The Nahal Yael basin is underlain chiefly by schist, amphibolite, and granite. Thin (generally <1 m thick), grussy colluvium which covered the lower portions of granitic hillslopes in the late Pleistocene has now been stripped completely, causing marked contrasts in outcrop morphologies, even where there is no contrast of fracture density or petrologic characteristics. Formerly mantled slopes are now smooth and crumbly, and lack desert varnish. Previously unmantled slopes are rough and craggy, and varnished but little weathered. Such stripping suggests a change from a semiarid to a drier and/or warmer climate. Slopes underlain by amphibolite responded similarly to the climatic change, but the amphibolite was more deeply weathered, and the colluvium was only partially stripped. The least stripping of colluvium occurred on schist hillslopes, partly because schist outcrops require more rain to generate runoff, and partly because angular blocks of schist require larger flows for transport, compared to other slope lithologies. The stream subsystem responded to the climatically induced changes in the discharge of water and sediment from the hillslopes. Increase in sediment yield caused valley alluviation in the early Holocene, and a decrease in sediment yield later in the Holocene caused entrenchment of the valley fill. More granite and amphibolite gravel-size particles are transported now than when the hillslopes were extensively mantled. Dense networks of trails are not common on Holocene geomorphic surfaces, but are present on remnants of Pleistocene surfaces.

Carbonate-rich lacustrine and deltaic deposits, containing thin beds of finely laminated carbonates and thick beds of silt, crop out at several sites in the Taylor Valley and have been encountered in cores obtained by the Dry Valley Drilling Project (DVDP). Fragments of the more indurated carbonate beds have widespread occurrence as part of the desert “lag gravel” which covers much of the valley floor. Analysis of the carbonates suggests that they were deposited as algal limestones from waters derived from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet via the Taylor Glacier at times which correspond to the previous three global interglacial periods, as evidenced by the ice volumes deduced from oxygen-isotopic analysis of oceanic cores. The lacustrine carbonates have been found up to 30 km beyond the present terminus of the Taylor Glacier, and up to 100 m above the level of Lake Bonney, into which the Taylor Glacier at present discharges. It is concluded that the Taylor Glacier has advanced during each of the previous three interglaciations, and it is suggested that this has been caused by a thickening of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet during the interglaciations.

Three generations of Quaternary conglomerates formed by cementation of glacial gravels are found in drift of the Appalachian Plateau in south-central New York. Postglacial conglomerates have been locally cemented by carbonate minerals within limestone-bearing (erratic-rich) gravels of Late Wisconsin (Woodfordian) age. Conglomerates cemented during the Mid-Wisconsin interstade occur as numerous fragments in erratic-rich Late Wisconsin drift, and as a single in situ mound near Syracuse. Mid-Wisconsin conglomerate contains fragments of a still older conglomerate believed to be of possible pre-Wisconsin (Sangamon) age. Both postglacial and Mid-Wisconsin conglomerates were cemented in the same manner, as a result of diagenetic processes in the vadose zones of limestone-bearing terraces. Information gleaned from conglomerate fragments indicates that Early Wisconsin drift was similar to Late Wisconsin drift; the Early and Late Wisconsin glaciations and deglaciations of the plateau probably proceeded in much the same fashion.

The degree of etching of hornblende grains in soils is defined as the mean depth of maximum etching on 100 grains per sample and is a function of: (1) the depth in the profile; (2) the age of the deposit on which the soil is formed; and (3) the climate since deposition. In soils formed on moraines in the eastern Canadian Arctic, etching decreases logarithmically with increasing depth in the profile, and the rate of etching at a given depth decreases logarithmically with increasing age. The most important climatic parameter with respect to etching appears to be the effective precipitation. Equally important in terms of soil moisture regimen is the presence of unfrozen water. Both affect the rate of etching as a function of depth and age. The inferred climate of northern Cumberland Peninsula, Baffin Island, N.W.T., Canada, preceding, during, and following the last (Foxe) glaciation, is indicated by the degree of etching of hornblende grains in soil profiles of various ages as follows: pre-Foxe—warm/wet; early to middle Foxe—mild/moist; middle to late Foxe—cold/arid; Hypsithermal—mild/moist; Neoglacial—cool/dry.

