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North China is known as a region where cultural traditions do not change throughout the Pleistocene, while it is a region of interest for its association with several demographic events in Paleolithic age. In order to clarify the reason why the lithic industry mainly composed of quartz continued over a long period of time, it is necessary to accumulate information on lithic assemblage and human behavior. This paper adds an example of culture and behavior around 40 ka and discusses the adaptability of quartz small flake-tool industry. As reported here, three lithic assemblages of the Shuilian Cave Site in Hebei Province were dated to 43 ka cal BP, 34 ka cal BP, and the intermediate age based on the result of our radiocarbon dating. Except for small number of artifacts made of siliceous rock, the majority in all three assemblages are corresponds to the traditional small flake-tool industry in northern China. In the upper assemblage of the site, it was restored that vein quartz procured around the site was consumed systematically using bipolar percussion in combination with direct percussion. The technology employed at the site is adapted to the vein quartz as resources in the vicinity, giving a hint as to why less variable lithic industry continued throughout some demographic epoch in northern China.

Antarctic sea-ice extent, primary productivity and ocean circulation represent interconnected systems that form important components of the global carbon cycle. Subdecadal to centennial-scale variability can influence the characteristics and interactions of these systems, but observational records are too short to evaluate the impacts of this variability over longer timescales. Here, we use a 170-m-long sediment core collected from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site U1357B, offshore Adélie Land, East Antarctica to disentangle the impacts of sea ice and subdecadal climate variability on phytoplankton bloom frequency over the last ~11,400 years. We apply X-ray computed tomography, Ice Proxy for the Southern Ocean with 25 carbon atoms, diatom, physical property and geochemical analyses to the core, which contains an annually resolved, continuously laminated archive of phytoplankton bloom events. Bloom events occurred annually to biennially through most of the Holocene, but became less frequent (~2–7 years) at ~4.5 ka when coastal sea ice intensified. We propose that coastal sea-ice intensification subdued annual sea-ice break-out, causing an increased sensitivity of sea-ice dynamics to subdecadal climate modes, leading to a subdecadal frequency of bloom events. Our data suggest that projected loss of coastal sea ice will impact the influence of subdecadal variability on Antarctic margin primary productivity, altering food webs and carbon-cycling processes at seasonal timescales., This research used samples and data provided by IODP expedition 318, sponsored by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and participating countries under the management of the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, including the Australian and New Zealand International Ocean Discovery Program Consortium. Funding was provided by Royal Society Te Apārangi Marsden Fund (18-VUW-089 to R.M.M. and 15-VUW-131 to N.A.N.B.) and the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment through the Antarctic Science Platform (ANTA1801). Funding was also provided by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment Strategic Science Investment Fund (SSIF) through GNS Science (grant 540GCT32). We acknowledge funding from the Dumont d’Urville NZ-France Science and Technology Programme, MARICE project (Marine and Ice core reconstruction of East Antarctic sea ice variability over the past 2,000 years) (project nos. 45455NF and 19-VUW-047-DDU Catalyst Fund, RSNZ). J.E. and X.C. acknowledge funding by the ERC StG ICEPROXY (203441), the ANR CLIMICE and the FP7 Past4Future (243908) projects. F.J.J.-E. was funded by project 201830I092 (Spanish Research Council). C.E. and F.J.J.-E acknowledge funding by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant CTM2017-89711-C2-1-P), co-funded by the European Union through FEDER funds. C.R.R. was funded by a University of Otago research grant and a L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Australia and New Zealand Fellowship. The Natural Environment Research Council funded K.E.A. (CENTA PhD; NE/L002493/1) and J.B. (standard grant Ne/I00646X/1). Y.Y. was funded by the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) grant no. JP20H00193. S.F.P. was supported by National Science Foundation grant OPP-0732796. R.B.D. was supported by National Science Foundation grants PLR-1644118 and OCE-1129101. The authors acknowledge the Norwegian Polar Institute’s Quantarctica package, and the use of imagery from the NASA Worldview application (https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/), part of the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System.

Prior to ~1 million years ago (Ma), variations in global ice volume were dominated by changes in obliquity; however, the role of precession remains unresolved. Using a record of North Atlantic ice rafting spanning the past 1.7 million years, we find that the onset of ice rafting within a given glacial cycle (reflecting ice sheet expansion) consistently occurred during times of decreasing obliquity whereas mass ice wasting (ablation) events were consistently tied to minima in precession. Furthermore, our results suggest that the ubiquitous association between precession-driven mass wasting events and glacial termination is a distinct feature of the mid to late Pleistocene. Before then (increasing), obliquity alone was sufficient to end a glacial cycle, before losing its dominant grip on deglaciation with the southward extension of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets since ~1 Ma.

The National Electrostatics Corporation (NEC) 250 kV single-stage AMS (YS-AMS) was installed in March 2013 at the Laboratory for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (LAMS), Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo. This is the first single stage AMS system installed in Japan. The system is equipped with a 40 solid sample ion source (MC-SNICS-II), sequential injection system at low energy mass spectrometry side, open air 250 kV high energy deck including helium gas stripper which acts as a molecular dissociation, analyzing magnet, electrostatic analyzer, sequential post-accelerator deflector, and final detector. The performance tests with 11 reference materials distributed via the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan (AIST) were in very good agreement with consensus values. Thus our routine 14C measurements have been started since August 2013 and maintaining high performance. We have measured about 8000 unknown samples during this period. Typical 12C− currents are 27 μA at low energy Faraday cup, the transmission in the accelerator is about 42%, and precision of 14C/12C and 13C/12C is better than 0.2%. Geological, archaeological, oceanographic as well as a large number of biological samples have been measured efficiently using the current system.

