volume 23 | number 2 | january 2006 quaternary australasia

Volume 23 | Number 2 | January 2006

The Quaternary Sub-Era? Southern Hemisphere Deserts

Yukon Tephrochronology & Volcanism Greenhouse2005

Quaternary AUSTRALASIA

Quaternary AUSTRALASIA11 Editorial, Presidents Pen

ARTICLES

12 The Quaternary Sub-era? Brad Pillans

13 Status of the Quaternary John Clague

16 Trends in the ARC funding 2002–2005 including successful grants 2005 Simon Haberle

12 The Australia Quaternary Top 10 Paul Hesse

CONFERENCE REPORTS

16 Yukon Ho: Tephrochronology and Volcanism Siwan Davies, Brent Alloway

19 Southern Deserts II: Human — Environment Interactions in

Southern Hemishpere Deserts, Past, Present and Future Pauline English

25 Greenhouse2005: Action on Climate Change Nikki Williams

27 Constructing Fire Histories: workshop report Simon Haberle

BOOK REVIEWS

28 Tim Flannery The Weather Makers Roger N Jones

A Barrie Pittock Climate Change Roger N Jones

31 C.R.Twidale and E.M.Campbell Australian Landforms Esmée Webb

THESIS ABSTRACTS

33 Contributors Karen Carthew; Simon Clarke; Martine Couapel; Maria Ballinger; Dale Lewis; Xun Li;

Ashley Natt; Heather Purdie; Daniel Rosendhal; Craig Sloss; Adam Switzer; Nicola Williams

40 Recent Publications41 Upcoming Events

Volume 23 | Number 2 | January 2006 | ISSN 0811–0433

COVER Browningia candelaris in theAtacama. See Pauline English's report on the Southern Deserts conference, p. 19. Photo: P. English.

BELOW 2.74 m (9 ft) Mammoth tuskretrieved from gold-bearing gravels at Last Chance Creek, Klondike Gold-fields. The purplish exterior colour of the tusk is vivianite. Note the facetedpoint of the tusk – a result of abrasionfrom ground browsing. See BrentAlloway's report on Yukon tephro-chronology, p. 16. Photo: B. Alloway.

1 Quaternary AUSTRALASIA 23 (2)

EDITORIAL PRESIDENT ’S PEN

This issue includes an update, by Brad Pillans, ondiscussion concerning the status of the Quaternarywithin the geological timescale. Quaternarists may beheartened by Brad’s report of recent agreement withinthe International Commission on Stratigraphy to form-ally enshrine the Quaternary within the timescale,although, not without some irony, at the unexpectedlevel of a sub-Era. This would elevate the Quaternary, at least in a formal sense, higher than the Period statusthat has long been sought by many of those working at the top of the geological column. In addition,ratification of the Quaternary as a sub-Era seems torequire, for symmetry’s sake, exhumation of that oldFrancophile concept, the Tertiary. Insofar as ratificationof the ICS proposal by the IUGS depends on its recept-ion by the Quaternary community, the fate of theTertiary (I must admit I find myself visualising thedeceased ‘third’ era as a resurrected horror-flick zombiewandering the Earth, slightly deranged after blindlyrising from its grave, Palaeogene regolith still lodged in its eyelashes, Neogene mud crumbling off itsshoulders) currently appears to rest, in a strange andunprecedented ironic twist, in the hands of Quatern-arists. INQUA president John Clague’s letter solicitingopinion from Quaternarists, INQUA president JohnClague's letter soliciting opinion from Quaternarists,circulated by email in late 2005, is reproduced in fullhere as a part of the story, even though the deadline forsubmissions has apparently passed.

Global warming gets more than a look in here, with ajoint review of recent books on the topic by TimFlannery and Barrie Pittock, and a report fromMelbourne’s Greenhouse2005 conference. Alsoreviewed is a new edition of Twidale and Campbell’sAustralian Landforms. Paul Hesse, whom I must shout acouple of drinks next time I see him, examines thescholarly roots of Australian Quaternary science, whileSimon Haberle reviews recent Australian ResearchCouncil funding results. Pretty pictures accompanyconference trips in the Atacama and the Yukon.Apologies for the late appearance of this issue, theproduction of which coincided squarely with myshifting house! Next issue, expect to see a report fromthe INQUA 2007 committee.

Cordially,Kale Sniderman

Dear Friends of the Quaternary,

Last issue I promised this pen would be written from aless exotic location than the Galapagos Islands. To myown surprise I have not succeeded. I am writing thisfrom my new office at the Sydney Catchment Authorityin Penrith. Now Penrith, of course, will be the newgeographical centre of Sydney by 2050. At present it isthe home of Panthers entertainment, so it already is thecentre of the universe when it comes to poker mach-ines. Penrith is also situated on the banks (fluvialterraces) of the Nepean River, which flows slowly at the bottom of the Lapstone monocline. My new job isexciting, as I have to deal with climate variability andthe effects of extreme events (such as landslides andearthquakes) on water quantity and quality in Sydney’svast catchment area (16,000 km2, which is roughly halfthe size of my country of origin).

The main news is that the organising committee of theCairns INQUA 2007 Conference has met several timessince August 2005. Good progress is underway in organ-ising the framework for this exciting conference.

The ARC funding round of October 2005 saw someinteresting success stories for Quaternary studies;congratulations to all who were successful. It was goodto see some large grants went to Quaternary research.

The news from the Federation of Australian Science and Technology Societies public forum at the last boardmeeting in the Australian Museum was all about theResearch Quality Framework which will hit the acad-emic world next year. They will also organise anotherScience meets parliament on 28th February and 1st ofMarch 2006.

All the best for 2006.Henk Heijnis


To facilitate international communication, the rockrecord of the earth is divided into standardized globalchronostratigraphic units that make up the inter-national Geological Time Scale (GTS), managed by theInternational Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). Nogeological time scale can be final, and the GTS is cont-inually being refined as new data become available. Thelatest iteration is GTS2004 (Gradstein et al. 2004), whichfollows earlier iterations such as GTS1989 (Harland etal. 1990) and GTS1982 (Harland et al. 1982). The nextiteration is planned to be GTS2008. Chronostrat-igraphic subdivisions of the Cenozoic Erathem asdepicted in recent and planned versions of the GTS areshown in Figure 1. Significant changes since GTS1982include the definition of the Gelasian Stage in theuppermost Pliocene, and extension of the NeogeneSystem upwards to the present.

Note that formal subdivisions of the Phanerozoic part of the GTS are defined by their lower boundaries atGlobal Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSPs), oftenreferred to as golden spikes. Since a GSSP automaticallydefines the upper boundary of the underlying unit, thepossibility of overlap between adjacent units is therebyeliminated. The designation of a GSSP is a necessaryrequirement for formally defining any chronostrat-igraphic unit. For example, the GSSP for the base of thePleistocene Series (= top of Pliocene Series) is located atthe top of sap-ropel layer ‘e’ in the Vrica section, 4 kmsouth of Crotone in Calabria, southern Italy (Aguirreand Pasini 1985), with an astronomically calibrated ageof 1.806 Ma (Lourens et al. 1996).

Publication of the most recent iteration of the Geo-logical Time Scale (GTS2004) by Gradstein et al. (2004)was not good news for the Quaternary – in GTS2004 the Quaternary was designated as an informal climato-stratigraphic unit, rather than as a formal chronostrat-igraphic unit. Many Quaternarists were alarmed by theapparent stratigraphic demise of the term “Quater-nary”. Would it be dead and buried along with theirfavourite Quaternary journals and societies? Indeed,would AQUA and INQUA become irrelevant acronymsfor lack of a formal Quaternary unit in the internationalgeological time scale?

Suggestions for “saving” the Quaternary were made byGibbard et al (2004), Pillans and Naish (2004) and Aubryet al. (2005), and the various options were extensivelydiscussed by INQUA members. A significant outcomewas that a majority of Quaternary scientists favoured a definition of the Quaternary with its base at ~2.6 Ma to encompass the time interval during which (1) theEarth’s climate has been strongly influenced by bi-polarglaciation, and (2) the genus Homo first appeared andevolved (see Pillans and Naish 2004). Previously, thebase of the Quaternary had been tied to the base of thePleistocene at ~1.8 Ma (see GTS 1982/1989 in Fig 1), but this definition was never entirely accepted by theQuaternary community, nor was it formally ratified byICS. With formal recognition of the Gelasian Stage (Rioet al. 1998) as a new, uppermost stage of the Pliocene,with its base at ~2.6 Ma, it seemed logical to investigatea new, formal definition which would use the base ofthe Gelasian to define the base of the Quaternary.

It was obvious from the outset (to me, at least) that any progress in “saving” and redefining the Quaternaryneeded to be a close collaborative effort between INQUAand ICS. Thus, in August 2004 I made a recommend-ation to the International Geological Congress in Flor-ence that a joint INQUA-ICS Task Force be set up todefine the Quaternary as a formal unit of the GTS. Therecommendation was accepted, the task force was dulyconvened, and delivered its verdict(s) in late August2005. In September 2005, having reviewed the findingsof the task force, ICS voted to define the Quaternary as a Sub-Era/Sub-Erathem, with its base defined by theGSSP for the Gelasian Stage (~2.6 Ma). INQUA must now decide whether to accept this definition, and hasasked its members for their opinions (see below), priorto making a decision at the INQUA executive meeting that I will attend in late February 2006. Should INQUAresolve to accept the ICS definition, then the QuaternarySub-Era will be immediately ratified by IUGS. If not, theQuaternary will remain in limbo, with no immediateprospect (if ever) of being formally defined as a chron-ostratigraphic unit of the GTS.

AQUA members should read the document (below)from INQUA president, John Clague. My experience insuch polls is that those who disagree with a proposal are usually the most vocal. I therefore urge all of you toemail John and state your acceptance of the ICS prop-osal to formally define the Quaternary as a Sub-Era, with base defined by the Gelasian GSSP (~2.6 Ma).


STATUS OF THE QUATERNARY

The Quaternary Sub-Era?Brad PillansPresident, INQUA Stratigraphy & Chronology Commission

REFERENCES

• Aguirre, E. and Pasini, G., 1985. The Pliocene-Pleistoceneboundary. Episodes, 8: 116–120.

• Aubry, M.P., Berggren, W.A., van Couvering, J., McGowran, B.,Pillans, B. and Hilgen, F., 2005. Quaternary: status, rank,definition, survival. Episodes, 28: 118–120.

• Gibbard, P.L., Smith, A.G., Zalasiewicz, J.A., Barry, T.L.,Cantrill, D., Coe, A.L., Cope, J.C.W., Gale, A.S., Gregory, F.J.,Powell, J.H., Rawson, P.F., Stone, P. and Waters, C.N., 2005.What status for the Quaternary? Boreas, 34: 1–6.

• Gradstein, F.M., Ogg, J.G., Smith, A.G., Agterberg, F.P., Bleeker,W., Cooper, R.A., Davydov, V., Gibbard, P., Hinnov, L.A., House,M.R., Lourens, L., Luterbacher, H.P., McArthur, J., Melchin,M.J., Robb, L.J., Shergold, J., Villeneuve, M., Wardlaw, B.R., Ali,J., Brinkhuis, H., Hilgen, F.J., Hooker, J., Howarth, R.J., Knoll,A.H., Laskar, J., Monechi, S., Powell, J., Plumb, K.A., Raffi, I.,Rohl, U., Sanfilippoo, A., Schmitz, B., Shackleton, N.J., Shields,G.A., Strauss, H., Van Dam, J., Veizer, J., van Kolfschoten, T.and Wilson, D., 2004. A Geological Time Scale 2004. CambridgeUniversity Press, Cambridge, ~500 pp.

• Harland, W.B., Cox, A.V., Llewellyn, P.G., Pickton, C.A.G.,Smith, A.G. and Walters, R. 1982. A Geological Time Scale.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 131 pp.

• Harland, W.B., Armstrong, R.L., Cox, A.V., Craig, L.E., Smith,A.G. and Smith, D.G. (Editors), 1990. A Geological Time Scale1989. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 263 pp.

• Lourens, L.J., Antonarakou, A., Hilgen, F.J., Van Hoof, A.A.M.,Vergnaud-Grazzini, C. and Zachariasse, W.J. 1996. Evaluationof the Plio-Pleistocene astronomical timescale. Paleocean-ography 11(4), 391–413.

• Pillans, B. and Naish, T., 2004. Defining the Quaternary.Quaternary Science Reviews, 23: 2271–2282.

• Rio, D., Sprovieri, R., Castradori, D. and Di Stephano, E. 1998.The Gelasian Stage (Upper Pliocene): A new unit of the globalstandard chronostratigraphic scale. Episodes 21, 82–87.


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Figure 1 The evolving chronostratigraphic subdivision of the Cenozoic accordingto recent and proposed iterations of the international Geological Time Scale (GTS).Sources: GTS1982 (Harland et al. 1982), GTS1989 (Harland et al. 1990), GTS2004(Gradstein et al. 2004). For simplicity, stages of pre-Pliocene Series are not shown.

The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), a body of the International Union of Geological Sciences(IUGS), is in the process of standardizing the GeologicalTime Scale, a task to be completed before the nextInternational Geological Congress in 2008.

Quaternary task forceIn 1985, with the placement of the base of the Pleist-ocene GSSP, “The subject of defining the boundarybetween the Pliocene and Pleistocene was isolated fromother more or less related problems, such as the pendingdefinition of the Calabrian, and the status of the Quatern-ary within the chronostratigraphic scale.” (E. Aguirre andG. Pasini, 1985, The Pliocene-Pleistocene Boundary,Episodes 8: 116–120). For various reasons, the “pendingdefinition ... and status of the Quaternary” was neverformally resolved, nor submitted to ICS/IUGS forconsideration or ratification.

Following the International Geological Congress in2004 in Florence, INQUA and ICS set up a task force to consider the issue. The task force was charged withmaking a recommendation, within one year, to ICS onthe definition and possible rank of the Quaternary inthe Geological Time Scale. It issued its report before ameeting of ICS in Leuven, Belgium, in September 2005.Its recommendation to ICS was as follows:

1. That the Quaternary should be recognized as a formal chronostratigraphic/ geochronological unit.

2. That the lower boundary of the Quaternary coincidewith the base of the Gelasian Stage (2.6 Ma) and thusbe defined by the Gelasian GSSP.

3. That the Quaternary will have the rank of either:a. System/Period at the top of the Neogene System/Period, with its lower boundary marking the top of a shortened Neogene, orb. Sub-Erathem/Sub-Era correlative with the upperpart of the Neogene System/Period

ICS decisionFollowing extended discussion at Leuven, the ICS votingmembership unanimously voted, by a show of hands,that the Quaternary be recognized as a formal chrono-stratigraphic/geochronologic unit with a lower boun-dary coinciding with the base of the Gelasian Stage anddefined by the Gelasian GSSP. The voting membershipconsidered several options for the rank of the Quat-

ernary, and voted on the options by a show of hands.Only one option received a majority: that the Quaternaryhave the rank of Sub-erathem/Sub-era. Subsequently, awritten ballot was held on this single issue, i.e. whetheror not the Quaternary should have the rank of Sub-Erathem/Sub-Era. The voting membership consisted of the executive officers of ICS and the chairs of the ICSsubcommissions. The final vote on the Sub-Erathem/Sub-Era option was:

Yes 12 votesNo 5 votesAbstain 1 vote

The result is that the lower boundary of the Quater-nary would be defined at the base of the Gelasian Stage,at 2.6 Ma. Through an early polling of the Quaternarycommunity, INQUA found that the vast majority ofQuaternary scientists favour a 2.6 Ma boundary over the current 1.8 Ma one. A further result is that theQuaternary, although firmly formalized as a chrono-stratigraphic/geochronologic unit, would not be aSystem/Period above the Neogene. The Neogene wouldextend from the base of the Miocene to the present.

What now?INQUA informed ICS, prior to the Leuven meeting, that it would consult the Quaternary community priorto deciding whether or not to support the new ICS pos-ition on the Quaternary. The INQUA Executive Comm-ittee is thus seeking your opinion. Please let us knowwhether the ICS proposal is acceptable to you or not?Below, I summarize this option and what the ExecutiveCommittee considers to be its pros and cons.

Definition of the QuaternaryThe Quaternary is a Sub-Erathem/Sub-Era correlativewith the upper part of the Neogene System/Period andwith a lower boundary coincident with the base of theGelasian Stage (2.6 Ma) (Fig. 1).

PROS:• Quaternary is a formal chronostratigraphic/ geo-

chron0logic unit, with a standardized definition andwould be displayed on the international geologicaltime scale.

• Base of the Quaternary is pinned at 2.6 Ma.

ICS has accepted this option.


STATUS OF THE QUATERNARY

Status of the Quaternary: YOUR OPINION SOUGHT

John ClaguePresident, INQUA

CONS:• The Quaternary is not a Period/System.• The base of the Quaternary and that of the Pleisto-

cene Epoch are not the same (the base of the Pleisto-cene remains at 1.8 Ma; the base of the Quaternarybecomes 2.6 Ma).

Two other options have been discussed

Option 2: The Quaternary is a Period/System above the Neogene, comprising the Pleistocene and Holoceneepochs with a base at the base of the Gelasian Stage (2.6 Ma).

Option 3: Same as Option 2 except that the lowerboundary of the Quaternary coincides with the base ofthe Pleistocene (1.8 Ma). Many Quaternary researchersconsider this option the status quo.

ICS has made it clear that it will not accept option 2,and it likely will not accept option 3. Thus, unless IUGSwere to side with INQUA against its own commission,and could convince ICS to accept the Quaternary as aPeriod, the term will not have a standardized definitionor formal ratified status on the Geological Time Scale.INQUA might lobby IUGS to reject ICS’s revised timescale, with the hope that it would instruct ICS to acceptOption 2, but it seems unlikely that it would interfere inthis manner with one of its commissions.

What would be the consequences if the “Quaternary”was not formally included in the Geological Time Scale?The term would continue to be used, albeit informally,much as the “Precambrian” is used today. However, thestature of the “Quaternary”, and more importantly ourfield of study, likely would be diminished, with uncer-tain future consequences. It might be difficult to havethe Quaternary added to the Geological Time Scale at alater date.

Further thoughts on this issue are welcome and can be emailed to John Clague: [email protected]


Figure 1 Subdivisions of the Cenozoic Era proposed by ICS, with the Quaternarydefined as a Sub-erathem/Sub-era with abase at 2.6 Ma.


2005 has been a year of surprises from the researchfunding point of view. A number of one-off schemes andnew funding sources have been announced, many atvery short notice, to the academic community. TheResearch Networks, Center of Excellence round, foll-owed by New Initiative Schemes through the ARCproduced frantic attempts to put together researchteams that might fit the perceived vision of governmentfor future research directions. Much of this activity wentunrewarded, though the process itself may have galvan-ized potential future directions in the minds of thosewho took part in these bids. The current Common-wealth Environment Research Facility fund through the Department of Environment and Heritage rep-resents a new approach to dividing up governmentresearch money and may well signal a future devolvingof control of the research dollar from ARC to othergovernment areas. Whatever the case, it is likely that thenext year will bring further unexpected opportunities.

Below is an outline of the recent successful grants in thelatest ARC Discovery and Linkage round. Congratul-ations to all those who were successful. These includedfour APD/QEII fellowships so this is excellent for earlycareer researchers. The 22 successful grants included 19 Discovery plus two Linkage and one Linkage Infra-structure grant. As in previous years I’ve compared theresults of this year’s round with previous three years andthere are encouraging signs of continued ARC supportfor the Quaternary sciences (including archaeology).

In general the trends are: 1. total number of grants is similar to the last two years, 2. funding level of around $6 million for Discovery

grants in Quaternary Sciences has been maintainedfor this years grant round,

3. components of archaeology continue to featurestrongly in Quaternary Science applications,

4. of the nine successful archaeology grants only twowere for Australian based research (similar to otheryears), and

5. there is a slight drop in the number of institutionsreceiving funding (13 in 2003–2004 and 10 in 2005).

This last point, while only a minor drop, may prove to be significant over the longer term, particularly with theforthcoming Research Quality assessment being intro-duced in 2007. One possible consequence may be thecentralizing of expertise in particular disciplines in

fewer universities, which may see a further reduction inthe number of institutions able to attract ARC funding.Alternatively, a multi-disciplinary research area such asQuaternary Sciences may be able to avoid this throughstrengthening inter-institutional collaborations andtaking advantage of existing links.

Finally, there has been a recent change in personnel in the ARC College of Experts (the body of experts whodecide on ARC rankings). The new board will comm-ence in 2006 and we will have different people in thefinal assessment of our grant applications than in the previous 3 years. It is not clear to me whether thestrength of personality of advocates for any given fieldwould necessarily play a role in determining how manygrants got over the finish line. Whether or not this willhave an impact on how the Quaternary sciences fare inthe next round, only time will tell ... and we’ll bewatching ...

