Quaternary Science Reviews最新文献

{"title":"The last interglacial and mid-Holocene sea level variability in the northern Indian Ocean and the influence of hydro-isostasy","authors":"P.N. Ranasinghe ,&nbsp;L.H.M.T.M.B. Ambillapitiya ,&nbsp;Tanghua Li ,&nbsp;Chuan-Chou Shen ,&nbsp;G.K. Ranasinghe ,&nbsp;Sze-Chieh Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109403","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109403","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Microtidal coastline around Sri Lanka, situated at the tectonically stable northern Indian Ocean, provides reliable evidence for sea level studies and to understand the hydro isostatic influence on eustatic changes. As the past sea level data are limited in the northern Indian Ocean region and due to the significant discrepancies among the outcomes of previous work, this study used stable, in situ sea level indicators to study the past sea level changes in the region.</div><div>Emerged and submerged in situ corals from both north (16 samples) and south (14 samples) were used as marine limiting points (MLP) while beach rocks (06 samples) were used as sea level index points (SLIPs) and lagoon sediment (01 samples) was used as terrestrial limiting point (TLP). Their elevations were measured precisely from the modern mean sea level. Age dating was carried out using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), gas bench radiocarbon techniques, and the U-Th method.</div><div>Emerged corals at Punkuduthiviu (1.22 m), Iranathivu (0.82 m), and Kachchatheevu (3.55 m), islands located in the Palk Strait, record the evidence for Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e (≊ 128 ka BP relative to 1950 AD) and MIS 5c (≊ 107 ka BP) sea level highstand in the northern Indian Ocean. Corals in northern Islands show that the mid-Holocene highstand (MHH) relative sea level (RSL) was &gt;1.5 m in the north around 6500 cal yrs BP and started decreasing after that. When considering the eroded height and evidence from a wave-cut notch in Kachchatheevu, it can be inferred that the MHH RSL reached about 2 m. In contrast, RSL during MHH in the south reached its maximum (∼1.6 m) about 1000 yrs later (∼5500 cal yrs BP), as evidenced by corals and beach rocks. The post-glacial sea level reached the modern mean tidal level at the southern coast between 6250 and 6500 cal yrs BP and gradually decreased after the MHH. Most MLPs and SLIPs in the south are at lower elevations than in the north. The Holocene sea level variability in the north and south predicted by the ICE-6G_C Glacial Isostatic Adjustment model closely matches field data. The differences in magnitude and timing of MHH between north and south can be explained by contrasting local deflections in continental shelves caused by meltwater loading and transgression velocities, with the broad and gently sloping continental shelf in the north vs. the narrow and steeper shelf in the south.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"362 ","pages":"Article 109403"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144084065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reconstructing Late Pleistocene relative sea levels on transgressed shelves: an example from central California","authors":"Elisa Medri ,&nbsp;Alexander R. Simms ,&nbsp;Jared Kluesner ,&nbsp;Samuel Y. Johnson ,&nbsp;Stuart P. Nishenko ,&nbsp;H. Gary Greene ,&nbsp;James E. Conrad ,&nbsp;Devin Rand","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109408","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109408","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although prevalent for the late Holocene, relative sea level (RSL) constraints during and immediately after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) are sparse. This scarcity of data is particularly pronounced along mid-latitude shelves such as central California, which lack post LGM RSL constraints older than 12 ka. In this study we collected 7 sediment cores and high-resolution seismic data from Estero Bay to constrain RSLs across the central California shelf between ∼9 and ∼16 ka. We reconstructed these RSLs using two sea-level indicators found within our sediment cores: the wave ravinement shell hash burial surface (WRSHBS) and the sedimentary contact between offshore mud facies and ripple cross-laminated sands. To determine the indicative meaning of these two sea-level indicators, we examined the relationship between the local wave regime, modern bathymetric profiles, and the depth of preservation of each sea-level indicator. After correcting for tectonic uplift, we estimated sea levels in central California to have been ∼39 ± 7.5 and 49 ± 7.5 m below present sea level between 9 and 12 ka, in agreement with previous RSL reconstructions along this coast. Between 13.8 and 15.9 ka, we estimate sea levels to have reached ∼86 ± 8–99 ± 8 m below present sea level. Our findings offer a Late Pleistocene RSL reconstruction for central California and develop new methodologies for estimating past RSLs on similar mid-latitude shelves.