Quaternary Science Reviews最新文献

{"title":"Stable isotope dendroclimatology in Southern African Savannas","authors":"M.E. Niemand ,&nbsp;S.M. Woodborne ,&nbsp;F.H. Neumann","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109730","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109730","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Classical dendrochronology uses annually formed anatomical proxies such as tree-ring width to reconstruct environmental conditions. The scarcity of classical tree-ring studies coincides with the distribution of the Southern African Savannas, where tree adaptations limit its application. Savanna trees exhibit adaptive strategies to survive fire, herbivory, and frequent multi-season droughts that lead to indistinct growth-rings that are potentially not annually formed and therefore unsuitable as age or environmental proxies in palaeoclimate reconstructions. With some caveats, these shortcomings can be overcome. Stable isotope ratios, such as δ¹³C in radial growth increments, can serve as a proxy for environmental conditions in trees lacking annual rings. We present a 3-step framework for generating isotope dendroclimatology from such trees: (1) radiocarbon dating as an age indicator, (2) stable isotope ratios as an environmental proxy, and (3) instrumental climate data comparisons to test the environmental sensitivity of the isotope chronology. In a multi-tree chronology, the age models are key. The radiocarbon chronology acts as an initial constraint for the δ¹³C record for individual trees and using a parsimonious approach that presumes a common environmental signal between trees, each δ¹³C chronology becomes an a priory input into refining the individual age models within limits set by the radiocarbon precision to yield the master chronology. Establishing the sensitivity of δ¹³C proxy records to climate forcing adheres to the same requirements as classical dendrochronology. Although annual resolution is unattainable, reconstructions elucidating decadal to centennial-scale trends in regions with few long-lived trees nevertheless contribute to long-term climate trends.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109730"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145692732","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 terrace formation in response to climate, regional uplift and local normal faulting: The Danube terrace staircase of Vienna","authors":"B.C. Salcher ,&nbsp;S.M. Neuhuber ,&nbsp;J.-C. Otto ,&nbsp;T. Payer ,&nbsp;C. Lüthgens ,&nbsp;S. Fuchs ,&nbsp;A. Flores-Orozco ,&nbsp;J. Nørgaard ,&nbsp;S. Grupe ,&nbsp;O. Marchhart ,&nbsp;A. Wieser ,&nbsp;J. Lachner ,&nbsp;M. Fiebig ,&nbsp;Zs. Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109709","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109709","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Quaternary terrace sequences can be observed along many mid to high latitudinal rivers, often reflecting a distinct, climate-related cyclicity of the fluvial system in uplifting regions. They are also essential landforms in many continental basins even though local basin subsidence may counteract an existing regional uplift trend. Glacial and periglacial processes may amplify events of river aggradation, with associated terraces providing clear stratigraphic markers. In this study, we explore the opposing lithospheric forces, regional uplift vs. local normal faulting, along a perialpine section of the Danube River, which is strongly affected by a 100-ka depositional cyclicity during the Quaternary. Within the city of Vienna, the Danube formed an extensive terrace staircase across a continental-scale normal fault. This fault demarcates the transition of the Eastern Alps and the Miocene Vienna Basin. Its Quaternary activity remained ambiguous and its impact on terrace configuration largely unexplored. Solifluction processes over several glacial-interglacial cycles typically led to thick colluvial deposits along terrace slopes, resulting, together with the anthropogenic overprint, in obliteration of the terrace morphology. To constrain terrace geometry, elevation and decipher fault kinematics we used electrical resistivity tomography, drill log and historical outcrop data. We applied morphostratigraphic age modelling supported by terrestrial cosmogenic radionuclide burial and luminescence dating to derive rates of uplift and subsidence. Results show how long-wavelength uplift and concomitant normal faulting have controlled terrace development and Quaternary landscape evolution. This study provides clear evidence for fault activity within the city of Vienna.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109709"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145797938","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":"New U-series and coupled ESR/U-series dating of Xujiayao (northern China), the type site for Homo juluensis","authors":"Qingfeng Shao ,&nbsp;Fagang Wang ,&nbsp;Junyi Ge ,&nbsp;Jean-Jacques Bahain ,&nbsp;Pierre Voinchet ,&nbsp;Guilan Hu ,&nbsp;Xinrui Jin ,&nbsp;Rainer Grün ,&nbsp;Christopher J. Bae ,&nbsp;Xing Song","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109742","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109742","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Xujiayao site, located in the western part of the Nihewan Basin, Hebei Province, northern China, has yielded 21 pieces of archaic hominin fossils in association with numerous stone artifacts and mammalian remains. The Xujiayao hominin remains were recently used to define a new species <em>Homo juluensis</em>, representing a series of fossils, such as the Xuchang, Xiahe, Penghu, Tam Ngu Hao 2, and Denisova remains. Different dating methods have been used to estimate the age of the Xujiayao hominin remains since the 1970s when the site was originally discovered. Unfortunately, the proposed ages vary in a wide range, from the