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210Pb and 137Cs dating of bulk sediments obtained from the alpine Blue Lake, located in the Snowy Mountains of southeastern Australia, was applied here to date recent lacustrine sediments. In addition, the presence of Pinus pollen (a taxon introduced in Australia about 150 years ago) down to a sediment depth of 56 cm in the core is used to obtain a chronology for the upper part of the core. Accelerated Mass Spectrometry radiocarbon dates obtained from organic muds from the same core do not agree with the chronology constructed using the three other dating techniques. In addition, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of single quartz grains, from sediment-core samples collected from the same lake, was applied to date recent lacustrine sediments. The optical age of 185 ± 20 years for a sample at 60–62 cm depth, and 470 ± 50 years at 116–118 cm depth are well over 1000 years younger than the ages inferred from radiocarbon dates. We therefore infer that the ‘old’ radiocarbon ages result from carbon stored for considerable time within the catchment prior to its transport and deposition on the lake floor. As plant decomposition occurs at much slower rates in high altitude environments, these results bring into question the veracity of previously published radiocarbon dates from Blue Lake and alpine lake sediments in general. The deposition ages inferred from the 210Pb-137Cs and OSL dating, and the first appearance of Pinus pollen, indicate that for the 100-year period after European settlement (from the mid 1800s to early 1900s) the sediment-accumulation rate increased by a factor of about 2, from 0.19 ± 0.01 cm yr−1 to 0.35 ± 0.02 cm yr−1. In the 1900s the accumulation rate increased further to 0.60 cm yr−1. The accumulation rate was particularly rapid in the 20-year period from 1940–1960, reaching a rate 18 times higher than the pre-European rate in the mid-1950s. The increase in sedimentation rate is attributed to changes in land use resulting from European activities in the lake catchment, primarily through sheep and cattle grazing in the Blue Lake catchment.

Arc-continent collision in Southeast Asia during the Neogene may have driven global cooling through chemical weathering of freshly exposed ophiolites resulting in atmospheric CO 2 removal. Yet, little is known about the cause-and-effect relationships between erosion and the long-term evolution of tectonics and climate in this region. Here, we present an 8-million-year record of seawater chemistry and sediment provenance from the eastern Indian Ocean, near the outflow of Indonesian Throughflow waters. Using geochemical analyses of foraminiferal shells and grain size–specific detrital fractions, we show that erosion and chemical weathering of ophiolitic rocks markedly increased after 4 million years (Ma), coincident with widespread island emergence and gradual strengthening of Pacific zonal sea-surface temperature gradients. Together with supportive evidence for enhanced mafic weathering at that time from re-analysis of the seawater 87 Sr/ 86 Sr curve, this finding suggests that island uplift and hydroclimate change in the western Pacific contributed to maintaining high atmospheric CO 2 consumption throughout the late Neogene.

Clay mineral-bearing mudstones are a prominent component of ancient fluvial-lacustrine deposits, 100s of meters thick, documented by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, in Gale crater, Mars. Most of the clay minerals documented by MSL are hypothesized to have formed in situ, at or close to the time of deposition ∼3.5 Ga ago, by aqueous alteration of basaltic detritus. Here we study the mechanisms, controls, and timescales of clay mineral authigenesis in a series of lakes with a wide range of water chemistries from the Western Volcanic District, Victoria, SE Australia, as an analog to the Gale crater mudstones. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis reveals that the sediments of most of the Western Volcanic District lakes studied contain mixtures of kaolinite, illite, mixed-layer illite-smectite (I-S), and dioctahedral smectite clay minerals. Comparisons of this mineral assemblage with regional soils and creek bedload material confirm previous assertions of significant inputs of detrital clay minerals into the lakes. A trioctahedral clay mineral phase is also detected, making up to 39 wt.% of bulk sediments. The abundance of trioctahedral clay minerals correlates with contemporary lake hydrology and proxies for past lake water Mg concentration. This indicates in situ formation of trioctahedral clay minerals by the uptake of Mg and Si from lake waters and pore fluids at rates determined by local physico-chemical conditions. Examination of crater lake sediments, where detrital clay mineral input is minimized, demonstrate that neoformed trioctahedral clay minerals are poorly crystalline trioctahedral smectites. Neoformation of trioctahedral smectites also occurs in lakes where detrital clay minerals are more abundant. However, an additional authigenic transformation process is indicated by the proportions of Mg and Si added to detrital clay minerals as well as evidence for the uptake of K from lake waters. The transformation process probably involved the incorporation of Mg into the octahedral sheets of detrital clay minerals, leading to irreversible uptake of K into interlayer sites (illitization). The distribution of trioctahedral smectites and radiocarbon ages from sediment cores show that clay mineral authigenesis occurred before sediment consolidation, on timescales of years to 100s of years. These results support syndepositional interpretations of analogous Mg-rich clay minerals documented by MSL, and their use as proxies for chemical conditions in ancient Gale lakes. In comparison with the Western Volcanic District lakes, clay mineral-bearing lacustrine mudstones from Gale crater exhibit only modest chemical weathering of basaltic detrital materials and rarely contain carbonate minerals in quantities detectable by XRD. These observations highlight significant differences in weathering regimes and regolith mineralogy on ancient Mars that could be linked to lake catchment geomorphology, climate, atmospheric CO2 content, and the absence of biotic processes on Mars.

Details of the post-embryonic development of two Notodromadidae species, Notodromas trulla Smith & Kamiya, 2014 and Newnhamia fenestrata King, 1855, (subfamily Notodromadinae) are provided, and compared with previous ontogenetic studies on other podocopid families and superfamilies. The ontogenetic development is generally similar to other families, consisting of eight free-living juvenile stages and one adult stage, but the first instar, with a leg-like mandible, resembles that of the Cyprididae, rather than other families. From the A-7 instar onwards, the ventral margin of the carapace is a flattened ovoid, and the dorsolateral eye cups are separated, resembling those of the adults, suggesting that a neustonic lifestyle, similar to that of the adults, is embraced from a very early age. In addition to the ventral margin, other apomorphies of the Notodromadinae include spur-like protrusions on the walking legs of juveniles, which become reduced in adults, and features of the mandibles, probably related to neustonic feeding. Overall, Ne. fenestrata has more plesiomorphic features than No. trulla, and most differences between the two species are related to sexually selected characters, such as different sexually dimorphic features of the antennae. This suggests that sexual selection has been the main evolutionary driving force causing morphological divergence in the subfamily. The two taxa, one from Japan (No. trulla), the other Australia (Ne. fenestrata), have perhaps been separated since the breakup of Pangaea, which started in the Middle Jurassic. This suggests that despite the long geographical isolation, many aspects of ostracod anatomy have remained unchanged over long periods of time. On reviewing the taxonomy of the family, we conclude that monophyly needs to be confirmed with further work, and the subfamily Notodromadinae can be divided into two groups: the Notodromas-group and the Newnhamia-group.