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"361 ","pages":"Article 109408"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144072361","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"High-resolution studies of the Bølling-Allerød to the Younger Dryas transition in the Netherlands: implications for the reconstruction of vegetation changes and the potential role of (perma)frost in contemporary paludification","authors":"Bas van Geel,&nbsp;Jan Sevink","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109411","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109411","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>High-resolution studies of botanical microfossils and macroremains were performed on two Lateglacial sites in The Netherlands. Both sites showed a thin <em>Sphagnum</em> layer, formed during the transition from the relatively warm Bølling-Allerød interstadial to the cold Younger Dryas. Dendrochronological analyses revealed that pine trees survived into the Younger Dryas for decades without producing relevant amounts of pollen, demonstrating an asynchronicity between the decline of pine pollen and the actual death of the pine trees. We discuss possible causes for the sudden occurrence of <em>Sphagnum</em> following on the pine forest dieback and conclude that there may be a link with (perma)frost, causing perched water tables and inducing paludification. The formation of <em>Sphagnum</em> peat at the beginning of the Younger Dryas is not necessarily an indicator of wetter climate but could be an indication for a frozen subsoil inducing a (seasonal) perched groundwater table and cryopaludification.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"361 ","pages":"Article 109411"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144069763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Lake sedimentation and landscape evolution since ∼31 ka in Isla Grande de Chiloé, northwestern Patagonia (42°S)","authors":"L. Guerra ,&nbsp;D. Briones ,&nbsp;V. Flores-Aqueveque ,&nbsp;R.L. Soteres ,&nbsp;T. Schneider ,&nbsp;H. Vogel ,&nbsp;L. López-García ,&nbsp;P.I. Moreno","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109374","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109374","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We combine sedimentological analysis, high-resolution imaging, and X-ray fluorescence data to investigate sedimentary processes and landscape evolution from lake records in central Isla Grande de Chiloé (42°23′S, 72°49′W), northwestern Patagonia between ∼31-1.6 ka. The oldest section consists of laminated inorganic silts with a local geochemical signature deposited in a low-energy environment (Stage 1: ∼31-26 ka), interrupted by hiatuses and coarse-grained allochthonous deposits associated with high-energy events (Stage 2: ∼26-18 ka). The end of laminated facies and increasing organic matter led to a rising productivity trend and slope stability (Stages 3 and 4: ∼18-14.1 ka, ∼14.1-10.8 ka), along with volcaniclastic influx advected from the Andean Southern Volcanic Zone (Stage 5: ∼10.8 -1.6 ka). We interpret sedimentation in proglacial lakes fed by varying intensities of glacier meltwater from the western margin of the Golfo Corcovado piedmont lobe during the LGM in Patagonia, followed by a sudden change to closed-basin lakes driven by glacier withdrawal at the onset of the Last Glacial Termination (∼18 ka). This detachment shifted the facies composition and arrangements toward predominance of climate and distal volcanic processes until ∼1.6 ka. Our records capture salient millennial-scale features of the environmental evolution from western Patagonia since ∼31 ka, and match paleoclimate records at zonal and hemispheric scales. Our facies analysis underscores the presence of centennial fluctuations and instantaneous processes through glacial and non-glacial lake regimes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"361 ","pages":"Article 109374"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143948600","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The northward expansion of the Tibetan Plateau: Topographic evidence from the Bogda Mts. – southern Junggar Basin coupling system, northwest China","authors":"Mengyue Duan ,&nbsp;Franz Neubauer ,&nbsp;Jörg Robl ,&nbsp;Xiaohu Zhou ,&nbsp;Anne-Laure Argentin ,&nbsp;Moritz Liebl ,&nbsp;Yunpeng Dong ,&nbsp;Xiaohui Shi ,&nbsp;San Zhang ,&nbsp;Heng Peng","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109402","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109402","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The northward propagation of the Tibetan Plateau has led to the orthogonal N–S shortening in northwestern China, which influenced the topographic formation of the E–W trending Bogda Mountains–southern Junggar Basin coupling system. In this study, we focus on the landscape formation of this coupling system and investigate the effect of the propagating deformation in the periphery of the India-Asia collision zone using topographic analysis and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of river terraces. Together, the results of the topographic analysis show that the normalized steepness index (<em>k</em>_<em>sn</em>) value and the scale of knickpoints decrease from west to east, and there is no significant difference in <em>χ</em> values between two sides of the Bogda Mts. Compiled low-temperature thermochronological data for the Bogda Mts. shows a younging trend from west to east, suggesting that the uplift of the western Bogda Mts. began earlier. The OSL dating for the Dalongkou river terraces, on the northern slope of the Bogda Mts. resulted in ages of the T2, T3, T4 river terraces of 6.2 ± 1.3 ka, 13.1 ± 1.7 ka, and 14.2 ± 2.5 ka, respectively. The incision rate of the Dalongkou River increases upstream from about 1.22 mm/yr near to the southern Junggar Basin, to about 2.1 mm/yr, and to approximately 6.33 mm/yr at the base of Bogda Mts. and reveals an upstream increasing uplift rate. Based on these new data, we propose a model of ongoing late Quaternary folding leading to the upbending of central Bogda Mts., with an inflection point of the fold close to the southern Junggar Basin. Combined with the geomorphological comparison with the eastern North Tianshan landscape, we conclude that the lateral intensity of the tectonic uplift from the North Tianshan to Bogda Mts. has gradually weakened, and the uplift of Bogda Mts. has gradually accelerated since the Quaternary and is controlled by N–S orthogonal shortening caused by the India-Asia collision.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"362 ","pages":"Article 109402"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144069813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Geomorphology, first 36Cl datings and chrono-evolutionary model of Mount Aragats paleoglaciers (Armenia)","authors":"Carrasco R.M. ,&nbsp;Fernández-Lozano J. ,&nbsp;Karampaglidis T. ,&nbsp;Soteres R.L. ,&nbsp;Braucher R. ,&nbsp;Gairoard S. ,&nbsp;Petrosyan A. ,&nbsp;Nahapetyan S. ,&nbsp;Arakelyan D. ,&nbsp;Pedraza J. ,&nbsp;Gasparyan B. ,&nbsp;ASTER Team,&nbsp;G. Aumaître ,&nbsp;K. Keddadouche ,&nbsp;F. Zaidi","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109404","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109404","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mount Aragats is one of the largest glaciated volcanoes of the Armenian Highlands (Հայկական լեռնաշխարհ) and culminating in the Aragats Peak, the highest peak of the Republic of Armenia (4090 masl). Here, prehistoric societies have been present for millennia, so assessing the local influence of past glaciations is a crucial factor to better understand the cultural evolution of this region. Therefore, this work focuses on a detailed study of the morphology and morphostratigraphic succession of Mount Aragats paleoglaciers. Geomorphic-based paleoglacier reconstruction along 36Cl cosmogenic dating (n = 13) of moraines reveal that during the Middle and Upper Pleistocene, a plateau glacier featuring ice lobes covered this area, featuring outlet lobes reaching up to 17 km in length, thicknesses of up to 350 m and descending to 2040 masl. According to the morphostratigraphic succession of ice-marginal features, absolute chronologies and regional correlations, the chronoevolutionary sequence of these glaciers comprises three intervals: (1) The absolute Maximum Ice Extent or Aragats Glacial Maximum occurred during the Penultimate Glacial Cycle within the MIS6e (c. 180 ka). (2) Subsequently, during the Last Glacial Cycle, the Maximum Ice Extent occurred during the MIS5d (c. 111 ka) followed by two secondary glacial maxima stabilizations during the MIS3a (c. 37 ka) and the MIS2 (c. 17 ka). Finally, (3) the Post-Glacial Period (PCP, Holocene, MIS1). The disappearance of the glaciers on Mount Aragats was established at the beginning of the second half of the 20th century by direct observations. The current morphodynamic environment corresponds to active rock glaciers, some névè moraines and widespread activity of slope processes such as debris flow and debris slides.