Cosmogenic radionuclides have been widely used to decipher Earth surface processes. At the University of Tokyo Accelerator Mass Spectrometry facility (5 MV Tandem accelerator), we have been measuring both in-situ and meteoric cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al. In this paper, we report some development of methodology, including how to prepare target samples chemically to reduce their background. We then introduce some examples using the method to provide further insights into earth surface processes. These studies include: i) exposure dating to identify the growths and decays of the Antarctic ice sheet, ii) understanding ice shelf collapse history, iii) paleomagnetic excursion history reconstructions using ice cores, iv) understanding the erosion rates using depth profiles of mid latitude outcrops, v) identifying the timing of impact crater formation.

Small- to ultra-small-scale radiocarbon (14C) measurements are an essential technique for compound-specific radiocarbon measurements of fatty acids and amino acids. The Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute at the University of Tokyo installed an NEC 250 kV single-stage accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) in March 2013. We improved the pretreatment method to reduce modern and 14C-dead carbon contaminations. The modern and 14C-dead carbon contaminations from combustion and graphitization were estimated to be 0.37 ± 0.13 μgC and lower than 1.62 μgC, respectively. Furthermore, we examined an AMS measurement method that can be used to obtain a stable beam current intensity. As a result, we succeeded in conducting small- to ultra-small-scale 14C measurements. Typically, a sample of 100 µg of carbon (μgC) can be measured with a current of 25 μA in a low-energy Faraday cup for 30 min or more, whereas a sample of 10 μgC can be measured with a current of 1 μA in a low-energy Faraday cup for 15 min or more.

The meridional variability of the Subtropical Front (STF) in the Southern Hemisphere, linked to expansions or contractions of the Southern Ocean, may have played an important role in global ocean circulation by moderating the magnitude of water exchange at the Indian-Atlantic Ocean Gateway, so called Agulhas Leakage. Here we present new biomarker records of upper water column temperature (and) and primary productivity (chlorins and alkenones) from marine sediments at IODP Site U1475 on the Agulhas Plateau, near the STF and within the Agulhas retroflection pathway. We use these multiproxy time-series records from 1.4 to 0.3Ma to examine implied changes in the upper oceanographic conditions at the mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT, ca. 1.2–0.8Ma). Our reconstructions, combined with prior evidence of migrations of the STF over the last 350 ka, suggest that in the Southwestern Indian Ocean the STF may have been further south from the Agulhas Plateau during the mid-Pleistocene Interim State (MPIS, MIS 23–12) and reached its northernmost position during MIS 34–24 and MIS 10. Comparison to aGloborotalia menardii-derived Agulhas Leakage reconstruction from the Cape Basin suggests that only the most extreme northward migrations of the STF are associated with reduced Agulhas Leakage. During the MPIS, STF migrations do not appear to control Agulhas Leakage variability, we suggest previously modeled shifting westerly winds may be responsible for the patterns observed. A detachment between STF migrations and Agulhas Leakage, in addition to invoking shifting westerly winds may also help explain changes in CO2ventilation seen during the MPIS.

The paleomagnetic shipboard data of International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1475, with a record reaching back to approximately 7 Ma, allowed for the identification of major magnetic polarity chrons and subchrons back to ~3.5 Ma. However, the natural remanent magnetization (NRM) was very weak, and transitional intervals with unclear polarity were as thick as several meters. The midpoints of these transitional intervals were reported in the shipboard results without decimal places because of the poor data quality. To evaluate and possibly refine the shipboard magnetostratigraphy, subsampling was performed across the polarity transitions. Detailed alternating field (AF) demagnetization experiments were conducted on these discrete samples and were complemented by anhysteretic remanent magnetization acquisition measurements and subsequent demagnetization. AF demagnetization data of NRM were analyzed using anchored principal component analysis (PCA) to obtain the characteristic remanent magnetization. These PCA results generally confirm the smoothed signal across polarity transitions at Site U1475. However, the midpoint depths of the top of the Keana Subchron, the Gauss-Matuyama and Matuyama-Brunhes boundaries, and the base of the Olduvai Subchron were adjusted.

Rationale Pre-screening of bone collagen quality is important to reduce the cost for analyses such as radiocarbon (14 C) dating with accelerator mass spectrometry in archaeological studies. We developed a pre-screening protocol based on attenuated total reflection (ATR) Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) for assessing the chemical composition and mineralogy of ancient bone samples. Methods ATR-FTIR measurements were performed on bulk bones of diverse origin and age before collagen extraction. The percentage nitrogen of bulk bones, as well as the weight percentage, and the percentage carbon and nitrogen of extracted organic matter were noted. Several machine learning algorithms were applied to the spectral data and compared for their efficacy in screening for well preserved collagen. Results The results showed that (a) the first derivative of the spectral data was better suited to screening than the raw FTIR data, especially for a wider spectral range and (b) certain classification algorithms [e.g. gradient boosting machine (GBM)] were able to efficiently predict the degree of preservation in bone samples. Conclusions This pre-screening protocol can serve as a fast, concise and inexpensive pre-screening tool for determining relative degrees of preservation before collagen extraction and subsequent 14 C dating. The screening power based on the machine learning techniques can be further improved by accumulating the FTIR spectral data of bones.

