Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010015
Authors: Jef Vandenberghe
This review presents a synthesis of the interaction between the hydro-morphological processes on interfluves and channels within fluvial catchments in permafrost regions. Both in modern and ancient permafrost catchments, this integrated landscape is quite diverse because of a variegated extent of frozen ground, density of vegetation cover, snow thickness, and other local factors. Moreover, temporal changes in environmental conditions are expressed in the morphological evolution of catchments. Channel patterns vary between single- and different multi-channel forms while the interfluves show a high diversity ranging from complete stability to intense denudation by surface runoff. It appears that braided channels, despite their high energy, were only significant during short intervals of peak discharge and transported only limited amounts of eroded sediment, while other channel patterns required more subdued annual discharge variability. Further, denudational processes on interfluves were a specific characteristic of landscape evolution during subsequent ice ages, especially in conditions of snow-rich and poorly vegetated, seasonal frost, or discontinuous permafrost resulting in the formation of extended planforms (cryopediments). In contrast, interfluves appeared to be rather stable on continuously frozen soils.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010014
Authors: Aisylu G. Ibragimova Artyom V. Gusarov Larisa A. Frolova
Remains of Rhynchotalona latens (Sarmaja-Korjonen, Hakojärvi et Korhola 2000) were found in the bottom sediments of several glaciogenic lakes in northwestern Russia. Subfossil remains of the species were noted both in the bottom sediments of the Late Pleistocene and Mid-Holocene. We discovered a rare species, R. latens, in the bottom sediments of Lake Medvedevskoye (Karelian Isthmus). This species prefers shallow oligo-mesotrophic lakes with organic sediments and has attracted the interest of scientists around the world as it is considered a glacial relict and has recently been found in surface sediments and as a living population in Finland and Russia.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010013
Authors: Roberta Martino Fabrizio Marra María Ríos Luca Pandolfi
The Middle Pleistocene was characterized by the presence in continental Europe of at least two different species of hippopotamus: Hippopotamus antiquus and H. amphibius. Although suspected, the presence of both hippopotamuses in the same geographical area has not yet been proven. The following manuscript describes findings from Malagrotta (Rome, central Italy), dating back to the time span between 0.45 and 0.38 Ma. These findings offer new insights into the Middle Pleistocene period. The fragmented mandible has a slender and low corpus, the humerus is robust with a deltoid tuberosity placed medially on the diaphysis, the unciform shows a facet for the MCIV wider than the one for the MCV and the calcaneum is clepsydra-shaped. The morphological characteristics of the sample are closer to those of H. antiquus, despite the fact that the morphometric measurements are smaller than those of the samples coming from Valdarno (Italy), Untermaßfeld (Germany) or Colle Curti (Italy). Considering all the information, the material from Malagrotta is here attributed to H. cf. antiquus, indicating the survival of the European hippopotamus until at least 0.38 Ma in central Italy. The coexistence of H. amphibius and H. antiquus in the same geographical area is also discussed.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010012
Authors: Alexey Ruban Oleg Dudarev Maxim Rudmin Igor Semiletov
The study of rare earth elements (REEs) in marine sediments is a powerful geochemical tool for determining depositional processes and sediment provenance, as well as for understanding paleoenvironmental changes. In this context, we present REE, some major and trace elements, grain size, and mineralogy data on surface and core sediments, which were collected in different areas of the eastern Laptev Sea Shelf (LSS; Arctic Ocean). The primary objective of this paper was to assess the principal controlling factors influencing REE concentration and their vertical to lateral distribution. The total REE content (ΣREE) ranged from 139 ppm to 239 ppm within the studied sediment samples, predominantly consisting of silt. The normalized REE distribution patterns, based on North American Shale Composite (NASC) standard, exhibited an enrichment in light REE (LREE) when compared to heavy REE (HREE), which is similar to that in Lena River suspended particulate matter. The primary sources of REEs in the eastern LSS were both the suspended particulate matter from the Lena River and sediments originating from the coastal ice complex. The spatial distribution of REEs was primarily contingent upon the distance from sediment sources and prevailing hydrological conditions and was generally characterized by a decrease in REE concentration seaward. There was a moderate positive correlation between ΣREE and mean grain size in the studied surface sediment. However, this relationship was specific only for surface samples and was not found in the sediment cores, indicating that sediment grain size does not play a significant role in the REE vertical distribution. The strong positive correlation between ΣREE and Al, K, Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Hf, and Th suggests that REEs are hosted by not only heavy but also clay minerals. The vertical fluctuations of LREE/HREE, Eu/Eu*, (La/Lu)N can point at variable dominance of one or another REE source for during sediment accumulation.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010011
Authors: Alessio Iannucci
It has been proposed that suids were absent from Europe during the post-Olduvai to pre-Jaramillo Early Pleistocene (from less than 1.8 to more than 1.2 Ma) and that their “re-appearance” in the late Early Pleistocene would mark the end of the late Villafranchian and the beginning of the Epivillafranchian. Arguments enumerated in favor of this “suid gap” are the lack of suid remains from extensively sampled fossil localities of this age and the high reproductive potential (r-strategy) of suids, which would translate in a high commonness of their remains in the fossil record. However, here it shown that while suids’ reproductive potential is certainly exceptional within artiodactyls, there is no direct relationship between the reproductive strategy and preservation rate of a taxon in the fossil record. In Early Pleistocene localities of Europe and adjoining areas, where suids are present in a fossil assemblage, they are always rare. In terms of number of occurrences (frequency), suids range from being moderately common (~2.0–1.8 Ma) to moderately rare (~1.1–1.0 Ma). Suid material is also described herein from Peyrolles (Issoire, France; reference locality for MNQ 19), a site dated at 1.47 Ma, providing direct evidence for the presence of suids within the purported “suid gap”. The case of suids underlines an important source of caveat in inferring faunal dynamics of the late Early Pleistocene of western Europe—including the dispersal of hominins—i.e., the unequal geographical distribution of the paleontological sites of post-Olduvai to pre-Jaramillo age. Indeed, Peyrolles is the only large mammal site in western Europe located outside the Iberian and Italian Peninsulas reliably dated around 1.5 Ma. In the post-Olduvai to pre-Jaramillo period, there is a paucity of radiometric estimates (or they have too coarse a resolution) and of paleomagnetic excursions detectable in continental deposits. Basically, for this time span, there is a high dependence on biochronological correlations, although, at the same time, these correlations are less reliable—because these are based on a few sites not covering the entire spectrum of environments present in Europe and the sites are not independently dated with methods that outperform biochronology—than those for other periods.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010010
Authors: Maria Rita Palombo Marco Zedda Daniel Zoboli
The dwarf Sardinian mammoth, Mammuthus lamarmorai, is a well-known species frequently cited in the literature; however, the fossil record of the Pleistocene Sardinian mammoths mainly consists of isolated remains (an incomplete skeleton from Guardia Pisano Hill, isolated teeth and a largely incomplete tibia from different localities, and some footprints from Funtana Morimenta), which have been found in sites presumably ranging in age from the late Middle to the Late Pleistocene. All of the remains have been ascribed to a single species of an endemic mammoth, Mammuthus lamarmorai, which is moderately reduced in size. The paucity of remains increases uncertainties about the chronological range of Sardinian mammoth remains, some of which are currently missing, while others lack sound information about their exact provenance or were removed and collected without contextual information. As a result, the different sizes of molariform teeth from different localities, the lack of chewing tooth remains at Guardia Pisano Hill, and the doubtful chronology of some remains hamper any attempt to infer whether one or more species that originated from an anagenetic or radiative evolutionary process or through multiple arrivals from the mainland inhabited the island. Therefore, the continental ancestor or ancestors of Sardinian mammoth populations and the time and number of dispersals of the ancestral taxon or taxa have long been debated, and the persistence through time of mammoth endemic populations still remains an unsolved matter. This research summarizes and critically reviews our knowledge about the Sardinian endemic mammoth, provides new evidence about the Sardinian mammoth’s ancestor and the possible time of its dispersal from the mainland to the island, gives new information about the Sardinian mammoth’s histology and physical characteristics, and highlights some focal, unsolved questions (e.g., morphological and dimensional differences in dentition, number of Sardinian mammoth species, population dynamics, decline, and disappearance). Further research and increasing data, which will enable taphonomic, spectrometric, and dating studies, will provide better results to solve the remaining questions.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010009
Authors: Jacky Croke Chris Thompson Annegret Larsen Mark Macklin Kate Hughes
This paper uses a 30 m record of valley alluviation in the Lockyer Creek, a major tributary of the mid-Brisbane River in Southeast Queensland, to document the timing and nature of Quaternary fluvial response. A combination of radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating reveals a sequence of major cut and fill episodes. The earliest aggradation phase is represented by a basal gravel unit, dating to ~220 ka (marine isotope sub-stage 7d), and although little evidence supports higher fluvial discharges during MIS 5, a MIS 3 fluvial episode characterised by incision and aggradation dates to ~60 ka. A penultimate phase of incision to a depth of 30 m prior to ~14 ka saw the lower Lockyer occupy its current position within the valley floor. The Lockyer Creek shows evidence of only minor fluvial activity during MIS 2, suggesting a drier LGM climate. The appearance of alternating fine- and coarse-grained units at about 2 ka is notable and may represent higher-energy flood conditions associated with a strengthening of El Niño Southern Oscillation activity as observed in the flood of 2011. The aggradation rate for this Holocene floodplain unit is ~11 times higher than the long-term rate.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010008
Authors: Sarah Britzius Frank Dreher Patricia Maisel Frank Sirocko
Seven published and four new pollen records from well-dated sediment cores from six Pleistocene and Holocene maar structures located in the Eifel, Germany, are combined to a pollen stack that covers the entire last 132,000 years. This stack is complemented by new macroremain data from one additional sediment core. The pollen data included into the stack show consistently that the Eifel was covered by a dense forest during the Eemian, early Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, and the Holocene. While other European records indeed indicate a warming, the early MIS 3 fully developed forest remains a unique feature in central European pollen records. Comparison to orbital parameters and insolation hints to warm and humid, however, not fully interglacial conditions, which are also visible in speleothem growth throughout Europe. With the cooling trend towards the glacial maxima of MIS 4 and 2, tree pollen declined, with recovering phases during MIS 5c and 5a, as well as during all MIS 3 interglacials. During the colder stadials, steppe vegetation expanded. For MIS 5 and 4, we defined six new landscape evolution zones based on pollen and macroremains.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010007
Authors: Juan Li Kristofor R. Brye Zhong-Xiu Sun Phillip R. Owens Zhuo-Dong Jiang Tian-Hao Wang Meng-Ge Zhang Qiu-Bing Wang
Long-term continuous deposits and well-preserved thick loess sections are natural archives for the reconstruction of global climate change. However, the loess sections are often discontinuous owing to soil erosions and accumulations. This study aimed at reconstructing long-term continuous paleoclimatic records by integrating the target sections of two typical loess sequences in northeast (NE) China. One section, the Dajiugang (DJG) section, was investigated and sampled, and the Sanbahuo (SBH) section was used as the target for integrating and reconstructing the paleoclimate. Sedimentary, pedogenesis, and luminescence dating analyses were conducted to analyze the potentials for reconstructing the paleoclimate by integrating two typical loess sections. The results indicated that the paleoclimate records derived from the DJG section can be used to reconstruct the continuous paleoclimate of NE China by integrating them with the SBH section. The paleoclimate information inferred from the DJG section could impute paleoclimate data from 71 to 11.7 ka, which were missing in the SBH section. The paleoclimate of NE China generally consisted of three periods from 71 to 11.7 ka: cold and dry from 29 to 11.7 ka, alternately cold and warm from 57 to 29 ka, and warm and wet to cold and dry from 71 to 57 ka. Integrating the target loess sections can contribute to reconstructing regional long-term continuous paleoclimate records where discontinuous loess sequences occurred.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010006
Authors: Mattia Rossi Paola Iacumin Gianpiero Venturelli
During the last forty years, the use of strontium isotopes in archaeology and biogeochemical research has spread widely. These isotopes, alone or in combination with others, can contribute to trace past and present environmental conditions. However, the interpretation of the isotopic values of strontium is not always simple and requires good knowledge of geochemistry and geology. This short paper on the use of strontium isotopes is aimed at those who use this tool (archaeologists, but not only) but who do not have a thorough knowledge of mineralogy, geology, and geochemistry necessary for a good understanding of natural processes involving these isotopes. We report basic knowledge and suggestions for the correct use of these isotopes. The isotopic characteristics of bio-assimilable strontium depend not so much on the isotopic characteristics of the bulk rock as, rather, on those of its more soluble minerals. Before studying human, animal and plant remains, the state of conservation and any conditions of isotopic pollution should be carefully checked. Samples should be collected according to random sampling rules. The data should be treated by a statistical approach. To make comparisons between different areas, it should be borne in mind that the study of current soils can be misleading since the mineralogical modification of soil over time can be very rapid.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010005
Authors: Nataliya Bolikhovskaya Tamara Yanina Valentin Sorokin
The objective of our work was to reconstruct transgressive-regressive events in the Northern Caspian Sea during the Khazarian epoch of its Pleistocene history to determine the natural conditions of the development of the basins and to assess their response to climate change. This work is based onstudies of the sedimentary formations of the upper part of the Quaternary sequence in the Northern Caspian Sea. The borehole was drilled in the eastern part of the depression Shirotnaya, the sea depth was 11.9 m, and the depth of drilling was 56.4 m. The core was subjected to lithological, malacological, and palynological analysis. This paper discusses the results related to the interval 56.0–26.6 m. The structure, facies-lithological, and malacological composition of the core capture three transgressive stages of the Caspian, namely the Early Khazarian, Late Khazarian, and Hyrcanian stages, separated by regressive phases. The representative spore-pollen assemblages made it possible to carry out the climatic and stratigraphic subdivision of the studied Khazarian deposits and to suggest a provisional version of the history of climatic and phytocenotic events during the sedimentation period. The results of our studies have introduced new discussion points into the paleogeography of the Northern Caspian Sea.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010004
Authors: Darío Fidalgo Joan Madurell-Malapeira Roberta Martino Luca Pandolfi Antonio Rosas
This work presents a comprehensive review of the Quaternary fossil records of hippopotamuses from the Iberian Peninsula, unveiling biogeographical insights of global significance. The results presented herein include the inference of a delayed arrival of Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus antiquus) populations onto the Iberian Peninsula compared to other European Mediterranean regions, with an estimated age of ca. 1.7 Ma, in contrast to 2.1–2.2 Ma elsewhere. Moreover, we hypothesize the possibility of a short-lived coexistence between H. antiquus and Hippopotamus amphibius, close to the extinction of the former taxon (ca. 0.45 Ma). The local extinction of all hippopotamus populations on the Iberian Peninsula between MIS 5 and 3 is suggested here, mirroring proposals made for the Italian peninsula. Notable aspects of this fossil record include the abundance of specimens, previously undocumented anatomical elements, and partially complete individuals with articulated body segments. The remains analyzed herein also present different ontogenetic stages and sexual dimorphism. Moreover, the presence of specimens displaying paleopathologies provides valuable insights into ethological and paleoecological studies. The exceptional record of at least three events of human exploitation of hippopotamus stands out, with this being a rarity in the broader context of the archaeological and paleontological record of the European continent.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010003
Authors: Ekaterina Taldenkova Yaroslav Ovsepyan Olga Rudenko Anna Stepanova Henning A. Bauch
Reconstructing interglacial marine environments helps us understand the climate change mechanisms of the past. To contribute to this body of knowledge, we studied a high-resolution 455 cm-thick sediment sequence of the Boreal (Eemian) marine beds directly overlying Moscovian (Saalian) moraine in the Bychye-2 section on the Pyoza River. We analyzed lithological and microfossil (foraminifers, ostracods, pollen, aquatic palynomorphs) variations at the studied site. Stratigraphical zonation is based on the local and well-established regional pollen zones, correlated with the western European pollen zones. The studied marine beds accumulated from the end of the Moscovian glacial (>131 ka) until ca. 119.5 ka. We distinguished three successive phases: a seasonally sea-ice-covered, relatively deep, freshened basin in the initial rapid flooding stage (>131–130.5 ka); a deep basin in the maximum flooding phase with less extensive sea ice cover (130.5–130.25 ka); and a shallow basin with reduced sea ice cover (130.25–119.5 ka). According to a pollen zone comparison with other sites, the regional glacioisostatic rebound started ca. 130 ka. The diverse warm-water assemblages of benthic foraminifers and ostracods containing typical Baltic Sea species occurred during the regression, mainly 128–124 ka, thus giving evidence for a relatively long-lasting connection between the White and Baltic Seas.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010002