Northern and southern hemispheric influences—particularly changes in Southern Hemisphere westerly winds (SSW) and Southern Ocean ventilation—triggered the stepwise atmospheric CO2increase that accompanied the last deglaciation. One approach for gaining potential insights into past changes in SWW/CO2upwelling is to reconstruct the positions of the northern oceanic fronts associated with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Using two deep-sea cores located ~600 km apart off the southern coast of Australia, we detail oceanic changes from ~23 to 6 ka using foraminifer faunal and biomarker alkenone records. Our results indicate a tight coupling between hydrographic and related frontal displacements offshore South Australia (and by analogy, possibly the entire Southern Ocean) and Northern Hemisphere (NH) climate that may help confirm previous hypotheses that the westerlies play a critical role in modulating CO2uptake and release from the Southern Ocean on millennial and potentially even centennial timescales. The intensity and extent of the northward displacements of the Subtropical Front following well-known NH cold events seem to decrease with progressing NH ice sheet deglaciation and parallel a weakening NH temperature response and amplitude of Intertropical Convergence Zone shifts. In addition, an exceptional poleward shift of Southern Hemisphere fronts occurs during the NH Heinrich Stadial 1. This event was likely facilitated by the NH ice maximum and acted as a coup-de-grâce for glacial ocean stratification and its high CO2capacitance. Thus, through its influence on the global atmosphere and on ocean mixing, “excessive” NH glaciation could have triggered its own demise by facilitating the destratification of the glacial ocean CO2state.

Since Australia is the driest inhabited continent, it is a natural laboratory to study on a large scale dust, its composition, its sources, transport and geochemical composition. This is necessary as there has been a lack of appreciation of the diversity of the Australian regolith characterized by a great array of ages and compositions. This is particularly true of studies that examined the geochemistry of Australian dusts and links with potential deposition sites such as in Antarctica and comparison with South America. Hence, the first part of this paper provides an overview of the surficial geology of Australia with emphasis on regions from where dust can become deflated. A review follows on the investigations of significant dust transport and events in Australia. The second part of the paper provides a review of the sites of potential deflation of dust. It includes the study of different geomorphological sites of dust deflation, with a discussion on how dust particles can accumulate in regions linked to large playa lakes that are under the influence of groundwater below them. This is an important mode of dust deflation, a process of which had insufficiently been detailed before. The processes involving evaporative pumping are explained and several illustrations are provided to document those processes and location of dust deposits. Another region of importance to dust deflation consists of extensive alluvial plains and these are also documented, with an area in the upper reaches of the Darling River being now documented more fully. Finally, the inter-dunal corridors in large dune fields are also mentioned as a source of dust as previous studies already show. This second part ends with the description of the two main Potential Source Areas (PSA) of dust in Australia and these are the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre region of central Australia, and the Darling Riverine Plain in the upper reaches of the Darling River. These two regions are important for their geochemical fingerprints for transcontinental studies, and supported by satellite imagery that identify dust plumes originating from these regions. The third part of the paper examines the geochemical composition of Australian PSAs by paying particular attention to Neodymium, Strontium and Lead isotopic ratios from both continents. We also suggest the possibility of combining Nd and Pb isotopes as a way of fingerprinting geochemically between different Australian regions, and for comparison with other continental PSAs. This part also reviews previous studies that aimed at geochemically fingerprinting the Australian regolith by referring also how these studies were applied to reconstruct past environmental conditions.

In this paper, a review is offered on lacustrine sites in Australia where both dolomite and magnesite are found to precipitate today (but not through diagenesis) and have been doing so during the Holocene. Information thus far obtained in the Coorong region of SE South Australia is provided and this follows with a discussion of the published literature from the volcanic plains of Western Victoria where modern dolomite and magnesite are also precipitating in saline playa lakes today. The work presented here clearly identifies that the volcanic rises (and topographic highs) in Western Victoria, such as Warrion Hill, play a vital role in groundwater recharge first, with subsequent flow paths towards the low plains in the region where saline playas are located. In the topographically-high recharge areas, the waters are predominantly rich in Ca and, as water progressively flows towards the playas, Ca is lost through calcite precipitation in scorias and soils, and is also presumably exchanged for K, with a considerable enrichment of the groundwaters with respect to Mg/Ca and K/Ca. This cationic exchange is thought to occur on clays in the subsurface, which are the by-product of weathering of the local Quaternary basalts. Eventually, the lake waters become supersaturated with respect to Mg-rich minerals and both dolomite and magnesite precipitate naturally in the lake waters to finally settle on the lake floors. It is more than likely that a brine pool occurs below each lake and it is from this that precipitation occurs once that pool waters reaches the lake surface. High levels of bicarbonate are found in the groundwaters principally as a result of carbonic acid supplied through rain and also from hydrolysis of silicate minerals that originally occurred in the basalts. The high concentrations of bicarbonate contribute to the precipitation of the carbonate minerals. Chemical analyses of the groundwaters and the lakes are tabled and help understand the chemical changes along the groundwater flow paths. In addition, examination of the δ18O and δ13C of the Western Victorian lake sediments, by analogy with those of Coorong lakes, indicates that although the carbonates in the Coorong lakes are precipitated as a result of sulphate bacterial reduction, this appears not to be the case for the Western Victorian lakes. Due to the high turbidity of the Western Victorian dolomite-precipitating lakes as well because of their very high salinities (often ≫50TDS), there are no macrophytes, and little if any algal growth.

Chemical weathering plays an important role in sequestering atmospheric CO2, but its potential influence on global climate over geological timescales remains debated. To some extent, this uncertainty arises from the difficulty in separating the respective contribution of sedimentary and crystalline silicate rocks to past weathering rates in the geological record; two types of rocks having presumably different impact on the long-term carbon cycle. In this study, we investigate the use of rare earth element (REE) and neodymium isotopes (εNd) in leached iron oxide fractions of river sediments for tracing the origin of weathered rocks on continents. A new index, called ‘concavity index’ (CI), is defined for measuring the degree of mid-REE enrichment in geological samples, which enables the determination of the source of iron oxides in sediments, such as seawater-derived Fe-oxyhydroxide phases, ancient marine Fe oxides derived from the erosion of sedimentary rocks, and recent secondary oxides formed in soils via alteration of crystalline silicate rocks or pyrite oxidation. Using this index, we demonstrate that the εNd difference between paired Fe-oxide and detrital fractions in river sediments (defined here as ∆εNd Feox-Det) directly reflects the relative contribution of sedimentary versus crystalline silicate rocks during weathering. While rivers draining old cratons and volcanic provinces display near-zero ∆εNd Feox-Det values indicative of dominant silicate weathering (0.5 ± 1.1; n = 30), multi-lithological catchments hosting sedimentary formations yield systematically higher values (2.7 ± 1.2; n = 44), showing that sedimentary rock weathering can be traced by the occurrence of riverine Fe oxides having more radiogenic Nd isotope signatures compared to detrital fractions. This assumption is reinforced by the evidence that calculated ∆εNd Feox-Det values agree well with previous estimates for carbonate and silicate weathering rates in large river basins. Examining the influence of climate and tectonics on measured Nd isotopic compositions, we find that ∆εNd Feox-Det is strongly dependent on temperature in lowlands, following an Arrhenius-like relationship that reflects enhanced alteration of silicate rocks and formation of secondary Fe oxides in warmer climates. In contrast, in high-elevation catchments, ∆εNd Feox-Det defines striking correlation with maximum basin elevation, which we also interpret as reflecting the intensification of silicate weathering and associated Fe oxide formation as elevation decreases, due to the combined effects of thicker soils and warmer temperature. Overall, our new findings are consistent with previous assertions that the alteration of sedimentary rocks prevails in high-elevation environments, while silicate weathering dominates in floodplains. This novel approach combining REE and Nd isotopes opens new perspectives for disentangling the weathering signals of sedimentary and crystalline silicate rocks in the geologic record, which could be used in future studies to reassess the causal relationships between mountain uplift, erosion and climate throughout Earth's history.

