Table 2. Percentage of palynomorphs found in each sample through Longling section

The Longling Coal Mine (W. Yunnan) is situated in an area of substantial geotectonic activity. Its Late Pliocene palynoflora is of considerable interest, since the area represents a centre of biodiversity. Eighty-two palynomorphs belonging to 61 families were recovered from the lignite. The palynoflora is dominated by angiosperms (68.3%), with ferns (24.4%), gymnosperms (4.9%) and algae (2.4%). Comparisons indicate that most of the palynoflora was derived from the Montane Humid Evergreen Broad-leaved Forest, with lesser contributions from the Tsuga dumosa Forest and Evergreen Coniferous Broad-leaved Mixed Forest, as well as the Montane Mossy Evergreen Broad-leaved Forest. This indicates that the Late Pliocene climate was cooler than that of the present. In the course of the accumulation of the lignite, the climate underwent five major phases of warming and cooling.

Geochemistry of Pleistocene volcanic rocks in the Mariana Forearc

Geophysical surveys of the Mariana forearc, in an area equidistant from the Mariana Trench and the active Mariana Island Arc, revealed a 40-m-deep graben about 13 km northwest of Conical Seamount, a serpentine mud volcano. The graben and its bounding horst blocks are part of a fault zone that strikes northwest-southeast beneath Conical Seamount. One horst block was drilled during Leg 125 of the Ocean Drilling Program (Site 781). Three lithologic units were recovered at Site 781: an upper sedimentary unit, a middle basalt unit, and a lower sedimentary unit. The upper unit, between 0 and 72 mbsf, consists of upper Pliocene to Holocene diatomaceous and radiolarian-bearing silty clay that grades down into vitric silty clay and vitric clayey silt. The middle unit is a Pleistocene vesicular, porphyritic basalt, the top of which corresponds to a high-amplitude reflection on the reflection profiles. The lower unit is a middle to upper (and possibly some lower) Pliocene vitric silty clay and vitric clayey silt similar to the lower part of the upper unit. The thickness of the basalt unit can only be estimated to be between 13 and 25 m because of poor core recovery (28% to 55%). The absence of internal flow structures and the presence of an upper glassy chilled zone and a lower, fine-grained margin suggest that the basalt unit is either a single lava flow or a near-surface sill. The basalt consists of plagioclase phenocrysts with subordinate augite and olivine phenocrysts and of plagioclase-augite-olivine glomerocrysts in a groundmass of plagioclase, augite, olivine, and glass. The basalt is an island arc tholeiite enriched in large-ion-lithophile elements relative to high-field-strength elements, similar to the submarine lavas of the southern arc seamounts. In contrast, volcanic rocks from the active volcanoes on Pagan and Agrigan islands, 100 km to the west of the drill site, are calc-alkaline. The basalt layer, the youngest in-situ igneous layer reported from the Izu-Bonin and Mariana forearcs, is enigmatic because of its location more than 100 km from the active volcanic arc. The sediment layers above and below the basalt unit are late Pliocene in age (about 2.5 Ma) and normally magnetized. The basalt has schlierenlike structures, reverse magnetization, and a K-Ar age of 1.68±0.37 Ma. Thus, the basalt layer is probably a sill fed by magma intruded along a fault zone bounding the horst and graben in the forearc. The geochemistry of the basalt is consistent with a magma source similar to that of the active island arc and from a mantle source above the subducting Pacific plate.

Eocene through Pleistocene planktonic foraminifera off Peru

Planktonic foraminifers were studied from 213 samples collected during Leg 112 at 10 sites located on the continental shelf and slope off Peru. Because planktonic foraminifers occur discontinuously downcore, detailed biostratigraphic zonation was not defined. However, it was possible to distinguish early and middle Eocene, early and late Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene sediments on the basis of the planktonic foraminifers. The oldest sediments of Zone P6 of early Eocene age were obtained from the basal part of Hole 688E, which was penetrated to 779.0 m below seafloor (bsf). A biosiliceous facies of the area predominates above the N6-N7 zonal interval of early Miocene age. All sites are within the present coastal upwelling area off Peru, and many of the late Pliocene and Pleistocene assemblages are similar to those that are characteristic of modern upwelling areas. The core samples differ, however, by having a predominance of cold-water elements, such as Neogloboquadrina incompta and N. pachyderma. Warm-water species are prevalent at some horizons in the cores, suggesting shifts of the coastal upwelling centers or warmer climatic events.

