Pub Date : 2025-12-15DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109754
B.L. Hall , A.E. Putnam , T.V. Lowell , G.H. Denton , J.L. Russell , R.L. Soteres , M.M. Spoth-Ascencao , M.L. Miles , S.G. Thomas , P.I. Moreno , R. Schwartz , J.M. Schaefer
Despite more than a century of research, the cause of the last ice-age termination remains uncertain. Here, we reconstruct the thinning history of the Cordillera Darwin Icefield, southernmost Chile, to track relative summer temperature change at the end of the ice age and to explore potential drivers of the warming. Eighteen 10Be exposure ages of erratics perched on glacially scoured bedrock indicate rapid surface lowering of at least 500 m elevation in the heart of the former icefield at some time between 18.8 and 16.9 ka at the onset of the termination. We infer that this drop in ice level reflects an increase in summer temperatures, which led to extensive glacier melt. We attribute the underlying cause to a poleward shift of the southern westerly winds, which placed the Cordillera Darwin Icefield in warmer air masses with temperatures incompatible with its LGM extent.
{"title":"Rapid thinning of the Cordillera Darwin Icefield at the onset of Termination I","authors":"B.L. Hall , A.E. Putnam , T.V. Lowell , G.H. Denton , J.L. Russell , R.L. Soteres , M.M. Spoth-Ascencao , M.L. Miles , S.G. Thomas , P.I. Moreno , R. Schwartz , J.M. Schaefer","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109754","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109754","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite more than a century of research, the cause of the last ice-age termination remains uncertain. Here, we reconstruct the thinning history of the Cordillera Darwin Icefield, southernmost Chile, to track relative summer temperature change at the end of the ice age and to explore potential drivers of the warming. Eighteen <sup>10</sup>Be exposure ages of erratics perched on glacially scoured bedrock indicate rapid surface lowering of at least 500 m elevation in the heart of the former icefield at some time between 18.8 and 16.9 ka at the onset of the termination. We infer that this drop in ice level reflects an increase in summer temperatures, which led to extensive glacier melt. We attribute the underlying cause to a poleward shift of the southern westerly winds, which placed the Cordillera Darwin Icefield in warmer air masses with temperatures incompatible with its LGM extent.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109754"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145797952","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}
Pub Date : 2025-12-15DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109749
Raphaël Kerverdo , S. Lafuerza , C. Gorini , E. Fouache , D. Granjeon , N. Bianchi , N. Haghipour , R. Clementucci , N. Loget , S. Migeon , R. Deschamps
Floods are among the costliest natural disasters, causing extensive damage and fatalities worldwide. Mountainous regions of the Mediterranean Alps are highly vulnerable to extreme hydrological events, whose frequency is increasing in the context of climate change favouring convective storms. In October 2020, the Roya valley was struck by an extreme hydrological event. The amount of rainfall (return period >1000yr) and discharge (>100yr), triggered major geomorphological changes, including subsantial channel widening, slope destabilisation and extensive bank erosion.
This study provides unprecedented sedimentological data on torrential dynamics in the Roya Valley, based on 14C and OSL dating of newly exposed flooding deposits following Storm Alex. Five clusters of preserved fluvial and torrential deposits ranging from the Younger Dryas–Holocene transition to the Little Ice Age are identified. These preservation clusters correspond to periods of wetter condition and anthropogenic influence.
By combining sedimentological analyses with documented pollen and sediments records from lakes in the Mercantour massif, as well as historical archives, this study presents one of the first flood-frequency reconstructions for a Mediterranean Alpine catchment over a multi-millennial timescale. Past flooding events (on centennial to millennial scales) leave distinctive sedimentary signatures, characterised by thick deposits and the mobilisation of coarse particles, before being reworked within the broader autogenic dynamics of the river system. Reconstructing the frequency and occurrence of past extreme flood events provides key insights into the conditions under which such events occurr, and offers valuable information for the development of flood-risk scenarios, particularly in mountainous areas that are among the most affected by contemporary climate change.
