Holocene environmental changes and development of Figurnoye Lake in the southern Bunger Hills, East Antarctica

The lithology, radiocarbon chronology, granulometry, geochemistry and distribution of diatoms were investigated in three sediment cores from fresh-water Figurnoye Lake in the southern Bunger Hills, East Antarctica. Our paleolimnological data provide a record of Holocene environmental changes for this region. In the early Holocene (prior to 9.0 ± 0.5 kyr BP), warm climate conditions caused intensive melting of either the floating glacier ice mass or glaciers in the immediate lake surroundings, leading to the accumulation of terrigenous clastic sediments and limiting biogenic production in the lake. From ca. 9.0 ± 0.5 to 5.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP, highly biogenic sediments dominated by benthic mosses formed, indicating more distal glaciers or snowfields. A relatively cold and dry climate during this period caused weaker lake-water circulation and, likely, occurrence of lake ice conditions were more severe than present. The distribution of marine diatoms in the cores shows that, sometime between 8 and 5 kyr BP, limited amounts of marine water episodically penetrated to the lake, requiring a relative sea-level rise exceeding 10–11 m. During the last ca. 5.5 ± 0.5 kyr BP, sedimentation of mainly biogenic matter with a dominance of laminated microbial mats occurred in the lake under warm climatic conditions, interrupted by relative coolings: the first one around 2 kyr BP and then shortly before recent time. Between ca. 5.5 and 4 kyr BP, the drainage of numerous ice-dammed lakes took place in the southern Bunger Hills and, as a result, drier landscapes have existed here from about 4 kyr BP.     

Coastal morpho-stratigraphy and Holocene relative sea level changes at Tuapaat, southeastern Disko Island, central West Greenland

The geomorphology of a coarse clastic coastal landscape at Tuapaat (69°24'N 52°36'W), southeastern Disko Island, central West Greenland, is described, and a coastal morpho-stratigraphy of the landscape is constructed. ¹⁴C ages on marine shells, whale bones, peat and gyttja are used to construct relative sea level changes throughout the Holocene. The emergence of SE Disko Island occurred in the early part of the Holocene. The Holocene marine limit is situated ca. 80m a.s.l. Between 4.7 and 1.0ka BP, the relative sea level approached the present sea level and it has probably been below present sea level between 4.7 ka BP and the present. The morpho-stratigraphy in the lowest part of the coastal landscape at Tuapaat suggests a complex late Holocene relative sea level history which includes at least 3-4 transgressions during the last ca. 2.5 ka.     

A Holocene paleoenvironmental history of Lake Alexandria,South Australia

An investigation of Holocene sediments within Lake Alexandrina, a shallow coastal lake at the mouth of the Murray River, South Australia, is presented based on a multidisciplinary approach.¹⁴C and²¹⁰Pb radiometric dating methods are used to establish a geochronological framework for the last 7000 yr BP, and diatoms, sand-siltclay ratios, organic carbon, phosphorus and copper concentrations are used to infer paleoenvironmental changes.The diatom assemblages indicate a change from marine-brackish to oligosaline-freshwater conditions between 7000 and 6000 yr BP, with sea-level stabilisation and continuous barrier formation across the Murray mouth. Sand pulses after 2300 yr BP document sand spit formation in the lake and the commencement of extensive lacustrine sedimentation.In the past 100 years which include the advent of European settlement in the region, the short-term²¹⁰Pb-based mass accumulation rate of 0.063 g cm^–2 yr^–1 is greater than that of the longer-term mean¹⁴C-based rate (0.023 g cm^–2 yr^–1), and high concentrations of phosphorus and copper correspond to historical records of blue-green algal blooms.This is the fifth in a series of papers published in this issue on the paleolimnology of aric regions. These papers were presented at the Sixth International Paleolimnology Symposium held 19–21 April, 1993 at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Dr A. R. Chivas served as guest editor for these papers.     

