Van Kolfschoten, T., and P. Gibbard (editors), 1998.

Reviewed by Martin J. Head*, Department of Geology, University of Toronto,
in CAP Newsletter 21(2):25-26, 1998.

The Bisschoppelijk Centrum at Rolduc, near Kerkrade, Netherlands is a modern conference centre tastefully converted from the buildings of an early 10th century former Abbey of Regular Canons of St. Augustine. This historic and picturesque setting was the venue, in 1996, of an international conference on late Pliocene and early Pleistocene environments. The conference drew nearly 100 participants, including many from Russia. The Dawn of the Quaternary is the symposium volume for that conference. At 602 pages in length, comprising 36 contributions from 76 authors, it is much longer than originally envisioned. It is to the great credit of its editors that this volume was published at all, let alone just more than two years after the conference, given the recent reorganizations endured by its publisher, the Dutch Geological Survey.

The volume relates to a contentious issue in Plio-Pleistocene geology: where to place the boundary! Although set by international agreement near the top of the Olduvai subchron at about 1.8 Ma (the Vrica section, Italy), there are strong and persistent arguments for returning this boundary to its former placement at 2.55 Ma. This older boundary marks a major global climatic shift from a pre-glacial to glacial world, characterized by higher-amplitude climatic cycles and beginning with an exceptionally cold event recognized globally in the oxygen isotope record. It coincides with a historically important floral break in The Netherlands, a country with a particularly complete sequence of continental and marginal marine deposits bridging this time interval. This floral break is at the base of the Praetiglian pollen stage, where boreal forest passes into tundra-like vegetation at the same time as major glaciation took grip in the North Atlantic. Zagwijn, in the opening paper, discusses the history of research into the famous Dutch clay pits of Tegelen, Belfeld and Reuver, a history which it- self is interwoven with that of the Plio-Pleistocene boundary. Zagwijn is clear about his own opinions on the boundary: "if one regards the Pleistocene as the Glacial Epoch ... the base of the Praetiglian is indeed the most natural position for the Plio-Pleistocene boundary. Therefore let us start this discussion all over again!". This is a fitting enough prelude, but the volume is by no means restricted to discussions of boundaries; the climatic and paleoenvironmental issues are what really pervade.

Mammal evolution (especially voles, which are very good for age dating over this interval) and palynology are major themes in the volume, along with sedimentology and useful regional overviews. The paucity of dinoflagellate studies (those of eastern England are reviewed and reassessed in the chapter by me) serves only to expose a wide-open research area. This volume will be indispensable to any Quaternary specialist working in Europe, and will be of interest to Quaternary and Pliocene palynologists much further afield. Papers dealing specifically with palynology are listed below.

Zagwijn, W. H. Borders and boundaries: a century of stratigraphical research in the Tegelen - Reuver area of Limburg (The Netherlands), pp. 19-34.

Westerhoff, W. E., P. Cleveringa, T. Meijer, Th. van Kolfschoten, and W. H. Zagwijn. The Lower Pleistocene fluvial (clay) deposits in the Maalbeek pit near Tegelen, The Netherlands, pp. 35-70.

Head, M. J. Marine environmental change in the Pliocene and early Pleistocene of eastern England: the dinoflagellate evidence reviewed, pp. 199-225.

Mayhew, D. F., and P. L. Gibbard. Early Pleistocene small mammal remains and pollen flora from the Crag at Weybourne, Norfolk, England, pp. 263-269.

Iossifova, Yu. I., and V. V. Semenov. Climate-stratigraphy of the Pre-Tiglian Bavelian analogues in Central Russia (the Don Drainage Basin), pp. 327-338.

Borodin, A., P. Kosintsev, E. Zinoviev, S. Trofimova, and A. Nekrasov. Palaeoecological investigations of the landscape inhabited by the early Middle Pleistocene mammoth Archidiskodon trogontherii from Chembakchino, western Siberia, pp. 343-351.

Ravazzi, C., and A. Moscariello. Sedimentation, palaeoenvironmental evolution and time duration of earliest Pleistocene climatic cycles in the 24 - 56 m FM core interval (Leffe Basin, Northern Italy), pp. 467-489.

Meijer, T. References of relevant publications about Pliocene and Early Pleistocene deposits in the Netherlands, pp. 579-601.
 

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*Present address: Godwin Institute for Quaternary Research, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Place, Cambridge, CB2 3EN, England, UK. E-mail: mh300@cam.ac.uk