In the 12 km2 catchment area of Syv creek, Denmark, moderate to high concentrations of nitrate (NO3−) occurred in the upper part of the oxidized zone (oxic-I), but dropped within the lower suboxic part (oxic-II), to below the detection limit in the unoxidized zone. Structural Fe2+ in the clay minerals made up 10 to 12% of the Fe in the oxidized zone and increased to approximately 50% in the unoxidized zone. Concurrent with changes in the distribution of structural Fe2+ the clay mineral constituents changed. Vermiculite was typically found in the oxidized zone whereas chlorite was found in the unoxidized zone only. A conversion of illite and chlorite into vermiculite seems to take place. A significant correlation between NO3− and the amount of reduced Fe2+ in the suboxic (oxic-II) zone, indicates that primary structural Fe2+ in the clay minerals is the reductant in a NO3− reduction process.

More than 900 vertebrate bones, ranging from Late Pleistocene to Holocene in age, have been identified in a collection that was recovered by a single dredging operation for the construction of artificial lakes near Lent (Nijmegen, province of Gelderland, the Netherlands). The Late Pleistocene assemblage comprises mainly Weichselian glacial fauna such as mammoths, reindeer and bison. Some Eemian fauna is represented as well, e.g. straight-tusked elephant. The abundance of certain species over others suggests that preservation bias had a considerable impact on this assemblage, while its time-averaged nature resulted in overrepresentation of certain species. A case study is here conducted on a fragmentary skull of a subadult woolly mammoth bull with embedded blowfly puparia. Some of these puparia are fully developed, indicating prolonged exposure of the mammoth carcass.

Facies analyses of Pleistocene deposits from southern coastal Tanzania (Lindi District) document that sediments formed in a wetland evolving on a coastal terrace in the Lindi Fracture Zone foreland. The exposed succession shows a marked sedimentary change from tidal to terrestrial facies. 14C analyses on gastropod shells indicate the emergence of the Lindi coast at ∼ 44 14C ka BP. Emergence and subsequent elevation of terraces to 21 m above present-day sea level was linked to the falling eustatic sea level prior to the last glacial maximum, and to a periodic elevation due to extensional tectonic episodes in the eastern branch of the East African Rift System (EARS). Since ∼ 44 14C ka BP tectonic uplift at the coast was 80-110 m, comparable to that in the extreme uplift areas of the EARS.

Paleoprecipitation reconstructions on the basis of pollen are well known, but they do not provide high temporal resolution for glacial periods. High-resolution paleoprecipitation reconstructions for the last glaciation based on the isotopic record organic matter in loess from Nussloch (Rhine Valley, Germany) are consistent with paleoprecipitation inferred from peat in the same area using an independant method. Thus, δ13C of loess organic matter can be used as a proxy for paleoprecipitation.

Recent carried out core drillings in the Ludwigshafen/Speyer area permit an improved stratigrahical differentiation of the Plio-Pleistocene deposits in the northern Upper Rhine Graben. Lithofacies analysis, pollen analysis, heavy mineral analysis, and palaeomagnetical results, lead to a subdivision of ‘Kieslager’ (gravel-layers) and ‘Zwischenhorizonte’ (interlayers). In the scope of geological mapping near Mannheim and Speyer, the genesis and the stratigraphic position of Middle and Late Pleistocene fluvial terraces was re-assessed (‘Frankenthaler Terrasse’). The terrace has a complex composition, marking two phases of accretion followed by abandonment: a first phase took place in (Elsterian? to) Saalian times, the second phase during the Weichselian. Tectonism further complicates the sequence, in particular in the area between Ludwigshafen and Speyer, which is the SW rim of the ‘Heidelberger Loch’-structure. In this area ‘terraces’ occur they are the result of faulting rather than fluvial dissection alone.