Quantification of Holocene lake-level changes in Finnish Lapland using a cladocera – lake depth transfer model

During recent years, numerous studies dealing with Holocene lake level fluctuations have been conducted in Finnish Lapland. However, no quantification of lake level variations exists to date. Here, we applied a recently developed modern cladocera – lake depth transfer model to subfossil cladocerans analysed from three small and shallow (< 6 m) kettle-hole lakes in northwestern Finnish Lapland to provide estimates of the amplitudes of long-term lake-level changes in the region. The quantitative inferences were compared to pollen, charcoal and geochemical records from one of the study sites. The lake levels were inferred to be high during the early Holocene; they faced marked reduction up to 4–6 m in the mid-Holocene (≈7000–4000 cal yr BP), and rose again during the latter part of the Holocene. There is some indication of lowered lake levels around 1500 cal yr BP, but interpretation of such small-scale changes is hazardous due to large prediction errors in the initial cladoceran model. The overall pattern of the Holocene lake level variation generally followed the regional changes in climate humidity as reconstructed in previous studies by means of other sedimentary proxy indicators, such as pollen and oxygen isotopic compositions. We postulate that changes in winter precipitation may have had a greater influence on lake-levels than variations in summer precipitation or evaporation.     

Impacts of Holocene climatic variations on alluvial fan activity below snowpatches in subarctic Québec

In the Lake Guillaume-Delisle area of subarctic Québec, storm-generated alluvial fans have been active sporadically throughout the Holocene. In this study, we propose that the persistence of late-lying snowpatches in fan catchments during Holocene cold episodes promoted alluvial fan activity by lowering the precipitation threshold required to trigger a torrential event. This hypothesis was tested by characterizing the depositional processes responsible for alluvial fan formation below snowpatches, and by reconstructing the Holocene alluvial fan activity. Stratigraphic and sedimentary analyses conducted on seven alluvial fans revealed that they were deposited by torrential activity leading to waterlaid, transient, or hyperconcentrated deposition. The chronology of the storm-generated alluvial fans — based on 22 radiocarbon dates — indicates that torrential activity was enhanced during the cooler Late Holocene (i.e., after ca. 3500 cal. yr BP). Snowier winters and cooler summers were beneficial to nival activity, allowing the persistence of larger snowpatches throughout the summer and fall seasons. Rainfall-induced thaw of such snowpatches during rainstorm events is inferred to have contributed to alluvial fan activity by increasing water availability. Three peaks of alluvial activity occurred during the Late Holocene (2950–2750, 1900–1400, and 800–300 cal. yr BP) and are indicative of increased storminess resulting in higher fan activity. Increased fan activity during cooler episodes was concurrent with increased runoff activity in the immediate pronival area. This stresses the importance of nivation below snowpatches and pinpoints the role of nivation in enhancing geomorphological activity during period of cooler and more humid climate in subarctic environments.     

Multi-proxy evidence of postglacial climate and environmental change at Two Frog Lake,central mainland coast of British Columbia,Canada

Pollen and diatoms preserved in the radiocarbon dated sediments of Two Frog Lake in the Seymour-Belize Inlet Complex of the central mainland coast of British Columbia document postglacial climate change. Two Frog Lake was isolated from the sea prior to 11,040 ± 50 yr BP (13,030 cal. yr BP) when the climate was cool and dry, and open Pinus contorta woodlands covered the landscape. These woodlands were replaced by a mixed conifer forest ca. 10,200 yr BP (ca. 12,300 cal. yr BP) when the climate became moister. A relatively dry and warm early Holocene climate allowed Pseudotsuga menziesii to migrate northward to this site where it grew with Picea, Tsuga heterophylla and Alnus. The climate became cooler and moister at ca. 8,000 yr BP (ca. 9,200 cal. yr BP), approximately 500–1,000 years prior to sites located south of Two Frog Lake and on the Queen Charlotte Islands, but contemporary with sites on the northern mainland coast of British Columbia and south coastal Alaska. Climate heterogeneity in central coastal British Columbia appears to have occurred on a synoptic scale, suggesting that atmospheric dynamics linked to a variable Aleutian Low pressure system may have had an important influence on early Holocene climate change in the Seymour-Belize Inlet Complex. The transition to cooler and moister conditions facilitated the expansion of Cupressaceae and the establishment of a modern-type coastal temperate rainforest dominated by Cupressaceae and T. heterophylla. This was associated with progressive lake acidification. Diatom changes independent of vegetation change during the late Holocene are correlative with the mid-Neoglacial period, when cooler temperatures altered diatom communities.     

