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Mothersill and Fung (1972) declare in the introduction of their paper that one of the aims "of this investigation was to determine the Quaternary stratigraphy . . . of the northern part of the Lake Superior basin". Therefore, a reader expects not only new original data, but also consideration of generally accepted stratigraphic criteria including the code of the American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature ( 1961 ), and correlation with up-todate stratigraphic schemes of other authors. Unfortunately, the authors are confusing rock stratigraphic with time stratigraphic terms, are defining a time transgressive contact as the boundary between two established time stratigraphic units, and are not using the latest references for correlations. To some extent, this has been done already before by the senior author (Mothersill 197 1 ) , and the present paper of Mothersill and Fung (1972) repeatedly refers to his equally disputable stratigraphic statements. In their Table 1, Mothersill and Fung (1972) call Farrand's (1969) names of sediments encountered in cores of Lake Superior as "Time Stratigraphic Units". They could be considered informal rock stratigraphic units, but never time stratigraphic. No reasons are given why, in the same table, the authors (and also Mothersill 1971) have chosen Hough's (1958) very seldom used classification of the Wisconsin Stage, when they already indicate in the table, that most of Hough's substages (five out of six) are missing in the area; the only one listed as present (Valders) is not a term introduced by J. L. Hough. Why not refer to any other more recently published and widely used classifications of the last glacial stage in the Great Lakes Region? No explanation is given by Mothersill and Fung ( 1972) and Mothersill (1971 ), why they prefer 11 000 yr B.P., based upon a few black carbon dates (Flint and Deevey 1951) for dating the Valders advance, rather than using, or at least mentioning the 18850 + 100 yr B.P. average date (Broecker and Farrand 1963) of the Two Creeks forest bed, which was flooded and the trees killed, during the Valders advance. The latter date is based upon a special investigation of new material and comparison with more than twenty other radiocarbon dates. One of the most confused concepts in Mothersill and Fung (1972) is the HolocenePleistocene boundary. They say that Mothersill ( 1971 ) , "defined the basal contact of the claysilt sequence with the underlying gray varves as the Holocene-Pleistocene boundary". They also state that this contact represents an unconformity. Comparison of their Tables 1 and 3 shows that chronologically this unconformity is partly in the Pleistocene, partly in the Holocene: in Table 3 the extrapolated dates of basal Holocene range from 5400 + to 13 000 2, while in the 'Time Scale' of Table 1 the date of 11 000 yr B.P. is included in Pleistocene. The Holocene-Pleistocene boundary is a timestratigraphic term and therefore it can not fluctuate over a wide span of time. It may be noted that the INQUA Commission on the Holocene announced at the VIII INQUA (International Union for Quaternary Research) Congress in Paris, 1969, that "For the reference boundary between the Pleistocene and Holocene with world-wide validity, the Commission proposes a date at about 10,000 B.P. measured in radiocarbon years" (Hageman 197 1 ) . Neither Mothersill ( 1971 ) nor Mothersill and Fung (1972) have proven that the contact between the clay-silt and underlying varves in

The Pleistocene (including the so-called Holocene) in Japan was chara-cterized by a retreat. of the sea at which time the land surface was altered by erosion and deposition. In the western part of the “Fossa Magna” in Central Japan, several summit levels of various heights, ranging from 600111 to 2000m, are recognizable. In this paper the writer, attempts to describe one of the summit levels, called the “Ondne erosion surface, ” which is as extensive as 1000km2 and has elevations of about 800-1000m. Tertiary sedimentary rock, usually more liable to disintegration and crumbling than solidified rock, has been eroded so rapidly that the reduction of relief of the land has always been conspi-cuous. Accordingly, the Omine plains of erosion are comparable to “primary peneplanes” in regard to the process of their formation. Peaks projecting above the “Omine erosion surface” all consist of resistant rocks, some of whis'li form cuesta or mesa-like topography. Mt. Utukusigahara (2034m) and Hijiri (1447m), long thought to be volcanoes which erupted during the Pleistocene, are far from being this; they are monadnocks with vertical cliffs 300m or more above “Omine erosion surface.” In this area the origin of variations in height is attributed to selective erosion rather than to differential upheaval of the land. The geological meaning of this erosion surface suggests a solution to problems on the graciad age of the neighbouring Japanese Alps and the Pleistocene crustal movement. A more detailed report will be published in the near future.

