Relict shoreline successions are critically important for investigations of recent tectonism, as they are commonly amenable to dating and may provide information about surface displacement and changes in sea level since their deposition. In this study, Last Interglacial (MIS 5e; 128–116 ka) shoreline successions from 47 locations across southeastern Australia are reviewed. The surface displacement of shoreline successions since their deposition is inferred from their present-day elevation and paleosea levels derived from sedimentary lithofacies and molluscan faunal assemblages. The paleosea levels suggest that marine isotope stage (MIS) 5e sea level peaked at 4 ± 1 m above present sea level in southeastern Australia, about two metres lower than the commonly assumed global sea level maximum. Although this remains to be investigated with models, we speculate that this difference could be explained by glacial isostatic adjustment and topography associated with mantle convection in the region. There is no evidence for two MIS 5e sea-level peaks in paleoshoreline successions from southeastern Australia. The inferred uplift since MIS 5e is largest in Tasmania (up to 31 m at Stumpys Bay), where it is likely caused by the waning Cosgrove mantle upwelling. Seismic tomographic models and MIS 5e shoreline data suggest that the Cosgrove mantle upwelling is centred presently under northeastern Tasmania, farther east than previously proposed. Volcanism above a steep gradient in lithospheric thickness caused about 10 m of eastward, upward tilt of the Woakwine Range on the Coorong coastal plain since MIS 5e time. On the Fleurieu Peninsula, 6.5 m of upward displacement of the block to the southeast of the Willunga Fault is inferred. In contrast, the Gawler Craton stands out as tectonically stable, with possible limited local subsidence. The careful characterisation of shoreline successions is a powerful way to define subtle geodetic changes. • MIS 5e sea level reached 4 ± 1 m above present sea level in southeastern Australia. • There is no evidence for two sea-level peaks during MIS 5e times in southeastern Australia. • Elevated Tasmanian MIS 5e successions relate to the waning Cosgrove mantle upwelling. • Volcanism caused differential uplift of the Woakwine Range, on the Coorong coastal plain since MIS 5e times. • Neotectonic movements are evident on Fleurieu Peninsula, southern Mount Lofty Ranges.

Migration of Antarctic Circumpolar Current oceanic fronts during the warm Marine Isotope Stage 11

Chronological assessments of Quina Neanderthals at De Nadale cave (Italy) using combined uranium-series/electron spin resonance dating of fossil teeth.

The Makgadikgadi Basin in central Botswana is a key region for understanding Stone Age archaeology and human evolution. However, paleoenvironmental reconstructions have so far offered only fragmentary insights into past hydroclimatic and environmental conditions. We present the first environmental record from Sowa Pan, paleolake Makgadikgadi, covering the last 82-20ka (Marine Isotope Stages 5-2). Sedimentological and biomarker lipid analyses reveal four distinct lake phases, reflecting major hydrological shifts and sediment provenance. From 82 to 75ka, the lake was shallow, with lowest lake levels temporally coinciding with Middle Stone Age archaeological material (silcrete lithics, mainly unifacial and bifacial points) on the western lakebed. Between 75 -58ka, the lake refilled, likely fed by river inflow sourced from the Angolan highlands. A second low stand likely occurred around 58-56ka. From 52 to 37ka, geochemical proxies indicating a change in lake inflow with less influence of the Kwando catchment. During this time, the lake had high primary productivity and biomarkers for terrestrial herbivores are recorded in the sediments. After an accumulatory hiatus, the youngest unit (ca. 21ka) marks the formation of the Sowa Spit, characterized by high sand input and minimal organic preservation. This record refines the chronology of lake-level changes and reveals that desiccation phases provided ecologically viable landscapes for human activity. It also identifies shifting sediment and nutrient sources that shaped lake dynamics during the late Pleistocene.

Temperature and precipitation source variability and glacial dynamics in the southwestern United States at Fish Lake, Utah, since late MIS 4

Refined late-Pleistocene evolutionary and sea-level history for the Delmarva Peninsula, US Mid-Atlantic Coast

Local environmental change and fallow deer hunting at Amud Cave: Evidence from a combined plant wax and tooth enamel isotope study.