The Amundsen Sea sector of Antarctica has long been considered the most vulnerable part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) because of the great water depth at the grounding line and the absence of substantial ice shelves. Glaciers in this configuration are thought to be susceptible to rapid or runaway retreat. Ice flowing into the Amundsen Sea Embayment is undergoing the most rapid changes of any sector of the Antarctic Ice Sheet outside the Antarctic Peninsula, including changes caused by substantial grounding-line retreat over recent decades, as observed from satellite data. Recent models suggest that a threshold leading to the collapse of WAIS in this sector may have been already crossed and that much of the ice sheet could be lost even under relatively moderate greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Drill cores from the Amundsen Sea provide tests of several key questions about controls on ice sheet stability. The cores offer a direct record of glacial history offshore from a drainage basin that receives ice exclusively from the WAIS, which allows clear comparisons between the WAIS history and low-latitude climate records. Today, warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) is impinging onto the Amundsen Sea shelf and causing melting of the underside of the WAIS in most places. Reconstructions of past CDW intrusions can assess the ties between warm water upwelling and large-scale changes in past grounding-line positions. Carrying out these reconstructions offshore from the drainage basin that currently has the most substantial negative mass balance of ice anywhere in Antarctica is thus of prime interest to future predictions. The scientific objectives for this expedition are built on hypotheses about WAIS dynamics and related paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic conditions. The main objectives are 1. To test the hypothesis that WAIS collapses occurred during the Neogene and Quaternary and, if so, when and under which environmental conditions; 2. To obtain ice-proximal records of ice sheet dynamics in the Amundsen Sea that correlate with global records of ice-volume changes and proxy records for atmospheric and ocean temperatures; 3. To study the stability of a marine-based WAIS margin and how warm deep-water incursions control its position on the shelf; 4. To find evidence for earliest major grounded WAIS advances onto the middle and outer shelf; 5. To test the hypothesis that the first major WAIS growth was related to the uplift of the Marie Byrd Land dome. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 379 completed two very successful drill sites on the continental rise of the Amundsen Sea. Site U1532 is located on a large sediment drift, now called Resolution Drift, and penetrated to 794 m with 90% recovery. We collected almost-continuous cores from the Pleistocene through the Pliocene and into the late Miocene. At Site U1533, we drilled 383 m (70% recovery) into the more condensed sequence at the lower flank of the same sediment drift. The cores of both sites contain unique records that will enable study of the cyclicity of ice sheet advance and retreat processes as well as bottom-water circulation and water mass changes. In particular, Site U1532 revealed a sequence of Pliocene sediments with an excellent paleomagnetic record for high-resolution climate change studies of the previously sparsely sampled Pacific sector of the West Antarctic margin. Despite the drilling success at these sites, the overall expedition experienced three unexpected difficulties that affected many of the scientific objectives: 1. The extensive sea ice on the continental shelf prevented us from drilling any of the proposed shelf sites. 2. The drill sites on the continental rise were in the path of numerous icebergs of various sizes that frequently forced us to pause drilling or leave the hole entirely as they approached the ship. The overall downtime caused by approaching icebergs was 50% of our time spent on site. 3. An unfortunate injury to a member of the ship's crew cut the expedition short by one week. Recovery of core on the continental rise at Sites U1532 and U1533 cannot be used to precisely indicate the position of ice or retreat of the ice sheet on the shelf. However, these sediments contained in the cores offer a range of clues about past WAIS extent and retreat. At Sites U1532 and U1533, coarse-grained sediments interpreted to be ice-rafted debris (IRD) were identified throughout all recovered time periods. A dominant feature of the cores is recorded by lithofacies cyclicity, which is interpreted to represent relatively warmer periods variably characterized by higher microfossil abundance, greater bioturbation, and higher counts of IRD alternating with colder periods characterized by dominantly gray laminated terrigenous muds. Initial comparison of these cycles to published records from the region suggests that the units interpreted as records of warmer time intervals in the core tie to interglacial periods and the units interpreted as deposits of colder periods tie to glacial periods. The cores from the two drill sites recovered sediments of purely terrigenous origin intercalated or mixed with pelagic or hemipelagic deposits. In particular, Site U1533, which is located near a deep-sea channel originating from the continental slope, contains graded sands and gravel transported downslope from the shelf to the abyssal plain. The channel is likely the path of such sediments transported downslope by turbidity currents or other sediment-gravity flows. The association of lithologic facies at both sites predominantly reflects the interplay of downslope and contouritic sediment supply with occasional input of more pelagic sediment. Despite the lack of cores from the shelf, our records from the continental rise reveal the timing of glacial advances across the shelf and thus the existence of a continent-wide ice sheet in West Antarctica at least during longer time periods since the late Miocene. Cores from both sites contain abundant coarse-grained sediments and clasts of plutonic origin transported either by downslope processes or by ice rafting. If detailed provenance studies confirm our preliminary assessment that the origin of these samples is from the plutonic bedrock of Marie Byrd Land, their thermochronological record will potentially reveal timing and rates of denudation and erosion linked to crustal uplift. The chronostratigraphy of both sites enables the generation of a seismic sequence stratigraphy not only for the Amundsen Sea rise but also for the western Amundsen Sea along the Marie Byrd Land margin through a connecting network of seismic lines.