middle Middle Pleistocene to the late Late Pleistocene. To refine the age of this site, we present a new dating study using both U-series and coupled ESR/U-series dating methods. Direct U-series dating on five of the Xujiayao hominin fossils provided minimum ages ranging from ∼100 to 200 ka, which are further confined by the Diffusion – Adsorption – Decay (DAD) model ages of 172 ± 3 ka and 195 ± 5 ka, and the coupled ESR/U-series ages ranging from 144 ± 10 to 211 ± 12 ka, obtained on the associated faunal remains. These new dates were integrated with some of previously published dating results by a Bayesian age model, demonstrating that the Xujiayao upper cultural layer, in which were recovered the hominin fossils, can be constrained between 138 ± 10 ka and 199 ± 8 ka, and the lower cultural layer between 205 ± 8 ka to 228 ± 17 ka, placing the hominin occupation in a period covering the marine isotope stages 7 and 6.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109742"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145748402","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":"Hydroclimate forcing and anthropogenic impacts trigger an early (∼1650 cal yr BP) regime shift in Chenghai Lake (China)","authors":"Qian Wang ,&nbsp;John P. Smol ,&nbsp;Kathleen M. Rühland ,&nbsp;Rong Wang ,&nbsp;Xiangdong Yang ,&nbsp;Enlou Zhang ,&nbsp;Yanjie Zhao ,&nbsp;Yanling Li","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109726","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109726","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Regime shifts in lake ecosystems are critical responses to cumulative environmental stress, yet the roles of climate variability and human activities in driving these transitions remain unclear, particularly in regions with long-term human-environment interactions. Here we reconstruct ∼8000 years of ecological dynamics in Chenghai Lake, a closed-basin lake in Southwest China, using cladoceran assemblages, sedimentary chlorophyll <em>a</em>, and geochemical records. We identify a major regime shift at ca. 1650 cal yr BP, characterized by a species turnover from planktonic to littoral and macrophyte-associated cladoceran communities, accompanied by declining primary productivity and increasing turbidity. This ecosystem shift was driven by progressive evaporation, monsoon weakening, and intensified catchment disturbance from deforestation and agriculture that collectively led to severe hydrological stress. Indicators of resilience (autocorrelation at lag-1 (AR1) and variance) suggest a gradual loss of system stability preceding the shift. Our findings suggest that coupled climate-vegetation-hydrology pressures can progressively destabilize lake ecosystems, promoting abrupt and persistent ecological transitions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"372 ","pages":"Article 109726"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145622543","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":"Beyond the cold steppes: Neanderthal landscapes and the neglect of flora","authors":"José Carrión ,&nbsp;Gabriela Amorós ,&nbsp;Ariadna Amorós ,&nbsp;Ana B. Marín-Arroyo","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109673","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109673","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the environmental contexts in which Neanderthals lived is essential for interpreting their behavioral adaptations, resource use, and ecological strategies. These landscapes shaped the availability of plant and animal resources, influencing patterns of mobility, technology, and survival. This article presents an integrative reconstruction of Neanderthal landscapes across the full extent of their Eurasian distribution, combining palaeoecological synthesis, archaeobotanical records, and scientifically grounded palaeoart applied to Iberian case studies with particular emphasis on plant species—traditionally marginalized in a predominantly zoocentric paleoartistic tradition. Building on a sustained review articulated through a series of landscape “chronicles,” the study contextualizes palaeovegetation mosaics across stadial and interstadial phases during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. By examining the interplay between vegetation dynamics, climatic oscillations, and human presence, we explore the spatial heterogeneity of Neanderthal environments, the persistence of forest elements in southern glacial refugia, the existence of migratory corridors and coastal platforms, and the shifting expression of the Mediterranean biome under Quaternary rhythms. The palaeoartistic reconstructions are firmly rooted in palaeobotanical evidence and serve as heuristic devices for generating hypotheses about Neanderthal habitat structure, ecological plasticity, and niche breadth. These visualizations move beyond mere illustration to render palaeobiogeographic complexity and to support a broader discussion of Neanderthal eco-evolutionary interactions, including resource use, refugial continuity, and interspecific contact. Importantly, this work seeks to challenge the entrenched popular view that Neanderthals must be associated exclusively with treeless, open glacial landscapes, instead highlighting the diversity of vegetated environments in which they lived.