the archaeology and paleoenvironment of an upper pleistocene hyena den an integrated approach abstract data of high resolution for reconstructions of archaeological site formation processes can be obtained only by the use of precise excavation methods and comprehensive recovery techniques using fine mesh water screening followed by meticulous sorting and quantitative studies of all the small organic components from the screens these methods are generally used at human occupation sites but are not often employed at paleontological or mixed human carnivore sites at the site of bois roche an upper pleistocene hyena den we have used these meticulous recovery techniques in combination with absolute dating geoarchaeological observations taphonomic analyses studies of microvertebrates and pollen analysis correlation of the site environmental data from pollen and microvertebrate assemblages with the vegetation record of a deep sea core taken in the bay of biscay have allowed us to constrain the ages provided by esr dating of bovid teeth and to reconstruct the physical environment of the site with a degree of confidence rarely achieved by the use of fossil remains from archaeological sites alone prior to our excavations the site was interpreted as containing a mixed assemblage with evidence of hyena activities and human occupation in situ quantitative analysis of the small organic components present in large quantities in the sediments deciduous hyena teeth coprolite fragments digested small bone fragments prove more than all other lines of evidence that hyenas were in residence at bois roche thus providing diagnostic criteria for distinguishing between occasional visitors and the main inhabitants of mixed human carnivore sites the analytical procedures presented in this paper have a value beyond the significance of the bois roche site because they can be applied to other sites

u series dating of collagen a step toward direct u series dating of fossil bone abstract fossil bones are often the only material that may be dated by numerical methods a commonly accepted method of bone dating is the radiocarbon method but radiocarbon dating is limited to material younger than 40 60 ka to date direct dating of bone samples by u series methods has not been successful because of post depositional uranium uptake this paper tests the use of u series dating of bones in a new way by dating the collagen extracted from fossil bones low uranium content in collagen extracted from recent and fossil bones suggests that no uranium accumulates in this bone phase ratios of c n commonly used as an indicator of bone preservation were also measured here modern bones and bone collagen showed 230 th activity at background levels confirming their recent age u series and radiocarbon methods applied to collagen extracted from fossil bone of ursus spelaeus collected in magurska cave tatra mts poland gave consistent results analyses of collagen extracted from bones collected in bi nik cave krakow wielun upland poland indicate that there is a high risk of contamination by modern material especially when working with large samples close to the dating method limit

high angle wave instability and emergent shoreline shapes 1 modeling of sand waves flying spits and capes 1 contrary to traditional findings the deepwater angle of wave approach strongly affects plan view coastal evolution giving rise to an antidiffusional high wave angle instability for sufficiently oblique deepwater waves with angles between wave crests and the shoreline trend larger than the value that maximizes alongshore sediment transport 45 a one contour line numerical model shows that a predominance of high angle waves can cause a shoreline to self organize into regular quasiperiodic shapes similar to those found along many natural coasts at scales ranging from kilometers to hundreds of kilometers the numerical model has been updated from a previous version to include a formulation for the widening of an overly thin barrier by the process of barrier overwash which is assumed to maintain a minimum barrier width systematic analysis shows that the wave climate determines the form of coastal response for nearly symmetric wave climates small net alongshore sediment transport cuspate coasts develop that exhibit increasing relative cross shore amplitude and pointier tips as the proportion of high angle waves is increased for asymmetrical wave climates shoreline features migrate in the downdrift direction either as subtle alongshore sand waves or as offshore extending flying spits depending on the proportion of high angle waves numerical analyses further show that the rate that the alongshore scale of model features increases through merging follows a diffusional temporal scale over several orders of magnitude a rate that is insensitive to the proportion of high angle waves the proportion of high angle waves determines the offshore versus alongshore aspect ratio of self organized shoreline undulations

simulation of large scale coastal change using a morphological behaviour model abstract quantitative simulation of large scale coastal behaviour lscb is possible using a model based only on principles of sand mass conservation and geometric rules for shoreface and active sand body morphology dynamic processes are subsumed into a set of parameters that define the geometry of the active cross shore profile which in turn can represent an entire coastal cell the parameters together with a set of local behaviour rules governing adjustments at discrete points along the profile provide a simple formulation that is constrained by sediment mass balance to yield emergent numerical solutions for profile kinematics the emergent qualities of this shoreface translation model are exemplified in simulation experiments on changes to sand deposits on the southeastern australian coast and shelf during the post glacial marine transgression in another example the model is used to simulate lscb over engineering time scales at an idiosyncratic site both examples illustrate the over riding importance of small residual sand movements that accumulate through time to cause lscb in comparison to gross sand movements the residuals are too small to measure directly or predict on the basis of available theory exploratory inverse simulation provides a quantitative method for side stepping these limitations the shoreface translation model therefore is used as a tool to explore possible forms of coastal behaviour through an approach that incorporates available data along with theoretical considerations validation is not strictly possible for this type of inverse approach so the degree to which a simulation reproduces observed features in nature is a measure of its success

reconstructing and understanding the impacts of storms and surges southern north sea coastal barriers are ubiquitous globally and provide a vital protective role to valuable landforms habitats and communities located to landward they are however vulnerable to extreme water levels and storm wave impacts a detailed record of sub annual to annual decadal and centennial rates of shoreline retreat in frontages characterised by both high 3 m and low 1 m dunes is established for a barrier island on the uk east coast for four storms 2006 2013 we match still water levels and peak significant wave heights against shoreline change at high levels of spatial densification the results suggest that at least in the short term shoreline retreat of typically 5 8 m is primarily driven by individual events separated by varying periods of barrier stasis over decadal timescales significant inter decadal changes can be seen in both barrier onshore retreat rates and in barrier extension rates alongshore whilst the alongshore variability in barrier migration seen in the short term remains at the decadal scale shoreline change at the centennial stage shows little alongshore variability between a region of barrier retreat at 1 15 m a 1 and one of barrier extension a data mining approach synchronising all the variables that drive shoreline change still water level timing of high spring tides and peak significant wave heights is an essential requirement for validating models that predict future shoreline responses under changing sea level and storminess

