigraphic study and facies distribution of 29 intermediate and shallow wells drilled in the basin, allowing us to define the thickness and lithofacies variations of the Quaternary sedimentary units inside the entire Boiano Basin in the sector of Campochiaro alluvial fan. Our results demonstrate that the Boiano Basin infilling started during the late Early Pleistocene (c. 1.1 Ma) and developed with variation in lithofacies distribution and thickness. The first depositional unit (Early Pleistocene–early Middle Pleistocene in age) was palustrine and fluvial–marshy, the second (Middle Pleistocene in age) was characterized by the occurrence of the first cycle of alluvial fan deposition, the third (late Middle Pleistocene in age) was newly palustrine and fluvial marshy and, finally, the fourth recorded two cycles of alluvial fan deposition (late Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene in age, respectively), interspersed by short periods of palustrinity, tephra layers deposition, and palaeosols development. The study allows the hypothesizing that the Quaternary infilling was accommodated within a graben (or semigraben) structure, affected mainly by extensional fault systems localized in the inner part of the basin and secondly by fault systems bounding the basin.

The Middle and Late Pleistocene mammalian faunas of Japan are described with new opinions on their succession and relation to the continental faunas. Although fossil materials assignable to early Middle Pleistocene are seemingly scarce in Japan, the fauna of that time is considered to have been transitional between the Early and Middle Pleistocene ones. On the other hand, fossil records which are younger than early Middle Pleistocene are abundant from the mainlands of Japan; viz. the Honshu-Shikoku-Kyushu area.In the middle Middle Pleistocene, the fauna of this area contained a considerable number of taxa which are extant today in the area (about 50%). It was also characterized by a high proportion of endemic species and the predominance of temperate forest elements. From this time to the late Middle Pleistocene, several species disappeared from the fauna; at the same time, immigrants from the continent were scarce. The faunal characters of the late Middle Pleistocene were basically identical with those of the preceding time.In the early Late Pleistocene, no mammal seems to have immigrated from the neighboring continent, and faunal composition was almost consistent with that of the late Middle Pleistocene. The elements of that fauna still persisted in the late Late Pleistocene, apart from the extinction of a few forms. In addition to the fact mentioned above, immigration from the northern part of the continent was recognized in the late Late Pleistocene, although it was restricted to a few large herbivore forms and to a short time duration.The introduction of the continental faunas to the mainlands of Japan during Middle and Late Pleistocene times was not so remarkable as previously inferred. Therefore it becomes doubtful that the faunas of the area were drastically replaced by the immigration of the Choukoutien, Wanhsien and Loess faunas of China during those times.

A reappraisal of the Early to Middle Pleistocene Italian Bovidae

The faunal succession of Japanese Quaternary mammals is described within the stratigraphic framework provided mainly by KAMEI, KAWAMURA and TARUNO (1988). Descriptions are given separately for Hokkaido, Honshu-Shikoku-Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands.In Hokkaido, Pleistocene mammalian remains are too scarce to provide a detailed faunal succession, but abundant remains of Holocene age suggest that the fauna was almost identical to that of the present day. Large mammals recorded for the Late Pleistocene are therefore considered to have been extinct by the Holocene.In Honshu-Shikoku-Kyushu, the Early Pleistocene fauna is of temperate forest type, and related to those of north China. Almost all the components are, however, assigned to extinct endemic species. The Middle Pleistocene fauna is characterized by the presence of extant species. In fact, they exceed half of the components in the middle Middle Pleistocene fauna, and are still more common in the later faunas. This fauna is also dominated by temperate forest elements and endemic species. Immigration from south China in the middle Middle Pleistocene is more limited than previously thought, and only a few forms migrated from north and northeast China in the late Middle Pleistocene. The Late Pleistocene fauna is basically identical with that of the Middle Pleistocene except for the absence of several extinct species and several exotic species which still survive in other regions. Although the fauna seems to have been isolated from those of the adjacent continent in the early Late Pleistocene, immigration of large herbivores from the northern part of the continent was recognized in the late Late Pleistocene. Most of the extinct and exotic species were eliminated from the fauna between 20, 000 and 10, 000 years BP, and thus the fauna became almost identical with that of the present day by the early Holocene.In the Ryukyu Islands, Early and Middle Pleistocene faunas are almost unknown, while Late Pleistocene and Holocene ones are relatively well recorded. The Late Pleistocene fauna is of insular type, and includes several species endemic to the islands. Some of them are extinct species. From the end of the Pleistocene to the Holocene, insularity of the fauna was enhanced by the extinction of major species and by extreme reduction in habitat areas of the survivors.

