Quaternary Science Reviews最新文献

{"title":"Sulfur isotopes evidence spatial ecology of Late Pleistocene ungulates in southwestern France","authors":"Sarah Barakat ,&nbsp;Elodie-Laure Jimenez ,&nbsp;Raija Katarina Heikkilä ,&nbsp;Aurélien Royer ,&nbsp;Jamie Hodgkins ,&nbsp;Laura Niven ,&nbsp;Marie-Cécile Soulier ,&nbsp;Susan Lagle ,&nbsp;Christelle Dancette ,&nbsp;Teresa E. Steele ,&nbsp;Jean-Christophe Castel ,&nbsp;Shannon McPherron ,&nbsp;Jean-Jacques Hublin ,&nbsp;Karen Ruebens ,&nbsp;Emmanuel Discamps ,&nbsp;Kate Britton","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109744","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109744","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding prey species spatial behaviour is key to unravelling contemporary hunter-gatherer subsistence and movement patterns. Here, we use sulfur (<em>δ</em>³⁴S), carbon (<em>δ</em> ¹³C) and nitrogen (<em>δ</em> ¹⁵N) isotope compositions of bone collagen extracted from <em>Rangifer, Equus,</em> Bovinae<em>, Capreolus,</em> and <em>Cervus</em> (<em>n</em> = 244) to explore isotope spatial and dietary niches of several key hunter-gatherer prey species from three Late Pleistocene sites in southwestern France between MIS 5 and MIS 3. Alongside morphological identification, Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) was used to confirm deer taxa (<em>n</em> = 125) allowing for a better interpretation of the isotopic data. <em>δ</em>³⁴S analysis identifies differences in ranging sizes between ungulates with known large ranging sizes from those with small to medium size ranges. <em>Rangifer</em>, who, today, have large home ranges, have the largest range of <em>δ</em>³⁴S values and lowest <em>δ</em>³⁴S values with low to no overlap with other ungulate species through time. This indicates that <em>Rangifer</em> had a larger range size with a distinct isotopic area that is different to other ungulates, potentially farther inland and farther north. Bovines and <em>Equus</em> have largely overlapping <em>δ</em>³⁴S values that are similar to the modern local <em>δ</em>³⁴S value of the sites, and <em>Cervus</em> and <em>Capreolus</em> have <em>δ</em>³⁴S values that overlap but are slightly higher than the modern <em>δ</em>³⁴S values, potentially indicating a ranging area to the west of the sites. These results reveal that Neanderthals hunted three different groups of game who occupied different areas of the landscape.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"374 ","pages":"Article 109744"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145760832","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":"Charcoal record reveals the cause and impact of wildfires in southwestern China over the past 35,200 years","authors":"Ziru Hao ,&nbsp;Pengyu Li ,&nbsp;Cuizhen Li ,&nbsp;Yang Yang ,&nbsp;Kai Cui ,&nbsp;Xiao Zhang ,&nbsp;Mengna Liao ,&nbsp;Lina Liu ,&nbsp;Yongbo Wang ,&nbsp;Ramesh Glückler ,&nbsp;Kai Li ,&nbsp;Xingqi Liu ,&nbsp;Jian Ni","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109780","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109780","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As one of three recycling pathways in terrestrial ecosystem, wildfires have long been attributed to climate changes and play an important role in regulating nutrient cycling and terrestrial vegetation composition. Southwestern China is a hotspot of plant diversity and experiences severe wildfires, however, the long-term fire trajectory, variability, and forcings behind wildfire activity are less understood. Here, we use sedimentary charcoals to reconstruct fire regimes in the Erhai Lake region of southwestern China over the past 35,200 years. Our findings illustrate that periods with increased wildfire activity were generally linked to dry and/or cool climate, with clearly increased frequency and severity of fire occurrence during late MIS3, Heinrich-1, and the Younger Dryas. In contrast, levels of biomass burning decreased obviously during the Bølling-Allerød warm period and throughout the Holocene. Long-term trends of wildfire activity were generally consistent with paleofire records in southwestern China. Wildfire frequency and severity in this region should be regulated by relative humidity in the dry season, which is modulated by spring solar insolation. Synchronized variations were observed between Erhai charcoal record and Asian stalagmites δ¹⁸O, reinforcing a suggested impact of the Asian Summer Monsoon on wildfire regimes at multi-centennial scales. In addition, our results support a top-down pattern in which climate-driven wildfires facilitated at different times the development of pine forest and/or grassland around Erhai Lake. These findings highlight the critical role of long-term hydro-climate variability in regulating