Occurrence and isotopic composition (d18O, d13C) of benthic foraminifera in sediments from DSDP Leg 72

Changes in the vertical water mass structure of the Vema Channel during the Pliocene have been inferred from benthic foraminiferal assemblages and stable isotopic analyses from three sites of DSDP Leg 72 (South Atlantic). Faunal and isotopic results from Sites 516A and 518 suggest that a major change occurred in deep-water circulation patterns in the late Pliocene near 3.2 Ma. Benthic oxygen isotopic records from Sites 516A and 518 show a characteristic increase in d18O values near 3.2 Ma. This has been documented in numerous Pliocene isotopic records. The magnitude of the oxygen isotopic enrichment near 3.2 Ma appears to increase with water depth from an average enrichment of 0.34 per mil in Site 516A (1313 m) to an average enrichment of 0.58 per mil in Site 518 (3944 m). We suggest that this enrichment resulted partly from a change in deep-water circulation patterns which included a decrease in bottom-water temperatures. Planktonic d18O values near 3.2 Ma show no evidence of an enrichment which would be indicative of an increase in global ice volume. On the contrary, d18O values in Sites 517 and 518 become more depleted near 3.2 Ma, indicating a surface-water warming perhaps due to a change in the strength and/or position of the Brazil Current. An increase in the relative abundance of the benthic foraminifer Nuttalides umbonifera, which is associated with Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) in the modern ocean, coincides with the benthic 18O enrichment in Site 518. At 3.2 Ma, oxygen and carbon isotopic gradients between Sites 518 (3944 m) and 516A (1313 m) show a marked increase such that Site 518 becomes enriched in 18O and depleted in 13C relative to Site 516A. This enrichment in d18O is interpreted as partly representing a temperature decrease at Site 518; the depletion in d13C indicates a corrosive water mass which is high in metabolic CO2. We suggest that benthic foraminiferal and stable isotopic changes in Site 518 resulted from a pulse-like increase in the formation of AABW near 3.2 Ma. The cause of this circulation event may have been linked to global cooling and/or the final closure of the Central American Seaway.

Characteristics of ice-rafted pebbles from ODP Leg 178 holes

Pebbles (>10 mm) sampled from three drill sites on the continental rise west of the Antarctic Peninsula during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 178 were classified by shape and roundness. In addition, pebble lithology and surface texture were visually identified. To increase the pebble sample number to 331, three sites that were drilled 94 to 213 km from the continental shelf edge were integrated into the data set using magnetostratigraphy for core correlation. Pebbles were compared in three groups defined by the same stratigraphic intervals at each site: 3.1-2.2 Ma (late Pliocene), 2.2-0.76 Ma (late Pliocene-late Pleistocene), and 0.76 Ma to the Holocene. Pebble lithologies originate from sources on the Antarctic Peninsula margin. Most pebbles are metamorphic and sedimentary pebbles are rare (<6%), whereas mafic volcanic and intrusive igneous lithologies increase in abundance upsection. Pebbles from 3.1 to 0.76 Ma, plotted on sphericity-roundness diagrams, indicate original transport as basal and supraglacial/englacial debris. Pebbles are abundant and of diverse lithology. From 0.76 Ma to the present, the number of pebbles is low and their shape characteristics indicate they originated as basal debris. Observed changes in ice-rafted pebbles can be explained by growth of an ice sheet and inundation of the Antarctic Peninsula topography by ice ~0.76 Ma. Prior to this, outlet and valley glaciers transported debris at high levels within and at the base of the ice. The mass accumulation rate of sand fluctuates and includes rounded quartz grains. Ice-sheet growth may have been accompanied by overall cooling from subpolar to polar glacial regimes, which halted meltwater production and enhanced the growth of ice shelves, which consequently reduced sediment supply to icebergs.

