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The Association Upcoming Meetings:
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The Quaternary Times Directory of Quaternary Scientists 2005 Northeastern Friends of the Pleistocene meeting Quaternary-Related Journal Discounts Quaternary Job Opportunities Quaternary-Related Abstracts Quaternary-Related Links Society of American Archaeology Fellowship Announcement Search the AMQUA Site
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The Quaternary Times New Books
C.R. Firth and W.J. McGuire, 1999, Geological Society Special Publication no. 161, 220 pp; ISBN: 1-86239-049-5; $108; Online at: http://bookshop.geolsoc.org.uk It has long been suggested that there is a causal link between volcanic activity and Quaternary environmental change. Earlier work pointed to the volcanic activity driving large-scale Quaternary glacial fluctuations. However, a growing body of evidence lends weight to the converse view that Quaternary environmental changes resulted in increased volcanic activity. Using tephra layers as chronological horizons, researchers have begun to suggest that these volcanic events may have produced not only short-term climate changes but also variations in regional vegetation patterns and in the distribution of society. A full understanding of the complex interaction between volcanic activity and Quaternary environmental change requires the collaboration of both volcanologists and Quaternary scientists. Volcanoes in the Quaternary beings together papers from workers in both fields and reflects the diversity of current research. The papers are grouped geographically and focus on New Zealand's North Island, the East African Rift Valley, the Mediterranean and Iceland. They cover the determination of eruptive chronologies, discuss the impacts on local vegetation and society, outline the importance of tephrostratigraphic records and provide detailed studies of hazard assessment.
The influence of Bill Bishop is reflected throughout this volume, even though his sudden death stopped a brilliant research career in full flow. Most of the authors are connected with Bill as research collaborators and students, or as the next generation of students of these supervisors, and much of the research reported here has been aided by grants from the fund that bears Bill's name. The volume begins with an appreciation of Bill's life and work; the research contributions that then follow are arranged in three thematic sections, each with a scene-setting editorial overview: Part 1. Early Miocene of Uganda, including the first full account and discussion of the recently discovered oldest known hominoid, Morotopithecus bishopi. Part 2. Middle Miocene to Pleistocene of the Tugen hills, Kenya, a comprehensive account of the hominids and their environmental context from members of the Baringo Basin Project. Part 3. Quaternary Environments, with particular emphases on the English Midlands, western Scotland and southern Africa. Throughout this commemorative volume, the determination of editors and authors to place the results of specialist research into their environmental context is perhaps the clearest indication of the visionary influence of Bill Bishop. Every paper presents new, unpublished research e.g. the first full account of the oldest known hominoid (Uganda), Morotopithecus bishopi; the first integrated account of the Baringo Basin (Kenya) hominids and their environmental contexts; the climatic implications of the ages and directions of the dune winds of southern Africa; new ideas on physical and biological aspects of the British Quaternary.
Realization that continental records of Quaternary rocks were more complex than hitherto believed came with the re-interpretation of oxygen isotope stratigraphy in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This necessitated a comprehensive re-evaluation that has been assisted by the emergence of new geochronological methods for terrestrial as well as land-sea correlations. The current state of such correlations is presented in this revised set of proposals for correlations in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, which also includes the Quaternary geology of the continental shelf. Correlation with the global standard of oxygen isotope stratigraphy enables the significance of British lithostratigraphic units to be appreciated in a wider context that includes the evolution of the climate system on a margin of the northeast Atlantic Ocean. It thus provides timely British data for the international palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatologic community and the correlations proposed are primarily on Milankovitch timescales. But their appearance coincides with the early stages of a paradigm shift to the search for both terrestrial and land-sea correlation on millennial timescales and then on centennial and decadal ones. This is the first of many similar terrestrial and land-sea correlations.
Proceedings of the First International Mammoth Conference. Contact: Natuurmuseum Rotterdam; Fax: 31-10-436-4399; mammoth@nmr.nl The First International Mammoth Conference was held in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1995. The meeting was a lively forum where scientists from all over the world exchanged their knowledge about one of the most intriguing fossil animals, the mammoth. This volume reflects the scientific achievements presented during the 1st IMC. It also shows the international character of mammoth studies. The publication of this volume means a stimulus for scientists and interested laymen alike. The bottom line is that mammoths were part of an intricate ecosystem. Their extinction under the very eyes of mankind holds important clues to our future.
Fossil Plants and Spores—Modern Techniques T.P. Jones and N.P.Rowe, eds., 1999, Geological Society Publishing House; ISBN 1-86239-041-x; $48; Contact: Geological Society Publishing House, Unit 7, Brassmill Lane Enterprise Centre, Brassmill Lane, Bath, BA1 3JN, UK; 44-0-1225-445046; fax: - 442836 In recent years the study of fossil plants, spores and pollen has produced an abundance of new methods and modifications of old ones. This volume provides the first comprehensive collection of these practical methods - balancing the techniques that have been perfected over decades of research with the very latest methods and ideas. This book demonstrates that the study of fossil plants is a modern science and one increasingly applied in many disciplines to address such issues of current concern as evolution, environmental change and occurrence of fossil fuels. It will be used as both a laboratory manual and a source of inspiration for what can be discovered from the fossil plant record. Diatoms: Application for Environmental and Earth Sciences E.F. Stoermer and J.P. Smol, eds., 1999, Cambridge University Press, 484 pp; ISBN 0-521-58281-4; ~$120This volume is an up-to-date summary of the expanding field of the uses of diatoms in environmental and earth sciences. Their abundance and wide distribution, and their well-preserved glass-like walls make them ideal tools for a wide range of applications as both fossils and living organisms. Examples of these applications include as environmental indicators, for oil explorations, and for forensic examination. The major emphasis is on their use in analysing ecological problems such as climate change, acidification, and eutrophication. The contributors to the volume are leading researchers in their fields and are brought together for the first time to give a timely synopsis of a dynamic and important area. New Developments in Palynomorph Sampling, Extraction, and Analysis W.M. Bryant, Jr. and J.H. Wrenn, eds., 1998. AASP Contribution Series Number 33. 155 pp. $12. Contact: V. Bryant, Jr., Secretary AASP Foundation, c/o Palynology Laboratory, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4352; vbryant@tamu.edu This book consists of 16 papers and an introduction by the editors. Most papers were presented in a symposium at the 27th AASP Annual Meeting held in College Station, Texas, in 1994. As Bryant and Wrenn observe in their overview, the papers span the range from "new ideas [to] refinements of older techniques and procedures". Techniques and data interpretation are the focus of most papers, which deal primarily with Quaternary palynology, including melissopalynology, entomopalynology, and forensic palynology, with only two papers focusing on pre-Quaternary palynology. However, the issues raised - among them, quality control, cost reduction, and statistical validity - are not the monopoly of the Quaternary community and indeed have implications for other areas of micropalaeontology beyond palynology. Alwynne Beaudoin |