The Last Abundant Appearance Datum of the endemic Southern Ocean diatom Hemisdiscus karstenii Jouse is dated at around 190,000 years Before Present, which provides a robust and convenient biostratigraphic marker to Late Pleistocene paleoceanographic studies. However, no prior studies have sought to understand what processes may have driven H. karstenii to extinction. We here present the first morphometric investigation of H. karstenii over Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 10 to 6 (355,000 years to 150,000 years). The combination of these data to records of H. karstenii absolute abundances, Fragilariopsis kerguelensis biometry and absolute abundances, and southern high-latitude air and ocean temperatures over the past 355,000 years suggests that H. karstenii populations reduced their mean size and productivity in response to the rapid drop in temperatures across the MIS 7 to MIS 6 glacial inception. This prolonged cooling event may have pushed H. karstenii to its adaptive limit until it could not sustain physiological viability. The repetitive occurrence of very cold events during the early MIS 6 may have additionally prevented surviving populations of H. karstenii from re-establishing abundant communities leading to extinction late in MIS 6.

A lack of reliable chronology often leaves Antarctic ice sheet reconstructions incomplete. Despite being the most heavily investigated region of the Antarctic continental shelf, the post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) record of marine-based ice sheet dynamics in the Ross Sea has remained largely elusive and at odds with fringing terrestrial records of ice sheet decay. Issues with radiocarbon dating stem primarily from poorly preserved carbonate, contamination by glacially-recycled carbon, and insufficient consideration for glacial geomorphic context and sedimentary facies. We assess nearly 70 newly acquired and more than 200 published radiocarbon ages in the context of a consistent sedimentary facies and geomorphic framework to interpret the timing of the local glacial maximum and subsequent retreat of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) in the Ross Sea and potential causes of retreat. Compound-specific radiocarbon ages help to provide good constraints on open marine onset, and we demonstrate that, with proper corrections and considerations, acid insoluble organic (AIO) radiocarbon ages can be reliable in open marine sediments and carbonate ages can be reliable in grounding-zone proximal sediments. We find that the ice flowing through Pennell and JOIDES troughs remained at maximum extent for approximately 10,000 years before retreating at 15.1 and 13 cal ka BP, respectively. An ice shelf covered the outer continental shelf until ∼9.5 cal ka BP, after which it collapsed in JOIDES Trough, creating deep iceberg furrows. Retreat through Pennell Trough was more episodic, marked by grounding-zone wedges that backstep upstream and onto lateral banks creating deglacial emergent ice rises. As ice retreated from ∼9 to ∼4 cal ka BP, there was considerable reorganization of drainage and at least one episode of readvance through southern JOIDES Trough that began drawdown of terrestrial ice near Ross Island at ∼7.8 cal ka BP. The ice shelf appears to have retreated to a near-present configuration by 2 cal ka BP. However, due to inconsistencies in calendar ages, grounding line position must be inferred from relative chronology based on glacial landforms, which suggests grounded ice retreated nearly to Drygalski Ice Tongue and lingered atop Crary Bank where it was maintained by ice from David Glacier. Our reconstruction further suggests that the EAIS in the western Ross Sea was not a discernible contributor to Meltwater Pulse 1A, but likely contributed to eustatic sea level rise well through the middle—perhaps even late—Holocene.

We have improved a method for isolation and purification of individual amino acids for compound-specific radiocarbon analysis (CSRA). To remove high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) eluent blanks from isolated amino acid fractions prior to the radiocarbon (Δ14C) measurement, each fraction was filtered through a membrane filter and then washed with diethyl ether twice. Radiocarbon measurements on standard amino acids processed and purified with the above method using elemental analyzer–accelerator mass spectrometry resulted in Δ14C values that were in strong agreement (R2 = 0.998) with the original Δ14C value of each amino acid standard. From these measurements, we calculate dead and modern carbon contamination contributions as 1.2 ± 0.2 and 0.3 ± 0.1 μgC, respectively, which are consistent with direct assessments of HPLC procedural blanks of 1.0 ± 0.8 μgC per sample. These contamination constraints allow correction of measured Δ14C values for accurate and precise CSRA and are widely applicable to ...

A detailed paleoenvironment reconstruction from the Mozambique Channel, western Indian Ocean, based on the calcareous nannoplankton assemblages was conducted for the interval between 2.85 and 1.85 Myr. This study covers the period during which the successive extinction of the last five species of discoasters occurred. New productivity data obtained from the abundances of the Discoaster species (Discoaster brouweri, D. triradiatus, D. pentaradiatus, D. surculus, and D. tamalis) and other indicative calcareous nannoplankton taxa showed abundance variations, which were at paced with the 100, 41, and 23 kyr astronomical periodicities. A shift in the productivity and water-column stratification proxies occurred at ~2.4 Ma, after the onset of the Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Here we propose that the variability recorded at International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1476 reflects the interplay between forcing associated with warm tropical Pacific and cold southern ocean influences. The former is shown by consistent occurrence of warm water taxa (Calcidiscus leptoporus, Oolithotus spp., Rhabdosphaera clavigera, Syracosphaera spp., Umbellosphaera spp.), typical of Indonesian Throughflow surface waters. On the other hand, the occurrence of Coccolithus pelagicus indicates the influence of cold, nutrient-rich sub-Antarctic surface waters. A more mixed water column initiated at ~2.4 Ma, and a consequent productivity increase led to the gradual reduction of the Discoaster species, until their extinction at 1.91 Ma. This period was characterized by the low values of the Florisphaera profunda index and high abundances of upper photic zone flora, indicative of nutrient-rich surface water conditions. High productivity at the location during this period could have also been amplified by localized upwelling events driven by the Mozambique Channel eddies.

