Quaternary Science Reviews最新文献

{"title":"Wind(ow) of change: The end of the Middle Stone Age and the beginning of the Later Stone Age at Umhlatuzana rockshelter showcasing concurrent technological and techno-economic shifts","authors":"V.C. Schmid ,&nbsp;I. Sifogeorgaki ,&nbsp;T. Abruzzese ,&nbsp;S. Blik ,&nbsp;L. Huang ,&nbsp;G.L. Dusseldorp","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109806","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109806","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The site of Umhlatuzana rockshelter contains a key sequence documenting developments in human behaviour from ∼70 ka throughout the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Re-excavation of the site yielded high-resolution lithic assemblages that clarify the character of the end of the Middle Stone Age and the beginning of the Later Stone Age at the site. We performed a technological analysis of this lithic material across the transition from Middle to Later Stone Age. We show that this transition took place more rapidly than previously assumed. The change from the Middle to Later Stone Age is characterized by concomitant shifts in raw material provisioning, reduction strategies and tool corpus. The final Middle Stone Age features high investment in tool production, including careful shaping of bifacial pieces in hornfels, while the transition to the Later Stone Age stands out by the accelerated increase in bipolar reduction of mainly quartz and very low numbers of retouched elements. We further demonstrate the presence of an earlier Later Stone Age assemblage characterized by bladelet production using freehand percussion combined with various bipolar knapping strategies. We document a new type of assemblage between the earlier Later Stone Age and the Robberg that features Later Stone Age characteristics associated with a distinct blade production and tool types reminiscent of the Middle Stone Age. Comparison of the sequence with other sites on the subcontinent reveals that the transition from the Middle to Later Stone Age is a spatially and temporally diffuse process, which is best interpreted as the result of loose social connections and arrhythmic pace of local innovations bounded by among others raw material properties, cross-craft constraints and land-use strategies that led to a stable suite of similar solutions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109806"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146191863","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":"Evidence that the Aso-3 caldera-forming eruption (southwest Japan) marks the termination of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6","authors":"D. McLean ,&nbsp;P.G. Albert ,&nbsp;G. Jones ,&nbsp;R.A. Staff ,&nbsp;A. Francke ,&nbsp;S.O. Vineberg ,&nbsp;J.J. Tyler ,&nbsp;M. Saito-Kato ,&nbsp;T. Sagawa ,&nbsp;K. Kaneko ,&nbsp;H. Buckland ,&nbsp;T. Suzuki ,&nbsp;J.-I. Kimura ,&nbsp;Q. Chang ,&nbsp;H. Hoshizumi ,&nbsp;Y. Miyabuchi ,&nbsp;C.J. Manning ,&nbsp;K. Yamada ,&nbsp;I. Kitaba ,&nbsp;K. Ikehara ,&nbsp;V.C. Smith","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109837","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109837","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Aso-3 caldera-forming event of Aso volcano was one of the largest eruptions of the Quaternary period, blanketing vast regions of Japan and surrounding seas in ash. However, uncertainties surrounding the eruption age and geochemical variability have limited its utility as a robust time-stratigraphic marker. Distal occurrences previously attributed to Aso-3 span a broad temporal window (135–110 ka) and glass shards often lack compositional agreement with those of proximal datasets. Here, we re-evaluate the characteristics of Aso-3 using new stratigraphic and geochemical evidence from proximal and distal settings. In the Lake Suigetsu sediments, three Aso tephra layers are newly identified, including a 3 cm thick layer at ∼133 ka with glass shards that compositionally span the proximal Aso-3 range. Additionally, we identify a compositionally identical Aso-3 cryptotephra in the Sea of Japan (core U1427A). Combined stratigraphic, geochemical, and palaeoenvironmental evidence (pollen, diatom and benthic δ¹⁸O) from these records confirms that Aso-3 occurred prior to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e, during the termination of MIS 6. This establishes Aso-3 as a regional isochron, aiding synchronisation of paleoclimate records across the glacial–interglacial transition (Termination II). Our findings caution against correlating to Aso-3 based on partial geochemical matches, given that Aso experienced numerous explosive eruptions responsible for widespread ash dispersals throughout MIS 6 and 5.