Abstract: The Pleistocene succession is examined independently of non-stratigraphic parameters sometimes used in the subdivision of glacial deposits, and it is shown that the record indicates a relatively simple sequence of events, unlike previously erected schemes characterised by complex and lengthy evolution. It is proposed that a major glaciation, affecting all parts of the region, occurred at some indeterminate time antecedent to the raised beach interglacial. That event is suggested to be the last interglacial. It was followed by extensive ice advance during the last glaciation, preceded and followed by periglacial activity.

Abstract: Continuous seismic profiles of high resolution were obtained of the continental shelf and upper slope between Napier and Castlepoint, New Zealand. They illustrate the topographic and stratigraphic effects of sea level changes on a tectonically active continental shelf. The profiles show a maximum of four, seaward-tilted unconformities which are used to define four named formations and “basement”. The formations onlap onto a relatively steeply dipping “basement” of middle Quaternary age and are, therefore, late Quaternary in age. They are constructed of prisms of sediment that parallel the coast. The prisms built the continental shelf upwards during (interglacial) periods of high sea level and outwards during (glacial) periods of low sea level. Waves and currents erode rock platforms near the present shore during periods of high sea level and cut planar surfaces in soft sediments on the middle and outer continental shelf during periods of low sea level. The rock platforms have been elevated to for...

Abstract: The Pleistocene rock-stratigraphic record is accorded more or less traditional time-stratigraphic interpretation which was held widely before application of an Irish developmental model in 1960. The following sequence of events are recognised: (1) Complete glaciation, of indeterminate age, which antedated the raised beach interglacial. (2) The raised beach episode which is shown to be the last (Ipswichian) interglacial. (3) The last (Devensian/Weichselian) glaciation, followed by possible readvance in northwest and northeast Wales; prior and subsequent to glaciation periglacial conditions obtained. It is shown that the Irish model, relying heavily as it does on the equation of rock and time stratigraphy, is inapplicable in Wales.

Abstract: The rhyolitic Mount Curl Tephra, probably erupted from the central region of the North Island of New Zealand, is inferred to be the product of a single major eruption, possibly associated with an ignimbrite. From potassium-argon and fission track age determinations, it is considered to be 230 000 years old. It mantles ancient land surfaces that pre-date the three youngest raised marine benches of interglacial origin in the south-western North Island. From stratigraphic relations between the tephra and the loess and aggradation alluvium underlying it, and the dune sand, other tephra and loess overlying it, it is inferred that the tephra fell at the beginning of the penultimate interglacial—the interglacial during which the third youngest (Brunswick) marine bench was cut. Using the age inferred for the Mount Curl Tephra together with overseas radiometric dates, and assuming constant rates of uplift of the south-western North Island marine benches, it is considered that the Brunswick marine bench be...

Abstract: In a section exposed along the Blue Spur Road, Terangi Interglacial marine gravel is overlain by Waimea Glacial outwash gravel beneath the outwash aggradational surface Colluvial gravel and silt in a channel on that surface are interpreted as representing the early stadial in the Otira Glacial, and, judged by radiocarbon dates and pollen analysis, peat and loess represent an interstadial, the later Otiran stadials and the post-glacial (Aranuian) Only the later part of the interstadial is recorded in the pollen-analysed section Dacrydium cupressinum forest is replaced by forest of the Nothofagus fusca type which in turn was followed by N menziesii forest The N menziesii was accompanied by an increase of grassland and dicotyledonous shrubland and was succeeded by Dacrydium cupressinum forest in the post-glacial The interstadial is inferred to have begun some thousands of years before 30,300 BP and to have lasted until about 25,000 BP

Abstract: The geology of the area around the northern part of the Langjokull ice sheet in central Iceland is outlined. This area includes the termination of the western neovolcanic zone, two silicic centers, and basaltic interglacial, intraglacial, and postglacial volcanoes. The lava succession becomes older to the northwest of the area where the zone of young volcanoes gives away to a pile of lavas of pre-Bruhnes epoch age which dip at low angles towards the active zone.This active zone undergoes a change in strike from NE–SW to north–south near latitude 64 °55′N and the volcanoes north of this are smaller in volume than those on the southern extension of the zone. The area of Bruhnes epoch activity dies out above latitude 65 °10′N but much of the area between here and the north coast of Iceland was a line of volcanic activity during the preceding Matuyama epoch.The northern part of the western active zone in Iceland became inactive in late Pleistocene times, and the southern part of the zone is an area of continu...