Authors: Paolo Biagi
This paper considers some problems of the Late Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic periods in Northern Italy. More precisely, it deals with chronology, settlement pattern, techno-typological characteristics of knapped stone assemblages, and climatic changes that have taken place in the region from the discovery of the first sites in the 1960s and the excavations that soon followed to the present state of research. The Italian Alps, the Piedmont, and the valleys that descend from the high massifs have yielded important traces of Late Palaeolithic (Final Epigravettian) and Mesolithic (Sauveterrian and Castelnovian) sites and findspots, some of which are rock shelters that were settled throughout several millennia. This paper describes and discusses the evidence available mainly from two regions of the western and eastern Alpine arc, which are characterised by very different landscapes and yielded a great variety of archaeological features.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat7010001
Authors: Tatina Blyakharchuk Nikita Shefer Olga Ponomareva Hong-Chun Li
West Siberian mires covering more than 50% of area in the subarctic are still poorly investigated despite their thick peat sediments suitable for paleogeographic research of past long-term landscape and climatic changes. In this research, a combination of paleoecological methods were used, including the analysis of pollen, spores, diatoms, NPPs, and macrofossils, the measurement of peat humification, and quantitative paleoclimate reconstruction. This multi-proxy approach was applied to study a palsa bog (frost peat heave mound) located in the north of western Siberia on the border of the northern taiga and forest–tundra (65°18′56″ N, 72°52′27″ E). Chronology is based on 21 radiocarbon dates, which were calibrated in CLAM. Studies have shown that sediments of palsa bog Nadym of a 1050 cm thickness were formed both in the Holocene and earlier periods of the Quaternary. Radiocarbon dating worked well for peat sequences (610 cm thick), but failed for underlying lacustrine and mineral sediments (440 cm thick). Numerous remains of salt-water diatoms and exotic Neogene pollen were found in the lacustrine sediments (650–850 cm). The oldest sediments (850–1050 cm) have signs of secondary epicryogenic diagenesis in the form of cryogenic iron-enriched granules. Both lacustrine and bottom sediments contain abundant coniferous pollen. At the same time, spore–pollen complexes dated to the Last Glacial Age were not found in low sediments because of failed dates. To explain this, the authors turn to the hypothesis of glyacioisostatic compensation, according to which the study area was uplifted during the Last Glacial Age and the ancient deposits underwent secondary diagenesis in subaerial conditions. Holocene lacustrine sedimentation began to form about 9800 cal. a BP. These lacustrine sediments turned out to be enriched in redeposited Neogene pollen and diatoms. It was interpreted as an influence of excess humid climate in combination with geological subsidence of landscape in the study area during the Early Holocene. This caused lake formation and introduction of exotic microfossils via surface run-off from higher-relief areas in the catchment. Syngenetic sedimentation in the Nadym section is associated only with peat-mire deposits covering the last 8400 cal. a BP. For this time, the dynamic of vegetation cover and quantitative changes in paleoclimate were reconstructed using spore–pollen, macrofossil, humus, and NPP data as well as the information–statistical method of V.A. Klimanov. The spore–pollen analysis revealed four main phases in the development of vegetation cover: 1. Spruce–birch forests with open meadows and lakes (8400–7600 cal. a BP); 2. Dominance of spruce forests and thawed eutrophic (minerotrophic) mires (7600 to 6500 cal. a BP); 3. Coniferous–birch forests and thawed mesotrophic mires (6500 to 4500 cal. a BP); 4. Birch–pine forests and oligotrophic (ombrotrophic) bogs with permafrost mounds—palsa bogs (approx. the last 4500 years). Quantitative reconstructions of paleoclimate based on pollen data show that in most cases the periods of a sharp decrease in mean January and mean July temperatures coincided with episodes of low solar activity. The assumption was made about the determining influence of solar activity on the formation of permafrost in the soils and mires of the study area. Sun minima caused permafrost formation in the mire periodically since 8400 cal. a BP in study peatland, but complete freezing of the peat mire and formation of the palsa bog occurred at c. 2800 cal. a BP.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6040060
Authors: David García-Fernández Esperanza Cerdeño Montserrat Sanz Joan Daura
New rhino remains recovered from Cova del Rinoceront (Castelldefels, Barcelona) confirm the presence of Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis (Toula, 1902) at the site and the taxon’s persistence until the late Middle–early Upper Pleistocene in Europe, that is, its latest documented occurrence. The three individuals recovered from the site are compared with specimens of other Pleistocene species, including those of S. hemitoechus, S. kirchbergensis and Coelodonta antiquitatis, but their anatomical characteristics (a long skull, moderate occipital elevation, partial nasal septum, and slender zygomatic arch) do not coincide with the latter’s documented features. Certain similarities are found with the most frequently occurring rhinocerotid at that time in the Iberian Peninsula, S. hemitoechus, but the cranial features of the latter differ. The anatomical characteristics of the Cova del Rinoceront individuals coincide most closely with those of S. hundsheimensis (i.e., a high occipital face, with rounded proximolateral angles and oblique lateral borders, as well as the frontoparietal angle, and facial development). Despite the marked overlaps in the general measurements of S. hundsheimensis and S. hemitoechus, many (cranial and postcranial) dimensions of the Cova del Rinoceront individuals coincide more closely with those of the former, although some bone proportions are more similar to those of the latter specimens. Therefore, S. kirchbergensis and C. antiquitatis can be discarded as they tend to be larger, more robust species.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6040059
Authors: Esperanza Cerdeño Natalia P. Lucero Jorge O. Chiesa
This is an updated contribution to the Quaternary geology and paleontology from central-western Argentina, focused on San Luis Province. It is mostly based on unpublished data; only some fossils had previously been briefly mentioned in broader faunal contexts. The fossil-bearing sediments correspond to eolian and alluvial environments of moderate energy, dominated by sands and sandy silts. They overlie high-energy fluvial cycles and underlie edaphic horizons. They have a wide distribution, and several radiocarbon dates allow their regional correlation. Stratigraphic sequences with the precise origin of fossils allow for the improvement of lithostratigraphic and faunal correlations with the Pampean Region (central and east Argentina; La Pampa and Buenos Aires provinces), where Pleistocene assemblages are better known, but also with central-western (Cuyo Region), northwestern, and northeastern Argentina. Faunal remains correspond to large mammals, represented by xenarthrans (Cingulata and Tardigrada), macraucheniids (Litopterna), gomphotheres (Proboscidea), and equids (Perissodactyla), a typical Pleistocene mixture of native (xenarthrans and litopterns) and immigrant mammals.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6040058
Authors: Jaime Rivera-Solís Adolfo Quesada-Román Fran Domazetović
Tropical coastal karst areas represent dynamic, fragile, and biodiverse environments. Central America’s karst regions have been scarcely studied, with most of the research focused on the northern part of the region and on several larger cave systems. The coastal carbonate zones of the Central American region represent a unique karstic landscape, which, so far, has been insufficiently studied. Therefore, in this paper, we aim to describe the (i) landscape geomorphology and (ii) chemical conditions that define Ciénega de El Mangle in Panama as a distinctive karstic site. Carried geomorphological mapping and the characterization of karstic features have resulted in the identification of the different karstic forms and processes that are present within this unique karstic area. Considering that the chosen karstic study area is located in a marine–coastal fringe on the periphery of a lagoon, it is affected by a combination of several factors and processes, including seawater intrusion (through sinkholes), the formation of conchiferous limestone (CaCO3), and NaCl precipitation related to efflorescence. Due to the seasonally humid tropical climate, the chemical weathering processes are intense, thus forming alkaline soils that are hindering the development of mangrove vegetation. The geomorphology of the area results from intense evaporation combined with an influx of brackish groundwater, due to which a landscape has evolved in the marine–coastal strips, of seasonal tropical climates, that exhibit saline beaches, known as a littoral shott. In total, 24 karstic microdolines have evolved within the shott, of which six represent domical geoforms formed by gradual evaporitic precipitation, while seven other geoforms represent active karstic sinkholes filled with brackish water. These results are key for understanding the past and present climate interactions and conditions that have led to the formation of tropical karst environments.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6040057
Authors: Saverio Bartolini-Lucenti Qigao Jiangzuo Hao Jiang Zhaoyu Li Kun Xie Joan Madurell-Malapeira
(1) Background: despite the fact that nowadays the genus Vulpes Frisch, 1775, is the most diverse among extant Canidae, its fossil record is utterly scarce, especially in the Asian Pliocene. The sparse nature of this record further complicates the reconstruction of the evolutionary scenario to fit these taxa with extant species. The situation seems to change slightly in the Early Pleistocene when two species are recorded: Vulpes alopecoides (Del Campana, 1913) in Europe and Vulpes chikushanensis, Young, 1930, in Asian localities. Unlike the former, which has an extensive record, the remains of the Chinese V. chikushanensis are sporadic and the validity of the taxon has also been questioned. (2) Methods: the study of the specimens from the Early Pleistocene site of Bajiazui (1.8–1.2 Ma, Qingyang, Gansu) in comparison to an extensive sample of Vulpes spp. The Pliocene–Early Pleistocene is relevant for the delimitation of fossil foxes variability; (3) Results: morphologically and morphometrically, the specimens of Bajiazui fit with the specimens of V. chikushanensis from other Chinese localities of the Early Pleistocene, e.g., Longdan (Gansu) and Huiyu (Fangshang), highlighting some difference with the latest Early Pleistocene forms of Jigushan fox; (4) Conclusions: the revision of the Asian fossil record of Vulpes is crucial in our attempt to understand and reconstruct the evolution of carnivoran guild during the late Early Pleistocene (1.8–0.8 Ma). The fox remains from Bajiazui, although fragmentary, add a valuable piece to our knowledge of V. chikushanensis, a species possibly strongly related to the extant Vulpes corsac (Linnaeus, 1768).
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6040056
Authors: Vladimir V. Pitulko Elena Y. Pavlova
Starting roughly 50,000 years ago, the Arctic region of East Siberia remained continuously populated by groups of anatomically modern humans including the most uncomfortable episodes in the development of the late Quaternary environment; for some of them, human presence in the area became ephemeral. At present, archaeological fossil records allow for distinguishing three main stages in human occupation of the area: Early (~50 to ~29 ka, MIS 3), middle (~29 to ~11.7 ka, MIS 2), and late (from 11.7 to ~8 ka). For most of the time, they the populated open landscapes of the Mammoth Steppe, which declined at the onset of the Holocene. Human settlement of the Arctic was driven by various abiotic and biotic factors and thus archaeologically visible cardinal cultural and technological changes correspond to the most important paleoclimatic and habitat changes in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Successful peopling of the Arctic was largely facilitated by the adoption of critically important innovations such as sewing technology based on the use of the eyed bone needle and the manufacture of long shafts and pointed implements made of mammoth tusks. Mammoth exploitation is seen in mass accumulations of mammoths formed by hunting. An obvious connection between archaeological materials and such accumulations is observed in the archaeological record. In the lithic technology, the early stage is presented by archaic-looking flake industries. Starting the LGM, the wedge-core based-microblade technology known as the Beringian microblade tradition spread widely following the shrinkage of the mammoth range. At the late stage, starting at the Holocene boundary, microprismatic blade technology occurs. In all stages, the complex social behavior of the ancient Arctic settlers is revealed. The long-distance transport of products, knowledge, and genes occurs due to the introduction of the land transportation system. Initial human settlement of this region is associated with carriers of the West Eurasian genome who became replaced by the population with East Asian ancestry constantly moving North under the pressure of climate change.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6040055
Authors: Emanuele Lodolo Luca Baradello László Szentpeteri Michele Deponte Emiliano Gordini Dario Civile
The ancient Greek colony of Selinunte, with its acropolis on a promontory on the south-western coast of Sicily, is flanked by two valleys where two modest rivers flow today: the Modione to the west and the Cottone to the east. Archaeological reconstructions, historical documents from various sources, and recent remote sensing surveys indicate two important bays corresponding to the ancient mouths of these two rivers, now completely covered by a thick layer of sediments. It is believed that the ports of the colony were located in these bays, although the remains of these ports are still sparse and contradictory. Here we present a multibeam bathymetric map of part of the marine area immediately off Selinunte and a series of high-resolution seismic profiles acquired parallel to the coastline. They show the geometries and stratigraphic context of the two buried river valleys offshore, from which information about the palaeoenvironmental setting and evolution of the landscape can be derived and which may be used in adequately guiding future archaeological excavation programs.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6040054
Authors: Loïc Lebreton Juan Manuel López-García
In western Europe, the Middle Pleistocene is marked by Acheulean settlement and their diversification after the MIS 12. The Arago cave recovery of numerous human settlements correlate to MIS 14, 13 and MIS 12 making it an important site for the understanding of the Lower Palaeolithic in Southwestern Europe. It is also an important site for the understanding of palaeoenvironments and palaeobiodiversity as it has yielded rich faunal associations. The faunal associations allow us to observe three climatic stages within this study: two cold ones and a mild one. Small vertebrates, with their abundance and their diversity, are particularly useful for observing these periods, which historically have been correlated to glacial or interglacial stages. If the first cold phase, dated 438 ± 31 ka, is correlated to the Marine Isotopic Stage 12 (MIS 12), the correlation of the following phases to isotopic stages can be discussed. They may correspond to climatic variations of the MIS 12. Indeed, the latest studies about palaeoclimatic reconstitution which allow us to define the evolution of the palaeo-temperature show that these differences are relatively small. Therefore, instead of a correlation to MIS 12, 13 and 14, the medium complex of the Arago cave could belong solely to MIS 12. The correlation of these environmental changes to other global data, notably the isotopic curve, is challenging because there are various local factors influencing faunal association. We propose here both hypotheses and discuss the various factors which influence the distribution and the representation of the small vertebrate species present on the site.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6040053
Authors: Zhong-Xiu Sun Nai-Wen Zhang Ying-Ying Jiang Qiu-Bing Wang Gan-Lin Zhang
Previous research assumed deep buried loess as the initial composition of the overlying paleosol and failed to address the long-term continuous pedogenic weathering history in the deep loess-paleosol sequence, which was attributed to little understanding on the difference between loess and paleosol in the long-term deep loess-paleosol sequence. To distinguish between the loess and paleosol, in the long-term deep loess-paleosol sequence in northeast China, the morphology, dust deposition fluxes, geochemical characteristics, magnetic susceptibility, and grain size distributions were investigated. Results showed that the loess layers buried at depth could be differentiated from the paleosol by their poor pedogenic development. The presence of coarser grains in the loess as well as lesser amounts of clay and Fe–Mn coatings compared to paleosol indicated weaker weathering of the loess. Also, optical iron clay films deposited on the surface of the skeleton particles were less visible in the loesses than in the paleosols. From the loess evolution perspective, the pedogenic formation process of the newly formed loess soils should be considered as important as that of the reddish paleosol layer based on criteria of formation time, depth within profile, and morphological characteristics. The formation of the reddish or yellowish paleosol layer was constrained by pedogenic environments associated with climatic change and by the relative rates of deposition and pedogenesis. The terms “loessal paleosol” and “loessal paleosol sequence” are suggested to aid in systematically and consistently addressing the long-term pedogenic weathering evolution recorded in the complex formation of deep loess and paleosol sequences in pedology research. The long-term deep loessal sediments of Northeast China are loessal paleosols, which cannot be simply used as a reference for the overlying paleosol and be deducted from pedogenesis consideration.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6040052
Authors: Aviad Agam Merlin Hattermann Iddo Pinkas Jürgen Richter Thorsten Uthmeier
We examined lithic artifacts from the late Neanderthal site Sesselfelsgrotte (Bavaria, Germany) in order to evaluate the possibility of fire use and intentional flint heat treatment performed by late Neanderthals. We analyzed 1113 flint pieces from the G-layer complex (~60 to 45 kya; Micoquian) and 946 from the lower-layer complex (~115 to 70 kya; Mousterian). Based on macroscopic traits associated with the exposure of flint to heat and fire, we assigned artifacts to one of three groups: burnt, unburnt, and possibly intentionally heated. Our results show that while both complexes demonstrate the clear presence of fire, fire is more common in the younger G-layer complex. Moreover, possibly intentionally heated pieces are significantly more frequent in the G-layer complex, especially among the tools and specifically among side scrapers, suggesting a link between heat treatment and the production of these tools, most probably due to their functional and cultural significance. We therefore suggest that the flint in the G-layer complex of Sesselfelsgrotte underwent intentional heat treatment. The proportions of burnt flint artifacts in both complexes suggest an intensification in fire use at the site over time, while the appearance of possibly intentionally heated artifacts in the G-layer complex suggests the development of this advanced pyrotechnology by Neanderthals sometime between these two timeframes. Our results are supported by sedimentological and faunal data. We view these results as further indication of the advanced cognitive and technological capabilities of Neanderthals, which did not fall short of those of early modern humans.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6040051
