Many paleoclimate and landscape change studies in the American Midwest have focused on the Late Glacial and early Holocene time periods (~ 16–11 ka), but little work has addressed landscape change in this area between the Last Glacial Maximum and the Late Glacial (~ 22–16 ka). Sediment cores were collected from 29 new lake and bog sites in Ohio and Indiana to address this gap. The basal radiocarbon dates from these cores show that initial ice retreat from the maximal last-glacial ice extent occurred by 22 ka, and numerous sites that are ~ 100 km inside this limit were exposed by 18.9 ka. Post-glacial environmental changes were identified as stratigraphic or biologic changes in select cores. The strongest signal occurs between 18.5 and 14.6 ka. These Midwestern events correspond with evidence to the northeast, suggesting that initial deglaciation of the ice sheet, and ensuing environmental changes, were episodic and rapid. Significantly, these changes predate the onset of the Bølling postglacial warming (14.8 ka) as recorded by the Greenland ice cores. Thus, deglaciation and landscape change around the southern margins of the Laurentide Ice Sheet happened ~ 7 ka before postglacial changes were felt in central Greenland.

Lower slopes of the Sandia Mountains are characterized by granitic corestone topography and weathering-limited slopes with thin grusy colluvium and weakly developed soils. In contrast, thick soils with illuvial clay and pedogenic carbonate have developed below aplite outcrops. Aplite is resistant to chemical decomposition, but physically weathers to blocky clasts that enhance surface roughness and erosional resistance of colluvium, promoting accumulation of eolian fines. Thick B horizons on aplite slopes indicate limited erosion and prolonged periods of stability and soil development. Accretion of eolian material limits runoff and prevents attainment of a steady-state balance between soil production and downslope transport.

Geochemical correlation of ash-fall beds with conventional tephrochronologic methods is not feasible when original glass composition is altered. Thus, alternative correlation methods may be required. Initial studies of heavily altered Paleozoic tephra (K-bentonites) have suggested the potential for employing trace-element concentrations in apatite as ash-fall bed discriminators. To further test the utility of apatite trace-element tephrochronology, we analyzed apatite phenocrysts from unaltered volcanic rocks with an electron microprobe: nine samples from rocks erupted during the Quaternary and one sample from a rock erupted during the Paleogene. The resulting apatite trace-element data provide unique bed discriminators despite within-crystal variability. Each of the volcanic rocks studied possesses unique trends in Mg, Cl, Mn, Fe, Ce and Y concentrations in apatite. The results from this study establish an important tephrochronologic method that can be applied to nearly all portions of the Phanerozoic stratigraphic record and greatly assist development of an advanced timescale. In addition to establishing a fingerprint for a particular eruption, apatite chemistry provides useful information about the source magma.

The alluvia of the Ntem, Nyong and Sanaga fluvial systems in southern Cameroon recorded repeated fluvial activity fluctuations during the Late Pleistocene, including the last glacial maximum (LGM), the beginning of the African Humid Period and the northern hemispheric Bølling-Allerød. We applied a multi-proxy approach on alluvial stratigraphies dated between 22.4 and 13.0 cal ka BP, including remote sensing, sedimentological and morphogenetic methods, phytoliths, sponge spicules, 14C and δ13C data. A distinct NE–SW gradient of landscape and fluvial dynamics around the LGM can be drawn, with evidence for the persistence of extended fluvial rainforest refuges only in the Ntem catchment. The Sanaga and Nyong catchment areas were characterized by frequent channel migrations, floodplain reorganization and unstable vegetation subject to fire, including grasslands, woodlands, and gallery forests with bamboo thickets. In spite of increasing rainfall after 16.4 cal ka BP, persisting landscape instability played the major role for fluvial system dynamics, floodplain transformations and vegetation development until 13.0 cal ka BP, before a general landscape stabilization and rainforest expansion set in at the beginning of the Holocene.