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"361 ","pages":"Article 109404"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143941997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of climate and sea level change on sedimentation in the eastern Bengal Fan during the late Quaternary","authors":"A. Prajith ,&nbsp;Jyotiranjan S. Ray ,&nbsp;Bivin G. George ,&nbsp;K.B. Joshi ,&nbsp;R. Bhushan ,&nbsp;R. Bhutani ,&nbsp;Arvind Singh","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109417","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109417","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Bengal Fan is a vast repository of clastic sediments from the Himalayas, Peninsular India and Indo-Burman ranges. Many ancient submarine channels through which the turbidity currents operated in the Bay of Bengal are currently inactive. These defunct channels provide some of the best sediment records of continental weathering and climate. Here, we present the results of a sedimentological, geochemical, and Sr-Nd isotopic study done on a well-dated sediment core (27–1.5 kyrs BP) collected from the now-defunct submarine channel in the eastern Bay of Bengal to examine the roles of various environmental factors on the growth of the fan. Results of our study suggest that active fan progradation at the eastern margin of the Bengal basin continued until ∼12 kyrs BP, with rapid deposition of coarse-grained terrigenous flux. Deposition of sediments from Indo-Burman-Arakan (IBA) ranges and Ganga-Brahmaputra rivers through channel E7 was active during 27 to 12 kyrs. Subsequently, hemipelagic sedimentation from the Irrawaddy increased. Unlike other major fans, the Bengal Fan had a very active coarse-grained terrigenous flux during the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent deglacial period. The post-12 kyr BP cessation of coarse-grained terrigenous deposition despite significant sediment influx from the Himalaya/Indo-Burman-Arakan Ranges was likely a result of the inland retreat of river mouths due to sea level rise and the subsequent detachment of the submarine channels from the coast. Our study also suggests that the sedimentation in the Bengal Fan is less sensitive to the variations in the rainfall associated with the Indian Summer Monsoon than the sea level changes. These findings underscore the complex interplay between the climate and coastal geomorphology in shaping the Bengal Fan.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"361 ","pages":"Article 109417"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143948601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Alternating marine-terrestrial transgression since the last deglaciation recorded in sediments from the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain offshore southern South Africa","authors":"Jiahui Yao ,&nbsp;Xiaodi Lu ,&nbsp;Lydie Dupont ,&nbsp;Michael E. Meadows ,&nbsp;Yunping Xu ,&nbsp;Matthias Zabel ,&nbsp;Xueqin Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109413","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109413","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Palaeoceanographic conditions along the southern coast of South Africa are impacted by atmospheric and oceanographic interactions between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, although there have been rather few studies of how these conditions have varied since the last deglaciation under the influence of a major marine-terrestrial transgression. In order to better understand palaeoceanographic and palaeoenvironmental changes and their driving mechanisms offshore the southern coast of South Africa, organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts) have been investigated in marine sediment core GeoB20628-1 along with published multiproxy data including pollen and spores, microcharcoal, foraminiferal organic linings and crustacean appendages. The results reveal markedly distinct changes in the depositional environment over the last 14 ka driven by the interplay of marine transgression, fluvial input, upwelling intensity and their interactions with regional vegetation and climate changes. Statistical analysis indicates the sequential occurrence of three distinct zones dominated by different dinocyst groups. High frequencies of dinocysts produced by autotrophic taxa (Group 1), such as <em>Operculodinium centrocarpum</em>, <em>Tuberculodinium vancampoae</em> and <em>Spiniferites</em> spp. signals the existence of a lagoonal environment during a low sea level stand during the last deglaciation. During the subsequent transition to the Holocene, maximum values of heterotrophic taxa (Group 2), including <em>Brigantedinium</em> spp., <em>Echinidinium</em> spp., <em>Protoperidinium