A general feedback between volcanism and climate at times of transition in the Quaternary climate record is suggested, exemplified by events accompanying the Toba eruption (∼74,000 yr ago), the largest known late Quaternary explosive volcanic eruption. The Toba paroxysm occurred during the δ18O stage 5a-4 transition, a period of rapid ice growth and falling global sea level, which may have been a factor in creating stresses that triggered the volcanic event. Toba is estimated to have produced between 1015 and 1016 g of fine ash and sulfur gases lofted in co-ignimbrite ash clouds to heights of at least 32 ± 5 km, which may have led to dense stratospheric dust and sulfuric acid aerosol clouds. These conditions could have created a brief, dramatic cooling or "volcanic winter," followed by estimated annual Northern Hemisphere surface-temperature decreases of ∼3° to 5°C caused by the longer-lived aerosols. Summer temperature decreases of ⩾10°C at high northern latitudes, adjacent to regions already covered by snow and ice, might have increased snow cover and sea-ice extent, accelerating the global cooling already in progress. Evidence for such climate-volcanic feedback, following Milankovitch periodicities, is found at several climatic transitions.

A simple linear response model describing the functional relationship between ocean carbon cycle parameters and paleoclimate tracers (atmospheric pCO2, δ13C, CaCO3 saturation) was derived from a set of sensitivity experiments performed previously using a three-dimensional carbon cycle model. The linear model is optimally fitted to ice and marine sediment core records for the last 120,000 yr to estimate the carbon cycle parameter changes that could have caused the observed reduction of atmospheric CO2 partial pressure during the last glaciation. The analysis indicates that the glacial pCO2 reduction was primarily caused by a strengthening of the biological POC pump and a retardation of the oceanic circulation. An increase in deep-sea alkalinity and a change in the advective pattern of the ocean circulation have a smaller impact on atmospheric CO2 but are necessary to explain the full set of paleoclimate tracers.

Low, nearly continuous terraces of similar age are present along streams in drainage basins that range in size from Drift Creek (190 km2) to the Umpqua River (11,800 km2) in the Oregon Coast Range. Radiocarbon ages from near the bose of fluvial sediments underlying these terraces are clustered at about 9000-11,000 14C yr B.P. Beveled bedrock surfaces (straths) that underlie the fluvial sediments are 1-8 m above summer stream levels and are present along most of the nontidal reaches of the rivers that we studied. Where exposed, the bedrock straths are overlain by 2-11 m of fluvial sediment that consists of a bottom-stratum (channel) facies of sandy pebble-cobble gravel and a top-stratum (overbank) facies of sandy silt or silt. Eight radiocarbon ages from the fluvial sediments allow correlation of the lowest continuous terrace over a wide area and thus indicate that a regional aggradation episode occurred in Coast Range drainage basins during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. The cause of such widespread aggradation is unknown but may be related to climate-induced changes in the frequency of evacuation of colluvium from hollows, which are common in all drainage basins in the region.

Rock varnish coatings tend to become thicker, darker, and more continuous over time, leading to the use of changes in overall varnish color and the percentage of clast surfaces covered by varnish as relative-age indicators. Manganese is the most characteristic element of subaerial rock varnishes, and the progressive development of varnish coats can be quantified by measuring the amount of Mn accumulated on a given area of rock surface. Manganese oxides were dissolved off varnished clasts collected from alluvial surfaces on the Soda Mountains piedmont in the Mojave Desert, California, and the amount of Mn was measured using inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy. On the distal piedmont, maximum varnish development increases from a mid- to late-Holocene surface, typically containing up to 0.15 mg/cm2 of accumulated Mn, to an early- to mid-Holocene surface with up to 0.21 mg/cm2. However, varnish is less developed on a nearby late Pleistocene surface, suggesting extensive abrasion of clasts on the Pleistocene desert pavements or disturbance of the clasts. Varnish is better developed on the proximal piedmont, typically containing up to 0.30 mg/cm2 of Mn, although varnish from a Pleistocene surface is again no better developed than from a nearby early- to mid-Holocene surface. These data demonstrate that rock varnish can show significant spatial variation in degree of development on geomorphic surfaces of similar age, and imply that collecting varnish as old as a geomorphic surface may be difficult on surfaces as young as late Pleistocene.

Cave entrance and rock shelter infillings are positioned within the Pleistocene chronology for three areas of France (northern Alps, Franche-Comté, and Périgord). Despite minor local variations, it is possible to identify regional types with a consistent depositional record over long intervals of time. The interregional variability relates to the frequency and position of the gaps within the infillings. Sites in the northern Alps have not yielded any artifacts older than the Upper Paleolithic (Magdalenı́an), and dated sedimentary sequences do not go back beyond the Older Dryas. More complete sequences in Franche-Comté contain Mousterian industries. Two major gaps occur here, one lasting about 50,000 yr during the Lower Glacial and Lower Pleniglacial periods, and the other lasting some 10,000 yr during the Upper Pleniglacial. The sequences are more complete in the Périgord, where all major climatic phases have been identified with no significant sedimentary gaps. Differences in sedimentary records can be explained by variations in regional conditions during the last interglacial-glacial cycle and especially by the distance from the maximum advance of ice daring glaciation.