The Olorgesailie Formation (1.2–0.49 Ma) consists of fluvial and lacustrine rift sediments that have yielded abundant Acheulean artifacts and a fossil hominin (Homo cf. erectus). In testing prior understandings of the paleoenvironmental context, we define nine new geochemical zones. A Chemical Index of Alteration suggests increased catchment weathering during deposition of Members 1, 2, 7, 11, and 13. Biophile elements (Br, S) peak in M8–9 and lower M13 possibly reflecting increased input from soil erosion. REE data show that the Magadi Trachytes supplied most siliciclastic grains. Sixteen diatom stages indicate conductivities of 200–16,000 μS cm− 1 and pH of 7.5–9.5 for five deep-water lakes, ten shallow lakes and sixteen wetlands. These results are compared with diatom data from other sections in the basin and show aquatic spatial variability over km-scale distances. Similar floras are traceable over several kilometers for M2, M3 and M9, indicating broadly homogeneous lacustrine conditions during these times, but diatoms in other members imply variable conditions, some related to local tectonic controls. This lateral and temporal variability emphasizes the importance of carrying out stratigraphic sampling at multiple sites within a basin in efforts to define the environmental context relevant to human evolution.

Evidence from shoreline and deep-lake sediments show Laguna Cari-Laufquén, located at 41°S in central Argentina, rose and fell repeatedly during the late Quaternary. Our results show that a deep (> 38 m above modern lake level) lake persisted from no later than 28 ka to 19 ka, with the deepest lake phase from 27 to 22 ka. No evidence of highstands is found after 19 ka until the lake rose briefly in the last millennia to 12 m above the modern lake, before regressing to present levels. Laguna Cari-Laufquén broadly matches other regional records in showing last glacial maximum (LGM) highstands, but contrasts with sub-tropical lake records in South America where the hydrologic maximum occurred during deglaciation (17–10 ka). Our lake record from Cari-Laufquén mimics that of high-latitude records from the Northern Hemisphere. This points to a common cause for lake expansions, likely involving some combination of temperature depression and intensification of storminess in the westerlies belt of both hemispheres during the LGM.

Lake El'gygytgyn is situated in a 3.6 Ma old impact crater in northeastern Siberia. Presented here is a reconstruction of the Quaternary lake-level history as derived from sediment cores from the southern lake shelf. There, a cliff-like bench 10 m below the modern water level has been investigated. Deep-water sediments on the shelf indicate high lake levels during a warm Mid-Pleistocene period. One period with low lake level prior to Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 has been identified, followed by a period of high lake level (10 m above present). In the course of MIS 2 the lake level dropped to − 10 m. At the end of MIS 2 the bench was formed and coarse beach sedimentation occurred. Subsequently, the lake level rose rapidly to the Holocene level. Changes in water level are likely linked to climate variability. During relatively temperate periods the lake becomes free of ice in summer. Strong wave actions transport sediment parallel to the coast and towards the outlet, where the material tends to accumulate, resulting in lake level rise. During cold periods the perennial lake ice cover hampers any wave activity and pebble-transport, keeping the outlet open and causing the lake level to drop.

Along the northeast Greenland continental margin, bedrock on interfjord plateaus is highly weathered, whereas rock surfaces in fjord troughs are characterized by glacial scour. Based on the intense bedrock weathering and lack of glacial deposits from the last glaciation, interfjord plateaus have long been thought to be ice-free throughout the last glacial maximum (LGM). In recent years there is growing evidence from shelf and fjord settings that the northeast Greenland continental margin was more extensively glaciated during the LGM than previously thought. However, little is still known from interfjord settings. We present cosmogenic 10Be data from meltwater channels and weathered sandstone outcrops on Jameson Land, an interfjord highland north of Scoresby Sund. The mean exposure age of samples from channel beds (n = 3) constrains on the onset of deglaciation on interior Jameson Land to 18.5 ± 1.3–21.4 ± 1.9 ka (for erosion conditions of 0–10 mm/ka, respectively). This finding adds to growing evidence that the northeast Greenland continental margin was more heavily glaciated during the LGM than previously thought.