Geological structures and Late Quaternary stratigraphy of the shallow subsurface along the southernmost Danish North Sea coast have been investigated using seismic data and shallow boreholes. A large-scale glaciotectonic thrust complex has been mapped in an area of 15 km by 40 km in the Fanø Bugt area. The affected succession consists of Neogene and Quaternary sediments deformed down to a depth of 200 – 360 m. A kineto-stratigraphic correlation to onshore glaciotectonic deformation suggests that the deformation took place during a westward advance stage of the Late Saalian (Warthe) glaciation. The western limit of the glaciotectonic structures constitutes an N-S striking deformation front situated 35 km off the west coast. Based on the glacial stratigraphy outside the deformation front, it is suggested that the same ice advance that caused the glaciotectonic deformation, eroded the top of the thrust sheets, and subsequently deposited a lower unit of meltwater sediments and an upper heterogenous glacigenic unit. The upper glacigenic unit forms a bank about 30 km offshore. Between the bank and the shore, the surface of the Saalian glacial landscape forms a wide depression ca. 50 m below sea level. This basin has controlled deposition in the area since the late Saalian and is filled with sediments of late Saalian, Eemian, Weichselian and Holocene age. The base of the Holocene marine deposits is thus a flat erosional surface extending eastward several kilometres below the onshore coastal areas and the northern Wadden Sea. This surface was transgressed 8800 years ago. An inverted, in plan view T-shaped, Holocene sand accumulation approximately 25 km long, 30 km wide and 15 – 25 m thick is situated on top of this surface at Blåvands Huk. According to recent estimates by the Danish Coastal Protection Board some 2.5 million m3 sediments are supplied annually to the system from the north. In the last 3000 years, 25 km of the west coast and the associated shoreface slope have prograded ca. 3 km towards the west forming a barrier spit complex. Large aeolian dunes and cover sands now conceal the spit complex. Extending twenty km west of Blåvands Huk is a highly dynamic bank, the Inner Horns Rev, with active sand-accumulation on the slopes. The Inner Horns Rev bank has grown ca. 3.5 km westward during the last 800 years. The deposits seem to be sourced by the coastal longshore sand transport from the north. The Outer Horns Rev was previously assumed to be a Saalian terminal moraine. However, this investigation reveals that it is also mainly a Holocene marine accumulation landform, but sourced from the west. Other sand accumulations, which are situated 20 – 30 km west of the coast, are probably sourced from both the south and the west.

The Late weichselian Pleniglacial wind regime in the eastern Netherlands is reconstructed by means of landform and sedimentological analysis. This analysis involves aeolian and fluvial landforms in the Dinkel river valley in the Twente region. The aeolian deposits considered here date from the Last Glacial Maximum (approximately 22 ka) to the start of the Belling Interstadial at 14.7 ka.

A major event in this period is the formation of a cryoturbation level caused by permafrost degradation, overlain by an erosional hiatus dated between 21 and 17 ka. Both features are attributed to a period of warmer and moister climate, causing permafrost degradation and erosion by surficial runoff. Thereafter aeolian activity prevailed under relatively arid conditions. A deflation surface was formed, the Beuningen Gravel Bed. This deflation surface is present in many Weichselian sections in the Netherlands and the adjacent parts of Belgium and Germany. The deflation occurred concurrently with deposition of coversand at other places.

The morphology of the coversand-landscape in the Dinkel valley was controlled by the relief of the pre-existing floodplain and the wind pattern. Coversand ridges consisting of low dunes accumulated near the margins of the active channel belt. Relatively thick sand sheets occur in the leesides of the ridges, thin sand sheets are found at greater distance.

Mainly westerly sand-transporting winds operated during winter and summer. In winter aeolian deposition occurred by frequent and strong easterly winds also. On the smallest, local scale, the pattern of deposition was determined by the topography and moisture of the receiving surface.

Coversand deposition came to an end with the formation of a sand sheet under relatively warm and less arid conditions. Coversand deposition continued into the Belling Interstadial; colonization of the coversand surface by vegetation probably has been delayed by nutrient-poor conditions.

The Amsterdam glacial basin was a major sedimentary sink from late Saalian until late Eemian (Picea zone, E6) times. The basin’s exemplary record makes it a potential reference area for the last interglacial stage. The cored Amsterdam-Terminal borehole was drilled in 1997 to provide a record throughout the Eemian interglacial. Integrated facies analysis has resulted in a detailed reconstruction of the sedimentary history.

After the Saalian ice mass had disappeared from the area, a large, deep lake had come into being, fed by the Rhine river. At the end of the glacial, the lake became smaller because it was cut off from the river-water supply, and eventually only a number of shallow pools remained in the Amsterdam basin. During the early Eemian (Betula zone, El), a seepage lake existed at the site. The lake deepened under the influence of a steadily rising sea level and finally evolved into a silled lagoon (late Quercus zone, E3). Initially, the lagoon water had fairly stable stratification, but as the sea level continued to rise the sill lost its significance, the lagoon becoming well mixed by the middle of the Corylus/Taxus zone (E4b). The phase of free exchange with the open sea ended in the early Carpinus zone (E5), when barriers developed in the sill area causing the lagoon to become stratified again. During the Late Eemian (late E5), a more dynamic system developed. The sandy barriers that had obstructed exchange with the open sea were no longer effective, and a tidally-influenced coastal lagoon formed.