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109837"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146191859","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":"A paleoclimate reference record spanning the last 1 million years from the Fram Strait (Sites U1621 and U1623, IODP Expedition 403)","authors":"A. González-Lanchas ,&nbsp;B.T. Reilly ,&nbsp;M.A. Bárcena ,&nbsp;S. De Schepper ,&nbsp;A.C. Gebhardt ,&nbsp;J. Gruetzner ,&nbsp;K. Husum ,&nbsp;Y. Rosenthal ,&nbsp;Y. Suganuma ,&nbsp;Y. Zhong ,&nbsp;R.E.M. Rickaby ,&nbsp;A.K.I.U. Kapuge ,&nbsp;L.R. Monito ,&nbsp;J. Yeon ,&nbsp;R.G. Lucchi ,&nbsp;K. St. John ,&nbsp;T.A. Ronge ,&nbsp;L. Duxbury ,&nbsp;G. Goss ,&nbsp;N. Greco ,&nbsp;A.V. Sijinkumar","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109838","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109838","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As the main gateway to the Arctic Ocean, the Fram Strait (FS) plays a critical role in regulating central Arctic–Atlantic water exchange and global climate dynamics. Paleoclimate reconstructions from this key region remain particularly challenging due to the scarcity of continuous, well-positioned and high-resolution sedimentary records. During International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 403 (Eastern Fram Strait Paleo-Archive), Sites U1621 and U1623 were cored in the Bellsund Drift, southeastern Fram Strait. This study presents detailed calcareous nannofossil data from Holes U1621A and U1623A, documenting an unprecedented record of key Quaternary calcifying phytoplankton groups in the region. Intercalibrated with shipboard magnetostratigraphic data, these records establish the first chronological framework for the Bellsund Drift sediments, spanning the last ∼1 million years. Increases in nannofossil abundances—defined as Nannofossil Abundance (NA) events—are identified at both sites and closely correlate with peak enhancements in Ca/Ti and Sr/Ti ratios recorded in X-ray fluorescence (XRF) data. This biogenic-geochemical covariance provides compelling evidence of fluctuations in primary productivity and sedimentary calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) concentration, linked to orbitally driven changes in local conditions across glacial–interglacial (G/IG) cycles. These signals likely reflect ecological variability driven by changes in North Atlantic water inflow along the Fram Strait. The timing and structure of NA events show strong similarities with records from the palaeoceanographically connected lower-latitude Norwegian Seas. Within the structure of our record, we identify evidence of key transitions during the Pleistocene, the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) and the Mid-Brunhes Event (MBE), as well as the evolution of the interglacial phases Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 31, 19, 15–9, 5 and the Holocene. Globally recognizable features, such as the increased pelagic production during the mid-Brunhes interval, are also observed. This study underscores the exceptional value of the Bellsund Drift as providing high-resolution records for the reconstruction of orbital scale paleoceanographic and paleocelimate variability from the key Fram Strait region during the last ∼1 million years.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109838"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146191862","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":"Early Holocene wet-cool Cerrado tree corridor","authors":"Katerine Escobar-Torrez ,&nbsp;Marie-Pierre Ledru ,&nbsp;Raquel Franco Cassino ,&nbsp;Ingrid Horák-Terra ,&nbsp;Manuel Chevalier ,&nbsp;Plínio Barbosa de Camargo ,&nbsp;Ilana Wainer","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109851","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109851","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Cerrado biome supports a wide variety of arboreal and open vegetation physiognomies which were successively dominant through glacial and interglacial cycles. During the last glacial, corridors of biodiversity allowed Cerrado cold-adapted plant species to migrate between the Atlantic and Amazonian forests. Here, to characterize plant responses to Holocene climatic changes, we present a quantitative temperature and precipitation reconstruction for the last 15,000 years based on a new multiproxy record located in the central Cerrado. We show how the succession of the two events at 9300 and 8400 cal yr BP allowed the expansion of a wet-cool-adapted tree taxa assemblage during ∼1000 years followed by its retreat toward the landscape we know today. During these two events, our quantitative climate reconstruction showed a sudden increase of 100 mm in precipitation during the driest quarter (austral winter) and a 2 °C decrease in mean annual temperature at 10°S latitude. The observed abrupt changes in biodiversity were linked to a negative southern Atlantic Subtropical Dipole during meltwater discharges in the North Atlantic causing a southward shift of the intertropical convergence zone mean position when it was at its northernmost position. Resulted in weaker Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, modified the interhemispheric heat exchange and increasing rainfall in the Northeastern Brazil. Our results show that the formation of a band of cold moisture in the southern tropics between eastern northeastern and northern central Brazil created a SW-NE corridor between the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes during the early Holocene that favored the mixing between Cerrado and Caatinga species.