{"title":"Extreme flood deposits in the Roya Valley during the Holocene: characterisation and recurrence intervals","authors":"Raphaël Kerverdo , S. Lafuerza , C. Gorini , E. Fouache , D. Granjeon , N. Bianchi , N. Haghipour , R. Clementucci , N. Loget , S. Migeon , R. Deschamps","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109749","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109749","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Floods are among the costliest natural disasters, causing extensive damage and fatalities worldwide. Mountainous regions of the Mediterranean Alps are highly vulnerable to extreme hydrological events, whose frequency is increasing in the context of climate change favouring convective storms. In October 2020, the Roya valley was struck by an extreme hydrological event. The amount of rainfall (return period >1000yr) and discharge (>100yr), triggered major geomorphological changes, including subsantial channel widening, slope destabilisation and extensive bank erosion.</div><div>This study provides unprecedented sedimentological data on torrential dynamics in the Roya Valley, based on <sup>14</sup>C and OSL dating of newly exposed flooding deposits following Storm Alex. Five clusters of preserved fluvial and torrential deposits ranging from the Younger Dryas–Holocene transition to the Little Ice Age are identified. These preservation clusters correspond to periods of wetter condition and anthropogenic influence.</div><div>By combining sedimentological analyses with documented pollen and sediments records from lakes in the Mercantour massif, as well as historical archives, this study presents one of the first flood-frequency reconstructions for a Mediterranean Alpine catchment over a multi-millennial timescale. Past flooding events (on centennial to millennial scales) leave distinctive sedimentary signatures, characterised by thick deposits and the mobilisation of coarse particles, before being reworked within the broader autogenic dynamics of the river system. Reconstructing the frequency and occurrence of past extreme flood events provides key insights into the conditions under which such events occurr, and offers valuable information for the development of flood-risk scenarios, particularly in mountainous areas that are among the most affected by contemporary climate change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109749"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145797951","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}
Pub Date : 2025-12-15DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109747
Junru Zhang , Fengming Chang , Ann Holbourn , Fang Qian , Luyao Tang , Tiegang Li
Upper ocean temperature and stratification play essential roles in regulating hydrological processes from regional to basin scales and in shaping climate systems. The Eastern Tropical Indian Ocean (ETIO), as a major source of heat and moisture, is critical to regional and large-scale hydroclimatic variability. However, the long-term evolution of its upper water thermal structure remains poorly constrained. Here, we reconstruct sea surface temperature (SST) and thermocline water temperature (TWT) records spanning the past 620 ka using planktonic foraminiferal Mg/Ca ratios from Core 18548 and IODP Site U1482 off the northwest Australian margin. The results reveal that both SST and TWT exhibit pronounced glacial–interglacial cyclicity, primarily paced by orbital-scale forcing, including the 100-ka and precession (23/19-ka) periodicities. Notably, TWT displays a stronger precession signal than SST. These orbital-scale variations reflect the modulation of heat transfer to the ETIO through sea-level-controlled Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) dynamics and precession-driven atmospheric circulation. The amplified TWT response arises from the combined effects of ITF-mediated thermocline advection and insolation-induced vertical mixing, which together regulate upper ocean heat redistribution. A significant shift in the gradient between SST and TWT (ΔT) around 400 ka, coinciding with the MBE, indicates a major reorganization of upper ocean thermal structure, likely driven by glacioeustatic sea-level fluctuations and changes in precession-induced wind systems. Our findings highlight the coupled forcing of 100-ka cycle and precession on upper ocean thermal evolution in the ETIO and offer critical insights into orbital-scale heat redistribution and tropical ocean-climate interactions.