the 200 000 year long record of stable isotopes δ18o δ13c of cave bear ursus spelaeus teeth from biśnik cave poland abstract the excavations in bi nik cave created an opportunity to investigate changes in 13c and 18o values of ursus spelaeus teeth from one site along a 200 000 year period of sedimentation for the first time in eastern europe bi nik cave krakow czestochowa upland southern poland is a multilayered archaeological and paleontological site with late middle pleistocene and late pleistocene sediments where several important changes of quaternary climate have been recorded the project considered if and how detailed the isotopic data from one multilayered site record these great climatic changes the method used was an isotopic analysis of carbonate in bioapatite from tooth enamel teeth of cave bear u spelaeus were chosen as research material the results showed that the 18o values of cave bear teeth from bi nik cave range from 14 9 to 4 4 vpdb with some variation between particular layers values of 13c vary between 20 5 and 14 5 vpdb the analysis revealed that isotopic record is diverse between different types of teeth probably due to differences in time of growth and different impact of nursing and hibernation the results verify the responsiveness of this species to great climatic changes during middle and late pleistocene in eastern europe cave bear was an ecologically inflexible species associated with the same type of food during 200 000 years and not able to cope with the coldest phases of the pleistocene

rodent palaeofaunas from biśnik cave krakow czestochowa upland poland palaeoecological palaeoclimatic and biostratigraphic reconstruction abstract a unique record of faunal changes from the late middle pleistocene until the end of the late pleistocene was provided by rodent assemblages from bi nik cave in poland the 17 rodent assemblages of different qualitative and quantitative composition included a total of 25 species of various ecological requirements and associated with five types of climate represented by over 8500 individuals for biostratigraphic analysis the following indices were used the ratio of enamel thickness on anterior and posterior edges of tooth loops in the genus arvicola sdq and morphological teeth changeability of microtus oeconomus and dicrostonyx all three biostratigraphic methods are consistent and made it possible to determine the stratigraphic position of the rodent assemblages the layers from 19 to 14 were deposited in middle pleistocene and the layers from 13 to 1 were deposited in the late pleistocene the layers 14 and 13 constitute the border between the middle and late pleistocene climatic and environmental conditions temperature and humidity duration of vegetation season during the deposition were reconstructed based on the assemblages representing the late middle pleistocene layers 19 14 mis 7 6 the eemian interglacial layers 14 13 mis 5e and the vistulian weichselian glaciation layers 12 1 mis 5d 2 the analysis of bioclimatic indices made it possible to determine the most probable climate during the deposition of the respective assemblages the environmental preferences allowed reconstruction of the prevailing biomes in the environments of bi nik cave the results of quantitative bioclimatic analysis indicate that the deposition of same of the assemblages may be associated with cold temperature climate the values of 11 climatic indices show the oscillations of two types of climate temperate and boreal with oceanic and continental influence reconstruction values of 11 climatic parameters shows an interesting pattern of relative stability in almost all the climatic parameters only drought length shows a remarkable change across middle and late pleistocene sediment sequences from bi nik cave

post depositional bone destruction in cave sediments a micromorphological study of the mis 5a d cave bear strata of biśnik cave poland

processes controlling the development of a river mouth spit abstract spits are among the most dynamic features in the coastal zones their stability is very often the result of a fragile equilibrium between the availability of sediments and the forcing hydrodynamics due to the complex interactions between the processes shaping such geomorphologic features the investigation is difficult and requires separate analysis for each of the processes a typical example of a spit is sahalin which emerged one century ago at the mouth of the danube delta s southernmost distributary and has continuously evolved through elongation and lateral migration in order to investigate and quantify separately each of the main processes shaping a spit we divide our research in two stages first wave induced sediment transports were simulated and analyzed using a complex processes based on a numerical model for an idealised spit this schematized spit was based on the shape of a number of spits secondly the findings were used in a similar approach for a real case the sahalin spit results show convergence of the wave fields towards the spit and large transport rates for the dominant wave directions the sediment budget derived from the predicted transport and the historical maps of the spit show that the evolution of the spit is the result of a continuous interaction between along and cross shore sediment transport furthermore a good match was obtained between the volumes of sediment supplied to the spit system and those feeding the expansion of the spit the final output is a conceptual model that includes four stages submarine accumulation emerging evolution and merging with the mainland of the spit based on the findings from the present study as well as on the findings of previous authors although the model was constructed to explain the evolution of sahalin spit it is suggested that it can be applied more generally for spits formed in wave dominated deltas in a microtidal environment and with a wave climate dominated by one direction

magura cave bulgaria a multidisciplinary study of late pleistocene human palaeoenvironment in the balkans abstract two trenches excavated at magura cave north west bulgaria have provided late pleistocene lithic artefacts as well as environmental evidence in the form of large and small mammals herpetofauna and pollen recovered from crocuta coprolites one of the trenches also has a visible tephra layer which has been confirmed as representing the major campanian ignimbrite eruption and is accurately dated at the source area to 39 280 55 yrs and radiocarbon determinations have added to chronological resolution at the site the palaeoenvironment of the region during the late pleistocene is discussed in the context of hominin presence and shows a mosaic landscape in a region considered a crucial refugium for both plants and mammals including hominins