We investigate the ability of coralline red algae to record historical nickel mining activity that occurred between the early 1960s and 1981 in the Coulee River watershed, southwest New Caledonia. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) was used to determine high-resolution (sub-annual) variations of trace metal ratios (Mn/Ca, Fe/Ca, Ni/Ca and Co/Ca) in three similar to 45 years old, free-living forms of the rhodolith coralline red alga Sporolithon durum from Ricaudy Reef in the inner lagoon of New Caledonia, 15 km from the Coulee River mouth. We find increased Mn/Ca and Fe/Ca ratio values track the intensity of mining in the Coulee River catchment whereas Ni/Ca ratio values appear more sensitive to the ore type (saprolite versus laterite) that were targeted during two separate stages of mining activity. Mn/Ca, Fe/Ca and Ni/Ca decrease following the cessation of mining in 1981, but did not reach current values until > 10 years after that date. Surprisingly, Co/Ca variations do not correlate with mining activity but rather increase steadily through the record period. We argue this relates to nickel refining and smelting activity over the past half century. Our results further suggest that the local, inter-annual rainfall variability may influence the metal concentrations recorded in the rhodoliths during the period of intense mining activity, but the link between metal uptake and rainfall is not entirely clear for the entire growth period of the rhodoliths.

Previous sub-bottom profiling of the Lacepede Shelf, southern Australia, had inferred the course of the palaeo-River Murray during periods of low sea level. Micropalaeontological analysis of two cores taken during the SST-02-07 cruise, confirm these earlier observations, and reveal the past existence of permanently open, estuarine environments substantially larger than currently prevailing at the mouth of the terminal lakes of the River Murray, Australia's largest exorheic river. The characteristics of the sediment and contained microfossils provide substantial evidence for the repeated development of large, oxygen depleting algal blooms (sapropels). Detailed analyses of the ostracod and foraminifer microfaunas, together with other fossil remains such as pteropods, bryozoan, sponge spicules and echinoid spines, combined with the dating of selected ostracods and bivalve molluscs (by AMS radiocarbon) and bivalve molluscs (by amino acid racemization) reveal rapid sediment accumulation within the ancient channels of the River Murray under estuarine conditions. The oldest infill relates to the end of the rapid sea-level rise following Meltwater Pulse IA ~13,600 cal. years BP and the second one that coincides with the Meltwater Pulse IB at 11,500–11,000 cal. years BP; in both cases, marine microfauna confirm the presence of marine incursions. The palaeoenvironmental reconstructions based on microfossils presented here rely on the study of six southeastern Australian contemporaneous estuaries where foraminifers and ostracods were collected, together with some ecological data such as salinity, dissolved oxygen and presence/absence of aquatic vegetation.

The Leeuwin Current (LC), an eastern boundary current, transports tropical waters from the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool (IPWP) towards southern latitudes and modulates oceanic conditions offshore southern Australia. New, high-resolution planktic foraminifer assemblage data and alkenone-derived sea surface temperatures (SST) provide an in-depth view on LC variability and mechanisms driving the current's properties during the mid to late Holocene (last c. 7.4 ka BP). Our marine reconstructions highlight a longer-term mid to late Holocene reduction of tropical heat export from the IPWP area into the LC. Mid Holocene (c. 7.4 to 3.5 ka BP) occurrence of high SSTs (>19.5 °C), tropical planktic foraminifera and a well-stratified water column document an enhanced heat export from the tropics. From c. 3.5 ka BP onwards, a weaker LC and a notably reduced tropical heat export cause oceanic cooling offshore southern Australia. The observed mid to late Holocene trends likely result from large-scale changes in the IPWP's heat storage linked to the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. We propose that a strong and warm LC occurs in response to a La Nina-like state of ENSO during the mid Holocene. The late Holocene LC cooling, however, results from a shift towards an El Nino-like state and a more variable ENSO system that causes cooling of the IPWP. Superimposed on these longer-term trends we find evidence of distinct late Holocene millennial-scale phases of enhanced El Nino/La Nina development, which appear synchronous with northern hemispheric climatic variability. Phases of dominant El Nino-like states occur parallel to North Atlantic cold phases: the ‘2800 years BP cooling event’, the ‘Dark Ages’ and the ‘Little Ice Age’, whereas the ‘Roman Warm Period’ and the ‘Medieval Climate Anomaly’ parallel periods of a predominant La Nina-like state. Our findings provide further evidence of coherent interhemispheric climatic and oceanic conditions during the mid to late Holocene, suggesting ENSO as a potential mediator.

From the late 1990s to mid-2010, Australia was affected by a prolonged period of drought, the “Millennium Drought,” during which numerous severe dust storms crossed the continent. We inspect this period to produce the first continental-scale climatology of air-parcel trajectories that is specific to dust and use it to gain new insights into dust transport dynamics over the eastern half of Australia. The analysis is based upon dust arrival times from airport meteorological observations made at nine mostly coastal cities for 2000–2009. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model was used to calculate 1.26 million backward trajectories from receptor cities, with only those trajectories associated with a dust storm observation considered in the analysis of dust transport. To tie dust trajectories from receptors to likely emission sources, trajectories were linked to six known major dust source regions in and around the Lake Eyre Basin. The Lake Eyre North ephemeral lake system, alluvial-dominated Channel Country, and agricultural Mallee-Riverina regions emerge as important sources for the period, providing variable contributions to different parts of the seaboard as controlled by different front-related wind systems. Our study also provides new detail regarding dust pathways from continental Australia. For the Millennium Drought we identify that the broadly established Southeast Dust Path may be more accurately subdivided into three active pathways, driven by prefrontal northerly winds and a variation in the influence of frontal westerlies. The detail of these pathways has implications for dust delivery from specific Australian sources to different marine environments.

International audience; New proxy records from deep-sea sediment cores from the northwestern continental margin of Western Australian reveal a 5.3 million year (Ma) history of aridity and tropical monsoon activity in northwestern Australia. Following the warm and dry early Pliocene (~5.3 Ma), the northwestern Australian continent experienced a gradual increase in humidity peaking at about 3.8 Ma with higher than present-day rainfall. Between 3.8 and about 2.8 Ma, climate became progressively more arid with more rainfall variability. Coinciding with the onset of the Northern Hemisphere glaciations and the intensification of the Northern Hemisphere monsoon, aridity continued to increase overall from 2.8 Ma until today, with greater variance in precipitation and an increased frequency of large rainfall events. We associate the observed large-scale fluctuations in Australian aridity with variations in Indian Ocean sea surface temperatures, which largely control the monsoonal precipitation in northwestern Australia. Plain Language Summary Australia is the driest inhabited continent on the planet, with its moisture mostly sourced from the tropical monsoon in the north and the southern westerlies in the south. The continent has experienced large climate fluctuations in the geologic past, but long continuous records of paleoenvironmental changes are lacking, particularly prior to~0.55 Ma. Here, we address this paucity by presenting a continuous and fluctuating record of continental aridity and monsoonal activity in northwestern Australia since the Pliocene (5.3 Ma). These records are based on bulk-chemical X-Ray Fluorescence scans and particle-size distributions of the terrigenous fraction in two marine sediment cores from the NW Western Australian continental margin. A comparison with present-day sources of windblown and fluvial sediments taken near the NW Western Australian coast corroborates our interpretation of the terrigenous fraction in the marine sediment cores. We show how the northwestern part of the Australian continent has experienced large climate fluctuations since 5.3 Ma, expressed by large aridity contrasts and great changes in monsoonal precipitation that are driven by Indian Ocean sea-surface temperatures.

