Quaternary Science Reviews最新文献

{"title":"New vertebrate tracksites from the Last Interglacial dune deposits of coastal Murcia (southeastern Spain): ecological corridors for elephants in Iberia?","authors":"Carlos Neto de Carvalho ,&nbsp;Francisco J. Jiménez Espejo ,&nbsp;Noel Moreira ,&nbsp;Fernando Muñiz ,&nbsp;João Belo ,&nbsp;Jorge Gutiérrez Meseguer ,&nbsp;Jon Camuera ,&nbsp;Miguel Cortés-Sánchez ,&nbsp;Luis M. Cáceres","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109631","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109631","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Analysis of new vertebrate tracksites from the Last Interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 5e) dune deposits along the southeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, specifically in Murcia, Spain, enabled to identify the likely presence of a medium-sized mustelid, wolf, large artiodactyls, an equid and the straight-tusked elephant <em>Palaeoloxodon antiquus</em>. These eolianite successions offer valuable ichnological evidence beyond the traditional body fossil record, illuminating the presence and behaviors of several Pleistocene mammals in coastal dune and beach environments. Detailed fieldwork, geological mapping, digital photogrammetry, paleoenvironmental reconstruction and morphometric analyses provided ichnotaxonomic and behavioral ecology data from vertebrate tracks preserved in the oolitic dune systems at Calblanque (Cartagena) and Torre de Cope (Águilas). The mammalian ichnoassemblages reflect the proximity of a Last Interglacial mixed forest ecosystem on the coast of southeastern Iberia, with forest-adapted species thriving near coastal dunes stabilized by shrub vegetation. The presence of the track-inferred producers highlights a mosaic of habitats influenced by climate shifts toward more oceanic conditions during MIS 5. The straight-tusked elephant tracks suggest an episodic presence in the coast, possibly related to seasonal congregation or transit. Obtained evidence has been compared with other Pleistocene sites with straight-tusked elephants in Iberian Peninsula, pointing to the use of beaches and dune systems as travel corridors for this species during interglacials, likely associated to main Neanderthal site distribution.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"369 ","pages":"Article 109631"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145219838","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":"Two contrasting swamp forest succession pathways in central Congo Basin peatlands","authors":"Donna Hawthorne ,&nbsp;Ian T. Lawson ,&nbsp;Greta C. Dargie ,&nbsp;Nicholas T. Girkin ,&nbsp;Bart Crezee ,&nbsp;William Hiles ,&nbsp;George E. Biddulph ,&nbsp;Yannick E. Bocko ,&nbsp;Arnoud Boom ,&nbsp;Corneille E.N. Ewango ,&nbsp;Yannick Garcin ,&nbsp;Pauline Gulliver ,&nbsp;Suspense A. Ifo ,&nbsp;Joesph T. Kanayama ,&nbsp;Christopher A. Kiahtipes ,&nbsp;Susan E. Page ,&nbsp;Katherine H. Roucoux ,&nbsp;Paul J. Morris ,&nbsp;Enno Schefuß ,&nbsp;Simon L. Lewis","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109637","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109637","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The central Congo Basin (CCB) contains one of the world's most extensive regions of tropical peat swamp forest, occupying interfluves and floodplains surrounding the Congo River and its tributaries. The region is dominated by hardwood and <em>Raphia</em>-palm forests. Little is known about how and when these forests developed. We investigate peatland ecosystem and forest development via pollen and δ¹³C_TOC analysis on peat cores from four study sites, two on floodplains to the east of the Congo River, and two on interfluves to the west of the Congo River. We present 81 ¹⁴C dates on bulk peat samples from four peat cores to show that peat initiation and forest establishment occurred at three sites before or during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), at 26,750 calendar years before present (cal yr BP) (Bolengo), 19,600 cal yr BP (Ekolongouma) and 19,400 cal yr BP (Bondamba), and later at 13,350 cal yr BP (Boboka) at a fourth site. The three oldest dates support earlier hypotheses that the CCB may have been a dynamic refuge for rainforest taxa during the LGM. The pollen records from the four sites show two contrasting patterns of vegetation succession following peat initiation: the interfluvial peatlands developed from an open herbaceous wetland; the river floodplain peatlands developed from a hardwood swamp forest. All four sites eventually transitioned to a mixed swamp forest containing <em>Raphia</em> and <em>Uapaca</em> trees. Differences in the timing of vegetation transitions between sites suggest that autogenic (within-site) processes are important drivers of vegetation succession in these peatlands, overlain to varying degrees by allogenic (climatic) drivers. Overall, the comparative analysis of pollen records from four sites within the CCB reveals two contrasting trajectories of forest development—one associated with interfluves and the other with river floodplains—driven by a combination of autogenic and allogenic processes. Our findings highlight the biological diversity and complexity of the CCB peatlands, and their sensitivity to climatic change. Reduced precipitation in the Late Holocene affected peat accumulation and forest composition at all sites, with some sites being more sensitive than others. This study provides important context for efforts to protect and conserve the CCB peat swamp forests by demonstrating their sensitivity to environmental stress in the past.