palaeolithic of biśnik cave southern poland within the environmental background abstract bi nik cave is situated in the limestone rock 7 m above the bottom of the presently dry wod ca valley it is located in the smolen niegowonice range in the southern part of the czestochowa upland to date an area of 260 m 2 has been explored to the depth of 150 850 cm the results of sedimentological geomorphological palaeozoological and archaeological investigations provided the basis for the reconstruction of the history of habitation at the bi nik cave in the background of palaeoenvironmenal transformations throughout about 300 000 years of occupation the cave was surrounded by a changing and widely diversified natural environment with steppe tundra and forest ecosystems and marshland and aquatic biotopes this combined with the opportunity to exploit varied ecological niches made the cave a particularly attractive habitation site as a result the cave has remnants of a number of habitation phases ten in the middle palaeolithic one in the upper palaeolithic and at least five in the period between the neolithic and the middle ages the importance of the bi nik cave stems from the fact that it has the longest sequence of cave sediments in poland seventeen cultural levels including remnants of the oldest palaeolithic in this part of europe and the oldest dwelling structures ever discovered in poland the history of environment changes was reconstructed based on sedimentological and palaeozoological data the multiproxy palaeoecology and climatology data are extremely significant for the reconstruction of palaeogeography of central europe in the middle and upper pleistocene as well as human occupation history

the assessment of the internal architecture of an mis 3 cave bear bone assemblage case study ursilor cave western carpathians romania abstract ursilor cave is one of the most complex mis 3 cave bear settlements of europe it incorporates a large number of cave bears palaeoichnofabrics bioglyphs nests footprints scratch marks fur imprints etc and several bone assemblages of different age and genesis this study has the aim of analyzing the spatial orientation and the internal architecture of the bone assemblage from the excavation chamber of the scientific reserve lower level of the cave in order to assess the environmental conditions of the bone deposition as such almost 580 long bones were analyzed for spatial orientation and almost 100 plates of bone levels were documented at every 10 cm of depth mapped photographed and topographed the obtained results point to an in situ thanatocoenosis typical for cave traps and reveal the taphonomic conditions at the time of the bone layers deposition moreover the taphonomic approach helped us to better understand the obtained radiocarbon data on cave bear fossils which previously indicated a non concordance with the stratigraphy and to perform a taphonomic model for the bone deposition from the excavation chamber moreover we report here the discovery of two fossil carnivore skeletons a cave bear and a cave lion one of the best preserved and anatomically connected documented in such environments

isotopic analysis c n and species composition of rodent assemblage as a tool for reconstruction of climate and environment evolution during late quaternary a case study from biśnik cave czestochowa upland poland rodent remains are potentially a powerful tool in paleoecological reconstructions rodents are a worldwide group of mammals inhabiting all climatic zones from arctic tundra to tropical forests some of their representatives have narrow ranges of environmental tolerance while others have cosmopolitan distributions additionally rodent remains are well preserved and numerous in cave sediments and are easily identified to the species level the species composition of rodent assemblage from the specific cave gives valuable data on ecosystem status around the site moreover isotopic composition c n of rodent remains provides information on some environmental factors e g type of vegetation soil activity precipitation and temperature the material for this study was collected from the sediments of the bi nik cave poland the cave is known from its sediment sequence deposited during the middle and late pleistocene and holocene containing a rich collection of the pleistocene fauna remains and archeological artifacts the stratigraphy of the sediment sequence previously was based on archeological findings and several radiometric dates in this study we applied u th dating method to bone collagen rodent tooth enamel and cave bear tooth enamel finally we revised the chronology of sediment sequence from the bi nik cave based on these new data we found significantly higher variability of nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition in the lemming than in the common vole however both species show the same trends in isotopic composition of nitrogen in time at the beginning of the record 15n values were relatively high suggesting intensive soil activity and indirectly mild climate after that from a stratigraphic layer dated to the early wurm glaciation lower 15n values point to lower soil activity deterioration of ecosystem productivity and climate conditions were also confirmed by higher 13c this indicates lower canopy effect and suggests conversion of vegetation around the cave the isotopic record suggests high instability of the environmental conditions during the wurm glaciations with significantly warmer periods before and after the last glacial maximum

the taphonomy of a middle devensian mis 3 vertebrate assemblage from lynford norfolk uk and its implications for middle palaeolithic subsistence strategies the association of a rich lithic assemblage with a middle devensian mammalian assemblage at lynford was initially thought indicative of a mammoth butchery locality a rare occurrence for a european middle palaeolithic open site however taphonomic analyses suggest that the specimens have very different depositional histories and were incorporated into a palaeochannel in several stages most specimens are extremely fragmentary probably the result of extensive trampling and signs of weathering and root damage provide further indications of exposure before burial carnivore damage is minimal but establishing the degree of interaction between the mammal fauna and alternative predators such as neanderthals is problematic direct evidence of butchery is not present and the best indication of any form of mammoth exploitation lies in more circumstantial evidence such as the virtual absence of long bones from the main channel deposit and the mammoth age profiles instances of pathologies are also unusually common in the mammoths implying that their greater vulnerability may have led to an accelerated demise either naturally or at the hands of a predator the best evidence for direct faunal exploitation at the site is from green bone fractures and broken teeth that suggest marrow extraction in horse reindeer and woolly rhinoceros copyright 2006 john wiley sons ltd