Abstract: South Kanto, environs of Tokyo and Yokohama, is composed of the Quaternary marine and fluvial deposits covered by volcanic ash (tephra), which have offered the standard series for studying the chronology of Quaternary in Japan.In the present paper, the author summarizes the tephrochronological study of the coastal terraces from middle to late Quaternary at first and then clarifies the history of their tectonic deformation.(1) The coastal terraces in the late Quaternary are divided into four groups as shown in the lower part of Fig. 1. Each is considered to have been constructed more or less in high sea level stages of the late Quaternary. Of these terraces the marine Shimosueyoshi terrace is more widely distributed (Fig. 5) and may be concluded to have formed in the last great interglacial stage, dated at about 120, 000-130, 000 years B.P. from the fission track method. The post-Shimosueyoshi terraces are called the Obaradai and the Misaki terraces. They are widely developed as fluvial terraces in inland area, nevertheless the marine surfaces are limited in the coastal region (Miura peninsula and its contiguous region). The pre-Shimosueyoshi terraces (so-called Tama terrace groups) are rather difficult to discriminate each other according to their poor distribution, but are able to be precisely distinguished from each other by using the tephrochronology (as shown in Fig. 2 and Table 1). And the ages of them are tentatively estimated as in Fig. 3 by extrapolating the rate of tephra accumulation in the late Pleistocene into earlier times. Of these. terraces one of the oldest may be the Konan surface distributed in the west of Yokohama and is dated back to about 400, 000 years B.P.(2) Tectonic deformation of the above mentioned terraces is able to discuss from surveying the altitude of the top of each marine formation. Fig. 4 shows the height distribution of the Numa surface (formed in the Holocene high sea level stage) and Fig. 5, that of the recurred landforrn of the Shimosueyoshi surface. Generally speaking, there can be formed the active upwarping area in the southern half and the relatively inactive or downwarping area in the northern. The boundary line between them runs from Hadano basin to Yokohama to the east. The northward tilting of the Shimosueyoshi surface south of this line attains to the highest degree in the western part of South Kanto, Ooiso hills, where it is accompanied by faulting and remarkable flexure to the north. And the tilting becomes the more slightly in degree to the east. The similarity of the deformation of the above two terraces, also corresponds to the seismic deformation of the great Kanto earthquake of 1923. It is probable that the Quaternary deformation in the southern half of South Kanto might mainly originate from the seismic activity which repeatedly occurred along the Sagami tectonic line.From Fig. 5 is remarkable the three relatively local deformations, those are, the basin-forming movement of central Sagami plain and the northern Tokyo Bay, and the downwarping at the west of Yokohama, which are not conspicuous in the deformation of the Numa surface and also at the 1923 Kanto earthquake.The rate of tilting is rather uniform during at least 105 years by comparing the gradient of several surfaces of different ages from the middle Pleistocene to Holocene. However, the direction and the rate of movement are different at places.

Abstract: The results from pollen analysis of Late Pleistocene peat and silts in Joyces Stream, considered with geological data, confirm that the interval between the successive Woodstock and Otarama ice advances in the Waimakariri Valley should have interglacial status. The palynological record at Joyces Stream commences at a stage when swamp vegetation had spread across a shallow lake occupying a depression eroded in Woodstock glacial outwash gravels. Nothofagus fusca-type forest flourished in the vicinity, but this was later replaced by grassland-shrubland vegetation. The swamp became open water while the climate was changing from temperate to bleak near-glacial conditions. Finally the lake was overwhelmed by outwash gravels as ice of the Otarama Advance reached almost to the site. The Joyces Stream interglacial event may be identified with either the Oturian or the Terangian Stage, according to which of two conflicting trans-Alpine correlations is adopted. Apart from confirming the interglacial status ...