This paper is presented as a warning of the pitfalls which are involved in a too ready and uncritical acceptance of the evidence for apparent changes in relative land and sea level which has been derived from the archaeological and historical remains around the coasts of southern Britain. The general trends of relative sea level changes in the later Holocene are indicated; but I am concerned more to correct some of the misapprehensions and inexact conclusions which have been drawn from the often imprecise data, and to establish a wider recognition of the types of errors and inaccurate assumptions which have been promulgated in some publications, and which erroneously, albeit unwittingly, have been cited by specialists in other disciplines to reinforce or to substantiate conclusions derived from their different data. The optimum conditions for establishing the former positions of relative mean sea level are found in deposits which can be shown to have formed in a known relationship to sea level as part of a continuous halosere from marine sands and clays to freshwater fen deposits (cf. Churchill 1965, p. 240). I would stress that estimates of sea level changes should be based primarily on the analysis of physiographical data; the archaeological and historical data may provide complementary and corroborative evidence of relative land and sea level changes, but they are generally too imprecise to stand alone as definitive indicators of actual mean sea level or tidal heights.

The origins of agriculture and domestication have long been identified, in theory, with the beginning of permanent settlements; the beginning of the Early Neolithic Period is known, in fact, to be synchronous with the ending of the Last Ice Age. To some scholars, fact and theory have suggested that this synchronism implies a causal relationship between certain assumed climatic changes and the beginnings of food production; for others, this synchronism is not more than a misleading coincidence. It is not the purpose of the writer to discuss the validity of these assumptions except to indicate that opinion seems to be hardening that food production may have had a more complicated and lengthy history than these assumptions suggest. There has grown up over the last 25 years a considerable body of literature expressing the most varied opinion about the causes for the origins of food production, and its variety has not narrowed with the emergence of new evidence. In my opinion, the basis for the solution of this problem will be derived essentially from palaeoecological analyses of selected areas and regions in various parts of the world, and not only in the Near East. This paper is intended to open such a study for the region of south central Anatolia. As might be expected in an ecological study, the evidence derives from a number of disciplines, and, accordingly, several colleagues have contributed to the formulation of the suggested ecological pattern. That pattern itself, however, is the responsibility of the writer.