bone preservation in hayonim cave israel a macroscopic and mineralogical study abstract understanding the cause of patchy bone distributions in archaeological sites requires that one distinguish bone decomposition in place from empty areas where bones were never present marked horizontal variations in bone abundance are found in the thick mousterian layer e of hayonim cave a large paleolithic site in northern israel infra red analyses of minerals in the sediments identify zones of advanced diagenesis and decomposition alongside zones whose chemistry clearly favoured the preservation of bones and wood ash these differences adhere closely to the distribution of recognizable bones in the deposits indicating that spatial variation in bone abundance is essentially a product of differential preservation conditions however the few bones present in the bone poor units are in surprisingly good condition the higher degree of abrasion damage and more random orientations of these bones indicate that small amounts of recent material were introduced into older layers by small burrowing animals and perhaps localized trampling the ratio of post mousterian to mousterian artifacts in layer e and the numeric contrasts in bone abundance among stratigraphic units indicate that time averaging from mechanical intrusion was quantitatively unimportant 2 5 throughout this 2 4 m thick layer our findings support karkanas et al 2000 suggestion that bone and ash mineral diagenesis in caves follow step wise rather than gradual transformations in geological time good preservation environments can be distinguished from poorer ones on the basis of mineral assemblages in sediments and deposits that once contained bone and wood ash can be identified long after the visible traces of these materials have disappeared

rollover drowning and discontinuous retreat distinct modes of barrier response to sea level rise arising from a simple morphodynamic model we construct a simple morphodynamic model to investigate the long term dynamic evolution of a coastal barrier system experiencing sea level rise using a simplified barrier geometry the model includes a dynamic shoreface profile that can be out of equilibrium and explicitly treats barrier sediment overwash as a flux with barrier behavior primarily controlled by the maximum potential overwash flux and the rate of shoreface response the modeled barrier system demonstrates four primary behaviors height drowning width drowning constant landward retreat and a periodic retreat height drowning occurs when overwash fluxes are insufficient to maintain the landward migration rate required to keep pace with sea level rise on the other hand width drowning occurs when the shoreface response rate is insufficient to maintain the barrier geometry during overwash driven landward migration during periodic barrier retreat the barrier experiences oscillating periods of rapid overwash followed by periods of relative stability as the shoreface resteepens this periodic retreat which occurs even with a constant sea level rise rate arises when overwash rates and shoreface response rates are large and of similar magnitude we explore the occurrence of these behaviors across a wide range of parameter values and find that in addition to the maximum overwash flux and the shoreface response rate barrier response can be particularly sensitive to the sea level rise rate and back barrier lagoon slope overall our findings contrast with previous research which has primarily associated complex barrier behavior with changes in external forcing such as sea level rise rate sediment supply or back barrier geometry

can barrier islands survive sea level rise quantifying the relative role of tidal inlets and overwash deposition barrier island response to sea level rise depends on their ability to transgress and move sediment onto and behind the barrier either through flood tidal delta deposition or via overwash our understanding of these processes over decadal or longer timescales however is limited here we use a recently developed barrier island model brie to better understand the interplay between tidal dynamics overwash fluxes and sea level rise on barrier coasts and barrier island stratigraphy model results suggest that in microtidal environments with large alongshore sediment transport fluxes tidal inlets are ephemeral and migrate rapidly these conditions lead to effective deposition of flood tidal deltas and allow inlets to constitute most of the landward sediment flux whether barrier islands can survive sea level rise depends on the combined landward sediment flux from overwash and flood tidal delta deposition likely making barrier islands with artificially stabilized inlets via jetty construction or maintenance dredging more vulnerable to sea level rise

sediments of biśnik cave poland lithology and stratigraphy of the middle palaeolithic site abstract bi nik cave is an important palaeolithic site located in the krakow czestochowa upland the cave fill is a complex well stratified sequence composed of 35 layers sublayers interrupted by number of hiatuses and ranging from pliocene till modern times fifteen middle palaeolithic horizons some of them among the oldest in poland represent the most important part of the sequence from an archaeological point of view the sedimentary sequences in particular parts of the cave have been studied for more than 20 years to investigate the chronostratigraphy and palaeoenvironment the recent multi proxy study is based on the application of new methods for the site analysis of sedimentary and post sedimentary structures and weathering stage of limestone rubble and fossil bones pollen analysis molecular biomarkers palaeomagnetic analysis and radiometric dating results indicated a more intensive role of re working and re deposition in the cave older sediments were transported into some stratigraphic horizons from sources within the cave itself as well as from outside including palaeontological and archaeological materials some the detected layers therefore represent a mix derived from different sources a record of two interglacials eemian interglacial mis 5e and penultimate interglacial mis 7 was established in layers nos 15 14 13a 13 and 19a 19 respectively middle upper pleistocene sedimentary units were identified with mis 3 mis 7 8 instead of previous interpretation to mis 4 mis 9 the age of the basal vario colored complex previously interpreted mostly as pre pleistocene was newly correlated with mis 7 8 and early pleistocene pliocene

a long term decadal scale evolution model for microtidal barrier systems abstract a model is presented to simulate the long term decadal evolution of microtidal spit barrier systems the model has been derived from the analysis of coastal processes taking place along the trabucador la banya complex in the ebro delta spanish mediterranean coast it is composed of two submodels to simulate the evolution of the seaside and bayside barrier shorelines the outer coast submodel is of the one line type but formulated in curvilinear coordinates to reproduce the evolution of strongly curved coasts which is a common configuration for spits the model makes use of a long term parameterization of the longshore sediment transport rate which is formulated in terms of a morphological wave and a local transport constant the inner coast submodel is based on a morphological equilibrium approach it considers the overwash transport to be the dominant driving term contributing to the sediment budget of the inner coast it makes use of the concept of critical barrier width to estimate the conditions under which overwash is able to contribute to bayside shoreline accretion the model has been verified calibrated for the trabucador la banya system and it has been used to simulate its evolution under different climatic scenarios

