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Curaçao has reef terraces with the potential to provide sea-level histories of interglacial periods. Ages of the Hato (upper) unit of the “Lower Terrace” indicate that this reef dates to the last interglacial period, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5.5. On Curaçao, this high sea stand lasted at least 8000 yr (~ 126 to ~ 118 ka). Elevations and age of this reef show that late Quaternary uplift rates on Curaçao are low, 0.026–0.054 m/ka, consistent with its tectonic setting. Ages of ~ 200 ka for corals from the older Cortalein unit of the Lower Terrace correlate this reef to MIS 7, with paleo-sea level estimates ranging from − 3.3 m to + 2.3 m. The estimates are in agreement with those for MIS 7 made from other localities and indicate that the penultimate interglacial period was a time of significant warmth, on a par with the present interglacial period. The ~ 400 ka (MIS 11) Middle Terrace I on Curaçao, dated by others, may have formed from a paleo-sea level of + 8.3 to + 10.0 m, or (less likely) + 17 m to + 20 m. The lower estimates are conservative compared to previous studies, but still require major ice sheet loss from Greenland and Antarctica.

Red Creek, in the Red Desert area of the Great Divide Basin, Wyoming, is an arid-region anastomosing stream. The narrow, deep, and sinuous main channel is flanked by anastomosing flood channels, or anabranches. Most anabranches are initiated at meander bends. The primary mechanism of anabranch initiation is avulsion during overbank floods. Anabranch enlargement occurs by headward erosion. Anabranches act as distributary channels during floods, when water and sediment from overbank flows are transported to and deposited on the floodplain via the anabranches. During periods of low discharges, the anabranches act as tributaries to the main channel, transporting runoff from the floodplain and surrounding hillslopes to the main channel of Red Creek.Aggradation is occurring in the main channel and on the floodplain throughout the study reach. Infilling of the main channel occurs primarily by lateral accretion, while the floodplain accretes vertically through deposition of overbank sediment from the main channel and anabranches. Infilling of the main channel may cause avulsion of the main channel into an anabranch. The abandoned main channel segment may then fill completely or act as an anabranch. Because lateral migration of channels is inhibited by the high cohesion of the silt and clay channel sediment, periodic avulsion is the primary form of lateral mobility in the system.

2), but a tusk of M. exilis (or immature M. columbi) was found in the lowest marine terrace of Santa Rosa Island. Uranium-series dating of corals yielded ages from 83.8 ± 0.6 ka to 78.6 ± 0.5 ka, correlating the terrace with MIS 5.1, a time of relatively high sea level. Mammoths likely immigrated to the islands by swimming during the glacial periods MIS 6 (~150 ka) or MIS 8 (~250 ka), when sea level was low and the island-mainland distance was minimal, as during MIS 2. Earliest mammoth immigration to the islands likely occurred late enough in the Quaternary that uplift of the islands and the mainland decreased the swimming distance to a range that could be accomplished by mammoths. Results challenge the hypothesis that climate change, vegetation change, and decreased land area from sea-level rise were the causes of mammoth extinction at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary on the Channel Islands. Pre-MIS 2 mammoth populations would have experienced similar or even more dramatic changes at the MIS 6/5.5 transition.Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of University of Washington.

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