{"title":"Shift of the upper ocean thermal structure across the Mid-Brunhes Event in the Eastern Tropical Indian Ocean","authors":"Junru Zhang , Fengming Chang , Ann Holbourn , Fang Qian , Luyao Tang , Tiegang Li","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109747","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109747","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Upper ocean temperature and stratification play essential roles in regulating hydrological processes from regional to basin scales and in shaping climate systems. The Eastern Tropical Indian Ocean (ETIO), as a major source of heat and moisture, is critical to regional and large-scale hydroclimatic variability. However, the long-term evolution of its upper water thermal structure remains poorly constrained. Here, we reconstruct sea surface temperature (SST) and thermocline water temperature (TWT) records spanning the past 620 ka using planktonic foraminiferal Mg/Ca ratios from Core 18548 and IODP Site U1482 off the northwest Australian margin. The results reveal that both SST and TWT exhibit pronounced glacial–interglacial cyclicity, primarily paced by orbital-scale forcing, including the 100-ka and precession (23/19-ka) periodicities. Notably, TWT displays a stronger precession signal than SST. These orbital-scale variations reflect the modulation of heat transfer to the ETIO through sea-level-controlled Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) dynamics and precession-driven atmospheric circulation. The amplified TWT response arises from the combined effects of ITF-mediated thermocline advection and insolation-induced vertical mixing, which together regulate upper ocean heat redistribution. A significant shift in the gradient between SST and TWT (ΔT) around 400 ka, coinciding with the MBE, indicates a major reorganization of upper ocean thermal structure, likely driven by glacioeustatic sea-level fluctuations and changes in precession-induced wind systems. Our findings highlight the coupled forcing of 100-ka cycle and precession on upper ocean thermal evolution in the ETIO and offer critical insights into orbital-scale heat redistribution and tropical ocean-climate interactions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109747"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145797950","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}
Pub Date : 2025-12-15DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109709
B.C. Salcher , S.M. Neuhuber , J.-C. Otto , T. Payer , C. Lüthgens , S. Fuchs , A. Flores-Orozco , J. Nørgaard , S. Grupe , O. Marchhart , A. Wieser , J. Lachner , M. Fiebig , Zs. Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger
Quaternary terrace sequences can be observed along many mid to high latitudinal rivers, often reflecting a distinct, climate-related cyclicity of the fluvial system in uplifting regions. They are also essential landforms in many continental basins even though local basin subsidence may counteract an existing regional uplift trend. Glacial and periglacial processes may amplify events of river aggradation, with associated terraces providing clear stratigraphic markers. In this study, we explore the opposing lithospheric forces, regional uplift vs. local normal faulting, along a perialpine section of the Danube River, which is strongly affected by a 100-ka depositional cyclicity during the Quaternary. Within the city of Vienna, the Danube formed an extensive terrace staircase across a continental-scale normal fault. This fault demarcates the transition of the Eastern Alps and the Miocene Vienna Basin. Its Quaternary activity remained ambiguous and its impact on terrace configuration largely unexplored. Solifluction processes over several glacial-interglacial cycles typically led to thick colluvial deposits along terrace slopes, resulting, together with the anthropogenic overprint, in obliteration of the terrace morphology. To constrain terrace geometry, elevation and decipher fault kinematics we used electrical resistivity tomography, drill log and historical outcrop data. We applied morphostratigraphic age modelling supported by terrestrial cosmogenic radionuclide burial and luminescence dating to derive rates of uplift and subsidence. Results show how long-wavelength uplift and concomitant normal faulting have controlled terrace development and Quaternary landscape evolution. This study provides clear evidence for fault activity within the city of Vienna.
{"title":"Quaternary terrace formation in response to climate, regional uplift and local normal faulting: The Danube terrace staircase of Vienna","authors":"B.C. Salcher , S.M. Neuhuber , J.-C. Otto , T. Payer , C. Lüthgens , S. Fuchs , A. Flores-Orozco , J. Nørgaard , S. Grupe , O. Marchhart , A. Wieser , J. Lachner , M. Fiebig , Zs. Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109709","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109709","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Quaternary terrace sequences can be observed along many mid to high latitudinal rivers, often reflecting a distinct, climate-related cyclicity of the fluvial system in uplifting regions. They are also essential landforms in many continental basins even though local basin subsidence may counteract an existing regional uplift trend. Glacial and periglacial processes may amplify events of river aggradation, with associated terraces providing clear stratigraphic markers. In this study, we explore the opposing lithospheric forces, regional uplift vs. local normal faulting, along a perialpine section of the Danube River, which is strongly affected by a 100-ka depositional cyclicity during the Quaternary. Within the city of Vienna, the Danube formed an extensive terrace staircase across a continental-scale normal fault. This fault demarcates the transition of the Eastern Alps and the Miocene Vienna Basin. Its Quaternary activity remained ambiguous and its impact on terrace configuration largely unexplored. Solifluction processes over several glacial-interglacial cycles typically led to thick colluvial deposits along terrace slopes, resulting, together with the anthropogenic overprint, in obliteration of the terrace morphology. To constrain terrace geometry, elevation and decipher fault kinematics we used electrical resistivity tomography, drill log and historical outcrop data. We applied morphostratigraphic age modelling supported by terrestrial cosmogenic radionuclide burial and luminescence dating to derive rates of uplift and subsidence. Results show how long-wavelength uplift and concomitant normal faulting have controlled terrace development and Quaternary landscape evolution. This study provides clear evidence for fault activity within the city of Vienna.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109709"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145797938","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}
Pub Date : 2025-12-12DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109731
Christopher Laurikainen Gaete , Scott Hocknull , Clement P. Bataille , Andrew M. Lorrey , Katarina M. Mikac , Rochelle Lawrence , Anthony Dosseto
Australia's Quaternary fossil record is characterised by a high diversity of macropodid taxa. Based on fossil faunal assemblages, it has been hypothesised many macropodids lived in sympatry during the Pleistocene, however, local geographic and dietary overlap is equivocal due to taphonomic uncertainty. Modern macropodid species rarely exhibit sympatry, suggesting anthropogenic or environmental changes may have disrupted these communities. Using Sr and C isotopes, we reconstruct foraging ranges and dietary preferences of several fossil macropodid lineages recovered in Middle Pleistocene cave deposits, at Mount Etna Caves, central eastern Queensland, Australia. Our results show that most macropodids, baring a single Petrogale potentially dispersing >60 km, had limited foraging ranges and remained within 15 km of the fossil site. Moderate to large scale dispersal in individual Petrogale mirrors male-biased dispersal observed in some modern Petrogale populations indicating some individuals have the propensity to move between isolated colonies when corridors for dispersal are present. Smaller macropodids show dietary preferences similar to modern counterparts, while Protemnodon exhibit a division between C3/C4 intake, potentially indicating species-level differences. The analysis of geographic range and diet of this fossil assemblage reveals that macropodids partitioned on the landscape around the cave with a C3-dominant community – comprised of Protemnodon, Petrogale, and Thylogale – to the northwest, and a C4-dominant grassland community – comprised of Notamacropus and isolated members of Protemnodon and Petrogale – to the south. Therefore, we conclude, that although faunal assemblages alone suggest a larger number of macropodids living in sympatry, isotopic proxies uncover complex habitat partitioning between C3 and C4 environments around Mount Etna Caves.
{"title":"Niche partitioning and limited mobility characterise Middle Pleistocene kangaroos from eastern Australia","authors":"Christopher Laurikainen Gaete , Scott Hocknull , Clement P. Bataille , Andrew M. Lorrey , Katarina M. Mikac , Rochelle Lawrence , Anthony Dosseto","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109731","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109731","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Australia's Quaternary fossil record is characterised by a high diversity of macropodid taxa. Based on fossil faunal assemblages, it has been hypothesised many macropodids lived in sympatry during the Pleistocene, however, local geographic and dietary overlap is equivocal due to taphonomic uncertainty. Modern macropodid species rarely exhibit sympatry, suggesting anthropogenic or environmental changes may have disrupted these communities. Using Sr and C isotopes, we reconstruct foraging ranges and dietary preferences of several fossil macropodid lineages recovered in Middle Pleistocene cave deposits, at Mount Etna Caves, central eastern Queensland, Australia. Our results show that most macropodids, baring a single <em>Petrogale</em> potentially dispersing >60 km, had limited foraging ranges and remained within 15 km of the fossil site. Moderate to large scale dispersal in individual <em>Petrogale</em> mirrors male-biased dispersal observed in some modern <em>Petrogale</em> populations indicating some individuals have the propensity to move between isolated colonies when corridors for dispersal are present. Smaller macropodids show dietary preferences similar to modern counterparts, while <em>Protemnodon</em> exhibit a division between C<sub>3</sub>/C<sub>4</sub> intake, potentially indicating species-level differences. The analysis of geographic range and diet of this fossil assemblage reveals that macropodids partitioned on the landscape around the cave with a C<sub>3</sub>-dominant community – comprised of <em>Protemnodon, Petrogale,</em> and <em>Thylogale –</em> to the northwest, and a C<sub>4</sub>-dominant grassland community – comprised of <em>Notamacropus</em> and isolated members of <em>Protemnodon</em> and <em>Petrogale</em> – to the south. Therefore, we conclude, that although faunal assemblages alone suggest a larger number of macropodids living in sympatry, isotopic proxies uncover complex habitat partitioning between C<sub>3</sub> and C<sub>4</sub> environments around Mount Etna Caves.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109731"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145748403","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}