on the maintenance of potential vorticity in isentropic coordinates we present a diagnostic study of the maintenance of the potential vorticity pv on isentropic surfaces in the troposphere to the lower stratosphere using ten years of analyses produced by the european centre for medium range weather forecasts after a brief three dimensional description of the general circulation in isentropic coordinates we examine the budgets of the pv evolution equation by decomposing the flow into its mean high frequency transient and low frequency transient parts we assess the role of these various scales of motion in the maintenance of the mean pv distribution the contribution of vortical and thickness fluxes is also investigated one interesting result is the key role of the divergent part of the transient flow along the tropopause in the midlatitudes which creates a large pv sink region we give here a tentative explanation the pv maps are also used to generate a climatology of a wave activity called pseudomomentum that indicates four centres of wave activity over the atlantic and pacific the first two are located in the northern hemisphere storm tracks and the two others in the upper tropospheric subtropical areas between the 310 k and the 350 k levels

microbial infestation a pathway of fluorine enrichment in bone apatite fragments negev phosphorites israel backscattered electron bse imaging and electron probe coupled analysis of bone debris in the negev phosphorites israel show that f concentrations vary considerably in these components and that these variations are driven by microbial activity the bone debris are microbially tunneled commonly with a micritic carbonate fluorapatite cfa phase filling the tunnels and gradually replacing the bone matrix as a rule the micritic cfa within the microbial tunnels is significantly much more fenriched f p2o5 0 106 0 125 than the bone matrix f p 2o5 0 083 0 104 similar results are obtained in bones at final stages of microbial infestation and micrite phosphate replacement the infested replacing envelope invading the bone debris is much f enriched enrichment factor of about 1 27 on average than the surviving bone that escaped boring these results are explained by redeposition as cfa of the microbially bored and dissolved hydroxyapatite presumably fostered by microbial f transfer from porewaters to the sites of cfa precipitation in bone microborings this pathway of f enrichment driven by microbial activity may also explain the enigmatic differential u enrichment previously observed in negev phosphorite bones q 2000 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

architectural stacking patterns of the ebro delta controlled by holocene high frequency eustatic fluctuations delta lobe switching and subsidence processes abstract during the late pleistocene and holocene 125 ka b p to present a type 1 4th order depositional sequence comprising regressive lowstand transgressive and highstand system tracts formed worldwide the holocene 10 ka b p to present part of this contains the latest and present highstand systems tract hst within this and the underlying transgressive systems tract tst of the ebro delta in northeastern spain higher frequency 5th to 6th order sea level fluctuations are recognised these form retrogradational and progradational high frequency depositional sequence sets within the tst and hst respectively each high frequency sequence comprises 1 a basal highly reflective shell lag associated with an erosional transgressive surface 2 aggradational deposits which seawards consist of a wedge of marine clays with transparent seismic facies but inland are represented by thick peats 3 progradational deposits composed of sandy delta front facies displaying slope clinoforms these pass seawards into prodeltaic grey silts and landwards into red silts and pebbly sands of delta plain facies the progradational deposits downlap towards their bases the aggradational deposits formed in response to a period of rising sea level and a rapid increase in accommodation space progradation began when sediment supply to the delta exceeded accommodation space as a result of relative sea level fall the relative sea level curve for the delta has a stepped character caused by the punctuation of the 4th order sea level trend by higher frequency eustatic fluctuations as well as by high subsidence rates of about 1 75 mm per year the tst comprises retrogradational parasequences that onlap the underlying pleistocene gravels the maximum flooding surface separating the tst from the hst was formed about 6900 yrs b p on the basis of14c dating of peats the hst comprises progradational deltaic and aggradational units stacked as progradational high frequency parasequence sets the hst of the ebro delta is compared with other deltaic sequences around the world in particular with that of the mississippi delta a tentative chronology of the high frequency climatic and eustatic oscillations influencing deltaic sedimentation globally over the last 7000 years is presented

reconstructing the evolution of cave systems as a key to understanding the taphonomy of fossil accumulations the case of ursilor cave western carpathians romania abstract the ursilor cave nw romania is a famous cave bear paleontological site hosting an important late pleistocene faunal assemblage and subject to systematic excavation works to better understand the origin of fossil assemblages the sedimentary history of the cave must be reconstructed we conducted a series of investigations on various cave deposits which included sedimentology and grain size analyses u series dating of speleothems osl dating of sediments and ams radiocarbon dating of fossil remains the results allowed for the identification of several major chronological controls for the evolution of the cave during the last 300 000 years five evolutionary stages or key moments were dated and a tentative speleogenetic scenario is presented the combined numerical dates and sedimentological study show that the evolution of the cave was more complex than previously thought in particular the fossil accumulation was related to a succession of rapid flooding events at 47 40 ka alternating depositional and erosional phases have occurred since at least 210 ka complicating the sediment structures the results suggest that the upper and lower levels of the cave may have been functioned occasionally as hydrologically separated karst systems and that the animal populations from what is now a single cave system may not necessarily be synchronous this case study shows that reconstructing sedimentary history of a given cave is crucial for the correct understanding of its thanatocenosis

middle palaeolithic cultural levels from middle and late pleistocene sediments of biśnik cave poland abstract bi nik cave is situated in the limestone rock 6 m above the bottom of the currently dry wod ca valley it is located in the smolen niegowonice range in the southern part of the czestochowa upland poland the stratigraphic sequence which encompasses middle and upper pleistocene sediments is unique in central europe it enabled the reconstruction of changes occurring in the middle palaeolithic in the polish jura middle palaeolithic cultural levels at the bi nik cave are discussed in the context of spatial analysis of the site s utility zones with regard to hearths in particular phases of cave inhabitation the results were linked with typological and use wear analysis of separate assemblages of artefacts microstratigraphic analysis revealed a far more complex character of settlement processes especially with reference to older cultural horizons a6 a5 several sub levels have been distinguished phases of inhabitation in each layer it was possible to indicate tendencies in the location of hearths in cool and warm layers as well as point to a steady tendency of the shift of the site s utility space towards the entrance of the cave the functions of particular zones of the site have been determined whenever possible with the help of the results of traseological analysis it was possible to characterise the technology and typology of assemblages found in particular layers and provide the description of their cultural character against the background of other middle palaeolithic sites in central eastern europe