The dawn of animals remains one of the most mysterious milestones in the evolution of life. The fossil lipids 24-isopropylcholestane and 26-methylstigmastane are considered diagnostic for demosponges—arguably the oldest group of living animals. The widespread occurrence and high relative abundance of these biomarkers in Ediacaran sediments from 635–541 million years (Myr) ago have been viewed as evidence for the rise of animals to ecological importance approximately 100 Myr before their rapid Cambrian radiation. Here we show that the biosynthesis of 24-isopropylcholestane and 26-methylstigmastane precursors is common among early-branching unicellular Rhizaria—heterotrophic protists that play an important role in trophic cycling and carbon export in the modern ocean. Negating these hydrocarbons as sponge biomarkers, our study places the oldest evidence for animals closer to the Cambrian Explosion. Cambrian silica hexactine spicules that are approximately 535 Myr old now represent the oldest diagnostic sponge remains, whereas approximately 558-Myr-old Dickinsonia and Kimberella (Ediacara biota) provide the most reliable evidence for the emergence of animals. The proliferation of predatory protists may have been responsible for much of the ecological changes during the late Neoproterozoic, including the rise of algae, the establishment of complex trophic relationships and the oxygenation of shallow-water habitats required for the subsequent ascent of macroscopic animals. Fossil lipid biomarkers previously thought to be diagnostic of sponges (and thus indicative of animal life) are found to be preserved in unicellular Rhizarian protists, questioning a pre-Cambrian origin of sponges.

Over the last four decades of palaeoclimate research, significant emphasis has been placed on the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) spanning 26.5–19 thousand years ago (ka), a period that saw significant (∼125 m) sea-level reductions and major ice caps adorning large parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Here, we present evidence for another major glacial period spanning 71–59 ka (Marine Isotope Stage 4: MIS4) from a well-dated marine sequence offshore South Australia. The astronomically-tuned chronology of this deep-sea core is confirmed using single-grain optically stimulated luminescence dating (OSL), providing confidence in our high-resolution age model. Our approach to the study of our MD03-2607 core has been to employ many different proxies. These are: δSsup>18O of both planktic and benthic foraminifera for stratigraphic purposes, faunal counts of planktonic foraminifera to reconstruct the position of oceanic fronts and currents, alkenone palaeothermometry, XRF core scanning to determine the presence of aeolian dust, and εNd isotope to identify fluvial discharge over the core site. We compare our new proxy findings with other archives for mainland Australia and Tasmania.Our multi-proxy palaeoclimate reconstructions are consistent with other marine, terrestrial and cryosphere archives across the Southern Hemisphere and suggest, for the first time, that MIS 4 was almost as dramatic as the LGM. During MIS4, global sea-level was reduced by ∼100 m, glaciers across Australasia were more significant compared to the LGM, and sea-surface temperatures were much reduced. These glacial conditions uniformly peaked around 65 ka. Global comparisons show major glacial conditions and vegetation shifts elsewhere during MIS4, but many are poorly dated. The significant environmental changes taking place during this glacial period were paralleled by waves of human dispersal across Eurasia and the earliest evidence of human occupation in northern Australia at 65 ka.

Ostracodes (Class Crustacea) have long held place as one of the major groups of useful microfossils in stratigraphy, evolutionary biology, and paleoecology. Ranging in time from the Ordovician Period to the present day, these microscopic crustaceans have proven time and time again their value in applied geology and environmental studies. The non-marine ostracodes of the late Cenozoic Era (including modern populations) have been shown to be particularly useful in the fields of paleoclimate and paleohydrology, and much of that success can be traced to the research efforts of Rick Forester of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Rick passed away quite suddenly in March of 2014, following his early retirement from the USGS in 2005. This issue of Hydrobiologia will provide the reader with a view of the scope of his research interests, which were primarily in the areas of applied uses of ostracode records to solve problems in late Cenozoic paleoclimate and paleohydrology in North America. He frequently worked with specialists in diatoms and pollen, as well as hydrologists, hydrogeologists, and isotope geochemists, and these papers reflect his interests in these areas. His astonishingly extensive knowledge of geology, physical chemistry, statistics, and paleontologymade him a unique figure in the geosciences, and his loss is deeply felt by his many colleagues. Rick studied modern and Late Cenozoic distributions of non-marine ostracodes for their value in solving paleoclimatic and paleohydrologic problems. He was the founder of the public access database ‘‘NANODe’’ (www.kent.edu/nanode), a non-marine ostracode biogeographical database with species and associated hydrochemical data from about 600 sites in the United States, now also available through the public access multi-proxy database Neotoma (www. neotomadb.org). In paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental research, a biological ‘‘proxy’’ is a taxon with known modern environmental tolerances and biogeographical distribution, and which also has a significant Guest editors: Alison J. Smith, Emi Ito, B. Brandon Curry & Patrick De Deckker / Multidisciplinary aspects of aquatic science: the legacy of Rick Forester

A review is provided of first-documented occurrences of dust transport within Australia for the last century, but which later on were considerably improved as a result of access to satellite observations and extensive ground observations. This was followed by the use of the HYSPLIT tracking models that enabled people to determine the major sources of dust in Australia. As a result of several important studies, the Lake Eyre Basin in central Australia is now considered to be the main source of dust entrainment, although other regions do contribute to dust production. This is followed by examination of the occurrence over the last few decades of dust transport and deposition within Australia and across the Tasman Sea, with dust being deposited even as far as New Zealand. After that, consideration is given to the deposition of dust not only at sea around Australia but also in New Zealand during the Holocene and Late Quaternary. As a consequence of these observations, a shift in the direction of dust plumes exiting Australia is noted. For example, during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), a substantial northerly shift of the Trans-Tasman dust plume is recorded and this coincides with stronger westerlies and an equatorward shift of oceanic fronts such as the Intertropical Convergence and Subpolar and Antarctic Fronts that were located closer to Australia compared to today. Strengthening of the winds during the LGM may have prevented dust plumes from travelling over the southern part of the Tasman Sea, even perhaps reaching Antarctica. Examination of the dust components in cores in the western Pacific Ocean would address this question. The second part of the paper examines the geochemical fingerprints of dusts from Australia, South America and those recovered from Antarctic ice cores. Examination of atmospheric conditions that prevailed in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica during a major dust storm event that occurred in Australia in October 2002 helps identify how dust can be entrained around cold fronts and eventually reach the Antarctic mainland. Once again, it appears that Australian dust did travel as far as Antarctica more frequently during the Holocene, than prior to that time. New Zealand as a dust source to some Antarctic sites is also discussed. Examination of the isotopic fingerprints in Antarctic ice cores point to South America being the main source of dust during the Last Glacial Maximum and previous glacial periods, with intermittent occurrences likely to have come from Australia and New Zealand as well. It is postulated that Australian dust plumes did travel mostly over the Tasman Sea, and eventually over the western Pacific Ocean during the LGM, and frequently less so towards Tasmania and the Southern Ocean as a result of the strengthening of the westerlies and their northward shift. It transpires that the dust flux from Australia was much higher during the glacial periods. It appears also that the dust plumes that traverse the eastern Indian Ocean remained unchanged during the LGM. Finally, this paper concludes by identifying that there is a need to either obtain larger dust samples from ice cores, or use more elaborate analytical techniques to combine more than two isotopes to fingerprint the origin of dusts recovered in ice cores. Perhaps a combination of not only isotopes, but also rare earth elements and major elements would eventually provide a better definition of atmospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere for comparison between glacial and interglacial periods.