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"371 ","pages":"Article 109673"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145519329","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":"A comparison of Holocene temperature reconstructions from vegetation proxies and brGDGTs in northern Fennoscandia","authors":"Liva Trasune ,&nbsp;Lilia E. Orozco ,&nbsp;J. Sakari Salonen ,&nbsp;Gerard A. Otiniano ,&nbsp;Trevor J. Porter ,&nbsp;Jan Weckström ,&nbsp;Michael A. Phillips ,&nbsp;Frederik Schenk ,&nbsp;Maija Heikkilä","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109727","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109727","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Studies on Holocene climate conditions commonly show discrepancies between different proxy-based reconstructions, calling for in-depth analysis of both the proxies and the derived climate reconstructions. Here, we conducted multi-proxy Holocene warm-season temperature reconstructions for a sedimentary record from Lake Tippakuru in northeastern Finland, using pollen, plant macrofossils, and the novel branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) as climate proxies. In addition, we prepared a regional climate reconstruction by integrating pollen-based reconstructions from nearby sites. Mainly, we evaluated the potential of using brGDGTs as a climate proxy and compared the reconstructed climate shifts with those reconstructed from classical vegetation-based proxies (pollen and plant macrofossils). We see significant discrepancies between the three proxies, most notably during the early Holocene where plant macrofossils and brGDGTs indicate warm conditions while the pollen-based reconstructions are equivocal and strongly depend on the quantitative reconstruction method used. Additionally, the brGDGT records indicate an abrupt cooling at ca. 5.8 cal ka BP which is not seen in the classical proxies at the study site, but only in neighbouring localities. The results highlight the need for modern-day studies on seasonal variability and bacterial sources of brGDGTs to disentangle non-thermal biases and evaluate seasonal imprints in temperature reconstructions. In general, our results imply that not only the choice of climate proxies but also the methodological choices in the proxy-based quantitative reconstructions affect the climatic interpretation, especially during the early Holocene transitional period. We highlight the need for both multi-proxy and multi-method approaches in paleoclimate studies, as well as the need to expand the knowledge of brGDGT responses to climatic and other environmental variables.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"372 ","pages":"Article 109727"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145691285","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":"Declining marine resource use over five centuries of human adaptation on Guanahaní (San Salvador), The Bahamas","authors":"Rick J. Schulting ,&nbsp;Mary Jane Berman ,&nbsp;Grace Turner ,&nbsp;Joanna Ostapkowicz","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109686","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109686","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There remains considerable debate over the scale and nature of impacts by pre-industrial, small-scale societies on the natural environment. In the pre-Columbian Caribbean, this has included clear evidence for terrestrial extirpations and extinctions, as well as more equivocal evidence for the over-exploitation of near-shore marine resources. Bringing a new line of evidence to this debate, we present the results of a radiocarbon and stable isotope project undertaken on pre-Columbian (Lucayan) human remains from Guanahaní (San Salvador), The Bahamas. The dates obtained range between ca. AD 900 and 1400, encompassing much of the known settlement history of the island, as demonstrated through a comparison with Bayesian modeling of radiocarbon dates from settlements. Associated mean human stable carbon isotope (<em>δ</em>¹³C) values changed significantly over this period, from ca. −11.8‰ to ca. −14.6‰, consistent with previous suggestions of a decline in the use of marine resources across the archipelago as a whole. We interpret this as a result of local resource depletion through over-exploitation, impacting human decision-making in favour of greater emphasis on managed terrestrial resources. The available zooarchaeological evidence offers some support for a shift in marine resource use that is consistent with this scenario. Our results provide an independent line of evidence supporting the potential for small human populations to significantly affect their environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"372 ","pages":"Article 109686"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145691286","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":"Post-LGM sedimentation history and deglaciation processes in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada","authors":"I. Schulten ,&nbsp;V. Maselli ,&nbsp;E.L. King ,&nbsp;M. Schmidt ,&nbsp;C. Hensen ,&nbsp;T. Müller ,&nbsp;A. Asioli ,&nbsp;A. Micallef ,&nbsp;C. Berndt ,&nbsp;C.J. Brown ,&nbsp;F. Córdoba-Ramírez ,&nbsp;J. Elger ,&nbsp;S. Hölz ,&nbsp;A. Kotliarov ,&nbsp;B. Kurylyk ,&nbsp;S. Yu ,&nbsp;M.R. Nedimović","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109715","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109715","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>During the last glacial period, continents and surrounding shelves in high latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere were covered by ice sheets. Their retreat after the Last Glacial Maximum resulted in isostatic adjustments of the previously glaciated landmass and post-glacial changes in relative sea level during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Many questions, however, remain about the timing and impact of the ice retreat and of short-lived climatic events on continental shelf environments. This study aims to reconstruct the sedimentation and deglaciation processes on the continental shelf of the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence (Canada) over the past 14 ka by investigating changes in the sedimentation patterns and paleo-environments. Using information from sub-bottom profiles, sediment cores, and multibeam bathymetry, this study finds that most of the continental shelf was flooded 13.6 ka ago, as evidenced by the presence of Bølling-Allerød marine sediments at a water depth