people and large carnivores as biostratinomic agents in lateglacial cave assemblages biostratinomic analysis processes acting between death and burial of lateglacial mammal bone assemblages from three caves in northern england demonstrates the value of re examining archived assemblages with ams radiocarbon dating of key specimens these assemblages shed light on the ecology of a region at the northern limit of lateglacial human activity in britain during the lateglacial interstadial bears wolves and humans expanded into the region bears by around 12 500 14c yr bp and the earliest evidence for human presence is around 12 300 14c yr bp at victoria cave wolf activity included predation and scavenging of large ungulates and scavenging bear carcasses apparently resulting from hibernation deaths the scavenging of bear carcasses is possibly confined to the first part of the lateglacial interstadial whereas evidence for wolf scavenging large ungulates increases later in the interstadial after about 11 800 14c yr bp perhaps reflecting changes in the productivity of the lateglacial ecosystem and in human subsistence patterns the assemblage from sewell s cave is wolf den debris from the very end of the lateglacial interstadial around 10 800 14c yr bp whilst that from kinsey cave is dominated by large bodied carnivores and is argued to have a quite different taphonomic history copyright 2007 john wiley sons ltd

breaching in a wave dominated barrier spit the trabucador bar north eastern spanish coast the trabucador bar is a barrier coast linking the main lobe of the ebro delta with its southern spit this coastal stretch which may be considered as a microtidal transgressive barrier is the most vulnerable area of the deltaic coast to storm induced geomorphologic changes during the second week of october 1990 a severe storm affected the ebro delta causing serious erosion in which the trabucador bar was one of the most damaged zones a breach 800 m long and with a maximum depth of 0 4 m below the mean water level was created during the breaching process approximately 70 000 m3 of sand were removed from the subaerial barrier in a few hours three factors are normally responsible for the loss of sediment longshore transport gradient offshore transport and overwash processes most of the eroded sediment 60 000 m3 was transported towards the inner bay due to overwash processes the post storm recovery of the zone was slow and far from complete as the breach remained a conduit for onshore sediment transport under a regime of breaking and reforming waves an artificial dune was subsequently constructed to close the breach and thus allow beachface recovery

inundation of a barrier island chandeleur islands louisiana usa during a hurricane observed water level gradients and modeled seaward sand transport large geomorphic changes to barrier islands may occur during inundation when storm surge exceeds island elevation inundation occurs episodically and under energetic conditions that make quantitative observations difficult we measured water levels on both sides of a barrier island in the northern chandeleur islands during inundation by hurricane isaac wind patterns caused the water levels to slope from the bay side to the ocean side for much of the storm modeled geomorphic changes during the storm were very sensitive to the cross island slopes imposed by water level boundary conditions simulations with equal or landward sloping water levels produced the characteristic barrier island storm response of overwash deposits or displaced berms with smoother final topography simulations using the observed seaward sloping water levels produced cross barrier channels and deposits of sand on the ocean side consistent with poststorm observations this sensitivity indicates that accurate water level boundary conditions must be applied on both sides of a barrier to correctly represent the geomorphic response to inundation events more broadly the consequence of seaward transport is that it alters the relationship between storm intensity and volume of landward transport sand transported to the ocean side may move downdrift or aid poststorm recovery by moving onto the beach face or closing recent breaches but it does not contribute to island transgression or appear as an overwash deposit in the back barrier stratigraphic record the high vulnerability of the chandeleur islands allowed us to observe processes that are infrequent but may be important at other barrier islands

diagenesis of archaeological bone and tooth an understanding of the structural complexity of mineralised tissues is fundamental for exploration into the field of diagenesis here we review aspects of current and past research on bone and tooth diagenesis using the most comprehensive collection of literature on diagenesis to date environmental factors such as soil ph soil hydrology and ambient temperature which influence the preservation of skeletal tissues are assessed while the different diagenetic pathways such as microbial degradation loss of organics mineral changes and dna degradation are surveyed fluctuating water levels in and around the bone is the most harmful for preservation and lead to rapid skeletal destruction diagenetic mechanisms are found to work in conjunction with each other altering the biogenic composition of skeletal material this illustrates that researchers must examine multiple diagenetic pathways to fully understand the post mortem interactions of archaeological skeletal material and the burial environment

geomorphic response type model for barrier coastlines a regional perspective based on quantitative documentation of historical changes in shoreline position between 1847 and 1991 eight geomorphic response types were established for classifying megascale changes along barrier coastlines 1 lateral movement 2 advance 3 dynamic equilibrium 4 retreat 5 in place narrowing 6 landward rollover 7 breakup and 8 rotational instability long term decades to centuries monitoring of shoreline position over a spatial scale of 10 to 100 km provides a scientific basis for documenting process response relationships that shape regional coastal morphodynamics although megascale shoreline change studies often are lacking this type of information is critical for developing realistic research and management strategies regarding form process relationships in coastal depositional systems the spatial distribution of geomorphic response types is delineated along the barrier coastlines of louisiana mississippi and southern georgia northern florida at megascale the rate of relative sea level rise along these barrier coastlines appears to be one of the major factors controlling the occurrence of geomorphic response types however sediment supply exerts significant influence on shoreline response as well