fire regimes as well as the vegetation dynamics in southwestern China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"374 ","pages":"Article 109780"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145842171","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":"Late Holocene climate variability and lake productivity change inferred from the remote alpine catchment of Lake Bright, New Zealand","authors":"Julian Eschenroeder ,&nbsp;Christopher M. Moy ,&nbsp;Sebastian Naeher ,&nbsp;Marcus J. Vandergoes ,&nbsp;Oliver Rach ,&nbsp;Dirk Sachse ,&nbsp;Rik Tjallingii ,&nbsp;Jamie D. Howarth ,&nbsp;Adelaine Moody ,&nbsp;Xun Li ,&nbsp;Claire Shepherd ,&nbsp;Elizabeth Kennedy ,&nbsp;Lizette Reyes","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109782","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109782","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Remote lacustrine environments in the Southern Hemisphere offer rare opportunities to study past climate variability, unaffected by significant human disturbances. Yet, high-resolution palaeoenvironmental reconstructions for the late Holocene remain rare, limiting the current understanding of ecological responses over the last ∼4000 years, to regional climate dynamics. This study investigates late Holocene climate variability and ecosystem responses inferred from sediment cores of oligotrophic Lake Bright located in central Fiordland, Aotearoa New Zealand.</div><div>We applied a multi-proxy approach, comprising lipid biomarker analysis (brGDGTs and leaf wax <em>n</em>-alkanes), X-ray fluorescence core scanning (XRF-CS), hyperspectral imaging (HSI), bulk sediment geochemical proxies (biogenic silica, TOC, TN, <em>δ</em>¹³C, <em>δ</em>¹⁵N) and compound-specific stable hydrogen (<em>δ</em>D) isotope analysis to sediment cores and modern catchment soils, water, and vegetation samples.</div><div>Our results indicate that over the late Holocene, Lake Bright's productivity was tied to changes in hydroclimate, and in particular to surface runoff dynamics. In this record, phases of enhanced lake productivity correlate with more arid climate intervals, characterised by lower detrital input, independent of temperature fluctuations. In contrast, decreased lake productivity coincides with increased detrital influx, reflecting elevated runoff and enhanced catchment erosion into the lake.</div><div>We identify a climatic shift between 2500 and 1500 years ago, possibly marking a transition from a centennial-scale stable climate towards more pronounced hydroclimate seasonality and a stronger influence of the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds (SHWW) in the region.</div><div>Our findings demonstrate the local influence of regional atmospheric circulation, modulated by the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and offers insights for predicting how alpine lake ecosystems might respond to future climate changes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"374 ","pages":"Article 109782"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145885317","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 chronological results from Chaohu Lake Palaeolithic sites in the lower Yangtze River, South China","authors":"Shuangwen Yi ,&nbsp;Zhe Dong ,&nbsp;Shijia Zhan ,&nbsp;Shuwen Pei ,&nbsp;Huayu Lu","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109728","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109728","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Systematic field investigations and excavations in the lower Yangtze River region have uncovered numerous open-air Palaeolithic sites, yielding a wealth of stone artifacts crucial for understanding lithic technological evolution and hominin adaptive behaviors during the Middle to Late Pleistocene in South China. However, chronological frameworks and technological patterns in this region remain underexplored. This study applies multiple luminescence dating techniques to establish precise age estimates for three Palaeolithic sites in the Chaohu Lake region of Anhui Province, South China. Our high-resolution geochronological results indicate site occupation from approximately 200 to 30 ka. The lower archaeological unit, containing large scrapers, cleavers, and handaxes, dates to 200–70 ka, marking the emergence of a Large Cutting Tool techno-complex during MIS 5, possibly extending into MIS 6 or 7. In contrast, the upper archaeological unit, dated to 60–30 ka, is dominated by small flakes and flaked tools, reflecting the development of lithic miniaturization and an increased reliance on high-quality raw materials during MIS 3. These findings reveal a technological shift from Acheulean large flake technology to the dominance of miniaturized flake tools from the late Middle Pleistocene