ARTICLE

Trends in the ARC funding 2002–2005Simon Haberle

Figure 1. Quaternary-related ARC Discovery Grants 2002–2005.The bar graphs show total number of Quaternary-related grantsfunded, the line shows % this represents of total grants allocatedin that year, and a figure for the total funding in million dollarsallocated to Quaternary-related projects appears above each year.Data from the ARC annual reports 2002–2005: http://www.arc.gov.au/funded_grants/selection.htm

Succesful ARC grants for 2005


Discovery Grants

ARCHAEOLOGY AND PREHISTORY / ANTHROPOLOGY

CI’s: Prof AJ Anderson; Dr K Szabo; Dr E ConteThe origins of human colonization in East Polynesia and their relevance to maritime migrationThe Australian National University2006: $65,000; 2007: $65,000; 2008: $65,000Project Summary The IndoPacific is a world of islands,including Australia, which was colonized during pre-history in several phases of migration, the last andlongest of which was in East Polynesia. Extensive excav-ation of a large, waterlogged archaeological site of thisera in French Polynesia will provide a better under-standing of the period, society and external relation-ships of the early migrants, and of the processes ofprehistoric maritime migration which link Australianpeoples to those of our neighbours across the Pacificand Indian Oceans.

CI’s: Dr FD Bulbeck; Dr MF OxenhamThe Flores hobbit Homo floresiensis or microcephaliceastern Indonesian?The Australian National University2006: $40,000Project Summary The hobbit is so controversial as itimplies that a tiny hominin with a miniature braincoexisted for 30,000 years with modern humans in ourregion. This would have immense, fundamental implic-ations for understanding the human colonisation of our region and the role of brain size in human evol-ution. Our research will determine whether the altern-ative explanation of microcephalic pathology is viable. If so the hobbit would still be of unique signficance asthe only known microcephalic huntergatherer who hadsurvived to adulthood. The role of Australian scientistsin spearheading the hobbit discovery places a highpriority on resolving the debate objectively.

CI’s: Dr RF Cosgrove; Dr C Shen; Dr H Lu APD: Dr S WangChinese Middle to Late Pleistocene hominid behaviour:exploring cultural variability through time and spaceLa Trobe University2006: $156,000; 2007: $82,000; 2008: $125,000Project Summary This research will contribute to theunderstanding of the spread of our species out of Africa2 million years ago into East Asia. It examines the rangeof hominid behaviours and ecological circumstances

that led to the successful colonisation of China byHomo erectus. It also addresses the vexed question ofthe relationship between H. erectus and H. sapiens. Did the latter evolve in situ from their antecedents assome suggest, or did H. sapiens replace H. erectus, inthe great diaspora from Africa 120,000 years ago?

APD: Dr K da CostaDrawing the line: the archaeology of Roman provincialborders in Late Antique Palaestina and Arabia (AD 250–650)The University of Sydney2006: $109,000; 2007: $74,000; 2008: $84,000; 2009: $66,000Project Summary This project, using archaeologicalevidence from Jordan, will for the first time accuratelyestablish the boundaries of provinces in the RomanEmpire. By linking Australia and the Middle East ininternational scholarly research dealing with our com-mon cultural heritage, it will increase our mutual und-erstanding. The examination of very longterm trends in an ancient system which dealt with a complex, multi-cultural population will provide much needed compara-tive illustrations for the current national debate on thenature and security of Australian borders. It will alsoprovide evidence of longterm economic change and itspolitical consequences.

APD: Dr TP DenhamUnearthing the roots of agriculture: multidisciplinaryinvestigations of Pleistocene and Holocene plant exploit-ation in Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New GuineaMonash University2006: $140,000; 2007: $145,000; 2008: $145,000Project Summary The Project will foster greater comm-unication, public understanding and research linksbetween Australia and Papua New Guinea. The Projectwill also provide archaeological training for students atAustralian universities and students and practitionersin Papua New Guinea. The research seeks to understandthe development of societies and subsistence practices,particularly plant exploitation and agriculture, in NewGuinea from the Pleistocene to the present. The res-earch will chart longterm human environment relationsin New Guinea, which are central to under-standing thesustainability of food production and the maintenanceof biodiversity in the Australasian region.

8 Quaternary AUSTRALASIA 23 (2)8 Quaternary AUSTRALASIA 23 (2)

Successful ARC Grants for 2005 CONTINUED

CI: Dr AS FairbairnPlant use at the dawn of agriculture in central AnatoliaThe Australian National University2006: $20,000; 2007: $20,000Project Summary The project will increase collaborationwith researchers in the UK, and Turkish archaeologicalauthorities. It will refine our understanding of theprocess, rate and direction of agricultural origins inWestern Asia and improve Australia’s profile in originsof agriculture research. It will increase Australia’s know-ledge base about other regions and help to consolidateand promote archaeobotany/archaeological science inAustralia’s research community.

CI’s: A/Prof PC Memmott; Dr SG Ulm; A/Prof IA Lilley;A/Prof ND Evans; Dr EC Stock; A/Prof NG White; Dr SMvan Holst Pellekaan; Prof DS Trigger; Dr RP RobinsIsolation, Insularity and Change in Island Populations anInterdisciplinary Study of Aboriginal Cultural Patterns inthe Gulf of CarpentariaThe University of Queensland2006: $90,000; 2007: $90,000; 2008: $90,000; 2009: $55,000; 2010: $40,000Project Summary The project’s national benefits centreon its contribution to safeguarding Australia and to anenvironmentally sustainable Australia. The particip-ation of northern Indigenous people is critical to borderprotection policies and procedures. This project willhelp revitalise the Carpentaria Land Council’s Aborig-inal Rangers scheme, which has a potential role in safe-guarding the nation’s northern approaches, includingcombating feral plant and animal importation, Coast-watch surveillance and marine habitat protection. Thegeological research on sea level and climatic history inthe Gulf of Carpentaria and associated coastal geo-morphological impacts will contribute to predictivemodels on global warming and its consequences (sealevel rise).

APD: Mr M MooreHow Do Stone Tools Reflect Cognition Among the FirstAustralians and their Precursors?The University of New England2006: $85,000; 2007: $78,000; 2008: $78,000Project Summary The popularity of the Indonesian‘hobbit’ (Homo floresiensis) discovery provides an ideal platform for interpreting Australasian prehistoryto a wider community. This project explores the arrivalof modern humans in Indonesia, their interaction with‘hobbits’, and the colonisation of Australia by comp-aring the different ways these hominins made stonetools. Although research indicates a significant level ofbehavioural unity in our genus, ‘hobbits’ were not likeus. ‘Us’ refers, of course, to modern humans, and hencethis research is of global relevance. By applying a‘design space’ model to toolmaking in the past, this

project will demonstrate that the earliest trends intechnology apply equally to human groups throughoutthe world.

CI’s: Prof FB Sear; Mr AE Hutson; Dr HM GoldsworthyTechnological Advances in Largescale Roman ConcreteBuildings during the 2nd and 1st centuries BCThe University of Melbourne2006: $70,000; 2007: $30,000; 2008: $40,000Project Summary How were the Romans able to buildmonuments which are still standing after 2,000 years?Skills to achieve this were clearly not developed over-night. A multidisciplinary team from the University ofMelbourne has identified the 1st century BC as a time of tremendous technological change in Roman archi-tecture. Was it that the Romans used a technologicallyadvanced type of concrete? Was it that they had perf-ected the structural design of vaults and domes? Wasit simply their organisational ability or the enormous

wealth which flowed from their vast Empire? A team ofexperienced archaeologists, architects and engineersseeks to answer these questions by survey and materialanalysis of a number of key Roman monuments.

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

CI’s: Dr MK Gagan; Dr WS Hantoro; Dr DH Natawidjaja;Dr JM Lough; Dr G Meyers; Prof Z Liu; Prof K SiehThe Indian Ocean Dipole, Australasian drought, and the greatearthquake cycle: Longterm perspectives forimproved predictionThe Australian National University 2006: $260,000; 2007: $190,000; 2008:$180,000; 2009: $183,000; 2010: $203,000Project Summary The protracted drought across Australia and Boxing Day 2004 earthquake in Sumatradefied prediction, and are causing incalculable environ-mental, economic, and social harm. Knowledge of pastclimate extremes will enhance our ability to predictclimate change, and alleviate adverse affects for Aust-ralasian nations who missout in the future redistrib-ution of lifegiving moisture. Insights into the greatearthquake cycle will help fulfil Australia’s respons-ibility to predict tsunamis, for the benefit of nationsfringing Australasian seismotectonic zones. Develop-ment of improved techniques in palaeoclimatology,palaeoclimate modelling, and palaeoseismology willprovide new collaborations and opportunities forresearch, training, and education.


CI’s: Dr MK Gagan; Dr J Zhao; Dr RN Drysdale; Dr WS Hantoro; Dr GA SchmidtMonsoon extremes, environmental shifts, andcatastrophic volcanic eruptions: quantifying impacts on the early human history of southern AustralasiaThe Australian National University2006: $245,000; 2007: $100,000; 2008: $100,000Project Summary The coincidence of a long, diverseAustralasian human history with Earth’s greatest clim-ate systems presents the Australian and Indonesiancommunities with unrivalled opportunities for scient-ific discovery. Our study will improve understanding ofglobal climate change, environmental shifts, volcaniccatastrophes, and their role in early human dispersal,and extinction, in Australasia. The significance of theresults will extend to the modern world, where humanbehaviour modifies, and is modified by, climate andenvironment. Integration of research strengths in Aust-ralia and Indonesia will contribute to an improvedbilateral relationship in science, education, and train-ing, and engage the public in the excitement of scient-ific discovery.

CI’s: Dr CS Turney; Dr SG HaberleTesting the hypothesis of synchronous interhemisphericclimatic change during the Last Termination (20,000–10,000 years ago)University of Wollongong2006: $169,000; 2007: $110,000; 2008: $100,000Project Summary The results generated in this projectwill provide a greater understanding of the sensitivity of the Australasian region to a range of different clim-atic conditions (far beyond that recorded in historicaldatasets). Focussing on climate at the end of the last ice age (20,00010,000 years ago) we will investigate thetiming, rate and magnitude of change in the Austral-asian region and test whether the variability was inphase with other records from the mid and high latit-udes of the Southern and Northern Hemisphere. Theresults will provide a considerably improved context for understanding present and future climate change in Australia.

CI: A/Prof CD WoodroffeVariability in El Niño frequency and intensity over thepast 4000 yearsUniversity of Wollongong 2006: $45,000; 2007: $35,000; 2008: $35,000Project Summary Fossil corals contain a rich archive ofpast climate variability for tropical oceans which canextend the limited instrumental data and increase ourunderstanding of climate sensitivity. El Niño variationsin the Pacific have farreaching impacts on Australianclimate, and this project will reconstruct variations inthe past in order to better forecast climate sensitivity inthe future. It focuses on Christmas Island which is the

optimal site to capture El Niño variability at severaldifferent time scales, and will lead to a better under-standing of atmospheric and oceanic factors that havecaused climate variability.

ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION

CI’s: Prof A Cooper; Prof TF FlanneryUsing ancient DNA to investigate the environmentalimpacts of climate change and humans through timeThe University of Adelaide2006: $160,000; 2007: $155,000; 2008: $155,000Project Summary This project will provide importantinformation about how climate change and humanimpact have effected our environment over the past50,000 years, removing many of the large mammals and altering the landscape. It is critical that the back-ground to our current environment is properly under-stood if we are to predict the effects of ongoing changessuch as global warming. The research will concentrateon the effects of climate change on large mammals inNorth and South America, New Zealand, Australia andAfrica over this time period, and will examine theadditional impact of humans in each location.

GEOCHEMISTRY

CI’s: Prof Dr R Grun; Prof MJ Spriggs; Dr IS WilliamsMicroanalysis of human fossils: new insights into age, diet and migrationThe Australian National University2006: $105,000; 2007: $90,000; 2008: $90,000Project Summary Human occupation of Australia andthe Pacific dates back tens of thousands of years. Newmicroanalytical techniques now make it possible tolearn about the life histories of these ancient peoples:their diet, migration paths and the climate in whichthey lived. This project will benefit the Indigenouspopulations and researchers of neighbouring countriesthrough collaboration and increased knowledge of theirancestors, thus enhancing Australia’s links and statusas a good neighbour in the region. This falls squarelyinto the Research Priority ‘Safeguarding AustraliaUnderstanding our Region and the World’. In thefuture, our analytical approach will give importantinsights into the complex and rich archaeologicalheritage of Australia.

CI’s: Prof RG Roberts; Prof Dr R Grun; Dr Z Jacobs; Dr GA DullerOut of Africa and into Australia: robust chronologies forturning points in modern human evolution and dispersalUniversity of Wollongong2006: $86,000; 2007: $30,000; 2008: $60,000; 2009: $70,000; 2010: $70,000Project Summary This project will yield important newdata on the timing of major turning points in humanevolution and the human colonisation of Australia. This will improve our knowledge of Aboriginal culturalheritage and provide a longterm perspective on human/environment interactions to help forecast future imp-acts of human disruption of the Australian ecosystem(Environmentally Sustainable Australia NRP). Moderndating techniques underpin many archaeological andenvironmental projects, so the advances made in thisstudy will benefit researchers worldwide, increasecapacity for commercial services, and enhance Aust-ralia’s international standing in geochronology. We will also generate highquality research students andnew collaborative initiatives.

GEOLOGY

CI’s: Prof GC Nanson; A/Prof BG JonesPalaeoclimatic and environmental significance of major Late Quaternary drainage contributions anddisruptions in the Lake Eyre basin.University of Wollongong2006: $110,000; 2007: $80,000; 2008: $80,000Project Summary This study will advance our know-ledge of the most remarkable floods ever known to have occurred in Australia. They were associated with a vast aquatic ecosystem in what today is the barrennorthern end of the Flinders Ranges, a region of desertdunes and salt lakes. Remarkably, such wet conditionsappear to have coincided with episodes of megafaunalextinction and with the human occupation of Australia.The results will provide valuable information withwhich to better understand the the main global driversof episodes of profound wetness and dryness inAustralian climate.

CI’s: Dr JD Woodhead; Prof PW Williams; Dr F McDermottOf caves, bones, and climate change: new insightsfrom old speleothemsThe University of Melbourne2006: $80,000; 2007: $80,000; 2008: $80,000Project Summary Australia has an enviable reputat-ion as a leading innovator in geochronological studiesand this research will reinforce that standing. The out-comes will have an immediate and significant impacton studies of global climate change, and provide new

insights into the evolution of Australia’s unique fossilmammal fauna. In these ways, and as described in moredetail elsewhere in the application, this project add-resses directly our current national research priorities‘responding to climate change and variability’ and ‘thesustainable use of Australia’s biodiversity’.

QEII: Dr SW WroeAustralia’s mammalian carnivore diversity in space and timeThe University of New South Wales2006: $200,000; 2007: $150,000; 2008: $150,000;2009:$125,000; 2010: $125,000Project Summary To more effectively address thecurrent extinction crisis we need to understand pastdiversity. This research program will comprehensivelyinvestigate the diversity of mammalian carnivores onthree continents over geological time. Results will pro-vide insight into whether the evolution of Australia’smammal carnivores differs fundamentally from thoseof other continents, as has often been suggested but not quantitatively demonstrated. Studies focused in thepresent are important, but often miss critical factorsthat can only be clarified through analyses with deeptime perspectives. The findings will translate into an improved understanding of what makes Australiaunique and better informed decisions regarding wild-life management.

Linkage Grants

ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION

CI’s: Dr PA Gell; A/Prof DM McKirdy; Dr J TibbyRetrospective ecological character assessmentfor a review of Ramsar status of The Coorong, SA.The University of Adelaide2006: $100,000; 2007: $49,220Partner Organisation(s)Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity;Conservation (DWLBC) I & B Division Upper South EastProgram; Department for Environment and Heritage SE RegionProject Summary Integrated analyses of the chemicaland biological remains contained in the sediments ofthe Coorong will provide for a reconstruction of ecol-ogical change and variability over the last several thous-and years. Detailed analyses of the recent sediments willmeasure how the condition of the Coorong has depar-ted from this natural background and so provide anaudit of human impact on the last wetland in the Murr-ay darling Basin. This evidence will directly inform thedetermination of the ecological character of this Ram-sar listed, national ecological asset and steer its manag-ement for a sustainable future.


Successful ARC Grants for 2005 CONTINUED

CI’s: Dr J Tibby; Dr PA Gell; Mr PJ LeahyNew approaches for protecting stream health in temperateAustralia: Devising nutrient and salinity guidelines usingdiatomsThe University of Adelaide 2006: $24,650; 2007: $24,650; 2008: $24,650Partner Organisation(s)Environment Protection Authority (South Australia)Environment Protection Authority (Victoria)Project Summary Salinity and nutrient enrichment arethe most significant forms of water quality degradationin Australian lowland rivers. This project will identifythe biological effect of the water quality pollution anddevelop new methods for its assessment. Most import-antly, through the identification of water quality “thres-holds” which result in reduced biodiversity, better guid-elines for maintaining stream health will be developed.

Linkage Infrastructure Grants

SOIL AND WATER SCIENCES

CI’s: Dr RN Drysdale; Dr ID Goodwin; Dr SW Franks; DrJD Woodhead; Dr J ZhaoA highthroughput stable isotope ratio mass spectrometerfor water resource management and climate changestudiesThe University of Newcastle2006: $100,000Partner OrganisationsThe University of Newcastle; The University ofMelbourne; The University of QueenslandProject Summary Cave speleothems are highly sensitiveto climate and are widely used to investigate past clim-ate variability. Many researchers in Australia are nowemploying speleothems to find out more about the

longterm behaviour of the Australian climate system,especially regarding ENSO. However, progress is inhib-ited by a lack of appropriate instrumentation capable ofmeeting the unique demands of speleothem research.Our new mass spectrometer will provide precise, rapidand lowcost isotope analyses of speleothem samples,and in doing so generate exciting and important palaeo-climate data, particularly in the area of preinstrumentalrainfall histories.

GENETICS

CI’s: Prof A Cooper; A/Prof MP Schwarz; Prof SC DonnellanExpansion and enhancement of the South AustralianRegional Facility for Molecular Ecology and Evolution and the Australian Centre Ancient DNAThe University of Adelaide2006: $115,000Partner OrganisationsThe University of Adelaide; The Flinders University of South Australia; South Australian MuseumProject Summary Provision of dedicated instrumentsfor contemporary and ancient/fragmentary DNA anal-yses will provide numerous opportunities for innov-ative research solutions in basic biology, archaeolog-ical, agricultural, biomedical, forensic and environ-mental sciences. No similar combination of facilitiescurrently exists in the Australian region severely curt-ailing and jeopardising the quality of current andproposed research programs. The facilities will under-lie innovative approaches to research in NationalResearch Priorities 1 and 4 An EnvironmentallySustainable Australia and Safeguarding Australia.


QUATERNARY NEWS

From Fawn Ginn, University of Manitoba

At the 2003 International Paleolimnology Symposium,held in Finland, there was widespread support for thedevelopment of an international society or association ofpaleolimnologists. This effort was led by Rick Battarbee,and a small ad hoc committee was struck at the Finlandmeeting to explore further the formation of apaleolimnology association.

The first draft of a Constitution and Mission statementhas been posted on the IPA web page atwww.umanitoba.ca/geoscience/paleolim/ipa.html Anyoneinterested or working in paleolimnology is invited tocomment on this preliminary draft and makesuggestions relative to the Association.

It is anticipated that the constitution and Associationwill be formalized at the next International Paleolimn-ology Symposium, to be held June, 2006, in Duluth,Minnesota.

The OZ INTIMATE website is now up and running atwww.uow.edu.au/science/eesc/research/oz_intimate/index.html


Lists of the ‘best ever’ this or that are an evil we’velearned to live with in the fields of sport, music, moviesand even art. At best you learn about some real classicsyou didn’t know about, at worst you get to argue withthe list-maker (perhaps only in your head) about theirinexplicable exclusion of your own favourites and theequally inexplicable inclusion of complete dross thatsurely no-one with any taste or intellect could considerworthy.

With the eyes of the Quaternary world to turn on Aust-ralia in 2007 for the INQUA Congress, what would be the papers you’d recommend to a foreign delegate tobring them up to speed (or set them straight) on theAustralian Quaternary? That idle question prompted me to ask AQUAlist members for their suggestions ofthe ‘classic’ papers on Quaternary Science in Australia. I received a good number of responses that revealed thebreadth of the field and its history as well as a range ofinterpretations of what it means to be ‘classic’ (thisincluded a couple of 2005 papers).

I did find that a lot of my favourites were widely popularand also that some weren’t. I also discovered a few newpapers to read (and appreciate). I have decided to putdown a list of sorts based on both the responses I rec-eived and a heavy bias of my own. I have resorted to thehated citation databases (ISI Web of Science) to getsome feel for how influential these papers are, but thiswas a small component in the decision-making process.In sorting through these papers I found that I did learna lot about the history of Quaternary science in Aust-ralia. Some of the major developments in our field inev-itably occurred outside Australia and are not reflectedhere. Others, such as radiocarbon dating, may havebeen developed and applied first outside Australia buttheir effect here was profound. Other developmentshave shaped our discipline’s and, I like to think, Aust-ralian society’s view of our environment and could onlyhave occurred here. Nevertheless, some of the classicsneed updating because of advances in dating, proxydata or interpretation, and the list could not be con-tained to just 10 papers.

Thanks to all those who contributed nominations and feedback(but who should not be held responsible for the list or the comm-ents made): Peter Kershaw, Fawn Ginn, Mike Barbetti, MartinWilliams, Tim Barrows, Simon Clarke, Gresley Wakelin-King,Stuart Pearson, Peter McIntosh, Pandora Hope, Maria Cotter, Jon Nott, Bob Haworth, Geoff Humphreys, Leanne Armand, and Kathryn Taffs.