Relationships between Holocene sea-level variations,trophic development,and climatic change in Negra Lagoon,Southern Uruguay

Paleolimnological data are presented on trophic development, climatic change and sea level variations in Negra Lagoon, a 142 km² coastal lagoon in southern Uruguay. Using a sediment core that extended to the early Holocene, analyses of organic matter, carbonate, diatoms and opal phytoliths allowed us to track changes in trophic state and paleosalinity levels, which were closely related to Holocene sea level variation, temperature and humidity. Diatom Association Zones (DAZ) corresponding to transgressive events were dominated by marine/brackish taxa and relatively low organic matter values, while those DAZ corresponding to regressive events showed increases in brackish/freshwater diatoms and organic matter. Opal Phytoliths Association Zones (OPAZ) also were identified, temperature and humidity indices were calculated, and climatic trends were inferred. During the middle Holocene (i.e., ~5000–4000 yr BP), cool–dry climatic conditions were established. After ~4000 yr BP, a transition from cool to warm–humid conditions was observed, but fully warm humid conditions established only after ~1700 yr BP. Such climatic amelioration led to increases in trophic state.     

Environmental Characteristics of Lake Tecocomulco, northern basin of Mexico, for the last 50,000 years

Paleoenvironmental studies have documented the late Pleistocene to Holocene evolution of the lakes in the central and southern parts of the basin of Mexico (Texcoco and Chalco). No information was available, however, for the lakes in the north-eastern part of this basin. The north-eastern and the central and southern areas represent, at present, different environmental conditions: an important gradient exists between the dry north and the moister south. To investigate the late Pleistocene to Holocene characteristics of the north-eastern lakes in the basin of Mexico two parallel cores (TA and TB) were drilled at the SE shore of Lake Tecocomulco. Stratigraphy, magnetic properties, granulometry, diatom and pollen analyses performed on these sediments indicate that the lake experienced a series of changes between ca. > 42,000 yr BP and present. Chronological control is given by five radiocarbon determinations. The base of the record is represented by a thick, rhyolitic air-fall tephra that could be older than ca. 50,000 yr BP. After this Plininan event, and until ca. 42,000 yr BP, Lake Tecocomulco was a moderately deep, freshwater lake surrounded by extended pine forests that suggest the presence of cooler and moister conditions than present. Between ca. 42,000 and 37,000 yr BP, the lake became shallower but with important fluctuations and pollen suggests slightly warmer conditions. Between ca. 37,000 and 30,000 yr BP the lake experienced two relatively deep phases separated by a dry interval. A second Plinian eruption, represented in the sequence by a dacitic an air-fall tephra layer dated at 31,000 yr BP, occurred in the area by the end of this dry episode. Between ca. 30,000 and 25,7000 yr BP Tecocomulco was a fresh to slightly alkaline lake with a trend towards lower level. After ca. 25,700 yr BP very low lake levels are inferred, and after ca. 16,000 yr BP the data indicate the presence of a very dry environment that was persistent until the middle Holocene. After 3,500 yr BP lacustrine conditions were re-established and the vegetation cover shows a change towards higher percentages of herbaceous taxa.     

A multi-proxy holocene record of environmental change fromthe sediments of Skinny Lake, Iskut region, northern British Columbia,Canada

A stratigraphic record from a lake in the Central Plateau Regionof northern British Columbia reveals changes in environment and inferredclimate during the Holocene. Upon deglaciation (ca. 11500 BP), Skinny Lakebecame an embayment of an ice-dammed lake. High clastic sedimentationrates, an unstable landscape, and cool, possibly wet conditions likelypersisted until the early Holocene (ca. 9000 BP). From ca. 9000–8300 BPdeclining lake levels coupled with warm and dry conditions resulted in theformation of a prominent marl bed. A colonizing shrub and herb assemblagepersisted from 9000 BP until about 8300 BP when it was replaced by a spruce(Picea) and subalpine fir (Abieslasiocarpa) forest under slightly cooler and moister conditions. Themiddle Holocene was warmer-than-present, however, decreasingtemperature and increasing precipitation trends characterize the period fromca. 6000 BP–3000 BP. The transition to modern climate at 3000 BP isevident primarily in the lithostratigraphic record and corresponds with theinitiation of the Tiedemann glacial advance (ca. 3300 BP) in thesouth-coastal mountains of British Columbia. A significant change infossil pollen occurs at ca. 2400 BP and is characterised by an increase in pinepollen accompanied by decreases in alder (Alnus), spruceand fir. This also coincides with an increase in west-sourced exoticwestern hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and cedar type(Cupressaceae) pollen possibly transported by regional changes in air masscirculation patterns associated with Aleutian Low dynamics. This studydemonstrates that both lithostratigraphic and biotic proxies are helpful inreconstructing the timing and nature of climate change and that each may havevarying sensitivities to a particular type of change.     