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109851"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192280","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":"The evolution of the cave's entrance of Bruniquel and consequences for its accessibility by early Homo neanderthalensis","authors":"K. Génuite ,&nbsp;S. Verheyden ,&nbsp;H. Camus ,&nbsp;C. Burlet ,&nbsp;M. Boudadi-Maligne ,&nbsp;L. Bruxelles ,&nbsp;H. Cheng ,&nbsp;D. Cochard ,&nbsp;S. Delaby ,&nbsp;E. Fabre ,&nbsp;C. Ferrier ,&nbsp;C. Lézin ,&nbsp;L. Ledoux ,&nbsp;M.-A. Medina-Alcaide ,&nbsp;P. Mora ,&nbsp;X. Muth ,&nbsp;T. Pélissié ,&nbsp;D. Soulier ,&nbsp;J. Xue ,&nbsp;J. Jaubert","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109866","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109866","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The cave of Bruniquel, discovered by cavers in 1990, contains the oldest evidence of deep cave use by early <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em>. The discovery and dating of speleothem-based structures and fireplaces demonstrated their ability to investigate the deep subterranean environment in a structured way (Jaubert et al., 2016). The cave has been closed by a succession of rockfalls, flowstone layers and scree cone deposits, which led to the preservation of multiple traces of human and animal activity inside the cave. We studied the cave entrance evolution through a multidisciplinary integrated geomorphological approach, combining 3D surveys inside and outside the cave system, high-resolution geomorphological mapping, Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), and U-series dating. The combination of stratigraphic surveys and U-series dating allowed us to date the closure of the cave to before 142.9 ± 1.3 ka, before the Last Interglacial, thus independently confirming the age of the speleothem structures and of the other traces observed on the cave floor. The proposed virtual 3D reconstruction of the palaeo-cave entrance at the beginning of MIS 6, suggests an entrance less than 2 m high, implying that the space behind the entrance was rapidly dark. This work highlights the central importance of understanding the evolution of cave entrances for constraining the timing and the modalities of use of cave systems and provides a new palaeogeographic framework for future studies of the cave's occupation by early <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em>.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109866"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192232","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":"Monitoring in natural and artificial caves reveals cave microenvironment signals reflected in drip water","authors":"Yina Lyu ,&nbsp;Weijun Luo ,&nbsp;Reni Ustiatik ,&nbsp;Alena Gessert ,&nbsp;Guangjie Luo ,&nbsp;Guangneng Zeng ,&nbsp;Yanwei Wang ,&nbsp;Jia Chen ,&nbsp;Anyun Cheng ,&nbsp;Shijie Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109854","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109854","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>It is essential to distinguish the effects of climate signals and cave microenvironments on speleothem δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C, and element/Ca records, because cave microenvironments can interfere with the reconstruction of climate signals preserved by speleothems. However, it remains difficult to separate the impacts of direct climate signals and cave microenvironments-including cave air temperature and CO₂ concentration-on these proxies, even after numerous cave monitoring and laboratory simulation experiments. In this study, we compared outdoor Artificial Cave monitoring with natural cave monitoring, providing an innovative and efficient method to discriminate the effects of climate signals and cave microenvironments on the proxies. We presented seven years of time-series data from Shawan Cave (natural cave) and more than two years of time-series data from the outdoor Artificial Cave located in Guizhou Province, Southwest China, for δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C, and elemental compositions of cave drip water along with microenvironmental conditions. In Shawan Cave, the seasonal changes in drip water δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C_DIC, which showed a significant inverse correlation with cave air <em>p</em>CO₂, were attributed to the wide range of cave air <em>p</em>CO₂ (972–21,627 ppm), The irregular seasonal changes in drip water Mg/Ca were affected by the opposing seasonal variations in rainfall amount and cave air <em>p</em>CO₂. In contrast, in the Artificial Cave, the wider range of cave air temperature (11.78–25.25 °C) appeared to influence the seasonality of cave water δ¹⁸O and Mg/Ca values. Meanwhile, the δ¹⁸O and Mg/Ca values of water isolated from the cave were mainly affected by rainfall δ¹⁸O and rainfall amount, respectively. The δ¹³C_DIC values in cave water and in water isolated from the cave were primarily influenced by rainfall amount, because the narrow range of cave air <em>p</em>CO₂ was insufficient to drive a notable change in cave water δ¹³C_DIC. Our study highlights that cave microenvironments, rather than direct climate signals, are key drivers of seasonal amplitudes in speleothems proxies in caves with wide ranges of cave air temperature and <em>p</em>CO₂. When the ranges of cave air temperature and <em>p</em>CO₂ are narrow, speleothem proxies primarily record precipitation and air temperature.