to the Late Pleistocene, closely linked to environmental and ecological changes in South China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109728"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145692728","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 vegetation dynamics and anthropogenic imprints in the Chinese Loess Plateau: Insights from pollen records","authors":"Zeyu Liu ,&nbsp;Yajie Dong ,&nbsp;Suping Peng ,&nbsp;Anning Cui ,&nbsp;Xian Li","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109732","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109732","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Holocene vegetation dynamics in the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) are crucial for understanding East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) impacts on paleoenvironments and human societies. Technical limitations in pollen extraction and chronology have hindered comprehensive understanding of spatiotemporal patterns and their driving mechanisms. Using an improved pollen extraction method, we analyzed pollen and charcoal from three loess-paleosol sections (Huanxian, Jingchuan, and Yaoxian) to reconstruct regional vegetation history and anthropogenic impacts. Our results demonstrate that steppe vegetation (dominated by <em>Taraxacum</em>, <em>Artemisia</em>, <em>Aster</em>, Chenopodiaceae, Poaceae, and <em>Hippophae</em>) prevailed throughout the Holocene, with significant increase in forest components during the mid-Holocene. A significant ecological transition occurred approximately 2.0 ka (corresponding to the Qin-Han period), marked by significant increases in charcoal (indicating fire activities), <em>Hippophae</em> (reflecting shrub colonization), and Brassicaceae (demonstrating agriculturalization), revealing systematic human modification of ecosystems. Spatial analysis shows this anthropogenic impact followed the regional climate gradient, appearing earlier and more intensely in the warmer/wetter southeast (Yaoxian) than in the arid northwest (Huanxian). We propose a dual-control framework where climate primarily governed biome-scale vegetation patterns, while human activities secondarily modified species composition and ecosystem structure at local scales during the late Holocene. These findings provide new insights into long-term human-environment interactions in semi-arid regions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109732"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145692731","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":"Eemian climate seasonality reconstructed from intra-tooth oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen stable isotopes in equid enamel from Neumark-Nord 2, Germany","authors":"Marissa Vink ,&nbsp;Jennifer N. Leichliter ,&nbsp;Daniel R. Green ,&nbsp;Sven Brömme ,&nbsp;Théo Tacail ,&nbsp;Lutz Kindler ,&nbsp;Wil Roebroeks ,&nbsp;Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser ,&nbsp;Gerald H. Haug ,&nbsp;Hubert B. Vonhof ,&nbsp;Alfredo Martínez-García ,&nbsp;Thomas Tütken ,&nbsp;Tina Lüdecke","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109724","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109724","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Reconstructing the climate of central Europe during the Eemian serves a dual purpose. First, the Eemian represents the most recent pre-Holocene period of widespread climate warming, and its vegetation structure offers a potential natural baseline for temperate European vegetation, as it was unaffected by large-scale anthropogenic alterations. Second, because Neanderthals lived in Europe during this period, understanding the climate provides insights into their environmental adaptations.</div><div>Here we examined seasonal climate variation at a sub-annual scale during the early Eemian (ca. 121 ± 5 ka) by analyzing oxygen isotopes (δ¹⁸O_CO3) in tooth enamel of 14 serially sampled equid third molars from the Neanderthal occupation site of Neumark-Nord 2 (NN2), Germany. These specimens were retrieved from find level NN2/2B, which spans less than 500 years. Stable carbon (δ¹³C_CO3) and mineral-bound nitrogen isotopes (δ¹⁵N_mb) were measured in the same enamel aliquots to assess seasonal influences on diet.</div><div>Intra-tooth δ¹⁸O_CO3 values show clear sinusoidal seasonal patterns, indicating mean annual temperatures of 11 ± 1 °C, which are closely aligned with previously published Eemian estimates and slightly higher than present-day values. However, modeled water δ¹⁸O suggest stronger seasonal contrasts than today, with summers ∼5 °C warmer and similar winter conditions. δ¹³C_CO3 values indicate a semi-open habitat and more annual precipitation than today. Notably, δ¹³C_CO3 and δ¹⁵N_mb values show no seasonal variation, implying stable year-round equid diets and consistent plant availability despite pronounced climate seasonality.