Hydrology of Dali Lake in central-eastern Inner Mongolia and Holocene East Asian monsoon variability

Lacustrine records from the northern margin of the East Asian monsoon generate a conflicting picture of Holocene monsoonal precipitation change. To seek an integrated view of East Asian monsoon variability during the Holocene, an 8.5-m-long sediment core recovered in the depocenter of Dali Lake in central-eastern Inner Mongolia was analyzed at 1-cm intervals for total organic and inorganic carbon concentrations. The data indicate that Dali Lake reached its highest level during the early Holocene (11,500–7,600 cal yr BP). The middle Holocene (7,600–3,450 cal yr BP) was characterized by dramatic fluctuations in the lake level with three intervals of lower lake stands occurring 6,600–5,850, 5,100–4,850 and 4,450–3,750 cal yr BP, respectively. During the late Holocene (3,450 cal yr BP to present), the lake displayed a general shrinking trend with the lowest levels at three episodes of 3,150–2,650, 1,650–1,150 and 550–200 cal yr BP. We infer that the expansion of the lake during the early Holocene would have resulted from the input of the snow/ice melt, rather than the monsoonal precipitation, in response to the increase in summer solar radiation in the Northern Hemisphere. We also interpret the rise in the lake level since ca. 7,600 cal yr BP as closely related to increased monsoonal precipitation over the lake region resulting from increased temperature and size of the Western Pacific Warm Pool and a westward shifted and strengthened Kuroshio Current in the western Pacific. Moreover, high variability of the East Asian monsoon climate since 7,600 cal yr BP, marked by large fluctuations in the lake level, might have been directly associated with variations in the intensity and frequency of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events.     

Holocene paleolimnological changes in Lake Skallen Oike in the Syowa Station area of Antarctica inferred from organic components in a sediment core (Sk4C-02)

Antarctic climate changes influence environmental changes at both regional and local scales. Here we report Holocene paleolimnological changes in lake sediment core Sk4C-02 (length 378.0 cm) from Lake Skallen Oike in the Soya Kaigan region of East Antarctica inferred from analyses of sedimentary facies, a range of organic components, isotope ratios of organic carbon and nitrogen, and carbon-14 dating by Tandetron accelerator mass spectrometry. The sediment core was composed of clayish mud (378.0–152.5 cm) overlain by organic sediments (152.5 cm-surface). The age of the surface and the core bottom were 150 (AD1950-1640) and ca. 7,030 ± 73 calibrated years before present (cal BP), respectively, and the mean sedimentation rate was estimated to be 0.55 mm/year. Multi-proxy analyses revealed that the principal environmental change in the core is a transition from marine to lacustrine environments which occurred at a depth of 152.5 cm (ca. 3,590 cal BP). This was caused by relative sea level change brought about by ongoing retreat of glaciers during the mid-Holocene warming of Antarctica, and ongoing isostatic uplift which outpaced changes in global (eustatic) sea level. The mean isostatic uplift rate was calculated to be 2.8 mm/year. The coastal marine period (378.0–152.5 cm, ca. 7,030–3,590 cal BP) was characterized by low biological production with the predominance of diatoms. During the transition period from marine to freshwater conditions (152.5-approximately 135 cm, ca. 3,590–3,290 cal BP) the lake was stratified with marine water overlain by freshwater, with a chemocline and an anoxic (sulfidic) layer in the bottom of the photic zone. Green sulfur bacteria and Cryptophyta were the major photosynthetic organisms. The Cryptophyta appeared to be tolerant of the moderate salinity and stratified water conditions. The lacustrine period (approximately 135 cm-surface, ca. 3,290 cal BP-present) was characterized by high biological production by green algae (e.g. Comarium clepsydra and Oedegonium spp.) with some contributions from cyanobacteria and diatoms. Biological production during this period was 8.7 times higher than during the coastal marine period.     