Interbedded, organic-rich terrestrial and marine sediments exposed along the eastern coastal lowland of Vancouver Island contain an almost continuous record of middle Wisconsin vegetation and climate. The record has been interpreted largely from palynostratigraphic studies at three sites and supported by a study of modern pollen spectra from the three major biogeoclimatic zones of the extant vegetation. Radiocarbon dates from a variety of organic materials in the middle Wisconsin beds reveal that the fossil pollen spectra span an interval ranging from approximately 21,000 yr B.P. to more than 51,000 yr B.P. The spectra are divided into eight major pollen zones encompassing the Olympia Interglaciation and early Fraser Glaciation geologicclimate units of the Pacific Northwest. The Olympia Interglaciation extended from before 51,000 yr B.P. to ca. 29,000 yr B.P. and was characterized by a climate similar to present. During the early Fraser Glaciation, from 29,000 years ago to approximately 21,000 yr B.P., climate deteriorated until tundra like conditions prevailed. These pollen sequences are correlative with those of coastal British Columbia and partly with those from Olympic Peninsula, but apparently are not comparable with events in the Puget Lowland.

Sediments and fossil pollen of two short cores from Birket Qarun, Egypt, reflect Nile floods, lake levels, and agricultural developments of the last 325 yr, and demonstrate the potential of a long and detailed record from the Fayum Depression. The chronology of these cores is inferred by correlation of historic events with changes in the fossil and sedimentary records.

Subangular clay clasts and blocky structure resulting from occasional exposure, drying, and reworking of lake sediments reflect low Nile floods of the mid-1600s. Abundant pollen of shallowwater, rooted aquatic plants provides evidence for continued low lake levels through the 1700s. A high lake level, resulting from the extreme Nile flood of 1817–1818, is recorded by hystrichospheres, reworked by wave action, from Eocene marine sediments exposed on the north shore of Birket Qarun.

Political administration, as reflected in agricultural policy, is also recorded in lake history. Changing lake levels are, in part, correlated with canal neglect during Mamluk and Ottoman control, and renewed canal maintenance under the agricultural policy of Mohammed Ali. Increased cattail (Typha) pollen dates from perenial irrigation after 1873. Olive and date pollen, and pollen of newly introduced exotic trees, are abundant after 1930 as a result of accelerated introduction and cultivation of fruit, lumber, fuel, and windbreak trees following World War I. The sequence of introduction of exotic plants is reflected in the pollen of Zea mays, from the New World, followed by Casuarina from Southeast Asia and Australia, and Eucalyptus from Australia.

Lacustrine limestone samples from sedimentary pan deposits at Rooidam, near Kimberley, South Africa, that contain late Acheulian (Fauresmith) artifacts have been dated by 230Th/234U and 231Pa/235U methods. Results indicate a minimum age of about 200,000 yr B.P. for the terminal Acheulian in the interior of South Africa.

The distribution of quartz in the surface sediments of the Atlantic Ocean reflects derivation from continents by means of rivers, wind, ice, and coastal erosion. Enrichment of quartz thus supplied has occurred in some deep basins of especially the southern high latitudes from winnowing of finegrained clays by bottom currents. Although similar modes of quartz transport may have operated both during the Holocene and the last glacial maximum (18,000 yr B.P.), significant differences in the intensity of transport and in the locii of deposition, which are attributable to climatic variations during these times, exist in some areas of the Atlantic. In Holocene sediments of the eastern equatorial Atlantic, a band of high percent quartz exists directly off the present Saharan Desert and Sahel region and reflects the trade-wind transport of dusts from these arid and semiarid regions. During the last glacial maximum (18,000 yr B.P.), this high quartz band expanded southward by about 8° of latitude. This expansion was caused not only by the southward expansion of aridity and desert dunes but also by the southward migration of the northerly belt of trade winds during the last glaciation. Relatively high abundances and accumulation rates of quartz during the last glaciation suggest higher intensities of trade winds during that time compared to the Holocene. In the North Atlantic, the abundances of quartz in Holocene sediments are high adjacent to Greenland-Iceland and in the areas off Newfoundland-Labrador, and gradually decrease toward the central areas. The polar front and limit of sea-ice melting are at present confined to the northern part of the North Atlantic. The ice-rafting of quartz grains is, therefore, effective in the areas adjacent to Greenland and to some extent off Labrador causing high abundances in these areas. In contrast to this, during the last glaciation, the quartz abundances and accumulation rates are high in the central areas of North Atlantic around 45°N and decrease toward Greenland-Newfoundland. The migration of the polar front to as far south as 45°N and the consequent southward migration of sea-ice melting and ice-rafting during the last glaciation apparently caused this change in distribution. In addition to ice-rafting at present, wave or current reworking of relict glacial-marine detritus may have caused the high abundance of quartz in the surface sediments off Newfoundland-Labrador. In 18,000 yr B.P. sediments of the Norwegian Sea, the area of high percent quartz (>10%) is more extensive than that in Holocene sediments. This reflects the greater influence of ice-rafting or glacier activity in the sediment dispersal in the Norwegian Sea during the last glacial times.