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109724"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145797880","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":"Rapid thinning of the Cordillera Darwin Icefield at the onset of Termination I","authors":"B.L. Hall ,&nbsp;A.E. Putnam ,&nbsp;T.V. Lowell ,&nbsp;G.H. Denton ,&nbsp;J.L. Russell ,&nbsp;R.L. Soteres ,&nbsp;M.M. Spoth-Ascencao ,&nbsp;M.L. Miles ,&nbsp;S.G. Thomas ,&nbsp;P.I. Moreno ,&nbsp;R. Schwartz ,&nbsp;J.M. Schaefer","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109754","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109754","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite more than a century of research, the cause of the last ice-age termination remains uncertain. Here, we reconstruct the thinning history of the Cordillera Darwin Icefield, southernmost Chile, to track relative summer temperature change at the end of the ice age and to explore potential drivers of the warming. Eighteen ¹⁰Be exposure ages of erratics perched on glacially scoured bedrock indicate rapid surface lowering of at least 500 m elevation in the heart of the former icefield at some time between 18.8 and 16.9 ka at the onset of the termination. We infer that this drop in ice level reflects an increase in summer temperatures, which led to extensive glacier melt. We attribute the underlying cause to a poleward shift of the southern westerly winds, which placed the Cordillera Darwin Icefield in warmer air masses with temperatures incompatible with its LGM extent.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109754"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145797952","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 hydroclimate and landscape dynamics inferred from Lake Pangodi, Estonia","authors":"Mariliis Eensalu ,&nbsp;Nathan D. Stansell ,&nbsp;Tomi P. Luoto ,&nbsp;Anna Buczynska ,&nbsp;Anneli Poska ,&nbsp;Jaanus Terasmaa ,&nbsp;Tiit Vaasma ,&nbsp;Egert Vandel ,&nbsp;Eric S. Klein ,&nbsp;Ansis Blaus ,&nbsp;Siim Veski ,&nbsp;Daniel B. Nelson","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109750","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109750","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding how past climate variability and human activity shaped northern European landscapes is essential for interpreting present-day environmental change. However, high-resolution Holocene records that capture both climatic and anthropogenic signals in small lake catchments remain relatively scarce in the eastern Baltic region. This study addresses that gap by reconstructing Holocene climate and environmental dynamics from the sedimentary material of Lake Pangodi, a semi-closed basin in southern Estonia. We present a multi-proxy reconstruction of Holocene climate and environmental change based on stable isotope geochemistry, sedimentology, pollen, and chironomid records. Stable isotope data document abrupt environmental changes that coincide with regionally recognized early–middle and middle–late Holocene transitions in northern Europe. The early Holocene (∼11,700–8200 cal a BP) was characterized by relatively wet conditions and elevated terrigenous sediment influx. This was followed by a drier and more stable middle Holocene (8200–4200 cal a BP) and a more variable late Holocene (4200 cal a BP–present). Chironomid-inferred temperatures indicate warming during the early Holocene and relatively stable warm season temperatures thereafter. Pollen data reveal transitions from early boreal dominance to temperate forest expansion beginning around 8800 cal a BP, followed by a return to more boreal-dominated assemblages after ∼4800 cal a BP. Increased crop pollen after ∼850 cal a BP indicates growing human influence on the landscape. These shifts align with regional vegetation chronozones and reflect both climatic and anthropogenic drivers. An abrupt shift to the highest sediment flux at ∼4200 cal a BP coincides with the transition to the late Holocene, suggesting a regional environmental reorganization that was likely linked to both climatic and landscape changes, including increased hydrological variability and land surface instability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109750"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145797879","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 3100 years of extreme coastal flooding events from Emau Island, Vanuatu","authors":"Yanan Li ,&nbsp;Jeffrey P. Donnelly ,&nbsp;Shu Gao ,&nbsp;Jianhua Gao ,&nbsp;James F. Bramante ,&nbsp;Krishna K. Kotra","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109733","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109733","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Tropical