Mt. Fuji and Mt. Hakone volcanoes lie in the south-west of the Kanto plain and supplied a vast amount of tephras (pyroclastic-fall deposits) through late Quaternary times. The tephras deposited are thicker near the volcanoes and are considered as useful key beds for analysing the history of the volcanoes and the development of terraces. The present paper is devoted primarily to a study of the history of the volcanic activities of Mt. Fuji and Mt. Hakone from the tephrochronological study in the Ooiso hills, where abundant tephra layers and Quaternary sediments are found. In the first place, the most important key bed, “Tokyo pumice”, about which we have as yet very little information in the studied area, has been discovered as a conspicuous pumice bed accompanied with the younger pumice flow deposit of Mt. Hakone volcano. As the Tokyo pumice is a useful horizon marker of the lower Musashino loam formation, the younger pumice flow deposit is placed stratlgraphlcally in this horizon, which is different from those which were reported before. In the next place, the Pleistocene tephra layers in the Ooiso hills are divided into three formations ; the Younger loam, the Kissawa loam and the Tsuchizawa loam. These results are obtained from the relation between tephras and geomorphic surfaces. An idealized geological section of the north-east of the Ooiso hills is shown in Fig. 7. The Kissawa loam, the Kissawa formation and the Kissawa surface are the new geological names. The latter two may have been formed under a remarkable transgression prior to the Holocene epoch, which can be correlated to the Sangamon interglacial. Fig. 8 shows the relationship between the thickness of a tephra and the geological age. The former is expressed by relative figures measured at a certain distance from the crater along the axis of distribution, because this is considered to represent the total volume of a fall unit which is in turn a function of explosivity of an eruption. The tephras of the two volcanoes are interbedded each other., but can be distinguished from the petrological point of view; those of Mt. Hakone are pumiceous deposits of two pyroxene andesitic compositions, and those of Mt. Fuji are scoriaceous of olivine basalt. As shown in this figure, the following results are to be found.1) The activity of Mt. Fuji started later than that of Mt. Hakone.2) Mt. Fuji successively erupted through the time of late Pleistocene until about the beginning of the Holocene. This period of activity was called the “Older Fuji I” as compared with the period of the “Older Fuji II”, the effluent time producing lava flows, and with the “Younger Fuji” of middle to late Holocene (Machida, 1967).3) The activity of Mt. Hakone volcano continued for a long time gradually decreasing in explosivity. From the precise interpretation, the several periods of activity are recognized; I, II (the Older Somma stage I and II), III (the Younger Somma stage) and IV (the Younger Pumice flow and the Central Cone stages accompanying the caldera depression in the younger stage). Those results are obtained from the correlation between the stratigraphy of tephra and the development of the volcanic edifice. And then it is clear that the three greatest explosions occurred after each long quiescent period of activity shown by the Tsuchizawa pumice, the Kissawa A-pumice and the Tokyo pumice. The volcanic activity became less explosive as well as less frequent in the IV stage, while several central cones were constructed.

The paper presents the results of pollen and macroscopic analyses of three peat deposits in the surroundings of Lestina (near Světla nad Sazavou) on the western slopes of Bohemian-Moravian Uplands. On the basis of the results obtained, a reconstruction of forest covers was made and the representation of various woody plants in the forests from the Sub-boreal period to the present was evaluated. Beech-fir forests were found to have prevailed in the area before the beginning of colonization, andPicea excelsa is shown to have originally occurred at 450–500 m altitudo. The results of macroscopic analyses were used for the reconstruction of the vegetation of peat deposits. The findings of historical investigations of the forests were taken into consideration and the conclusions of geobotanical reconstruction mapping were compared with the results obtained.

Hokkaido lsland has been a site of intense volcanic activity during Quaternary period through which 36 volcanoes have erupted along the inner zones of the Kurile arc and the Honshu arc. A number of Quaternary pyroclastic are widely distrbuted in this island, and vast pyroclastic plateaux are also developed around calderas. As shown in Fig. 1, most of the ash-fall deposits of Pleistocene as well as those of Holocene were accumulated on the eastern side of the volcanoes, which may give an important information on the atmospheric circulation in the past. Pyroclastic flow deposits around the calderas are so widely developed that thay are useful in Quaternary geology not only as important time-makers like ash-fall deposits but also as excellent indicators of old topographies. Tephrochronological studies on these pyroclatic deposits have been carried on by pedologists, geologists, archaeologists and geophysicists, since 1933. This paper is a summary of these studies. (Fig. 1 and Table 1)In early Pleistocene, a tremendous amount of rhyolite pumice-flow were erupted from the central highland of Hokkaido where a major volcano-tectonic depression was formed through this violent activity. Then, a number of dacite pumice-flows accompanied by ash-falls was issued from several calderas. Most of them were erupted in glacial periods of middle Pleistocene.During the last interglacial period, volcanic activities were rather quiescent. Then, in the last glacial period, violent activities of dacite pumice-eruptions took place again, and most of the calderas in Hokkaido completed their formation in this period. Some pyroclastic falls of this period embedded fossil forests composed of Picea jezoensis, and covered lower terrace deposits, from which Mammonteous primigenius primigenius was discovered. Some pumice-flow deposits swept over the middle and lower terraces and buried pre-existing valleys, which were formed by a glaclo-eustatic regression and reached scores of meters or more below the present sea level.Volcanic activity in Holocene has been confined to small areas near the Pleistocene volcanoes, especially within calderas, and it was interrupted by two quiescent periods, 5000-2000 years B. P. and 1000-500 years B. P. respectively. Most of the pyroclastic materials of Holocene are of andesite. Owing to the Jomon transgression which reached about 10m high from the sea level, ash-falls of early Holocene were not accumulated as a primary deposit in alluvial plains near the sea coast. Most of the volcanoes constructed in Holocene erupted during the last 500 years. Detailed tephrochronology of the younger pyroclastic deposits may substitute for historic records of volcanic activity, because no reliable records older than 300 years B. P. are available in this island.

