A NATO Advanced Study Institute, "Late Quaternary Sea-level Correlation and Applications", was held together with the Final Meeting of IGCP Project 200 in Halifax, Canada, 19-30 July 1987. This Volume is a collection of the NATO Keynote Papers presented at this meeting. The authors of these papers are from seven of the NATO countries - two each from France, the U. K. , Canada, and the U. S . A. , and one each from Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. With these authors, we are able to assemble work from virtually all of the world's oceans with several different approaches. The Volume is dedicated to Walter S. Newman, one of the best known and best liked sea-level workers of our time who died shortly before this Conference. This Volume contains one of his last contributions and all contributors to this Volume are honoured to be in the company of Walter's last work. There are several papers from North Atlantic countries dealing with Holocene sea level in a variety of ways. Shennan summarizes data from the U. K. and makes a preliminary effort to place the data in the context of a model. Zazo & Goy present new data from the coast of Spain and place it in a stratigraphical context. Van de P1assche re assesses previous data and adds new data to the very sea-level sensitive Dutch coast. Leatherman uses sea-level information in the Chesapeake Region to assess coastal management problems.

The 13 papers in this collection examine the coastal regions, the Gulf of Maine, and the continental shelf off of Atlantic Canada in context with new radiocarbon age analyses, providing a detailed history of climate changes, marine transgression, emergence, and relative sea- level history. Specific topics include deglaciation of the Gulf of Maine, Late Quaternary morphogenesis of a marine-limit delta plain in southwest Maine, morainal banks and the deglaciation of coastal Maine, and glacial dynamics, deglaciation, and marine invasion in southern Quebec. Material originated at a March 1998 symposium held in Maine at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Section of the Geological Society of America. Weddle is affiliated with the Maine Geological Survey. Retelle teaches geology at Bates College. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR.

This timely study is concerned with the current record of sea-level changes during the past 10,000 years; their rates, and our ability to estimate these changes accurately. The author begins with an extensive introduction to the subject, covering the historical background and the possible causes of sea-level changes and the main methods used to reconstruct former sea-level positions. The second and main part of the Atlas provides a worldwide review of Holocene sea level changes by assembling some 800 local relative sea-level curves, deduced from field data from all parts of the world, and comparing these with over 100 curves predicted by geophysical models. This data is compiled in 77 regional plates, each containing 4-20 relative sea-level curves drawn to the same scale. These plates enable a visual assessment of geological trends in sea-level during the Holocene to be made.Comparing this data with trends deduced from tide gauges and near-future trends predicted by climate models, should enable more accurate assessment of near future sea-level changes on a local scale. The regional plates are fully annotated with locations, authors' names, year of publication and some indicative values of the spring tidal range in the region, as well as an accompanying text of comments.Finally, the author provides a state of the art review, proposes improvements in methodology and suggests directions for further study. An extensive bibliography of over 750 references, and two indexes complete the study. This comprehensive work contains data and interpretations of value to all those with an interest in regional geography, climatology, sea-level change, and environmental science.

Shortly after the creation of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University Brussels) in 1970, currently labelled as VUB, a Department of Quaternary Geology was installed within the Faculty of Science in 1974. At the beginning it dealt mainly with the study of periglacial loess deposits of the Pleistocene Glacial Period in Central Belgium and with coastal deposits in relation to sea level rise during the warm Holocene period covering the last 10,000 years, in which the dawn of civilization took place step by step. Today the same research teams widen their scope of interest: they are presently studying the loess plateau in the People's Republic of China and the world-wide problems associated with sea level rise, coastal erosion being one of the most devastating natural hazards. More and more emphasis is put on problems concerning environmental engineering and those dealing with global change. Since 1975 UNESCO sponsored a number of symposia of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA), whose secretariat was located on the VUB Campus grounds from 1973 to 1982. In 1981 the Applied Geology Department ofthe Faculty of Applied Sciences was created. The NATO-Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) , organized in Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain) in March 1989 was a climax of this series of Global Change gatherings. As Rector of the VUB, I am satisfied that the VUB, through its Earth Technology Institute, of both USA and Belgium could cooperate with NATO and the National Science Foundations in cosponsoring such an initiative.

A 1995 review of how shorelines have changed since the last Ice Age, and what this implies for future environmental management.

This text gives an environmental history of Africa, concentrating on 30 contributions on oceans and ocean margins, the Sahara and West Africa.