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"369 ","pages":"Article 109637"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145219762","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":"Tracing the peak of Neoglacial cooling on the Western Antarctic Peninsula: The Little Ice Age moraines of Marguerite Bay","authors":"Attila Çiner ,&nbsp;Cengiz Yıldırım ,&nbsp;M. Akif Sarıkaya ,&nbsp;Yohanna Klanten ,&nbsp;Marc Oliva ,&nbsp;Yeong Bae Seong ,&nbsp;Byung Yong Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109641","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109641","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Constraining the timing of glacial advances and retreats is crucial for understanding paleoclimate and forecasting future trends. While the retreat of the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula ice sheet since the Last Glacial Maximum (<em>ca.</em> 26-19 ka) is relatively well-documented, the Neoglacial period (<em>ca.</em> 4 to 0.2 ka), primarily represented by moraine and lacustrine records, remains poorly constrained. In this study, we compiled a non-exhaustive list of potentially datable, fresh-looking moraines located near active glaciers along Marguerite Bay, the largest bay in the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Subsequently, we utilised ¹⁰Be Terrestrial Cosmogenic Nuclide (TCN) surface exposure dating on three moraine complexes adjacent to three distinct glaciers: the Shoesmith and Erinç moraines on Horseshoe Island and the Erol Moraine on the Calmette Peninsula. The results from boulders, cobbles, and pebbles (n = 9) of the Shoesmith lateral moraine yielded a mean exposure age of 496 ± 79 years, coinciding with the Little Ice Age (LIA) in the Northern Hemisphere and marking the end of the Neoglacial period. The boulders (n = 4) collected from the right lateral moraine of the Erinç Glacier, which consists of several recessional ridges, are challenging to interpret owing to significant age scatter. Multiple scenarios indicate a late Neoglacial advance with an error-weighted mean landform age of 1163 ± 403 years. We also tentatively attribute the formation of the undated innermost moraine ridge, located just a few tens of metres from the current glacier front, to the LIA. The moraine boulders (n = 3) collected from the youngest end moraine of the Erol Glacier exhibit significant inheritance, with unusually high ages ranging from <em>ca.</em> 2 to 10 ka. This is likely due to limited subglacial erosion of boulders and/or short supraglacial transport, which do not permit the zeroing of previously accumulated nuclides. Nevertheless, the cross-cutting relationships between the Erol Moraine that overlie previously OSL- and ¹⁰Be-TCN-dated raised beaches indicate its formation during the LIA advance. We also highlight the complexities associated with asynchronous moraine formation and inheritance in glacial boulders that experience low rates of erosion. Overall, our data refine the chronology of the late Neoglacial period on the Western Antarctic Peninsula, highlighting the significance of the LIA in a region where its timing and duration had previously remained unclear.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"369 ","pages":"Article 109641"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145219764","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":"Sequence stratigraphy and relative sea level variations in Kaštela Bay, Dalmatian coast, Croatia, and implications for the submerged palaeolandscapes and archaeology of the late Pleistocene, marine isotope stage 3 and marine isotope stage 2","authors":"Simon Fitch ,&nbsp;Slavica Bosnjak ,&nbsp;Jessica W. Cook Hale ,&nbsp;Vedran Barbarić ,&nbsp;Timothy A. Shaw ,&nbsp;Tanghua Li","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109639","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109639","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Relative sea level, palaeoclimate, and palaeohydrology are critical variables for contextualising past hominin behaviours and the resulting archaeological record. This is especially important in submerged palaeolandscape reconstructions of drowned continental shelves formerly inhabited by past hominin populations. We report significant results of one such palaeolandscape reconstruction along the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, Adriatic Sea, near the city of Split, as part of the Life on the Edge (LOTE) project. The LOTE project aims to develop refined palaeolandscape reconstructions of submerged landscapes in multiple study regions, including along this portion of the Dalmatian coastline. Reconstructed seismic surfaces have been combined with refined relative sea level predictions accounting for isostasy and corrected for sedimentation since these were last subaerial, allowing for a more accurate assessment of the palaeolandscape. The results presented here indicate the presence of a preserved, formerly subaerial landscape likely dating to Marine Isotope Stage 3 (57,000 cal BP to 29,000 cal BP). At least two hominin species occupied the region during this part of the late Pleistocene epoch. Our findings indicate that the region of Kaštela Bay comprised multiple habitats that offered diverse, abundant resources that were likely highly attractive to either, or both, of these hominin populations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"369 ","pages":"Article 