Authors: Ella Assaf Javier Baena Preysler Emiliano Bruner
Shaped stone balls (SSBs) were an integral part of human culture across the Old World for nearly 2 million years. They are one of the oldest implements made and used by humans. In this significant era, which was characterised by biological and cultural transformations, these round implements were a stable hallmark throughout the Lower Paleolithic period and beyond. However, while much research progress has been made in other stone tool categories, and despite the increased research efforts in recent years, attempts to define SSB function and typology have remained inconclusive, and broader cultural and cognitive aspects related to their production techniques, use and dispersal have yet to be explored in depth. What is the significance of their continuous presence and wide geographical distribution? What do these imply regarding the cognitive abilities of Oldowan and Acheulian humans? In this paper, we turn the spotlight on these enigmatic items. We address unresolved issues and explore the ergonomic and perceptual properties stimulated by the geometry of these items. We show that stone ball variability matches (modern) human hand palm variability. Moreover, when using SSBs in percussion activities, they are handled with the entire palm. Following, we discuss the role of SSBs in the context of socio-cultural processes. We suggest that SSBs reflect some of the earliest evidence in human history of a specific form that was conceptualised and recurrently acted upon.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030050
Authors: Flavia Venditti Madison J. McCartin Melanie-Larisa Ostermann Nicholas J. Conard Sibylle Wolf
Personal ornaments play an important role in our understanding of human cultural and behavioral change during the Upper Paleolithic, providing insights into intangible aspects of human cultural behavior. Some ornament forms are better studied than others, and fox tooth ornaments, despite their frequent occurrence and broad spatiotemporal span, are relatively under-addressed. Here we present the first comprehensive study of 40 perforated fox teeth recovered from four cave sites in southwestern Germany. This region’s rich record of symbolic representations, as well as evidence of long-standing human–fox relationships, make the Swabian Jura an ideal case study for investigations of fox tooth ornaments. By applying a holistic approach, including geometric morphometrics and traceology coupled with experimental archaeology, we show that fox teeth were mostly perforated by bifacial scraping and grooving and were worn as ornaments. We discuss the role of foxes within human socio-symbolic and paleoenvironmental systems during the Upper Paleolithic of the Swabian Jura, and we contextualize our results within the broader context of sites across Europe during the Upper Paleolithic. The data we provide are in line with general trends observed across the continent and offer insight into the role of foxes during the Upper Paleolithic, especially regarding human subsistence, cultural expression, and ornament production.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030049
Authors: Ira B. Tsoy Anna V. Sorochinskaya
Diatom assemblages in mud volcanoes are quite rare and are poorly studied. The finding of a rich diatom flora in the sediments of the Daginsky Mud Volcano (DMV), located in the tidal zone of the Nyisky Bay of the Sea of Okhotsk, is of interest to study the conditions for the formation of host sediments in the zone of influence of various extreme factors, such as outflows of gases and water–mud mass, thermal springs, and tides. For this purpose, the taxonomical composition of diatom assemblages and concentration of diatoms in DMV sediments were studied. A comparison was made with the diatoms of geothermal springs of the Russian Far East associated with volcanic activity, and the stratigraphic occurrence of the found extinct diatoms was analyzed, which is important for determining their source and the age of the mud volcano roots. Diatom assemblages from DMV sediments are mainly characterized by the predominance of Metascolioneis tumida, Paralia sulcata, Odontella aurita, Pinnunavis yarrensis, Petroneis marina, Cocconeis scutellum, and Navicula digitoradiata. They consist of diatoms of different biotopes and extinct species. The diversity and abundance of brackish water and marine species indicates the predominant influence of sea waters on the formation of DMV sediments. The diverse freshwater species were mainly introduced into sediments with river runoff, but it is likely that some of these, such as the cosmopolitan alkaliphilic species, are inhabitants of geothermal springs. The presence of extinct species from the underlying Neogene sediments from where they were carried with gas–water–mud masses is the most typical for diatom assemblages of the DMV.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030048
Authors: Yuri P. Perevedentsev Konstantin M. Shantalinsky Artyom V. Gusarov Nadezhda A. Mirsaeva Timur R. Aukhadeev Alexander A. Nikolaev
The temporal variability of air temperature in the Middle Volga region from 1828 to 2021 is considered according to instrumental observations at the oldest meteorological station in the east of the East European Plain (Kazan University) and throughout the Asian part of Russia against the background of long-term climate fluctuations in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth. A general trend toward an increase in air temperature was revealed. It was found that climate change in Kazan was consistent with the climatic processes that occurred in the Middle Volga region as a whole. The greatest warming for the entire observation period was observed in the winter and spring seasons of the year. In December, warming occurred at a maximum rate of 0.28 °C/10 years. At the same time, the most intense warming process was observed from 1991 to 2021. The analysis of low-frequency fluctuations in the series of monthly average air temperatures made it possible to identify different periods of change, both in type (direction) and intensity. It is shown that in the Middle Volga region, positive anomalies of air temperature have occurred more often than negative ones in recent decades. Statistical data processing was also carried out for 30-year periods, starting from the first period, i.e., 1841–1870. This made it possible to reveal long-term changes in air temperature. Comparisons of climatic parameters in two periods, i.e., 1828–1945 and 1946–2021, allowed us to reliably detect the climatic beginning of the increasingly identifiable Anthropocene epoch (since 1946), characterized by a sharp increase in air temperature, increased interannual variability of the air temperature regime, and a significant increase (by about three times) in the rate of warming in the Middle Volga region. A correlation was made between atmospheric circulation indices and air temperature fluctuations in Kazan over different periods. The closest relationship was found for the 1990–2020 period. It is shown that the contribution of global factors to air temperature variability in the Middle Volga region during the Anthropocene reached 37% in winter and 32% in summer; in annual terms, this contribution amounted to 54%.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030047
Authors: Aleksey Sidorchuk
The rates of incision and aggradation in the channels in the Terek River basin (North Caucasus) for the last 50–85 years were estimated at 18 gauging stations. The stage–discharge method (annual low water stages at the same discharges) was applied. The stability of the Terek River channel was recorded on the tectonically subsiding Tersko–Kuma Lowland. On the subsiding Kabardian Plain, channel aggradation up to 14 mm a−1 was registered. The rapid (~32 mm a−1) incision of the Terek River occurs within the antecedent valley of the rising Sunzha Ridge, causing regressive erosion and incision (~25 mm a−1) of rivers on the Ossetian Plain, despite its tectonic subsiding. The rivers in the uplifting mountains of the North Caucasus transport the sediments delivered from slopes as climatically controlled debris flows. Aggradation and incision here alternate without a visible overall trend. The rates of modern channel bed deformations are 10 to 100 times higher than the mean rates of tectonic movements. The main effect of tectonics is the changes in river channel slopes, which cause changes in the bed load transport budget and channel bed deformation. Human-made constructions induce rapid deformations in the channels but have a local effect.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030046
Authors: Miki Ben-Dor Ran Barkai
This paper examines the hypothesis that changes in hunting weapons during the Paleolithic were a direct response to a progressive decline in prey size. The study builds upon a unified hypothesis that explains Paleolithic human evolutionary and behavioral/cultural phenomena, including improved cognitive capabilities, as adaptations to mitigate declined energetic returns due to a decline in prey size. Five selected case studies in Africa and Europe were analyzed to test this hypothesis, focusing on the relative presence of megaherbivores (>1000 kg) in the transition between the Acheulean/Early Stone Age and the Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age. The findings indicate a decline in megaherbivores’ presence and biomass contribution in the studied transition period associated with the introduction of Levallois technology. We review the evolution of hunting weapons, including wooden-tipped and stone-tipped spears and bows and arrows. Analysis of tip size and breakage patterns indicate a reduction in point size over time, aligning with the declining prey size. We propose that changes in hunting weapons and strategies were driven by the practical and ontological incentives presented by the availability and size of prey. Developing smaller, more precise weapons required increased cognitive capacities, leading to the parallel evolution of human cognitive abilities.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030045
Authors: Gabriele Gattiglia Eleonora Rattighieri Eleonora Clò Francesca Anichini Antonio Campus Marta Rossi Mauro Buonincontri Anna Maria Mercuri
In central Italy, the Charterhouse of Calci hosts the Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa. This monumental monastery was founded in 1366 by Carthusian monks. The Charterhouse has experienced various transformations over the centuries, until its abandonment in the 1970s. Since 2018, interdisciplinary archaeological research focused on the monks’ gardens (and particularly: the Prior’s, the Apothecary’s, and the Master’s garden) and the green spaces outside the cloister walls, consisting of courtyards and orchards, to determine the individual (gardens) and collective (green spaces and surrounding woods) practices adopted by Carthusians. Palynology and archaeobotany have allowed to reconstruct the plant biodiversity, with flowers and ornamental, aromatic, and medicinal herbs that grew in the gardens, as well as the management of local hilly woods and agricultural practices, including the cultivation of fruit trees, such as chestnut, olive tree, almond tree, and grapevine. Our research has been based on a solid theoretical approach, interpreting archaeological and archaeobotanical data in relation to the intricate network of human and non-human connections. Gardens are seen as a co-creation made together by human and non-human agencies, and their diachronic transformation is read as an expression of personalities of the monks, feelings, and connections with nature and divinity.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030044
Authors: Sarah Britzius Frank Sirocko
We present a record of pollen and spores of coprophilous fungi from a sediment core from Auel infilled maar, Eifel, Germany, covering the period from 42,000 to 36,000 yr b2k. We can show that vegetation cover was dominated by a boreal forest with components of steppe and cold-temperate wood taxa. The proportion of wood taxa was higher during interstadials, whereas steppe-vegetation became more prominent during stadials. During Heinrich stadial 4, temperate taxa are mostly absent. Spores of coprophilous fungi show that megaherbivores were continuously present, albeit in a larger number during stadials when steppe environment with abundant steppe herbs expanded. With the onset of Greenland stadial 9, forests became more open, allowing for steppe-environment to evolve. The shift in vegetation cover coincides with the highest values of herbivore biomass at the time that Neanderthal humans demised and Anatomically Modern Humans most probably arrived in Central and Western Europe. Megaherbivore biomass was a direct consequence of vegetation cover/availability of food resources and thus an indirect consequence of a changing climate. Herds of large herbivores following suitable (steppe) habitats may have been one cause of the migration of AMH into Europe, going along with their prey to productive hunting grounds.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030043
Authors: Eleonora Clò Paola Torri Michele Baliva Agostino Brusco Roberto Marchianò Elisabetta Sgarbi Jordan Palli Anna Maria Mercuri Gianluca Piovesan Assunta Florenzano
Nowadays, wild grapevine populations are quite limited and sporadic mainly due to habitat destruction, land-use change, and the spread of pathogens that have reduced their distribution range. Palaeoecological, archaeobotanical, and genetic studies indicate that modern cultivars of Vitis vinifera are the results of the domestication of the dioecious, and sometimes hermaphrodite, wild species standing in riparian zones and wet environments. Wild grapevine populations have declined as a consequence of various forms of anthropogenic disturbance and were assigned by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to the Least Concern category. The River Crati Natural Reserve (Riserva Naturale Foce del Crati), located in southern Italy, hosts a population of Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris in a rewilding wet forest close to the Ionian Sea. These protected areas are of high scientific, biogeographic, and conservation interest in terms of Mediterranean biodiversity. Dendroecological and pollen morpho-biometric analyses of the wild grapevine are presented in this study. Palaeoecological perspectives for a landscape management strategy aimed at conserving and restoring the relic grapevine population are discussed.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030042
Authors: Valentí Rull
This essay is a personal insight based on my own experience in the Iberian Pyrenees, which addresses three situations common in paleoecological research, such as the verification of previously devised hypotheses (anticipation), the finding on unknown events in unstudied sites (discovery) and the finding of unexpected outputs in already known areas (serendipity). The account is concentrated on the value of the coring sites by themselves as generators of paleoecological knowledge, rather than on the actual findings, which are presented and discussed in the corresponding data papers. The main aim is to show that there is still much room for new findings, even in areas that have been surveyed for a long time and are supposed to be well known, from a paleoecological perspective. Finally, some general lessons are derived and conceptualized.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030041
Authors: María Quiñónez-Macías Kervin Chunga Theofilos Toulkeridis Alvaro Mora-Mendoza Angelo Constantine
Well-preserved Quaternary sedimentary sequences in the central coast of Ecuador have provided sufficient relevant information for paleogeographic reconstruction and climatic evolution, from stratigraphic, geochemical, and biological analysis. The Jaramijo canton site is one of the most remarkable results in the stratigraphic correlation of lithological units with delineation of a paleo sea-cliff of age 14C 43,245 ± 460 B.P. (belonging to the MIS-3). This MIS-3 is associated with a period of glaciation, but the data obtained, such as δ 18O, indicate paleo-temperature values of −1 to −1.5, which are interpreted in this study, indicate that the central coast of Ecuador has an interstadial phase (warm years in a glacial stage). Two more paleo-coastal cliffs have been mapped from orthophoto analysis, but these are younger. The sedimentary levels analyzed in this study include deposits that occurred in MIS 3 to MIS 1. Holocene transgression has modified the central coast of Ecuador and increased the level of coastal climate hazard by sea level rise. Indeed, paleo-coastlines have been evidenced from bathymetric data in the depth contours of −5.5 m and −7.6 m, at 440 and 650 m distances from the up-to-date coastline. For the Jaramijó site, the rate of cliff-erosion and wave-cut platforms are in the order of 1.1 to 2.4 m/yr. These cliff-erosion rates, with a moderate to high coastal vulnerability index, can be increased if we consider mathematical models with an estimated sea-level rise scenario to be, in 2100, about +1 to +1.4 m.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030040
Authors: Juan Morales María del Sol Hernández Bernal Nayeli Pérez Rodríguez Avto Goguitchaichvili
Mining activity at Taxco produces seven mining waste deposits, which are problematic for the health of the community and for the environment in general. This study targets the Guerrero I mining waste dam (the youngest of the region), located south of Taxco de Alarcon, in the northern portion of Guerrero State, Mexico. This study reports the vertical magnetic susceptibility prospecting results and geochemical characterization of 27 tailing samples from the Guerrero I dam. Results from magnetic techniques provide evidence for different deposit layers of variable mineral composition, in agreement with the lithological column. The short evolution period of this relatively young dam is corroborated by the practically constant and close to 1 S-300 ratio (low oxidation degree of the magnetic mineralogy) and the mainly neutral pH character at the dam’s upper part. Most maximum concentrations of potentially toxic elements are below the maximum permissible levels for agriculture/residential use, except for those of Pb and Zn, with average enrichment factors above 90 and 50 times the corresponding regional background concentrations, respectively. Simple sample preparation and fast magnetic and X-ray fluorescence elemental concentration measurements, together with a suitable systematic sampling distribution, result in an advantageous proxy method for a quick and cost-effective heavy metal evaluation of mining waste dams.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030039
Authors: Tamás Zsolt Vári Sándor Gulyás Pál Sümegi
