Abstract The discovery of Ice Ages is one of the most revolutionary advances ever made in the Earth sciences. In Norway this discovery was made by Danish–Norwegian geoscientist Jens Esmark and his young student Niels Otto Tank, who on a mountain traverse in early September 1823 observed a number of geomorphological features produced by an extant glacier, and compared these to similar features they had previously noted where glaciers today are absent. Seeing a recent moraine pushed up by an extant glacier they suddenly realized that a big ridge of gravel they had earlier seen at sea-level in Southern Norway had to be an ancient moraine, deposited by a big glacier at a time when the climate was substantially colder than today. The brevity of Esmark's account made the precise location of the site of enlightenment remain a mystery for almost two hundred years until it was rediscovered by the author in 2008. This paper describes the crucial site and its lessons.

Abstract Plio-Pleistocene records of ice-rafted detritus suggest NW European ice sheets regularly reached coastlines. However, these records provide limited insight on the frequency, extent and dynamics of ice sheets delivering the detritus. Three-dimensional reflection seismic data of the NW European glaciated margin have previously documented buried landforms that inform us on these uncertainties. This paper reviews and combines these existing records with new seismic geomorphological observations to catalogue landform occurrence along the European glaciated margin and considers how they relate to ice sheet history. The compilation shows Early Pleistocene ice sheets regularly advanced across the continental shelves. Early Pleistocene sea-level reconstructions demonstrate lower magnitude fluctuations compared to the Middle–Late Pleistocene, and more extensive/frequent Early Pleistocene glaciation provides a possible mismatch with sea-level reconstructions. This evidence is discussed with global records of glaciation to consider possible impacts on our wider understanding of Plio-Pleistocene climate changes, in particular how well Early Pleistocene sea-level records capture ice sheet volume changes. Resolving such issues relies on how well landforms are dated, whether they can be correlated with other proxy datasets, and how accurately these proxies reconstruct the magnitudes of past climatic changes. Many questions about Pleistocene glaciation in Europe and elsewhere remain.

Abstract Analyses of high-resolution multibeam and sub-bottom profiling data, acquired during marine geological field cruises between 2017 and 2019 in the eastern Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea), enabled the detailed mapping of Quaternary deposits, and revealed diverse submerged glacial and post-glacial landforms (e.g. streamlined moraine ridges, large retreat moraine ridges, De Geer moraines and kettle holes). The morphology of these glacial features provides evidence of the ice-sheet retreat direction and rate throughout the deglaciation of the region, which occurred between 13.8 and 13.3 ka BP (Pandivere­­–Neva Stage) and 12.25 ka BP (Salpausselkä I Stage). Analysis of sub-bottom profiling, supported by piston long-core sampling, indicates periods of bottom erosion/non-deposition during the Holocene caused by relative water-level regressions. Significant negative relief features are also observed in the area for the first time. These linear and curved V-shaped furrows are several kilometres long and 5 m deep, and are tentatively ascribed to bottom current and gas-seepage processes.

Abstract Our paper presents the first draft of a geomorphological map of the German North Sea and Baltic Sea. The inspiration for this map comes from the international collaboration of marine researchers within the European EMODnet Geology Project ( https://www.emodnet-geology.eu/ ). The current climate change intensifies the natural processes of change in nature. Within the framework of various nature conservation projects, the importance of marine sediment structures on marine fauna and their reproductive cycles, sedimentation conditions, currents, etc. has been investigated. In order to be able to make statements for the German seas and document changes, the current state must first be recorded.

ABSTRACT Sedimentary records were analyzed from three lakes in the Ruby Mountains and East Humboldt Range of northeastern Nevada. Lakes are rare in the arid Great Basin, and these represent the highest-elevation lacustrine records from this region. The three cores cover overlapping time intervals: One, from a lake located just beyond a moraine, is interpreted to represent the Last Glacial Maximum, extending back to 26 cal ka; another extends to deglaciation ca. 14 cal ka; and the third extends to deposition of the Mazama ash, ca. 7.7 cal ka. Multiproxy analysis focused on measurements of bulk density, organic matter content, C:N ratio, biogenic silica abundance, and grain-size distribution. Depth-age models were developed using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, along with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14 C dating of terrestrial macrofossils (wood and conifer needles), charcoal, and pollen concentrates (for deep sediment in one lake). Collectively, the three lakes record a series of discrete intervals spanning an unusually long stretch of time. These include the local Last Glacial Maximum (26.0–18.5 cal ka), local deglaciation (18.5–13.8 cal ka), the onset of biologic productivity (13.8–11.3 cal ka), early Holocene aridity (11.3–7.8 cal ka), deposition and reworking of the Mazama ash (7.8–5.5 cal ka), a neopluvial interval (5.5–3.8 cal ka), a variable late Holocene climate (3.8–0.25 cal ka), and a latest Holocene productivity spike (250 yr B.P. to the present) that may be anthropogenic. Data from all three lakes are presented, and the collective record of climate and environmental change for the Ruby Mountains and East Humboldt Range is compared with other paleorecords from the Great Basin.