of ∼50 m and ∼15 km off the modern coastline, which also suggests an earlier retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet than suggested by previous studies. We estimate sedimentation rates for the Bølling-Allerød of ∼0.4 cm a⁻¹, which increased up to 1 cm a⁻¹ during the Younger Dryas cooling event, likely associated with increased storm-wave activity and sea ice development caused by deteriorating climatic conditions. The presence of an erosional truncation atop Younger Dryas sediments indicates a late Pleistocene-early Holocene relative sea level fall and associated lowstand. Based on our new data, we established a geological model that highlights sedimentation processes since the Last Glacial Maximum and demonstrate the potential impact of short-lived climatic events on the former ice margin during deglaciation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"372 ","pages":"Article 109715"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145622537","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":"6000 years of monsoon-driven east–west antiphasing of northeastern Brazil vegetation","authors":"Sergio Augusto Santos Xavier ,&nbsp;Marie-Pierre Ledru ,&nbsp;Ilana Wainer ,&nbsp;Myriam Khodri ,&nbsp;Francisca Soares de Araújo","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109723","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109723","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Northeastern Brazil (NEB) is characterized by irregular rainfall distribution and various vegetation types, such as the xerophilous Caatinga in the east, Cerrado and Amazon rainforests in the west. Sediment cores and speleothems show that the region was subjected to strong climatic changes during the Holocene. To reconstruct related vegetation responses and biomass burning, we present a synthetic review based on nine pollen published records covering the last 6000 years. Our regional environmental reconstructions reveal four intervals of changes, influenced by the position and intensity of an east-west moisture band across NEB, in phase with South America Summer Monsoon variability. Between 6.0 and 5.2 ka BP and 5.2–4.2 ka BP, changes in the distribution of the dry forest Caatinga, Cerrado and Amazon Forest were driven by oscillating precipitation in a general pattern dry western/moist eastern NEB. Similar changes amongst sites were correlated to their location either within or outside the moisture band. Between 4.2 and 2.6 ka BP, Caatinga expanded in the eastern NEB, while Cerrado and Amazon forests became established in western NEB. This vegetation shift matches the moist western/dry eastern NEB climate around 4.2 ka BP, consistent with TraCE-21k simulations and speleothem records. From 2.6 ka BP onwards, biomass burning observed under dry or wet conditions was related to a marked increase in anthropogenic activities. For the last 6000 years NEB's vegetation boundaries have been in phase with the summer insolation, the oscillations of the South America Summer Monsoon, and the positions of the convergence zones which delimited a band of moisture throughout specific location of NEB. Human activities were not found to be directly affected by the humidity gradient; instead, humans have relied on each biome's resources. Investigating the extent of climatic and human influences on NEB vegetation in the past is crucial to discussing the effectiveness of current conservation policies in the region.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"372 ","pages":"Article 109723"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145622539","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":"Holocene sea-ice and productivity changes on the Scotian Shelf, NW Atlantic","authors":"Peter Matzerath ,&nbsp;Henriette M. Kolling ,&nbsp;Markus Kienast ,&nbsp;Kirsten Fahl ,&nbsp;Ruediger Stein ,&nbsp;Felix Gross ,&nbsp;Ralph R. Schneider","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109694","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109694","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Scotian Shelf is affected by the confluence of cold polar and warm Gulf Stream-influenced waters, making it particularly sensitive to record past ocean and climate variability. Despite this paleoenvironmental significance, major gaps in our understanding of Holocene ocean and climate dynamics persist, particularly in terms of sea ice and marine productivity. Here, we use a combination of biomarkers, specifically the sea-ice proxy IP₂₅, together with biomarkers for productivity (i.e., brassicasterol, dinosterol, total organic carbon) and terrigenous input (campesterol) in a sediment core from the northeastern Scotian Shelf to resolve Holocene changes in sea ice and marine productivity. During the Early Holocene, our results show increased spring sea-ice algae and reduced marine productivity, which we posit to be linked to a strongly reduced regional sea level together with increased inflow of meltwater favoring the formation of an expanded seasonal sea-ice cover on the Scotian Shelf. After 6 cal ka BP, the Scotian Shelf became predominantly free of sea ice due to a decreased influence of meltwater and a rise in local sea level. After 2.5 cal ka BP and coinciding with the Late Holocene Neoglacial cooling, the Scotian Shelf might have been affected by episodic sea-ice readvances, consistent with other regional on- and offshore paleoclimate studies. In summary, our records suggest a strong link between sea-ice extent, marine productivity, and Holocene variations in regional sea level, and ocean and atmosphere conditions, i.e., the strength of Gulf of St. Lawrence outflow and Labrador Current, and prevailing North Atlantic Oscillation anomalies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"372 ","pages":"Article 109694"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145622540","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}