The Eemian sedimentary history shown in the Amsterdam-Terminal borehole is intimately connected with the sea-level history. Because the site includes both a high-resolution pollen signal and a record of sea-level change, it has potential for correlation on various scales. Palaeomagnetic results show that the sediments predate the Blake Event, which confirms that this reversal excursion is relatively young. The U/Th age of the uppermost part of the Eemian sequence is 118.2±6.3 ka.

A general model is presented for the small type of fans (not to be confused with sandurs) that develop subaerially in the zone immediately before an ice front. These fans have in common with other fans that a proximal, a middle and a distal subenvironment– with distinctly different sedimentary facies– can be distinguished. The characteristics of these fans differ in several respects, however, from those formed under other conditions, particularly by the high proportion of mass-flow deposits in the proximal part, by the relative scarcity of fine particles in the middle fan, and by the relatively uniform character of the sediments in the distal fan.

The special character of this type of fan is ascribed to the interaction of a continuously changing distance between the ice front and the fan (as a result of alternating phases of ice advance and ice retreat), its position that may be surrounded by ice for a large part, and the irregular supply of debris-laden meltwater that comes sometimes even in the form of more or less catastrophic floods.

Due to the fact that terminoglacial fans have a good preservation potential only during phases of ice retreat, these fas tend to show a slight fining-upward tendency. The slope of terminoglacial fans tends to be more gentle (rarely over 2–5°) than that of fans formed under different conditions.

The ice caps that covered large parts of the continents of the northern hemisphere during the Pleistocene glaciations drained huge quantities of meltwater. In several places the erosive power of the meltwater rivers has led to the formation of ice-marginal valleys (IMVs). A much-debated question is whether sediments deposited in IMVs by proglacial and extraglacial streams can be distinguished on the basis of their heavy-mineral content. This question was assessed by an inventory of the heavy-mineral assemblages from the middle part of the Toruń-Eberswalde IMV in northwest Poland, two sandurs that supplied sediment from the north and the pre-Wisła river system that supplied sediment from the south; all these streams fed the IMV. The largely similar heavy-mineral compositions and sediments concentrations of the middle part of the IMV and sandurs suggest that the sediment in the IMV was supplied almost entirely by the streams on the sandurs but also that some sediments were eroded from the Miocene subsoil of the IMV itself and for a small part from the south by the pre-Wisła river system. The only heavy mineral in the pre-Wisła sediments for which the percentage is significantly different from those in the sediments of the sandurs and the IMV terrace is epidote. The difference, however, is not seen in the sediments of the IMV so it can be concluded that the sediment supply to the middle part of this IMV by streams from the south was insignificant. This is in contrast with what was hitherto commonly assumed.

The geology of the Wicken Vision Area in the lower Cam valley is described with reference to a stacked series of ten cross-sections through Holocene and Pleistocene deposits, and Cretaceous/Jurassic bedrock across the region. A detailed cross-section through a Holocene palaeochannel, with radiocarbon dating and pollen analyses is also presented. The structural geology of the bedrock and the stratigraphic arrangement of the Pleistocene and Holocene deposits are used to describe landscape development for the area. This study offers a new understanding of the stratigraphy and context of the Holocene, Weichselian and earlier Pleistocene deposits of the lower Cam valley, and provides a unique view of sediment architecture in valley-fill sediments at the fen edge.

Botanical microfossils, macroremains and oribatid mites of a Weichselian interstadial deposit in the central Netherlands point to a temporary, sub-arctic wetland in a treeless landscape. Radiocarbon dates and OSL dates show an age between ca. 54.6 and 46.6 ka cal BP. The vegetation succession, starting as a peat-forming wetland that developed into a lake, might well be linked with a Dansgaard-Oeschger climatic cycle. We suggest that during the rapid warming at the start of a D-O cycle, relatively low areas in the landscape became wetlands where peat was formed. During the more gradual temperature decline that followed, evaporation diminished; the wetlands became inundated and lake sediments were formed. During subsequent sub-arctic conditions the interstadial deposits were covered with wind-blown sand. Apart from changes in effective precipitation also the climate-related presence and absence of permafrost conditions may have played a role in the formation of the observed sedimentological sequence from sand to peat, through lacustrine sediment, with coversand on top. The Wageningen sequence may correspond with D-O event 12, 13 or 14. Some hitherto not recorded microfossils were described and illustrated.