Lake Kolon (Hungary), situated in the middle of the Turjánvidék area between the saline lakes of the Danube valley and the Homokhátság, is one of the most significant natural aquatic habitats in the Danube–Tisza Interfluve region. The central question of this study is how the lake changed, and how environmental factors and human activities have influenced these paleoenvironmental changes in Lake Kolon. A multiproxy analysis of a core sequence (loss on ignition, grain size, magnetic susceptibility, and geochemistry) provided crucial insights. Notably, correlations are observed in the following relationships: (1) clay, organic matter, and elements derived from organic sources, such as Na, K, and Zn; (2) MS, sand, inorganic matter, and elements originating from inorganic sources, such as Fe, Al, Ti, Na, K, and P; and (3) carbonate content and elements originating from carbonate sources, such as Ca and Mg. The lake’s paleoenvironment underwent significant changes in the past 27,000 years. Late-Pleistocene wind-blown sand provided the bottom for an oligotrophic lake (17,700 BP), followed by a calcareous mesotrophic Chara-lake phase (13,800 BP). Peat accumulation, along with the eutrophic lake phase, began at the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary around 11,700 BP. From 10,300 BP, with the emergence of an extended peatland phase, the percentage of organic matter (peat) increased significantly. Anthropogenic changes occurred from around 9000–8000 BP due to the different emerging cultures in the Carpathian basin, and from 942–579 BP due to the Hungarian settlements and activity nearby, respectively.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6030038
Authors: László Makó Péter Cseh Balázs Nagy Pál Sümegi Dávid Molnár
This study covers the examination of four loess–paleosol profiles in Hungary through grain size composition, organic matter, carbonate content and magnetic susceptibility measurements. One of the profiles (with a thickness of 25.72 m) can be found in the Gödöllő hills, on the border of town Pécel, and the other three profiles (Kisdorog-West—5.60 m, Kisdorog-East—6.40 and Bonyhádvarasd—8.16 m) are located in the Tolna hills of the Transdanubia region. The sections were continuously sampled with an interval of 4 cm. The same interval was also applied to the other three profiles. During the field exploration of the Pécel profile, we were able to study the complete loess wall, which was deposited on the sediment of the nearby Rákos stream. Based on the Ostracod fauna of the clay sediment beneath, the fluvial deposit can be considered as originating from the Upper Miocene. In the case of the Transdanubian sections, a significant change can be observed in the prevailing wind direction based on the grain size analyses. In addition, the results of magnetic susceptibility measurements suggest that the development of the Pécel profile took place during MIS 9–10, while the age of the three Transdanubian sections can be assumed to be the MIS 2–4.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020037
Authors: Sándor Gulyás Pál Sümegi
Understanding sedimentation processes in response to past hydrogeological and climatic changes and capturing millennial-scale variations is a key focus of lacustrine paleoenvironmental research. This study presents the first high-resolution chronology and sedimentary data for the small thermal-spring-fed Lake Pețea, NW Romania, and unravels the evolutionary history of the lake harboring a unique endemic fauna. Its small size and single source of water make it particularly sensitive to hydrological changes. In the recent past, over-exploitation of the thermal water has led to the complete drying up of the lake and the extinction of its fauna. Nevertheless, past spatio-temporal variation of environmental factors, in particular the fluctuation of lake levels and water temperature, must have had a significant impact on the survival and evolution of the endemic mollusk fauna. This fact makes this study particularly important. Based on our results, a three-stage sedimentary evolution occurred, mainly controlled by major climate-driven hydrological changes also seen in regional records, i.e., 17.5–14.5 ka shallow eutrophic lake, 14.5–5.5 ka oligotrophic carbonate-rich lake, and 5.5–0.5 ka shallow eutrophic lake. A major lowstand at 11.7–10.2 ka due to drier climate was followed by progressively rising water levels up to 5 ka followed by a drop. The main control on lake level fluctuations and sedimentary phases was the varying input of thermal water due to recurring increased/decreased recharge of the underground shallow karst water system. The driving factor of thermal water discharge was different during the Late Glacial than the Holocene. It was the warming of the climate at 14.5 ka cal BP and melting of regional ice sheets in addition to increased precipitation that created an oligotrophic lake by recharging the underground thermal water system. Conversely, during the Holocene, increasing/decreasing moisture availability driven by major climate forcings was in control of thermal water recharge, erosion, and fluctuating lake levels.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020036
Authors: Davide Attolini Francesco Ciani Maria Angela Guido Carlo Montanari
This research focuses on the recent pollen image of several vegetation types in NW Italy. In 201 arboreal, shrubby, and herbaceous plant populations, pollen samples were taken from moss polsters, and the corresponding vegetation was recorded using the phytosociological method. Since studies on recent pollen rain in the Mediterranean mountains and coast are rare, this research aims to provide new data and tools to better interpret fossil pollen spectra. Pollen analysis provided data for the comparison between surface spectra and vegetation. Davis indices, fidelity, dispersion, and the relation with vegetation data were calculated for each taxon, and PCA was carried out. Most vegetation types are identifiable through the taxa dominating the pollen spectra, as frequently happens in woodlands (e.g., beech woods, chestnut woods, etc.). Characterizing shrubland and certain tree-dominated vegetation types (e.g., Larix forests) through pollen data is more complex. In this regard, Davis indices are particularly useful for identifying pollen/plant association, over- and underrepresentation of pollen, and taxa indicating vegetation types. Pollen threshold values were calculated which allow the assessment of the local presence of a plant. Overall, the achieved results partially confirm those of previous research carried out in the region, greatly expanding the comparisons between several different plant communities and the database in view of future sharing through the EMPD.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020035
Authors: Tamás Bartyik Petru Urdea Tímea Kiss Alexandru Hegyi György Sipos
Fluvial terrace formation is a complex process governed by the interplay of climatic and tectonic forcings. From a climatic perspective, an incision is usually related to climatic transitions, while valley aggradation is attributed to glacial periods. We have reconstructed the formation of Late Pleistocene fluvial terraces along the middle, mountainous section of a temperate zone river (Mureş/Maros) in order to identify the roles of different climatic periods and potential vertical displacement in terrace development. Investigations were based on two profiles representing two different terrace levels. The profiles were subjected to sedimentological and detailed geochronological analyses using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). The results indicated that the investigated terraces represent different incision events coinciding with climatic transition periods. However, a joint MIS 3 valley aggradation period can be identified at both of them. Thus, the relatively mild but highly variable climate of the MIS 3 facilitated sediment mobilization from upland catchments. On the other hand, there is no evidence of aggradation under the cold and stable climate of MIS 2. However, the tectonic setting favours incision at the site. Based on our results, we concluded that the timing of the main events was controlled primarily by climatic forcing. The terrace formation model recognised might also be applied at other rivers in the region.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020034
Authors: Jessica Zappa Nicola Degasperi Michele Bassetti Assunta Florenzano Paola Torri Gabriel Servera-Vives Anna Maria Mercuri Roberto Micheli
This paper presents palynological data obtained from a trench excavated at the Neolithic pile-dwelling archaeological site of Palù di Livenza (northeastern Italy). The site is in a wetland located in a tectonic basin at the foot of the Cansiglio plateau, crossed by the Livenza river. Environmental conditions have made this wetland a suitable area for settlements since prehistoric times. Thanks to the peaty sediments that characterise the area, archaeological materials and botanical remains have been exceptionally well preserved. Their study has shed light on a Neolithic pile-dwelling settlement that developed in various phases between c. 6350 and 5600 cal BP (c. 4400 and 3650 BC), and has also allowed for a detailed environmental reconstruction of the surrounding environment. A vertical sequence of 20 samples was analysed to study pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and microcharcoals. An age-depth model was performed based on three radiocarbon dates. The palynological analysis provided insight into the response of vegetation to environmental changes caused by both climatic fluctuations and human pressure. In this sense, it was possible to highlight differences in vegetation cover, some fires, the use of woody resources, the spread of cereal fields, as well as the presence of other cultivated plants and plant processing by the people within the village.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020033
Authors: James Hill Stuart Black Alejandro Araujo-Murakami Rene Boot Roel Brienen Ted Feldpausch John Leigue Samaria Murakami Abel Monteagudo Guido Pardo Marielos Peña-Claros Oliver L. Phillips Marisol Toledo Vincent Vos Pieter Zuidema Francis E. Mayle
Phytolith analysis is a well-established archaeobotanical tool, having provided important insights into pre-Columbian crop cultivation and domestication across Amazonia through the Holocene. Yet, its use as a palaeoecological tool is in its infancy in Amazonia and its effectiveness for reconstructing pre-Columbian land-use beyond archaeological sites (i.e., ‘off-site’) has so far received little critical attention. This paper examines both new and previously published soil phytolith data from SW Amazonia to assess the robustness of this proxy for reconstructing pre-Columbian land-use. We conducted the study via off-site soil pits radiating 7.5 km beyond a geoglyph in Acre state, Brazil, and 50 km beyond a ring-ditch in northern Bolivia, spanning the expected gradients in historical land-use intensity. We found that the spatio-temporal patterns in palm phytolith data across our soil-pit transects support the hypothesis that pre-Columbian peoples enriched their forests with palms over several millennia, although phytoliths are limited in their ability to capture small-scale crop cultivation and deforestation. Despite these drawbacks, we conclude that off-site soil phytolith analysis can provide novel insights into pre-Columbian land use, provided it is effectively integrated with other land-use (e.g., charcoal) and archaeological data.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020032
Authors: Nivedita Mehrotra Nathani Basavaiah Santosh K. Shah
The Late Holocene fossil pollen records from the Zemu glacier, located in Yabuk, North Sikkim, in the eastern Himalayas, effectively generated quantitative climate reconstructions based on the transfer function model. The transfer function model was developed by establishing a modern pollen–climate calibration set from the temperate alpine belt of North Sikkim. A redundancy analysis was carried out to detect the pattern of variation of climatic variables in the modern pollen datasets. The mean annual precipitation (MAP) and mean temperature of the warming month (MTWA) had the strongest influence on the composition of the modern pollen samples among the climatic variables considered in the analysis. Proxy data in the form of fossil pollen records were analyzed for reconstructing past climate based upon the relationships between modern pollen vegetation assemblages and climatic patterns. Transfer functions for MAP and MTWA were developed with the partial least squares (PLS) approach, and model performance was assessed using leave-one-out cross-validation. The validated model was used to reconstruct MAP and MTWA for the last 2992 cal years BP (1042 BC) in North Sikkim. The variability observed in the reconstructions was analyzed for past global climatic events. It was further compared with the available regional and hemispheric proxy-based climate reconstructions. The reconstructions captured comparable Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and Little Ice Age (LIA)-like events from the Zemu glacier region. The fossil pollen data and climate reconstructions were further compared with the mineral magnetism data of the subsurface sediment profile.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020031
Authors: H. Gregory McDonald Jim I. Mead Sandra L. Swift
While the North American mylodont sloth, Parmylodon harlani, has been identified in multiple localities in Mexico, most of these records are from the southern part of the country. Consequently, there is a large geographic gap between its distribution in Mexico and the more northern records of the species in the United States. The recovery of the remains of multiple individuals of Paramylodon harlani, as part of a late Pleistocene fauna in San Clemente de Térapa, Sonora, Mexico, partially fills this geographic gap and provides a broader understanding of the differences in the species’ ecology over a wide latitudinal range. A comparison of the paleoecology of the Térapa site with other sites with P. harlani in the fauna to the south and north provides valuable information on how regional topography and different plant communities impact the sloth’s distribution and underlying causes for its extinction.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020030
Authors: Aikaterini Kafetzidou Eugenia Fatourou Konstantinos Panagiotopoulos Fabienne Marret Katerina Kouli
The Gulf of Corinth is a semi-isolated basin in central Greece interrupting the Pindus Mountain Range, which nowadays is a biodiversity hotspot. Considering its key location, deep drilling was carried out within the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP; Expedition 381: Corinth Active Rift Development) aiming to improve our understanding of climatic and environmental evolution in the region. Here, we present a new long pollen record from a Mediterranean setting in the southernmost tip of the Balkan Peninsula recording the vegetation succession within the Quaternary. The Corinth pollen record shows no major shifts in arboreal pollen between glacial and interglacial intervals, while Mediterranean and mesophilous taxa remain abundant throughout the study interval. During interglacials, the most frequent reconstructed biomes are cool mixed evergreen needleleaf (CMIX) and deciduous broadleaf forests (DBWB), while graminoid with forb (GRAM) and xerophytic shrubs (XSHB) dominate within glacials. Our findings support the hypothesis that the study area was a significant refugium, providing suitable habitats for Mediterranean, mesophilous and montane trees during successive Quaternary climate cycles.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020029
Authors: Elena V. Petrova Artyom V. Gusarov Achim A. Beylich
Buried river valleys from the Neogene–Quaternary time are widespread throughout the Middle Volga region of the Russian Plain. They have been studied for a long period, since the 1940s, with the last major generalizations dating back to the 1980s. This paper presents new results based on GIS mapping using materials from the state geological study of the region in 1960–1970, 1984–1996 and 2000–2002. On the whole, the pattern of the buried valley network is close to the modern valley network of the region. During the Quaternary, the right-sided displacement of the valley incisions prevailed. The incisions of modern river valleys are located above the Neogene (pre-Akchagyl) incisions almost throughout the entire territory. The vertical displacement amplitude ranges from 30 to 200 m. The morphometric characteristics of the paleovalleys (the depth and width of the incisions, as well as the gradients of the bottoms of the paleovalleys) exceeded modern ones. The maximum values were typical for the middle Paleo-Volga valley: the width of the valley reached 10 km, the incision depth was−201.4 m below sea level and the bottom gradient was 0.9–5.0 m/km. The most important factor that influenced the position of paleovalleys and their morphological appearance was fluctuations in the level of the Caspian paleowaterbody. According to this study, the development of paleovalleys began in the Miocene and ended in the Early Quaternary. The alluvial–lacustrine type of sedimentation was predominant. The results of this work contribute to the study of the paleogeography of the Cenozoic of the southeast of the Russian Plain.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020028
Authors: Ravneet Kaur Reet Kamal Tiwari Raman Maini Sartajvir Singh
Crop yield prediction is one of the crucial components of agriculture that plays an important role in the decision-making process for sustainable agriculture. Remote sensing provides the most efficient and cost-effective solution for the measurement of important agricultural parameters such as soil moisture level, but retrieval of the soil moisture contents from coarse resolution datasets, especially microwave datasets, remains a challenging task. In the present work, a machine learning-based framework is proposed to generate the enhanced resolution soil moisture products, i.e., classified maps and change maps, using an optical-based moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) and microwave-based scatterometer satellite (SCATSAT-1) datasets. In the proposed framework, nearest-neighbor-based image fusion (NNIF), artificial neural networks (ANN), and post-classification-based change detection (PCCD) have been integrated to generate thematic and change maps. To confirm the effectiveness of the proposed framework, random forest post-classification-based change detection (RFPCD) has also been implemented, and it is concluded that the proposed framework achieved better results (88.67–91.80%) as compared to the RFPCD (86.80–87.80%) in the computation of change maps with σ°-HH. This study is important in terms of crop yield prediction analysis via the delivery of enhanced-resolution soil moisture products under all weather conditions.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020027
Authors: Shivani Joshi Suresh Kannaujiya Utkarsh Joshi
Earthquake precursors are the indicators that appear before an earthquake. The release of radon gas, ionospheric disturbances, anomalous animal behavior, and so on are examples of seismic and aseismic events. Ionospheric perturbations can be proved to be a reliable method in earthquake prediction. The GNSS data detect changes in the ionosphere through the time lag of the transmitted GPS signals recorded at the Earth-based receivers. A negative TEC anomaly is caused by the stress released from the rocks before the earthquake, which elevates positive ions or p-holes in the atmosphere and decreases the ions in the ionosphere. A positive TEC anomaly follows this because of the increase in ions in the ionosphere. The ionospheric disruption in the Himalayan region is examined before five random earthquakes. For this, data from 15 separate GNSS stations are investigated using IONOLAB-TEC. A promising total electron content (TEC) data estimate with a temporal resolution of 30 s was analyzed. The results of the TEC data analysis depict the anomaly a month before the five earthquakes, followed by the later perturbation in the earthquake preparation zone. TEC anomalies are enhanced more by the uniform spatial distribution of GNSS stations in the epicentral region than by randomly distributed stations. The results of IONOLAB-TEC and the widely used GPS-TEC software were compared. Owing to its temporal resolution, IONOLAB-TEC has edge over the GPS-TEC software in that it can identify even the slightest negative anomalies before an earthquake.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020026
Authors: Petra Jamšek Rupnik Ana Novak Andrej Šmuc
Like other regions located in tectonically active areas, the Adriatic, Alpine, Dinaric, and Pannonian regions have undergone numerous changes during the Quaternary [...]