The past ∼ 50,000 years encompass a series of major climatic transitions, including Marine Isotope Stage 2, the Marine Isotope Stage 2/1 transition, and the onset of the Holocene, when the Earth underwent large shifts in temperature, ice volumes, sea levels and atmospheric circulation patterns. There is a growing body of research focused on the behaviour of the Indo-Australian Summer Monsoon (IASM) during these periods from sites close to Australia’s northern coastlines and currently within the zone of direct monsoon precipitation. However, the relative contributions of latitudinal shifts and/or moisture carrying capacity of the monsoon system on changes in hydroclimate remain uncertain. Here, we present the results from a 46,000-year sediment record obtained at the modern southern extent of rainfall penetration into north-west Australia associated with the IASM. Our results show that the region experienced reduced precipitation until the end of the glacial. During the MIS 2/1 transition and the early Holocene, there is evidence of an increase in wet-season precipitation, likely limited to extreme events occasionally reaching the site. More pronounced and sustained shifts in precipitation were limited to the late Holocene, during which the variability recorded at the site aligned with that interpreted from records further to the north in Australia. We interpret this as reflecting a time-transgressive southward shift in the southern limit of the monsoon system. • Inland monsoonal Australia (18.5°S) experienced a dry and stable late MIS 3 and MIS 2. • Following MIS 2, conditions became wetter towards the present day. • Apart from brief, high-intensity events, the IASM did not consistently influence the interior (18.5 °S) during the MIS 2/1 transition and early Holocene. • By the late Holocene, precipitation patterns in the inland eastern Kimberley were in phase with those indicated by previous records located further north.

The transition from 41-kyr to 100-kyr climate cycles during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT; 1250-700 kyr), occurred in the absence of any significant shift in orbital forcing. The increase of carbon storage in the deep ocean between Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 24-22 has been suggested as a main internal factor leading to the transition to 100-kyr glacial cycles. We present sedimentary redox proxies and benthic foraminifera assemblages that demonstrate persistent dysoxic conditions during the MPT at IODP Site U1314 (subpolar North Atlantic). During glacials between 940 and 870 kyr, benthic foraminifera species typical of high porewater oxygen concentration disappeared, and concentrations of manganese oxides and reactive phosphorus mineral phases, both influenced by redox state, showed reductions exceeding 50%. Here, we show that higher freshwater supply associated with ice-rafted delivery caused a reduction in deep-water convection, decreasing bottom-water oxygenation and favoring carbon storage in the subpolar North Atlantic during the MPT.

Fossils provide invaluable data for evolutionary studies in oceanic islands. The paleontological record of the Macaronesian archipelagos has been the target of many researchers for a long time, with a recent surge in interest in scientific research related to their paleontological heritage. In the Macaronesian Azores archipelago, the marine invertebrate fossil record from the warmest period of the Last Interglacial stage (also known as Marine Isotopic Stage 5e—MIS 5e) represents approximately 95.6% of the total species. In contrast, the MIS 5e marine vertebrate fossil record comprises only four reported species (2.2%), with marine algae accounting for the remaining 2.2% (four species). This study reports on—and adds to the paleobiodiversity of the MIS 5e deposits at Santa Maria Island (Azores Archipelago)—two marine mesopelagic lanternfishes, identified from their otoliths: Diaphus cf. holti Tåning, 1918, and Symbolophorus veranyi (Moreau, 1888). Finally, we offer a plausible explanation for the presence of mesopelagic fishes in the MIS 5e fossiliferous deposits of Santa Maria Island.

Abstract The long‐standing hypothesis that an ice sheet covered the Tibetan Plateau during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) has been refuted. Further research has indicated that the Plateau experienced more extensive glacial expansion during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 than during the LGM. However, whether the Tibetan Plateau hosted large‐scale glacier systems during MIS 6 remains an open question. Here, we selected the arid Qilian Shan of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau to reconstruct 90 m resolution glacier extents for three major glaciations over the past 190 ka. Integration of geomorphological and chronological evidence with a glacial model shows that glacial extent was least extensive during MIS 2, was intermediate during MIS 3b, and was most extensive during MIS 6. The modelled ice extents are consistently larger than previously reported. Specifically, an ice field with an area of ∼5.61 × 10 4 km 2 likely developed on the western Qilian Shan during MIS 6.

Abstract Understanding the mechanisms linking low‐latitude monsoon variability and high‐latitude ice‐sheet discharge is critical for elucidating past atmospheric teleconnections, yet direct evidence for such linkages during the last glacial period remains limited. Here we present a high‐resolution terrigenous input record from the South China Sea (SCS) core XB1 covering the past ∼50 ka, which reflects East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) variability. Abrupt increases in terrigenous input during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 coincide with CIS discharge events (Siku events). Integrated proxy evidence and climate model simulations indicate that El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) likely mediated this linkage: under La Niña‐like conditions, intensified EASM precipitation enhanced runoff into the northern SCS, while a strengthened North Pacific Subtropical High (NPSH) facilitated poleward heat transport, promoting CIS melting. These results suggest that ENSO provided an important atmospheric pathway linking low‐ and high‐latitude climate variability during MIS 3.

First multi-individual Neanderthal mitogenomes from north of the Carpathians.