Cultural adaptation and change in mainland and insular southeast Asia in the late Pleistocene and early to middle Holocene are examined in this paper with the aid of several concepts borrowed from population genetics. The concepts of cultural flow, cultural homeostasis, the cultural pool, and the cultural isolate prove particularly useful in interpreting the prehistoric record in the area in the broadest possible terms. Two areal traditions, the “conservative” and the “innovative,” emerge from the analysis and are formally defined.

This paper consists of a historical review on the formation of sand dunes and some considerations on the relationship between the dune formation and the intercalated humus layers in several districts. The following results were obtained;(1) Buried dunes beneath the surface of Tatebayashi upland in Tochigi Prefecture.Sand layers constituting the buried dunes are divided in two, both having been deposited under stable circumstances. And volcanic ash layers are found in this district, divided into three; upper, middle and lower. There is every reason to believe that these dunes were formed at the beginning of the fall of the middle ash, or at the end of that of the lower ash.(2) Sand dunes on Sanrihama and Kaetsu uplands.The formation of some of Sanrihama dunes were due to a relative rising of sea level in early Holocene epoch. At the bottom of shallow valleys in Kaetsu upland, humus accumulation occured in stagnant water prior to the formation of dunes.(3) Kashima dunes in Ibaragi Prefecture.In the Kashima peninsula are found sand dunes with three intercalated humus layers, which are thought to have been formed after the formation of sand bars caused by a rise of sea level during the Jomon culture period, early Holocene.(4) Genkai dunes in Fukuoka Prefecture.Sand dunes of this area were formed during the time of high sea level in Pleistocene epoch. Aeolian sand layers are thin in depth and cover uplifted sand bars of marine deposits forming coastal terrace topography. Furthermore, five buried humus layers called Kurosuna are found among sand beds of Holocene dunes, which indicate the ages of dune formation and the stable period.

In this paper the changes of the forest and climate in the early Alluvial age are discussed, based on the pollen analytical results of the four main stations concerning this subject in Japan, i. e. Yashimagahara, Ozegahara, Hyotan'ike and Ebetsu. The results are as follows (cf. Tab. 1, Figs. 2, 3): in the increasing warmth period of the early postglacial age, it was 3°C lower than the present time in average temperature, while in the following maximum warmth period, the forest zone was 300-600m higher and it was 2°-3°C warmer than now. These climatic changes can be satisfactorily correlated with the results obtained so far by many authors all over the world. Considering many chronological data such as those by Blytt, Sernander, von Post, Godwin, Sears, Hansen, Deevey, Frey, Selling, Bertsch, Firbas, Straka, and Nakamura, it was concluded that in Japan the absolute age of the boundary between the increasing and the maximum warmth periods was B. C. 6000-5500 years and the boundary between the maximum and the decreasing warmth periods was B. C. 2000-1000 years.Moreover, the maximum warmth period may correspond with the period of sea-transgression in the early Holocene and the decreasing warmth period with that of regression. On the other hand, according to Ezaka and Nakano etc., the transgressive and regressive periods correspond to the Jhomon and Yayoi epochs respectively. Therefore, the boundary between Jhomon and Yayoi epochs can be presumed to be B. C. 2000-1000 years before. This conclusion is still more trustworthy, considering the results of C14-dating of the canoe remains found at the Kamo and Kemigawa Jhomon sites.