Abstract: South of Balclutha different numbers of loess layers occur on each of three surfaces. Two surfaces occur on the downlands at approximately 44 m and 13 m above sea level, and one surface occurs on an alluvial terrace at about 4 m above sea level. The uppermost surface carries four loess layers including three well-developed paleosols; the middle surface carries three loess layers including two well-developed paleosols; and the terrace surface carries two loess layers including one paleosol. The highest surface predates the Waimea Glacial; the middle surface correlates with the last (Oturi) interglacial; and the low terrace is of last (Otira) glacial age. The time of accumulation of the basal loess member on each of the three surfaces agrees closely with the non-eolian stratigraphy. It is considered that the loess sequences, which can be correlated over a wide area, may be useful in establishing the stratigraphy of Quaternary events in New Zealand.

Abstract: Radiocarbon measurements of the organic material in the early Flandrian clays at Somero, southwestern Finland, supported the earlier conclusion, based on a study of the pollen and diatom content of these clays, that most of the microfossils and the organic material were re-deposited from interglacial Eemian sediments.

Abstract: THERE has recently been renewed discussion concerning the extent of the Weichselian Irish Sea Glacier1–3, and several authors have stressed the difficulty of determining its southern margin in Wales on the basis of geomorphological and stratigraphic criteria alone. Also, in South Wales there is no known reliable interglacial or interstadial palaeobotanical site which can be used for the dating of drift sequences. Archaeological investigations in favourable localities may assist greatly in this debate, as well as extending knowledge of Pleistocene faunas and of human Palaeolithic occupation on the South Wales lowlands4,5. Already it is suggested that substantial parts of Pembrokeshire and the Gower Peninsula were unaffected by ice during the last glaciation3, allowing the possibility of more or less continuous human Palaeolithic occupation of some coastal sites. The radiocarbon age determination for the “Red Lady” of Paviland (18,460 ± 340 yr BP, BM374)6 supports this view, indicating that there was Proto-Solutrean occupation of cave sites in Gower close to the peak of the last glaciation. This was followed by a Creswellian occupation, probably after 15,000 yr BP7,8. In Pembrokeshire the most promising Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic finds have been made during a series of excavations on Caldey Island since 1911 (refs 9 and 10).

Abstract: The \"Northwest-German Glaciation Area\" is that part of Northwest Germany which was covered by ice during at least one glacial period during the Pleistoeene. The southern and western horders of this area are generally delineated by the outer margin of the continental icesheet that proceeded farthest during the Elsteror Saale-glaciation. To the east, the border between the FRG and the GDR forms the boundary, in the North the North Sea and the Baltie Sea limit the area, though about this region only little is known at presem. Within the limits of this area a periglacial dimate prevailed over long periods of time during the pre-Elster period and the Weichsel cold period and also during the Elster and Saale eold period. Periglacial sediments and structures were formed and the discussion of them overlaps to a certain extent with \"Periglaeial Sediments and their Stratigraphy\" by A. SEMMEL, another chapter in this volume. However, a regional separation has been maimained.