Abstract The efficacy of using luminescence dating on glacial deposits is tested for a portion of the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 Laurentide Ice Sheet margin in southwestern Indiana. We assess small-aliquot quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and feldspar infrared-stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating of glaciofluvial, glaciodeltaic, and aeolian sediments against a well-established soil stratigraphy and a cosmogenic 10 Be depth profile. Results indicate that standard blue-light OSL regenerative protocols used on MIS 2 glacial sediments in the region warrant caution when duplicated for MIS 6 sediments. Quartz OSL ages underestimate age by up to 50% compared with cosmogenic and feldspar post-IR IRSL 200 ages. Presence of unstable or hard-to-bleach OSL signal components that cannot be removed with modified preheat protocols yields unreliable data. While dates obtained using post-IR IRSL 200 protocols on feldspar are affected by partial bleaching and anomalous fading, these factors can be accounted for. Discrimination of negligible-fading small-aliquot data allowed us to obtain post-IR IRSL 200 ages between 103 ± 12 and 241 ± 28 ka. Post-IR IRSL 200 ages are mostly consistent with 10 Be depth-profile dating and stratigraphic constraints and represent a viable option to study glaciofluvial sedimentation during MIS 6 and older glaciations in the region.

ABSTRACT The discovery of the Yana site complex (~32,000 BP) has intensified inquiry into the Late Pleistocene environments of Western Beringia, a critical factor shaping transcontinental species distributions and the initial human settlement of the Arctic. This study presents a high-resolution environmental and climatic record for the period 37,000 to 10,000 14C years ago (ca. 41,800–11,500 calBP), organized into 500- to 1,000-year time slices. We trace the transformation of vegetation from hemi-cryophytosteppe and tundra–steppe communities during marine isotope stage (MIS) 3 to tundra and shrub tundra in the early Holocene, culminating in a profound landscape restructuring during Holocene warming (~11,500 years ago). Quantitative paleoclimatic reconstructions are based on minimum and maximum deviations from modern values for the temperature of the warmest month (T wm), average annual temperature (T ann), and average annual precipitation (P ann). Our results reconstruct the main climatic trends in western Western Beringia and detail the sequence of fluctuations during MIS 3 and MIS 2. We precisely define the transition to MIS 2, quantify the duration of the Last Glacial Maximum, identify Late Glacial climatic events corresponding to the European Blytt–Sernander scheme, and reveal early Holocene changes that drove radical landscape transformation. This constitutes the first such detailed reconstruction for Western Beringia. The identified climate fluctuations show strong agreement with the North Greenland Ice Core Project Greenland ice core record. We conclude that natural conditions during the studied interval, encompassing the second half of MIS 3 and all of MIS 2, were suitable for human occupation in the western Arctic part of Beringia.

Loess-paleosol sequences in eolian deposits on the Snake River Plain, Idaho, western United States, preserve records of late Pleistocene to Holocene glacial-interglacial cycles. Here, we examine climate-driven changes in the timing and rate of loess accretion, soil formation, and pedogenic carbonate accumulation in the eastern and central Snake River Plain. High rates of loess deposition often correspond with dry, cold, and windy conditions and/or high sediment supply, while soil formation indicates landscape stability. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of four loess-soil sequences provides a record of the timing of loess deposition, and radiocarbon dating (14C) of soil inorganic carbon provides ages for soil formation and pedogenic carbonate precipitation. On the central Snake River Plain, marine isotope stage (MIS) 3 is marked by loess deposition between ca. 50 ka and 33 ka, and pedogenic carbonate accumulation between ca. 42 ka calibrated years before present (cal. B.P.) and 31 ka cal. B.P. During MIS 2, loess deposition between ca. 21 ka and 15 ka is contemporaneous with pedogenic carbonate precipitation. MIS 2 is characterized by diffuse pedogenic carbonate formation and rapid loess accumulation. Both the eastern and central Snake River Plain study sites experienced high rates of loess deposition during MIS 2; however, the eastern Snake River Plain had almost three times faster rates of loess accumulation (0.56−0.63 m/k.y. from ca. 25 ka to 17 ka) as compared to the central Snake River Plain (0.18−0.26 m/k.y. from ca. 21 ka to 15 ka). During MIS 1, loess deposition on the central Snake River Plain ca. 11 ka was coincident with pedogenic carbonate formation ca. 10 ka cal. B.P. MIS 3 and MIS 1 are characterized by A horizons and well-developed Bk horizons, indicating soil stability and lower rates of loess accumulation during these intervals. This study highlights the role of late Quaternary−scale climatic variability on rates and amounts of soil inorganic carbon storage.

