Journal of Quaternary Science (J Quaternary Sci)

Publications in this journal

• Article: Reconstruction of oceanographic changes based on diatom records of the core MD012380 since marine isotopic stage 11 in the Banda Sea.

  Y.P. Chang, C.C. Liao, W.L. Wang
  Journal of Quaternary Science 02/2013; 27(9):873-883.
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  Available from: tropmet.res.in

  Article: Pacific coral oxygen isotope and the tropospheric temperature gradient over the Asian monsoon region: a tool to reconstruct past Indian summer monsoon rainfall

  Supriyo Chakraborty, Bhupendra N. Goswami, Koushik Dutta
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  ABSTRACT: Having recognized that it is the tropospheric temperature (TT) gradient rather than the land–ocean surface temperature gradient that drives the Indian monsoon, a new mechanism of El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) monsoon teleconnection has been unveiled in which the ENSO influences the Indian monsoon by modifying the TT gradient over the region. Here we show that equatorial Pacific coralline oxygen isotopes reflect TT gradient variability over the Indian monsoon region and are strongly correlated to monsoon precipitation as well as to the length of the rainy season. Using these relationships we have been able to reconstruct past Indian monsoon rainfall variability of the first half of the 20th century in agreement with the instrumental record. Additionally, an older coral oxygen isotope record has been used to reconstruct seasonally resolved summer monsoon rainfall variability of the latter half of the 17th century, indicating that the average annual rainfall during this period was similar to that during the 20th century. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
  Journal of Quaternary Science 03/2012; 27(3):269 - 278.
• Article: Oxygen isotopes from Chinese caves: records not of monsoon rainfall but of circulation regime

  B A Maher, R Thompson
  Journal of Quaternary Science 01/2012;
• Article: Holocene peatland development and hydrological variability inferred from bog-pine dendrochronology and peat stratigraphy--a case study from southern Sweden

  J Edvardsson, H Linderson, M Rundgren, D Hammarlund
  Journal of Quaternary Science 01/2012;
• Article: North Atlantic climate impact on early late glacial climate oscillations in the southeastern Alps inferred from a multi-proxy lake sediment record.

  Schmidt R, K. Weckström, S. Lauterbach, R. Tessadri, K. Huber
  Journal of Quaternary Science 01/2012; 27:40-50.
• Article: Pleistocene Rhine–Thames landscapes: geological background for hominin occupation of the southern North Sea region

  Marc P. Hijma, Kim M. Cohen, Wil Roebroeks, Wim E. Westerhoff, Freek S. Busschers
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  ABSTRACT: This paper links research questions in Quaternary geology with those in Palaeolithic archaeology. A detailed geological reconstruction of The Netherlands' south-west offshore area provides a stratigraphical context for archaeological and palaeontological finds. Progressive environmental developments have left a strong imprint on the area's Palaeolithic record. We highlight aspects of landscape evolution and related taphonomical changes, visualized in maps for critical periods of the Pleistocene in the wider southern North Sea region. The Middle Pleistocene record is divided into two palaeogeographical stages: the pre-Anglian/Elsterian stage, during which a wide land bridge existed between England and Belgium even during marine highstands; and the Anglian/Elsterian to Saalian interglacial, with a narrower land bridge, lowered by proglacial erosion but not yet fully eroded. The Late Pleistocene landscape was very different, with the land bridge fully dissected by an axial Rhine–Thames valley, eroded deep enough to fully connect the English Channel and the North Sea during periods of highstand. This tripartite staging implies great differences in (i) possible migration routes of herds of herbivores as well as hominins preying upon them, (ii) the erosion base of axial and tributary rivers causing an increase in the availability of flint raw materials and (iii) conditions for loess accumulation in northern France and Belgium and the resulting preservation of Middle Palaeolithic sites. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
  Journal of Quaternary Science 12/2011; 27(1):17 - 39.
• Article: Extreme events as drivers of early human behaviour in Africa? The case for variability, not catastrophic drought

  David S. G. Thomas, Sallie L. Burrough, Adrian G. Parker
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  ABSTRACT: Extreme Late Quaternary climatic events, sometimes of considerable continental extent, are being proposed as major contributors to ancestral human behaviour, particularly migration, in Africa. Most recently, a catastrophic drought in the Afro-Asian monsoon region has been proposed for 16 000–17 000 years ago, driven by global impacts of the Heinrich event 1 (H1), with potentially significant consequences for Palaeolithic cultures. We provide a new analysis of the assertion and find, on examination of a wide set of palaeoenvironmental records, that the scale and extent of the proposed drought is not supported. While some parts of the African tropics, close to the equator, do appear dry at this time, data for the tropics as a whole suggest markedly variable terrestrial conditions, with some environmental systems experiencing very positive hydrological excursions during H1. We contend that in the quest for evidence of climate drivers of ancestral human behaviour, the variability associated with spatially and temporally complex climatic conditions is a significant factor in itself. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
  Journal of Quaternary Science 12/2011; 27(1):7 - 12.
• Article: Morphological, demographic and genetic traces of Upper Palaeolithic human impact on limpet assemblages in North Iberia

  P. Turrero, M. Muñoz-Colmenero, I. G. Pola, M. Arbizu, E. García-Vázquez
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  ABSTRACT: Human activities have an impact on extant biotic communities, and may have had just as important an impact in the past. We assess human impact on limpet assemblages during the Upper Palaeolithic in Asturias (north-west Spain). The intensely exploited genus Patella exhibited a marked size decrease and a change in species assemblage composition, substituting the larger species P. vulgata for the smaller P. depressa. The present Patella assemblages in the upper tidal level exhibit the same pattern as those of the Epipalaeolithic (approx. 12 000 to 6000 years before the present). Although climate change may have contributed to such species replacement, spatial differences between close areas with different densities of Palaeolithic human settlements indicate unequivocal human impact. Present Patella species sampled from the region exhibit genetic signatures of past bottlenecks in mitochondrial DNA, which also indicate recent demographic expansion, suggesting that old impacts have been sufficiently important to leave genetic traces in current populations. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
  Journal of Quaternary Science 11/2011; 27(3):244 - 253.