The Quaternary tephra ejected from the Towada Volcano is widely distributed in its eastern foot-hills. The tephra layers can be classified into four major stratigraphic units; they are, in ascending order, Tengutai Ash, Takadate Ash, Hachinohe Ash, and the Holocene ash alyers. The present paper dealt with the stratigraphy and chronology of the Holocene ash layers. Special reference was made to the archaeological evidences in the absolute chronology of the tephra layers based on the radiocarbon dates. The results are summarized as follows

The thick marine strata of the Cenozoic Erathem are developed extensively in the Boso and the Miura peninsulas, South Kanto Region, Japan. These strata have long been studied by various authors from several points of view.In the present paper, a tentative correlation of these strata is proposed by the writer from the viewpoint of the characteristic features of the molluscan fossil-coenoses, and the geological range of the important species of molluscan fossils found in the Cenozoic strata in the two peninsulas is tabulated according to the writer's opinion.(1) The Cenozoic strata excluding the nonmarine Pleistocene and the whole Holocene strata in the two peninsulas are divided lithologically into five groups in descending order as follows.5. The Narita group 4. The Sagami group 3. The Kazusa group (=the "Kurotaki unconformity") 2. The Miura group 1. The Pre-Miura group (including the Mineoka and the Hota groups in the Boso peninsula and the Hayama group in the Miura peninsula)(2) Based on the marine molluscan and foraminiferal fossils as well as the land mammalian fossils, different opinions have hitherto been expressed by many Japanese geologists and paleontologists concerning the geological age and the correlation of the Cenozoic strata in the two peninsulas. However, the biochronologic method as was universally used in the past by many authors is not helpful in the marine Pliocene and Pleistocene strata because no remarkable biochronologic change in the contents of various kinds of fossils is recognized throughout the whole strata. Especially, so far as the marine Pleistocene strata are concerned such a method is not applicable in almost all cases, and it is possible to establish the accurate correlation on the basis of the changes both in sea-level and in thermal condition of sea-water.Here, it is necessary to discriminate the strata deposited in the colder water and lower sea-level stages from those in the warmer water and higher sea-level stages by the employment of the HDM (=Horizontal Distribution Means) and the VDM (=Vertical Distribution Means) characteristic curves.(3) According to the writer's recent studies, the correlation and the geological age of the Cenozoic strata excluding the nonmarine Pleistocene and the whole Holocene strata in the two peninsulas may be considered potentially as shown in Table 1.(4) Abundant molluscan fossils are yielded from the Cenozoic strata in the two peninsulas. Based on the writer's studies, however, the contents of the molluscan fossils change very gradually from the older up to the younger strata. Especially, no remarkable change of the contents of the molluscan fossils is seen throughout the Pliocene and the Pleistocene strata. Differences in the contents of the molluscan fossils found in the respective formations under consideration may be due merely to those in ecological and sedimentological conditions and not to biochronological factors.The geological range of the important species of molluscan fossils found in the Cenozoic strata in the two peninsulas is tabulated as shown in Table 5 on the basis of the present state of the writer's knowledge.

A contribution to the Post-Pleistocene (= Holocene) chronology of south-western Finland, based on pollen stratigraphy and C14-datings, has been presented in this paper. Five sites were compared with the Central Scanian (southern Sweden) sequence at Agerod mosse dated in detail with radiocarbon method. The results show that the zone boundaries V/VI and VIII/IX seem to be synchronous in the area investigated, whereas T°, P° and P+ are time transgressive and only reflect local successions.