a multi scale hybrid long term morphodynamic model for wave dominated coasts abstract process based modules based on conservative equations to solve the transport of waves currents and sub aqueous sediment and behavior oriented modules based on empirical descriptions of cliff erosion bed load and terrestrial aeolian sand transport are coupled with up scaling measures and stability maintaining approaches in a parallel code to simulate decadal to millennial scale morphological evolution of wave dominated coasts an application to the southern baltic sea for a hindcast of holocene morphogenesis of the darss zingst peninsula demonstrates the robustness of the model the model is then used to investigate the morphogenesis and evolution of spits in an idealized fetch limited sandy coastal environment evolution of the spit system can be categorized into three periods according to the simulation results in the early period all initial coastline perturbations are amplified due to the high angle wave effects size competition between adjacent spits starts afterwards interaction between adjacent spits dominates the middle period smaller spits tend to retrogress due to unbalanced sediment budget and this sediment loss feeds further growth of their larger neighbors the retrograded spits are either smoothed or evolve into barrier lagoons and relatively stable large scale spits originating from larger spits are developed in the late period low frequency storms impinging from a regular high angle onto the coastline facilitate the development of spits in the early period but become a hindering factor afterwards terrestrial aeolian transport not only plays a key role in stabilizing the spits but is also revealed as an important factor for long term coastline erosion

taphonomy of mammalian fossil bones from the debris flow deposits of somosaguas north middle miocene madrid basin spain abstract debris flow hosted assemblages dominated by mammalian remains are very scarce in the fossil record and few examples are reported herein we present a detailed taphonomic study of somosaguas north madrid basin spain a middle miocene mammalian dominated site embedded in debris flow deposits in order to increase our knowledge of the mode of formation of fossiliferous assemblages in this depositional context the assemblage includes 6592 large mammal remains belonging to at least 10 different species fossils are found in matrix supported poorly sorted coarse arkosic sandstones and fine conglomerates which are interpreted as the result of successive debris flow deposits breakage constitutes a pervasive taphonomic alteration in the bone assemblage however together with unidentifiable bone fragments we also found complete to almost complete skeletal elements bone remains are isolated a fact that is indicative of a time of exposure of the carcasses long enough to enable decay and complete disarticulation there are no associations of elements belonging to the same individual which suggests that prior to or during debris flow transport bones were profusely dispersed based on the taphonomic evidence we suggest that somosaguas north assemblage was formed by successive debris flow transport and burial of pre existing thanatocoenoses bones from those thanatocoenoses were modified by biostratinomic agents trampling weathering in varying degrees depending on their time of exposure debris flow transport produced further abrasion and breakage in collagen depleted bones our results are congruent with an environmental context of semiarid landscapes presenting long arid periods and highly irregular hydrological seasonality finally we compared the somosaguas north assemblage with other debris flow hosted vertebrate assemblages although somosaguas north shares taphonomic features with some of these sites it is not possible to define consistent and single taphonomic patterns for debris flow assemblages given the varied taphonomic histories of the remains prior to and during debris flow transport

microtaphonomy in archaeological sites the use of soil micromorphology to better understand bone taphonomy in archaeological contexts abstract in archaeozoological studies taphonomic analyses have focused largely on identification of chemical and mechanical changes of the bones recovered during excavation the quantification of bone remains is usually made using the number of remains nr one of the major drawbacks in the use of the nr method is that it does not take into account the variability in size of faunal remains from large bones to microscopic fragments in archaeological sites where no macroscopic bone is preserved due to adverse physico chemical conditions e g high ph micromorphology can be used to detect the presence of bones and other animal remains in addition microscopic observations provide information on the pre and post depositional alteration of faunal remains and allow for a semi quantitative assessment of microscopic bone fragments in this sense micromorphology can be used in support of archaeo taphonomic studies which have traditionally overlooked microscopic animal remains this paper presents some applications of the use of micromorphology to understand bone taphonomy at different archaeological open air sites including 1 a shell midden from tierra del fuego 2 a brazilian shell mound sambaqui 3 an iberian middle palaeolithic site and 4 a mesolithic campsite in northern scotland

exploring shoreface dynamics and a mechanistic explanation for a morphodynamic depth of closure using energetics based formulations for wave driven sediment transport we develop a robust methodology for estimating the morphodynamic evolution of a cross shore sandy coastal profile in our approach wave driven cross shore sediment flux depends on three components two onshore directed terms wave asymmetry and wave streaming and an offshore directed slope term in contrast with previous work which applies shallow water wave assumptions across the transitional zone of the lower shoreface we use linear airy wave theory the cross shore sediment transport formulation defines a dynamic equilibrium profile and by perturbing about this steady state profile we present an advection diffusion formula for profile evolution morphodynamic peclet analysis suggests that the shoreface is diffusionally dominated using this depth dependent characteristic diffusivity timescale we distinguish a morphodynamic depth of closure for a given time envelope even though wave driven sediment transport can and will occur at depths deeper than this morphodynamic closure depth the rate of morphologic bed changes in response to shoreline change becomes asymptotically slow linear wave theory suggests a shallower shoreface depth of closure and much sharper break in processes than shallow water wave assumptions analyzing hindcasted wave data using a weighted frequency magnitude approach we determine representative wave conditions for selected sites along the u s coastline computed equilibrium profiles and depths of closure demonstrate reasonable similarities except where inheritance is strong the methodology espoused in this paper can be used to better understand the morphodynamics at the lower shoreface transition with relative ease across a variety of sites and with varied sediment transport equations