Shells of Cyprideis, a widespread euryhaline ostracod, have commonly been used in geochemical investigations involving determinations of trace elements (especially magnesium and strontium) and isotopes (of oxygen, carbon and strontium). In this paper, we evaluate geochemical signatures in Cyprideis based on new and previously published data. Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca determinations of fossil shells that calcified in marine-type water have potential to reconstruct palaeotemperature and past water composition using empirical relationships derived from living ostracods recovered from in vitro cultures or natural settings. For shells that calcified in non-marine waters of contrasting composition, partitioning of trace metals from water into ostracod shells may differ, meaning that relationships developed for marine waters do not apply. However, variations in Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca in Cyprideis in continental settings may still provide valuable palaeohydrological information. Determinations of oxygen isotopes in Cyprideis shells are consistent with positive offsets from equilibrium, in common with other ostracod taxa: carbon-isotope values reflect the fact that Cyprideis is a detritivore. Oxygen-isotope analyses of Cyprideis shells from continental settings provide important palaeohydrological information. Strontium-isotope analyses of Cyprideis shells provide valuable records of mixing of marine and continental water in marginal-marine settings. Geochemical analyses of different morphotypes of Cyprideis lend support to suggestions that ecophenotypic variations are controlled by factors other than, or additional to, salinity.Supplementary material: descriptions of sites, materials and methods for previously unpublished studies are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3248710.v1

From an examination of 34 grab and dredge samples ranging from 110 m to 3584 m water depth, collected during Eltanin cruise 47 across the Kerguelen Plateau, 26 shallow-water and 35 deep-sea benthonic ostracod species have been identified. Systematic notes and illustrations of the common and some of the rare species are presented. Two new species are described: Philoneptunus cassidyi n. sp. and Taracythere abyssora n. sp. Comparisons made with the Atlantic and SW Pacific Oceans and circum-Antarctic regions indicate that the fauna comprises dominantly cosmopolitan deep-sea species while most of the other species have close affinities with the SW Pacific. In the Kerguelen material, seven distinct depth assemblages appear to correspond well with differing watermasses and there is evidence that the relatively shallow position of Antarctic Intermediate Water permits elevation of the upper depth limits of some deep-sea species. Some species have developed ornament of fine reticulation, features not previously seen in those species outside the Kerguelen region.

In 1990 Danielopol et al. described the ostracod genus Cytherissa as ‘the Drosophila of paleolimnology’ in the sense of a model organism for their purposes at that time. In the intervening years Drosophila is no longer seen by biologists as the perfect test model and, for example, the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans is now viewed as preferable because ‘the fly is much more complex than the worm and the anatomy of the nervous system has not reached the level of completeness achieved for the worm’ (Brenner 2003, p. 278). For some years attention has focused on Cyprideis torosa (Jones, 1850), especially since the pioneering work of Rosenfeld & Vesper (1977) on sieve-pore variability in this species in relation to salinity, because torosa is a particularly widely distributed euryhaline living and fossil ostracod species. Cyprideis torosa is not only biogeographically widespread but occurs in a salinity range from freshwater to hypersaline, tolerates a wide range of temperature, oxygen and substrate conditions, and also has a large, well-calcified and easily preserved carapace. The species first occurs in sedimentary formations of early Pleistocene age but may be older. Therefore, it has the potential to be an ostracod model organism. This set of thematic papers is designed to summarize our current knowledge of one of the most important living ostracod species, its distribution, ecology, morphological response to environmental pressures, and molecular characterization, together with our understanding of its origins and value for palaeoenvironmental interpretation. The ultimate aim is to define potentially rewarding research targets using C. torosa as a model organism. ARL acknowledges Patrick De Deckker for the initial inspiration for this thematic set of papers on Cyprideis torosa and for his long-term support. PDD and ARL both acknowledge Dan Danielopol (University of Graz) as an unfailing source of ideas and inspiration! We both thank our Contributing Authors, the Reviewers, and especially Sarah Gibbs our Senior Production Editor.

Dust storms are responsible for the transport of a large quantity of bacteria from arid regions. A severe drought in the first decade of the new millennium in Australia increased the incidence of dust transport further. The major aims of this study were to characterize the bacterial communities in aerosols and their associated source sediments using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and to investigate the possibility of using HTS to link dust to its source, which has not been previously performed in this way. Four field campaigns were conducted at the recently evaporated saline playa Lake Gnarpurt in the Australian state of Victoria between 2008 and 2010 (3 in the austral summer, 1 in winter) to collect aerosol and sediment samples. Aerosol samples were collected on filters up to 150 m above the lake bed using a tethered helium-filled balloon. DNA was extracted from all samples using commercial kits, and the bacterial communities were examined using 454 HTS on the 16S rRNA gene. Over 200,000 sequences from 29 samples were analysed. In both sediment and aerosol samples, Salinimicrobium was the most abundant taxon; however, there was great variation and diversity across all samples. Analysis of similarities of the bacterial communities indicated that there was a significant overlap between the sediment samples and the aerosols collected above that location, showing that the bacteria in the air was derived from a subset of dust from a nearby source. The challenge remains to use bacterial profiling to link an aerosol sample to a distant source.

Deep-sea core Fr10/95-GC17, collected offshore North West Cape at the western tip of Western Australia, is located beneath the path of the Leeuwin Current. This shallow, warm and low salinity current is an offshoot of the Indonesian Throughflow that transfers water and heat from the West Pacific Ocean into the Indian Ocean. The location is at the edge of the Indo Pacific Warm Pool, the source of large-scale transfer of moisture and heat from the ocean to the atmosphere. For this core, we combine previously published data with new research and use a revised chronology to re-examine the timing of climate change during the last 34,000 years in the tropics of northern Australia. The age model for the core is based on 15 radiocarbon dates complemented by luminescence ages and an oxygen isotope record. This study draws on an extensive range of analyses that have been performed on the core, including micropalaeontology of planktic and benthic foraminifera and coccoliths, stable isotopes analysis of foraminifera and their faunal composition, clay content, sediment composition and pollen analyses. Sea-surface and land temperatures are estimated from the foraminifer faunal analyses and from pollen spectra, respectively. The clay fraction and sediment composition and radiogenic isotopes of that fraction helped identify changes both on land and at sea: changes such as rainfall as shown by river discharge, and oceanic current tracing by neodymium, strontium and lead isotopes obtained from sediments. The most significant finding is that a major threshold was crossed at 13 ka BP. Prior to that time, rainfall over NW Western Australia was low as was sea-surface temperature (SST); river discharge to the ocean was also low as a result of the lack of monsoonal activity and finally, ocean alkalinity would have been lower than at present due to the uptake of atmospheric CO 2 . By 13 ka BP, the entire system moved away from glacial period conditions. The Indo-Australian monsoon commenced in and offshore northwestern Western Australia. SST and land temperature increased dramatically and ocean alkalinity changed due to the formation of a “barrier layer” (a low salinity cap), over the Indo Pacific Warm Pool. During the Holocene, river discharge and the land and ocean temperatures did not covary, for example, the highest rainfall did not coincide with the highest SST. Finally, the last 5 ka saw a strengthening of ENSO in the region.

Length measurements of sperms of 51 species of Cypridoidea ostracods were taken to supplement the paucity of ostracod sperm data in the published literature. The lengths of the posterior regions (carrying the mitochondria) and the thinner anterior regions were also measured when appropriate. Maximum lengths of sperms for individual species varied from 268 mu m for Fabaeformiscandona velifera Smith and Janz, 2008 through to 11 787 mu m for Australocypris robusta De Deckker, 1974;these lengths represent the shortest so far recorded for the superfamily and the longest ever recorded in ostracods, respectively. There appears to be only a loose relationship between taxonomy and sperm lengths. Species of the subfamily Candoninae generally have the shortest sperms compared with other subfamilies, but one Candoninae species, Candona altoides Petkovski, 1961, has sperms longer than some species of the families Cyprididae, Ilyocyprididae and Notodromadidae. The family Cyprididae showed the most variation, with sperms ranging from 1000 mu m through to 11 787 mu m in length. No hypothesis satisfactorily explains the origin of giant sperms in ostracods or the longevity of this trait through geological eras, and their existence remains enigmatic.