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020025
Authors: Gopesh Jha Vidhi Kothari Varun Vyas P. Ajithprasad
Blades as a component of lithic assemblages hold significant importance to understanding the more recent part of human evolution, particularly with regard to the emergence and adaptations of Homo sapiens. The systematic production of elongated stone blanks provides several advantages, including a longer cutting edge and high efficiency in raw material utility. However, the reasons behind the development of these technological forms and the chronological patterns of systematic blade production remain poorly understood in many regions, despite a clear overall intensification in the Late Pleistocene. The South Asian Paleolithic archive is full of blade-bearing assemblages, most of which are defined as Upper Paleolithic or Late Paleolithic. However, many of these previously assumed ‘Upper Paleolithic’ tool components prominently appear in Middle Paleolithic contexts. Here, we discuss some of the most recent case studies of blade-bearing assemblages from Eastern Gujarat that show an in situ emergence of blade technology from advanced Middle Paleolithic technology, suggesting localized origins of blade technology.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6020024
Authors: Paris Oikonomou Anna Karkani Niki Evelpidou Isidoros Kampolis Giorgio Spada
Roman fish tanks are found in various coastal regions of the Mediterranean, although the vast majority is found on the Tyrrhenian coast of Italy. In this work, a database was developed with information on 62 fish tanks along the Mediterranean coasts to document and compare their features and characteristics. The analysis of the developed database from the Mediterranean fish tanks has shown that, among the 62 fish tanks, ~56% were cut into the rock, indicating that this type of construction was the most popular at that time and probably had advantages over the others. Fish tanks as sea level indicators can provide accurate data on the sea level 2000 years ago. Well-preserved installations with prominent architectural features have a crucial role in determining the paleo sea level. The architectural elements that are mostly used in fish tanks for paleo sea level reconstructions are the crepido, cataractae and channels. Besides the scientific importance of the fish tanks as sea level markers, they also have great cultural and historical significance. Fish tanks can be promoted as heritage monuments and scholarly models to strengthen awareness about climate change, sea level rise and its consequences.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010022
Authors: Oksana V. Lunina Ivan A. Denisenko Anton A. Gladkov Carlos Braga
The geomorphic expression of active faulting and distinction of paleoseismic events in areas that are rapidly obscured by erosion/sedimentation still remains a considerable scientific problem. The present article discusses the revealing of surface faulting ruptures and their parameters to identify capable faults without trenching and to estimate the magnitude of earthquakes. The case study was at Cape Rytyi, located in Baikal-Lena Nature Reserve on the northwestern shore of Lake Baikal. Based on unmanned aerial photography, GPR, and structural observations, we mapped and investigated the relation between geomorphological forms and ruptures. The obtained results show that past landslides and paleoruptures at Cape Rytyi and its surroundings are associated with at least two earthquakes. The Mw of the earlier event was 7.3 (Ms = 7.4); the Mw of the later one was 7.1 (Ms = 7.3). The paleoruptures in the distal part of the delta of the Rita River and on the southeastern slope of the Baikal Ridge were included in the seismogenic rupture zone, which traces some 37 km along the Kocherikovsky fault. The approximate intervals in which earthquakes occurred are 12–5 ka and 4–0.3 ka, respectively. The applied analysis methods can be useful for paleoseismology and assessing seismic hazards in similar regions elsewhere.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010023
Authors: Slobodan B. Marković Jef Vandenberghe Zoran M. Perić Dávid Filyó Tamás Bartyik Milica G. Radaković Qingzhen Hao Rastko S. Marković Tin Lukić Nemanja Tomić Milivoj B. Gavrilov Aleksandar Antić Ivana Cvijanović György Sipos
Typical patterns of the Late Pleistocene loess–paleosol units are preserved in the Novo Orahovo brickyard, Northern Serbia. Presented preliminary luminescence chronology supports the chronostratigraphic interpretations of global isotopic marine climate reconstructions. Magnetic susceptibility and sedimentological evidence exhibit general similarities with the marine oxygen-isotope stratigraphy. These records provide new insights into the dust accumulation regimes over the eastern side of the Bačka loess plateau and offer new paleoenvironmental information for the region. They represent an important step forward towards the establishment of a catena from the thin loess-like sediments of the Banat foothills in the east towards the thicker and seemingly more complete loess sections of the southeastern and central Carpathian Basin. Grain-size data from the loess record of Nova Orahovo explain the regional differentiation in dust deposition.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010021
Authors: Apichaya Englong Paramita Punwong Rob Marchant Tosak Seelanan Stephanie Wynne-Jones Prae Chirawatkul
A high-resolution multiproxy sedimentary record comprising pollen, charcoal, trace element, stratigraphy and particle size data is used to reveal environmental changes from the mangrove ecosystem at Unguja Ukuu, Zanzibar, Tanzania, over the last 5000 years. Historical human–environment interactions over the last millennia are explored by a comparison of the stratigraphic and archaeological data. The area was characterised by a mixture of mangrove forest and beaches, indicating a low level of tidal inundation to at least 3300 BCE. From 2750 BCE, mangrove forest expanded as the area experienced sea-level rise. Further sea-level rise is recorded between 600 and 1100 CE, indicated by the pollen record, particle size analysis and the presence of shell fragments. After 1100 CE, mangrove forest decreased with back mangrove species increasing, indicating a falling sea level. Cocos nucifera decreased after 1900 CE, which reflects a recent sea-level rise and possibly a phase of exploitation. Cereal pollen shows a high presence at around 1500 CE, which coincided with the arrival of the Portuguese on Zanzibar and the transition to Omani colonisation. The sedimentation rate in the core top indicates that mangroves in Unguja Ukuu cannot keep pace with the current rate of sea-level rise.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010020
Authors: José Luis Guil-Guerrero
The acquisition of large prey by hominins living during the Marine Isotope Stage 3, including Neanderthals and Anatomically Modern Humans, had nutritional and bioenergetic implications: these contain high fat amounts, provide a high energy return, and the strategies and skills required to acquire small prey were different from those required to acquire the former. Vitamin C availability at several MIS 3 periods could have had a strong seasonal variability and would have been decisive for hominin groups’ survival. During the cold periods of the MIS 3, Paleolithic hominins had variable available amounts of vitamin C-containing plants only in the short summers, and for the remainder of the year, viscera would have been their best source of vitamin C. Meanwhile, the dependence on small mammals could have caused an erratic distribution of viscera to be consumed by such hominins, thus leading to chronic scurvy, and compromising their survival. Then, the hunting of large mammals would have helped to meet the daily vitamin C needs, besides an efficient energy supply. Therefore, the decline of large prey during the MIS 3 could have been critical for hominins survival, and thus the efficient exploitation of alternative vitamin C-rich food resources such as birds and aquatic animals could have favored the evolutionary success of hominin populations.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010019
Authors: Bruce M. Albert
The vegetation history of the Texas Gulf Coastal Plain in the Holocene is considered according to pollen evidence from three coring sites where both terrestrial and marine ecology are reconstructed. These pollen sites record oscillations in the limit of the Southeastern US Forest zone in relation to climate changes, with a major, southward migration of the forest limit and expansion of the range limit of Betula nigra being recorded in the 6th millennium BP and a northward migration in the 4th millennium BP. The appearance of Rhizophora pollen also indicates increased tropical influence in the Middle Holocene. Moreover, changes in the salinity profiles of estuaries are reconstructed in relation to broader coastal environmental changes, such as sea-level oscillations and the formation of barrier islands, with a major sea-level transgression phase being recorded in the 4th millennium BP and still-stand conditions after the 3rd millennium BP. These vegetation changes are finally compared to occupational evidence of prehistoric humans in the Central Texas Gulf Coastal Plain region in relation to ecological factors. Here, human occupation of the coastal zone is correlated with afforestation, the proliferation of pecan and the emergence of low-salinity estuaries.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010018
Authors: Virgilio Vecchio Maurizio Cannatà Edoardo Proverbio Elpida Piperopoulos Lorenzo Torrisi Letteria Silipigni
With the name ‘Temesa’ (Latin Tempsa), the ancients identified a settlement located along the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, cited by sources as an international metal exchange emporium. The town is mentioned by Homer as being famous in the ancient world for the production of bronze, and in the I century A.D. Strabo wrote that there were rich copper mines near the city. Many years of study led to the recognition of Temesa as a complex urban system located between the Oliva and Savuto rivers, near Amantea. To confirm this hypothesis, we searched, in the surrounding rocky outcrops, for the presence of minerals useful for the extraction of iron and copper. Samples of 3 different rock stratifications were taken near the protohistoric settlement of Serra Aiello. The observation under an polarized reflected light microscope and the X-ray diffraction patterns revealed the presence of many minerals useful for the extraction of iron and copper in every sample. The heating of samples under both oxidizing and reducing conditions helped us to better quantify copper and iron minerals content causing, at the same time, the appearance of a marked paramagnetic behavior that could be associated with the presence of goethite. X ray fluorescence analysis showed a high concentration of iron and a low copper content.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010017
Authors: Marlize Lombard Marie-Hélène Moncel
There are many opinions and arguments about the types of weapons that Neanderthals may have used. We list five assumptions about Neanderthal weapon-assisted hunting and suggest that the tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) approach may be used to assess these, and to provide a hypothetical overview of stone-tipped weaponry used in south eastern France between MIS 7 and MIS 3. We analysed stone points from Abri du Maras, Saint-Marcel, Grotte du Figuier, and Payre, and discuss possible hunting strategies in tandem with faunal evidence. Our results suggest that early Neanderthals may have hunted with bimanual thrusting spears in combination with one-handed stabbing spears, but that later groups possibly introduced javelin hunting to the Neanderthal arsenal. Stone-tipped assegais or one-handed stabbing spears, however, stand out as the Neanderthal weapons of choice throughout the Middle Palaeolithic, and we discuss the adaptive advantages of hunting with these weapons. Comparative results that include assemblages from elsewhere in the Old World suggest similarities in hunting with stone-tipped weapons between Neanderthal and H. sapiens before MIS 5, marked differences during MIS 5–4, but similarities again during MIS 3. We suggest that caution is needed when attributing MIS 3 point assemblages to Neanderthals based on age and/or technology only.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010016
Authors: Alessio Iannucci Raffaele Sardella
The dispersal of primitive elephantines and monodactyl equids in Eurasia has long been regarded as representative of a substantial turnover in mammal faunas, denoting the spread of open environments linked to the onset of cold and dry conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. During the 1980s, this event was named the “Elephant-Equus event” and it was correlated with the Gauss-Matuyama reversal, today corresponding to the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition and the beginning of the Quaternary, dated at ~2.6 Ma. Therefore, the Elephant-Equus event became a concept of prominent biochronological and paleoecological significance, especially in western Europe. Yet, uncertainties surrounding the taxonomy and chronology of early “elephant” and “Equus”, as well as conceptual differences in adopting (or understanding) the Elephant-Equus event as an intercontinental dispersal event or as a stratigraphic datum, engendered ambiguity and debate. Here, we provide a succinct review of the Elephant-Equus event, considering separately the available evidence on the “elephant” and the “Equus”. Elephantines dispersed out of Africa during the Pliocene (Piacenzian). Their earliest calibrated occurrences from eastern Europe date at ~3.2 Ma and they are usually referred to Mammuthus rumanus, although the allocation of several samples to this species is tentative. Available dating constraints for other localities do not resolve whether the dispersal of Mammuthus was synchronous across Eurasia, but this possibility cannot be ruled out. The spread of Mammuthus was part of an intercontinental faunal exchange between Africa and Eurasia that occurred during the Piacenzian, but in this scenario, Mammuthus is quite unique in being the only genus of African origin dispersing to western Eurasia. The arrival of monodactyl equids from North America coincides with the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, with several occurrences dated or calibrated at ~2.6 Ma and no compelling evidence prior to this age. In Europe, early monodactyl equids are often aligned to Equus livenzovensis, but the material from the type locality of this species is chronologically time-averaged and taxonomically heterogeneous, and western European samples are seldom abundant or informative. Regardless, this does not diminish the biochronological significance of the “Equus event”. Indeed, while the term “Elephant-Equus event” should no longer be used, as the appearance of elephantines in the European fossil record markedly precedes that of monodactyl equids, we endorse the use of the “Equus event” as a valid alternative to refer to the intercontinental dispersal event that characterizes the middle Villafranchian faunal turnover, epitomized by but not limited to monodactyl equids.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010015
Authors: Bruce M. Albert
Pollen and sediment data from a 10.5 m-deep alluvial exposure and a secondary tributary exposure at Upper Arroyo, a seasonal river, in Saltillo, Mexico, were examined with the aim of reconstructing the vegetation and environmental history during the Holocene as a whole. The role of climate change in Chihuahuan Desert flora development after 8800 BP was assessed, in addition to more local physiographic factors, such as erosion and accumulation, soil development and denudation, and hydrological entrenchment. Climate change appeared to have been a principal agent of vegetation change in the Early and Middle Holocene, with a periodic expansion of desert vegetation. A reduction in the environmental carrying capacities for mesophytic flora according to physiographic factors, such as soil erosion and channel entrenchment, was then identified after 2300 BP, also promoting azonal ecological niches for xerophytic vegetation in southern Coahuila, Mexico, that persist despite modern variations in precipitation.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010014
Authors: Johannes Albert Frank Sirocko
We present a timeseries of flood and slumping phases in central Europe for the past 65,000 years from event layers in sediment cores from infilled Eifel maar basins (Germany). Palynological, petrographic and organic carbon (chlorins) records are used to understand the precise timing of these events. Periods of increased flood activity seem to coincide with Heinrich stadials in marine sediment records, which are associated with cold and more arid climate conditions, indicating a vegetation response within the maars’ catchment areas. This multi-proxy correlation reveals prominent slumps at different maar sites during Greenland Stadial (GS) 12. The stratigraphy is based on sediment records from the Auel infilled maar and we thus call this event Auel Cold Event (ACE). Frozen and fractured sediment packages within the slump suggest deep frost or permafrost conditions for the region during the stadial. The results agree well with sediment archives and archeological sites across Europe that report severely cold and arid conditions for the stadial. This supports the assumption that GS12 was indeed one of the coldest periods of the last glacial cycle rather than the Heinrich stadials. Based on our age model, the ACE occurred at 43,500 yr b2k (years before the year 2000), which coincides with the initial weakening of Earth’s magnetic field strength prior to the Laschamp geomagnetic excursion.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010013
Authors: Markos Mathewos Alemu O. Aga
The global ecosystem services that are essential to sustaining life on the planet have been disrupted by different anthropogenic activities. This study’s objective is to examine how ecosystem services vary with changes in land use and land cover (LULC) across 29 years at the Matenchose watershed. Landsat images for 1991 (TM), 2003 (ETM+), and 2020 (OLI-8) were used for the categorization of LULC. To evaluate the changes in ecosystems service valuations (ESVs) as a result of LULC changes in combination with ArcGIS, the value transfer valuation approach was utilized. Farmlands, towns, and bare land exhibited growing trends among the five major LULC classes, but forest and grassland showed declining trends. From 1991 to 2020, ESVs decreased by a total of US $157.24 million due to the LULC modifications. In terms of ESV functions, provisional services (US $89.23 million) and cultural services (US $69.36 million) made up the majority of the loss of ESV. Overall, the reduction of ESV showed the environment is degrading because of existing LULC changes, this calls for immediate sustainable land management intervention by responsible actors. To attain sustainable development goals regarding food and life on the land, it is imperative to reverse the loss of ecosystem services.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010012
Authors: Jonathan G. A. Lageard
A dendrochronological investigation was undertaken on subfossil Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stumps following their discovery during conservation management at Wem Moss, a small (28 ha) former raised mire in Shropshire, UK. Two ring-width chronologies were constructed from 14 of the 17 trees sampled spanning 198 and 208 years, respectively. Whilst dendrochronological dating was not possible, radiocarbon assays provided an estimated age for this mire-rooting woodland of between 3015 and 2505 years cal. BCE, coinciding with the age traditionally associated with the widespread mortality of pine trees throughout much of the UK and Ireland, often referred to as the Pine Decline (ca. 4000 radiocarbon years BP). Placed in a wider geographical context, the Wem Moss pines are located within the lowland Meres and Mosses region, where previous studies on subfossil pine have demonstrated protracted declines in mire-rooting trees. These have included tree mortality significantly post-dating the Pine Decline, especially at larger peatland sites that exceed 5 km2. Such macrofossil evidence for the presence of Scots pine into the late Holocene is supported by continuous Pinus pollen representation at peatland sites in the Welsh Marches (English–Welsh border), suggesting the possible survival of native Scots pine trees in this area up to the present day. The investigation of Wem Moss bog pines and their wider geographical context highlights the incomplete and patchy nature of palaeo-vegetational records and also the need for future genetic research on living Scots pine in possible refugial areas in Britain and Ireland.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010011
Authors: Mohammad Firoze Quamar Anoop K. Singh Lalit M. Joshi Bahadur S. Kotlia Dhruv Sen Singh Corina Anca Simion Tiberiu Sava Nagendra Prasad
Understanding the spatiotemporal monsoonal variability during the Holocene helps in understanding the rise and fall of many civilizations. In this study, a 2.65 m high palaeo lake sedimentary profile from the Kumaun Lesser Himalaya, Uttarakhand State, India was pollen analysed to reconstruct the variability in the monsoonal precipitation during the Middle Holocene. The study revealed that between ~7522 and 7216 cal yr BP, conifers dominated mixed broad-leaved forests occurred around the landscape of the study area, indicating a less cold and dry climate with decreased monsoon precipitation. Broad-leaved taxa during this phase show increased values considerably, indicating amelioration in climatic condition, which could be, in global perspective, broadly falling within the time-interval of the Holocene Climate Optimum (HCO; 7000–4000 BP). Between ~7216 and 6526 cal yr BP, dense conifers-dominated mixed broad-leaved forests transformed the conifers-dominated broad-leaved forests around the study area under a cold and drier climate with further reduction in monsoon precipitation. Subsequently, between ~6526 and 5987 cal yr BP, conifers-dominated broad-leaved forests continued to grow, but with lesser frequencies, around the study area under a comparatively less cold and dry climate with reduced monsoon precipitation. Finally, between ~5987 and 5817 cal yr BP, the frequencies of conifers-dominated broad-leaved forests further decreased around the landscape of the study area under a comparatively lesser cold and dry climate, probably indicating decreased monsoonal precipitation. Hence, the present study mainly showed the dominance of conifers forests around the study area between ~7522 and 7216 cal yr BP, ~7216 and 6526 cal yr BP, ~6526 and 5987 cal yr BP and between ~5987 and 5817 cal yr BP; however, broad-leaved forests also demonstrated increasing tendency between ~7522 and 7216 cal yr BP in the milieu of cold and dry climates. Moreover, the study also revealed that a lake was formed around 7522 cal yr BP along the Kulur River, a tributary of Saryu River around the study area and existed until 5817 cal yr BP.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010010
Authors: Miklós Kázmér Petra Jamšek Rupnik Krzysztof Gaidzik
Searching for unknown earthquakes in Slovenia in the first millennium, we performed archaeoseismological analysis of Roman settlements. The Mesto pod mestom museum in Celje exhibits a paved Roman road, which suffered severe deformation. Built on fine gravel and sand from the Savinja River, the road displays a bulge and trench, pop-up structures, and pavement slabs tilted up to 40°. The city wall was built over the deformed road in Late Roman times, supported by a foundation containing recycled material (spolia) from public buildings, including an emperor’s statue. We hypothesize that a severe earthquake hit the town before 350 AD, causing widespread destruction. Seismic-induced liquefaction caused differential subsidence, deforming the road. One of the nearby faults from the strike-slip Periadriatic fault system was the seismic source of this event.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010009
Authors: Quaternary Editorial Office Quaternary Editorial Office
High-quality academic publishing is built on rigorous peer review [...]