exploratory morphodynamic hindcast of the evolution of the abandoned yellow river delta 1578 1855 ce abstract the abandoned yellow river delta ayd which formed when the yellow river flowed into the southern yellow sea between 1128 and 1855 ce is a representative example of the sensitivity of deltas to modifications in their environments in this study we established a process based morphodynamic model to explore the morphological evolution of one such large scale fine grained delta the ayd before 1855 ce the uncertainties in the model settings which are inevitable when historical data are insufficient were assessed together with the corresponding influences on the evolution of the deltaic system by considering a series of scenarios the results indicate that the strength of local tidal forcing is the key factor that determines the shape and evolutionary trend of the delta sediment input discharge and the slope of the initial coastal profile have a considerable effect on the overall size of the delta and the relative ratio between subaerial and subaqueous parts of the delta respectively based on the evaluation of the uncertainties and a comparison with historical maps the simulated ayd was evaluated to be reliable through an analysis of the temporal delta evolution and residual sediment transport the morphological evolution of the ayd before 1855 ce was investigated the southern delta grew as the shoals merged with the mainland which is in agreement with an existing hypothesis zhang 1984 whereas the accretion of the northern delta was independent from the shoals in the northern part additionally suggestions are made regarding the distribution of the ayd at the end of its progradation stage which provides fundamental information for analyzing subsequent erosion processes since 1855 ce this study differs from existing studies on the ayd which are all based on geological approaches it provides insight into the evolution of the ayd through an alternative means viz a process based morphodynamic modeling approach

processes reshaping the ebro delta abstract due to the limited supply of sediment from the ebro river its delta is mainly subject to reshaping processes in the form of alongshore alternation of erosive and accretive coastal stretches without a significant change in the overall subaerial surface of the delta the main agents presently forcing these processes waves and mean water level oscillations are analysed in detail as a function of their contribution to coastal processes in this manner waves are characterised in terms of short term seasonal changes longshore sediment transport pattern long term cross shore transport at the shoreface and storm impacts although the study area is a microtidal one and waves are the main agent forcing coastal evolution at yearly scales mean water level oscillations meteorological tides and long term relative mean sea level variations play a non negligible role additionally a joint analysis of waves and storm surges has been done in order to characterise conditions inducing an impulsive type of coastal response at last the classical ternary classification of deltas has been applied in a dynamical way by considering the river vertex in terms of the variation in sediment supply moreover the effects of considering mean water level variations other than tides on the deltaic classification has also been tested the inclusion of rslr influence becomes relevant for river independent deltas since it indicates the inability of the delta to withstand it the main problem to include this agent in the ternary classification is that rslr is more of a passive factor whereas the other considered agents are active in the sense that they induce more perceivable morphological processes

simulating cross shore material exchange at decadal scale theory and model component validation a model is developed to simulate the cross shore cs exchange of sand and the resulting profile response at decadal scale to be used in regional coastal evolution models the cs model consists of modules for calculating dune erosion and overwash wind blown sand transport and bar berm material exchange the sand transport equations included in these modules are formulated based on relevant physics in combination with empirical observations and then validated towards laboratory and field data in order to couple the transport equations to the evolution of key morphological features describing the profile a set of sand volume conservation equations are employed and solved together with the transport equations the features that are modeled include dune height from dune foot to crest the locations of the landward dune foot seaward dune foot berm crest and shoreline as well as the longshore bar volume the cs model is employed and tested at three different field sites in a companion paper palalane et al 2016 whereas in the present paper the properties of the model are demonstrated by simulating the evolution of the dune berm and shoreline in connection with accretion and erosion of sand in a groin compartment this case derives from a study at westhampton beach that focused on shortening the length of a number of groins in order to release accumulated sand in the groin field to eroding downdrift beaches

frost and soils implications for paleosols paleoclimates and stratigraphy abstract frost is a pedogenetic agent this paper describes the use of frost features in soil for paleoclimatic and stratigraphic interpretation it is possible to differentiate periods of frost activity from those of temperate pedogenesis by macroscopic and microscopic criteria and to distinguish between soils with pre syn and epigenetic frost effects an experimental approach is necessary to determine initial frost effects because they are usually difficult to observe at natural active sites work with ecologists also clarifies the evolution of frost affected soils under climatic and vegetational constraints vegetation has important effects on the thermal and hydraulic regimes of soils and on erosion susceptibility the recognition of fossil cryosoils often allows the reconstruction of sequences of paleoclimatic events in periods or environments with little or no micropaleontological evidence the interrelations between frost and other pedogenetic processes allow a better understanding of climatic evolution and deterioration throughout the neogene and especially during the quaternary and the holocene most of the inherited frost features in european soils are younger than 480 ka bp the differentiation between frost and tectonic perturbations is very important for calculation of soil erosional budgets

medium term coastal response at the ebro delta spain abstract measurements of shoreline displacements along the ebro delta coast have been used to estimate the medium term evolution of the coastline aerial photographs and beach profile surveys covering the last 35 years have been used shoreline data obtained from beach surveys have been analysed using a linear regression technique in order to filter out short term components the medium term scale has been derived from the asymptotic trend with this filtered analysis results have been compared with trends observed in the past and a similar qualitative behaviour has been found rates of change have decreased because the shoreline has slowly evolved towards a more stable configuration a profile closure depth of 7 m has been estimated based on morphological changes in the submerged profiles and then used to convert shoreline displacements into yolume changes from these a medium term sediment budget has been calculated based on the available evidence it has been assumed that these changes are mainly due to wave induced longshore transport gradients assuming proper boundary conditions the net longshore transport scheme has been estimated for each hemidelta the results obtained using this method are in good agreement with the longshore transport rates predicted by well known transport formulae