Periphytic algae attached to a streambed substrate (periphyton) are an important primary producer in stream ecosystems. We determined the isotopic composition of chlorophyll a in periphyton collected from a stream flowing on limestone bedrock in the Seri River, central Japan. Stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) and natural radiocarbon abundances (Δ14C) were measured in chlorophyll a (δ13Cchl, δ15Nchl and Δ14Cchl) and bulk (δ13Cbulk, δ15Nbulk and Δ14Cbulk) for periphyton, a pure aquatic primary producer (Cladophora sp.) and a terrestrial primary producer (Quercus glauca). Periphyton δ13Cbulk and δ13Cchl values did not necessarily correspond to δ13Cbulk for an algal-grazing specialist (Epeorus latifolium). Periphyton Δ14Cchl values (−258 ‰ in April and −190 ‰ in October) were slightly lower than Δ14Cbulk values (−228 ‰ in April and −179 ‰ in October) but were close to the Δ14C value for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC; −217 ± 31 ‰), which is a mixture of weathered carbonates (Δ14C = −1000 ‰), CO2 derived from aquatic and terrestrial organic matters (variable Δ14C) and dissolved atmospheric CO2 (Δ14C approximately +30 ‰ in 2013). Δ14Cchl values were also close to Δ14Cbulk for E. latifolium (−215 ‰ in April and −199 ‰ in October) and Cladophora sp. (−210 ‰), whereas the Δ14Cbulk value for Q. glauca (+27 ‰) was closer to Δ14C for atmospheric CO2. Although the bulk isotopic composition of periphyton is recognised as a surrogate for the photosynthetic algal community, natural periphyton is a mixture of aquatic and terrestrial organic materials. Our results indicate that the bulk periphyton matrix at the study site consists of 89 to 95 % algal carbon (derived from 14C-depleted DIC) and 5 to 11 % terrestrial organic carbon (derived from 14C-enriched atmospheric CO2).

International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 361 drilled six sites on the southeast African margin (southwest Indian Ocean) and in the Indian-Atlantic Ocean gateway, from 30 January to 31 March 2016. In total, 5175 m of core was recovered, with an average recovery of 102%, during 29.7 days of on-site operations. The sites, situated in the Mozambique Channel at locations directly influenced by discharge from the Zambezi and Limpopo River catchments, the Natal Valley, the Agulhas Plateau, and Cape Basin, were targeted to reconstruct the history of the greater Agulhas Current system over the past ~5 My. The Agulhas Current is the strongest western boundary current in the Southern Hemisphere, transporting some 70 Sv of warm, saline surface water from the tropical Indian Ocean along the East African margin to the tip of Africa. Exchanges of heat and moisture with the atmosphere influence southern African climates, including individual weather systems such as extratropical cyclone formation in the region and rainfall patterns. Recent ocean model and paleoceanographic data further point at a potential role of the Agulhas Current in controlling the strength and mode of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) during the Late Pleistocene. Spillage of saline Agulhas water into the South Atlantic stimulates buoyancy anomalies that may influence basin-wide AMOC, with implications for convective activity in the North Atlantic and global climate change. The main objectives of the expedition were to establish the role of the Agulhas Current in climatic changes during the Pliocene–Pleistocene, specifically to document the dynamics of the Indian-Atlantic Ocean gateway circulation during this time, to examine the connection of the Agulhas leakage and AMOC, and to address the influence of the Agulhas Current on African terrestrial climates and coincidences with human evolution. Additionally, the expedition set out to fulfill the needs of Ancillary Project Letter number 845, consisting of high-resolution interstitial water sampling to help constrain the temperature and salinity profiles of the ocean during the Last Glacial Maximum. The expedition made major strides toward fulfilling each of these objectives. The recovered sequences allowed generation of complete spliced stratigraphic sections that range from 0 to between ~0.13 and 7 Ma. This sediment will provide decadal- to millennial-scale climatic records that will allow answering the paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic questions set out in the drilling proposal.

We present a method for determining sub-milligram quantities of biogenic opal. The method employs the inductive high-temperature carbon reduction method for dehydration of opal and reduction of silica, and a continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry system for direct analysis of the oxygen isotope ratio in the evolved carbon monoxide. The accuracy and precision of the online analytical system were evaluated by isotopic analysis of various quantities of standard SiO2 in the range 40–538 µg. The time required to analyse a single sample was relatively short (50 min); hence, our method is suitable for routine analysis for paleoenvironmental studies that require large amounts of time-series data. The method was validated for samples in the sub-milligram range and can be applied to oxygen isotope analysis of various types of biogenic opal that have not been analysed because of their small amounts in natural samples. We successfully applied our method to (i) the first oxygen isotope analysis of monospecific radiolarian skeletons and (ii) high-resolution oxygen isotope analysis of Holocene diatom frustules from the Southern Ocean.

During the early Pliocene a dynamic marine-based ice sheet retreated from the Wilkes Land margin with periodic ice advances beyond Last Glacial Maximum position. A change in sand provenance is indicative of a more stable Mertz Glacier system during the Late Pleistocene. East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) dynamics were evaluated through the analysis of marine diamictons from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) site U1358 on the Adélie Land continental shelf. The warmer than present conditions of the early Pliocene coupled with the site's proximity to the landward sloping Wilkes Subglacial Basin provided the rationale for the investigations at this site. Based on visual core descriptions, particle size distributions, and major and trace element ratios, we interpret the origin of lower Pliocene strata by intermittent glaciomarine sedimentation with open-marine conditions and extensive glacial advances to the outer shelf. Heavy mineral analyses show that sand-sized detritus in the lower Pliocene strata was sourced from local intermediate to high-grade metamorphic rocks near Mertz Glacier. In contrast, Pleistocene diamictons exhibit a larger contribution from a prehnite-pumpellyite greenschist facies suggesting supply via iceberg rafting from northern Victoria Land. From this sedimentological evidence, we postulate a shift from a dynamic EAIS margin in the early Pliocene to possible stabilization in the Pleistocene.

