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This paper outlines the origin and taxonomy of the Neopleistocene—Holocene Ponto-Caspian benthic foraminifera for their future use in stratigraphy, geological history, and paleogeographic reconstructions, including water exchange between the neighboring basins. It is shown that the Caspian foraminiferal fauna is shallow, highly endemic (92%), and contains many (61%) agglutinated species and subspecies. The Pontic foraminiferal fauna is characterized not only by insignificant endemism (0.6%) at the species and subspecies level, but also by a large number (83%) of Mediterranean and Atlantic (mainly boreal) forms. All Pontic (Azov-Black Sea) foraminifera are shallow, most probably due to the shallowness of the Bosphorus or any other strait that connected the Pontic and Mediterranean basins to each other. The particular group of the Ammoniidae- Elphidiidae creates a unique image of the Ponto-Caspian foraminiferal assemblages and indicates a tendency of forming foraminiferal fauna from a limited number of shelf genera of the southern genesis Ammonia, Elphidium, and Porosononion typical for the southern closed and semi-closed seas. The low number of high rank taxa (orders) is a result of the low salinity of the Ponto-Caspian and its restricted connection to the open ocean. The main concept of the origin and taxonomic peculiarities of the Ponto-Caspian benthic foraminifera is as follows. The foraminiferal fauna of the Caspian Sea originated largely from the Tethys and Eastern Paratethys. They evolved in a basin that was isolated from the World Ocean for a long time. The foraminiferal fauna of the Black Sea has a Mediterranean-Atlantic-Caspian origin. It is younger when compared to the Caspian fauna, and is characterized by much smaller evolutionary transformations, but much higher taxonomic diversity. The foraminiferal fauna of the Ponto-Caspian is formed by representatives of a limited number of euryfacies orders (Ammodiscida, Astrorhizida, Ataxophragmiida, Buliminida, Lagenida, Miliolida, Rotaliida) characteristic of the internal and marginal seas and their specific hydrological regime.

The primacy of fossils in the Natural History Museum (NHM) goes back to the very origins of the Museum, but the first fossil hominins in the collections were probably the Upper Palaeolithic remains from Bruniquel, which were accessioned in 1864. This founded a collection which has continued to expand into this century. While there have been many compilations and descriptions of the fossil hominin collection at the NHM over its long history, to our knowledge no‐one has prepared a review of the collection itself. The intention of the current paper is to synthesize earlier sources with accounts of new finds, revised chronologies and rediscovered treasures in order to illustrate the breadth and continuing importance of the fossil hominins curated at the NHM. We list and discuss all the hominin material known or thought to pre‐date the Holocene. These form a collection of great importance, both in terms of their research …

This paper addresses the surface and Holocene aeolian deposits in the southeastern Mu Us Desert, N. China, systematically analysing the evolution of the geochemical characteristics of aeolian sand–palaeosol sequences and their environmental significance. Our results indicate that the geochemical components of the Holocene aeolian deposits and surface deposits had the similar material sources, sediment transport and deposition processes in the study region, which were dominated by SiO2, Al2O3, and Na2O. In the weathering process of the Jinjie (JJ) profile, the Na, K, and Si presented the slight leaching and migration in general, while the other elements were relatively accumulated. The Holocene aeolian deposits and surface deposits incurred weaker geochemical weathering under cold and dry conditions and were only weakly leached, which implies a relatively arid environment in the Holocene epoch and the modern era. The weathering degree was controlled by the regional temperature and precipitation, and was probably more sensitive to the precipitation changes. In the sedimentary profile, the geochemical parameters and migration of elements demonstrated that there have been several alternating warm–wet and cold–dry intervals in the Mu Us Desert in the Holocene epoch; there were relatively warm and wet conditions prior to 4.6 ka, and it has been cold and dry since then. Six millennial-scale dry events were recorded during the Holocene, which were not only accordant with the history of palaeoclimatic changes in the different latitudes and archives of the Northern Hemisphere, but also correspond to the millennial-scale variation of cosmic radiation and solar activity during that period. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In this paper we present sedimentological, geochemical, mineralogical and 14C Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating data of a 21.0-m core obtained from Alikes Lagoon, Zakynthos Island. It is the first time that sedimentological and geochemical data are presented, up to 21-m depth, from an Holocene coastal lagoon environment of the Ionia Sea, western Greece. The sedimentological properties and the geochemical composition of sediments were studied for the time period between 8540 years bp to present. Samples were analysed for their particle size, calcium carbonate and total organic carbon (TOC) content. Moreover, bulk sample chemical analyses for major and trace elements were carried out, as well as bulk, oriented mineralogical analyses for the clay fraction (