Pre-radiocarbon

1. Schumm, 1968Geol Soc Am Prof Paper 598 150 CITATIONS

This could be said to be really a geomorphologypaper rather than a Quaternary paper, but it was widelyinfluential (inside and outside Australia) and fed into anongoing debate over the palaeohydrological history of theMurray-Murrumbidgee Riverine Plain. Schumm’s papergave the long-lasting story of fluvial response to lateQuaternary climate change in more detail than theoriginal work of Butler (1950, Aust J Ag Res 1: 231). Thedebate over the hydrological and climatic interpretationof the palaeochannels was already ignited at the time ofSchumm’s contribution and remained alight for sometime afterwards. Butler’s experience of the palaeo-channels of the Riverine Plain fed his K-cycle model(Butler, 1959. CSIRO Soil Pubn. 14) which was very influ-ential through the 1960s and 1970s linking climate,deposition/erosion and soil formation, but has nowwaned in popularity, partly because of a more sophis-ticated understanding of landscape response to climatechange and a real chronology to work with. The first intro-duction of numerical dating into the debate over the pal-aeochannels was Jim Bowler’s 1967 paper (J Geol Soc Aust14: 287) on the Goulburn River palaeochannels whichgave one of the very first chronologies of events throughthe LGM in Australia, back to 30 000 radio-carbon years.The (so far) final word on both the chronology and geo-morphic interpretation of the Murrumbidgee palaeo-channels studied by Schumm rests with Page et al. (1996,J Quat. Sci. 11: 311), who broke the radiocarbon barrier

with the application of luminescence dating, extendingthe record back to over 100,000 years.

2. Butler, 1956 Aust J Sci 18: 145 70 CITATIONS

This little paper has had a lasting impact in both Quaternary science and soil science although I willreadily concede that my personal bias is showing here. I, personally, always prefer the companion paper by Butlerand Hutton (1956, Aust J Agr. Res 7: 536), with half thecitations, because it actually has data! Together thesepapers put a name to widespread ‘desert loess’ in Aust-ralia: parna. Give me a couple of drinks and I’ll tell youwhy I don’t like that name, but at the time the concept of‘hot loess’ was both new and controversial (although dust

The Australian Quaternary Top 10Paul Hesse

ARTICLE

additions to soils in Australia had been talked about atleast as early as 1937 by Leeper, Proc Roy Soc Vic 49:77-134) and there were good reasons for avoiding the termloess (which have since vanished). No chronology wasprovided in these papers or forthcoming in subsequentwork. When Thiede (1979, Geology 7: 259) provided acontinuous record of dust in marine sediments linkedto the marine oxygen isotope chronology, it was the firsttime a chronology had been given to what had widelybeen seen as a proxy of aridity in Australia. McTainsh’s1989 paper (QSR 8: 235) provided a good summary ofthe state of knowledge up until that point, drawing geo-morphic, meteorological and sedimentological studiestogether. I will be immodest and mention my own littlepaper on dust in Tasman Sea sediments which providesa more reliable chronology and longer coverage thanearlier work (Hesse 1994, QSR 13: 257).

3. Galloway, 1965J Geology 73:603 82 CITATIONS

Tim Barrows provided a strong endorsement of this highly regarded paper which “…finally dispelledthe myth that ‘glacials’ were ‘pluvial’; rather dramaticdrops in temperature greatly reduced evaporation at thesame time precipitation was also greatly reduced. Thisset the stage for much of the later Australian Quaternaryhydrological work, and his climate estimates are stillpretty much spot on. All without dating!” In fact, theimpact of this paper extends into many fields: glacialgeology, palaeohydrology and palaeoecology. Signific-ant papers which built our knowledge of glacial eventsare those of Colhoun (1985, Quat Res. 24:39) and Colh-oun and Fitzsimons (1990, QSR 9: 199) in Tasmania andBarrows et al. (2001, Quat Res. 55:179) with what I thinkis the first published ‘cosmo’ chronology of Australianglaciation from Kosciuszko. Cosmogenic radionuclideexposure dating has brought forth a new wave of resultsand ideas which is continuing now.

The radiocarbon revolution

4. Bowler et al., 1970World Archaeol 2:39 67 CITATIONS

Mungo has become one of the ‘classic’ sites in the Australian Quaternary, but it has also generated anenormous literature and it is quite difficult to pick asingle paper which captures the breadth of the archaeo-logical and geomorphic detail. This paper, however, isthe original and contained the ‘40,000 year’ figure forhuman occupation of Australia which, I think, hasbecome one of the most powerful political ideas inAustralia in the time since (even though we still can’tagree on the age). Other papers (Bowler et al., 1972.

Nature 240:48; Bowler, 1998. Archaeol. Oceania 33:120;Bowler et al., 2003. Nature 421:837) refined and updatedthe dating and the findings but the most widely citedpaper that came out of Mungo may be Bowler’s (1973,Earth Sci. Rev. 9: 315; 78 citations) synthesis of clay dune(lunette) formation.

5. Bowler and Hamada, 1971Nature 232:330 47 CITATIONS

Lake Keilambete may be the first lake core in Aus-tralia with a published radiocarbon chronology (some-one will tell me if I’m wrong) going through the LGM and remains an important palaeohydrological record. Its place as a classic is warranted because it was the firstof a wave of papers published in the early 70s which usedradio-carbon chronologies and continuous sedimentrecords and gave us the framework for late Quaternaryclimate and environmental change that still survives. Dod-son’s Keilambete Holocene pollen record is more widelycited (1974, Aust J Bot 22:709; 65 citations) and was anearly dated pollen record, beating Lake Leake by a year(Dodson, 1975. Aust J Bot 23: 815–31).

6. Kershaw, 1974Nature 251:222 48 CITATIONS

Lynch’s Crater remains one of the ‘classic’ sites in the Australian Quaternary. This was the first ofseveral papers which gradually increased the length of the pollen record and improved the age model (Kershaw,1978. Nature 272:159; Kershaw, 1986. Nature 322:47;Kershaw, 1994. Palaeo3 109: 399) but even in this firstpaper we had the earliest published dated Pleistocenepollen record from Australia – one that graphicallyshowed both the history of the rainforest and the indic-ation of human burning beginning at 40 ka. Remarkablyboth the date and interpretation seem to have stood thetest of time, even if human occupation of Australia itself is now known to have occurred earlier.

Going Global

7. Chappell, 1974Geol Soc Am Bull 85:553 289 CITATIONS

The enduring impact of this paper is probably dueboth to the global interest in sea-level and the degree ofdetail of dating, environmental interpretation and geologyincluded in the first complete paper on the Huon Penin-sula sea-level record. The shorter paper published in thesame year (Chappell, 1974. Nature 252: 199) garnered only38 citations. This can be a new justification for ‘choosing’to have none of your papers in Nature. Numerous papersfollowed, both refining the Huon story and also extending


the scope (Chappell and Veeh, 1978. Geol Soc Am Bull89:356; Chappell, 1983. Search 14:99) leading to themost highly cited paper I encountered in this exercise(Chappell and Shackleton 1986. Nature 324:137; 707citations), which compared the Huon sea-level curve tothe global oxygen isotope curve to derive deep-watertemperature history. A later round of dating culminated(?) in a revised chronology with greater precision anddetail (Chappell et al. 1996. Earth Planet Sci Lett 141:227). A much earlier paper on global sea levels includedsome of the first references to Australian sites (Fair-bridge, 1961. Phys Chem Earth) but is now superseded.There have been several notable papers developingAustralian sea-level records (Thom and Chappell, 1975.Search 6:90; Stirling et al., 1995. EPSL 135: 115; Yoko-yama et al., 2000. Nature 406: 713) and a recent synth-esis (Lambeck and Chappell, 2001. Science 292: 679)with improved detail in the last inter-glacial and glacialmaximum extremes.

8. Hope, 1976J Ecol 64: 627 75 CITATIONS

Although this paper appeared earlier, anotherpaper (Walker and Flenley, 1979. Phil Trans Roy Soc LonB 286: 265–344; 89 citations) was in preparation at thesame time. Data from both appeared in the 1976 synth-esis paper (see number 9). Both papers deal with palaeo-ecology in the New Guinean highlands: Hope with MtWilhelm and Walker and Flenley with Enga Province.Both studies traced movement of the tropical tree-linethrough dated records extending to the late Pleistocene.The substantial depression of temperatures inferred(eight degrees or so) has remained as inspiration andfrustration to palaeoclimatologists’ attempts to under-stand climate change in the tropics ever since. Theother widely quoted figure for LGM temperature in the region came from Galloway’s 1965 estimate forKosciuszko and both came under scrutiny after theCLIMAP reconstruction showed comparatively littlechange in SST around Australia and especially in thetropics. Miller et al. (1997, Nature 385: 241) again foundevidence of a large temperature drop, in inland Aust-ralia, and the pendulum began to swing back again(Barrows et al., 2000. Palaeoceanography 15: 95;|Barrows and Juggins, 2005. QSR 24: 1017).

Pause for breath

9. Bowler et al., 1976Quat Res 6: 359-394. 211 CITATIONS

After the rapid appearance of new studies from all over Australia and New Guinea in the late 1960s andearly 1970s a review of the complete picture was timely.

‘Late Quaternary Climates of Australia and New Guinea’brought together the stories from the Western Plains, Tasm-ania, Mungo, Lynch’s Crater and the still unpublished LakeGeorge record to make a coherent picture of the Late Quat-ernary climate picture of the continent. In particular, thepaper made a compelling case for LGM aridity and thetiming of the LGM in Australia.

10. Bowler, 1976Earth Sci Rev, 12:279 190 CITATIONS

‘Aridity in Australia’ was the seminal review of theevidence of Quaternary climates and landscapes of theAustralian arid zone. Although overwhelmingly dominatedby the Lake Mungo story, the paper brought together thescant evidence available from Lake Eyre and Lake Frome,the Southwest and other sites. The prediction of the south-east and northwest dust transport paths remains, for me, amajor achievement of this paper. Later papers (e.g. Bowlerand Wasson 1984. SASQUA International Symposium. EditorJ.C. Vogel et al. Rotterdam. Balkema.) added further databut Nanson et al. (1992, (‘wetting and drying’) Geology20:791) contributed a major advance with substantial TLdated dune and fluvial sequences. A major parallel contrib-ution was the documenting of archaeological evidence of human occupation of the arid zone through the LGM(Smith, 1989. Archaeol. Oceania 24: 93). An important recent addition to arid Australian Quaternary records is the 150,000 year Lake Eyre record (Magee et al., 2004.Geology 32:885).

11. Webster and Streten, 1978Quat Res 10: 279–308 130 CITATIONS

This paper represents something which has all toorarely been attempted in Australian Quaternary Science:atmospheric scientists coming to grips with the proxypalaeoclimate record and suggesting mechanisms for thechanges, in this case with a conceptual climate model.Wyrwoll et al. (2000, QSR 19, 881-893) is also notable as oneof the few papers describing General Circulation Modelresults over the region to test hypotheses drawn from theproxy evidence. Miller et al (2005, Geology 33: 65) have alsoaddressed specific questions generated from proxy studieswith GCM simulations.

12. Singh et al, 1981in Fire and the Australian Biota, Aust Acad Sci. 96 CITATIONS

While fire had previously been regarded as importantin the Australian environment (e.g. Jones, 1969. Firestickfarming. Aust. Nat. Hist. 16:224) this paper is significant inbeing one of the first systematic charcoal papers andpointing conclusively to the role of fire here. Combining


Australian Quaternary Top 10 CONTINUED

data from Lynch’s Crater, Lake George and KangarooIsland, the paper both laid out a hypothesis and stim-ulated continuing controversies. There has been a largeand divided literature (e.g. Bowman, 1998. New Phytol.140:385) on the role of fire, and charcoal, ever since (see14). Nevertheless, this issue has reached far into every-day land management in Australia where historicaljustifications for burning, or not burning, are regularlymade.

Beyond radiocarbon

13. Roberts et al., 1990 Nature 345: 153 147 CITATIONS

While the first applications of thermolumin-escence dating in Australia go back to the mid 1980s,with Gardner et al’s (1987, Aust J Earth Sci 34: 343-357)and Readhead’s (1988, QSR 7: 257-264) dating of sanddunes, the first application which really turned headswas this paper dating early human occupation at Mala-kananja II and Malangangerr to 50,000 years, breakingthe radiocarbon barrier. Later studies have increasedthe number of dated old sites, both with TL (Roberts etal. 1994. QSR 13:575) and AMS 14C (Turney et al. 2001.QSR 55:3) making 50,000 ‘the new 40,000’. New disc-overies on human dispersal and evolution in the regionkeep coming, with the recent dramatic revelations oflate Pleistocene dwarfed H. erectus in Flores (Morwoodet al. 2004. Nature 431 1087-1091) adding fuel to thenow decades-old debate on ‘regional continuity’(Thorne, 1981. Am J Phys Anthropol) versus ‘out-of-Africa’.

14. Roberts et al., 2001Science 292: 1888–189266 citations

The debate over the megafaunal extinctions inAustralia is easily the most acrimonious and divisive inAustralian Quaternary science today. Nothing I can saywill sort through the various positions and claims butthis paper has really set the level for the evidence requ-ired to begin to test the various hypotheses. I toyed withnominating Flannery’s Pleistocene ‘blitzkreig’ paper(1990, Archaeol. Oceania 25: 45–67) because it was soincendiary, but the Roberts et al. OSL dating of the best sites to give an age of 46,000 years for the mostrecent extinctions cuts through earlier speculations.The nature of the argument means that other sites mayyet be found with sufficiently high quality evidence tocause dramatic revision of that date, but the first test ofit, the demise of Genyornis (Miller et al. 1999. Science283: 205), yielded the same age. Debate still rages on thecause, as well as the timing, of the extinctions including

valuable studies of coincident environmental change(Johnson et al. 1999. Science 284: 1150; Miller et al. 2005.Science 309: 287) that may or may not be related to humanactivities such as burning.

Down-scaling

15. Gagan et al., 1998Science 279: 1014 100 CITATIONS

This paper built on earlier work (Gagan et al. 1994 EPSL 121: 549; McCulloch et al. 1994. Geochim etCosmochim 58: 2747; Alibert and McCulloch, 1997.Paleoceanography 12: 345) to establish a new method-ology for examination of extremely high resolutionrecords from the past. The monthly, or better, resolutionof coral cores from the Great Barrier Reef allowed seas-onal temperature estimates (separating temperature andsalinity effects) to be made, in this case for the mid-Holocene. In some ways the results brought us backaround to the tropical temperature paradox noted above(number 8) but also pointed to long histories resolvingENSO around tropical Australia. The trend since has beentoward very high resolution records (e.g. the TasmanianHuon pine record first published in Cook et al., Science253: 1266) capable of accurate resolution of extremeevents, as well as mean states. Another approach was the dating of cyclone-generated beach ridges (Nott andHayne, 2001. Nature 413: 508), part of the emerging fieldof ‘palaeotempestology’.

Well, there it is. Like most of these things, the inclusionsprobably won’t raise many eyebrows, but the exclusionsmay. On reflection, I think there are opportunities forothers to compose different lists (OK, maybe forget thelist idea) with different biases. For example, it seems tome that there are generations of pre-1960s scientistswhose work I have largely ignored. I suppose my defenseis that in most cases the work is now often compromisedby the new chronologies, by new paradigms (such as platetectonics) or simply by new data. Nevertheless, there ismuch early work which is still valid and genuinely fascin-ating because of the conditions under which the inform-ation was won. Likewise, there is a whole technical liter-ature, to do with dating or other analytical methods, inwhich Australian scientists have played an important part.I resisted going down this path because it really is a muchmore international effort, but there is much of historicalinterest here. I’m sure others will find other aspects tomuse on. I encourage you to act constructively (morecontributions to QA encouraged!) and not abuse the list-maker.



The fourth inter-congress meeting of the INQUA Sub-Commission on Tephrochronology and Volcanism(SCOTAV), convened by Duane Froese (University ofAlberta) and John Westgate (University of Toronto), was recently held in Dawson City within the beautifulCanadian Yukon Territory. This international field con-ference and workshop maintains the long tradition ofvery successful inter-INQUA meetings held previously bySCOTAV (including the USA, New Zealand and France)over the past 15 years. Not only do these meetings facil-itate an opportunity for the presentation and discussionof latest advances in tephra studies, but they also prov-ide an exceptional insight into the palaeoenvironmentalhistory of a specific region, in this case, the YukonTerritory.

The unglaciated region of Yukon and Alaska (collect-ively known as eastern Beringia) is scientifically unique.The lack of glaciation has resulted in the preservation ofCenozoic paleoenvironmental archives that are seldomrecorded elsewhere in North America. Many of thesearchives are uniquely preserved in areas of relict perma-frost, and unlike permafrost areas of eastern Eurasia, theoccurrence of numerous distal tephra beds originatingfrom the Aleutian arc-Alaska Peninsula and Wrangellvolcanic field makes the correlation and dating of manyof these archives accessible by a variety of methods. TheYukon also has an interesting mining history commen-cing with the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. Since thattime over 16 million crude ounces of placer gold havebeen mined from Yukon Territory, 85% of which is der-ived from unglaciated areas where gold-bearing gravelsare often buried by thick sequences of frozen organic-richsilt (locally referred to as ‘muck’) that preserve tephra andfossils (bones and soft tissue remains) (Fig.2). In manycases, the identification of key stratigraphic sequences ineastern Beringia can be directly attributed to gold-mining

Yukon Ho: International Field Conference and Workshop on Tephrochronology and VolcanismDawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada 31 July – 8 August 2005

CONFERENCE REPORT

Siwan Davies SCOTAV Vice-President,Department of Geography, University of Wales, Swansea, United Kingdom

Brent Alloway SCOTAV Secretary,GNS Science, Gracefield Research Centre, PO Box 303–68, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Figure 1: View of Dawson City and Yukon River from Midnight Dome.


operations that strip away this overburden material toexpose the underlying gold-bearing gravels.

Thirty four participants from fifteen countries attendedthe meeting that officially opened with an ice-breakerreception amongst stuffed woolly mammoths, groundsloths and scimitar cats at the Yukon Beringia Interp-retative Centre in Whitehorse. In association with theYukon Science Institute, two public talks, given by GrantHeiken (Los Alamos, New Mexico), were arranged as partof the conference – the first of which took place at the ice-breaker reception and the second at Dawson City. Withover 40 years experience in the field of volcanology andtephra studies, Grant Heiken explored the differenthuman perceptions of volcanoes and the risks of living inthe shadow of a volcano.

On the following morning the participants headed north to Dawson City, the heart of the Klondike GoldRush at the end of the 19th century, and for us the centreof the ‘Tephra Rush’ conference activities. The long tripnorth was interspersed with a number of field stops thatmarked a journey back in time, from the Five FingerRapids along the Yukon River that lies in close proximityto the limits of the last glaciation (McConnell), to theearly Pleistocene Wounded Moose palaeosol. Localculinary delights were also sampled along the way with a very memorable stop at a roadside café serving thelargest cinnamon buns in the world – breakfast for many participants for the next four days!

This first day also gave us our first glimpse of the teph-rostratigraphy of this region as the White River Ashflanked parts of the road north (Fig.3). The White Rivertephra forms two distinct lobes spreading east and northfrom an assumed common source, the late Holoceneeruption of Mount Churchill in southeastern Alaska. The northern lobe is the older (1887 14C BP), less exten-sive of the two lobes and extends north from the sourcearea straddling the Alaska-Yukon border. The youngereastern lobe (1147 14C BP), is more widespread exten-

ding over much of southern Yukon and extending into theMackenzie Valley of the adjacent Northwest Territories.The White River tephra is central to the leading hypo-thesis explaining a migration of northern Athapaskansfrom southern Yukon and Alaska about a thousand yearsago. The hypothesis is based primarily on linguisticevidence which indicates that southerly populations ofAthapaskan speakers, including the Navajo and Apache,were derived from a northern proto-Athapaskan popu-lation. Recent genetic evidence is consistent with thehypothesis, but archaeological evidence both within the source area and along presumed migration paths isscarce. Greg Hare (Yukon Department of Tourism andCulture) and Duane Froese reported, in a paper presentedat the conference, the recovery of organic artifacts fromperennial snow patches in southern Yukon which allowsprecise ages to be directly determined on cultural mat-erials immediately prior to and following the eruption of Mount Churchill. A recent wiggle-match radiocarbonage indicates that the White River eruption occurredabout 800 AD, and was coincident with the transition insouthern Yukon from atlatl and throwing dart technologyto the adoption of the bow and arrow, which were likelypresent a few hundred years earlier in southern Alaska.The results suggest that a proto-Athapaskan populationinhabiting the region was strongly affected by the eco-logical impacts of the volcanic eruption and migrated, at least temporarily, out of the thick tephra-fall region toencounter this technology. This migration may have eitherdisplaced surrounding peoples as a ripple effect of thecatastrophe, or pushed a small founding population ofAthapaskan speakers to the south. While the dynamics ofthe technological transition are still unclear, the impact

Figure 2: Tephra overlying a prominent paleosol in ‘muck’ sequenceat Christies Claim, Dominion Creek, Klondike Goldfields. Note theprominent ice-wedge to the left. Duane Froese for scale.

Figure 3: White River tephra (c. 800 AD) exposed near the present-dayground surface, Whitehorse-Dawson City Highway. The White Rivertephra is the leading hypothesis to explain a migration of northernAthapaskans from southern Yukon and Alaska about a thousandyears ago. John Westgate on microphone.


of the White River eruption and its synchroneity withtechnological change is consistent with eruption-diaspora hypothesis.