Abstract: QUATERNARY FORMATIONS IN BORE HOLE WROBLOWKA, PODHALE REGION Summary Bore hole Wroblowka, situated on a 5 m thick bed of Holocene alluvial deposits of the Czarny Dunajec river, pierced the Pleistocene deposits (5-117 m) showing some gaps in these formations caused by erosional process (Fig. 2). These deposits may have been formed and completely preserved only due to a continuous, although irregular subsidence of the Nowy Targ basin bottom. Such an irregularity was a result of the displacement of the moment of the maximum plunging from the Pieniny Klippen Belt to the Gorce Mts. (at present about 4 km north of Wroblowka), and a result of the piling moment behind it (at present in the Pieniny Klippen Belt). Both faunistic and floristic representatives, found to occur in the formations encountered by drilling, are not uniform in their stratigraphical meaning. Palynological examinations of a sample taken at a depth of 116,5 m, made by J. Oszast and L. Stuchlik in 1970, demonstrate a fragmentary pollen spectrum of a cool period. This spectrum, resembling that from Mizerna, has been related by the present author to Gunz. Samples taken at a depth of 50,0 m show a fragmentary spectrum of the warmer period, most probably of an interstadial one. Fluvioglacial deposits, found at a depth of 5-13,0 m, closely related to the peat bog Baligowka, were formed in a period between the Pomeranian phase and Allored (Fig. 2). At the Preboreal time the Dunajec river bed was developed in the f1uvioglacial deposits with their previous thickness equal to 15-20 m. The underlying formations, down to 113,5 m, i.e. fluvioglacial deposits, ice-dammed lake deposits and fluvial deposits, developed in several horizons, belong to the remaining Pleistocene periods, thus they must have been formed between the Pomeranian phase and Gunz. Their stratigraphical subdivision has been made on the analysis of grain size distribution, on petrographical examinations, and on the analysis of the weathering state of the material coarser than sand. Processes active in the Nowy Targ Basin and in the adjacent area developed in the individual periods of the Pleistocene as follows. In a transition period to the glacial time the erosional basis of the Dunajec river was uplifted according to the cooling of climate and advance of ice sheet. Waters, already in smaller amounts, washed out and graded the earlier sedimented alluvial deposits with predominating rocks of Tatra Mts. At that time bedded water deposits were laid down, with the predominance of finer and finer quartz grains upwards and with quartzites. At the glacial time the Tatra material hardly flowed into the Nowy Targ basin, since glaciers tied not only water but also rock material. The dammed flow and a surplus in the tectonic subsidence of the basin were favourable to the formation of the ice-dammed lake deposits and limnic deposits. Sandstone material flowed from the Gorce Mts. and from the Podhale region, which, deprived of plant cover and ice sheet, underwent denudation processes. This can be observed in the profile by an increased amount of sandstones and quartz from these sandstones in the formations resembling varves, and in the overlying fluvioglacial deposits (Fig. 1). The warming up of climate at the transition periods to interglacials or interstadials, and at the beginning of these periods, generally preceded the similar phase of warming up, north of the Carpathian Mountains, a phase related to melting ice sheet. A rapid melting developed at first within firn fields in the Gorce Mts., and then the melting comprised also glaciers in the Tatra Mts. This was accompanied by a quick infilling of the basin with the sandstone material, later on with variously grained, mainly crystalline materials of Tatra origin, with an admixture of the Podhale sandstones. After withdrawal of the glaciers the transportation power of water considerably decreased, and these deposits were covered with loams. When the lowered erosional base level of the Dunajec river reached the region of Wroblowka, erosional terraces and the Dunajec river bed were formed. At the Interglacial time the erosional-accumulative processes were markedly insignificant, additionally hampered by plant cover. Normal 0 21 false false false PL X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Standardowy; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

Abstract: POLLEN ANALYSIS OF THE EEMIAN INTERGLACIAL IN GRODZISK MAZOWIECKI Summary Quaternary lacustrine and paludal deposits have been encountered in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, situated about 30 km south-west of Warsaw. Pollen analysis allowed the author to ascertain that these deposits had been laid down during the Eemian Interglacial. The results of the pollen analysis are presented in Table 1 and Table 2, and illustrated on pollen diagrams (Figs 1 and 3). The character of vegetation reconstructed on the preserved pollen grains and spores points to a type picture of the plants distinctive of the Eemian Interglacial. Possible gaps in the interglacial plant succession are due to too large distances between the individual samples. In Central Poland both lacustrine and paludal deposits with the flora of Eemian Interglacial age are frequently found. The nearest are profiles from Warsaw (J. Raniecka-Bobrowska, 1954; Z. Borowko-Dluzakowa, 1960), situated, as compared with those from Grodzisk Mazowiecki, to the north-east, and the profiles from Golkow situated to the south-west (Z. Janczyk-Kopikowa, 1966; S. Z. Rozycki, 1968) and those from Gora Kalwaria (M. Sobolewska, 1961). North of Grodzisk Mazowiecki a locality called Falbogi is situated (Z. Janczyk-Kopikowa, 1967) together with the neighbouring village Glowczyn (J. Niklewski, 1968), and west and south of Grodzisk Mazowiecki are found Eemian Interglacial deposits in Łeczyca, Łodź and Skierniewice. To these belong also Piaski Stare (S. Jewtuchowicz, 1970), Skaratki(W. Chmielewski, 1961), Jozefow (M. Sobolewska, l966) and Skierniewice (Z. Borowko-Dluzakowa, 1965). These numerous sites well ilustrate S. Z. Rozycki's opinion (1967) that the landscape of Central Poland was in the last Interglacial time similar to the present-day lake district of the country. The new interglacial sites encountered in seven profiles in Grodzisk Mazowiecki are a succeeding phase of reconnaissance of the Eemian Interglacial in Poland. Normal 0 21 false false false PL X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Standardowy; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