In the Kanto earthquake in 1923 (M=7.9), the land was upheaved nearly 2 meters high at some places along two coasts, the northern coast of the Bay of Sagami and the southern coast of Boso Peninsula, where there are coastal terraces. These Holocene terraces are 20-25 meters above sea level.Concerning these terraces, A. Sugimura and Y. Naruse (1954, 55) have already pointed out two important notions. (1) On the raised beaches of Holocene terraces along the southern coasts in the Kanto district, the vertical displacement of land is distinctively correlative with vertical changes of the triangulation point of the Kanto earthquake. (2) From the maximum rise of the sea level in the early Holocene (about 4000 B. C.) to the present, the sea level have continued a eustatic fall and the total fall is estimated at about 6 meters.In the present paper, the authors attempt to determine the time of the formation of these terraces and we can estimate the reasonable age by on-the-spot-investigations and radiocarbon dating methods. According to the results of our field survey at the northern coast of the Bay of Sagami, these terraces are composed of marine sediments, which are generally more than 20 meters thick. Later we found shells among the sediment and at the laboratories of the University of Tokyo and Gakushuin University, radiocarbon dating of these shells was taken place.The results are as follows, adding the other data from the Numa terraces in the southern part of Boso Peninsula.From these data and data from the field survey, we conclude our analysis about the formation of these terraces with these summary statements;(1) These terraces were formed in the early Holocene, that is 7000-5000 years B. P. (2) If the amount of a eustatic fall in sea level is estimated at about 6 meters, the total land upheaval reached about 20 meters in the past 6000 years. (3) The coasts along the Bay of Sagami are characterized by high tectonic activities in the recent geological time.

It is current opinions in Japan that the Alluvial or Holocene marine deposits distributed in the coastal regions are represented by younger deposits than the Wurm maximum. In this paper, the writers made a discussion on the lithological facies and subdivision of the marine deposits, based on the results of study in Tokyo and western Kyushu, as follows:-(1) In the lowland area of Tokyo, the so-called Alluvial deposits are subdivided into three lithological units, namely I, II, and III formaions as shown in Fig. 1. Among these, the third one is correlated with the Pleistocene volcanic ash, as judged from the mineralogical analysis and radiocarbon dating.(2) In the Ariake and Shiranui Bay areas, western Kyushu, the Alluvial deposits are subdivided into the Ariake and the Shimabarakaiwan formations respectively.(3) From the results of the analyses on micro-fossil fauna, mineral composition, chemical components and engineering properties of the announced formations (Figs. 2 and 3), it would be emphasized that the so-called Alluvial marine deposits may be subdivided into two major lithological or stratigraphical units. The interrelation between the units is considered to be unconformable which might have resulted from the lowering of sea level.

This paper discusses prehistoric man‐environment relationships in the Southern Cape, defined as Africa south of 32°S. lat. Although the area was occupied in the early Pleistocene and perhaps earlier, archaeological evidence only becomes substantial in mid‐Pleistocene contexts. Local mid‐Pleistocene peoples (Acheulean) seem to have been widespread, but reconstruction of their environment and subsistence remains a goal of future research. Detailed archeological knowledge is so far restricted to the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene, but even here major questions go unanswered. Chief among these is the nature of the replacement of the Middle Stone Age (MSA), some 30–40,000 years ago. In all known Southern Cape sites, the MSA is followed by a gap in occupation, varying from 15,000 to 25,000 years. This gap alone suggests that the immediate successors to MSA peoples may have been characterized by significantly different settlements and subsistence patterns from those of their predecessors. Additionally, ...