Abstract. Sediments preserved in glacially overdeepened structures can provide a record of the regional Pleistocene glacial dynamics beyond the last glaciation. In order to unravel the glacial dynamics of the Isar-Loisach paleo-glacier, a cored sedimentary succession (ICDP-DOVE 5068_3_A) from an overdeepened basin near Schäftlarn, south of Munich, Germany, and an outcrop in its northern foreland (“Münchner Klettergarten” near Baierbrunn, on the southern margin of the Munich gravel plain, the “Münchner Schotterebene”) were investigated with a multi-method approach. This approach focused on single-grain feldspar luminescence dating to establish a chronological framework and on a comprehensive geophysical survey to better understand the morphology of the overdeepened basin. The Schäftlarn core is generally divided into a fine-grained basal section and a coarse-grained top section. The filling of the fine-grained basal section started in early Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 8. The basal part of the overlying coarse-grained sediment can be attributed to late MIS 8. The “Münchner Klettergarten” outcrop to the north exhibited a similar depositional age dating to late MIS 8 and therefore corresponding to the basal part of the coarse-grained sediment in Schäftlarn. The geophysical survey revealed two cross-cutting glacial basins, with the MIS 8 basin being cut by a younger basin of undetermined age. Based on the luminescence dating results and the geophysical survey, a mid-Pleistocene landscape development model of the Isar-Loisach paleo-glacier region is presented.

Abstract Bender’s Cave on the Edwards Plateau of Texas contains evidence of Late Pleistocene biodiversity that contrasts with the record from 17 regional sites dating to the last glacial interval, Marine Isotope Stage 2 (MIS 2). Bender’s Cave is a groundwater conduit system with an underground stream. Fossils occur in the cave primarily as an underwater lag assemblage and represent taxa that are typical of the Rancholabrean Land Mammal Age and common to central Texas (e.g., Bison, Mammuthus, Camelops ). Megalonyx jeffersonii and Mammutidae also occur in Bender’s Cave but are rare elsewhere in the region. Other fossils provide the first regional records of Holmesina septentrionalis and a species of giant Hesperotestudo . The paleoecology of those novel taxa is inconsistent with regional paleoenvironmental proxies for MIS 2, which document a relatively open, dry grassland and cool climate. The novel composition of the assemblage may be the product of sample bias, and the fossils may be vastly time-averaged. However, the identified taxa frequently co-occur in other Texas sites interpreted as dating to interstadial/interglacial intervals of the late Pleistocene (i.e., MIS 3 or MIS 5), suggesting that fossils in Bender’s Cave may also date to one of those earlier warm periods.

Abstract Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e, the last interglacial maximum, featured global temperatures ∼2°C higher than present. However, the timing and structure of MIS 5e termination remain poorly constrained with respect to the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM). Here, we present two coeval stalagmite δ 18 O records from North China spanning 125.0–117.7 ka BP, with inter‐decadal resolution and robust 230 Th dating (±0.3 kyr). The EASM weakening that marks the MIS 5e/5d transition occurred between 121.4 ± 0.4 and 119.8 ± 0.3 ka BP, a period lacking clear evidence for a pronounced Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) slowdown, which challenges the view that abrupt AMOC weakening was the primary driver. Instead, this EASM weakening was likely driven by low‐latitude processes, linked to the reduced Indo‐Pacific Warm Pool upper ocean heat content and southward shift of Intertropical Convergence Zone resulting from the diminished meridional summer insolation gradient. In contrast, a pronounced EASM weakening between 125.0 ± 0.3 and 123.1 ± 0.3 ka BP broadly coincides with a North Atlantic cooling event within MIS 5e associated with freshwater‐induced AMOC slowdown, underscoring climatic instability during the warmer interglacial. Together, these findings demonstrate that fundamentally different mechanisms governed EASM weakening during MIS 5e and its termination.

Loess-paleosol sequences across Asia provide a critical archive of past dust deposition and climate dynamics shaped by westerlies and Asian monsoons. We compile luminescence ages and climatic proxies from 107 loess sections to reconstruct dust mass accumulation rates (MARs) and hydroclimate variability over the past 130 thousand years (ka). The results reveal a consistent pattern: high MARs and low moisture during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 4 to 2 (71 to 12 ka) and low MARs with high moisture during MIS 5 (130 to 71 ka) and MIS 1 (12 ka to present). These shifts are driven by cooling-induced changes in atmospheric humidity linked to fluctuations in ice volume across glacial-interglacial cycles. Within MIS 5, MIS 4 to 2, and MIS 1, pronounced spatial and temporal contrasts in MARs and moisture emerge between westerlies-dominated northern Iran and central Asia and monsoon-dominated East Asia. Notably, westerly and monsoonal precipitation vary out of phase, driven by insolation-controlled shifts in moisture transport.