Age determination and planktonic foraminifera og ODP Site 159-958

Site 958 was drilled to monitor the late Neogene history of both continental aridity in northwestern Africa and the Canary Current distant from nearshore upwelling. Based on magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphic datums, variations in carbonate, coarse fraction components, and the species composition of planktonic foraminifers, as well as using the d18O records of Globigerinoides ruber (white), we established a splice between Holes 958A and 958B and a stratigraphic age scale deciphering Milankovitch cycles. Over the last 630 k.y., sedimentation rates amount to 2.9 cm/k.y., and to 2.05-2.53 cm/k.y. back to the base of the Pleistocene. Extremely low rates of 0.4 cm/k.y. and a reworking of fossils mark the late Pliocene. The first continuous, long, sea-surface temperature (SST) record from the center of the Canary Current, which is based on foraminifer species census data, depicts a general temperature decrease in the late Pliocene, lower SST and high seasonalities of up to 6°C ~2.0-1.6 Ma, a warmer interval from 1.6 Ma to ~0.85 Ma, again lower SST and higher seasonalities until 0.33 or 0.26 Ma, and a final warmer interval, lasting until at least 50 ka, possibly reflecting the attenuated dynamics of the Canary Current. Especially over the last 400 k.y., since Stage 11, glacial stages are hardly reflected by cold SST cycles, except for various abrupt and extremely short cooling events amounting to D6°C, which possibly result from North Atlantic Heinrich events. Similar, but not necessarily synchronous, events of short-term, extremely high values occur in the paleoproductivity and (d13Cbased) paleonutrient records, which indicate a generally low primary production averaging to 180 g C m**-2 yr**-1 at 50-330 ka and about 300 g C m**-2 yr**-1 back to the base of the Pleistocene. Near 1.2-1.6 Ma, the grain-size and magnetic susceptibility records document a significant increase in the discharge of south Saharan/Sahelian dust, possibly linked to increasing aridity.

Stable isotopc record of ODP Site 114-704

We report a near-continuous, stable isotopic record for the Pliocene-Pleistocene (4.8 to 0.8 Ma) from Ocean Drilling Program Site 704 in the sub-Antarctic South Atlantic (47°S, 7°E). During the early to middle Pliocene (4.8 to 3.2 Ma), variation in delta18O was less than ~0.5 per mil, and absolute values were generally less than those of the Holocene. These results indicate some warming and minor deglaciation of Antarctica during intervals of the Pliocene but are inconsistent with scenarios calling for major warming and deglaciation of the Antarctic ice sheet. The climate System operated within relatively narrow limits prior to ~3.2 Ma, and the Antarctic cryosphere probably did not fluctuate on a large scale until the late Pliocene. Benthic oxygen isotopic values exceeded 3 per mil for the first time at 3.16 Ma. The amplitude and mean of the delta18O signal increased at 2.7 Ma, suggesting a shift in climate mode during the latest Gauss. The greatest delta18O values of the Gaus anti Gilbert chrons occurred at ~2.6 Ma, just below a hiatus that removed the interval from ~2.6 to 2.3 Ma in Site 704. These results agree with those from Subantarctic Site 514, which suggest that the latest Gauss (2.68 to 2.47 Ma) was the time of greatest change in Neogene climate in the northern Antarctic and Subanthtic regions. During this period, surface water cooled as the Polar Front Zone (PFZ) migrated north and perennial sea ice Cover expanded into the Subantarctic region. Antarctic ice volume increased and the ventilation rate of Southern Ocean deep water decreased during glacial events after 2.7 Ma. We suggest that these changes in the Southern Ocean were related to a gradual lowering of sea level and a reduction in the flux of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) with the Initiation of ice growth in the northern hemisphere. The early Matuyama Chron (~ 2.3 to 1.7 Ma) was marked by relatively warm climates in the Southern Ocean except for strong glacial events associated with isotopic stages 82 (2.027 Ma), 78 (1.941 Ma), and 70 (1.782 Ma). At 1.67 Ma (stage 65/64 transition), surface waters cooled as the PFZ migrated equatorward and oscillated about a far northerly position for a prolonged interval between 1.67 and 1.5 Ma (stages 65 to 57). Beginning at ~1.42 Ma (stage 52), all parameters (delta18O, delta13C, %opal, %CaCO3) in Hole 704 become highly correlated with each other and display a very strong 41-kyr cyclicity. This increase in the importance of the 41-kyr cycle is attributed to an increase in the amplitude of the Earth's obliquity cycle that was likely reinforced by increased glacial suppression of NADW, which may explain the tightly coupled response that developed between the Southern Ocean and the North Atlantic beginning at ~1.42 Ma (stage 52).