Using fluvial terraces to determine Holocene coastal erosion and Late Pleistocene uplift rates: An example from northwestern Hawke Bay, New Zealand

In order to make robust predictions of future coastal processes and hazards, historical rates of coastal processes such as coastal erosion need to be put into a long-term (Holocene) context. In this study a methodology is proposed that uses fluvial terraces to construct longitudinal profiles which can be projected offshore to infer paleo-coastline positions. From these positions, an average Holocene coastal erosion rate can be calculated. This study also shows how constraints can be placed on sea level changes and Late Pleistocene uplift rates using fluvial terraces, and by assuming the latter has been constant since  55–37 ka, these constraints feedback into the coastal erosion rate calculations. For the northwestern Hawke Bay (North Island, New Zealand) coastline, Late Pleistocene uplift rates of 0.6 ± 0.2, 0.6 ± 0.2, and − 0.1 ± 0.1 (i.e., stable or subsiding) mm/yr have been determined for the Waikari, Mohaka, and Waihua River mouths, respectively. These rates are consistent with previous interpretations of subsidence to the northeast and uplift being the result of regional, subduction-related processes. A Holocene coastal erosion rate of 0.5 ± 0.1 m/yr was determined for the Waikari River mouth, which is at the higher end of the calculated historical ( 1880–1980) rates (0.02–0.5 m/yr). If this difference is significant, then two possible reasons for this difference are: (i) the historical rate is affected by events such as the 1931 Napier earthquake, and (ii) the Holocene rate is the average of a steadily declining rate over the last 7.3 ka.     

Theoretical constraints and chronological evidence of Holocene coastal development in central and southern New South Wales, Australia

Holocene coastal evolution in New South Wales has been interpreted essentially as the unfolding of the impact of marine transgression. Sea level on this coast supposedly reached its present height at 6–6.5 ka, and varied < 1 m since then. The early Holocene rise of the sea has been considered the key factor (“forcing function”) in dune migration, coastal sand barrier development, and the evolution of estuaries. Episodic storminess during the late Holocene has been seen as an important, though secondary, factor in beach erosion and dune mobilisation. An alternate interpretation presented here challenges the concept of the marine transgression as the primary “forcing function”. It (a) attributes early Holocene dune mobilisation to climate rather than the rising sea; (b) shows that the sea reached its present level by 7 ka and rose to at least + 2 m until 1.5 ka; (c) links late Holocene dune activity to local disruption of vegetation rather than to regional episodic storminess; (d) demonstrates a fall of 2°C in sea surface temperature after 3 ka that coincides with the onset of barrier erosion; (e) recognises the imprint of at least three tsunamis in the coastal sedimentary record.     

Early and late Holocene water-level fluctuations of Lake Annecy, France: sediment and pollen evidence and climatic implications

Early and late Holocene water-level changes in Lake Annecy, France, were reconstructed from a sediment sequence from Annecy. Two early Holocene successive rises in lake level at ca. 8900-8700 BP are recorded. Another increase in lake level, beginning at ca. 780 BP, is documented. The higher lake-level conditions in Lake Annecy during the 9th millennium BP, i.e. between the Preboreal oscillation and the 8200 yr event, appear to coincide with a more widespread cooling period which has been recorded in western Europe, in the Greenland ice-sheet and the North Atlantic ocean. The rise in lake level at ca. 780 BP can be related to the early Little Ice Age.     

Late Pleistocene: Holocene record of environmental changes in Lake Zirahuen,Central Mexico

