Seismic reflection profiles (3.5 kHz) were obtained along more than 3500 km of shiptrack in Lake Superior within the last 2 yr. The acoustic character of profiles is categorized as: (I) a single, strong reflector at the lake floor, (II) a thick, acoustically transparent layer overlying a strong reflector, and (III) relatively thick sediment with internal acoustic reflectors. These profiles, in conjunction with sediment cores from the area, reveal that varved glacial-lacustrine sediment settled out preferentially in a trough between Isle Royale and the north shore, and to a lesser extent in other topographic depressions; bottom currents generated by storm waves prevent clay accumulation on till or bedrock in the open lake wherever the bottom is shallower than 100 m; bottom currents prevent deposition or erode bottom sediment in certain deep-water (> 200 m) valleys; and lacustrine sediment is disturbed by creep or slumping off Grand Portage, Minnesota, and by other processes such as dewatering in many other areas. These factors complicate sedimentation in Lake Superior, and must be considered when investigating any aspect of the lake sediment.

Fossil diatom assemblages from a 12-m core from Kirchner Marsh were compared with modern surface assemblages from 159 Minnesota and Labrador lakes using cluster analysis. The deepest levels of the core (spruce pollen zone 13,000 to 10,200 yr B.P.) resemble modern diatom assemblages from deep oligotrophic lakes of northeastern Minnesota. Diatom assemblages of the pine pollen zone (about 10,200 to 9500 yr B.P.) have few modern analogs. In the oak zone (9500 yr B.P. to present) after a brief pulse of diatom species indicative of eutrophication, the assemblages are dominated by species characteristic of shallow lakes, suggesting a drop in the lake water level during the prairie period (5500 to 7500 yr B.P.). Macrofossil data of W. A. Watts and T. C. Winter (1966, Geological Society of America Bulletin 77, 1339–1360) show that this shift to shallow-water diatoms occurred when aquatic macrophytes appeared at the site in abundance.

Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus), fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), and gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) were examined for clinal variation during the Holocene. Modern samples of all three species displayed strong east-west patterns along the western edge of the eastern deciduous forest: S. floridanus and S. niger decrease and S. carolinensis increases in size. Archeological samples of S. carolinensis from Rodgers Shelter (23BE125), Benton County, Missouri, and Graham Cave (23MT2), Montgomery County, Missouri, indicated an increase in size from early to middle Holocene. Sylvilagus floridanus from Rodgers Shelter decreased in size from early to middle Holocene and then increased during the late Holocene to modern proportions. A literature survey reveals that clinal variation is a common phenomenon among modern homeotherms. In introduced species, clinal variation has developed after relatively few generations, indicating rapid adaptations to environmental conditions; often winter climatic variables are implicated. Morphological variation in the study species during the Holocene is interpreted as a response to changing climates. Studies of morphological clines may lead to another valuable data source for reconstructing past ecologies.

At altitudes below 1300 m most species of grasses in tropical Africa are ones that use 4-carbon photosynthesis. Above 4000 m only species of the subfamily Pooideae using 3-carbon photosynthesis are found. At intermediate altitudes the percent of 3-carbon genera and species in the grass flora is a very regular function of altitude. The correlate of altitude that controls the distribution of grasses appears to be temperature. Fossil grass cuticles are identifiable to genus and should provide a useful paleothermometer. If no other errors were involved, the regular altitudinal distribution of genera in the flora of tropical East Africa would permit paleotemperature estimates with 95% confidence limits of ± 1.2°C.

An extensive ancient archeologic site containing lithic artifacts and associated with mammoth remains was reported at Chinitna Bay, southern Alaska in 1943. The presence of such a site adjacent to the continental shelf at the base of the rugged Aleutian Range suggested that humans may have inhabited the inner shelf environment during the late Pleistocene at times of lowered sea level. Because of the site's potential significance, an interdisciplinary research team relocated and reinvestigated the area in 1978, but failed to find evidence of prehistoric human habitation. Geologic studies and radiocarbon dating indicate that the strata reported at the site are intertidal in origin, very late Holocene in age, and have undergone significant tectonic movement in the recent past. These observations indicate that the previously published observations of the Chinitna Bay site are probably invalid.