Abstract: The unconsolidated deposits in Lower Taylor Valley consist of overlapping till sheets of small thickness and large areal extent. Each member is characterised by a distinct lithologic association, and can be traced over a large area, and placed in a stratigraphic column. Observations of present erosion and deposition are added for comparison with the older deposits. The sequence shows a progressive waning of Taylor Glacier, with subsequent uplift of the caastline. Evidence of interglacial deglaciation is absent, though deposits from local glaciers record fluctuations, presumably of climatic origin. Relationships within the valley suggest that it was excavated by an outlet glacier prior to the Pleistocene. It is proposed that headward erosion and stream capture by outlet glaciers from the Polar Plateau may have caused the deglaciation in the Dry Valley Region of South Victoria Land.

Abstract: The lacustrine beds of the sedimentary sequence at Hoxne, Suffolk, containing an Acheulian industry, represent the type site of the penultimate interglacial (Hoxnian) of the British Pleistocene. Recently, on the basis of radiocarbon dating, it has been suggested that the interglacial deposits may date to the last glacial (Weichsel). However, the reliability of this dating is questioned here. Specimens obtained under controlled archeological excavation were tested by two laboratories. The results confirm the doubts of a last glacial dating and support the age usually accepted for the Hoxnian interglacial period.

Abstract: GEOLOGICAL SITUATION OF EEMIAN INTERGLACIAL LACUSTRINE DEPOSITS AT GRODZISK MAZOWIECKI Summary Lacustrine deposits have been encountered during drilling activity and geological research at Grodzisk Mazowiecki, situated about 30 km south-west of Warsaw. Geological situation and palaeobotanical examinations made by Z. Janczyk-Kopikowa (1973) point to the Eemian Interglacial age of these deposits. The lacustrine deposits fill in here a glacier channel developed at the close of the Middle- Polish Glaciation. They are built up of clastic sediments at the battom, which pass higher up into organic formations. At the bottom part of the profile there are found fine-grained sands that correspond to the phytophases from Ea to Ec. These sands are covered with peats that were produced during the forest phytophase Ed, and with gyttja corresponding to the Interglacial climatic optimum, thus in the phytophases from Ee to Eg. At the beginning of the optimum, a melting of the buried dead ice took place during the phytophase Ee. This process changed both the configuration of the lake bottom and the original position of the part of these deposits from the early Eemian time. The profile ends with humus sands and peaty alluvium laid down during the phytophases Eh and Ei. These deposits in turn are overlain with the sands of alluvial cones of rivers that flow from the Mszczonow upland, southward cd Grodzisk Mazowiecki. The lacustrine deposits are underlain with the Eopleistocene formations (gravels, sand and silts), the South-Polish Glaciation formations (boulder clay), the Mazovian Interglacial formations (sands with gravels of fluvioglacial origin), and the Middle-Polish Glaciation formations (boulder clays of the Maximum Stage and the Mazowsze-Podlasie Stage, separated with the ice-dammed lake deposits and fluvioglacial deposits). The Quaternary formations rest on the Pliocene clays and silts, these on the Miocene sands and silts, and on the clastic, arenaceous-silty deposits of Palaeogene age (Danian-Oligocene).