The talks and poster sessions were spread over three dayswith 44 presentations given in eight themed technicalsessions. Both oral and posters presentations demon-strated the enormous diversity of tephra studies conduct-ed by the participants with session themes ranging fromregional tephra studies (Beringia, New Zealand, Japan,Indonesia, Ethiopia and Argentina), advances in geoch-emical characterisation techniques, the application ofcryptotephra investigations for correlating terrestrial,marine and ice-core records, the dating techniques avail-able for tephrochronology studies and the environmen-tal impacts of volcanic eruptions. Some noticeable high-lights included a presentation by Nick Pearce (Universityof Wales, Aberystwyth) on the latest advances and futurepotential of employing Laser Ablation ICP-MS techn-iques for single-shard analyses, and the strides made byGustavo Villarosa (Universidad Nacional del Comahue)and Kaori Aoki (Geological Survey of Japan) in develop-ing a tephrochronology framework for NW Patagonia and the NW Pacific Ocean, respectively. The posters pre-sented also emphasised the diverse nature of the tephrawork currently ongoing amongst SCOTAV members –ranging from the impact of volcanism on early Maorisociety in New Zealand (David Lowe; University ofWaikato) and 10th century central Javanese society(Supriyati Andreastuti; Directorate of Volcanology andGeological Hazard Mitigation, Indonesia) to the charac-terisation of Pliocene – Early Pleistocene marker tephrasin central Japan (Itoko Tamura; Tokyo Metropolitan

University). A magnificent conference banquet of localdelicacies prepared by members of the local Han FirstNations, and an entertaining and enlightening after-dinner presentation by Paul Matheus (Yukon Departmentof Tourism and Culture) on the Beringian mammalsbrought the technical days to a close.

The last 2 days of the meeting were dedicated to a fieldexcursion in the Klondike Goldfields led by Duane Froeseand John Westgate. A fascinating tour of Plio-Pleistocenegravels, loess deposits and excellent examples of ice-wedge casts highlighted the central role of tephra horiz-ons in providing age control and precise tie-points betw-een sequences in this region – work that has been pre-dominantly led by John Westgate over the last 20 years(Fig.4). Indeed, a number of different tephra horizonswere observed from the reworked pods of the MidnightDome tephra (c. 1.09 Ma), thin discontinuous layers of the Quartz Creek tephra (c. 2.97 Ma) and the thickdeposits of the Dawson Tephra (24 14C ka BP) (Fig.5). The varied degrees of preservation emphasised thecomplex nature of undertaking tephra studies in thisregion. In addition to the well-known tephra horizons of this region, some ‘new’ undiscovered tephra horizonswere also identified during this excursion – maybehereafter named the SCOTAV tephras? By far, the high-light of the excursion was the visit to the ‘muck’ expos-ures, the fine-grained ice-rich deposits of late Pleistoceneage that overlie gold-bearing gravels, and contain well-preserved megafaunal remains. Gumboots essential! It is probably one of the few areas of the world in whichyou can really experience the putrid smell of the Plio-Pleistocene!

Anyone interested in any aspect of tephrochronology and/or volcanismcan visit our website: http://www.gns.cri.nz/inquatephra/ or contactSCOTAV secretary Brent Alloway: [email protected] to find out moreabout SCOTAV membership, activities and upcoming events. TheProceedings of the recent meeting held in the Yukon can be freelydownloaded from the SCOTAV website.

Tephrochronology and Volcanism conference CONTINUED

Figures 4 and 5: John Westgate (centre) explaining to the group thestratigraphy associated with Dawson Tephra (c. 24 14C ka BP) at QuartzCreek. The Dawson Tephra overlying a prominent ice-wedge. TheDawson tephra is the most prominent tephra (typically 15–30 cmthick) in the Pleistocene deposits of the Klondike area and has beenso far identified at twenty sites in western Yukon.


This conference was the second of a series of three conferences aimed towards a comparative southernhemisphere view of how humans interacted with andresponded to the evolution of arid environments frompre-historic to modern times. The first Southern Desertsconference was held in Canberra in January 2003 underthe auspices of Mike Smith, Research Director of theNational Museum of Australia. The focus of the confer-ences is the environmental and cultural heritage of

the ‘Tropic of Capricorn’ deserts: the Namib and Kala-hari in Southern Africa, the Red Centre in Australia, andthe Atacama in South America. Many of us rememberthat first conference vividly as it coincided with theweek of horrific bushfires that lapped Canberra, whenwe witnessed black skies and burning cinder falling inLake Burley Griffin whilst taking coffee breaks on theMuseum jetty. It was just before announcements on theMuseum intercom for residents of the ignited westernsuburbs of Canberra to go home that Calogero Santoroof the Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, and ClaudioLatorre of the Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago,invited us all to a 2nd Southern Deserts Conference tobe held in the Atacama Desert in Chile in 2005.

Southern Deserts II: 2nd Southern Deserts Conference: Human — Environment Interactions in SouthernHemisphere Deserts: Past, Present and FutureArica, Chile, 7–17 October 2005

Pauline EnglishCSIRO, Australian National University

with contributions from: Matt Cupper, University of Melbourne;Paul Hesse, Macquarie University Steve Webb, Bond University John Magee, Australian National University

Stone-terraced slopes at Putre village, 3500 m asl in the pre-Cordillera, inhabited by indigenous Aymara people. Snow-cladCerro Larancagua, 5400 m, at the head of the valley.

CONFERENCE REPORT


The objective of this conference has been to furtherenhance networks of interdisciplinary scientific coop-eration to bring together a broad range of specialistsfrom environmental and social sciences. The moment-um has been maintained to a large extent during theintervening period by Mike Smith with the wonderfulExtremes: Survival in the Great Deserts of the SouthernHemisphere exhibition at the National Museum andpublication of: Desert Peoples: Archaeological Perspect-ives (Veth, P, Smith, M and Hiscock, P, eds., 2004, Black-well Publishing) and 23°S: Archaeology and Environ-mental History of the Southern Deserts (Smith, M andHesse, P., eds., 2005, National Museum of AustraliaPress).

There were no bushfires to greet us in Arica. In fact,there is no bush at all, not even a blade of grass. Theremote city is surrounded by completely barren hillsthat are composed of uplifted Jurassic marine sedi-ments. The Chilean conference was vivid for very differ-ent reasons: the sheer sense of geography of the place;desert lands utterly bereft of vegetation abutting snow-capped volcanoes; tiny adobe villages set amidst ancientInca-built terrace fields clinging to steep rocky mount-ainsides; colourfully-clad Aymara, Quechua and Ataca-man shepherds herding flocks of llama and alpaca;gigantic geoglyphs embroidered onto barren hillslopes

a thousand years ago by Inca traders – representingsome of the largest archaeological relics in the world;herds of wild vicuña grazing altiplano wetlands; pinkflamingos foraging in brine pools of salt lakes amidstsnowy mountains; ghost towns set on Tertiary lakebedsthat have been plundered of nitrate deposits; ricketycities perched on the edge of the Pacific, full of ornateSpanish colonial architecture and cobble-stoned lanes;ignimbritic canyons dotted with giant pencil cacti; thesound of pan flutes and guitars in the evenings (some-times in the middle of the night); and most of all, trem-endous friendliness and hospitality from Chileanseverywhere we went.

Arica is the northernmost city in Chile, set on the Pacific coast very close to the Peruvian border and isalso the main port access for land-locked Bolivia a fewhundred kilometers to the east. It only rains once everyfew years although a moist fog (camanchaca) from theocean hovers over the city, mixed with dust from theadjacent hyperarid desert. The steep mountainousdesert is interspersed with tiny rivers in enormousvalleys that drain distant snowcapped Andean peaks.The well-utilised rivers support highly productive olivegroves and tomato fields in the valley floors; we wereserved fresh olives and salsa at every meal.

Calogero and Claudio were assisted with conferenceorganisation by Lautaro Núñez, Universidad Católicadel Norte, Chile; Martin Grosjean, University of Bern,Switzerland; David Thomas, Oxford University, UK; and Mike Smith. The conference was sponsored byIGCP500 (Dryland Changes: Past, Present, Future);PAGES; the Centro de Investigaciones del Hombre en el Desierto, and several other Chilean organisations.Delegates were sourced from 14 countries. Australia was well-represented, including 5 keynote addressesand 6 additional papers. The Australians, as well asmaintaining a high profile at the conference, proved to be enthusiastic travellers, taking every opportunity to see as much of the Atacama Desert and adjacentAndes as possible.

Gallivanting at high altitude

John Magee, Steve Webb, Paul Hesse and I thwarted jet-lag upon arrival from Australia by hiring a Hilux inArica and heading to the pre-cordillera and altiplano for a few days. With about six words of castellanoespañol between us and much gesticulating with patientlocals, we succeeded in purchasing groceries and petrol.We drove north up the Panamerican Highway then,before the Peruvian border, turned eastward onto High-way 11 which leads to La Paz, Bolivia. This road took usalong the Lluta (pronounced “yuta”) valley, past giganticancient geoglyphs of figures drawn in black stoneplaced on bare light-coloured hillslopes. The geoglyphs

Río Lluta valley, close to the Peruvian border, in which streamflow is derived from distant snow-clad Andean volcanoes, watering alfalfafields to feed llama and alpaca.

Southern Deserts conference CONTINUED


are pre-Columbian in origin and are dominated by llamas (“yama”) that mark out important pack trainroutes that have only recently been superceded by themodern Highway 11. We stopped off at a famous cafécalled ‘Km 38 1/2’ in the middle of nowhere. We wereheartily welcomed by our English-speaking host, aBasque descendent, who told us much of the tempest-uous history of the region. We were plied with plumplocal olives and salsa followed by a delicious lunch thatincluded wholemeal bread just baked in a conical mud-brick oven outside, and abundant avocado. This was the beginning of two weeks of constant friendliness andhospitality and good food received from the northernChileans.

The Río Lluta valley has a smattering of tiny, dusty mud-brick villages set at the base of bare steep hills. Each vill-age has a small whitewashed and ornamented church asits centrepiece. At higher elevations, the villages are seton stone-terraced fields that cling to rocky mountain-sides, where the economy revolves around llama andalpaca produce. Our destination was Parque NacionalLauca in the altiplano, adjoining the Bolivian border.Here we were amidst active snow-clad volcanoes andmineral-rich lakes that have developed through damm-ing by late Pleistocene lava flows. We observed flocks ofwild vicuñas grazing on wetlands formed from snow-melt, and pink flamingos in the saline lakes. We found aperilous steep dirt road in a remote, abandoned silvermining area where only cacti grow amidst brightly col-oured sulphide-rich rocks and spotted an odd vizcacha –a pudgy rabbit with a curly tail. This treacherous roaddescending the pre-cordillera range involved dozens of

linked hairpin bends without guard-rails. Legacies of pastcasualties in the form of plummeted vehicles and numer-ous shrines to the deceased festooned the roadside. Good4WD driving by John Magee! Upon return to sea level weenjoyed a more sedate couple of hours at the impressiveMuseo Arqueologico San Miguel de Azapa, located in anold olive hacienda on the outskirts of Arica.

Most noticeable in northern Chile is the pronounced vegetation zonation travelling west to east, from bareabsolute desert coastward, to puna grasslands of the pre-cordillera (2000–4000 m) to high Andean steppe of thealtiplano (above 4000 m), to the upper vegetation limitabove 5000 m characterised by barren volcanic rock andsnow. There are places in the Atacama Desert where norainfall has been recorded for 400 years. The desert islocated too far north to receive winter rainfall from thesouthern Westerlies, and is in the shadow of the ~6000 mhigh Andes which sequester any moisture arriving fromthe summer tropical Easterlies.

Pre-Conference Fieldtrip

The Pre-Conference excursion followed much the sameroute as the unauthorized version outlined above andalso contained a generous complement of Australians:Heather Builth (Monash University), Matt Cupper (TheUniversity of Melbourne), June Ross (University of NewEngland) and Mike Smith.

The fieldtrip was notable for pushing the bounds ofhuman endurance, made all the more remarkable by thefact that we were jet-lagged to our eyeballs and hadn’tobtained any sleep the night prior to departure due to a

Left: Tiliviche geoglyphs off the Panamericana Highway between Arica andIquique, marking an ancient llama trade route to the coast.Right: Pink flamingos on Salar de Atacama, a large salt lake where the thicksalt crust includes rare lithium chlorides, borates and potassium salts.


rowdy discoteca at the conference hotel. These activitiesbegan with squeezing one Canadian, two Germans, twoSpaniards, three Chileans and four Australians into asmall dingy after dark and battling the mighty HumboldtCurrent for 3 hours to visit a colony of hungry sea-lions.

We then drove from sea level to an altitude of 4623 m inan afternoon, whereas physicians recommend that youshould acclimatize at a rate of 1000 m per day. We allbegan to notice the textbook symptoms of acute moun-tain sickness as our bodies responded to the hypoxicconditions: headaches, nausea, fatigue, dizziness,muddle-headedness and staggering gait (although ofcourse these symptoms can all be confused with acutealcohol poisoning). Another strange yet classic physio-logical response was altitude diuresis, so bus stops bec-ame more frequent as our kidneys strove to dump fluid(also can be confused with excessive alcohol consum-ption). Fortunately, we descended to Putre at an altitude

of 3500 m for the night, staving off the progression tohigh altitude cerebral oedema.Next on the extreme stakes was fording the mighty RíoCaquena for an illegal foray into Bolivia. Luckily therewere no landmines or security forces on the border andwe scampered back to Chile unscathed. We then piledback into the bus for a thirteen hour journey throughrough, steep, narrow, switch-backed and safety-barrier-free mountain passes down to Codpa. Once we took awrong turn in the dark and the road disappearedcompletely; another time the second bus driver had toalight and guide us over the two concrete slabs thatformed the bridge over a ravine.

Of course there were many less arduous moments,including relaxing in a hacienda eating home-grownolives and enjoying the Codpa resort swimming pool. We also saw the Chilean camelid “big four”: llama,vicuña, alpaca and guanaco, as well as the diminutivevizcacha, although they all taste like goat – palatabilitywas certainly aided by sipping pisco sour (2 oz Pisco, i.e.,distilled wine, 1 oz lime juice, 1/4 oz sugar, 1/2 egg white,dash Angostura Bitters).

Valle de la Luna, San Pedro de Atacama, the most arid desert in the world. The basin is bordered to the east by the puna (pre-altiplano) of the Andes.



Left: A quorum of Australian ‘cacti-walkers’ looking at a Holocenehuman occupation site in Quebrada Puripica, led by MartinGrosjean, Claudio Latorre and Calogero Santoro.Above: Quebrada Puripica, San Pedro de Atacama, where thick relictHolocene wetland sediments are inset within the bedrock canyon.

Post-Conference Fieldtrip

A strong contingent of Australians participated in thefour-day Post-Conference excursion southward to theTropic of Capricorn and into the centre of the Atacama.The first day took us down the Panamerican Highway tothe 19th century port city of Iquique with stop-offs atarchaeological sites including an artifact-rich midden inthe little fishing village of Caleta Camerones. The Camer-ones river is high in dissolved arsenic leached from oredeposits in the Andean headwater catchments and is alsoan area where 7000 year old artificially mummified fet-uses and infants belonging to the Chinchorro peoplehave been found. A causal link between toxic arseniclevels in the environment, high infant mortality ratesfrom arseniasis, and the early tradition of mummific-ation has been drawn by conference delegate, BernardoArriaza of the Universidad de Tarapacá. The tour took inthe spectacular Tiliviche geoglyphs comprising hundredsof figures dominated by llama but with at least one purs-uing puma represented. We travelled through vast dist-ances of excavated ground where near-surface nitratedeposits have been strip-mined from putative Tertiarylacustrine environments. In Iquique we wined and dined elegantly.

Day Two took us across the coastal cordillera to Humb-erstone ghost town, the remains of now-gone nitratemining heydays. Nitrate excavation and export from theAtacama ceased some decades ago with the advent of

alternative compounds for fertilizers and explosives. Wehiked along the edge of a nitrate-rich Tertiary palaeolakeat the base of the Pintados Hills. The persistence of ext-ensive sheets of highly soluble nitrate salts in the land-scape is testimony to the longevity of extreme aridity inthe Atacama. At Pintados, 355 geoglyphs cover the hill-slopes, dating from around AD 500 to AD 1500. The tourroute took us across a complex landscape developed on aseries of graben and horst structures – depressions andmountain ranges – to the Calama Basin.

We stopped for a photo shoot at Quillaqua, a place thatappears in the Guiness Book of Records as the driest onEarth. We passed Chuquicamata, the world’s biggestopen-pit copper mine, and nearby Calama, a fairly ugly,treeless shanty town that is burgeoning in response toexpansion of the mine. Claudio took us off the beatentrack to near the Rio Salado (22°S) to visit rodent middensites from which he has reconstructed the last 22,000years of summer rainfall variability and past plant dist-ributions. He has matched the rodent midden palaeo-climatic reconstructions with palaeolake depth recordson the Bolivian altiplano. Our destination was San Pedro


de Atacama, in the heart of the Atacama Desert. Just aftersunset we drove through the Valle de la Luna, a spectac-ular treeless landscape of intricate serrated ridges andrills etched into saline bedrock lithologies, and thendescended to our adobe lodgings in San Pedro on night-fall. The streets of the village are all flanked by high mud-brick walls with zig-zag crests, creating a rectilinear mazeof lanes. Some years ago there was a tame condor in SanPedro whose wingspan only just fitted between the streetwalls but who flew around the village at low level anyway.One day, rounding a right-angle corner, he collided withan elderly French tourist who died of a heart attack fromthe shock of the encounter.

San Pedro de Atacama and surrounding smaller villagesin scattered oases are settled by Atacamanean ethnicgroups, descendents of Inca and Spanish ancestors. Thevillages encircle the Salar de Atacama, a salt lake thatcovers 3000 km2 at 2350 m elevation. The salar is surrou-nded by mountain ranges, most notably the Andean pre-cordillera to the east. Some 14 active volcanoes are scatt-ered along the Andes here, on or close to the Argentineand Bolivian borders; many of these are perfectly conicalin form. The summits of some of the highest volcanoes,above 6000 m, retain evidence of ancient Inca presence.On Day Three Lautaro Núñez (‘the John Mulvaney ofChile’, to quote Mike Smith) guided us to the archaeo-logical site of Tambillos at the edge of the salar. Here,human bones are evident amongst numerous stone toolartifacts. Villages on the footslopes of the cordillera areconstructed from pink ignimbrite blocks and are typic-ally located on canyons that receive some streamflowfrom the mountains. We visited Toconao village en routeto the high Andean steppe where lakes Miscanti and Min-iques are perched at 4150 m at the base of snow-cladvolcanoes. The lake shores are encrusted with bitter salts,products of mineral-rich runoff from the volcanic rockplus high evaporation rates. A 22,000 year sediment andpollen record of climate change has been documentedfrom the lakes (e.g., Grosjean et al. 2001, Glob. & Planet.Change 28: 35-51), attesting to a history of numerousdrying and wetting cycles, abrupt and high amplitudechanges in effective moisture, and century-scale lags invegetation responses. After descending from the highlakes and lunch in the village of Socaire, the party splitinto two groups. The archaeologically-minded delegatesvisited agricultural oases in canyons and anc-ient villageswhilst the environmentally-minded visited Chaxa brinelagoon in the Salar de Atacama to witness the impressivesalt crust and pink flamingos. There are even camou-flaged lizards that are a dappled white colour and perf-ectly at home living in hollows in heaved salt crust. Brineshrimp and phytoplankton are the main food source forbirds and reptiles inhabiting the salar.

Our final day again split the party into two groups. Underthe guidance of Lautaro, the archaeologists visited sites at Tulor, Quitor and Catarpe, and the excellent museum“Padre le Paige” in San Pedro de Atacama. Five Australians(Kat Fitzsimmons, ANU; Matt; Paul; John and myself), led by Martin, Calogero and Claudio, opted for a hike upQuebrada Puripica in hills to the north. This canyon, ataround 3600 m, is incised into pink ignimbrite andreceives a small stream of melt water from the altiplano. A basalt flow caps the northern rim of the canyon. Thesteep rocky slopes are studded with pencil cacti (Echin-opsis atacamensis?) growing several metres tall. A dist-inctive feature of Puripica is a relict 3–20 m thick unit ofmiddle Holocene wetland deposits perched within thecanyon. This palaeo-wetland unit is correlated acrossdifferent geomorphic settings at the base of the Andesand relates to elevated groundwater levels at the time ofdeposition. The fine-grained wetland sediments are nowincised and the present-day stream flows over water-wornbedrock in the bottom of the canyon. The origin, depos-itional environment and palaeoclimatic significance ofthe wetland unit is controversial and currently underdebate (e.g., Rech et al., 2002, GSA Bull., 114/3: 334–348;Grosjean et al., 2003, Palaeo3 194: 207–222). Although atPuripica the relict wetland deposits are Holocene in age,the setting is in some ways analogous to the enigma of alate Pleistocene wetland in Brachina Gorge in the FlindersRanges, South Australia (Williams et al., 2001, Quat. Int.83–85: 129–144). Numerous Holocene human occupationsites are scattered along Puripica canyon, with largequantities of basaltic grinding stones festooned across the landscape. There is even an irrigation channel ofunknown antiquity made of rocks and carbonate cementclinging to the upper canyon wall. We all regrouped in San Pedro de Atacama in the late afternoon, bade farewellto our hosts, and returned to Calama for evening flights toSantiago. During a stop-over in Antofagasto on the coast,where Calogero was disembarking, he took charge of theLAN Chile flight intercom before exiting the plane tomake the following announcement to all passengers: “OK you desert lovers, see you in the Kalahari in 2008,hasta luego.”