Pub Date : 2025-12-10DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109742
Qingfeng Shao , Fagang Wang , Junyi Ge , Jean-Jacques Bahain , Pierre Voinchet , Guilan Hu , Xinrui Jin , Rainer Grün , Christopher J. Bae , Xing Song
The Xujiayao site, located in the western part of the Nihewan Basin, Hebei Province, northern China, has yielded 21 pieces of archaic hominin fossils in association with numerous stone artifacts and mammalian remains. The Xujiayao hominin remains were recently used to define a new species Homo juluensis, representing a series of fossils, such as the Xuchang, Xiahe, Penghu, Tam Ngu Hao 2, and Denisova remains. Different dating methods have been used to estimate the age of the Xujiayao hominin remains since the 1970s when the site was originally discovered. Unfortunately, the proposed ages vary in a wide range, from the middle Middle Pleistocene to the late Late Pleistocene. To refine the age of this site, we present a new dating study using both U-series and coupled ESR/U-series dating methods. Direct U-series dating on five of the Xujiayao hominin fossils provided minimum ages ranging from ∼100 to 200 ka, which are further confined by the Diffusion – Adsorption – Decay (DAD) model ages of 172 ± 3 ka and 195 ± 5 ka, and the coupled ESR/U-series ages ranging from 144 ± 10 to 211 ± 12 ka, obtained on the associated faunal remains. These new dates were integrated with some of previously published dating results by a Bayesian age model, demonstrating that the Xujiayao upper cultural layer, in which were recovered the hominin fossils, can be constrained between 138 ± 10 ka and 199 ± 8 ka, and the lower cultural layer between 205 ± 8 ka to 228 ± 17 ka, placing the hominin occupation in a period covering the marine isotope stages 7 and 6.
{"title":"New U-series and coupled ESR/U-series dating of Xujiayao (northern China), the type site for Homo juluensis","authors":"Qingfeng Shao , Fagang Wang , Junyi Ge , Jean-Jacques Bahain , Pierre Voinchet , Guilan Hu , Xinrui Jin , Rainer Grün , Christopher J. Bae , Xing Song","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109742","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109742","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Xujiayao site, located in the western part of the Nihewan Basin, Hebei Province, northern China, has yielded 21 pieces of archaic hominin fossils in association with numerous stone artifacts and mammalian remains. The Xujiayao hominin remains were recently used to define a new species <em>Homo juluensis</em>, representing a series of fossils, such as the Xuchang, Xiahe, Penghu, Tam Ngu Hao 2, and Denisova remains. Different dating methods have been used to estimate the age of the Xujiayao hominin remains since the 1970s when the site was originally discovered. Unfortunately, the proposed ages vary in a wide range, from the middle Middle Pleistocene to the late Late Pleistocene. To refine the age of this site, we present a new dating study using both U-series and coupled ESR/U-series dating methods. Direct U-series dating on five of the Xujiayao hominin fossils provided minimum ages ranging from ∼100 to 200 ka, which are further confined by the Diffusion – Adsorption – Decay (DAD) model ages of 172 ± 3 ka and 195 ± 5 ka, and the coupled ESR/U-series ages ranging from 144 ± 10 to 211 ± 12 ka, obtained on the associated faunal remains. These new dates were integrated with some of previously published dating results by a Bayesian age model, demonstrating that the Xujiayao upper cultural layer, in which were recovered the hominin fossils, can be constrained between 138 ± 10 ka and 199 ± 8 ka, and the lower cultural layer between 205 ± 8 ka to 228 ± 17 ka, placing the hominin occupation in a period covering the marine isotope stages 7 and 6.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109742"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145748402","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}
Pub Date : 2025-12-09DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109734
Celeste T. Pallone , Karine Holmes , Chandler A. Morris , Jerry F. McManus
Eastern equatorial Pacific thermocline depth is an important component of the tropical Pacific's coupled ocean-atmosphere system and varies across El Niño and La Niña events. To investigate the influence of orbital forcing, we present a paleo-record of thermocline depth throughout the last large Pleistocene climate cycle, derived from downcore measurements of the oxygen isotope composition of multiple species of planktic foraminifera that calcified at different depths throughout the upper water column. We find that the eastern equatorial Pacific thermocline varied between deeper and shallower mean states, deepening when insolation at the equator in boreal late summer/early fall decreased and shoaling when this seasonal insolation increased. Here, we show a close phase relationship between precession-paced increases in boreal late summer/early fall equatorial insolation and thermocline shoaling, which suggests that heating of the tropical Pacific during months of maximum zonal sea surface temperature and thermocline depth asymmetry was a key influence on its mean state.