We used laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) to obtain highresolution variations of the Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca and Li/Ca composition of free-living forms (i.e. rhodoliths) of the coralline red algal species Sporolithon durum in order to test their potential to archive seawater temperature information. A monitoring experiment was conducted based on alizarin red S (ARS) staining of rhodoliths specimens collected in various locations across a similar to 1 km(2) rhodolith bed in the vicinity of Noumea, New Caledonia, where in situ temperature (1ST) variations were recorded for 22 months between November 2009 and August 2011. A >45-year comparison of Mg and trace elements with seasurface temperature (SST) was established from the analysis of 5 different branches belonging to three of the largest (7.4-8.5 cm in diameter) rhodolith specimens observed at the site. Consistent mean Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca and Li/Ca concentrations and seasonal patterns are found for the rhodoliths' last living years (2009 2011) across 43 branches and for the full 1963-2008 period across the 5 branches. Average elemental concentrations (Mg/Ca: 0.31 +/- 0.04 mol/mol; Sr/Ca: 3.5 +/- 0.4 mmol/mol and Li/Ca: 0.08 +/- 0.02 mmol/ mol) fall within range of those found in the literature. Individual element variations show good reproducibility between records and Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca and Li/Ca co-vary systematically. Combined records of Mg/ Ca, Sr/Ca and Li/Ca are highly correlated with the 1ST monthly pattern for the 2009-2011 period (0.82 < r < 0.91; p < 0.001) and with local variations of monthly SST for the 1963-2008 period (0.65 < r < 0.85; p < 0.001), with Mg/Ca systematically being the best fit to monthly seawater temperature variations. Inter-annual Mg/Ca anomalies show significant correlation with the Oceanic Nino Index (ONI), indicating that S. durum rhodoliths also have the capacity to record the regional climate pattern in the tropical Pacific. Finally, consistent variations between the combined Mg/Ca record in S. durum rhodoliths and one Sr/Ca record of a Porites sp. coral from the same site, as well as a similar relationship with local SST at both monthly and interannual scales, suggest that S. durum rhodoliths have the potential to compare favourably with corals in terms of SST reconstruction.

In September 2009, a major dust storm passed over the southeast coast of Australia and covered the large city of Sydney that is located on the eastern coast of Australia. It was referred to as the 'Red Dawn' event. Along its course across the state of New South Wales, the dust plume passed over Canberra, the capital of Australia located some 300 km from Sydney. In this study we identified the sources of the dust and tracked the progression of the dust storm using satellite imagery. We also examined the meteorological conditions that led to the formation of the dust plume. We also investigated the microbial and lipid composition, grain-size distribution, pollen content and geochemical composition of several samples of the dust that fell in Canberra (called 'Canberra dust'), with particular attention paid to the ratio of some rare earth elements as well as strontium and neodymium isotopes. This was done to identify a geochemical and palynological 'fingerprint' of this dust to determine the source of the material. Collectively, the meteorological and fingerprinting analyses identified the principal location of dust entrainment as between the large playa Lakes Gairdner and Torrens in arid South Australia, some 1600 km away from Canberra. We also determined through Sr isotope analyses and other elements measured in the dust that fell in Canberra and the township of Eden, located south of Sydney, that the dust changed composition slightly over a few hours, being the consequence of local dust entrainment along the path of the dust plume across South Australia and New South Wales. In addition, we present a scenario which explains dust transport away from the direction of the major dust plume. Those investigations carried out on the Canberra dust are compared with a previously documented event when dust was also sampled in Canberra in 2002. The origin and composition of the 2002 dust plume was clearly different from that which occurred in 2009, as demonstrated by the different chemical (organic and inorganic) composition, grain-size characteristics and palynological fingerprints, as well as microbial composition. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multiple organic proxies are used to reconstruct sea surface temperature (SST) but are rarely applied in concert. Furthermore, they have not been extensively calibrated for the Southern Hemisphere, particularly Australian waters. In an attempt to remedy this gap, we have used three organic temperature proxies: the alkenone unsaturation index ( U 37 K ′ ), the tetraether index from tetraethers consisting of 86 carbons (TEX86) and the novel long chain diol index (LDI) to reconstruct SST using seafloor sediments from the sediment/water interface from near the Australian southern and eastern coasts. The proxies revealed temperature offsets compared with World Ocean Atlas 2009 temperature values that are attributed to differences in seasonal biomarker flux and depth habitat of the source organisms. In the southeast Australian region, U 37 K ′ and LDI provided better estimates of winter temperature at the surface than of any other season but overall were a robust measure of mean annual SST. TEX 86 H was consistent with previous data from other oceans; it estimated annual temperature best within the 75–100 m water column. Comparison of the Australian results with the published global data sets confirm that TEX 86 H closely matched the correlation for annual temperature in the integrated 0–200 m water depth profiles, whereas the other 2 proxies U 37 K ′ and LDI showed different correlations. The results indicate that the combined application of the three independent biomarker proxies may provide useful surface and subsurface temperature information in the Australian region.

A substantial extinction of megafauna occurred in Australia between 50 and 45 kyr ago(1,2), a period that coincides with human colonization of Australia(3). Large shifts in vegetation also occurred around this time, but it is unclear whether the vegetation changes were driven by the human use of fire(4)-and thus contributed to the extinction event-or were a consequence of the loss of megafaunal grazers(5,6). Here we reconstruct past vegetation changes in southeastern Australia using the stable carbon isotopic composition of higher plant wax n-alkanes and levels of biomass burning from the accumulation rates of the biomarker levoglucosan from a well-dated sediment core offshore from the Murray-Darling Basin. We find that from 58 to 44 kyr ago, the abundance of plants with the C-4 carbon fixation pathway was generally high-between 60 and 70%. By 43 kyr ago, the abundance of C-4 plants dropped to 30% and biomass burning increased. This transient shift lasted for about 3,000 years and came after the period of human arrival and directly followed megafauna extinction at 48.9-43.6 kyr ago(1). We conclude that the vegetation shift was not the cause of the megafaunal extinction in this region. Instead, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that vegetation change was the consequence of the extinction of large browsers and led to the build-up of fire-prone vegetation in the Australian landscape.

Twofold Bay lies at the confluence of two oceanic boundaries, the near end of the East Australian Current and waters from the Southern Ocean. The Bay is NSW's largest commercial fishing port and has been home to much anthropogenic activity, ranging from whaling, mussel farming, timber export, large boat traffic, Australian Navy activities and recreational fishing. We investigated the sediments and associated foraminifer fauna in the bay and identified four different sedimentological associations linked to local currents and water depths and three foraminiferal associations, with live to dead specimen ratios established for each sample site. Three principal biotopes have been identified using cluster analysis of foraminiferal assemblages, with each biotope characterised by a specific faunal population and substrate type: (1) Inner Bay Biotope, characterised by Elphidium aff. advenum and predominantly very fine–fine sand substrates (63–250 μm); (2) Outer Bay Biotope characterised by Discorbis dimidiatus and...

