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Vertical movements of the solid surface reflect crustal deformation and mantle deep related phenomena. For Holocene times, coastlines displaced from the present mean sea level are often used, combined with past relative sea levels (RSL) prediction models, to clue the vertical deformational field. Along the coast from south-western Turkey until Israel and Cyprus, a certain amount of good quality data is already published, leaving only a gap where data are absent along the Central Anatolian Plateau (CAP) coast. Based on new field observations along with this sector, between Adalia and Adana (Mersin, southern Turkey), together with AMS 14C dating, the gap is filled, allowing to describe an overall frame made by vertical differential movements along the Eastern Mediterranean coast. Most recent Glacial Isostatic Adjustments (GIA) models have been used to remove the glacio-hydro isostatic component of the RSL. Different solutions from ICE-6G(VM5a) and ICE-7G(VM7) models (developed by W.R. Peltier and co-workers, Toronto University), as also a solution from the GIA model progressively developed by K. Lambeck and collaborators at the Australian National University, have been applied on 201 middle-to-late Holocene markers of RSL. Both GIA models have been implemented within the numerical Sea level Equation solver SELEN4.Tectonic velocity has been therefore calculated. Starting from southwestern Turkey, subsidence has been found within the range between -0.91 mm/yr and -2.15 mm/yr confirming values from previous works. Velocities from the new markers along the CAP coast are positive ranging between 1.01 and 1.65 mm/yr. These two first blocks are separated by a sharp velocity contact, occurring along the complex fault zone of the Isparta Angle. Such values for the CAP margin were expected as recently published papers report high vertical velocities for a Middle to Late Pleistocene uplift event. Moving to the east, velocities are also positive, within 0.3-0.6 mm/yr, along the coast between the Hatay Gulf and southern Lebanon. The spiked profile of the Lebanese sector is likely due to co-seismic deformations along the Lebanese Restraining Bend faults (LRB). To the south, the Israeli coast is instead showing stability according to some unique RSL markers named piscinae while other markers indicate slow subsidence. Hence another velocity jump of at least 0.5 mm/yr is recognizable between Israel and Lebanon: it is probably associated with already known brittle structures. In northern Cyprus, the only Holocene sea-level marker confirms the almost zero vertical velocity values already obtained for the MIS 5e marine terrace. Therefore, a vertical velocity jump occurs between stable Cyprus and the uplifting CAP southern margin, although they are placed on the same overriding plate of the subduction system. High-angle normal faults at the northern margin of the Adana-Cilicia Basin could explain these different vertical velocity fields. These results depict a complex frame of wide independently moving crustal blocks where kinematic separation occurs along well-known regional fault zones. Driving causes of the block movements could be related either to regional tectonics, as it probably is for the LRB coast, or to mantle dynamics, for the uplifting Turkish sector where deeper processes should be considered.

This paper aims to achieve an improved understanding of the long-term change trends of precipitation δD and δ 18 O values (δD p and δ 18 O p ) in the Asian monsoonal region and their relationship with the corresponding humidity trends during the Holocene. To do this we first review the observed modern spatial pattern of summer precipitation distribution in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) region under different EASM intensities, and the relationship between modern observed δ 18 O p values and corresponding precipitation amounts on monthly and inter-annual timescales in the EASM and Indian summer monsoon (ISM) regions. Second, we compare Holocene lacustrine and marine compound-specific hydrogen isotopic records of n -alkanes/ n -alkanoic acid (δD n ), lacustrine authigenic carbonate and cave stalagmite oxygen isotopic records (δ 18 O c and δ 18 O s ) from the Asian monsoonal region, all of which are closely related to δD p and δ 18 O p variations. The results demonstrate that in both the ISM and EASM regions, all of these isotopic records exhibit roughly similar long-term characteristics, i.e. they were all more negative during the early-Holocene and early mid-Holocene (ca. 11–6 ka B.P.; B.P. means before present, present = 1950 AD), and then became more positive towards the late-Holocene. Third, we compare representative paleo-humidity records from the Asian monsoonal region; the results confirm that, in the ISM region, a humid interval occurred in the early-Holocene and early mid-Holocene (ca. 11–6 ka B.P.) and subsequently the climate became more arid towards the late-Holocene. This indicates an enhanced ISM during the early-Holocene and early mid-Holocene (ca. 11–6 ka B.P.), and an ISM of decreasing intensity