{"title":"Orbital forcing of the eastern equatorial Pacific thermocline in the late Pleistocene","authors":"Celeste T. Pallone , Karine Holmes , Chandler A. Morris , Jerry F. McManus","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109734","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109734","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Eastern equatorial Pacific thermocline depth is an important component of the tropical Pacific's coupled ocean-atmosphere system and varies across El Niño and La Niña events. To investigate the influence of orbital forcing, we present a paleo-record of thermocline depth throughout the last large Pleistocene climate cycle, derived from downcore measurements of the oxygen isotope composition of multiple species of planktic foraminifera that calcified at different depths throughout the upper water column. We find that the eastern equatorial Pacific thermocline varied between deeper and shallower mean states, deepening when insolation at the equator in boreal late summer/early fall decreased and shoaling when this seasonal insolation increased. Here, we show a close phase relationship between precession-paced increases in boreal late summer/early fall equatorial insolation and thermocline shoaling, which suggests that heating of the tropical Pacific during months of maximum zonal sea surface temperature and thermocline depth asymmetry was a key influence on its mean state.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109734"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145748398","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}
Pub Date : 2025-12-08DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109725
Meng Zhang, Dan Lawrence, Andrew R. Millard
This paper examines changing subsistence practices from the Neolithic to the Early Han Dynasty across diverse cultural regions of China. Using a large corpus of stable isotopic data from the literature (N human = 3492; N animal = 2919), we trace spatial and temporal shifts in staple crop use and livestock management. Isotopic evidence reveals marked regional variation in crop-livestock integration from the Neolithic through the Bronze Age. During the Early and Middle Neolithic, isotopic evidence indicates pig husbandry based on the C4-plant millet was primarily confined to the Middle Yellow River region, contrasting with an extensive pig management system in the West Liao River and Shandong regions predominantly based on C3-plants. From ∼5.5 ka BP, millet agriculture and pig husbandry diffused into the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Hexi Corridor, and western Sichuan. Despite the rapid and widespread adoption of millet agriculture in these agriculturally marginal zones, the overall utilization of pigs and the exploitation of millet-based pig feeding practices remained restricted, especially during the Bronze Age. After 5 ka BP, the introduction of non-native domesticates—such as sheep, goats, cattle, wheat, and barley—gave rise to two distinct agropastoral trajectories between the core agricultural zones and peripheral regions of northern China. In the Middle Yellow River region, an intensive agricultural system based on millet cultivation and pig husbandry persisted, with cattle and sheep rapidly integrated into existing fodder regimes but remaining supplementary to the dominant economy. By contrast, the arid northwestern regions underwent a significant shift toward a mixed agropastoral economy centered on C3 crops (e.g., wheat and barley) and ruminant livestock, particularly sheep/goat. These regional differences highlight how local ecologies and resource availability shaped flexible but regionally distinct trajectories of crop and livestock integration in prehistoric northern China.