109639"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145219841","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 potential impact of glacier volume changes on biome dynamics in the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau since the last deglaciation","authors":"Pengyu Li ,&nbsp;Ziru Hao ,&nbsp;Yang Yang ,&nbsp;Xiao Zhang ,&nbsp;Mengna Liao ,&nbsp;Lina Liu ,&nbsp;Kai Cui ,&nbsp;Yongbo Wang ,&nbsp;Haiyan Li ,&nbsp;Jun Cheng ,&nbsp;Kai Li ,&nbsp;Jian Ni","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109643","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109643","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The changing climate has clearly influenced the vegetation in southwestern China since the last deglaciation. However, the varying vegetation succession patterns and responses to large-scale climate events during this period have sparked debate. Here, we present a well-dated, continuous pollen record from Erhai (EH) lake on the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, to discuss biome variation and its relative forcings over the past 17.2 kyr. Our results indicate that evergreen sclerophyll <em>Quercus</em> forests (ESQF) were predominant surrounding the EH site during the early deglaciation (17.2–12.5 cal ka BP), and that the ESQF transitioned to deciduous broadleaved forest (DBLF) and <em>Tsuga</em> forest (TSUF) around 12.5 cal ka BP during the YD event. During the early to mid-Holocene, the mountain vegetation belts surrounding EH lake were likely similar to the original vegetation present in modern times. Since approximately 2 cal ka BP, a significant increase in anthropochorous taxa proportions has been recorded, largely attributed to early human activities and fire disturbances. Although the warming and wetting trends did not exceed the optimal growth range for <em>Quercus</em> (ES) during the last deglaciation, allowing ESQF to continue growing extensively on sunny mountain slopes, our findings clearly disclosed the regional disparities in vegetation responses to climate change across SW China. Moreover, millennial-scale glacier fluctuations on the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, influenced by monsoon precipitation, likely played a role in driving vegetation succession in the mountains surrounding the EH lake and other areas of the Hengduan region since the deglaciation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"369 ","pages":"Article 109643"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145219763","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":"Quaternary geology of Long Island (Bahamas): an alternative perception of Bahamian island formation and relative sea-level changes in this area during the Last Interglacial","authors":"Lucas Vimpere ,&nbsp;Pascal Kindler ,&nbsp;Nabil A. Shawwa ,&nbsp;Giovan Peyrotty ,&nbsp;Sébastien Castelltort","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109640","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109640","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Relying on a multi-method approach including morphostratigraphy, sedimentology, petrology, and Sr-isotope, U-Th, amino-acid racemization and ¹⁴C dating, we have identified, described, and mapped eight allostratigraphic units on Long Island (NE Bahamas). These units mostly consist of eolianites, but locally include reefal and sandy coastal deposits. They range in age from the middle Pleistocene to the late Holocene, are usually separated by <em>terra-rossa</em> paleosols, and can generally be correlated with the members and formations previously defined on other Bahamian islands. However, the Buckley Settlement and the Dean's Bay units, respectively equivalents of the mid-Holocene North Point Member and of the late Pleistocene Whale Point Formation, are more widespread on Long Island than on other islands, possibly due to a difference in the width of the windward shelf. Furthermore, we could not identify on Long Island a counterpart of the French Bay Member, an extensive rock body supposedly accumulated during the transgression at the onset of the last interglacial period (LIG). The lack of such deposits brings about questions about the volume and the nature of transgressive sediments that can possibly be preserved during a sea-level cycle in the Bahamas, and leads us to reconsider previously proposed models of Bahamian island development. Finally, the examination and, in some cases, the dating of paleo sea-level markers of LIG age suggest that RSL on Long Island was about +3 m above modern datum in the first half of the LIG, and rose to about +5 m in the middle of this period. This rise was likely not preceded by an exposure event.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"369 ","pages":"Article 109640"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145219765","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 topographic features and sedimentary environment potentially influenced the vegetation reconstruction in southwestern China since the MIS3","authors":"Xiao Zhang ,&nbsp;Yuanfu Yue ,&nbsp;Ziyan Zhang ,&nbsp;Liuying He ,&nbsp;Xinmeng Yuan ,&nbsp;Xintian Yu ,&nbsp;Qiuchi Wan ,&nbsp;Cong Chen ,&nbsp;Yongjie Tang ,&nbsp;Zhuo Zheng ,&nbsp;Kangyou Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109636","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109636","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A series of pollen records from southwestern (SW) China has provided substantial evidence for the reconstruction of paleovegetation and