Three points raised in Lyons and Mielke's paper on the "Holocene history of a portion of northernmost Ellesmere Island" warrant further discussion. ... The points to be discussed deal with: 1) the Holocene chronology, 2) the interpretation of postglacial uplift, and 3) the form of the postglacial uplift curve on northern Ellesmere Island. ... Lyons and Mielke place the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary on northern Ellesmere Island at 10,000-13,000 BP. This boundary is based on inference from the Greenland ice core, since the authors state that "there is no reliable information on northernmost Ellesmere Island which closely fixes the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene". ... It seems clear that the estimated time profile through the Greenland ice core is particularly subject to question and should not be assumed to be free of error or without the need of being clarified by the radiocarbon-dated terrestrial record (not vice versa). ... Terasmae has described the time-transgressive nature of the late glacial/postglacial boundary in southeastern Canada (ca. 10,000 BP), and hence, similar time-transgressive problems might be expected in the arctic events. ... The terrestrial record from northern Ellesmere Island, therefore, should be accepted on its own merit .... The present writer suggests, therefore, that the local Pleistocene/Holocene boundary on northern Ellesmere Island occurred between 7500-8100 BP rather than 10,000-13,000 BP. This is also the case indicated by the majority of radiocarbon dates from raised marine deposits in Archer Fiord/Lady Franklin Bay. ... Lyons and Mielke also infer that the observed postglacial uplift on Ward Hunt Island is a product of the maximum Pleistocene ice thicknesses in this area. ... There is, however, no stratigraphic evidence that the maximum Pleistocene ice thickness in this area caused this Holocene uplift (7755 ±150 BP ...). It is equally possible that this postglacial emergence on Ward Hunt Island (only 38 m. a.s.l.) could have been produced beyond a restricted inland ice margin entirely independent of this most extensive ice advance. The present author has modelled the postglacial uplift over northeastern Ellesmere Island and northwestern Greenland using relatively small ice advances during the last glaciation, and the resulting uplift is consistent with the observed isobases over this area. ... Hence, there is no apparent need for the maximum Pleistocene ice load in this area to produce this moderate amount of postglacial uplift - in fact, these are very possibly two discrete events separated by an unknown amount of time. Evidence from northwestern Greenland and from eastern Baffin Island suggests that the maximum Pleistocene glaciations in these areas are much older than the last glaciation. ... The postglacial uplift curve constructed by Lyons and Mielkel is quite steep showing >70 per cent of the postglacial uplift occurring in the first two thousand years following deglaciation. ... On the curve of Lyons and Mielke postglacial uplift has almost completely flattened-off by ca. 5000 BP. Whether this is an accurate representation of the postglacial uplift process in this area or whether it is a problem of stratigraphy is not clear. ... Before such steep curves are assumed to accurately represent post-glacial uplift on northern Ellesmere Island, many more stratigraphically-controlled shell and driftwood samples must be obtained and dated. Also it needs to be determined whether the north coast of the island is undergoing a renewed submergence which could distort the real form of the uplift curve, particularly in its lower elevations. It is clear that Lyons and Mielke have made a valuable contribution to the Holocene history of northern Ellesmere Island, particularly around the evolution of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf. However, the local data on the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary must be evaluated on their own merit, and caution should be exercised in making correlations with such data as the Greenland ice core which must, in return, be clarified by the land record provided by glacial geology.

This paper presents data on the sedimentation processes along the Surinam coast, the resulting deposits and soil formation in the young Holocene marine clay soils. Along the Surinam coast two types of materials were observed: fine-textured (clay) and coarse-textured materials (sand and shells). They originate from different sources, are transported along different ways and are deposited separately. Three types of coasts were distinguished: an erosional, a sand accretionary and a mud accretionary coast. Behind the erosional coast and the sand accretionary one salt pans may develop with a sparse vegetation and impervious stiff clays. Behind a mud accretionary coast a brackish water swamp generally developes, which may be nearly always inundated or periodically dry. In the wet swamps an accumulation of pyrite occurs, but little or no oxidative soil formation. In the periodically dry swamps the accumulation of the pyrite is alternated by oxidative soil formation and compaction. Ultimately four groups of soils were recognized which differ from each other in acidity and permeability and consequently have different agricultural potentialities.