Next…

The Chile conference is to be followed up by a 3rdSouthern Deserts Conference to be held in either theKalahari or Namib deserts in September 2008 (in Namibiaor northwestern South Africa) under the auspices of IGCP500. For further information nearer 2008 (i.e., after thedust of the XVII INQUA Congress in 2007 has settled):igcp500.ouce.ox.ac.uk.



Greenhouse2005: Action on Climate Change covered arange of topics from science and modelling to national/international strategies of adaptation and mitigation.Speakers framed their inputs from scientific, policy andindustry perspectives. There were ~100 individual presen-tations, and speakers included the Governor-General, theFederal Minister for the Environment and Heritage, theVictorian Minister for the Environment, scientists (pred-ominantly from CSIRO), and representatives from severalstate government departments, industry and NZ/UKgovernments.

Some of the key points raised at the Conference were:

1. Climate science – complexity, extremes anduncertainty It was argued that, ‘… the scientific evid-ence for climate change is compelling’ (Greg Ayres –Chief of CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research) andthat, ‘… climate change is the biggest environmentalissue facing Australia’ (Senator Ian Campbell – FederalMinister for the Environment and Heritage). Commentsmade at this conference by the Governor-General and theFederal Environment Minister reflect an increasing acc-eptance of the risk of climate change in Australian gover-0nment power structures. Nevertheless, the complexity of the issue appears to have deferred policy developmentand implementation in some areas and this delay mayprove detrimental in the future.

Many talks outlined the observed changes in the last fewdecades (such as the melting of ice caps, rising sea levels,higher temperatures of droughts, increase in SouthernOcean temperatures, species loss, changes in plant flow-ering times and migratory bird arrival dates, observedthickening of woody vegetation, 2005 will probably be the warmest year on record, etc). However, it was ackn-owledged that the climate system is very complex andthere is much uncertainty about future impacts. GeoffLove (Director of Meteorology, Bureau of Meteorology)suggests that the biggest scientific challenge in the clim-ate change field is understanding the effects of clouds(for modelling outputs). Other major scientific challen-ges and key research areas include: atmospheric chem-istry, global energy/moisture budgets, sea ice, and sealevel rise.

It was also argued that some changes are certain and inev-itable due to the lag effects of CO2 in the atmosphere, ‘…climate change will happen regardless of mitigation’ (BlairFitzharris, University of Otago). For example, a 1-2° C risein temperatures is certain, thus adaptation measures arenecessary and important in addition to mitigation meas-ures (Greg Ayres, Graeme Pearman). Potentially vulnerableareas identified include: rainforests, fresh-water wetlands,coral ecosystems, coasts and alpine regions.

It was noted that important and little understood areas inclimate change science and policy are climate extremes,abrupt events, ‘dangerous’ climate change and the import-ance of these for human systems. The importance of thre-sholds, feedbacks and trigger points (including humanactivities) in natural systems was briefly touched upon, e.g. the disruption of the thermohaline circulation systemin the North Atlantic and its global ramifications.

In the only panel session of the entire four day conferencecontaining palaeodata presentations, Kate Harle (CSIROSustainable Ecosystems) waved the flag for Quaternarists.She highlighted to the audience (of which the majoritywere non-palaeoscientists) that palaeodata can help eluc-idate past climate variability and natural climate cycles,their past impacts and the possible drivers of climaticchanges. She noted many of the key drivers of climateincluding solar activity, Milankovitch cycles, asteroids,volcanoes, ocean circulation patterns and that evidencefrom palaeostudies has revealed rapid warming events inrecent geological history (e.g. up to 7°C in 20 years). How-ever, she argued that the current interglacial period iscomparatively stable in comparison to glacial periods, andthat current climate change is likely to be driven by factorsoutside of the natural cycles, i.e. human activities.

2. Public opinion, communication, and awarenessThe importance of communicating the risks posed fromchanges in climate was stressed throughout this confer-ence, and the choice of words used for this is important.For example, Steve Hatfield Dodds (CSIRO Social andEconomic Integration) argued that environmental scien-tists can learn from social scientists about human behav-ioural responses and what type of communication is likelyto be more effective. He suggested that there is a big diff-erence in public perception (and likelihood of action/uptake) between presenting the economic effects of miti-gation measures as either a ‘cost’ or a ‘foregone gain’.People are naturally adverse to loss so we need to frameeducation/awareness campaigns as a ‘foregone gain’rather than as a ‘cost/loss’.

Greenhouse2005: Action on Climate ChangeMelbourne, 13–17 November 2005

Nikki WilliamsNSW Department of Environment and [email protected]

CONFERENCE REPORT


There was a general call for increased communicationbetween scientists and policy makers. In particular, scien-tists need to increase their sense of urgency in comm-unicating science to the public and decision makers.

3. Importance of a risk management approach One ofthe main themes was a general suggestion for scientists to present scientific results in terms of risk (probability xconsequences) rather than the emphasis on uncertaintiesand wide ranging scenarios. It was argued that we do notneed conclusive science before action needs to be taken; a sufficient probability of occurrence and magnitude ofimpact justifies a prudent risk management approach. It was suggested that we already have enough informationto manage climate change as a risk, and that a modifiedversion of the Australian Standard for Risk Management(AS4360) can be used to manage uncertainty and risk.

4. Leadership/policy certainty Many argued (includingindustry) that governments must show greater leadershipand commitment, with both policy and legislation. Gover-nment should be strategic, not just tactical or political.Industry and businesses are becoming increasingly awareof projected climate change impacts and increasinglywilling to act, but currently lack direction and policycertainty from government.

This conference also highlighted the different nationalpolicy responses between the Australian, New Zealandand UK governments. Although Senator Ian Campbell(Australian Minister for the Environment and Heritage)acknowledged that, ‘… expanding energy use and reduc-ing greenhouse gas emissions is the biggest policy chall-enge facing the world’, he argued that he was glad thedebate has moved beyond Australia’s non-signing of theKyoto Protocol and noted that even supporters of theProtocol such as Tony Blair have recently acknowledgedits flaws. In stark contrast, Bill Bayfield (General Managerof Sustainable Industries and Climate Change Group, NZ Ministry for the Environment) highlighted that NewZealand is already using renewable energy sources for upto 70% of their needs, and explained that although NewZealand is having difficulties meeting its Kyoto targets,they felt it was important to sign as a member of the inter-national community and that it might provide them withaccess to new technology. Chris Leigh (Head of the Nat-ional Climate Change Policy Division, UK EnvironmentDepartment) also gave an insight into mitigation policieswithin the UK, which include emissions trading schemes,energy levies and agreements, renewable energy targetsand incentives, a carbon trust for research programs,energy efficiency legislation, etc.

It was pointed out that some of the best policy initiativeson climate change action are happening at the state levelin Australia. It was suggested that the most importantpolicy initiative is for states to work together to develop

a national carbon emissions trading scheme (JohnThwaites – Minister for Environment, Victoria). (Note: The NSW Premier Morris Iemma announced 2weeks after this conference that he has requested thePrime Minister to convene a National Summit on ClimateChange and Emissions Trading, and if not, then the Statesand Territories should go it alone).

5. Solutions – mitigation and adaptation measuresThere was general agreement that there is no ‘silverbullet’ solution to this problem and that there is a needfor both mitigation and adaptation measures, whichshould be seen as complementary rather than as altern-atives. Options include demand management, solar, wind and nuclear energy, fuel switching, increasingenergy efficiency, carbon trading, full cost recoveryplanning, sequestration, etc. It was stressed that everytechnology has economic implications and social issues,thus, no one technology alone will be enough – acombination is needed.

Palaeo-studies and current climate change policy and research directions

The increasing scientific, government and public concern over the issue of climate change provides a realopportunity for palaeoscientists to play a prominent rolein the mainstream policy development around this issue.Palaeoscientists have a unique understanding of andperspective on the issue of future climate change. Theincreasing body of scientific literature/opinion on theprojected magnitude and rate of future changes meansthat we are being urged as scientists to increase our com-munication with both the public and decision makersabout our knowledge and expertise on this issue. A goodexample is the web forum at ‘www.realclimate.org’, whichis doing a great job to raise the profile of climate science.

Perhaps the need for more involvement of palaeoscien-tists into the mainstream climate change issue is bestillustrated by the answer to the following question askedat the Greenhouse2005 conference. After a talk on climatechange and the need for ‘long term’ rather than ‘shortterm’ investment, the question of what is the definition of ‘long term’ was asked. The answer: 10 years.

Unfortunately, the above is not an isolated view. Key res-earch priorities and directions for climate change imp-acts research are being set by government policy makerswhere the words ‘monitoring’ and ‘evaluation’ are used as catch phrases and ‘long term’ data sets are barely morethan the length of a few El Niño cycles. We, as palaeo-scientists, recognise and understand that long termmeans more than 10 years.

The opportunity is there for us to take.

Greenhouse2005 CONTINUED


• Exposure of young researchers in each discipline to the major issues across all areas of research.

• A synthesis in understanding the major scientificproblems in definition/quantification/interpretationfaced by each discipline with regard to charcoal andits relation to past fire events.

• A better understanding of the traditional as well asemerging techniques and the ways in which thesemight be adapted for use in other disciplines.

The wrap-up discussion looked at the possibility ofdevelopment of a network of expertise around key areasof high research potential in constructing fire histories.The Atherton Tableland, Victorian Highlands and Tas-mania were considered areas of high potential.

I would like to thank all the participants forcontributing to a very productive two days and the ARCNetwork for Earth Systems Science for sponsoring allthe PhD students to attend the meeting. Also, congrat-ulations to Simon Connor (University of Melbourne) forhis award for one of the best student paper present-ations at the conference. Abstracts and an outline of the fire workshop can be found at:http://palaeoworks.anu.edu.au/news.html

As part of the recent successful Archaeometry Conf-erence, held in Canberra between the 12th and 15thDecember 2005, a dedicated symposium and follow-upworkshop on “Constructing Fire Histories” attracted alarge contingent of charcoal buffs. A total of 16 oralpresentations (seven from PhD students) and threeposters were presented exploring the range of tradit-0ional and emerging techniques available to recon-struct past fire regimes. These include the analysis ofsmall fragments of charcoal preserved in sediments inarchaeological and palaeoecological (lakes andswamps) contexts, fire-scars within tree-rings, histor-ical records of fires and modeled simulations of pastfire events. Researchers within these different discip-lines often encounter common problems of analysis ofcharcoal and its interpretation as a fire event, and yetthey have largely worked in isolation from each other.

The oral presentations and posters brought togetherpeople working within these fire history disciplines topresent a “state-of-play” assessment of individual areasof research. The follow-up workshop provided theopportunity to identify uncertainties and common-ground that exist in efforts to define, quantify andinterpret charcoal in the palaeo/archaeological record.Major outcomes of the session and workshop were:

Constructing Fire Histories A workshop on techniques and approachesto reconstructing past fire eventsArchaeometry Conference, Canberra, 12–15 December 2005

Simon Haberle

CONFERENCE REPORT


Although they were published at almostthe same time and deal with the samesubject matter, The Weather Makers andClimate Change are two very differentbooks. Contrasted, they highlight some of the snakes and ladders of the populistscience approach and the more scholarlytextbook approach.

The Weather Makers is the result of arecent epiphany of the author, TimFlannery. Formerly he was not undulyconcerned about the changing green-house effect, considering climate changeto be a fascinating but largely academicpart of Earth’s past, most useful forunderstanding why environments are as they are now. After contact with SteveSchneider and other climate changescientists he concluded that greenhouse-induced climate change is the mosturgent issue facing the Earth’s, andhumanity’s future.

Flannery is a good writer and has succ-eeded in bringing the past to life in anumber of books dealing in historic andpre-historic accounts of environmentalchange. The Future Eaters was an iconicbook that contrasted Australia’s environ-mental future with its past, suggestingthat Australians are exceeding the nat-ion’s carrying capacity, and exhorting usto forge a better understanding of ourenvironment and how we may live within it. The Weather Makers is cleverlytitled with the same meter, suggesting an oeuvre where Flannery develops andexpands a body of environmental thoughtin successive volumes.

As there have been many books onclimate change by both specialists andgeneral science writers, how does TheWeather Makers compare? It has attracteda series of positive reviews in the media,lauded by figures such as Bill Bryson, Ian Lowe and Jared Diamond. The bookitself contains some 300 pages of text inopen font and is easy to read. It containsa forward and five parts.

Part One describes the climate systemfrom a Gaian perspective. The devel-opment of scientific understanding ofclimate is described in eight chaptersfinishing up with the geological form-

ation of “buried sunshine” and its exh-umation to provide us with light, heat and motion. Part Two describes observedimpacts on a range of systems, mainlynatural, with some prognosis of howthose systems may be affected in thefuture. Part Three describes the modell-ing of future climate and impacts. Inparts One to Three, I have issues withinappropriate use of metaphor, and poor communication of uncertainty, andloose interpretations of the state of thescience, especially with the attribution of impacts. Parts Four and Five are about current and future policy, whereFlannery’s more cautious approach tothese subjects saves the book and offersgenuine relevance to popular discussionon climate change.

Part One opens by contrasting the Gaianapproach with reductionist versions ofscience, suggesting that even if the Gaianhypothesis (as proposed by James Love-lock) cannot be validated directly, itserves as a useful approach to describeclimate as opposed to reductionist desc-riptions. However, there is no need toresort to an ersatz version of Gaia whenscience and mathematics provides rigor-ous descriptions of complex adaptivesystems and their dynamics. It is possibleto use an internally consistent set ofmetaphors to describe climate within aholistic structure, but Flannery does notdo this. Part One is described as “Gaia’sTools” and, disappointingly, Flanneryutilises a range of disconnected meta-phors throughout the remainder of thebook that belies this approach.

Part Two is a Hanrahanian litany ofimpending doom. Of the impacts disc-ussed, some can be ascribed to green-house climate change with high confid-ence; others may be caused either byclimate change or ongoing natural vari-ability; or for a few impacts (e.g. diseasefactors in frogs), climate change may notbe involved except as a secondary factor.However, they are all lumped together.This may not matter if one is assessingcurrent vulnerability, but it does matterwhen attributing change and predictingwhether that change is likely to continue.Because the book is discussing the future

BOOK REVIEWS

Uncertainty is inevitablebut risk is certain

Roger N. JonesCSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research PMB1 Aspendale Victoria 3195 [email protected]

Tim FlanneryThe Weather Makers: The history and future impact of climate changeText Books, paperback, AUD$32.95, ISBN 1920885846

A Barrie PittockClimate Change:Turning up the heatCSIRO Publishing, paperback, AUD$39.95 ISBN 0643069313


impacts and vulnerability to climatechange, this lack of distinction seemscareless. However, where Flannerydescribes impacts that he has observedpersonally, such as the loss of cloudforests on tropical mountains, the lang-uage shines. It is lyrical, heartfelt and has an impact on the reader.

Inappropriate metaphor opens Part Twowhere we are asked to imagine “magicgates”, which are thresholds, or tippingpoints, representing abrupt change in acomplex system. Magic gate is a terriblemetaphor. The usage of the term magicimplies that these shifts are occult orunknowable, whereas the role of scienceis to understand and explain such phen-omena. Are such gates magic until theyare explained or do they remain magicafter the mystery has been solved?

Magic gates are used to describe large-scale climate ‘jerks’ in 1976 and 1998,implying that the Earth passed throughtwo greenhouse-related shifts at thosetimes. Here, climate is described as beingtelekinetic rather than teleconnected.The former refers to movement occurringat a distance from the source, the lattermeans simultaneous movement occurr-ing across large distances. The 1976climate shift, measured through wide-spread phenomena in the Pacific Ocean,marks a shift between La Niña and ElNiño dominated regimes as part of quasi-periodic decadal oscillations in the Pacific. Certainly, it occurred on a pattern of global warming, but was it agreenhouse phenomenon in its ownright? The literature is almost silent onthis issue, unlike this book. It is likelythat the 1976 shift was one of many suchevents in a long history of climate vari-ability. Likewise, the 1998 El Niño wasprobably no “magic gate” but was anextreme event that caused, as Flanneryrecounts, a number of irreversible imp-acts and may have been linked to a shiftin climate states oscillating on a decadaltimescale. The main point is not thatclimate was pushed into a new green-house-induced state, as implied, but that climate variability occurring on anunderlying trend will push systems tonew extremes, threatening their ability to cope.

Part Three on the Science of Prediction is also careless in its approach. A recent(2005) upper estimate of sensitivity of11.3°C for double CO2 warming is exp-

lained as an unprecedented estimate,despite this figure being exceeded by ahandful of papers dating back five years.On Page 161, the difference of 5°C bet-ween the last glacial maximum and theHolocene following a rise of 100 ppm inCO2 is explained as an anomaly comp-ared to model projections of 3°C follow-ing anthropogenic doubling (a rise ofabout 260 ppm CO2). This anomaly isexplained through the blocking of sun-light by aerosols, and Flannery speculatesthat if aerosols were removed, then theearth may experience a runaway green-house effect. However, following the lastice-age, the melting of large ice-caps andsnow changed the global average albedoconsiderably, contributing to much of thesubsequent estimated average globalwarming of 5.0°C. For someone who haswritten extensively on ice-age environ-mental change, this is a major omission.The post-glacial 100 ppm increase in CO2

only partially contributed to that warmingof 5°C and that part was likely to havebeen relatively small. The issue of so-called global dimming, where aerosolssuppress warming by blocking sunlight,is real but the warming response if aero-sols are removed will not be as large asimplied by Flannery because he hasoverlooked the ice-albedo effect that inf-luenced post glacial climate sensitivity.

Many of the statements in the book arecontestable. On Page 165 it is suggestedthat short-term climate predictions areless certain than long-term predictions,the opposite of what is true. On page 168it is suggested that scientists say that a70% reduction in greenhouse gases by themid 21st century from 1990 is required,which is true only for developed coun-tries, and the global average is closer to45%. On page 169 it is suggested that 5cm of global sea level rise is dangerous.On page 179, it is suggested that temp-erature in Australia may rise up to 2.5times the global average, based onresearch published in 1992, which iscertainly given no credence today.

Chapter 19 deals with the modelling ofbioclimatic envelopes. This is a statisticalconstruct that explains the current dist-ribution of an animal, plant or comm-unity in climatic terms. It describes theecological envelope, or where each org-anism can exist under normal environ-mental conditions. Larger than this is the physiological envelope, where theorganism can survive but may not be able to freely reproduce. However,

many weeds live in climates that exceedtheir original ecological envelope, as do many animals and plants raisedartificially.

Frustratingly, Flannery dooms every plant or animal that has its ecologicalenvelope exceeded under climate change,to extinction. Instead of promoting theprecautionary principle, which states thata lack of full scientific knowledge shouldnot be used to delay action, Flannery usesthe precautionary conclusion, where theoutcome is forgone, even though theanalysis is incomplete.

The largest error in the book concernsFlannery’s treatment of adaptation.Adaptation is complementary to mitig-ation – it is not in competition as impliedon pages 207–8. Mitigation lowers theupper limits of potential warming – there is no way that even rich societieswill be able to comfortably adapt tochanges of say, 4°C to 5°C, by 2100.Adaptation will be needed to cope withclimate change that will occur in anycase. At minimum, societies and environ-ments need to adapt to change climatechange already experienced and will needto deal with the impacts accompanying atleast another 1.4°C warming by 2100.Ironically, the greatest demand for adap-tation will come from those who have theleast capacity to carry it out – those inleast developed countries, especiallythose who are vulnerable to existingclimate variability. Instead Flanneryrefers to Aubrey Meyer who likens adap-tation carried out by those who can, ifused as a substitute for mitigation, togenocide. Adaptation is not mentioned in the remainder of the book, whichexclusively deals with mitigation.

This overlooks the valuable work doneover the last decade to place adaptationwithin a human development context.The model used by Flannery is discussedby Pittock in his book where in the North(developed countries) climate change islargely seen as an environmental problemthat can be solved by the allocation ofmitigation targets whereas in the South(developing countries), climate change islargely seen as a human problem that hasto be responded to. It is in the latter areawhere equity arguments can be used togreatest effect.

Even though adaptation is omitted fromthe solutions outlined in Parts Four andFive, these sections are much better than


the previous two. The language is moremoderate, perhaps because here theauthor moves beyond his core skills andtreats the subject matter with a great dealmore caution. Interestingly, given theabsolutist tones of the previous two parts,the impact is not lessened. The discuss-ion in these sections is well outlined andaccessible given the complexity of theresponse that is required. The discussionon nuclear power, which has attracted somuch attention in the press, is presentedin a sober and matter-of-fact manner,with Flannery suggesting that all optionsbe examined, rather than advocating it inparticular.

The index is poor and the referencing not particularly rigorous.