Several well-dated and high-resolution, multi-proxy Holocene palaeoclimatic records have recently emerged that permit a cross-continent comparison of climatic changes in Australia. This synthesis seeks to compare these records with recently published records from southern Australia and investigate the role of far-field teleconnections that have played in the mid to late Holocene climatic history of the region. The modern climate of southeastern Australia (SEA) is influenced by the Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Annular Mode (IOS-SAM), the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and contrasts with southwestern Australia (SWA), which is predominantly influenced by variations in the IOS-SAM. Both regions have undergone a period of increasing aridity through the second half of the Holocene in response to the southerly migration of the mean position of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the southerly migration of the IOS-SAM. Comparison of the palaeorecords stemming from both SEA and SWA suggests that the SWA record differs from the climate recorded from SEA from approximately 5.6 ka. This difference is ascribed to an increased influence of large-scale climate drivers including the IOD and ENSO variability in SEA, which have negligible impact on the climate of SWA. Throughout the Holocene, the southerly migration of the ITCZ results in a weaker Asian summer monsoon. However, the rate of Asian summer monsoon weakening slowed during the middle Holocene and this coincides with a larger sea-surface temperature gradient across the equatorial Indian Ocean that resulted in a prolonged mode of positive IOD and a period of significantly increased evaporation in SEA. Those phenomena engendered a general decline in the lake levels in SEA, which is not seen in SWA as this region was not significantly affected by the IOD throughout the Holocene. This positive IOD period lasted until ~ 4.3 ka, before a return to the strengthening (weakening) of the Australian (Asian) summer monsoon conditions that resulted in a southward shift of the ITCZ during the austral winter. The southerly shift in the ITCZ was associated with a more southerly mean position of the IOS-SAM and drier conditions for SEA and SWA. The climate affecting SEA after 4.3 ka coincides with an increasing incidence and strengthening of the El Nino (non-El Nino or La Nina) mode coupled with positive (negative) modes of the IOD that resulted in a net deficit (excess) of water. The driest phase in SEA occurs at ca. 1.8 ka, when far-field palaeoclimate records indicate a peak in El Nino intensity, although the impact of the IOD cannot be discounted. Conversely, both the IOD and ENSO phenomena do not affect the climate of SWA, thus leading to significant differences in the climate across the southern margin of the Australian continent.

Dust storms are a major source of aerosolized bacteria, especially in the drought conditions experienced in Australia in the decade to 2009. The major aims of this project were to identify the culturable bacteria in environmental samples and to genetically fingerprint all isolates using repetitive element PCR (Rep-PCR) to investigate the possibility of tracking isolates from their source into the atmosphere. Four field trips were conducted to a dry lake in western Victoria, Australia to sample aerosols and sediments. Aerosols were collected at heights up to 150 m using vacuum pumps with filters attached to a tethered helium balloon, while corresponding sediments were collected in sterile polypropylene tubes. Isolates were cultivated on Tryptic Soy Agar, R2 Agar and Marine Agar, and grown in dark conditions at ambient temperature. By sequencing the 16S rRNA gene of 270 isolates, fifteen different bacterial families were identified, with both the aerosols and sediments dominated by the Bacillaceae family. Four sets of Rep-PCR primers were tested, with the ERIC and (GTG)5 primers proving to be the most suitable for fingerprinting the cultured taxa. Rep-PCR revealed very high strain diversity in the samples collected, however some strains were still able to be tracked from sediments up to 150 m in height. This shows the potential of Rep-PCR, however very large reference databases would be required for the technique to be more useful.

Reconstructed Holocene lake-level curves from two saline, hydrologically closed maar crater lakes in southwestern Victoria, Australia, show near synchronous lake-level changes throughout the Holocene. We show that lake levels, reconstructed from sediment particle size and ostracod valve chemistry (δ18O and Sr/Ca) have undergone rapid (10 m) fluctuations throughout the Holocene. Finer sampling resolution shows a more sensitive response to Holocene climate than was previously presented for Lake Keilambete. Both maar crater lakes show a short-lived maximum in Holocene lake levels around 7.2 ka. The period of lake filling leading to peak lake levels matches the phase of most effective precipitation (7.4–7.0 ka) reconstructed from a high-resolution speleothem record from northern Tasmania. Water levels declined in both lakes during the mid Holocene, with a more substantive decline after ~5 ka which coincides with the end of the Southern Hemisphere hypsithermal. Water levels continued to oscillate with a periodicity of around 300–700 years, before reaching a late-Holocene nadir around 1.8 ka (Keilambete) and 1.3 ka (Gnotuk). The trend and periodicity of oscillations in the maar water levels show commonalities to δD in the Dome C ice core, and suggest that temperature may be a significant component in influencing the Precipitation/Evaporation (P/E) ratio in southeastern Australia during the Holocene.

We report extension rates and growth patterns of the coralline red alga Sporolithon durum (rhodolith form) from New Caledonia. Alizarin red S staining was used to mark 43 rhodolith branches and helped determine extension rates over the rhodoliths' last living year. A combination of radiocarbon dating, major Mg/Ca ratio cycles and growth band determinations provided a chronological approach to characterise extension rates for 5 branches over the last 5 decades. A seasonal asymmetry in the extension rates was observed, with higher extension during the austral summer-fall-winter period, indicating that variations in ambient seawater temperature are not of major influence in the seasonal growth pattern of S. durum. At the sub-seasonal level, minor growth bands were observed with a maximum frequency of 14 d but were too variable to be considered as a reliable chronological tool. The concordance of the results from both the monitoring experiment over the year 2010 to 2011 and the chronological approach applied to the period 1968 to 2008 suggests that an extension rate (mean +/- SD) of 0.6 +/- 0.2 mm yr(-1) is typical of the S. durum community at the study site. However, annual extension rates varied considerably among branches and individuals. Long-term trends still appeared, such as a decrease during the early 1970s attributed to the impact of mining activity. A slight but consistent decrease was observed in the annual extension rates throughout the record and may reflect an ontogenic effect potentially enhanced by reduced light penetration due to increasing suspended particulate matter in the water column.

Steryl alkyl ethers (SAEs) have been reported from marine sediments ranging from Holocene to Lower Cretaceous and their production has been linked to upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water. However, the lack of continuous stratigraphic records for them has complicated validation of the precise connection of their production, sedimentary distribution and survival to climatic conditions. Here, we report an SAE record that spans the last ca. 135 ka from a core taken offshore southeastern Australia in the Murray Canyons Group region. The SAEs are composed predominantly of C-27-C-30 steroid moieties with one or two double bonds, ether-bound to C-10-C-11 alkyl moieties. Some of the SAEs are identical to those reported in marine sediments, whereas others have not been identified previously. They do not exhibit any systematic change in distribution over the past 110 ka but sediments older than 110 ka possess a different assemblage, with a higher amount of constituents containing a C-11 alkyl moiety. The SAE accumulation rate increases rapidly during glacial episodes and for intervals characterized by a sharp decline in sea-surface temperature. The results suggest that SAEs may be related to marine eukaryotes that thrive when there is an influx of cold, deep waters in the Murray Canyons Group region, likely triggered by stronger westerlies over southeastern Australia forcing deeper water to reach the surface during glacials.

The tropics are the major source of heat and moisture for the Australasian region. Determining the tropics' response over time to changes in climate forcing mechanisms, such as summer insolation, and the effects of relative sea level on exposed continental shelves during the Last Glacial period, is an ongoing process of re-evaluation. We present a synthesis of climate proxy data from tropical Australasia spanning the last 30,000 years that incorporates deep sea core, coral, speleothem, pollen, charcoal and terrestrial sedimentary records.Today, seasonal variability is governed largely by the annual migration of the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ), influencing this region most strongly during the austral summer. However, the position of the ITCZ has varied through time. Towards the end of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, conditions were far wetter throughout the region, becoming drier first in the south. Universally cooler land and sea-surface temperature (SST) were characteristic of the Last Glacial Maximum, with drier conditions than previously, although episodic wet periods are noted in the fluvial records of northern Australia. The deglacial period saw warming first in the Coral Sea and then the Indonesian seas, with a pause in this trend around the time of the Antarctic Cold Reversal (c. 14.5ka), coincident with the flooding of the Sunda Shelf. Wetter conditions occurred first in Indonesia around 17ka and northern Australia after 14ka. The early Holocene saw a peak in marine SST to the northwest and northeast of Australia. Modern vegetation was first established on Indonesia, then progressively south and eastward to NE Australia. Flores and the Atherton Tablelands show a dry period around 11.6ka, steadily becoming wetter through the early Holocene. The mid-late Holocene was punctuated by millennial-scale variability, associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation; this is evident in the marine, coral, speleothem and pollen records of the region. © 2012.