本文考察了中国不同文化区域从新石器时代到汉初的生存方式变化。利用文献中的大量稳定同位素数据（N人= 3492；N动物= 2919），我们追踪了主要作物利用和牲畜管理的时空变化。同位素证据显示，从新石器时代到青铜时代，作物-牲畜融合的区域差异显著。在新石器时代早期和中期，同位素证据表明，以c4植物谷子为基础的养猪业主要局限于黄河中游地区，与以c3植物为主要基础的西辽河和山东地区广泛的养猪管理系统形成对比。从~ 5.5 ka BP开始，谷子农业和养猪业扩散到青藏高原东部、河西走廊和四川西部。尽管在这些农业边缘地区迅速而广泛地采用了谷子农业，但猪的总体利用和以谷子为基础的猪饲养方法的开发仍然受到限制，特别是在青铜时代。5 ka BP之后，非本地驯化动物（如绵羊、山羊、牛、小麦和大麦）的引入，在中国北方的核心农业区和外围地区之间形成了两条截然不同的农牧发展轨迹。在黄河中游地区，以谷子种植和养猪为基础的集约化农业体系持续存在，牛羊迅速融入现有的饲料体系，但仍是主导经济的补充。相比之下，干旱的西北地区经历了向以C3作物（如小麦和大麦）和反刍牲畜（特别是绵羊/山羊）为中心的混合农牧经济的重大转变。这些区域差异突出了当地生态和资源可获得性如何塑造了史前中国北方作物和牲畜整合的灵活但区域不同的轨迹。
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Pub Date : 2025-12-08DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109729
James Bakis , Dan Penny , Rebecca Hamilton , Quan Hua , Linda Barry , Patricia Gadd
Paleoenvironmental research in vulnerable high-elevation environments is skewed towards paleoecological analysis, biasing our understanding of broader systemic (i.e., both abiotic and biotic) environmental sensitivity. Moreover, paleorecords from mountains are overrepresented relative to adjacent highlands, which is problematic given the latter's greater agricultural value and thus more acute degradation. Here, we present a multiproxy, multisite assessment of regional paleoenvironmental change since 13,900 cal yr BP for the Monaro Tablelands of southeastern Australia, a highland terrain in the rain shadow of the Snowy Mountains. We find that, while regional hydrological change is effectively contemporaneous with temperature and hydroclimate, local dynamics appear to be equally influential on catchment moisture availability, implying only mild hydrological sensitivity to climate. Principal among these intrinsic controls is poor substrate permeability, which is responsible for a) late Holocene wetting signals despite climatic deterioration, and b) hysteresis in basin hydrology, whereby lakes and their ecological communities become increasingly resilient to moisture availability as permanence increases. Asymmetric sensitivity extends to catchment-scale rates of change, which observe a positive, albeit weak, correlation with drying over wetting. European-era rates of change are unprecedented for the entire study period, suggesting higher systemic sensitivity to land use than any major climatic perturbation since deglaciation. Continued biophysical deterioration is anticipated for the Monaro as land use impacts are augmented by projected warming, drying and increased rainfall variability across southeastern Australia, while changes in lake permanence are expected to be geographically bifurcated. These projections implicate adverse outcomes for endemic threatened ecological communities.
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Pub Date : 2025-12-08DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109743
Zhong-Lin Deng, Xin-Yan Li, Ting-Yong Li
The Chengdu Plain, located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, represents the core area of the ancient Shu civilization. However, the coupling mechanisms between cultural transformations and climatic-environmental changes remain insufficiently understood. Owing to the absence of high-precision and high-resolution paleoclimate records from the Chengdu Plain, this study integrates speleothem, lake, and peat archives from the Sichuan Basin and its surroundings. By applying principal component analysis and multi-record comparisons, we reconstruct the evolution of the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) and associated regional hydroclimatic variability since 5.0 ka BP, and further examine the impacts of climatic change on the rise and fall of the ancient Shu civilization. Results indicate that the ASM has exhibited a long-term weakening trend since 5.0 ka BP, primarily driven by decreasing solar insolation, a southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and intensified ENSO activity. A cold-dry climatic event around 5.0 ka BP may have forced prehistoric populations from the upper Minjiang River (Yingpanshan culture) to migrate into the Chengdu Plain, leading to the emergence of the Baodun culture. Subsequently, the ancient Shu people adapted to environmental changes by adjusting crop composition and settlement locations. The decline phases of the Baodun (4.5∼3.7 ka BP), Sanxingdui (3.7∼3.2 ka BP), and Jinsha–Shierqiao (3.2∼2.6 ka BP) cultures broadly coincide with periods of marked ASM weakening, increased climatic instability, and frequent flooding events, while seismic activities and warfare may have further accelerated the societal collapse. These findings suggest that the rise and fall of the ancient Shu civilization on the Chengdu Plain was jointly influenced by climatic variability, flood hazards, and sociopolitical conflicts. Future work should focus on developing high-resolution, multi-proxy paleoclimate records with robust chronological control in the Chengdu Plain and adjacent regions, to enhance our understanding of the coupling mechanisms between climate change and regional cultural transformations.