Abstract: GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE EEMIAN INTERGLACIAL DEPOSITS IN NAKŁO Summary The deposits of the youngest Interglacial in Naklo (west of Bydgoszcz) are found within an urstromtal, on a terrace about 5-7 m above the Holocene one (Fig. 1). Palynologic analysis was made by Z. Borowko-Dluzakowa (1962, 1972). In the profile D (Fig. 1) the deposits of the young-Pleistocene terrace consist mainly of gravels, showing a slight admixture at sands 2,3-3,8 m in thickness. They are underlain by the Interglacial deposits developed as lacustrine marls (0,8-1,5 m in thickness). At the bottom of the Interglacial deposits occur sands with gravel admixture (Fig. 2). In the profile B (Fig. 1), situated about two hundred fifty metres to the east-north-east, the terrace deposits occur in a series consisting mainly of sands with two thin intercalations of silts, 5,0-6,2 m in thickness (Fig. 3). The Interglacial deposits, better developed in this area, consist mainly of gyttja in two horizons separated with a not too thick bed of medium-grained sands. The upper, thinner horizon of gyttja passes to the west into a peat layer. The lower horizon is characterized by its changing thickness, mainly due to a differentiated morphology of the bottom. In borehole No 2 gyttja has been penetrated down to 15 m, without reaching its bottom. Open is the problem if the marls ascertained in profile B have been deposited in the same lake as gyttja from the profile B. Similar position above mean sea level of the top of the Interglacial deposits of both profiles might prove the existence in Naklo of one single basin or of two connected basins. Here, the top of the Interglacial deposits is situated approximately 50 m below the culmination on the adjacent part of the upland. This is a basis for the evaluation of the thickness of the deposits of the youngest glaciation in this area, and for the separation of its deposits from those of the preceding glaciation. Interesting is here the presence of humus in the lower horizon of silts (1 : 096% ), as the trace of the interstadial soil forming processes. Since in the last, main phase of the Baltic Glaciation (Leszno Stage, also called Frankfurt Stage) this area was covered with a glacier, one of the last interstadials - Bolling or Allerod - can be taken into account. The solution of this problem will allow us to determine the age of the terrace definitively. Normal 0 21 false false false PL X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Standardowy; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

Abstract: Summary In the surroundings of Bonn, six profiles of Quaternary sediments (loess, solifluction sheets, tuffs) are described. The different layers are intercalated by paleosols such as a B horizon of a gray-brown podzolic soil (Parabraunerde) of the Eem Interglacial, a humic A horizon of early Wurm, and the arctic brown soil of Stillfried-B-Interstadial (Lohner Boden). Below these buried soils another paleosol of interglacial type (Parabraunerde) occurs, which is underlain by basaltic ash and lapilli originating from the Rodderberg volcano. Therefore, the eruption is considered as belonging to the Mindel Glacial.

Abstract: The late Pleistocene history of Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas, is delineated by study of six piston cores, 6 to 10 m in length, from the axial region of this deep marine embayment. Quantitative biostratigraphic analysis of four of the cores indicates the history of the last glacial cycle. One of these cores contains an unconformity between late Pleistocene and middle Eocene sediments. Paleoecologic analysis of planktonic foraminiferal thanato-coenoses indicates paleotemperature fluctuations of 3° to 4°C between interglacial and glacial stages, and a trend toward lower paleosalinity from the interglacial to postglacial stages. Both the microfauna and sediments in Tongue of the Ocean reflect the influence of late Pleistocene paleoclimates. Sediment in Tongue of the Ocean is derived primarily from the adjacent Bahamian banks; the sediment history, therefore, has been controlled mainly by eustatic variations in sea level. A low stand of sea level during the glacial stage effectively shut down the shallow-water carbonate production on the banks and resulted in a lower rate of sediment influx. A lower rate of production of planktonic foraminiferal tests during the glacial stage also contributed to this reduced sedimentation rate. The sedimentary record of Tongue of the Ocean is just the opposite of that found on most deep continental margins where glacial stages produced higher rates of sedimentation than interglacial stages. Most of the sediment in Tongue of the Ocean was winnowed from the banks, probably mainly during storms, and was deposited as a pelagic “snow.” Turbidites may not be as important in the axial region as previously reported. The carbonate mineralogy of Tongue of the Ocean sediment reflects the mineralogic complexity of organisms on the adjacent banks and possibly diagenetic alteration of carbonate sediment on the sea floor.