The major reason why I am so critical ofthis book is because of the recent successof Lomborg’s The Skeptical Environmen-talist. Like The Weather Makers, the TheSkeptical Environmentalist is a polemicrather than a work of science, written topromote a particular view. Lomborg didtwo things that have raised the bar for allauthors that follow. He created a strawman out of the sloppy use of statistics byenvironmentalists and proceeded to dem-olish it. He then used similarly sloppystatistics, partial analysis and half truthsto create a seductive message that appeal-ed to political conservatives who wantedto hear that business as usual appliedwith a light tinge of green would deliverthe appropriate environmental outcomes(I am not accusing Flannery of equivalentsins, but he has been remiss in his useand interpretation of the science). Havingdemolished the opposition and salvedany residual guilt in one well-written andextensively footnoted tome, many of thepolicy options espoused by Lomborg wererapidly adopted by political conservatives.Likewise, The Weather Makers may appealto those with an overall environmentaloutlook who are looking for an access-ible entrée into the issues of climatechange, but it is not likely to appeal tothose with a more sceptical bent. I thinkto appeal to the audience beyond truebelievers, or potential true believers,writers have to rise to the challenge posedby the success of Lomborg’s book andcombine accessible writing with greaterrigour.

I’m also not convinced by the use ofshock and awe tactics in environmentalwriting. My view is that global climate

change is so serious there’s no point inexaggerating it. People tend to ‘freeze’ orturn off if the issue is too large and seemsintractable. The feedback I get from audi-ences I speak to is that the conservative,scientifically established version, withfully outlined uncertainties, is scaryenough. If the whole book was deliveredin similar tones to the last two parts itwould have been much better.

In conclusion, The Weather Makers is anaccessible but flawed book which, des-pite its broad coverage, is a committedpolemic rather than a work of science.Many of the conceptual models used bythe author are out of date, and it’s a pityhe did not consult with the many peoplewho have been endeavouring to improvethese concepts. I hope that Flannerycontinues to learn more about the comp-lexities of climate change issues andcommunicate them, because his voice in the debate is likely to be influential.

Turning up the Heat is a very differentbook. At 316 pages it is of a similar lengthto The Weather Makers, but with a small,closely spaced font, it is perhaps half aslong again. A Foreword for the book hasbeen written by Dr Rajendra Pachauri,Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change (IPCC). A. Barrie Pitt-ock is the pioneer of climate impacts,creating the Climate Impact Group withthe then CSIRO Division of AtmosphericResearch in 1990 and running it until hisretirement in 2002. Since retirement,Pittock has been involved in a summaryof Australian climate impacts for theAustralian Greenhouse Office. He iscurrently writing a book on his involve-ment with Aboriginal issues on the 1960sand 1970s.

The coverage provided by Pittock issimilar to that in The Weather Makersbut the aim is to provide an accessibleaccount of the science that convinces the reader that urgent action on climatechange is needed. One of Pittock’s aims is to convince those who are sceptical ofthe science or who believe the policy risksof acting are greater than those posed byclimate change.

The reader needs to work harder to readPittock’s book. The language is lessaccessible and generally fairly dry. Thereader also requires a basic knowledge of science, although all specialist termin-ology and climate-related concepts areexplained, and explained well, in mostcases. There are a number of useful

charts and diagrams in the book butthese require sufficient experience fromthe reader to be able to interpret them.

In general, the book provides a valuableupdate on the IPCC’s Third AssessmentReport (TAR), but relies a little too muchon it for my liking, given that the TAR wasreleased in 2001. However, the newerscience is well covered, with importantnew information on large-scale singu-larities such as the potential collapse ofthe thermohaline circulation and theGreenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheets.As such, it stands as a good signpostsituated two-thirds of the way betweenthe IPCC Third and Fourth AssessmentReports (the latter due in 2007).

The balance between the natural enviro-nment and human systems is also muchbetter achieved, with important updateson a range of projected regional impactsand development profiles. The basicsynergies between adaptation and miti-gation are explained as are many of theaspects of adaptation and adaptive cap-acity that have been developed since theTAR. For example, adaptive capacity,which is the capacity to adapt in responseto perceived or experienced climatechange, is also critical to other concerns,such as the Millennium DevelopmentGoals.

Equity is also an importance principle inapplying climate change policy. Pittockdiscusses the growing emissions of devel-oping countries and their articulation oftheir rights to develop in order to achievebetter lifestyles for their populations. Ofcourse, the non-inclusion of growingdeveloping country emissions in theKyoto Protocol is one of the stated reas-ons for Australia not joining the Protocol.Pittock outlines the argument as to whyhe believes this stance is incorrect. Thechapters on international concerns andnational interests and on greenhousepolitics are thorough and accessible. The sections on politics, contrarianismand policy also cannot be found in anyofficial publication. Most books onclimate change strong on policy areusually weak on the science, making this book particularly valuable.

Discussion of mitigation in both books is detailed, but neither book is able toprioritise these measures, to outline howmuch of the potential effort may be dueto one source or another, and this is anarea that requires a great deal more

Book Reviews CONTINUED


If you move from London to Perth andyou are interested in geomorphology, youhave to learn to understand and interpreta landscape completely different fromthat in which you grew up. Before comingto Western Australia in 1988, I had rarelyseen a landscape more than 15,000 yearsold; while the older landscapes I knewhad mostly been affected by periglaci-ation. I now work in that part of WAwhere the thinnest skim of unconsolid-ated Cenozoic alluvium/colluvium over-lies Archaean shield rock and the Geolog-ical Survey thinks that, apart from in situweathering, there has been little geo-morphological change since the K/Tboundary! Indeed, according to the bookthat is the subject of this review, some ofthe river valleys probably formed some130 Ma. Short of migrating to Antarcticaor far eastern Siberia, a bigger geomorph-ological difference than that between thedomesticated landscape of southernBritain and the degraded Rangelands on the Yilgarn Craton would be hard to imagine.

Naturally, I sought advice as I struggled to understand a landscape where nothingmuch seemed to have happened foraeons; but rivers that rarely flowed ran

research. While The Weather Makers ismore a call to action, Pittock examines arange of technical and policy options. He also explores the requirement forstabilisation, suggesting that to avoidwarming of up to 2°C from pre-industrialtimes with any confidence, a stabilisationof 450 parts per million CO2 equivalent in the atmosphere may be required. Given that we currently have 380 ppmwith additional loadings of other green-house gases, this would likely requireremoval of CO2 from the atmosphere atsome future stage. Currently, there is noestablished roadmap for getting to 450ppm CO2 equivalent or the somewhatmore economically tolerable 550 ppmCO2 equivalent.

The one major omission from the book is the lack of referencing in the text, largely due to space restrictions. This is compensated for by a comprehen-sive index, reading list and online notesat www.publish.csiro.au/pid/4992.htm.Those wanting to source the main refer-ences used by Pittock will find details inthe online notes. The book will become avery valuable source for students, policy-makers and planners who want a thor-ough and relatively concise treatmentwithout having to wade through the heftyIPCC reports, which Flannery accuratelydescribes as being as dull as dishwater.

These books are very different and thereis a role for both. However, The WeatherMakers begs the question “Is it necessaryto unduly compromise the science tocome up with a readable and accessibleapproach?” I think not, but am perhapsbeing too strict. Flannery’s book is themore readable of the two but falls short in a number of areas. If it encouragespeople to better understand the issue, itwill have served a valuable purpose butthey will need to read Pittock’s book toget that understanding. Turning up theHeat is the better book but will be read by fewer people. However, if some of themore sceptical readers are persuaded into action because of the argumentspresented, then all the better. For theprofessional user, it is a valuable sourceof information on climate change that isboth wide, and sufficiently deep.

Declaration of Interest: I have workedclosely with Barrie Pittock since 1996 but have tried to be as objective as possiblein this review.

through enormous valleys that had clearly carried large volumes of water in the past. I do not remember whointroduced me to Australian landforms:structure, process and time (1993), the first edition of this book, but I am eter-nally grateful to them. It became mybible, especially the sections on graniteweathering. I jumped, therefore, at thechance to review the second edition.

It is truly a new edition, not merely areissue of the original text with the add-ition of colour plates. In 1993, the aim of the authors was to write a textbook onAustralian geomorphology that explainedthe uniqueness of much of the Australianlandscape to upper Secondary and Tert-iary students. While structure, process andtime amply fulfilled that aim, understand-ing a low, flat, arid and old landscape is inmany, but not all, ways a great imp-rovement.

Structure, process and time was rather‘hard going’. Cover aside, all illustrationswere in black and white, making thestructural detail in some photographsdifficult to see; while the B4 formatmeant that some illustrations were toosmall, although the book was very port-able, if rather heavy. Each chapter con-cluded with an Essay, in a smaller font, in which an example of the chapter topicwas discussed in some depth, followed by a list of references relevant to thatchapter. It was clearly a textbook.

Understanding ... landscape is A4 and evenheavier than structure, process and time.While still a textbook, it is much morevisually attractive, although less user-friendly in some ways. It certainly couldbe, and in my case has been, taken intothe field, but is scarcely something onewants to carry in one’s backpack all day! It is also less clearly laid out than struct-ure, process and time. It is printed double-column and the text has been wrappedaround the illustrations, which are alsomostly double-column. They are nowmostly in colour and have been groupedseveral to a page, often back-to-back.

Twidale, C.R. and Campbell, E.M.Australian Landforms: understandinga low, flat, arid and old landscapeRosenberg Publishing, paperback, 336 pp. AUD$59.95 ISBN 1 877058 32 7

Understanding a low, flatarid and old landscape

Esmée WebbCentre for Human Genetics

Edith Cowan University, Joondalup WA 6027


The B4 format of structure, process andtime meant that illustrations could beinserted between paragraphs, or releg-ated to adjacent pages. The formattingconstraints in understanding ... landscapemean that some illustrations appear outof sequence, sometimes pages away fromthe text to which they relate, meaning onehas to flip pages. When reading under-standing ... landscape, it is essential tonote the numbers of the relevant illust-rations, or one can get lost. That said, tohave so many colour illustrations is anenormous bonus. Comparison of the two editions shows that colour greatlyenhances one’s understanding andappreciation of many of the illustrations,although I was intrigued to note thatsome have been reversed. Unfortunately,the few black and white illustrationsappear to have been scanned rather thanreprinted from the original negatives andare noticeably less clear than they were instructure, process and time.

Both books follow the same layout:introduction; tectonics: structure andrelief, plate tectonics, volcanoes, foldsand faults; water: weathering, massmovement, rivers, fluvial landforms;structure: sedimentary terrain, passivefractures, karst, pseudostructures; rivers:fluvial models, denudation, streamclassification; the last 2 Ma: Quaternary,cold climate landforms, deserts, coasts,humans as geomorphological agents;

conclusions. Each chapter in under-standing ... landscape is still followed byan Essay, but some have been changed or updated. For example, Essay 3 nowanalyses the north Indian Ocean tsunamiof 26 December 2004; while those onUluru, floods and sedimentary terrainshave been revised. The essays are nowprinted in the same font as the generaltext, but on grey backgrounds, makingthem easier to read; while the referenceshave been revised and concatenated,although comparatively few new refer-ences have been added. The most recentdate to 2003. The chapter to which eachsource principally refers is indicated.

Comparison of the two editions showsthat some chapters have been reproducedalmost verbatim; others have been comp-letely restructured with sections reorgan-ised or rewritten. For example, pingoeshave been transferred from cold climatelandforms, where I feel they belong, topseudostructures. Most of the in-textdiscussion in the first edition of evidencefrom countries other than Australia hasdisappeared from the second edition,which is tightly focussed on Australianlandforms. Finally, features with Aborig-inal names, like Kata Tjuta, are now ref-erred to by them – a welcome change from the first edition.

As we all know, a quick way of assessingany book is to read the sections aboutwhich you think you know the most. If

they seem to be adequate, then probablythe whole book is equally reliable. Howdoes understanding ... landscape meas-ure up? The chapter on the Quaternary is one of the least satisfactory. It is alsothe shortest! The references cited are over20 years old. I suppose, given that theauthors’ focus is geomorphological andweathering processes predominated,even in the Quaternary, since most ofAustralia was untouched by glaciation,the last 2 Ma is the least interesting partof the history of Australian landscapedevelopment. The other chapters in thefinal section are more up-to-date. That on human effects, which focusses onsalinity, is particularly good.

So, who will use understanding ...landscape? The authors claim that, likestructure, process and time, it is aimed atupper Secondary and Tertiary students,but at $60 few high school students arelikely to buy understanding ... landscape.More’s the pity, for it is clearly and simplywritten and would be very useful to allEarth Sciences students. University staffteaching Earth Sciences are encouragedto persuade their libraries to buy it and torecommend it to at least their first- andsecond-year students. It provides athorough basis to help them understandthe uniqueness of the low, flat, arid, oldlandscape that is Australia.

Book Reviews CONTINUED


Fluvial tufas of the monsoonal tropics

KAREN D. CARTHEW

Department of Physical Geography,Macquarie University Sydney, North Ryde, NSW 2109, [email protected]

Tufas are ambient temperature fresh-water calcium carbonate deposits that are an important archive of terrestrialpalaeoenvironmental information. This is primarily because they are stronglyaffected by climate, which influences the tufa system via its biota and physico-chemical processes. Because of this link to regional climate, fossil tufas have beenused to successfully investigate climatehistories at many locations throughout the world and to provide an environ-mental context to important archaeo-logical and palaeontological sites. Envir-onmental models have great significancein the investigation of fossil tufas andthey are the main focus of this thesis.

It is crucial that appropriate models areused to ensure accurate environmentalreconstruction. However, no previousmodel has been based on tropical mons-oonal tufa systems. Tufa deposits in themonsoonal tropics of northern Australiaare influenced strongly by perenniallywarm water temperatures, high evapor-ation rates, and high-magnitude floods.This combination contrasts with theenvironmental conditions of the cooltemperate and warm semi-arid sites onwhich current environmental modelswere based.

This thesis presents an environmentalmodel that will aid interpretation of fossiltufas throughout monsoonal Australia. In the Barkly karst, northern Australia,tufas form in dam, cascade and pool/waterhole geomorphic environments.Each environment is represented in therock record by a specific combination oftufa geomorphic units and facies assoc-iations. Preservation of particular tufafacies is thought to reflect the strength of monsoonal floods. A strong monsoonis represented by an abundance of floodindicators such as the allochthonousphytoclastic, lithoclastic and intraclastictufa facies. Conversely, evidence of weakmonsoons or a prolonged absence offloods may include oncoids, calcite raftsand thick accumulations of fine carbon-ate sediments. The history of the Aust-ralian monsoon is not fully understood.

However, fossil tufa deposits have beenpreserved throughout northern Australiaand hold great potential for reconstruct-ing the region’s climate history. Fossiltufa sequences at two Barkly karst siteshave been interpreted using the newmodel. It can be applied to other Barklykarst fossil tufas as well as those insimilar environments elsewhere in the world.

Isoleucine epimerisation andstable isotope ratio studies ofcassowary, megapode andAepyornis eggshells: biogeo-chemical and palaeoenviron-mental implications

SIMON JAMES CLARKE

The University of Wollongong, School of Earth and Environmental Science (PhD)

Previous researchers have used the extent of isoleucine epimerisation andstable carbon, oxygen and nitrogenisotope ratios of ostrich (Struthio), emu(Dromaius) and Genyornis eggshells toprovide geochronological control andpalaeoenvironmental information on theQuaternary sequences from which thesesample types are recovered. This thesisexpanded this field of research by exam-ining isoleucine epimerisation and thestable isotopes ratios of cassowary (Casu-arius), megapode (principally the Aust-ralian brush-turkey, Alectura lathami) and Aepyornis eggshells. The aims of the research were to (1) increase ourunderstanding of the ancient habitats of Casuarius, megapodes and Aepyornisin order to provide information on howthese ecosystems functioned, as well asthe nature and timing of the environ-mental change they have experienced,and (2) to document the amino acid andstable isotope biogeochemistry of avianeggshells in novel contexts in order tobetter understand the processes thatinfluence these attributes.

Samples of Casuarius, Alectura lathamiand Aepyornis eggshells were heated athigh temperatures (110, 143 and 1600C).These experiments were used to deter-mine the temperature sensitivity ofisoleucine epimerisation in these egg-shell types, expressed in terms of Arrhen-ius parameters, and to characterise thethermal stability of amino acids. In thestratified archaeological sequences of Toé Cave, Kria Cave (Ayamaru Plateau,West Papua, Indonesia), Liang Lemdubuand Nabulei Lisa (Aru Islands, Arafura

Sea, Indonesia) exposure to short-termhigh temperature heating events assoc-iated with campfires complicated inter-pretation of the extent of isoleucine epi-merisation in Casuarius and megapodeeggshells in terms of time and temper-ature. The extent of isoleucine epimer-isation in Alectura lathami eggshells from Hay Cave (northeastern Queen-sland, Australia) enhanced the geochron-ological control for this site by clarifyingthe presence of temporal breaks in thesequence and providing an age estimatefor a section of the sequence lacking agecontrol. Late Holocene and Pleistocenepopulations of Aepyornis eggshells fromthe southern and southwestern coasts ofMadagascar were readily distinguished by the extent of isoleucine epimerisationthey exhibit.

Relatively high stable carbon and oxygenisotope ratios (∂13C and ∂18O values) inPleistocene Casuarius eggshells from theAru Islands were consistent with a weakermonsoon during the Last Glacial Maxi-mum. The absence of this trend in Pleist-ocene Casuarius eggshells from the Aya-maru Plateau suggested the latter site isless sensitive to fluctuations in monsooneffectiveness. Supported by isotope anal-yses of modern megapode eggshells,carbon fixed by C3 photosynthesis wasidentified at the base of the Alectura foodchain from the ∂13C values of Hay Cavemegapode eggshells. The interpretationof Alectura eggshell ∂18O values wascomplicated by their wide range, and thiswas most likely a product of the comb-ined effects of evaporation on oxygenisotope ratios and the protracted breed-ing season. The lack of variation in the∂13C and ∂18O values of Aepyornis egg-shells was attributed to subsistence on C3 vegetation and the water of perennialground water-fed ponds, whereas en-riched nitrogen isotope ratios could bedue to a number of factors including theinfiltration of seawater into the littoralwater table.

Overall, the research presented an opp-ortunity to examine the strengths andweaknesses of information extrapolatedfrom isoleucine epimerisation and iso-tope ratios in avian eggshells in noveltaxonomic and geographical settings. Thehigh temperature experiments furtherdocumented the taxonomic dependencyof the rate of isoleucine epimerisation inavian eggshells and indicated that thetemperature sensitivity of this reaction is

THESIS ABSTRACTS


similar amongst eggshells. Although int-erpreting the extent of isoleucine epimer-isation in eggshells from archaeologicalsites in terms of time and temperaturewas readily complicated by exposure tocampfire heating events, the ability todemonstrate a close correlation withindependent age control indicated thatthis problem is not ubiquitous in thesecontexts. The ∂13C values of eggs-hellsbroadly identified the vegetation thatherbivorous birds consumed, and wherethe photosynthetic pathway of this veget-ation was known, eggshell ∂13C valuesprovided information on the ∂13C value of this biomass. The nitrogen isotoperatios of eggshells could be successfullyintegrated with existing know-ledge ofancient habitats, and eggshell ∂18O valueswere used to identify drinking watersources and trace climatically-significantchanges in these reservoirs over time.

The Gulf of CarpentariaPalaeoenvironments: OSL Datingand Nannofossil evidence

MARTINE COUAPEL

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong (PhD)(8 rue du IV Septembre 65000 Tarbes France)

The Gulf of Carpentaria is a near equat-orial region, a domain in which pastenvironmental changes are not wellunderstood, but in which much of theworld’s weather has its origin. Beingsituated adjacent to the Western PacificWarm Pool, responsible for the largesttransfer of heat and moisture between the surface and the atmosphere, the Gulfof Carpentaria is an epicontinental sea(maximum depth 70 m) bordered to theeast by Torres Strait (12 m depth) and tothe west by the deeper Arafura Sill (53 mdepth), an area sensitive to the Asianmonsoon and ENSO, which have a cruc-ial importance on a worldwide scale.Furthermore, this region could be a keypoint to monitor the palaeocirculationbetween the Pacific and the Indianoceans that records the switching on andoff of the global thermohaline circulationduring glacial/ interglacial alternations.The Gulf is tectonically stable, thereforeno corrections are necessary wheninterpreting the palaeo-sea level curve.Throughout the Late Quaternary, duringtimes of sea-level low-stands, the gulf wasseparated from the open waters of theIndian and Pacific oceans, forming Lake

Carpentaria with outlet channels to the Arafura Sea.

In 1997, six sediment cores were coll-ected from the Gulf of Carpentaria usinga giant piston-corer deployed from theMarion Dufresne, as part of the Inter-national MArine Global changEs Study(IMAGES). This study provides an interp-retation of the palaeoenvironments in the Gulf of Carpentaria over the last 175ka by means of OSL dating and analysis of abundance and distribution of cocco-lith assemblages within this series ofsediment cores. The usefulness of theOSL Dating technique on such sedimentcores covering marine to lacustrine cond-itions has been demonstrated by estab-lishing a time frame for the changingenvironments of the Gulf of Carpentariasince MIS 6.6. The shallowness of theGulf of Carpentaria, as well as its restrict-ed basin size, allow the use of OpticallyStimulated Luminescence (OSL) to datethe sediment. Indeed, these parametersmean that the quartz grains were blea-ched soon before deposition and thusthat the event date is the real time ofdeposition. From the thirteen samplesprocessed, twelve dates ranging from 7 ±1 to 175 ± 13 ka, have been estimated overthree cores from the Gulf of Carpentaria.These dates also allow the calculation ofthe sedimentation rate, which rangesfrom 4.3 cm ka-1 in the central area to 7.8 cm ka-1 on the western margin. Theseresults are consistent with the modernsedimentation rate observed in the Gulfof Carpentaria. A clear reduction in thesedimentation rate starting about 90–100 ka ago is noticed in the three cores,however this needs to be confirmed byfurther dating on other levels.