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"377 ","pages":"Article 109854"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146192237","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 potential natural vegetation in Europe: Evaluating the model spread with three dynamical vegetation models","authors":"Isabeau A. Bertrix ,&nbsp;Hisashi Sato ,&nbsp;Nicolas Viovy ,&nbsp;Hans Renssen ,&nbsp;Didier M. Roche","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109813","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109813","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The period of the early Holocene in Europe is marked by climate warming as Earth comes out of the last glacial period and is followed by the emergence of agriculture and animal husbandry in the second half of the period. Increased human influence had profound impacts on the land surface, but the Holocene climate evolution also drove some changes that are intertwined with it. Deciphering the role of each in the vegetation evolution is becoming more difficult as one progresses to the earlier parts of the Holocene here human induced impacts were fainter. Within this general context, we aim at understanding how much Dynamical Vegetation Models (DGVMs) differ in their representation of Potential Natural Vegetation (PNV) in Europe during the mid-to late Holocene (8.5 k.a. BP to 1900 A. D.). We ran three different DGVMs, SEIB-DGVM, ORCHIDEE-DGVM and CARAIB, in Europe, for six time-slices and forced them with identical climatic imputs obtained from the iLOVECLIM Earth system model (downscaled and bias-corrected). Results are then compared with pollen-based reconstructions from the TERRANOVA database. Overall, the three models have a similar performance in representing the pollen-derived vegetation cover at the european scale. However, their results are largely different at regional scales, particularly in mountainous areas and in boreal regions. They also show a very large spread in simulated PFT diversity at the grid cell scale, highlighting the impact of each model's internal dynamics on the results. On a global scale, they all agree on a decreasing match of their results with pollen base reconstructions over time, indicating - as expected - an increase of the human pressure on the landscape.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"376 ","pages":"Article 109813"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146080489","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":"Stable dust-transporting winds in Central Asia over the last 1.2 million years","authors":"Ramona Schneider ,&nbsp;Ekaterina Kulakova ,&nbsp;Bjarne Almqvist ,&nbsp;Dominika Niezabitowska ,&nbsp;Richard Leeding ,&nbsp;Redzhep Kurbanov ,&nbsp;Thomas Stevens","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109799","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109799","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The last 1.2 million years have witnessed fundamental changes in global climate, including substantial intensification of global glaciations and a shift from obliquity-to eccentricity-paced glacial-interglacial cycles. However, the effect of these changes on prevailing wind direction and mineral dust transport pathways remains enigmatic. Here, we utilize anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) of Tajik loess over the last 1.2 Ma to constrain past wind regimes in the Afghan-Tajik Basin of southern Central Asia. The area is located at the intersection of the Siberian High pressure system, the Mid-Latitude Westerlies, and the Indian Summer Monsoon, and acts as one of the largest dust-emitting regions globally. AMS measures the magnetic fabric of loess, a function of dust transporting wind directions and post-depositional processes, and here we apply the technique to three different loess-palaeosol sections on the Khovaling Loess Plateau, Tajikistan. In addition to constraining post depositional reworking, we show through comparison to modern modelled and observed wind regimes that AMS does indeed reflect the directions of dust-transporting winds that, while partly affected by meso-scale and local topography, are ultimately driven by regional wind systems. Our results demonstrate that the directions of these dust-transporting winds have remained stable for the last 1.2 million years. This remarkable resilience of the dust transporting wind regime suggests a stability of the wider synoptic wind field despite major global climate transitions and regional orogenic uplift.