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010008
Authors: Emmanuelle Stoetzel Janine Ochoa Juan Rofes
Since the founding work of Efremov in 1940 [...]
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010007
Authors: Lucas D. Elliott Dilli P. Rijal Antony G. Brown Jostein Bakke Lasse Topstad Peter D. Heintzman Inger G. Alsos
Disentangling the effects of glaciers and climate on vegetation is complicated by the confounding role that climate plays in both systems. We reconstructed changes in vegetation occurring over the Holocene at Jøkelvatnet, a lake located directly downstream from the Langfjordjøkel glacier in northern Norway. We used a sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) metabarcoding dataset of 38 samples from a lake sediment core spanning 10,400 years using primers targeting the P6 loop of the trnL (UAA) intron. A total of 193 plant taxa were identified revealing a pattern of continually increasing richness over the time period. Vegetation surveys conducted around Jøkelvatnet show a high concordance with the taxa identified through sedaDNA metabarcoding. We identified four distinct vegetation assemblage zones with transitions at ca. 9.7, 8.4 and 4.3 ka with the first and last mirroring climatic shifts recorded by the Langfjordjøkel glacier. Soil disturbance trait values of the vegetation increased with glacial activity, suggesting that the glacier had a direct impact on plants growing in the catchment. Temperature optimum and moisture trait values correlated with both glacial activity and reconstructed climatic variables showing direct and indirect effects of climate change on the vegetation. In contrast to other catchments without an active glacier, the vegetation at Jøkelvatnet has displayed an increased sensitivity to climate change throughout the Middle and Late Holocene. Beyond the direct impact of climate change on arctic and alpine vegetation, our results suggest the ongoing disappearance of glaciers will have an additional effect on plant communities.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010006
Authors: Alexey Stoev Yavor Shopov Penka Maglova Ognyan Ognyanov Lyubomira Raykova
Prehistoric astronomical observatories include a specific type of rock-cut monuments from the Mountainous Thrace in Bulgaria, with a specific shape and orientation in space, which are part of the characteristic representatives of the archeoastronomical sites on the Balkan Peninsula from the period of 4000–4500 BCE. Earlier societies focused on the triad “astronomical instrument”—celestial objects—trained observers. When choosing sites for the construction of oriented stone complexes for astronomical observations, prehistoric people were interested in the number of clear days and nights within the tropical year, which is connected with the paleoclimate of the region and to the astroclimate, which determines the possibility of observing heavenly bodies. Here we examine 13 prehistoric astronomical observatories using the methods of archaeoastronomy in order to determine the period of their operation. Since the existence of a large number of such objects is indirect evidence of a good astroclimate, we make an assessment of the paleoclimate in the relevant era in the Bulgarian lands in order to find out if it was suitable for astronomical observations. The estimations are made according to the geological data and solar insolation luminescence proxy records of the evolution of cave speleothems from Duhlata cave in the village of Bosnek, Pernik municipality, which is still the only available experimental record of past solar insolation in Europe covering the last 20,000 years. The number of clear days and nights are estimated, and a critical assessment of the possibility of successful observations of the Sun during equinoxes and solstices is made using the methods of “horizon” astronomy and meridional culminations. It is also shown that the climate at the end of the Ice Age was cooler than today. About 11,700 years ago (11,700 radiocarbon years before 1950 CE or 11,700 BP), the climate began to warm, and forest vegetation developed on the territory liberated from the glaciers. During the Upper Atlantic (6–8 thousand years BCE), the average annual temperature on the Balkan Peninsula and in particular in Bulgaria was about 2–2.5 °C higher than it is today. This climate allows some very good astroclimatic conditions for observations of the Sun near the horizon and increases the accuracy of the observational data in determining the time of occurrence in its extreme positions on the horizon. We show that changes in climate (and astroclimate accordingly) influence the type of prehistoric astronomical observatories.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010005
Authors: Tim M. Mighall Antonio Martínez Cortizas Noemí Silva-Sánchez Olalla López-Costas Lourdes López-Merino
An 8500-year record of high-resolution pollen, non-pollen palynomorph, microscopic charcoal and selected geochemical data (Ti, Zr and Pb) is presented from an ombrotrophic mire from the Xistral Mountains, Galicia, North-West Iberia. The results suggest that vegetation changes over the last eight millennia are primarily the result of human disturbance, fire and climate change. Climate and fire were the main factors influencing vegetation development during the early to mid-Holocene, including a short-lived decline in forest cover c. 8.2 cal. ka BP. Changes associated with the 4.2 and 2.8 cal. Ka BP events are less well defined. Human impact on vegetation became more pronounced by the late Holocene with major periods of forest disturbance from c. 3.1 cal. ka BP onwards: during the end of Metal Ages, Roman period and culminating in the permanent decline of deciduous forests in the post-Roman period, as agriculture and metallurgy intensified, leading to the creation of a cultural landscape. Climate change appears to become less influential as human activity dominates during the Late Holocene.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010004
Authors: Waqas Ahmed Niaz Ahmad Hammad Tariq Janjuhah Ihtisham Islam Muhammad Sajid George Kontakiotis
Nondestructive tests, commonly employed in rock mechanics, estimate mechanical parameters without affecting the rocks in situ properties. This study evaluates non-destructive tests (ultrasonic pulse velocity and Schmidt hammer) for forecasting the strength and physical properties of commonly used rocks. Weathering grades and moisture content are provided as variables that produce variances in both non-destructive tests. The coefficient of determination (R²) and subsequent empirical equations for the best-fit trend line are calculated using a simple regression method. The ultrasonic pulse velocity is found to be more efficient in estimating most of the physical properties (specific gravity, porosity, water absorption, and dry density) of granite, marble, and sandstone, with high correlation coefficients. Whereas the Schmidt hammer is found to be more reproducible in determining the strength (compressive and tensile) of granite, marble, and sandstone. The student’s t-test proved the sensitivity and correctness of the acquired equations from the suggested correlations, and agreement was established between measured and estimated plots of strength and physical properties. Although the student’s t-test confirms that the performance of all empirical models established in this study are significant, any non-destructive test with a low R² value should be used with caution when estimating the studied properties.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010003
Authors: Richard C. Chiverrell James B. Innes Jeff J. Blackford Peter J. Davey David H. Roberts Mairead M. Rutherford Philippa R. Tomlinson Simon D. Turner
The Isle of Man is a large island which lies in the middle of the northern Irish Sea between Britain and Ireland and, because of its insularity and size, has an impoverished flora compared with the two main islands. This has been the case throughout the postglacial and warrants the island’s description as a separate phytogeographic province. We have considered Holocene tree pollen data from seventeen sites on the island which together preserve a vegetation history that spans the six thousand years of the early and mid-postglacial from the end of the Lateglacial at 11,700 cal. BP to the mid-Holocene Ulmus decline at ca. 5800 cal. BP. Radiocarbon dating of the rational limits of the pollen curves for the main tree taxa has allowed an appraisal of the timing of each one’s expansion to become a significant component of the island’s woodland, and comparison with the dates of their expansion on the adjacent regions of Britain and Ireland. The radiocarbon dates show that, although some variability exists probably due to local factors, there is considerable concordance between the timings of major pollen zone boundaries in Britain and Ireland around the northern Irish Sea. On the Isle of Man the expansions of both Juniperus and Betula were delayed by several centuries compared to the British/Irish data, however the timing of the expansions of Corylus, Ulmus, Quercus, Pinus and Alnus on the Isle of Man all appear closely comparable to the ages for these pollen stratigraphic events in north Wales, northwest England, southwest Scotland and eastern Ireland, as are those for the Ulmus decline. It is likely that local pedological and edaphic factors on the island account for the differences in the first Holocene millennium, while regional climatic factors governed the timings for the rest of the expansions of tree taxa across the wider region, including the Isle of Man. Disturbance, including by human agency, was important at the site scale and perhaps triggered early tree expansion in some places, including Quercus, Ulmus and Alnus. Insularity seems not to have been a significant factor in the expansion of the major forest trees.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010002
Authors: Katherine A. Selby Jane Wheeler Sally Derrett
Phases of rapid climate change throughout the early to mid Holocene coincide with regional human population expansion in Scotland and North-West Europe. Palaeoenvironmental signals of climate and anthropogenically driven vegetation changes can therefore be difficult to separate. To identify whether it is possible to distinguish potential signatures of anthropogenic clearance and agricultural activities from climatic drivers of landscape change in the early to mid Holocene in the region, two topographically contrasting sites on the Isle of Skye and the Isle of Bute were investigated. A multiproxy approach including pollen, spore, microcharcoal, loss on ignition and particle size analyses was adopted to investigate changes in vegetation and climate. There are subtle indications that the 8200 cal BP climate event had an effect on the vegetation composition at both sites. Signals of anthropogenic woodland clearance are apparent early in the sequence at Peat Hill (Bute), indicated by a peak in Poaceae (grass) cereal-type (7–14%) at 8592–8793 cal BP, alongside a decrease in arboreal pollen, which could not be associated with a regional episode of climate change. Early to mid Holocene vegetation changes at Lyndale House (Skye) occur alongside regional changes in precipitation and sea level and therefore cannot be readily separated. Continuous declines in arboreal pollen from ca. 5000 cal BP at Lyndale House indicates the onset of widespread clearance on Skye via felling and sustained grazing pressures.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat6010001
Authors: John J. Clague Dan H. Shugar
Global atmospheric warming is causing physical and biotic changes in Earth’s high mountains at a rate that is likely unprecedented in the Holocene. We summarize changes in the presently glacierized mountains of northwest North America, including a rapid and large reduction in glacier ice and permafrost, a related increase in slope instability and landslides, river re-routing and other hydrological changes, and changing aquatic ecosystems. Atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise and will likely do so for at least the next several decades, if not longer, and mountains will continue to warm, perhaps reaching temperatures up to several degrees Celsius warmer than present over the remainder of this century. As a result, the rate of physical and biotic changes documented in this paper is very likely to dramatically increase and transform high-mountain environments.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040054
Authors: Lucrezia Masci Cristiano Vignola Georgios C. Liakopoulos Katerina Kouli Olga Koukousioura Elina Aidona Matthias Moros Konstantinos Vouvalidis Adam Izdebski Alessia Masi
High-resolution pollen analysis of a sediment core recovered from Paliouras lagoon (Greece) allowed us to reconstruct the environmental dynamics of the Halkidiki peninsula during the last 4000 years. Palynological results have been interpreted and compared with detailed historical data, showing distinct phases of human-landscape interactions from the Bronze Age until recent times. Pollen spectra revealed an environment characterized by Mediterranean vegetation, mixed deciduous forest, and pine stands from the Late Bronze Age until the 11th century CE. The first signs of human impact were attested during the Archaic period with the cultivation of Olea, Castanea, and Vitis in the inland of the study area. An intensive land management was highlighted by arboriculture and cereal cultivation (Secale and Hordeum group) in Roman times. Late Antique-Early Medieval times coincided with less human pressure due to warfare-related crises, leading to the expansion of the forest and the abandonment of fields colonized by Amaranthaceae. A massive increase in pastoral activities, suggested by the high percentages of Cichorieae during the Ottoman period, is possibly linked to the significant demographic growth of the nearby city of Thessaloniki in the 16th century CE.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040053
Authors: Antonin Van Exem Maxime Debret Yoann Copard Kévin Jacq Charles Verpoorter Stéphane Marcotte Benoit Laignel Boris Vannière
Past primary productivity is tracked in lake sediments to reconstruct environmental changes. However, the resolution of the routinely used destructive techniques is not suitable for the analysis of a large number of samples due to cost. Non-destructive analysis of chlorophyll-a performed by hyperspectral imagery enables the quick determination of indices of past primary productivity. Eighteen indices used in paleo-environmental reconstruction were inventoried to define the best index capable of tracking chlorophyll-a by this technique. All the indices were applied to hyperspectral data measured on the sediment of Lake Bresson, in which detrital organic matter input is likely to skew chlorophyll-a identification, and the results were compared with concentrations measured by a routinely used destructive analysis. The 18 indices all produced a different result and only three indices were positively correlated with chlorophyll-a concentrations (n = 28, p < 0.0001). The detrital organic matter impacts chlorophyll-a characterization and shows the bias produced by the sediment matrix variations. Moreover, artificial modification of the sediment matrix revealed an impact of the mineral phase. To tackle this issue, the indices are normalized by two proxies of the sediment components. This new approach reduces the impact of detrital organic matter, hence the sediment matrix variations also reduce the normalization of the chlorophyll-a indices by a specific proxy of the mineral phase. These results identify the impact of local geochemical features that limit past primary productivity assessment and show the necessity of characterizing the sediment composition prior to tracking the chlorophyll-a by hyperspectral imaging.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040052
Authors: Ian G. Simmons Gaynor E. Cummins Barry Taylor James B. Innes
Palaeolake Flixton, in the eastern Vale of Pickering in northeast Yorkshire, UK, existed as open water during the Lateglacial and early to mid-Holocene, until hydroseral succession and gradual terrestrialisation changed it to an area of fen and basin peatland by the later mid-Holocene. The environs of the lake were occupied by Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic people over thousands of years and many Early Mesolithic sites, in particular, have been found located along the ancient lake edge, including the paradigm site for the British Early Mesolithic at Star Carr, where occupation occurred over several centuries. We have analysed eleven sediment cores, distributed in most parts of the palaeolake area, for pollen and stratigraphic data with which to reconstruct lake development and vegetation history. These new diagrams augment earlier pollen studies from the western part of the lake, particularly in the Star Carr area and near other major Mesolithic sites around Seamer Carr. Especially informative are a long core from the deepest part of the lake; cores that document the Lateglacial as well as early Holocene times, and evidence for the later Mesolithic that helps to balance the high density of Late Mesolithic sites known from research in the adjacent uplands of the North York Moors. There are many records of charcoal in the deposits but, especially for the earliest examples, it is not always possible to tie them firmly to either human activity or natural causes. Overall, the new and previously existing diagrams provide evidence for the spatial reconstruction of vegetation history across this important wetland system, including (a) for the progression of natural community successions within the wetland and on the surrounding dryland (b) the influence of climate change in bringing about changes in woodland composition and (c) for discussion of the possibility of human manipulation of the vegetation in the Late Upper Palaeolithic, Early and Late Mesolithic. Results show that climate was the main driver of longer-term vegetation change. Centennial-scale, abrupt climate events caused significant vegetation reversals in the Lateglacial Interstadial. The Lateglacial vegetation was very similar throughout the lake hinterland, although some areas supported some scrubby shrub rather than being completely open. Immigration and spread of Holocene woodland taxa comprised the familiar tree succession common in northern England but the timings of the establishment and the abundance of some individual tree types varied considerably around the lake margins because of edaphic factors and the effects of fire, probably of human origin. Woodland successions away from proximity to the lake were similar to those recorded in the wider landscape of northern England and produced a dense, homogenous forest cover occasionally affected by fire.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040051
Authors: Athiwat Wattanapituksakul Rasmi Shoocongdej Cyler Conrad