Warm intervals within the Pliocene epoch (5.33–2.58 million years ago) were characterized by global temperatures comparable to those predicted for the end of this century1 and atmospheric CO2 concentrations similar to today2, 3, 4. Estimates for global sea level highstands during these times5 imply possible retreat of the East Antarctic ice sheet, but ice-proximal evidence from the Antarctic margin is scarce. Here we present new data from Pliocene marine sediments recovered offshore of Adélie Land, East Antarctica, that reveal dynamic behaviour of the East Antarctic ice sheet in the vicinity of the low-lying Wilkes Subglacial Basin during times of past climatic warmth. Sedimentary sequences deposited between 5.3 and 3.3 million years ago indicate increases in Southern Ocean surface water productivity, associated with elevated circum-Antarctic temperatures. The geochemical provenance of detrital material deposited during these warm intervals suggests active erosion of continental bedrock from within the Wilkes Subglacial Basin, an area today buried beneath the East Antarctic ice sheet. We interpret this erosion to be associated with retreat of the ice sheet margin several hundreds of kilometres inland and conclude that the East Antarctic ice sheet was sensitive to climatic warmth during the Pliocene.

The stability of modern ice shelves is threatened by atmospheric and oceanic warming. The geologic record of formerly glaciated continental shelves provides a window into the past of how ice shelves responded to a warming climate. Fields of deep (-560 m), linear iceberg furrows on the outer, western Ross Sea continental shelf record an early post-Last Glacial Maximum episode of ice-shelf collapse that was followed by continuous retreat of the grounding line for ∼200 km. Runaway grounding line conditions culminated once the ice became pinned on shallow banks in the western Ross Sea. This early episode of ice-shelf collapse is not observed in the eastern Ross Sea, where more episodic grounding line retreat took place. More widespread (∼280,000 km(2)) retreat of the ancestral Ross Ice Shelf occurred during the late Holocene. This event is recorded in sediment cores by a shift from terrigenous glacimarine mud to diatomaceous open-marine sediment as well as an increase in radiogenic beryllium ((10)Be) concentrations. The timing of ice-shelf breakup is constrained by compound specific radiocarbon ages, the first application of this technique systematically applied to Antarctic marine sediments. Breakup initiated around 5 ka, with the ice shelf reaching its current configuration ∼1.5 ka. In the eastern Ross Sea, the ice shelf retreated up to 100 km in about a thousand years. Three-dimensional thermodynamic ice-shelf/ocean modeling results and comparison with ice-core records indicate that ice-shelf breakup resulted from combined atmospheric warming and warm ocean currents impinging onto the continental shelf.

There has been limited previous research about Holocene climate variability in the Indian Sector of the Southern Ocean. Here we examine centennial-scale changes in diatom assemblages and stable isotopic ratios since 10 000 cal a BP in a high-accumulation-rate sediment core from the Conrad Rise. Although abundances of dominant diatom taxa (Fragilariopsis kerguelensis and Thalassiothrix antarctica) are comparatively constant, relative abun- dances of secondary taxa fluctuate. Before c. 9900 cal a BP, winter sea-ice and cold water covered the Conrad Rise. Following deglaciation the sea-ice retreated from the Conrad Rise, lagging that of the Atlantic and eastern Indian Sectors by about 1500 a. The Polar Front moved southward during the early Holocene optimum and north Antarctic Zone waters covered the Conrad Rise for about 650 a. After 9300 cal a BP, solar insolation strongly influenced sea surface temperature and primary productivity in the Southern Ocean. In the high-latitude Indian Sector, productivity increased 1500 a after the onset of late Holocene neoglaciation. Periodic d 18 O and cold-water diatom taxa spikes (at intervals of 200 and 300-500 a, respectively) occurred after 9300 cal a BP, probably associated with solar activity. Fluctuations in short-term sea surface temperature and cold-water taxa are synchronous with changes in dD observed in an east Antarctic ice core. Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Past fluctuations of the Antarctic ice sheet are poorly understood because of a lack of datable materials, radiocarbon reservoir ages and severe environments. Direct evidence of the timing of ice retreat is important in order to understand the Antarctic contribution to global sea-level rise since the Last Glacial Maximum. Here we report the first exposure ages constraining the timing of the last deglaciation from Lutzow-Holm Bay, East Antarctica. Our data suggest that the final retreat of the ice sheet in the region occurred rapidly in the early Holocene and the reduction of the ice thickness in the region was at least 350 m. This occurred after the major Northern Hemisphere deglaciation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Developing a better understanding of the reproductive physiology and breeding condition peculiar to wild Japanese black bears (Ursus thibetanus japonicus) is crucial for estimation of their habitat distribution. The aim of this study was to clarify the changes in morphology of the genital organs, cellular proliferation in the endometrium and sex steroid hormone concentrations along with the reproductive cycle in Japanese black bears. Samples were collected from a total of 24 female Japanese black bears (1-15 presumptive years old) that were caught in the wild in Iwate prefecture during the period between August 1999 and September 2005. Twenty-two out of the 24 animals were hunted from May to October. The ovaries from the 24 animals and the uteri from 23 animals were observed macroscopically and histologically to examine the relationship between morphology of the genital organs and the month of the year the animal was caught. The staining pattern of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in the endometrium was characterised. Peripheral concentrations of oestradiol-17beta and progesterone were determined by radioimmunoassay. All the animals that had a corpus luteum (n=12) were captured from August to October. The thickness of the endometrium in the animals captured from August to October (n=16) was significantly greater than those in animals captured from May to July (n=5) (P