Hominin diversity in East Asia during the Middle Pleistocene: A premolar endostructural perspective

New Light on the Earliest Hominid Occupation in East Asia

Hominin distribution and density patterns in Pleistocene China: Climatic influences

Biostratigraphic correlation of Pleistocene marine deposits and sea levels, Atlantic coastal plain of the southeastern United States

The species Cervus elaphus is characterised by its significant and very swift ability to adapt to the broad woodland-related range of environments in the northern hemisphere, as can be seen by the large number of distinct populations and living subspecies. From studies on the phenotypic plasticity and adaptative capability of living populations of red deer, we can hypothesise that environmental conditions influenced the spread and the evolution of the species, especially in changing landscapes like those of the Italian peninsula during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. In fact, Cervus elaphus occurs on the Italian peninsula from the Middle Pleistocene, a period characterised by a particularly wide variety of environments determined by changeable palaeoclimatic and palaeogeographical conditions that are in all cases more significant in the late Middle Pleistocene and in the Late Pleistocene. If we observe the various fossil subspecies and apply the principle that present features like phenotypic plasticity are important keys to understanding the past, we must reconsider the Pleistocene red deer in evolutionary and taxonomic terms. This reappraisal also provides new data on the biochronological importance of the various red deer subspecies widespread in Italy during the Middle and Late Pleistocene.

Middle Pleistocene to Holocene fluvial terrace development and uplift-driven valley incision in the SE Carpathians, Romania

Rodent palaeofaunas from Biśnik Cave (Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Poland): Palaeoecological, palaeoclimatic and biostratigraphic reconstruction

The Pleistocene terrace staircase of the River Thame, central-southern England, and its significance for regional stratigraphic correlation, drainage development, and vertical crustal motions

Quaternary sediments in the Binh Tri Thien coastal zone are diverse in both material composition and development history. From land to sea, there are 4 structural regions: i) marginal plain region; ii) Coastal lagoon region; iii) Coastal sand dunes region; and iv) Monocline coastal subsidence region. In the vertical direction, all four regions have five sedimentary cycles as follows: a) Early Pleistocene (Q11); b) Early middle Pleistocene (Q12a); c) Late middle Pleistocene (Q12b); d) Early late Pleistocene (Q13a); e) Late late Pleistocene (Q13b-Q2). Four structural zones are characterized by different lithofacies complexes: 1) In the lowstand systems tract (LST) at the beginning of each cycle in all 4 structural zones, the SmaLST facies complex is present; 2) In the transgressive systems tract (TST), there are the following lithofacies complexes: a) region I: MsbTST; b) region II: MlgTST; c) region III: SmTST; d) region IV: Msam,mTST; 3) In the highstand systems tract (HST) there are the following facies complexes: a) Region I: (MsabHST); b) Region II: MslgHST; c) Region III: SmvHST; d) Region IV: SmmHST. The difference in sedimentary facies in the transgressive and highstand systems tract depends on the differentiation of four geological structure regions.

Facial morphology comprises some of the most distinctive features of early modern humans. The rich fossil record of Morocco allows assessing changes in facial morphology from the late Middle Pleistocene through the Late Pleistocene. Specimens associated with the Aterian industry in Morocco were originally thought to be relatively recent (40–20 ka), but could be much older (35–90 ka). Predating this population are the late Middle Pleistocene specimens of Irhoud. Later in the same geographical area, larger samples are represented by the Iberomaurusian series. We conducted a 3D geometric morphometric analysis of the facial shape of the Aterian specimen Dar es-Soltan II-5, with the aim of deciphering the affinities of this specimen with earlier North African and Levantine fossils, later Upper Paleolithic Eurasian specimens, as well as later North African populations. We used a large comparative sample (n = 191) comprising seven geographic populations of recent humans, Iberomaurusians from Afalou and Taforalt (n = 22), and Middle and Late Pleistocene Eurasian and African fossils. The 3D coordinates of 19 facial landmarks were collected. Specimen landmark configurations were processed with Generalized Procrustes Analysis. Principal Components, Canonical Variates, and cluster analyses were performed and Procrustes distances and Mahalanobis squared distances were calculated. Both Irhoud 1 and Dar es-Soltan II-5 are similar to the early anatomically modern humans from Qafzeh, and the Iberomaurusian sample is closely connected to the Upper Paleolithic European sample.

Pleistocene mammals of Mediterranean islands