cyclones (TCs) are posing growing threat to coastal populations and property, thereby necessitating more millennial paleoclimatic reconstructions. This study presents a 3100-year record from Marou Lagoon, Emau Island, Vanuatu. Using coarse anomalies as the main proxy, 36 intense tropical cyclones are identified (∼1.2/century). Active TC phases occurred during 1550–1750 CE, 350–750 CE, and the 20th century, contrasting with a pre-Common Era quiescent period. Comparative analysis with five paleotempestological records across the tropical South Pacific reveals multidecadal-to-centennial TC variability is dominantly governed by ENSO-driven shifts in the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ). La Niña-like periods cause southwestward SPCZ displacement and expansion, causing basin-wide enhanced cyclogenesis, while persistent strong El Niño conditions collapse the SPCZ into a zonal structure near French Polynesia, concentrating activity at eastern sites and suppressing western ones. Weak-to-moderate El Niño states exhibit stochastic dominance. Critically, sedimentological analysis reveals the most prominent event bed represents the cataclysmic Kuwae eruption in mid-15th. This deposit exhibits a five-stage sequence reflecting eruption progression, providing unprecedented resolution of eruption dynamics and tsunami impacts that surpass subaerial records. Typical diagnostic features of tsunami deposits (e.g., hummocky cross-stratification) are absent due to lagoon barrier/reef sheltering, and the heterogeneous density and shape of dominant pyroclastic materials (especially pumice) invalidate standard hydraulic grain-size models. This study demonstrates that sheltered lagoons preserve high-fidelity records of both extreme TCs and volcanogenic tsunamis. Such archives offer critical insights into regional climatic drivers and geohazard mechanisms but require environment-specific sedimentological frameworks, particularly where low-density pyroclastics dominate coarse fractions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109733"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145692727","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":"Extreme flood deposits in the Roya Valley during the Holocene: characterisation and recurrence intervals","authors":"Raphaël Kerverdo ,&nbsp;S. Lafuerza ,&nbsp;C. Gorini ,&nbsp;E. Fouache ,&nbsp;D. Granjeon ,&nbsp;N. Bianchi ,&nbsp;N. Haghipour ,&nbsp;R. Clementucci ,&nbsp;N. Loget ,&nbsp;S. Migeon ,&nbsp;R. Deschamps","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109749","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109749","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Floods are among the costliest natural disasters, causing extensive damage and fatalities worldwide. Mountainous regions of the Mediterranean Alps are highly vulnerable to extreme hydrological events, whose frequency is increasing in the context of climate change favouring convective storms. In October 2020, the Roya valley was struck by an extreme hydrological event. The amount of rainfall (return period &gt;1000yr) and discharge (&gt;100yr), triggered major geomorphological changes, including subsantial channel widening, slope destabilisation and extensive bank erosion.</div><div>This study provides unprecedented sedimentological data on torrential dynamics in the Roya Valley, based on ¹⁴C and OSL dating of newly exposed flooding deposits following Storm Alex. Five clusters of preserved fluvial and torrential deposits ranging from the Younger Dryas–Holocene transition to the Little Ice Age are identified. These preservation clusters correspond to periods of wetter condition and anthropogenic influence.</div><div>By combining sedimentological analyses with documented pollen and sediments records from lakes in the Mercantour massif, as well as historical archives, this study presents one of the first flood-frequency reconstructions for a Mediterranean Alpine catchment over a multi-millennial timescale. Past flooding events (on centennial to millennial scales) leave distinctive sedimentary signatures, characterised by thick deposits and the mobilisation of coarse particles, before being reworked within the broader autogenic dynamics of the river system. Reconstructing the frequency and occurrence of past extreme flood events provides key insights into the conditions under which such events occurr, and offers valuable information for the development of flood-risk scenarios, particularly in mountainous areas that are among the most affected by contemporary climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109749"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145797951","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}