monospinum</em>, are consistent with input of nutrients associated with strong river discharge. Group 2 was then replaced in the Holocene by other heterotrophic taxa (Group 3). <em>Selenopemphix quanta</em>, <em>Echinidinium aculeatum</em> and <em>Echinidinium transparantum</em>, indicate characteristically cool and nutrient-rich waters with active upwelling under the influence of strengthened tropical easterlies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"361 ","pages":"Article 109413"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143937251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Isotopic composition and growth rate of microbialites in Laguna Turquesa, a high-altitude lake in the Central Andes","authors":"M. Della Vedova ,&nbsp;G.E. Alonso ,&nbsp;P.G. Villafañe ,&nbsp;L.R. Horta ,&nbsp;L.F. Cury","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109386","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109386","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the isotopic characterization of microbialites from Turquesa Lake located in the arid, high-altitude region of the Central Andes (3752 m.a.s.l.). Stable isotope analyses (δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O) were conducted on three microbialite levels (M1, M2, and M3), with complementary radiocarbon dating revealing ages of 11,830 ± 170 years BP for the outer layer of M1 and 13,140 ± 120 years BP for its core. Findings indicate variable microbial growth rates, peaking in the core (0.12 mm/year) and decreasing towards the outer layers (0.027 mm/year), with internal structures reflecting reticulate intervals in central zones and laminated patterns in outer layers. δ¹³C values ranged from 11.86 to 9.93 ‰ and δ¹⁸O from 10.60 to 6.22 ‰. The results suggest that M1 and M2 formed when Turquesa and Peinado lakes were connected, displaying complex isotopic fractionation influenced by evaporation and photosynthesis, while M3 formed under evaporative conditions associated with the separation of the lakes due to evaporation. Nevertheless, M3 appears to be less evaporative than M1 and M2, as indicated by its lower δ¹⁸O values. This research provides new insights into how extreme environmental conditions in the Puna have influenced the isotopic evolution and formation of microbialites.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"361 ","pages":"Article 109386"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143937250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unravelling the formation processes and depositional histories of the Middle Palaeolithic Ararat-1 Cave, Armenia: A multiscalar and multiproxy geoarchaeological approach","authors":"Ioannis A.K. Oikonomou ,&nbsp;Theodoros Karampaglidis ,&nbsp;Kaja Fenn ,&nbsp;Shira Gur-Arieh ,&nbsp;David Nora ,&nbsp;Laura Sánchez-Romero ,&nbsp;Dominik L. Rogall ,&nbsp;Delphine Vettese ,&nbsp;Boris Gasparyan ,&nbsp;Artur Petrosyan ,&nbsp;Ariel Malinsky-Buller","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109405","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109405","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The sedimentary sequence of Ararat-1 Cave encapsulates an intricate depositional archive (Marine Isotope Stage 3), crucial for our understanding of the Middle Palaeolithic in the Armenian Highlands and beyond. The study of this record is accomplished through the use of a multi-proxy geoarchaeological framework of analysis, incorporating stratigraphical, micromorphological, sedimentological, mineralogical, chemical, magnetic, micro-archaeological and geochronological methods. These analyses demonstrate the predominance of geogenic processes, including rockfalls, grain and debris flows, interbedded with aeolian sedimentation, as well as localised pyroclastic material in-wash events. Post-depositional alterations are primarily linked to intense bioturbation, as well as minimal karst-induced cementation and minor phosphate diagenesis. The study of the anthropogenic and biogenic records indicates dynamic human-animal habitation histories. Human visits, associated with combustion and consumption activities, were infrequent and short-lived, representing brief occupation episodes in a cave habitually visited by carnivores and herbivores. This high-resolution reconstruction of Ararat-1 Cave formation histories improves our understanding of regional settlement and mobility patterns, highlighting the presence of Middle Palaeolithic groups that temporarily camped in the Ararat Depression.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"361 ","pages":"Article 109405"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143941998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}