Ban Rai Rockshelter in northwest Thailand, dating to the Terminal Pleistocene and Middle Holocene, includes evidence for hunter-gatherer exploitation of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and arthropods. Abundant faunal remains, identified throughout site deposits, include macaques (Macaca sp.) and Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor), but these identifications are influenced by an assemblage largely comprised of preserved tooth elements and fragmented bone. Area 3 at Ban Rai has the largest abundance and diversity of faunal remains recovered and identified in this study. Here, we examine the zooarchaeological assemblage from Ban Rai Rockshelter, to understand long-term hunter-gatherer subsistence change, influenced by site preservation, during and after the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. Our results support the presence of the exploitation of arboreal taxa during the Early and Middle Holocene in northwest Thailand.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040050
Authors: Umberto Tecchiati Paola Salzani Fiorenza Gulino Barbara Proserpio Chiara Reggio Cristiano Putzolu Eleonora Rattighieri Eleonora Clò Anna Maria Mercuri Assunta Florenzano
Palynological and archaeobotanical analyses have been carried out as part of the interdisciplinary project of Colombare di Negrar, a prehistoric site in the Lessini Mountains (northern Italy). The palaeoenvironmental and economic reconstruction from the Late Neolithic to the beginning of the Early Bronze Age was based on 16 pollen samples and three samples of macroremains taken from two contiguous trenches. The landscape reconstruction shows the presence of natural clearings in the wood. Forest cover was characterised by oak wood, with Ulmus and Tilia. The intermediate morphology of size and exine of Tilia cordata/platyphyllos pollen may be regarded as the first palynological evidence of lime hybrids in palaeorecords. Hygrophilous trees and Vitis vinifera testify to the presence of riparian forests and moist soils. Among trees supplying fruits, in addition to the grapevine, hazelnut (Corylus avellana) and walnut (Juglans regia) were present. A mixed economy based on animal breeding and cultivation of cereals (Hordeum vulgare, Triticum monococcum, T. dicoccum, T. timopheevii) emerged from the data. The combined analysis of pollen and plant macroremains suggests that different activities were carried out simultaneously in Colombare and a relationship between natural resources and the socio-economic and cultural evolution of the territory.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040049
Authors: Maria A. Marcos Florencia P. Bamonte Marcos E. Echeverria Gonzalo D. Sottile Maria V. Mancini
Patagonian shrub and ecotonal communities were sensitive to past environmental changes and thus may also be affected by future ones. Therefore, their paleoecological study constitutes a valuable tool to understand the way in which these plant communities respond to the forcings responsible for environmental variability. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the vegetation dynamics of the Pueyrredón Lake area (47°25′55′′ S; 72°0.7′7′′ W) for the last 3000 cal yr BP and to contextualize these changes in a regional paleoclimatic framework. The results indicate that at the beginning of the 2900 cal yr BP, the vegetation in the northwest of Santa Cruz, Argentinian Patagonia, was represented by a grass-shrub steppe associated with forest–shrub steppe ecotonal elements. This information correlates with the larger-scale environmental inferences described for the period, which indicate an increase in moisture availability due to the weakening of the westerly winds. A marked change to arid conditions is indicated in the last 1050 cal yr BP, with the establishment and development of different shrub steppe communities and the lack of ecotonal elements. Although vegetation was sensitive to changes in moisture conditions related to the variability of the westerly winds, there is evidence of differences in the composition of shrub vegetation regarding the sequences analyzed. Variations in pollen proportions of the shrub steppes in the Pueyrredón Lake area suggest that changes in vegetation are not only due to climate variability but also local factors in the areas where shrub communities grow. The integration of the information with other Patagonian sequences allowed to frame these changes in a regional context. The results obtained provide useful information to understand the way vegetation changed in the past and the manner in which it may respond to future changes.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040048
Authors: Vladimir Goutiers Christopher Carcaillet
Sedimentological and biogeochemical measurements were conducted on minerotrophic peat in a wilderness area on a granitic plateau to reconstruct the local ecosystem’s history and clarify the peat’s response to local and global changes. The peat is less than 1900 years old. Its clay and iron (Fe) concentration profiles revealed an increasing atmospheric influx over time, whereas the levels of its nutrients (P, K, Ca, Mg) have increased since the 19th century. Additionally, changes in the relative abundance of amorphous aluminium indicated a gradual decrease in soil weathering. The dominant metallic trace elements were cadmium during the Roman epoch and early Middle Ages, then lead and mercury during the modern and the industrial eras. Unexpectedly, the peat proved to be sub-modern and lacks wildfire proxies, probably indicating an absence of nearby woodlands over the last 1900 years. Its concentrations of Ca and Mg indicate that airborne transport of particles released by soil erosion in lowland agricultural plains has strongly affected the peat’s composition since the 18th–19th century. The site has also been heavily influenced by metallic contamination due to regional metallurgy and agriculture, producing a peat that has been modified by social imprints over several centuries.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040047
Authors: Pál Sümegi Dávid Molnár Sándor Gulyás Thomas Stevens László Makó Péter Cseh Mihály Molnár Kathryn Fitzsimmons Janina J. Nett Dmytro Hlavatskyi Frank Lehmkuhl
Numerous loess/paleosol sequences (LPS) in the Carpathian Basin span the period of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 and the last glacial maximum (LGM). Nevertheless, only two known records—Madaras and Dunaszekcső—preserve highly resolved records with absolute chronologies with minimal uncertainties, which enable the meaningful assessment of feedbacks and short-term climatic fluctuations over this period. The Madaras profile is located at the northern margin fringe of the Bácska loess plateau; Dunaszekcső, located on the Danube to its west, yields a chronology built on over 100 14C dates yet spans only part of MIS 2, missing half of the LGM including its peak. Here, we add to the previously published 14C chronology for Madaras (15 dates) with an additional 17 14C and luminescence ages. Resulting age models built solely on quartz OSL and feldspar pIRIRSL data underestimate the 14C based chronology, which is likely based on inaccuracies related to luminescence signal behavior; we observe age underestimations associated with unusual quartz behavior and significant signal loss, a phenomenon also observed in Serbian and Romanian loess, which may relate to non-sensitized grains from proximal sources. Our new chronology provides higher resolution than hitherto possible, yielding consistent 2 sigma uncertainties of ~150–200 years throughout the entire sequence. Our study indicates that the addition of further dates may not increase the chronological precision significantly. Additionally, the new age model is suitable for tackling centennial-scale changes. The mean sedimentation rate based on our new age-depth model (10.78 ± 2.34 years/cm) is the highest yet recorded in the Carpathian Basin for MIS 2. The resolution of our age model is higher than that for the Greenland NGRIP ice core record. The referred horizons in our profile are all characterized by a drop in accumulation and a higher sand input, the latter most likely deriving from nearby re-exposed sand dunes.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040046
Authors: Alemayehu Kasaye Tilahun Gert Verstraeten Margaret Chen Guchie Gulie Femke Augustijns Ward Swinnen
Part of the eroded soil material from the hillslopes is temporarily stored on hillslopes and in river valleys as colluvial and alluvial storage, respectively. This storage component of a catchment’s sediment budget is an important archive reflecting past erosion and sediment delivery processes in relation to both natural and anthropogenic environmental changes. Information on long-term sediment dynamics (i.e., centennial to millennial timescales) is generally lacking for tropical mountain environments. Here, we quantify long-term floodplain sediment storage and sedimentation dynamics in the Gamo highlands of the southern Ethiopia Rift Valley. In two upstream catchments (Chencha and Dembelle), a detailed survey of the floodplain sediment archive was conducted through hand augering of 37 cross-valley transects. Sediment thicknesses vary between 4 and 8 m and total storage equals 0.03 Mt ha−1 floodplain area for the Chencha area and 0.05 Mt ha−1 floodplain area for the Dembelle area. Radiocarbon dating of organic material retrieved from the sediment archives provided a temporal framework for interpretation of sedimentation processes dynamic. The mean sedimentation rate in the Chencha floodplain is ~3.22 ± 0.33 kt ha−1 catchment area, whereas it is ~3.76 ± 0.22 kt ha−1 catchment area for the Dembelle floodplain. Up to 70% of the total sediment mass is stored in the floodplains within the most recent 2000 years. Cumulative probability function plots of radiocarbon dates show that sedimentation started to increase from ca 2000 to ca 1600 cal BP, roughly coincident with an increase in human presence, as is indicated through archaeological data.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040045
Authors: Bondan Galih Dewanto Ramadhan Priadi Leni Sophia Heliani Al Shida Natul Muhammad Yanis Indranova Suhendro Admiral Musa Julius
A Mw 6.1 earthquake on 25 February 2022, at around 8:39 a.m. local time, struck Pasaman Barat Regency, West Sumatra, Indonesia, and was felt in Singapore and Malaysia. The hypocenter of this earthquake was 12 km deep and preceded by an Mw 4.9 foreshock a few minutes earlier. The earthquakes originated on a blind fault and triggered a landslide at Mount Talamau. Herein, the slip distribution and asperities along the plane fault during the earthquake were examined by teleseismic inversion and the fault location was identified by Global Gravity Model plus (GGMPlus) satellite gravity data. The slip distribution was calculated from the source parameters (strike: 136°; dip: 70°; rake: 174°) by inversion techniques based on teleseismic data. Based on the slip distribution, the earthquake was generated by stress from the Sianok fault that spread to the north and reached the uncertain fault segment in the Talamau area. In addition, the results of the First Horizontal Derivative and Second Vertical Derivative from the GGMplus data revealed a straight Simple Bouguer Anomaly pattern, confirming the existence of the uncertain Talamau fault as part of the Great Sumatra Fault. This work shows the potential application of the combination of teleseismic and gravity observation for delineating the fault structure that caused the 2022 Mw 6.1 Pasaman earthquake, which can also be applied to other locations of similar geological backgrounds.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040044
Authors: Abdelrhim Eltijani Dávid Molnár László Makó János Geiger Pál Sümegi
Abandoned channels are essential in the Quaternary floodplains, and their infill contains different paleoenvironment recorders. Grain-size distribution (GSD) is one proxy that helps characterize the alluviation and associated sedimentological processes of the abandoned channels. The classic statistical methods of the grain-size analysis provide insufficient information on the whole distribution; this necessitates a more comprehensive approach. Grain-size endmember modeling (EMM) is one approach beyond the traditional procedures that helps unmix the GSDs. This study describes the changes in the depositional process by unmixing the GSDs of a Holocene abandoned channel through parameterized EMM integrated with lithofacies, age–depth model, loss-on-ignition (LOI), and magnetic susceptibility (MS). This approach effectively enabled the quantification and characterization of up to four endmembers (EM1-4); the characteristics of grain-size endmembers imply changes in sedimentary environments since 8000 BP. EM1 is mainly clay and very fine silt, representing the fine component of the distribution corresponding to the background of quiet water sedimentation of the lacustrine phase. EM2 and EM3 are the intermediate components representing the distal overbank deposits of the flood. EM4 is dominated by coarse silt and very fine sand, representing deposition of overbank flow during the flood periods. This paper demonstrates that the parametrized grain-size EMM is reasonable in characterizing abandoned channel infill sedimentary depositional and sedimentation history.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040043
Authors: Joseph R. McAuliffe Leslie D. McFadden Lyman P. Persico Tammy M. Rittenour
In what are now the warm deserts of the American Southwest, direct effects of changing climate on plant distributions are typically viewed as the principal driver of vegetation changes that followed the late Pleistocene–Holocene transition (LPH). However, at a semi-arid site in the eastern Mojave Desert, the transition to modern, shrub-dominated desert scrub on xeric, south-aspect hillslopes occurred only after the erosion of relatively thick soils toward the end of the mid-Holocene. Soils with well-developed Bt horizons began to form in the late Pleistocene on both north- and south-aspect hillslopes through the entrapment and accumulation of aeolian sediments in coarse colluvium. Those soils are capable of absorbing and retaining substantial moisture and support relatively dense stands of perennial C4 grasses that have diffuse, fibrous root systems. The age of alluvial deposits on the basin floor indicates a surge in sediment production through the erosion of some of those hillslope soils toward the end of the mid-Holocene. However, that erosion was largely limited to the more xeric, more sparsely vegetated, south-aspect hillslopes. The soils formed on mesic north-aspect hillslopes remain largely non-eroded to the present day, demonstrating the central role of vegetation in modulating erosion and sediment supply. The loss of soils from south-aspect hillslopes fundamentally changed the capacity of those environments to absorb and store moisture, and altered the depth and temporal durations of plant-available moisture. Those hydrological changes drove a loss of perennial C4 grasses and a transition to dominance by xerophytic plants—shrubs with deeper taproots capable of extracting moisture stored within bedrock joints and fractures, and shallow-rooted succulent plants that store moisture internally. Following the LPH, vegetation change at the site apparently occurred in two distinct phases separated in time: (1) initial vegetation changes driven directly by increasing climatic aridity and (2) subsequent changes linked to the later episode of soil erosion. Although climate shifts ultimately generate vegetation changes, the proximate mechanisms to which plants directly respond can lag far behind climatic transitions and involve complex relationships of vegetation, soils, and changing soil hydrologic conditions.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040042
Authors: Maria Kokkaliari Eugenia Adam Andreas Vlachopoulos Ioannis Iliopoulos
Recent findings of archaeological research in the Vathy gulf area, Astypalaia Island, indicate its continuous habitation since prehistoric times, most importantly in the transitional period from the Final Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age (late 4th/early 3rd millennium BC). The evaluation of the prehistoric stone artefacts from Vathy using non-invasive analytical methods (Near Infrared Spectroscopy—NIR), in combination with the mineral-petrographic characterization of the main lithological formations of the island, is expected to provide important information about raw material procurement and possible exchange networks. The geological study of the island combined with the analytical methods applied to the archaeological artefacts and the geological samples led to the identification of both local and allogenic materials. The possible locations of raw material sources were established and the origin of allogenic materials was estimated. The stone artefacts made of local geo-materials consist mainly of calcitic sandstone, shale, marl, and limestone/marble, comprising the largest part of the lithological formations of the island, as well as pumice and volcanic rocks of varying chemical composition. By means of a portable microscope and NIR spectroscopy, we were further able to identify allogenic geo-materials including chalcedony, mica schist, bauxite and meta-bauxite, steatite, and paragonite. Based on the mineralogical and petrographic characterization of the stone artefacts, a first attempt is made to evaluate the possible raw material sources and to identify potential intra-island modes of stone exploitation.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040041
Authors: Anna Maria Mercuri Eleonora Clò Assunta Florenzano
This paper reports on the most ancient unusual morphological trait of the apertures of Poaceae pollen found in archaeological layers. In Poaceae, high levels of hybridization, polyploidy, apomixis, and multiporate pollen are often related. Multiple genomes in polyploids are critical for the adaptation of plant species to stresses and could be revealed by anomalies in pollen development. Therefore, the paleoenvironmental research can gain great benefits from identifying polyploids in past contexts by observing anomalous pollen morphology during pollen counts. The occurrence of multiporate pollen in Poaceae has also been related to special features of the ecology of the species showing this anomaly, as well as to climatic and environmental stresses experienced by Poaceae living in a given region. Multiporate and bi- or tri-porate instead of monoporate pollen grains have been observed in samples taken from Takarkori rockshelter, an archaeological site in southwestern Libya (central Sahara) that has been occupied between ~10,200 and ~4650 cal BP. Multiporate pollen was found in organic sands and coprolites of ovicaprines. On the basis of archaeobotanical research, this work aims to investigate whether the presence of supernumerary pores in Poaceae pollen may be an effect of both climatic/hydrological changes and continued anthropogenic pressure on the wild grasses living in the region. The presence of multiporate pollen reveals that Poaceae that lived in central Sahara tackled several kinds of stress during the early and middle Holocene. The Takarkori pollen record suggests that climate change could have played a major role in the early Holocene, while human pressure became stronger during the middle Holocene. The change in environmental conditions determined adaptive responses of polyploid grasses even in the form of multiporate pollen.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040040
Authors: Dávid Molnár
The current climate changes are not unique in Earth’s history [...]