Mechanical stretch is essential for the cardiac growth. The exposure of cardiac myocytes to the mechanical stretch leads to the cell alignment in parallel to the stretch direction, determining the cell polarity, though it remains to be addressed how mechanical stretch regulates cell orientation. In the present study, we investigated the signal transduction pathways responsible for the cell orientation response to mechanical stretch, focusing on Rho family proteins. Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were cultured on silicon chambers and exposed to artificial uniaxial cyclic stretch. The pull-down assays revealed that Rac1 was rapidly activated by stretch, but not RhoA. To analyze the roles of Rho family proteins in cardiomyocyte orientation, adenoviral vectors expressing dominant-negative (dn) RhoA and Rac1 were generated. The transfection with adenovirus vector expressing dnRac1, but not dnRhoA, inhibited stretch-induced cell alignment. In conclusion, Rac1 activity is necessary for cardiomyocyte alignment in response to directional stretch.

The Late Pliocene epoch is a potential analogue for future climate in a warming world. Here we reconstruct Plio-Pleistocene East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) variability using cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages and model simulations to better understand ice sheet behaviour under such warm conditions. New and previously published exposure ages indicate interior-thickening during the Pliocene. An ice sheet model with mid-Pliocene boundary conditions also results in interior thickening and suggests that both the Wilkes Subglacial and Aurora Basins largely melted, offsetting increased ice volume. Considering contributions from West Antarctica and Greenland, this is consistent with the most recent IPCC AR5 estimate, which indicates that the Pliocene sea level likely did not exceed +20 m on Milankovitch timescales. The inception of colder climate since ∼3 Myr has increased the sea ice cover and inhibited active moisture transport to Antarctica, resulting in reduced ice sheet thickness, at least in coastal areas., The behaviour of Antarctic ice sheets during warm climates of the past is poorly understood. Here, the authors combine cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages and numerical simulations in an effort to assess changes in East Antarctic ice sheet thickness since the Pliocene.

During the middle and late Eocene (similar to 48-34 Myr ago), the Earth's climate cooled(1,2) and an ice sheet built up on Antarctica. The stepwise expansion of ice on Antarctica(3,4) induced crustal deformation and gravitational perturbations around the continent. Close to the ice sheet, sea level rose(5,6) despite an overall reduction in the mass of the ocean caused by the transfer of water to the ice sheet. Here we identify the crustal response to ice-sheet growth by forcing a glacial-hydro isostatic adjustment model(7) with an Antarctic ice-sheet model. We find that the shelf areas around East Antarctica first shoaled as upper mantle material upwelled and a peripheral forebulge developed. The inner shelf subsequently subsided as lithosphere flexure extended outwards from the ice-sheet margins. Consequently the coasts experienced a progressive relative sea-level rise. Our analysis of sediment cores from the vicinity of the Antarctic ice sheet are in agreement with the spatial patterns of relative sea-level change indicated by our simulations. Our results are consistent with the suggestion(8) that near-field processes such as local sea-level change influence the equilibrium state obtained by an ice-sheet grounding line.

Southern Change Antarctica has been mostly covered by ice since the inception of large-scale continental glaciation during the Oligocene, which profoundly altered the isotopic and mineralogical records of the sediments surrounding the continent. Houben et al. (p. 341 ) found records of the corresponding living systems in the fossil marine dinoflagellate cysts, which revealed that a microplankton ecosystem, similar to the one that exists today, appeared simultaneously with the first major Antarctic glaciation approximately 34 million years ago.

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 318 to the Wilkes Land margin of Antarctica recovered a sedimentary succession ranging in age from lower Eocene to the Holocene. Excellent stratigraphic control is key to understanding the timing of paleoceanographic events through critical climate intervals. Drill sites recovered the lower and middle Eocene, nearly the entire Oligocene, the Miocene from about 17 Ma, the entire Pliocene and much of the Pleistocene. The paleomagnetic properties are generally suitable for magnetostratigraphic interpretation, with well-behaved demagnetization diagrams, uniform distribution of declinations, and a clear separation into two inclination modes. Although the sequences were discontinuously recovered with many gaps due to coring, and there are hiatuses from sedimentary and tectonic processes, the magnetostratigraphic patterns are in general readily interpretable. Our interpretations are integrated with the diatom, radiolarian, calcareous nannofossils and dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) biostratigraphy. The magnetostratigraphy significantly improves the resolution of the chronostratigraphy, particularly in intervals with poor biostratigraphic control. However, Southern Ocean records with reliable magnetostratigraphies are notably scarce, and the data reported here provide an opportunity for improved calibration of the biostratigraphic records. In particular, we provide a rare magnetostratigraphic calibration for dinocyst biostratigraphy in the Paleogene and a substantially improved diatom calibration for the Pliocene. This paper presents the stratigraphic framework for future paleoceanographic proxy records which are being developed for the Wilkes Land margin cores. It further provides tight constraints on the duration of regional hiatuses inferred from seismic surveys of the region.