paleoclimate in the region since the Last Glacial Period (LGP). However, studies investigating the relationship between paleoclimate and ecosystem changes during MIS3 remain limited, thereby constraining our understanding of the response of vegetation to climatic fluctuations on the glacial–interglacial timescale. Moreover, in comparison to local–scale topographic pollen sources, traditional lake sedimentary environments introduce a higher degree of uncertainty into vertical vegetation reconstructions. Here, we present a pollen record derived from a peat core of the Niangniang (NN) Mountain Wetland, aiming to reconstruct biome and climate variations over the past 37 ka. Our findings indicate that during the LGP, the study area was predominantly covered by deciduous broadleaved forests (DBLF), with <em>Quercus</em> (D) and other Betulaceae taxa as the main components. Although a sedimentary hiatus occurred in the core sediments between 18.5 and 4.6 ka, it is still possible to infer that from the LGP to the late Holocene, the forests surrounding the NN wetland transitioned from DBLF to evergreen broadleaved forests (EBLF), which were predominantly composed of <em>Castanopsis</em> and <em>Cyclobalanopsis</em>. Over the past 2400 years, the rapid expansion of associated plants, including Poaceae and <em>Pinus</em>, along with secondary taxa such as <em>Alnus</em>, has driven a gradual transition to the Alpine Shrubland and Meadow (ALSM) biome. This shift is largely attributed to early human activities and fires. By comparing these results with other pollen and climate records, we conclude that DBLF expanded extensively at medium–to–high altitudes during the LGP, rather than evergreen sclerophyllous <em>Quercus</em> forest (ESQF). Consequently, previous estimates of mean annual temperature (MAT) based on pollen data may have been inflated from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the Holocene. In addition to the drivers operating at the glacial–interglacial scale, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) plays a pivotal role in modulating the variability of the Indian Monsoon precipitation, which in turn influences biome succession in SW China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"369 ","pages":"Article 109636"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145219840","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":"Vegetation and climate dynamics in the south-western mediterranean during MIS 37–31 (∼1.25 - ∼1. 06 Ma): Insights from the marine core ODP site 976","authors":"Maé Catrain ,&nbsp;Nathalie Combourieu-Nebout ,&nbsp;Vincent Lebreton ,&nbsp;Séverine Fauquette ,&nbsp;Odile Peyron ,&nbsp;Morgane Fries ,&nbsp;Patricia Richard ,&nbsp;Lionel Dubost ,&nbsp;Sébastien Joannin ,&nbsp;Jean-Pierre Suc ,&nbsp;Emin Paquier Comas ,&nbsp;Jeanne Lepelletier ,&nbsp;Marie-Hélène Moncel","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109635","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109635","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Early to Middle Pleistocene Transition (EMPT; 1.4 to 0.4 Ma) represents a major change in the Earth's climate, marked by a shift from obliquity-driven glacial cycles of 41,000 years to dominant cycles of 100,000 years. This period is crucial for understanding climate and vegetation change, as it marks the final phase of the disappearance of megatherm and mesotherm forest taxa that had been present in Europe since the Miocene and Pliocene period. However, sedimentary records from this period are sparse, particularly in the Mediterranean region. Here, we present continuous pollen and isotopic records spanning Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 37–31 (∼1.25–1.06 Ma) from site ODP 976 in the Alboran Sea, the first continuous sequence in the Western Mediterranean for this period, which is discussed in light of a corpus of records to reflect the broader dynamics of the Mediterranean vegetation. Pollen data show similar successions around the Mediterranean: steppe vegetation during glacial periods, temperate forests during interglacial periods, and the development of conifers during transition phases, reflecting the gradual shift from 41 ka to 100 ka cycles. Differences in the vegetation composition between the west and the rest of the Mediterranean during Interglacial-Glacial/Glacial-Interglacial transitions are highlighted by the important role of Cupressaceae and Ericaceae. It clearly indicates the scarcity of relict taxa (<em>Sciadopitys, Cathaya, Eucommia</em>) south of 40°N, revealing a north-south gradient of decline associated with increasing aridity and challenging the traditional view of \"southern refugia.\"</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"369 ","pages":"Article 109635"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145219839","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":"Relative environmental stability in the Hula Valley (northern Israel) during the last glacial-interglacial transition","authors":"Elizabeth Bunin ,&nbsp;Gonen Sharon ,&nbsp;Birgit Schröder ,&nbsp;Steffen Mischke","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109621","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109621","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study presents the first multidecadal-resolution, carbonate stable isotope record from Paleolake Hula, a hydrologically-open freshwater lake located along the Dead Sea Transform in northern Israel. This lake was an important landscape feature to prehistoric hunter-fisher-gatherer