The Indo-Pacific Warm Pool holds a unique place on the globe. It is a large area [>30 × 106 km2] that is characterised by permanent surface temperature >28 °C and is therefore called the ‘heat engine’ of the globe. High convective clouds which can reach altitudes up to 15 km generate much latent heat in the process of convection and this area is therefore called the ‘steam engine’ of the world. Seasonal and contrasting monsoonal activity over the region is the cause for a broad seasonal change of surface salinities, and since the area lies along the path of the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt, it is coined the ‘dilution’ basin due to the high incidence of tropical rain and, away from the equator, tropical cyclones contribute to a significant drop in sea water salinity. Discussion about what may happen in the future of the Warm Pool under global warming is presented together with a description of the Warm Pool during the past, such as the Last Glacial Maximum when sea levels had dropped by ~125 m. A call for urgent monitoring of the IPWP area is justified on the grounds of the significance of this area for global oceanographic and climatological processes, but also because of the concerned threats to human population living there.

Sediment core chronologies of optical dates on single-grains/very small aliquots of sand-sized quartz are compared with Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon ( 14 C) chronologies from ostracod carbonate, mixed carbonates, sedimentary organic matter and charcoal in order to establish the age of laminated Holocene sediments in maar crater lakes Keilambete and Gnotuk, Victoria, Australia. Samples for optical and AMS 14 C dating were taken from the same Mackereth cores, allowing a direct comparison of the two techniques from two laminated sedimentary sequences. Additional AMS 14 C samples were taken from water in Lake Keilambete and from groundwater discharging into Lake Keilambete from the crater wall, with equivalent reservoir ages of 150 ± 30 and 1940 ± 30 years respectively. AMS 14 C dating of modern ostracod carbonate in Lake Keilambete demonstrates a reservoir age of 670 ± 175 years. Optical dating of ‘single-grain/very small aliquots’ of sand-sized-quartz indicate the presence of a radiocarbon reservoir in Lake Keilambete that is consistent with that measured on modern ostracods, and also demonstrate that there is no 14 C reservoir in Lake Gnotuk during the Holocene. The chronology presented here supports the premise that previously published bulk conventional 14 C dates from Lake Keilambete were affected by old carbon, meaning that past chronologies require revision. Limitations on the use of optical dating of single-grain/very small aliquots include the relative paucity of sand-sized quartz, which decreases the precision of the sample equivalent dose ( D e ), and is further confounded by low environmental dose rates and resultant large uncertainties on the final age assessment. Nevertheless, evidence for partial bleaching confirms that single-grain quartz dating is the most appropriate luminescence technique, and may prove a useful alternative in situations where 14 C dating is unsuitable or an alternative chronometer is required.

Latitudinal variations in the location of the southern westerly wind belt have been associated with millennial-scale climate variations during the last glacial period. A reconstruction of sea-surface temperatures off the southern coast of Australia suggests that these climate variations also drove changes in the location of the oceanic subtropical front.

Palaeosalinity records for groundwater-influenced lakes in the southwest Murray Basin were constructed from an ostracod-based, weighted-averaging transfer function, supplemented with evidence fromCampylodiscus clypeus(diatom), charophyte oogonia,Coxiella striata(gastropod),Elphidiumsp. (foraminifera),Daphniopsissp. ephippia (Cladocera), and brine shrimp (Parartemia zietziana) faecal pellets, the δ18O of ostracods, and > 130 μm quartz sand counts. The chronology is based on optically stimulated luminescence and calibrated radiocarbon ages. Relatively wet conditions are marked by lower salinities between 9600 yr and 5700 yr ago, but mutually exclusive high- and low-salinity ostracod communities suggest substantial variability in effective precipitation in the early Holocene. A drier climate was firmly in place by 4500 yr and is marked at the groundwater-dominated NW Jacka Lake by an increase in aeolian quartz and at Jacka Lake, by a switch from surface-water to groundwater dominance. Short-lived, low-salinity events at 8800, 7200, 5900, 4800, 2400, 1300 and 400 yr are similar in timing and number to those recorded on Australia's southern continental shelf, and globally, and provide evidence for the existence of the ~ 1500-yr cycle in mainland southern Australia. We surmise that these are cool events associated with periodic equatorward shifts in the westerly wind circulation.

In 2007, we demonstrated that radiolarians are proxies for a wide range of oceanic physico-chemical properties from the surface to depths of up to 500 m below sea level. In this study, our results are refined and Correspondence Analysis (CA) scores derived from census counts of radiolarian subfossils from southern Indian Ocean core-tops are correlated with the physico-chemical properties of the region obtained from the 2005 World Ocean Database. Calibration and regression techniques are employed to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental conditions spanning the last 40 ka for four Indian Ocean cores MD88-769 [46°04′S 90°06′E], MD88-770 [46°01′S 96°27′E], MD94-102 [43°30′S 79°50′E], and MD94-103 [45°35′S 86°31′E], all from close to the Southeast Indian Ridge. For the first time, reconstructions of temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and the silicate, nitrate, and phosphate concentrations for a range of water depths are proved possible. Changes of the oceanic environment and the movement of water masses over the last 40 ka, as suggested by these reconstructions, are discussed. During Marine Isotope Stages 2 and 3 (MIS-2 and MIS-3), the water column at some of the core sites has similar characteristics to the waters south of the Polar Front today. At the MIS-1/MIS-2 transition, the development of the Subantarctic Mode Water is apparent. Temperature reconstructions include evidence of the Antarctic Cold Reversal and the Holocene Optimum.

The Leeuwin Current is an anomalous eastern boundary current along the western Australian coast. To investigate its behaviour through time, we studied core MD002361 obtained from below the present-day pathway of the Leeuwin Current offshore the NW tip of Western Australia. Planktonic foraminifera assemblages, sea-surface temperature estimates reconstructed from those assemblages, together with the delta O-18 and delta C-13 signals of near-surface dwelling foraminifera (Globigerinoides ruber), were used to reconstruct the vertical structure of the water column for the past 500 ka. Our findings indicate that the Leeuwin Current was present along the western coastline of Australia even during glacial periods. During those times, there was a greater influence of South Indian Subtropical Water (STW) and South Indian Central Water (SICW) due to a 3-4 degrees northward migration of the Indonesian Throughflow Water/South Indian Central Water frontal system. This resulted in an overall 6-9 degrees C decrease in SST, paralleled by a thickening and greater homogeneity of the mixed layer. The increased influence of STW and SICW also suggests that the West Australian Current, which presently sits below the Leeuwin Current, was strengthened during the glacial periods and contributed to a weakening of the Leeuwin Current. Conversely, the Leeuwin Current was 'stronger' during interglacial periods due to a thicker component of Indonesian Throughflow Water sourced from the Indo Pacific Warm Pool. This was particularly the case during marine isotope stage 5.5 (MIS) and the 'super' interglacial MIS 11. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.