The warmest global climates of the past 65 million years occurred during the early Eocene epoch (about 55 to 48 million years ago),when the Equator-to-pole temperature gradients were much smaller than today and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were in excess of one thousand parts per million by volume. Recently the early Eocene has received considerable interest because it may provide insight into the response of Earth’s climate and biosphere to the high atmospheric carbon dioxide levels that are expected in the near future as a consequence of unabated anthropogenic carbon emissions. Climatic conditions of the early Eocene ‘greenhouse world’,however, are poorly constrained in critical regions, particularly Antarctica. Here we present a well-dated record of early Eocene climate on Antarctica from an ocean sediment core recovered off the Wilkes Land coast of East Antarctica. The information from biotic climate proxies (pollen and spores) and independent organic geochemical climate proxies (indices based on branched tetraetherlipids) yields quantitative, seasonal temperature reconstructions for the early Eocene greenhouse world on Antarctica. We show that the climate in lowland settings along the Wilkes Land coast (at apalaeolatitude of about 706 south) supported the growth of highly diverse, near-tropical forests characterized by mesothermal tomegathermal floral elements including palms and Bombacoideae. Notably, winters were extremely mild (warmer than 10°C) and essentially frost-free despite polar darkness, which provides a critical new constraint for the validation of climate models and for understanding the response of high-latitude terrestrial ecosystems to increased carbon dioxide forcing. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

It has been proposed that the formation of gap junction is influenced by adherens junction in cardiac myocytes. To examine whether signals through N-cadherin are involved in the distribution of connexin 43 (Cx43), the distribution of cell-cell adhesion molecules, N-cadherin and Cx43, was analyzed in aligned cardiac myocytes. To induce cell orientation running in parallel to tension direction, neonatal rat cardiac myocytes were plated for 3 hours and exposed to 20% cyclic stretch for 24 hours on silicone dishes. The aligned cells cultured for 0-5 days were immunostained with anti- N-cadherin or anti-Cx43 antibody. After cultivation for 3-5 days, following the accumulation of N-cadherin, Cx43 was localized at the longitudinal cell termini. Adenoviral gene transfer of dominant negative N-cadherin significantly attenuated the localization of Cx43 at the longitudinal cell termini, suggesting that Cx43 localization is regulated downstream of N-cadherin. In the process of Cx43 localization, Rho family proteins, RhoA and Rac1, were activated, but not Cdc42. RhoA and Rac1 activation was inhibited by the transfection of dominant negative N-cadherin, indicating that RhoA and Rac1 were activated by N-cadherin in the oriented cardiac myocytes. The inhibition of Rho family proteins by Rho GDI significantly attenuated the accumulation of Cx43, but not that of N-cadherin. Furthermore, the translocation of Cx43 to longitudinal cell termini was prevented by the inhibition of Rac1, but not RhoA. Collectively, these findings suggest that the localization of Cx43 was determined through the Rac1 pathway downstream of N-cadherin in cardiac myocytes.

In the process of atherosclerosis, platelet activating factor (PAF) promotes the infiltration of inflammatory cells into atherosclerotic plaque by modulating their cytoskeleton. Here, we examined whether Rho family proteins are involved in PAF-induced cytoskeletal reorganization in THP-1 macrophages. PAF stimulation rapidly induced cell elongation, accompanied by filopodia formation. The inhibition of Rho family proteins by the overexpression of Rho-GDI attenuated the PAF-mediated morphological changes. Both RhoA and Cdc42 were activated in response to PAF. Inhibition of RhoA or Cdc42 by dominant negative mutants abrogated morphological changes induced by PAF. Collectively, PAF regulates cytoarchitecture through Rho family proteins in macrophages.

International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 361 drilled six sites on the southeast African margin and in the Indian-Atlantic ocean gateway, southwest Indian Ocean, from 30 January to 31 March 2016. In total, 5175 m of core was recovered, with an average recovery of 102%, during 29.7 days of on-site operations. The sites, situated in the Mozambique Channel at locations directly influenced by discharge from the Zambezi and Limpopo River catchments, the Natal Valley, the Agulhas Plateau, and Cape Basin, were targeted to reconstruct the history of the greater Agulhas Current system over the past ∼5 my. The Agulhas Current is the strongest western boundary current in the Southern Hemisphere, transporting some 70 Sv of warm, saline surface water from the tropical Indian Ocean along the East African margin to the tip of Africa. Exchanges of heat and moisture with the atmosphere influence southern African climates, including individual weather systems such as extratropical cyclone formation in the region and rainfall patterns. Recent ocean model and paleoceanographic data further point at a potential role of the Agulhas Current in controlling the strength and mode of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) during the Late Pleistocene. Spillage of saline Agulhas water into the South Atlantic stimulates buoyancy anomalies that act as control mechanisms on the basin-wide AMOC, with implications for convective activity in the North Atlantic and global climate change. The main objectives of the expedition were to establish the sensitivity of the Agulhas Current to climatic changes during the Pliocene-Pleistocene, to determine the dynamics of the Indian-Atlantic gateway circulation during this time, to examine the connection of the Agulhas leakage and AMOC, and to address the influence of the Agulhas Current on African terrestrial climates and coincidences with human evolution. Additionally, the expedition set out to fulfill the needs of the Ancillary Project Letter, consisting of high-resolution interstitial water samples that will constrain the temperature and salinity profiles of the ocean during the Last Glacial Maximum. The expedition made major strides toward fulfilling each of these objectives. The recovered sequences allowed generation of complete spliced stratigraphic sections that span from 0 to between ∼0.13 and 7 Ma. This sediment will provide decadal- to millennial-scale climatic records that will allow answering the paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic questions set out in the drilling proposal.