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"376 ","pages":"Article 109799"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146039461","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":"Chronological, paleoclimatic, and paleoenvironmental data from Łabajowa Cave (Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Poland): a comprehensive approach for investigating a complex Late Pleistocene sequence","authors":"Claudio Berto ,&nbsp;Mateusz Baca ,&nbsp;Helen Fewlass ,&nbsp;Greta Brancaleoni ,&nbsp;Hugues-Alexandre Blain ,&nbsp;Angel Blanco-Lapaz ,&nbsp;Barbara Bujalska ,&nbsp;Maciej T. Krajcarz ,&nbsp;Aleksandra Kropczyk ,&nbsp;Adrian Marciszak ,&nbsp;Magdalena Moskal del Hoyo ,&nbsp;Andrea Pereswiet Soltan ,&nbsp;Marcin Szymanek ,&nbsp;Krzysztof Wertz ,&nbsp;Aleksandra Żeromska ,&nbsp;Małgorzata Kot","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109778","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109778","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Łabajowa Cave, located in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland (southern Poland), preserves a complex sedimentary sequence that documents environmental and depositional dynamics from the early Late Pleistocene to the Holocene. The cave's infill reflects a non-continuous, multi-phase sedimentary history shaped by both natural and potentially anthropogenic processes. Through an integrated multidisciplinary approach, combining micromorphology, radiocarbon and OSL dating, paleontology, anthracology, and ancient DNA studies on fossil voles, this study reconstructs the chronological, paleoenvironmental, and paleoclimatic framework of the site. The stratigraphic sequence reveals alternating phases of slow accumulation, erosion, and redeposition, with weak anthropogenic inputs in the lower units. Faunal assemblages dominated by small mammals, birds, and molluscs reflect significant climatic oscillations between Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 and MIS 2/1, with shifts from mainly temperate to cold-adapted taxa. The presence of charcoal may also indicate episodic fire activity, probably of natural origin. The stratigraphic complexity of Łabajowa Cave provides a valuable record for reconstructing the interactions between sedimentary dynamics, climate variability, and faunal changes during the Late Pleistocene in Central Europe.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"376 ","pages":"Article 109778"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145996168","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":"Expansion of grassland/open woodland across the East China Sea shelf since MIS 4 facilitated the early human dispersal","authors":"Jie Li ,&nbsp;Kai Lu ,&nbsp;Shixiong Yang ,&nbsp;Zhuo Zheng ,&nbsp;Qiuchi Wan ,&nbsp;Gayan Bandara ,&nbsp;Chuanxiu Luo ,&nbsp;Zhongbo Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109835","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2026.109835","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>During the last glacial period, there has been controversy over whether the exposed area of the East China Sea (ECS) continental shelf was a vast expanse of grassland or a dense forest. So far, direct paleovegetation and paleoenvironmental evidence over the stages from MIS 4 to MIS 2 on this shelf has been scarce. Moreover, the exposed continental shelf since ca. 60 ka has been hypothesized as a potential migratory corridor for <em>Homo sapiens</em> entering East Asia during the Late Pleistocene. This makes the study of the paleovegetation in the exposed continental shelf areas even more important. The present study is based on a high-resolution, well-dated palynological and sedimentological dataset obtained from core TBF-1, collected from the outer ECS continental shelf, spanning the past 71,000 years. Our results demonstrate a distinct vegetational response to global sea-level fluctuations and concomitant monsoon variability. During the lowstand intervals of MIS 4 and MIS 2 (including the Last Glacial Maximum), the exposed ECS shelf was dominated by a cool, dry temperate grassland biome, characterized by high abundance of herbs such as <em>Artemisia</em>, Poaceae, and Chenopodiaceae, alongside substantial wetland communities indicated by Cyperaceae and <em>Typha</em>. In contrast, the milder conditions of MIS 3 supported a heterogeneous open-forest landscape comprising temperate deciduous broadleaved forests, such as <em>Quercus</em>, <em>Fagus</em>, and <em>Juglans</em>, interspersed with persistent grasslands. These extensive grasslands and associated wetlands formed a vast coastal plain that connected mainland China to the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago, providing critical resources such as freshwater, game, and traversable terrain for early human foragers. Collectively, these findings provide the first direct paleoecological evidence that the exposed ECS shelf constituted a favorable and viable ecosystem during the last glacial period, thereby substantiating the hypothesis that it served as a crucial conduit facilitating the initial dispersal of early modern humans into East Asia.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"376 ","pages":"Article 109835"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146080485","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}