Neogene floras and palaeoclimatic estimates from various sites of South-West China

Neogene climates and vegetation history of western Yunnan are reconstructed on the basis of known fossil plants using the Coexistence Approach (CA) and Leaf Margin Analysis (LMA). Four Neogene leaf floras from Tengchong, Jianchuan and Eryuan in southwestern China are analyzed by the CA, and the paleoclimatic data of one Miocene carpoflora from Longling and three Pliocene palynofloras from Longling, Yangyi and Eryuan are used for comparison. The Miocene vegetation of the whole of West Yunnan is subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest, and a similar mean annual precipitation is inferred for Tengchong, Longling and Jianchuan. However, by the Late Pliocene a large difference in vegetation occurred between the two slopes of Gaoligong Mountain, western Yunnan. The region of Tengchong retained a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest vegetation, whereas in Yangyi and Eryuan a vertical vegetation zonation had developed, which consists, in ascending order, of humid evergreen broad-leaved, needle and broad-leaved mixed evergreen, and coniferous forests. Distinctively, the Late Pliocene vegetational patterns of West Yunnan were already very similar to those of the present, and the Pliocene mean annual precipitation in Tengchong was markedly higher than that of Yangyi and Eryuan. Considering that the overall vegetation of West Yunnan and the precipitation at Yangyi and Eryuan have undergone no distinct change since the Late Pliocene, we conclude that the Hengduan Mountains on the northern boundary of West Yunnan must have arisen after the Miocene and approached their highest elevation before the Late Pliocene. Furthermore, the fact of the eastern portion of the Tibetan Plateau underwent a slight uplift after the Late Pliocene is also supported.

Accumulation rates, grain-size fractions and calcium carbonate at DSDP Sites 89-586 and 90-591

Carbonate oozes recovered by hydraulic piston coring at DSDP Site 586 on Ontong-Java Plateau and Site 591 on Lord Howe Rise have carbonate contents that are consistently higher than 90% with only minor variations. Consequently, paleoceanographic signals were not recorded in detail in the carbonate contents. However, mass accumulation rates of carbonate increased in the late Miocene to mid-Pliocene, reflecting an increase in productivity, then abruptly decreased from mid-Pliocene to the present. Variations in relative abundances of coarse material (foraminifers) and fine material (mostly calcareous nannofossils) do reflect histories of current winnowing and biogenic productivity at the two sites. The late Miocene from 10.5 to 6.5 m.y. ago was a time of relatively constant, quiet, pelagic sedimentation with typical southwest Pacific sedimentation rates of 20-25 m/m.y. The average coarse-fraction abundances are always higher at Site 586 than at Site 591, which reflects winnowing at Site 586. These conditions were interrupted between 6.5 to 4.0 m.y. ago when increased upwelling at the Subtropical Divergence and the Equatorial Divergence produced greater productivity of calcareous planktonic organisms. The increased productivity is suggested by large increases in both fineand coarse-fraction material and constant ratios of foraminifers to nannofossils. The maximum of productivity was about 4.0 m.y. ago. This period of increased upwelling is coincident with the inferred development of the West Antarctic ice sheet. The high productivity was followed by an abrupt increase in winnowing about 2.5 m.y. ago at Site 591, but not until about 2.0 m.y. ago at Site 586. By 2.0 m.y. ago in the late Pliocene, quiet, pelagic sedimentation conditions prevailed, similar to those of the late Miocene. The last 0.7 m.y. has been a period of relatively intense winnowing on Lord Howe Rise but not on Ontong-Java Plateau. The coarse-fraction data have both long- and short-period fluctuations. Long-period fluctuations at Site 591 average about 850 *10**3 yr./cycle and those at Site 586 average 430*10**3 yr./cycle. The highest amplitudes are found in the Pliocene and Quaternary sections. The short-period fluctuations range from 100 to 48*10**3 yr./cycle at Site 586 and from 250 to 33 *10**3 yr./cycle at Site 591. The effects of local fluctuations of productivity and winnowing have modified the primary orbital forcing signals at these two sites to yield complex paleoceanographic records.