societies since at least the early Middle Pleistocene, and some of the Levant's most important archeological sites are located along its paleoshorelines. The lacustrine sedimentary sequence studied here is the first known from the southern Levant to preserve both a continuous record of regional environmental conditions as well as artifacts attributed to cultures from all three stages of the Epipaleolithic period: the Early Epipaleolithic Masraqan, the Middle Epipaleolithic Geometric Kebaran and the Late/Terminal Epipaleolithic Natufian. While the Epipaleolithic was a time of dramatic cultural change in this region, and the transition from the last glacial to the present (Holocene) interglacial brought with it a dramatic reorganization of global climate systems, our record shows that environmental conditions in the Hula Valley were mild, stable, and continuously favorable for human habitation. Here average ostracod carbonate δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C values measured exhibit variation within a narrow range (c. 3 ‰) and show no evidence for extreme temperatures or aridity. High intra-sample variability of the dataset indicates that short-term (day-to-week scale) variability in the water isotopic composition and temperature was significant. This is especially pronounced during times of lower lake volume, when thermal and isotopic buffering capacity were reduced. The multidecadal resolution of this sedimentary sequence allows for the identification of centennial-scale climate developments previously poorly known from the eastern Mediterranean region, including evidence for a two-phase Younger Dryas. Although shifts in the local hydroclimate are recognizable in the proxy datasets, their real-world expressions are expected to have been modest, and unlikely to have significantly impacted the valley's terrestrial biota. Results confirm the importance of both the eastern Mediterranean Sea as the primary moisture source for precipitation and the contribution of northern moisture sources to the water balance of downstream lakes. The results also highlight the complexity of interpreting carbonate stable isotope records from hydrologically-open lakes and the importance of viewing them in conjunction with other proxies such as grain size, geochemical, lithological and micropaleontological data.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"369 ","pages":"Article 109621"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145157988","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":"Sedimentary pigments reveal complex ecosystem responses of primary producers to mid-Holocene summer anoxia in a small Greenland lake","authors":"Mia T. Tuccillo ,&nbsp;Shayna C. Garla ,&nbsp;Magdalena R. Osburn ,&nbsp;Bailey C. Nash ,&nbsp;Yarrow Axford","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109630","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109630","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Freshwater ecosystems in the Arctic are particularly sensitive to climate change, and current anthropogenic warming has demonstrably influenced Arctic lake productivity. Paleolimnological records reveal how primary producers have responded to past environmental changes and thus provide insight on their future shifts. Sedimentary pigments are molecular biomarkers that can record detailed information about soft-bodied algae and cyanobacteria, which are not well represented by more conventional proxies. We analyzed diverse sedimentary pigments (echinenone, okenone, alloxanthin, canthaxanthin, <em>β</em>-carotene, and chlorophyll-<em>a</em> and its degradation products) from two cores using HPLC-MS, as well as bulk sediment organic and inorganic geochemistry, to reconstruct Holocene changes in primary production in a small, subarctic lake in South Greenland. We find multi-proxy evidence for a multi-millennial, mid-Holocene period of hypolimnetic anoxia from 6650 to 3500 cal yr BP within part of the lake. We suggest that summer thermal stratification and high productivity driven by warmer-than-present temperatures and increased catchment-derived nutrient influx drove changes in summer lakewater oxygenation. Our reconstructions reveal two distinct steady ecosystem states associated with oxygen status: a eukaryotic algae-dominated community during oxic conditions, versus cyanobacterial dominance during periods with anoxic bottom waters. Notably, we find that markers of anoxia and associated ecosystem shifts are stronger and probably longer-lived at one coring site, secondarily revealing considerable spatial (in addition to temporal) heterogeneity in oxygenation. As such, we propose that multi-core comparisons in paleolimnology can capture biogeochemical changes across both space and time, even in small lakes, and that spatial variations can provide clues about potentially localized drivers of past limnological change. Overall, our work broadly indicates that primary producer communities in some subarctic lakes were highly sensitive to warmer-than-present temperatures in the mid-Holocene, with landscape processes and thermal stratification playing secondary roles in driving productivity shifts. This implies that future warming could prompt widespread transformations in Arctic lake ecosystems, biogeochemistry (including carbon cycling and oxygenation), and water quality.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"369 ","pages":"Article 109630"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145157911","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}