Geochemical data obtained from X-ray fluorescence, physical properties, total organic and inorganic carbon content (TOC/TIC), and diatom analysis from a 6.61-m-long sedimentary sequence near the modern northern shore of Lake Zirahuen (101° 44′ W, 19° 26′ N, 2000 m asl) provide a reconstruction of lacustrine sedimentation during the last approximately 17 cal kyr BP. A time scale is based on ten AMS ¹⁴C dates and by tephra layers from Jorullo (AD 1759-1764) and Paricutin (AD 1943-1952) volcanoes. The multiproxy analyses presented in this study reveal abrupt changes in environmental and climatic conditions. The results are compared to the paleo-record from nearby Lake Patzcuaro. Dry conditions and low lake level are inferred in the late Pleistocene until ca. 15 cal kyr BP, followed by a slight but sustained increase in lake level, as well as a higher productivity, peaking at ca. 12.1 cal kyr BP. This interpretation is consistent with several regional climatic reconstructions in central Mexico, but it is in opposition to record from Lake Patzcuaro. A sediment hiatus bracketed between 12.1 and 7.2 cal kyr BP suggests a drop in lake level in response to a dry early Holocene. A deeper, more eutrophic and turbid lake is recorded after 7.2 cal kyr BP. Lake level at the coring site during the mid Holocene is considered the highest for the past 17 cal kyr BP. The emplacement of the La Magueyera lava flows (LMLF), dated by thermoluminiscence at 6560 ± 950 year, may have reduced basin volume and contributed to the relative deepening of the lake after 7.2 cal kyr BP. The late Holocene (after 3.9 cal kyr BP) climate is characterized by high instability. Extensive erosion, lower lake levels, dry conditions and pulses of high sediment influx due to high rainfall are inferred for this time. Further decrease in lake level and increased erosion are recorded after ca. AD 1050, at the peak of Purepechas occupation (AD 1300–1521), and until the eighteenth century. Few lacustrine records extend back to the late Pleistocene—early Holocene in central Mexico; this paper contributes to the understanding of late Pleistocene-Holocene paleoclimates in this region.     

The San Nicolás succession of the Cauca paleolake: a late Holocene laminated ria lake record from the Neotropics

The stratigraphic, geochemical, and organic matter study of the late Holocene San Nicolás succession of the Cauca paleolake (Santa Fé–Sopetrán pull-apart basin) in the middle Cauca Valley, northern Colombia, suggests that it was deposited in a ria lake environment, at sedimentary accumulation rates in excess of 600 cm ky^?1 between ~3500 and ~500 yr BP. Laminated deposition occurred, first under igapo (black-water), and then under varzea (white-water) conditions. The transition occurred ca. 3000 yr BP, a time of major change in El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) behavior in the Cariaco Basin, thus reflecting the southern migration of the intertropical convergence zone and intensified rain upstream the Cauca Valley. A second, but less conspicuous change occurred ca. 2000 yr BP, which apparently corresponds to the intensified and/or more frequent ENSO activity in the Galapagos Islands. Our contribution describes, for the first time, a ria lake sedimentary succession from the northern Andes and demonstrates the high potential of these hitherto undervalued deposits for the reconstruction of the paleohydrological history of the northern Andes.     

Upper Pleistocene and Holocene paleosalinity and trophic state changes in relation to sea level variation in Rocha Lagoon, southern Uruguay

Paleolimnological data are presented on trophic development in relation to sea level variation in Rocha Lagoon, a 72 km² coastal lagoon in southern Uruguay. Using sediment cores that extended to ∼20,000 yr BP, analyses of grain size, organic matter, carbonate, total carbon, nutrients, and diatoms allowed us to infer changes in trophic state and paleosalinities, which were closely related to Holocene relative sea level variation. Higher trophic states were observed during regressive events, most probably due to increases in runoff and erosion as regressions progressed. Diatom Association Zones (DAZ) were identified in both cores. Those DAZ corresponding to transgressive events were dominated by marine/brackish taxa and relatively low organic matter and nutrient values, while those DAZ corresponding to regressive events showed increases in brackish/freshwater diatoms and both organic matter and nutrients. Although the lagoon formed after the first Holocene marine transgression, our data indicate the existence of a marine/brackish aquatic system during upper Pleistocene (i.e., before 15,000 yr BP), but by ∼20,000 yr BP, the system was still likely to be a semi-arid terrestrial system.     