Coccolithophores are planktonic marinealgae distributed from the open ocean to nearshore littoral and lagoonal envir-onments. They secrete minute calcifiedplates, coccoliths, which are a major com-ponent of pelagic carbonates. Coccolithassemblages preserved in marine sedi-ments are excellent proxies of palaeo-ceanographic conditions. The lack ofcoccoliths could be either due to badpreservation conditions or to a fresh-water environment. In the Gulf of Carp-entaria, coccolith assemblages confirm at least two non-marine/marine cycles,during the past 175 ka, as well as someshort marine intervals, as minor incurs-ions of seawater during a non-marinesequence.

These collated results are presented on a series of maps illustrating the discreteclosure and breach sequences of theArafura Sill and Torres Strait as related to Quaternary sea level fluctuations, andthe corresponding alternations betweenthe Gulf of Carpentaria and Lake Carp-entaria. When viewed together, the comp-ilation and interpretation of these dataenables the development of a detailedspatial and temporal understanding ofthe palaeoenvironmental history of theGulf of Carpentaria since MIS 6.6 (ca. 175 ka). From the sedimentary record of the Gulf evidence of dry and wetterepisodes are observed and interpreted as intensification of the monsoon andcyclonic activity. These may be linked toENSO events and global oceanic andatmospheric processes.

Developing methods for identif-ying cryptic tephra in peat coresfrom the Waikato region, NorthIsland, New Zealand

MARIA J. BALLINGER

University of Plymouth, UK, 2003Maria Gehrels (née Ballinger)

Peat cores collected from two ombro-genous bogs in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand are subj-ected to a range of analytical methodsthat are capable of detecting the cryptic(‘hidden’) tephra content in the cores.The peat sections of interest are brack-eted by the Taupo (~1750 cal BP) and theTuhua tephras (~7000 cal BP) in two coresfrom Kopouatai Bog (37026’S, 175034’E)and by the Taupo and the Mamakutephras (~8000 cal BP) in one core fromMoanatuatua Bog (37058’S, 175072’E).Non-destructive methods used includephoto-spectrometry and magnetic sus-ceptibility. Results from Total OrganicCarbon (TOC) analyses were made avail-able from an ongoing study (Zoe Hazell,PhD at University of Plymouth, comp-leted 2004). Concentrations of tephrashards are determined by ‘ashing’ thepeat and by counting under a light mic-roscope tephra shards mounted ontomicroslides. More detailed counts in one core are used to assess the verticalspread of the cryptic component of thevisible Taupo Tephra and to determine its sedimentological characteristics.Images from Scanning Electron Micro-scopy and low-power light microscopyreveal characteristic micro-morpholo-gical features of selected tephra shards.

Thesis Abstracts CONTINUED


An appraisal of the various detectionmethodologies indicates that problemsare associated with all. Magnetic suscept-ibility measured by the Bartington MS2only detects tephra high in ferro-magnes-ium content and does not yield satisfact-ory results for tephras embedded in peat.Reflectance measurements using a PerkinElmer Luminescence Spectrometer givereasonable results for high-quality (undis-turbed and smooth) cores, but peaks mayalso be produced by material other thantephra. TOC analysis is best capable ofdetecting cryptic tephra, but the methodis partially destructive and time-consuming.

The tephra attenuation study shows thatfine shards of the Taupo Tephra weredetected at 30 cm below and at 11 cmabove the visible component of the layer.It is likely that bioturbation by micro-organisms, transport along root canalsand re-deposition by wind are processesthat may redistribute cryptic tephrashards through the peat. Micromorph-ological analyses of the cryptic tephrashards are useful to characterise potent-ially distinguishing features of cryptictephra (e.g., rhyolitic vs. andesitic app-earance, chemical weathering, etc.).These characteristics are used in comb-ination with radiocarbon ages and chro-nostratigraphy of visible tephras to linkdiscrete cryptic tephra horizons to poss-ible eruptive events, but additional geo-chemical analyses are necessary to ‘fing-erprint’ the tephras more conclusively. It is concluded that detection of cryptictephra holds promising potential to en-hance the region’s tephrostratigraphicframework.

Modern and Recent seafloorenvironments (sedimentary,foraminiferal & ostracode) of thePitt Water Estuary, south-eastTasmania

DALE LEWIS (PhD)

School of Earth SciencesUniversity of Tasmania

The Pitt Water Estuary is a shallow, barr-ier estuary, of typically normal marinesalinity, which has been subject to cons-iderable anthropogenic modificationsince the onset of European settlement in the area.

Modern seafloor environments were desc-ribed using the distribution of sediment-ary facies and foraminiferal and ostracod

assemblages, examined from surficialsediment samples. Ten sedimentaryfacies were identified by grouping sedi-ment samples using particle-size distrib-ution data and lithic sand content. Faunalassemblages were identified by clusteranalysis, with twelve sample, and eightspecies associations defined by foramin-ifera, and eight sample, and six speciesassociations defined by Ostra-coda.

The distribution of sedimentary faciesvaries, firstly, with the upstream changein relative current energy (tidal versusfluvial) as reflected by the relative prop-ortion of quartzose to lithic sand in sedi-ment; and, secondly, with the water depthvariation in current strength, as reflectedby the sand grain size and mud content.The distribution and composition offoraminiferal and ostracod assemblagesis determined mainly by average salinityand pH. The position of species along the axis of the estuary correlates with the altered salinity profile which occursduring floods, with tolerance to loweredsalinity greater further upstream. Low pHconditions are widely distributed (due tothe anoxia of stagnant, nutrient-enrichedwaters), causing calcareous test diss-olution which, in some areas, totallyexcludes calcareous foraminifera andostracods. Illumination is also importantin controlling ostracod distribution,being lowest in widespread turbid waters.Additional factors controlling foramin-iferal and ostracod distribution include:substrate mobility, nutrients, seagrassdistribution, tidal exposure, and toler-ance to varying temperature.

Recent seafloor environments weredescribed using the distribution of sedi-ments, foraminifera and ostracods inshort cores and previous spatial surveys.They have changed considerably since thelate 19th century, mainly as a result ofhuman activities which continue to affectthe estuary.

During periods of increased agriculturalactivity (1920s–1940s; 1960s–present),greater land clearance, cultivation andfertiliser usage within the catchmentarea, lead to increased sediment andnutrient loading of fluvial waters enteringthe estuary. This lead to increased sedi-mentation, mud accumulation, turbidity,and lowered dissolved oxygen and pHwithin the estuary, causing the demise of dense clam and oyster beds, reduceddistribution of ostracods and calcareousforaminifera, increased distribution of

agglutinated foraminifera, and increased faunal abundance withinnutrient-enriched sediments. Dam con-struction and irrigation activities duringthe 20th century, reduced rainfall over the last thirty years, and causeway con-struction during the 1870’s, have allcontributed to increased water stagn-ation, reduced flushing, and more up-stream penetration of the estuary bymarine waters.

Palynological evidence ofvegetation dynamics in relativelyundisturbed and disturbed sites in New Zealand

XUN LI

Massey University, Palmerston North

New Zealand forest has been affected byboth natural and anthropogenic disturb-ances. Protecting and restoring indigen-ous forest is one of the focal issues inconservation of New Zealand, and under-standing vegetation dynamics is a keypart of management strategies. The long-evity of most New Zealand trees impedesshort-term vegetation dynamics studies.Instead fossil pollen records provide oneof the most valuable sources of long termdata to trace vegetation development. Inthis study, pollen records are used asproxies of vegetation population to testthe roles of long-term climate change andtransient environmental disturbances invegetation dynamics. Two sedimentcores, from Sponge Swamp, Haast, andTiniroto Lakes, Gisborne, were collectedas representatives of undisturbed anddisturbed sites, the former being used asa reference site to separate out the effectsof climate and evaluate the impact ofdisturbance on the vegetation.

Pollen data were inspected using Tilia,and zones defined. Principal componentanalysis (PCA) was performed on pollendata to summarise the change in speciescomposition over time, and the samplescores of the first PCA axis were exploitedas an index of vegetation dynamics forfurther comparison. Redundancy anal-ysis (RDA) is also applied to help inter-pretation of the vegetation change withrespect to environmental factors.

The result of this study indicates that thevegetation development in both sites ischaracterized by non-equilibrium dyna-mics, in which vegetation composition ischanging continually through time. InSponge Swamp, this change is steady and


consistent over the whole time span, with a consistent decline of Ascarinalucida and a progressive increase of coldtolerant or moisture-stressed taxa, likeGleichenia and Lycopodium australianum.Subsequently there is a partial replace-ment of swamp forest taxa such as Dacry-carpus dacrydioides and tree ferns byPrumnopitys taxifolia, and further expan-sion of Nothofagus and Phyllocladus isdistinguished. A climate gradient, frommild and wet to cooler and/or drier issuggested fro the pollen evidence, andappears the driving force for the veget-ation dynamics at that undisturbed site.At Tiniroto, however, the vegetation dev-elopment is divided into two stages.Before c. 2300 yr BP, the vegetationchange is steady and consistent which iscomparable to that from Sponge Swamp.A forest invasion, a process of graduallyreplacing open land and light-adaptedtaxa, such as Dodonaea viscosa, Copr-osma, Pseudopanax, Schefflera digitata,Pteridium, Hebe and members of thefamily Fabaceae and Asteraceae, by inc-reasing proportions of forest taxa, char-acterise this change. Climate amelior-ation with increased rainfall is respon-sible. After c. 2300 yr BP, this trend wasfrequently punctuated by disturbances, in which sudden changes of vegetationoccur, generating substantial fluctua-tions about the trend.

From RDA, sample age explains morethan 20% of the variance of species dataat both sites. The long-term directionalclimate change derived from pollen evidence of Sponge Swamp and at leastpartly at the Tiniroto site, may be repre-sented by the explanatory variable age. At Tiniroto, additional variance is alsoexplained by the explanatory variablescharcoal and pollen taxonomic richness,suggesting the impact of disturbance onvegetation dynamics. The impact of dist-urbance on vegetation dynamics bec-omes clearer after the climate gradient is removed. Autocorrelation analysis ondetrended sample scores of the first PCAaxis suggests further differences betweenthe two sites, in response to local disturb-ances. There is little dependence of thepresent state of vegetation compositionon its past state in the Sponge Swampsite; instead, the vegetation compositionis affected by various “random” events,implying small disturbances such asfloods, or landslides caused by earth-quakes etc. At Tiniroto, the change ofvegetation composition is more “success-

ional”, and the present state of veget-ation depends only on the immediatepast state, due to the impact of catas-trophic disturbance.

Despite the Tiniroto site having beensubjected to a long history of disturbance,the climate gradient, which is distinct atthe earlier stage, becomes less identifiableand partially masked by outbreaks of dist-urbances only since c. 2300 yr BP. Thisimplies that the relative role of disturb-ance on vegetation dynamics with respectto climate is depended on different typesor different levels of disturbances anddifferent responses by the vegetation.

Short-term vegetation responses to diff-erent types of disturbance were examineby fine resolution pollen analyses aroundfive disturbance episodes, including theTaupo (1850±10 yr BP), Waimihia (3280±20 yr BP) and Whakatane (4830–20 yrBP) eruptions, and two charcoal peaks (c.1100 yr BP and c. 2300 yr BP). Almost novegetation change occurred relative to the eruption within the Whakatane andWaimihia episodes, except that a tempor-ary rise of shrubs and ferns correspondedwith intermittent occurrence of charcoalparticles. Substantial vegetation changerelative to disturbance was found withinboth the Taupo episode and the fire epi-sode around c. 2300 yr BP, in which est-ablishment of ensuing semi-open veget-ation was encouraged for decades. Thefire c. 2300 yr BP transformed part of theforest into fernland, while the Taupoeruption turned part of the shrubs andtree ferns into bracken field. although itis difficult to judge the effect of the firearound 1100 yr BP as the result was un-reliable due to contamination, the veget-ation at Tiniroto is suggested to be morevulnerable to fire than tephra.

Non-equilibrium dynamics are commonin New Zealand forests, even at stablesites such as Sponge Swamp, due to clim-ate change. Locally these non-equil-ibrium dynamics appear highly respon-sive to disturbances, especially at Tinir-oto. Even disturbances at Tiniroto aredynamic and a change of disturbanceregime is suggested around the later dis-turbance episodes. This change is poss-ibly due to climate increasing the firefrequency, but an alternative explanationis the presence of humans earlier thancurrently accepted. Forest and forestecological studies in New Zealand are very dynamic, and forest managementneeds to improve to incorporate thesedynamics.

A Palaeolimnological Approach to Understanding Sediment andNutrient Sources of WarrenReservoir, South Australia

ASHLEY NATT

Department of Geographical andEnvironmental StudiesUniversity of Adelaide. BA(Hons)

Warren Reservoir, Mount Lofty Ranges,South Australia (340 45’32 S, 1390 02’47 E)receives transfers of water from theMurray River experiences regular cyano-bacterial blooms, which are “dosed” withcopper sulphate. A paleolimnologicalinvestigation was conducted on WarrenReservoir with the aim of better under-standing how nutrient enrichment andsedimentation have impacted the system.

The investigation compared the geo-chemistry of a fossil sediment sequenceraised from Warren Reservoir with thegeochemistry of catchment and MurrayRiver modern samples. Warren Reservoirsedimentation rates have been relativelyconstant since commissioning in 1916,with an annual accumulation rate of 1.3+/- 0.2 cm. The geochemical sedimentanalysis eliminated the Mannum–Adel-aide pipeline as a major source of sedi-ment and revealed that the major sourceof Warren Reservoir sediment was twosub-catchments. Furthermore, it wasshown that cleared grazing land providedmore sediment than intensive land usessuch as forestry.

The Reservoir’s sediments contained very high concentrations of copper, whichfor many levels exceed national waterquality guidelines. Historical records ofSA Water copper dosing were comparedwith the copper concentration in thesediment sequence. This revealed such astrong correlation that the beginning ofdosing in 1950 could be matched withincreased concentration in the core andthus used as an independent verifier ofsediment age, to strengthen an alreadyreliable chronology.

Diatom analysis provided a DiatomInferred – Total Phosphorus (DI-TP)record of water quality in Warren Reser-voir. There was a dramatic increase in DI-TP around the time of initial Mannum-Adelaide pipeline pumping which event-ually exceeded four times pre-Murraylevels. The diatom taxa also show clearshifts from an initial aerophilous post-reservoir filling zone, to a low nutrientpre-Murray zone and finally a post-Murray high nutrient zone. It was estab-



lished that although the Mannum-Adel-aide pipeline was not a major source ofsediment, as is the case in other MountLofty Ranges streams, it appears to be theprimary source of nutrient enrichment.

Intra-annual Variation in Ablation& Surface Velocity on the lower FoxGlacier, South Westland, NZ

HEATHER PURDIE (MSc)

Geography Programme, Massey University,Palmerston North, New Zealand

Intra-annual variations in ablation and surface velocity were investigated on the lower Fox Glacier, South Westland,New Zealand. Large variation betweensummer and winter ablation rates wererecorded, with daily averages of 129 mmd-1 and 22 mm d-1 respectively. Duringsummer, debris-cover significantly red-uced ablation (50%), and ablation supp-ression increased as debris thicknessincreased. In winter, ablation suppress-ion was not so apparent, but during heavyprecipitation events, ablation under deb-ris cover was half of that occurring on theclean ice surface. Variations in climatevariables were found to account for over90% of ablative variability during bothsummer and winter monitoring. Signif-icant increases in ablation were found tooccur with heavy precipitation events.

Surface velocity averaged 0.87 m d-1

during summer and 0.64 m d-1 in winter,a reduction of 26%, and if recent increa-ses in ice thickness are taken into acc-ount, this deceleration increases to 32%.Reductions in velocity during winter areattributed to a decrease in water supply.During winter, precipitation events werefound to increase velocity by up to 44%.The velocity response to precipitationevents could be instantaneous, but onsome occasions a time lag was present.This temporal variability is interpreted aseither variation in the morphology of theglacial drainage system, affecting theefficiency of water transport to the base of the glacier, and/or to water storage.Both processes influence water pressuresin the sub-glacial drainage system, whichwhen increased, can enhance basalsliding.

Utilising data from this study, a responsetime for the Fox Glacier was estimated ataround 9 years. This figure correlates wellwith previous end-of-summer-snowlinesurveys conducted by the National Instit-ute of Water and Atmospheric Research

(NIWA), and points towards the current(2005) advance being linked to gains inmass in the mid 1990s. Mass fluctuationsof the glacier appear to correlate well tothe global circulation pattern of the ElNiño Southern Oscillation.

All the Small ThingsThe Refinement of Foraminiferal Analysis to Determine SiteFormation Processes inArchaeological Sediments

DANIEL ROSENDAHL

BA (Hons), School of Social Science, University of Queensland

Foraminifera are single cell protozoa that are ubiquitous in marine environ-ments. The hard casings, or tests, offoraminifera are routinely studied in theearth sciences, particularly for palaeoen-vironmental information. Foraminiferahave been little studied by archaeologists,however, despite their potential to cont-ribute to understandings of coastal siteformation processes and localised palae-oenvironments.

In this study techniques and methods offoraminiferal analysis are developed andapplied to the problem of distinguishingbetween natural and cultural marineshell deposits, using the Mort Creek SiteComplex, central Queensland, as a casestudy. Results allow unambiguous dem-arcation of the natural and cultural dep-osits studied based on patterns of fora-miniferal density. Natural deposits werefound to have more than 1000 foramin-ifera per 100g of sediment, while culturaldeposits exhibited less than 50 foramin-ifera per 100g of sediment. The range oftaxa represented in the foraminiferalassemblage is consistent with a shallowwater sub-tropical marine eco-system,indicating general environmental stab-ility throughout the period of depositformation. Findings are applied to re-evaluate previous models of site format-ion at the Mort Creek Site Complex.

Holocene sea-level change and the aminostratigraphy of wave-dominated barrier estuarieson the southeast coast of Australia

CRAIG SLOSS

School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong

The degree of aspartic acid racemisationmeasured in radiocarbon dated speci-mens of fossil molluscs collected fromHolocene barrier estuaries on the south-

east coast of Australia is evaluated in thecontext of results of laboratory-inducedracemisation established in heating (sim-ulated ageing) experiments. The generalkinetic trend of aspartic acid racemis-ation, in both heating experiments, andat ambient temperatures during diagen-esis in the fossil molluscs Anadaratrapezia and Notospisula trigonella con-forms to a model of apparent parabolickinetics. Using the apparent parabolickinetic model, numeric ages based on the degree of aspartic acid racemisationin fossil specimens of A. trapezia and N.trigonella have been determined. Asparticacid D/L ratios in Holocene specimens ofA. trapezia and N. trigonella range from0.049±0.005 to 0.510±0.009, representingan age range from <50 yr to ca 8,000 yr.Accordingly, the Holocene amino- andchronostratigraphies of the wave-domin-ated barrier estuaries Lake Illawarra, StGeorges Basin, Swan Lake and BurrillLake have been established based on the extent of aspartic acid racemisationmeasured in 290 specimens of fossilmolluscs. For fossil material beyond thetime span of the radiocarbon datingmethod (ca >50 ka) and the calibrationrange of aspartic acid, relative ages havebeen determined based on the slowerracemising acids alanine, valine, leucineand proline. The relative age determin-ations on older fossils indicate that LastInterglacial successions have been pres-erved at depth within the incised valleyson the southeast coast of Australia.

Aminostratigraphy, in conjunction withthermoluminescence dating, additionalradiocarbon ages, and the litho- andbiostratigraphic analysis of 141 vibra-cores, allowed the detailed assessment of the geomorphological evolution ofwave-dominated barrier estuaries thatformed in both broad, and narrow, inc-ised valleys on the southeast coast ofAustralia. Results from the stratigraphicand geochronological analysis show thatthe estuaries investigated in this thesishave an evolutionary pathway that isdifferent to previous models of barrierestuary evolution. In contrast to theearlier models of barrier estuary evol-ution, this thesis places a greater emph-asis on the influence of the antecedentLate Pleistocene landsurface on the geo-morphological evolution of barrier estu-aries on the southeast coast of Australia.The Late Pleistocene sediments are rep-resented by dense, mottled estuarine


clays and/or by remnant barrier systemscomprising medium-grained quartz sandwith a clay matrix. The Late Pleistocenesediments preserved within the incisedbedrock valleys represent sedimentarysuccessions deposited during previoushigh-stands in sea-level that have under-gone minor diagenetic alteration duringsubsequent sea-level lowstands. There-fore, the Late Pleistocene sediments nowrepresent low-stand weathering profilesand provided the substrate over whichHolocene sedimentary successions havebeen deposited. In particular, the preser-vation of remnant Last Interglacial barr-ier systems are found underlying theHolocene barrier systems and provide acore over which Holocene barriersediments have accumulated.

