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The Milankovitch theory of climate change is widely accepted, but the registration of the climate changes in the stratigraphic record and their use in building high-resolution astronomically tuned timescales has been disputed due to the complex and fragmentary nature of the stratigraphic record. However, results of time series analysis and consistency with independent magnetobiostratigraphic and/or radio-isotopic age models show that Milankovitch cycles are recorded not only in deep marine and lacustrine successions, but also in ice cores and speleothems, and in eolian and fluvial successions. Integrated stratigraphic studies further provide evidence for continuous sedimentation at Milankovitch time scales (10 4 years up to 10 6 years). This combined approach also shows that strict application of statistical confidence limits in spectral analysis to verify astronomical forcing in climate proxy records is not fully justified and may lead to false negatives. This is in contrast to recent claims that failure to apply strict statistical standards can lead to false positives in the search for periodic signals. Finally, and contrary to the argument that

Understanding the time scales of magmatic differentiation, storage, and eruption of largevolume silicic magmas is a primary goal of igneous petrology. Within the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff (HRT; Idaho, USA), representing the earliest and largest caldera-forming eruption associated with Yellowstone volcanic activity, zircon morphological zoning patterns coupled to strongly correlated changes in Ti-in-zircon thermometry and trace element indicators of progressive differentiation provide a proxy record for the evolution of the HRT member B magma body. Tandem in situ and isotope dilution U-Pb dating of single zircon crystals demonstrates an absence of pre-Pleistocene xenocrysts, but reveals the presence of antecrysts recycled from pre-caldera rhyolites in the HRT magma. The petrochronologic interpretation of autocrystic zircon thermal, chemical, and temporal characteristics suggests that HRT member B differentiated over ~10 k.y. prior to eruption at 2.0794 ± 0.0046 Ma as defi ned by new astronomically calibrated, single-crystal total fusion 40 Ar/ 39 Ar sanidine analyses. This refi ned eruption age demonstrates that the transitional polarity preserved by HRT member B does not record the Reunion subchron, but rather a separate, younger geomagnetic event. Our novel approach places the thermal and chemical regime of silicic magmas within a temporal context and demonstrates the rapid evolution of a large volume of silicic magma.