This paper by a Russian expert in coastal matters analyses the conditions existing on beaches on the north coast of the Black Sea. The way in which beach material is moved by waves set up by winds from various directions is discussed. It is a coast subject to much change under natural conditions and so experiments have been made to establish the best ways of holding the beaches. Expensive sea-walls and groynes have been built and there has been some in-filling with material brought by rail from the Caucasus. The coast is a popular one and since beaches mean money, every care has to be taken in their retention. Some underwater investigations as to movement of material were made, and the varying gradients of the sea floor along this coast are significant. In the eastern part of the coast submarine canyons present a special problem. The existence of a series of alongshore shingle flows was established on the Caucasian coast of the tideless Black Sea (Zenkovich, 1958). Because of the great latitudinal extent of the Black Sea basin, the waves coming from the west have the longest fetch and the resultant force of the wave regime makes an acute angle with the coastline. The deposits drift in the direction of Kolkhida both along the northern coast of the sea (beginning from Tuapse) and along the southern coast (the Batumi region). It is possible that the Tuapse-Kolkhida flow, which is over 300 km long, was once continuous. At the end of the Holocene transgression, however, lagoons and estuaries came into existence at the mouths of Caucasian rivers. During the Holocene period asymetrical accumulation forelands developed from alluvial and coastal material in front of the mouths of the big rivers (the Mzymta, Psou, Bzyb', Gumista, Chorokh and Kodori). They have grown until they now slope steeply (sometimes at more than 300) into depths of as much as 100 m (Zenkovich, 1967)?beyond the limits of the shelf which is narrow in this area. In such places the littoral flows are interrupted because nearly all material is carried down the steep slopes. Moreover, the forelands shelter considerable areas of coast from the action of waves from the west, and so the weak and less frequent eastern waves locally create short flows from the opposite direction (Fig. ib). The existence of depositional forms and their major parameters was established as a result of some comprehensive investigations which included wave regime and currents; geomorphological analysis; petrographic composition of the shingle and large-scale experiments with marked pebbles and sand tracers. Theoretical conclusions were later confirmed by the study of coastal changes which occurred after the construction of groynes and harbour works. In a number of places quantitative data were obtained on sediment load. Figures for the main study areas are: 30000 m3 p.a. (Sochi), 20000 m3 p.a. (Gagra), 60000 m3 p.a. (Pitsunda), 70 000 m3 p.a. (Batumi).

THE country mapped by the officers of the Geological Survey of Scotland on Sheet 71 includes a great many examples of raised beaches, and in the Memoir describing that country (Geology of Glenelg, Lochalsh and South-east Skye, 1910), the heights of the raised beaches are given as occurring up to about 100 ft. above the sea. The suggestion is also made (p. 168) that in the neighbourhood of Loch Alsh, a raised beach "varying in height from 30 to 40 ft. along the outer coast" seemed to rise in altitude when traced up Loch Alsh away from the open sea; the description continues-" At a point a few yards above the junction of the Udalain stream with the sea, Mr Clough and Dr Crampton found a deposit of shelly clay which probably represents the sublittoral zone of this beach." This locality is important, because here one might expect to obtain evidence of the relation between the raised beaches and the later stages of glaciation, and the reported occurrence of a marine fauna at this point made further investigation the more desirable. As I was passing along the shores of Loch Alsh on my way to the Outer Hebrides in 1935, I decided to examine this shelly clay, and the results, which are set out in the present paper, are not in the least what I expected. It was not possible in the time available to prove the stratigraphical relation between the shelly clay and any particular raised beach, but the fauna of the clay is entirely " recent" in character, and as the depth of deposition represented is not more than 2 or 3 fathoms, it is almost certain that this clay is not contemporaneous with a high-level raised beach. This negative result is disappointing, but the fauna of this clay is worthy of description, especially for comparison with that described in this same Survey Memoir from Loch na Dal, in Skye. I am extremely grateful to Dr W. A. Macfadyen for extracting and identifying the Foraminifera, and for his suggestions about the Foraminifera in the clay from Loch na Dal; I also wish to thank Dr F. W. Anderson for advice about the Loch na Dal fauna, and Mr J. R. le B. Tomlin for help in the identification of the Mollusca.