In order to establish paleoenvironmental conditions during the late Quaternary, four cores from the Basin of Mexico (central Mexico) were drilled in Chalco Lake, located in the southeastern part of the basin. The upper 8 m of two parallel cores were studied, using paleomagnetic, loss-on-ignition, pollen, and diatom analyses. Based on 11 14C ages, the analyzed record spans the last 19,000 14C yr B.P. Volcanic activity has affected microfossil abundances, both directly and indirectly, resulting in absence or reduction of pollen and diatom assemblages. Important volcanic activity took place between 19,000 and 15,000 yr B.P. when the lake was a shallow alkaline marsh and an increase of grassland pollen suggests a dry, cold climate. During this interval, abrupt environmental changes with increasing moisture occurred. From 15,000 until 12,500 yr B.P. the lake level increased and the pollen indicates wetter conditions. The highest lake level is registered from 12,500 to ca. 9000 yr B.P. The end of the Pleistocene is characterized by an increase in humidity. From 9000 until ca. 3000 yr B.P. Chalco Lake was a saline marsh and the pollen record indicates warmer conditions. After 3000 yr B.P. the lake level increased and human disturbance dominates the lacustrine record.

Palaeoclimatic estimates of mean annual temperature and rainfall in the southern Tanganyika basin between 25,000 and 9000 yr B.P. have been established from two pollen sequences based on the best-analogue method. The results give evidence of a mean temperature decrease of about 4.2°C during the last glaciation, a value consistent with that previously obtained in the catchment area on the Burundi Highlands. This cooling was synchronous with a decrease of mean annual precipitation of about 180 mm/yr. Postglacial climatic conditions were established by 12,700 yr B.P., with warming and wetness continuing to increase from this date onward. These new palaeoclimatic data will be useful for hydrological reconstructions of Lake Tanganyika, particularly during the last glacial age for which the magnitude of water-level fall has been a controversial issue; our rainfall estimates are more consistent with low values (-250 to -300 m fall) than with high ones (-600 m) previously proposed.

A new record from Potato Lake, central Arizona, details vegetation and climate changes since the mid-Wisconsin for the southern Colorado Plateau. Recovery of a longer record, discrimination of pine pollen to species groups, and identification of macrofossil remains extend Whiteside's (1965) original study. During the mid-Wisconsin (ca. 35,000-21,000 yr B.P.) a mixed forest of Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii) and other conifers grew at the site, suggesting a minimum elevational vegetation depression of ca. 460 m. Summer temperatures were as much as 5°C cooler than today. During the late Wisconsin (ca. 21,000-10,400 yr B.P.), even-cooler temperatures (7°C colder than today; ca. 800 m depression) allowed Engelmann spruce alone to predominate. Warming by ca. 10,400 yr B.P. led to the establishment of the modern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest. Thus, the mid-Wisconsin was not warm enough to support ponderosa pine forests in regions where the species predominates today. Climatic estimates presented here are consistent with other lines of evidence suggesting a cool and/or wet mid-Wisconsin, and a cold and/or wet late-Wisconsin climate for much of the Southwest. Potato Lake was almost completely dry during the mid-Holocene, but lake levels increased to near modern conditions by ca. 3000 yr B.P.

Earlier attempts to date the Taung hominid type specimen of Australopithecus africanus Dart yielded conflicting results. Recent faunal studies pointed to an age of 2.3 myr. Radioisotopic results suggested 1.0 myr. New uranium studies reveal that the Thabaseek (the oldest Taung tufa) was not a closed system and that younger uranium entered the tufa after initial deposition, producing an apparent isotopic age younger than the age of deposition. The Thabaseek isotopic dates provide only a terminus ad quem and this technique is therefore not applicable to the older Taung tufas. Delson's dating (2.3 myr) of cercopithecoids from Hrdlicka's pinnacle ca. 50 m from the hominid site provides the best available approximation to the age of the hominid. In our new Taung excavation, stratigraphic analysis indicates that the hominid may somewhat predate most identified fauna. Sedimentologically the hominid matrix proves to be of fluvial deposition, and hence closely resembles one Hrdlicka deposit, both samples differing appreciably from all other Taung samples which bespeak eolian deposition. Thus, the conditions under which the hominid-bearing stratum was deposited were virtually identical to those pertaining to one of the Hrdlicka deposits. The newest results show that Taung was not the youngest South African australopithecine site and eliminate the discrepancy between the relative ages of the Taung A. africanus africanus and the Sterkfontein A. africanus transvaalensis.

Sediments of 13 piston cores from opposite continental slopes of the South China Sea, off southern China and Sabah (northern Borneo), were analyzed by sedimentological methods and dated by oxygen isotope stratigraphy. Sediments mostly consist of hemipelagic clay with 20% carbonate off Sabah and 40% off China. We calculated terrigenous and carbonate accumulation rates for up to 11 time-slices from the Holocene to oxygen-isotope stage 6. Terrigenous accumulation rates generally increase with water depth and reach a maximum at the middle slope off Sabah and at the lower continental slope off China. During glacial and interglacial times this distribution pattern did not markedly change, despite an increase of accumulation rates for glacial periods by a factor of 2 to 5 compared to interglacial periods. Rates are negatively correlated with positions of sea level, which controls the partition of fluviatile terrigenous material for deposition on shelf, slope, and abyssal plain. Carbonate accumulation rates are higher off China by a factor of 2 compared to Sabah, probably indicating higher calcareous plankton productivity.