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5040039
Authors: Ashenafi Dechasa Alemu O. Aga Takele Dufera
Sedimentation is a leading global problem that affects the environment and dams by reducing the live storage capacity of reservoirs and the life expectance of dams. Hence, prioritizing watersheds according to the risk of soil loss is crucial for extending the useful life of dams and reservoirs. The objectives of this study were to assess sediment flow in the Genale Dawa-3 reservoir, identify subbasins that are prone to soil erosion, and evaluate the impact of different management practices on minimizing sediment yields by using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The SWAT model was calibrated and validated by observed streamflow and sediment data based on the SUFI-2 algorithm by SWAT-CUP, and its performance was assessed. The model simulated the average annual sediment yield; the input to the reservoir was 16.83 ton/ha/yr for the period of 1990–2015. From a total of 31 subbasins, 12 were categorized from high to very severe (11–60 ton/ha/yr) sediment-yielding subbasins and selected for sediment management. The simulated scenarios showed that the average annual sediment reductions at critical erosion hot spots in subbasins after the application of filter strips, soil/stone bund, terracing, and contour farming were 35.03%, 66.54%, 80.88%, and 53.11%, respectively. Therefore, this study concluded that reducing sediment yield by implementing terracing in critical areas at risk of soil erosion was more effective than other soil conservation measures. Overall, this research can help planners and decision-makers to implement appropriate soil conservation measures in the most erosive subwatersheds in order to extend the useful life of the Genale Dawa-3 hydropower dam and reservoir.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5030038
Authors: Vera Eisenmann
Discussion of the phylogenetic relations between Plesippus, Allohippus, and Equus. Descriptions and illustrations of 30 Equid extant and fossil species younger than 2 Ma. Particular attention is given to slender forms with short protocones usually referred to ‘Equus altidens’ from Süssenborn and Untermassfeld (Germany), Akhalkalaki and Dmanisi (Georgia), Pirro (Italy), Venta Micena (Spain) and Aïn Hanech (Algeria). Occurrence of Asinine features in fossil taxa from Africa, Greece, Mongolia, and North-Eastern Siberia. Supplementary Materials include additional discussions and photographs of fossils in particular from Süssenborn (especially those referred to E. altidens and E. marxi by Reichenau) and from Dmanisi from where a new species is described.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5030037
Authors: Peter Allen David Bain David Bridgland Paul Buisson Jan-Pieter Buylaert Rachel Bynoe William George B. Haggart David Horne Ellen-May Littlewood Alan Lord Anna March Ian Mercer Rosalind Mercer Andrew Murray Kirsty Penkman Richard Preece John Ratford Danielle Schreve Andrew Snelling Kadri Sohar John Whittaker Mark White Tom White
This paper presents an updated geological reconstruction of the Quaternary evolution of the River Thames at its downstream extremities, close to the North Sea coast, based on new data from multi-disciplinary and citizen-science sources. In this area, the interaction of the Thames with the MIS 12 (Anglian) glaciation is an important part of the Quaternary archive. The Anglian ice sheet, which reached parts of north and east London, was responsible for diverting the Thames southwards into its present course, although the footprint of the maximum ice sheet(s) does not reach the North Sea coast south of Hollesley, Suffolk. Further south, the coastal zone hosts pre-Anglian and early Anglian river-terrace deposits of the pre-diversion Thames system, superimposed upon which are products of later post-Anglian rivers, of both Middle and Late Pleistocene age. On the peninsula between the Stour and Blackwater–Colne estuaries, the lowest and most recent terrace of the pre-diversion Thames includes evidence directly pertaining to the glacial disruption event, for which geochronological data are reported here for the first time. The first post-diversion terrace of the Thames also reaches this peninsula, the river having essentially re-joined its original valley before crossing the alignment of the modern coastline. This terrace passes beneath Clacton-on-Sea, where it includes the type locality of the Clactonian Palaeolithic Industry. The area of interest to this paper, in NE Essex and southern Suffolk, includes a number of interglacial and Palaeolithic sites, the data from which assist in constraining the chronostratigraphy of the sequence. In some cases, there has been uncertainty as to whether these sites represent pre-Anglian environments and hominin occupations, part of the palaeo-Thames sequence, or whether they are the product of later post-Anglian streams, formed after the Thames had migrated southwards. This paper compiles evidence from a wide range of recent sources, including developer-funded archaeological appraisal and citizen-science activities, to explore and update the evidence from sites at Ipswich, Upper Dovercourt and Thorpe-le-Soken, as well as a number of localities associated with the Clacton Channel Deposits (host to the type-Clactonian), amongst others. The resulting new data are placed within the wider context of the Quaternary fluvial archives in southern Britain, with a discussion of how disparate sources of information, including the work of citizen scientists, have contributed.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5030036
Authors: Ranko Biondić Lucija Plantak Ana-Maria Radovan Hrvoje Meaški
Numerous coastal karst springs of the Mediterranean region have problems with salinization. Salinization usually occurs during summer dry periods as a result of long droughts and excessive pumping for water supply. The Boljkovac water supply pumping station has slightly increased parameters that indicate the possibility of salinization during the dry summer periods, but the main salinization occurs post heavy rains which appear after long dry periods in the fall, winter, and spring. Due to the occasional occurrence of salinization, continuous monitoring of the aquifer by depth was set up at the piezometric well drilled near the water supply pumping station. The results of the monitoring were analyzed in relation to external factors that can negatively affect the disruption of the labile dynamic balance of salt and fresh water. The analyzed external factors are the pumping rate for the water supply, the amount of precipitation, surface flow and the interaction of surface water and groundwater, as well as the sea level changes. In Croatia, and the wider Mediterranean area, there are a large number of springs and water wells that have the same or similar problems, so the results of this analysis can be used in designing monitoring and setting up management systems for these coastal aquifers.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5030035
Authors: Konstantinos Tsanakas Giannis Saitis Niki Evelpidou Efthimios Karymbalis Anna Karkani
Combined with eustatic sea-level changes, uplifted Quaternary marine terraces provide insight into the tectonics of coastal areas. Cephalonia Island lies 35 km off the western coast of mainland Greece and 15 km northeast of the Hellenic subduction zone. Late Pleistocene eustatic sea-level oscillations and the long-term tectonic movements are imprinted on the landscape of the southern part of the island, in the form of seven uplifted marine terraces. In the present study we aim to identify and map in detail these terraces, applying Digital Elevation Model analysis, utilizing Geographic Information Systems techniques and extensive fieldwork. The GIS-based analysis combined with field geomorphological observations revealed a sequence of seven marine terraces at the southern part of the main island ranging in elevation between 4 m and 176 m asl. Microscope, petrological and microgeomorphological analyses on two caprock samples suggest strong marine influence during the deposition of the sediments covering the marine terraces. The age of the formation of the 32 m marine terrace was assigned to the MIS 3e, based on OSL dating of a caprock sample, and an average uplift rate of 1.4 ± 0.35 mm a−1 was calculated for the last 61 ± 5.5 ka. Assuming a uniform uplift rate for the Late Pleistocene allowed us to correlate the marine terrace with the sea-level highstands and constrain their ages.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5030034
Authors: Pierre Sabatier Jasper Moernaut Sebastien Bertrand Maarten Van Daele Katrina Kremer Eric Chaumillon Fabien Arnaud
Event deposits in lake sediments provide invaluable chronicles of geodynamic and climatic natural hazards on multi-millennial timescales. Sediment archives are particularly useful for reconstructing high-impact, low-frequency events, which are rarely observed in instrumental or historical data. However, attributing a trigger mechanism to event deposits observed in lake sediments can be particularly challenging as different types of events can produce deposits with very similar lithological characteristics, such as turbidites. In this review paper, we summarize the state of the art on event deposits in paleolimnology. We start by describing the sedimentary facies typical of floods, glacial lake outburst floods, avalanches, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and spontaneous delta collapses. We then describe the most indicative methods that can be applied at the scale of lake basins (geophysical survey, multiple coring) and on sediment cores (sedimentology, inorganic and organic geochemistry, biotic approach). Finally, we provide recommendations on how to obtain accurate chronologies on sediment cores containing event deposits, and ultimately date the events. Accurately identifying and dating event deposits has the potential to improve hazard assessments, particularly in terms of the return periods, recurrence patterns, and maximum magnitudes, which is one of the main geological challenges for sustainable worldwide development.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5030033
Authors: Alexander Jan Dimitris Westra Changhong Miao Ioannis Liritzis Manolis Stefanakis
Disasters do and have happened throughout human existence. Their traces are found in the environmental record, archaeological evidence, and historical chronicles. Societal responses to these events vary and depend on ecological and cultural constraints and opportunities. These elements are being discovered more and more on a global scale. When looking at disasters in antiquity, restoring the environmental and geographical context on both the macro- and microscale is necessary. The relationships between global climatic processes and microgeographical approaches ought to be understood by examining detailed societal strategies conceived in response to threatening natural phenomena. Architectural designs, human geography, political geography, technological artefacts, and textual testimony are linked to a society’s inherited and real sense of natural threats, such as floods, earthquakes, fires, diseases, etc. The Shang and Mycenaean cultures are prime examples, among others, of Bronze Age societies with distinctive geographical, environmental, and cultural features and structures that defined their attitudes and responses to dangerous natural phenomena, such as floods, earthquakes, landslides, and drought. By leaning on two well-documented societies with little to no apparent similarities in environmental and cultural aspects and no credible evidence of contact, diffusion, or exchange, we can examine them free of the onus of diffused intangible and tangible cultural features. Even though some evidence of long-distance networks in the Bronze Age exists, they presumable had no impact on local adaptive strategies. The Aegean Sea and Yellow River cultural landscapes share many similarities and dissimilarities and vast territorial and cultural expansions. They have an apparent contemporaneity, and both recede and collapse at about the same time. Thus, through the microgeography of a few select Shang and Mycenaean sites and their relevant environmental, archaeological, and historical contexts, and through environmental effects on a global scale, we may understand chain events of scattered human societal changes, collapses, and revolutions on a structural level.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5030032
Authors: Martin Williams
Geomorphic evidence from rivers and lakes can help explain past changes in the locations of archaeological sites as well as environmental and climatic changes in their catchment areas. Examples drawn from the Blue and White Nile valleys in northeast Africa and from the Son and Belan valleys in north-central India reveal how Quaternary climatic fluctuations in the headwaters of these rivers are reflected in changes in river channel patterns downstream as well as in the type of sediment transported. Soils and sediments that contain prehistoric and historic artefacts can be analysed to show the type of environment in which the artefacts accumulated. Beds of volcanic ash may preserve former landscapes and their fossil remains and can provide a synchronous time marker against which to assess changes in the archaeological record. The pattern and tempo of past sea level fluctuations has controlled the distribution of coastal archaeological sites and helps to explain the absence of certain Holocene Neolithic sites in southeast Asia. Disturbance of archaeological sites by plants and animals, especially termites in tropical regions, can affect the stratigraphic and chronological integrity of the site.
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5030031
Authors: Zlatozar Boev
The examined material (207 bones and bone fragments) of 53 avian taxa from two human cave dwellings is dated between 24,000 ± 1000 BP and 9400 ± 100 BP. It reveals that 49.0% of the bird species/taxa disappeared from the recent bird fauna of the Thanh Hoa Province; 39.6% disappeared from the recent bird fauna of North Vietnam (except Thanh Hoa Province); 33.9% disappeared from the recent bird fauna of Vietnam (except North Vietnam); 28.3% are not extant in the recent bird fauna of Indochina (except Vietnam); and 52.8% disappeared from the recent bird fauna of Southeast Asia (except Indochina). This suggests more considerable influence of the Late Pleistocene climatic events on the environment and bird fauna than previously accepted in the Eastern part of the Indochinese peninsula in the last 24–millenia. The gallinaceous birds are best represented. Of the 39 Southeast-Asian species, 18 species/taxa (46.2 percent) are Galliforms. They consist of 34 percent of all bird taxa recorded in both caves. Four categories of the IUCN Red List have been represented among the established birds in the sites: LC—28, NT—7, VU—2 (Buceros bicornis and Rhyticeors undulates), and CR—2 (Lophura edwardsi and Rhinoplax vigil).
]]>Quaternary doi: 10.3390/quat5030030
Authors: Claire M. Lee Bas van Geel William D. Gosling
Fungal spores that grew on the faeces of herbivores in the past can be extracted from sediments and used to identify the presence of herbivores in former ecosystems. This review: (i) examines the factors that should be considered when interpreting these fungal spores, (ii) assesses the degree to which they can be used to estimate past herbivore populations and biomass density change, and (iii) identifies gaps in our current understanding that limit, or confound, the information that can be extracted from the fungal spore record. We focus on the life cycles of coprophilous fungi and highlight the importance of understanding spore dispersal mechanisms to ensure robust palaeoecological interpretation. We then discuss how variation in methodological approaches across studies and modifications can influence comparability between studies. The key recommendations that emerge relate to: (i) improving our understanding of the relationship between spores of coprophilous fungi (SCF) and herbivores through the study of the coprophilous fungi succession; (ii) refining our understanding of how climate and environment parameters effect fungal spore abundance, with particular reference to estimating past herbivore biomass density; and (iii) enhancing sedimentary DNA (SedaDNA) analysis to identify SCF that do not allow preservation in a way that allows visual identification. To further this field of study and provide more robust insights into herbivores in the past, we suggest that additional research is required to help to reduce bias during the preparation process, that concertation metrics are used for the quantification of SCF, and that multiple cores should be taken in each site and multiproxy analysis should be utilised.
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