成都平原位于长江上游，是古蜀文明的核心区。然而，文化转型与气候环境变化之间的耦合机制仍未得到充分认识。由于成都平原缺乏高精度、高分辨率的古气候记录，本研究整合了四川盆地及周边地区的洞穴、湖泊和泥炭档案。通过主成分分析和多记录对比，重建了5.0 ka BP以来亚洲夏季风的演变及其相关的区域水文气候变率，并进一步探讨了气候变化对古蜀文明兴衰的影响。结果表明，自5.0 ka BP以来，由于太阳辐照量的减少、热带辐合带的南移和ENSO活动的加剧，南亚大陆带呈现出长期的减弱趋势。5.0 ka BP左右的干冷气候事件可能迫使岷江上游的史前人口（营盘山文化）迁移到成都平原，导致宝墩文化的出现。随后，古蜀人通过调整作物组成和定居地点来适应环境的变化。宝墩文化（4.5 ~ 3.7 ka BP）、三星堆文化（3.7 ~ 3.2 ka BP）和金沙-石尔桥文化（3.2 ~ 2.6 ka BP）的衰退期大致与ASM明显减弱、气候不稳定加剧和频繁洪水事件的时期一致，而地震活动和战争可能进一步加速了社会崩溃。这些发现表明，成都平原古蜀文明的兴衰受到气候变化、洪水灾害和社会政治冲突的共同影响。未来的工作应侧重于在成都平原及邻近地区建立高分辨率、多代理、具有可靠年代学控制的古气候记录，以加强对气候变化与区域文化变迁耦合机制的认识。
{"title":"Climate change and transformations of ancient civilization in the Chengdu Plain, Southwest China, during the mid-to-late Holocene","authors":"Zhong-Lin Deng, Xin-Yan Li, Ting-Yong Li","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109743","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109743","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Chengdu Plain, located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, represents the core area of the ancient Shu civilization. However, the coupling mechanisms between cultural transformations and climatic-environmental changes remain insufficiently understood. Owing to the absence of high-precision and high-resolution paleoclimate records from the Chengdu Plain, this study integrates speleothem, lake, and peat archives from the Sichuan Basin and its surroundings. By applying principal component analysis and multi-record comparisons, we reconstruct the evolution of the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) and associated regional hydroclimatic variability since 5.0 ka BP, and further examine the impacts of climatic change on the rise and fall of the ancient Shu civilization. Results indicate that the ASM has exhibited a long-term weakening trend since 5.0 ka BP, primarily driven by decreasing solar insolation, a southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and intensified ENSO activity. A cold-dry climatic event around 5.0 ka BP may have forced prehistoric populations from the upper Minjiang River (Yingpanshan culture) to migrate into the Chengdu Plain, leading to the emergence of the Baodun culture. Subsequently, the ancient Shu people adapted to environmental changes by adjusting crop composition and settlement locations. The decline phases of the Baodun (4.5∼3.7 ka BP), Sanxingdui (3.7∼3.2 ka BP), and Jinsha–Shierqiao (3.2∼2.6 ka BP) cultures broadly coincide with periods of marked ASM weakening, increased climatic instability, and frequent flooding events, while seismic activities and warfare may have further accelerated the societal collapse. These findings suggest that the rise and fall of the ancient Shu civilization on the Chengdu Plain was jointly influenced by climatic variability, flood hazards, and sociopolitical conflicts. Future work should focus on developing high-resolution, multi-proxy paleoclimate records with robust chronological control in the Chengdu Plain and adjacent regions, to enhance our understanding of the coupling mechanisms between climate change and regional cultural transformations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"373 ","pages":"Article 109743"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145748401","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}
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