Biomarker and XRD results for the last 3.4 Ma from IODP Site 306-U1313

Various types of abrupt/millennial-scale climate variability such as Dansgaard/Oeschger and Heinrich Events characterized the last glacial period. Over the last decade, a number of studies demonstrated that such millennial-scale climate variability was not limited to the last glacial but inherent to Quaternary climate. Here we review the occurrence and origin of millennial ice-rafting events in the North Atlantic during the late Pliocene and Pleistocene (last 3.4 Ma) with a special focus on North Atlantic Hudson Strait (HS) Heinrich(-like) Events. Besides a clear biomarker signature, we show that Heinrich Layers 5, 4, 2, and 1 in marine sediment cores from across the North Atlantic all bear the organic geochemical fingerprint of the Hudson area. Using this framework and combining previously published results, detailed investigations into the organic and inorganic chemistry of ice-rafted debris (IRD) found across the North Atlantic demonstrate that prior to MIS 16 (~ 650 ka) IRD in the North Atlantic did not originate from the Hudson area of northern Canada. The signature of this early IRD is distinctly different compared to that of HS Heinrich Layers. Rather ice-rafting events during the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene predominantly emanated from the calving of the Greenland and Fennoscandian ice sheets and possibly minor contributions from local ice streams from the North American and British ice sheets. Compared to North Atlantic HS Heinrich Events, these early Pleistocene IRD-events had a limited impact on surface water characteristics in the North Atlantic. North Atlantic HS Heinrich(-like) Events first occurred during MIS 16. At the same time, the dominant frequency in silicate-rich IRD accumulation shifted from the obliquity (41-ka) to a 100-ka frequency across the North Atlantic. Iceberg survivability or a change in iceberg trajectory likely did not control this change in IRD-regime. These results lend further support for the existing hypothesis that an increase in size (thickness) of the Laurentide ice sheet controls the occurrence of North Atlantic HS Heinrich Events, favoring an internal dynamic mechanism for their occurrence.

Chemistry of magmatic samples of ODP Holes 134-832B and 134-833B

New petrographic and compositional data were reported for 143 samples of core recovered from Sites 832 and 833 during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 134. Site 832 is located in the center and Site 833 is on the eastern edge of the North Aoba Basin, in the central part of the New Hebrides Island Arc. This basin is bounded on the east (Espiritu Santo and Malakula islands) and west (Pentecost and Maewo islands) by uplifted volcano-sedimentary ridges associated with collision of the d'Entrecasteaux Zone west of the arc. The currently active Central Belt volcanic front extends through the center of this basin and includes the shield volcanoes of Aoba, Ambrym, and Santa Maria islands. The oldest rocks recovered by drilling are the lithostratigraphic Unit VII Middle Miocene volcanic breccias in Hole 832B. Lava clasts are basaltic to andesitic, and the dominant phenocryst assemblage is plagioclase + augite + orthopyroxene + olivine. These clasts characteristically contain orthopyroxene, and show a low to medium K calc-alkaline differentiation trend. They are tentatively correlated with poorly documented Miocene calc-alkaline lavas and intrusives on adjacent Espiritu Santo Island, although this correlation demands that the measured K-Ar of 5.66 Ma for one clast is too young, due to alteration and Ar loss. Lava clasts in the Hole 832B Pliocene-Pleistocene sequence are mainly ankaramite or augite-rich basalt and basaltic andesite; two of the most evolved andesites have hornblende phenocrysts. These lavas vary from medium- to high-K compositions and are derived from a spectrum of parental magmas for which their LILE and HFSE contents show a broad inverse correlation with SiO2 contents. We hypothesize that this spectrum results from partial melting of an essentially similar mantle source, with the low-SiO2 high HFSE melts derived by lower degrees of partial melting probably at higher pressures than the high SiO2, low HFSE magmas. This same spectrum of compositions occurs on the adjacent Central Chain volcanoes of Aoba and Santa Maria, although the relatively high-HFSE series is known only from Aoba. Late Pliocene to Pleistocene lava breccias in Hole 833B contain volcanic clasts including ankaramite and augite + olivine + plagioclase-phyric basalt and rare hornblende andesite. These clasts are low-K compositions with flat REE patterns and have geochemical affinities quite different from those recovered from the central part of the basin (Hole 832B). Compositionally very similar lavas occur on Merelava volcano, 80 km north of Site 833, which sits on the edge of the juvenile Northern (Jean Charcot) Trough backarc basin that has been rifting the northern part of the New Hebrides Island Arc since 2-3 Ma. The basal sedimentary rocks in Hole 833B are intruded by a series of Middle Pliocene plagioclase + augite +/- olivine-phyric sills with characteristically high-K evolved basalt to andesite compositions, transitional to shoshonite. These are compositionally correlated with, though ~3 m.y. older than, the high-HFSE series described from Aoba. The calc-alkaline clasts in Unit VII of Hole 832B, correlated with similar lavas of Espiritu Santo Island further west, presumably were erupted before subduction polarity reversal perhaps 6-10 Ma. All other samples are younger than subduction reversal and were generated above the currently subduction slab. The preponderance in the North Aoba Basin and adjacent Central Chain islands of relatively high-K basaltic samples, some with transitional alkaline compositions, may reflect a response to collision of the d'Entrecasteaux Zone with the arc some 2-4 Ma. This may have modified the thermal structure of the subduction zone, driving magma generation processes to deeper levels than are present normally along the reminder of the New Hebrides Island Arc.