Coastal Massachusetts pond development: edaphic,climatic, and sea level impacts since deglaciation

Kettle ponds in the Cape Cod National Seashore in southeastern Massachusetts differ in their evolution due to depth of the original ice block, the clay content of outwash in their drainage basins, and their siting in relation to geomorphic changes caused by sea-level rise, barrier beach formation, and saltmarsh development. Stratigraphic records of microfossil, carbon isotope, and sediment changes also document late-glacial and Holocene climatic changes.The ponds are separated into 3 groups, each of which follow different development scenarios. Group I ponds date from the late-glacial. They formed in clay-rich outwash, have perched aquifers and continuous lake sediment deposition. The earliest pollen and macrofossil assemblages in Group I pond sediments suggest tundra and spruce-willow parklands before 12 000 yr B.P., boreal forest between 12 000 and 10 500 yr B.P., bog/heath initiation and expansion during the Younger Dryas between 11 000 and 10 000 yr B.P., northern conifer forest between 10 500 and 9500 yr B.P., and establishment of the Cape oak and pitch pine barrens vegetation after 9500 yr B.P. Sedimentation rate changes suggest lowered freshwater levels between 9000 and 5000 yr B.P. caused by decreased precipitation on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Lake sediment deposition began in the middle Holocene in Group II ponds which formed in clay-poor outwash. These ponds date from about 6000-5000 yr B.P. In these ponds sediment deposition began as sea level rose and the freshwater lens intersected the dry basins. The basal radiocarbon dates of these ponds and stable carbon isotope analyses of the pond sediments suggest a sea-level curve for Cape Cod Bay. Holocene topographic changes in upland and the landscape surrounding the ponds is reconstructed for this coastal area.Group III ponds in the late Holocene landscape of the Provincelands dunes originated as interdunal bogs about 1000 yr B.P. and became ponds more recently as water-levels increased. Peat formation in the Provincelands reflects climatic changes evident on both sides of the Atlantic region.This is the 8th in a series of papers published in this special AMQUA issue. These papers were presented at the 1994 meeting of the American Quaternary Association held 19–22 June, 1994, at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Dr Linda C. K. Shane served as guest editor for these papers.     

Vegetation and sedimentation in the Lake Edward Basin, Uganda–Congo during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene

New palynological and sedimentological data obtained from the basal 3 m of core E96-2P from Lake Edward, Uganda–Congo record conditions wetter than present in the Edward basin from 11 000 to 6700 yr BP, in phase with other climate and vegetation records of northern hemispheric East Africa. Dominant pollen taxa include Celtis spp., Alchornea spp., Olea spp., and Moraceae indicating a moist semi-deciduous tropical forest. More xeric indicators such as Amaranthaceae and Asteraceae together with Poaceae comprise less than 5% of the pollen sum throughout this interval as compared with between 44 and 50% during a lake lowstand at 2000 cal yr BP and at the core top (near modern). The differences between these two assemblages suggest a 25 to 60% increase in annual precipitation during the early- to mid-Holocene as compared to modern (1500–2000 vs. 1200 mm/yr today). Early Holocene sediments in E96-2P are composed of laminated diatom oozes with moderately high total sulfur concentrations (2.8–4.7%) and no authigenic calcite, also indicative of conditions wetter than present. Between 9000 and 6700 yr BP, palynological and sedimentary proxies indicate sub-millennial-scale events related to changes in riverine discharge and runoff in the Edward basin. We attribute the variability in runoff, and hence precipitation, to Holocene variability in Indian or Atlantic Ocean SSTs or to shifts in the relative contribution of Indian and Atlantic moisture sources to the western Rift of equatorial Africa.     

Morphology and chronostratigraphy of a coastal dunefield; Groote Eylandt, northern Australia

A coastal dunefield on Groote Eylandt, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia, is stratigraphically described and dated using the coarse fraction thermoluminescence dating technique. Four phases of dune activity have been identified: (1) Modern active transverse and parabolic dunes. (2) A parabolic dunefield apparently stabilized less than 2000 yr BP. (3) A parabolic dunefield stablized between 6000 and 4800 yr BP. (4) A basal dunefield unit emplaced prior to 100,000 yr BP.The current dune systems are an expression of dune activation and stabilization events in the Holocene, but were formed from the deflation of an extensive pre-Holocene dunefield. The destruction of the pre-Holocene dunefield appears to have been caused by sea-level rise at the end of the Pleistocene and during the early Holocene. The ages derived from the dunefield accord well with chronostratigraphic investigations of coastal dune systems elsewhere in northern Australia and support theories of regional environmental change during the Holocene.