Fluvial and eolian successions of oxygen isotope stage 3 are compared with global (GCM) and regional climate (RCM) modeling experiments of the stage 3 and last glacial maximum climate in Europe. Differences in precipitation between stage-3 stades and interstades were minor, which is confirmed by the fluvial successions. The fluvial response to climate variation is non-uniform, and in southern Europe more pronounced than in northern Europe. The model simulations indicate a strong western winter circulation over Europe during stage 3, which is supported by the eolian deposits data. Wind speeds in the last glacial maximum simulation appear modest compared with those of stage 3, which contrasts with the abundance of eolian deposits. This suggests that during glacial climates the stabilizing effect of vegetation determines eolian sedimentation rates, rather than wind speed. Stage 3 can be divided into an older part (>45,000 cal yr B.P.) with a relatively stable landscape and moist climate and a younger part with more frequent climate change and decreasing landscape stability.

The Famennian (Upper Devonian, c. 372 to 359 Ma) strata of Belgium have recently received much attention after the discoveries of early tetrapod remains and outstandingly preserved continental arthropods. The Strud locality has yielded a diverse flora and fauna including seed-plants, tetrapods, various placoderm, actinopterygian, acanthodian and sarcopterygian fishes, crustaceans (anostracans, notostracans, conchostracans and decapods) and a putative complete insect. This fossil assemblage is one of the oldest continental – probably fresh-water – ecosystems with a considerable vertebrate and invertebrate diversity. The study of the palaeoenvironment of the Strud locality is crucial because it records one of the earliest and most important phases of tetrapod evolution that took place after their emergence but before their terrestrialization. It raises the question of environmental and ecological conditions for the Devonian aquatic ecosystem and the selection pressures occurring at the onset of tetrapod terrestrialization. The present study characterized the fluvial facies of the Upper Famennian sedimentary rocks of Strud and the surrounding areas. The exceptional preservation of arthropods and plants in the main fossiliferous layers is explained by rapid burial in the fine-grained sediment of the quiet and confined flood plain environment. Newly investigated fossiliferous sections in the Meuse–Samson area led to the description and correlation of key sections (Strud, Wierde and Jausse sections, complemented by the less continuous Haltinne, Huy and Coutisse sections). Moreover, the investigated sections allowed a review of the age of the fossiliferous horizon, which is now definitely considered to be Late Famennian in age.

Large conglomerate lenses occur in a fine-grained siliciclastic succession of the Singhbhum craton, eastern India. They overlie an Archaean orthogneiss, from which they are separated by a palaeosol. Neither the conglomerates nor the directly overlying rocks have been dated, but the conglomerate unit is assumed to have also an Archaean age. The conglomerate lenses occur within a succession of pelitic and mafic schists, and the depositional environment of this conglomerate/schist unit had not been clarified thus far. On the basis of a combination of the vertical and horizontal distribution of the conglomerates, their stratigraphic position and analysis of their sedimentological characteristics and the sedimentological context, it is concluded that the succession must have developed in a fluvial lowland environment where volcanic input contributed significantly to the sediment accumulation.