Results from this study have also shownthat Holocene transgressive sands aremore extensive than previously anticip-ated and form a basal, near basin-wideshell-rich deposit that extends almost up to present sea-level. The transgressivesandsheet facies lies unconformably overthe Late Pleistocene antecedent land-surface and was deposited during themost recent post-glacial marine trans-gression (PMT) when rising sea-levelsbreached Last Interglacial remnantbarriers and inundated shallow incisedvalleys causing more open marine cond-itions to persist between 8,000 and ca5,500 years ago. This contrasts withestablished models for barrier estuaryevolution on the southeast coast ofAustralia where Holocene PMT sand-sheets were restricted to the mouths ofincised valleys and back-barrier centralbasin muds lie directly over the ante-cedent Pleistocene landsurface.

This study also presents a database of 121 previously published radiocarbonages obtained from fossil molluscs, org-anic material and fixed biological indic-ators from back-barrier sedimentarysuccessions and the marginal marineenvironment on the southeast coast ofAustralia that have been used to constrainHolocene sea-level fluctuations. The data-base has been limited to fossil materialsthat have an accurate description of faciesassociation and stratigraphic relationshipto present mean sea-level (PMSL). Anassessment of the uncertainty terms asso-ciated with the various proxy sea-levelindicators is made and radiocarbon agesare calibrated to sidereal years. Additionalradiocarbon ages and aspartic acid

racemisation-derived ages obtained onfossils preserved in the Holocene PMTsandsheets deposited in shallow incisedvalleys are presented in this thesis. Asynthesis of the previously publishedradiocarbon ages and new data presen-ted in this thesis has permitted a revisedHolocene sea-level curve for the south-east coast of Australia to be delineated.Results show that rising sea levels duringthe most recent PMT attained an elev-ation of around -10 m by 10,000 cal yr BPand continued to rise to ca -5 m by 8,500cal yr BP. Between 8,300 and 8,000 cal yrBP sea-level had risen to at least 3 mbelow PMSL and inundated shallow inc-ised valleys, resulting in the deposition of shell-rich transgressive sandsheets.The most recent PMT sea-levels attainedpresent levels around 7,700 cal yr BP,slightly earlier than a previously proposedculmination of ca 7,000 cal yr BP. Resultsindicate that sea-level continued to rise to between 1 and 1.5 m above PMSL by7,400 cal yr BP during the culmination ofthe most recent PMT and was followed bya sea-level highstand that lasted to sometime between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago.This was followed by a relatively slow andsmooth regression of sea-level from ca+1.5 m to present levels. A series of minornegative and positive oscillations in rela-tive sea-level associated with variations in ocean topography and/or climatechange during the mid to late Holoceneappear to be superimposed over the Holo-cene sea-level highstand and subsequentsmooth sea-level regression.

This study highlights the potential ofaspartic acid racemisation as an import-ant supplement for dating of fossilspreserved in Holocene marginal marinedeposits. This thesis also represents themost rigorous application of the asparticacid racemisation dating method to theinvestigation of Holocene sedimentaryinfill of incised valley systems, and sea-level change during the most recent PMT.The evolutionary models of barrier estu-ary evolution developed in this thesisshow that both the antecedent Late Pleist-ocene substrate and fluctuating Holocenesea levels have had a greater influence onthe geomorphological evolution of barrierestuaries than previously anticipated.These revised models of estuary evolutioncan be applied to other shallow incisedvalley systems on tectonically stable, wave- dominated coastlines, and provide a template for future studies in wave-dominated barrier estuaries on thesoutheast coast of Australia.

Depositional characteristics ofrecent and late Holocene overwashsandsheets in coastal embaymentsfrom southeast Australia

ADAM D SWITZER (PhD)

School of Earth and EnvironmentalSciences, University of Wollongong

Sedimentary evidence for large-scalewashover deposition along the Australiansoutheast coast is found as sandsheets inestuaries and anomalous boulder accum-ulations on rocky ramps and headlands.Large imbricated allochtonous bouldersfound elevated up to 33m above presentsea-level indicate high energy depositionon sheltered rock ramps and coastalheadlands and attest to very high waveenergy in the past. Analysis of the sedim-entary structures within the boulders canin places be related to ramp lithology andidentify significant transport distanceswhere the original position of the boulderis identified. The most striking boulderdeposits are found in the ambient loca-tion of a large bay and have been trans-ported more than 30 m horizontally alonga boulder ramp and elevated to a heightof more than 7 m above present sea-level.Although this evidence is striking, it isimpossible to identify if the boulderswere moved in one movement or havebeen moved by several events over time.

This study presents sedimentologicalevidence for a tsunami event(s) found in the upper fill of several embaymentsalong the coast. Laterally extensive mar-ine sandsheets are identified in back-barrier lagoons and elevated shell-richsands are found on the margin of a largedrowned river valley. These deposits existup to 3km from the influence of moderncoastal processes. The back-barrier sand-sheets contrast with the finer confiningsediments of the coastal lagoon andbarrier estuary.

Interpretation of the depositional historyof the deposits is conducted with refer-ence to a global review of overwashdeposition and a modern analog from the southeast Australian coast. In theabsence of any geological evidence forknown tsunami events on this coast, thedeposits are compared to two modernsandsheets that were deposited duringtwo large storms in 2001. This studytherefore allows direct comparison of thedeposits of unknown source to the stormdeposited sediments found AbrahamsBosom Beach.



A large sandsheet is identified at KillaleaLagoon is composed of mixed marinesediment dominated by dune and beachsand but also containing platy heavymineral assemblages indicative of near-shore to inner shelf sediments. Thismarine sediment is mixed with clumps of coastal vegetation and rip-up clasts ofsoil and lagoonal muds and clays.

The marginal drowned river valley mat-erial in a small embayment at BatemansBay includes a coarse shell-unit con-taining large, often articulated, bivalveshells and oysters, along with cobbles ofmixed lithology in a matrix of marinesand suggesting deposition of predom-inantly seaward tidal channel material.

The advantage of the sandy deposits liesin the analysis of their internal sediment-ology and the presence of datable peatand shelly sands that confine the sandsheets and coarse shell-rich deposit resp-ectively. The internal sedimentology ofthe deposit yields little structure andsediments consist of a series of massive,laminated and graded beds that oftenincorporate organic debris. These dep-osits contrast with storm washover dep-osits investigated at Abrahams BosomBeach from the same coast that consist ofthin graded beds of beach face and dunesediment only. These latter beds are a few centimeters thick and can be tracedthroughout the deposit. The storm depos-its are the result of numerous wave-gener-ated landward pulses while the larger,more chaotic deposit is the result ofseveral very large pulses capable of erod-ing and transporting shelf, nearshore,dune and terrestrial sediments landwardfollowed by partial reworking by backflow. These characteristics are indicativeof the chaotic reworking of such depositsby short-lived high-energy events attrib-uted to tsunami.

Dating of the Batemans Bay sequence wasproblematic and the shell-rich unit canonly be confined to an age of around 1000yrs At Killalea Lagoon optically stimula-ted luminescence (OSL) dating of quartzsediments from the sandsheets supple-mented dating of the confining peatdeposits by AMS radiocarbon.. Althoughaffected by groundwater contamination,dates from the Killalea Lagoon sitesuggest that the depositional event isattributed to a large-scale inundationevent between 200 and 800 years agoadding to a considerable bank of pub-lished dates that cluster around this

period. Possible tsunami sources includesediment slides off the continental slopeof Australia or New Zealand, seismicevents in New Zealand and the MacquarieRidge and bollide impacts in the TasmanSea or southwest Pacific.

The environmental reconstructionof the last glacial cycle at RedheadLagoon in coastal, easternAustralia

NICOLA JANE WILLIAMS (PhD)

School of GeosciencesThe University of [email protected]

This study reconstructs thepalaeoenvironmental history during the last full glacial cycle (approximatelythe last 75,000 years) at Redhead Lagoon,an enclosed lake basin located in coastal,eastern New South Wales, Australia. Thishas been achieved primarily through sedi-mentological, palaeoecological and min-eral magnetic analyses of long cores. Thesequence adds to the limited number oflong-term records in Australia and fromthis region in particular.

The chronology of the sediment record is established through AMS radiocarbonand Optically Stimulated Luminescence(OSL) dating. More than 30 AMS radio-carbon ages, using a variety of pre-treat-ment methods, have been obtained forthree cores, which makes this one of themost comprehensively dated lake sedi-ment sequences thus far in Australia.

During the initial stages of the last glacialperiod the site was dominated by a mob-ile dune system with no permanent water,supporting only semi-arid vegetationcommunities. The dune sand was part ofa sequence of cliff-top dunes located onnearby Dudley Bluff emplaced by a pro-cess of ‘sand ramping’ during an earlierPleistocene phase of lower sea level.

Pollen analysis indicates that the sequenceof vegetation changes seen at RedheadLagoon broadly compares with the cyclicalpattern of climatically induced changesseen in many other pollen records insoutheastern Australia. Alternating openherbaceous and woodland/ forest comm-unities correspond with glacial and inter-glacial periods respectively. Superimposedon this pattern is a change towards a moreopen understorey vegetation assemblage,i.e. increasing values of Poaceae relative toAsteraceae (particularly type B) over thelast 35,000 years.

A sharp increase in the incidence of Casuarinaceae from the height of the lastglacial and its subsequent decline relativeto Eucalyptus in the latter stages of theHolocene is evident. While reducedmoisture availability may have initiallyfacilitated the expansion of Casuarin-aceae, the restriction of Casuarinaceaeduring earlier arid periods indicates thatanother factor appears to have been inoperation. An examination of changingChenopodiaceae/Casuarinaceae ratios,an indicator of salt-tolerance, shows thatsoil salinity may have been a significantcontributor to the incidence of Casuar-inaceae at Redhead Lagoon.

The driest period during the last glacialcycle occurred during MIS 2. A hiatus inone core from c. 28,000 to 12,000 BP mayhave been caused by the erosion of sed-iments during the LGM and late glacialperiod. However, deposits dating fromthis period are preserved in a secondcore. This core indicates the presence of a Casuarinaceae-dominated open sclero-phyll woodland in association with grass-land and low water balances during theheight of the last glacial period.

The Holocene marks the start of a periodof climatic amelioration. It is character-ised by highly organic sediment depos-ition, an increase in pollen taxa diversityand the disappearance of several colderand/or drier taxa indicators (e.g. Aster-aceae type B). The highest water balancesin the sequence are attained during theearly to mid-Holocene. This is suggestedby the development of wet sclerophyllforest and the attainment of maximumvalues of taxa such as Pomaderris andMelaleuca. There is also a possible switchto a summer rainfall dominated climaticregime during this period.

Both microscopic and macroscopic char-coal counting methods have been emp-loyed in this study. Importantly, this hasallowed the quantitative assessment ofthe macroscopic charcoal method over a longer time period than previouslydocumented in Australian records. Anevaluation of the two procedures revealsseveral notable differences. In particular,the macroscopic charcoal method rec-ords several more local fire events unableto be distinguished by the microscopiccharcoal technique.

The relative importance of climatic andhuman influences on environmentalchange has been assessed. The majority


of changes in the vegetation and charcoalrecords correlate with periods of signif-icant climatic fluctuation. From around35,000 years ago the vegetation becamemore open and ceased to support fre-quent or intense fires, resulting in adramatic reduction in charcoal concen-trations. This change may correspondwith the start of a period of increasedaridity that has been suggested fromgeomorphic evidence from southwesternNew South Wales and increased ENSOvariability. The small size of the RedheadLagoon catchment, the close proximity of other larger and probably more attrac-tive sites for humans, along with the lim-ited population and nomadic lifestyle ofthe indigenous Aborigines, were probablymajor factors contributing to the relat-ively limited impact. In addition, theclose proximity of the site to the coastlinewould likely have meant that fishing wasan important activity and the open wood-land found on this sandstone catchment

is unlikely to have furnished many usefulplant foods. Therefore, there may havebeen little advantage for humans in alocation such as Redhead lagoon inmanipulating the vegetation using fire.

During the mid-Holocene, however, there is evidence of increases in disturbedground taxa and the ‘fire adapted’ genusEucalyptus, along with increased charcoalfragments. In addition, there is a signific-ant increase in the aquatic wetland plantTypha, which was extensively used by theAborigines. In the absence of climaticstress the combination of these increasesin various vegetation types and charcoalconcentrations suggest that anthropo-genic burning may have caused land-scape change from this time.

There have been significant environ-mental changes since permanent Euro-pean settlement began in the catchment.These include the introduction of severalexotic vegetation types and significantincreases in sediment accumulation

rates, charcoal particles and possiblynutrient levels. In addition, there hasbeen a decline in the incidence of severaltree and rainforest taxa, which may reflectland clearing practices and the increasingfragmentation of forest communitiesafter the arrival of European settlers.Changes in land use and human activityhave had far more impact on the catch-ment than climatic and other naturalfluctuations during this most recentperiod.


• Armand, L. K., Crosta, X. Romero, O. and Pichon, J.-J. 2005.The biogeography of major diatom taxa in Southern Oceansediments: 1. Sea-ice related species. Palaeogeography,Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 223:93-126.

• Couapel, M.J.J. and Bowles, C.J. 2005. Impact of gammadensitometry on the luminescence signal of quartz grains.Geo-Marine Letters DOI: 10.1007/s00367-005-0009-8

• Gale, S.J. and Carden, Y.R. 2005. The archaeology of nativewells: Aboriginal Wells on Sweers Island in the Gulf ofCarpentaria of northern Australia. Gulf of CarpentariaScientific Study Report. Royal Geographical Society ofQueensland, Brisbane, pp. 181–200.

• Gale, S.J. and Haworth, R.J. 2005. Catchment-wide soil lossfrom pre-agricultural times to the present: transport- andsupply-limitation of erosion. Geomorphology 68:314–333.

• Gersonde, R., Crosta, X., Abelmann, A. and Armand, L.2005. Sea-surface temperature and sea ice distribution ofthe Southern Ocean at the EPILOG Last Glacial Maximum –a circum-Antarctic view based on siliceous microfossilrecords. Quaternary Science Reviews 24:869-896.

• Haberle, S.G. 2005. A 23,000-yr pollen record from LakeEuramoo, Wet Tropics of NE Queensland, Australia.Quaternary Research 64:343-356.

• Haberle, S.G., and Atkin, G. 2005. Needles in a haystack:searching for sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) inthe fossil pollen record. In C. Ballard, P. Brown, R. M.

Bourke and T. Harwood (eds), The Sweet Potato in Oceania: a reappraisal, Oceania Monograph 56, OceaniaPublications, University of Sydney, pp. 25-33.

• Holdaway, S.J., Fanning, P.C. and Shiner, J. Absence ofevidence or evidence of absence?: understanding thechronology of indigenous occupation of western NewSouth Wales, Australia. Archaeology in Oceania 40:33-49.

• Lowe, D.J. and Palmer, D.J. 2005. Andisols of New Zealandand Australia. Journal of Integrated Field Science 2:39-65.

• Shiner, J., Holdaway, S.J., Allen, H.A. and Fanning, P.C.Understanding Stone Artefact Assemblage Variability inLate Holocene Contexts in Western New South Wales,Australia: Burkes Cave, Stud Creek and Fowlers Gap. In C.Clarkson and L. Lamb (eds) Lithics Down Under: AustralianPerspectives on Lithic Reduction, Use and Classification.British Archaeological Reports, International MonographSeries No. S1408, Archaeopress: Oxford. 67-80

• Sloss, C.R., Murray-Wallace, C.V., Jones, B.G. and Walin, T.2004. Aspartic Acid Racemisation dating of mid Holoceneto recent estuarine sedimentation in New South Wales,Australia: A pilot study. Marine Geology 212:45-59.

• Sloss, C.R., Jones B.G., Murray-Wallace C.V., 2005.Holocene sea level change and the evolution of a barrierestuary: a case study, Lake Illawarra, NSW, Australia.Journal of Coastal Research 21:943-959.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS


UPCOMING EVENTS

XVII INQUA Congress, Cairns 2007 Preparations are underway for the XVII INQUA congress in 2007 which will be held in Cairns, Australia from 28 July to the 3 August.The Australasian Quaternary Association is sponsoring themeeting. An initial information page has been set up atwww.aqua.org.au/AQUA/INQUA2007.html

Please address all general enquires [email protected]

Controls of the ITCZ Position in Past Climates:Observations and Models (PP02) at the 2006 JointAssembly of the American Geophysical Union, takes place in Baltimore, Maryland from 23–26 May 2006. The deadlinefor electronic submission of abstracts is 1 March 2006:www.agu.org/meetings/ja06/

Session conveners:Tony Broccoli [email protected] or John Chiang [email protected]

International Field Meeting on Sub-aeriallyexposed continental shelves since the MiddlePleistocene climatic transition. August 14–19, 2006Exmouth and Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. Departmentof Applied Geology, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.Sponsored by International Union for Quaternary Research(INQUA), PAGES, International Geosphere-Biosphere Prog-ramme (IGBP), Department of Applied Geology, CurtinUniversity, Gascoyne Development Commission.

The project is aimed at the study of terrestrial deposits in sub-aerially exposed continental shelves since the MiddlePleistocene climatic transition (MIS 13). An important focus is the role of sub-aerially exposed continental shelves in carbon storage and the likely contribution of greenhousegases into the atmosphere. Abstracts on all aspects of conti-nental shelf sciences are welcomed for oral/poster presenta-tions.

Convenor Associate Prof Lindsay CollinsDepartment of Applied Geology, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth 6845, Western [email protected]: 618-9266 7977 (direct) / 618-9266 7968 (messages)www.inqua.curtin.edu.au

4th International Limnogeology CongressBarcelona, 11–14 July 2007 www.ilic2007.com

CAVEPS 2007 11th Conference on VertebrateEvolution, Palaeontology and Systematics9 April – 12 April, 2007, Museum Victoria, Melbourne Australia.

Conference convenors: John Long (accommodation, dinner, venue)[email protected] VictoriaGPO Box 666E Melbourne 3001 AustraliaPhone: (61) 3 83417420Anne Warren (registration, program)[email protected] Warren, Department of Zoology, La Trobe UniversityMelbourne 3086, AustraliaPhone: (61) 3 94792241

Australian Earth Science Convention Melbourne 2–6 July 2006 www.earth2006.org.au

American Quaternary Association Biennial Meeting, Bozeman, 17–20 August 2006Ocean/Atmosphere Interactions and ContinentalConsequences: Environmental Forecasting from theQuaternary Sciences

http://bsi2.msu.montana.edu/amqua/meeting

10th International Paleolimnology SymposiumDuluth, Minnesota, USA, 25–29 June 2006 www.geo.umn.edu/paleolim10/Abstract submissions will close 1 April 2006.

Conference co-chair:Emi Ito: [email protected] Research Center, andDepartment of Geology and GeophysicsUniversity of Minnesota

HOLIVAR2006: Natural Climate Variability and Global Warming Environmental Change ResearchCentre (ECRC), University College London, 12–15 June 2006Abstract submissions will close 1 April 2006.

www.holivar2006.orgwww.holivar2006.org/registration.php

Australasian Quaternary AssociationCommittee Members

Professor Henk Heijnis President Science Program Manager Climate Variability and Extreme Events Sydney Catchment Authority PO Box 323, Penrith NSW 2751 (Level 2, 311 High St, Penrith NSW 2750) Ph: +61 (0)2 4725 2513 Fax: +61 (0)2 4725 2560 [email protected]

Dr Brent Alloway Vice-President Wairakei Research Centre, State Highway 1Private Bag 2000, Taupo New ZealandPh: +64 7 376 0160 Fax: +64 7 374 [email protected]

Dr Janelle Stevenson Treasurer Department of Archaeology and Natural HistoryResearch School of Pacific and Asian StudiesThe Australian National UniversityCanberra ACT 0200 AustraliaPh: +61 (0)2 6125 3153 Fax: +61 (0)2 6125 [email protected]

Dr Stuart Pearson Secretary Land and Water [email protected]

Dr Timothy T. Barrows Information Technology Officer Department of Nuclear PhysicsResearch School of Physical Sciences and EngineeringThe Australian National UniversityCanberra ACT 0200 AustraliaPh: +61 (0)2 6125 [email protected]

Mr Kale Sniderman Editor Quaternary AustralasiaSchool of Geography and Environmental ScienceBuilding 11, Monash University Victoria 3800 AustraliaPh: +61 (0)3 9905 [email protected]

Quaternary Australasia publishes news, commentary,notices of upcoming events, travel, conference andresearch reports, post-graduate thesis abstracts andpeer-reviewed research papers of interest to theAustralasian Quaternary research community.

Cartoons, sardonic memoirs, images of mystery fossilsand amusing occupational health and safety breachesalso welcome. Non-refereed material for QA 24 (1)should reach the editor by 1 June, 2006. Please ensurethat citations are formatted to conform to QA style.

The Australasian Quaternary Association (AQUA) is an informal group of people interested in the man-ifold phenomena of the Quaternary… Sub-Era/Sub-Erathem. It seeks to encourage research by youngerworkers in particular, to promote scientific comm-uni-cation between Australia and New Zealand, and to inform members of current research and public-ations. It holds biennial meetings and publishes the journal Quaternary Australasia twice a year.

The annual subscription is AUD$35, or AUD$25 for stu-dents, unemployed or retired persons. To apply for membership, please contact Janelle Stevenson(address at right). Members joining after Septembergain membership for the following year. Existingmembers will be sent a reminder in December.

Quaternary AUSTRALASIA

ABOVE Vicuña above 4000 m. The wild camelids are recovering from the endangered species list in Parque Nacional Lauca in the altiplano, close to the Bolivian border. See Pauline English's report on the Southern Deserts conference, p. 19. Photo: P. English.

volume 23 | number 2 | january 2006 quaternary australasia

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