Neogene calcareous nannofossils in ODP Leg 116 holes

The three sites (717, 718, and 719) drilled on the distal Bengal Fan during ODP Leg 116 cored turbidite sediments almost exclusively. Calcareous nannofossils were recovered sporadically and, although all of them probably have been redeposited, it is possible to date the sediments at all three sites with reasonable confidence. Site 717 penetrated the uppermost middle Miocene Catinaster coalitus highest occurrence datum and represents the most nearly continuous succession of turbidites. Site 718 penetrated the lower Miocene, well below the Helicosphaera ampliaperta highest occurrence datum, but this site contains a major late Pliocene to mid-Pleistocene hiatus. Site 719, the shallowest hole, penetrated only into the upper Miocene. Identification of several critical lowest occurrence datums allows using the poorly constrained but more numerous highest occurrence datums for comparison with the model succession (zonal markers) and thereby to derive a reasonably accurate time framework for the sediments.

Miocene to Quaternary paleoenvironments and uplift history on the mid Norwegian shelf

Based on benthic and planktic foraminifera, Bolboforma, oxygen isotope measurements and seismic data, major changes in Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene paleoenvironments on the mid Norwegian shelf are discussed and a possible scenario of the late Cenozoic uplift history is given. The dating of the Neogene sequence has been done using foraminifera and Bolboforma. Four main assemblage zones have been identified with nine distinct subzones. Most of the Miocene sequence is preserved. The lower Miocene sediments contain only siliceous microfossils. A period of high fertility and upwelling in the study area prevailed. The early Miocene-early mid Miocene (15 Ma?) change from a siliceous to a calcareous rich microfauna, dominated by Nonion barleeanum, can be related to increased surface-water circulation due to overflow across the Iceland-Faeroe ridge. During the Miocene the temperature decreased in the study area. Evidence of increased amounts of coarser sediments may suggest that an uplift of the mainland areas occurred during the mid-late Miocene. Lower Pliocene sediments contain a foraminiferal fauna that seems to occur in slightly colder conditions than the late Miocene fauna suggesting a further cooling. Possibly, Arctic waters entered the study area in the early Pliocene. A very marked change in lithology (from compacted claystone to unconsolidated diamicton), fauna (from deep dwelling to shallow dwelling species) and seismic signature (from flat lying reflectors to prograding clinoforms) occurs during the mid?-late Pliocene. A two step cooling trend is indicated by the microfauna of these prograding wedges. (1) The first wedge buildups might have been associated with an uplift of the mainland during the early late Pliocene (mid Pliocene, ca. 4 Ma). However, the age determination is somewhat uncertain and may very well be of late Pliocene age. (2) The second step of wedge buildup is associated with a glacial phase where the dominating microfauna exists of arctic species. Large continental ice sheets might have occurred at this time reaching coastal areas and that possibly many of the geomorphological features such as the strandflat were made during this episode. The Pleistocene epoch is represented by an increased percentage of boreal foraminifera intermingled with high arctic species which indicates that interglacial-glacial cycles prevailed and the dynamics of the glacier system changed.