towards the late-Holocene. On a Holocene orbital scale, both δ 18 O p and δD p appear to be controlled by an “amount effect” in the ISM region, consistent with the region's inter-annual modern δ 18 O p data. This evidence indicates that both δ 18 O p and δD p paleo-records are significantly related to paleo-humidity in the ISM region. In contrast, Holocene humidity variations in the EASM region exhibit clear spatial differences: a humid mid-Holocene interval (ca. 8–3 ka B.P.) occurred in southern and northern China, but an arid interval from ca. 7–3 ka B.P. occurred in central China, in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Based on precipitation distribution patterns under different EASM intensities in the EASM region over the past few decades, we conclude that EASM intensity was enhanced during the mid-Holocene (ca. 8–3 ka B.P.). Relative to the ISM intensity, the response of EASM intensity to summer insolation was relatively slow. In the EASM region the relationship between climate and δ 18 O p and δD p is more complex, consistent with analyses of regional inter-annual modern δ 18 O p data. This evidence demonstrates that both δ 18 O p and δD p paleo-records cannot be used directly as paleo-humidity (i.e. precipitation amount or EASM intensity) indicators in the EASM region. Further comparison and analyses demonstrate that the coupled variations in west–east Equatorial Pacific temperature gradients and the West Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) played an important role in determining EASM intensity during the Holocene.

The Mississippi River fluvial–marine sediment-dispersal system (MRS) has become the focus of renewed research during the past decade, driven by the recognition that the channel, alluvial valley, delta, and offshore regions are critical components of North American economic and ecological networks. This renaissance follows and builds on over a century of intense engineering and geological study, and was sparked by the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico 2005 hurricane season, the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill, and the newly recognized utility of source-to-sink concepts in hydrocarbon exploration and production. With this paper, we consider influences on the MRS over Neogene timescales, integrate fluvial and marine processes with the valley to shelf to deepwater regions, discuss MRS evolution through the late Pleistocene and Holocene, and conclude with an evaluation of Anthropocene MRS morphodynamics and source-to-sink connectivity in a time of profound human alteration of the system. In doing so, we evaluate the effects of tectonic, climatic, and anthropogenic influences on the MRS over multiple timescales. The Holocene MRS exhibits autogenic process-response at multiple spatial and temporal scales, from terrestrial catchment to marine basin. There is also ample evidence for allogenic influence, if not outright control, on these same morphodynamic phenomena that are often considered hallmarks of autogenesis in sedimentary systems. Prime examples include episodes of enhanced Holocene flooding that likely triggered avulsion, crevassing, and lobe-switching events at subdelta to delta scales. The modern locus of the Mississippi fluvial axis and shelf–slope–fan complex was established by Neogene crustal dynamics that steered sediment supply. Dominant Miocene sediment supply shifted west to east, due to regional subsidence in the Rockies. Then, drier conditions inhibited sediment delivery from the Rocky Mountains, and Appalachian epeirogenic uplift combined with wetter conditions to enhance sediment delivery from the Appalachians. Climatic influences came to the forefront during Pleistocene glacial–interglacial cycles. The fluvial system rapidly responded to sea-level rises and falls with rapid and extensive floodplain aggradation and fluvial knickpoint migration, respectively. More dramatically, meltwater flood episodes spanning decades to centuries were powerful agents of geomorphic sculpting and source-to-sink connectivity from the ice edge to the deepest marine basin. Differential sediment loading from alluvial valley to slope extending from Cretaceous to present time drove salt-tectonic motions, which provided additional morphodynamic complexity, steered deep-sea sediment delivery, diverted and closed canyons, and contributed to modern slope geometry. Despite the best efforts from generations of engineers, the leveed, gated, and dammed Mississippi still demonstrates the same tendency for self-regulation that confronted 19th century engineers. This is most apparent in the bed-level aggradation and scour associated with changes in sediment cover and stream power in river channels, and in the upstream migration of channel depocenters and fluvial and sediment outlets at the expense of downstream flow, that will ultimately lead to delta backstepping. Like other source-to-sink systems, upstream control of sediment supply is impacting downstream morphology. Even within the strait-jacketed confines of the modern flood control system, the Mississippi River still retains some independence.