Volcanoes!

For the next week, starting this morning and continuing through Dec 8, volcanoes will be prominently featured on the blog.  This is largely due to a journal dedicating this month to volcanic eruptions and their impacts in deep time.  However, it won't be exclusively for that reason.  So, in honor of the week of one of the biggest, most frightening events that can take place on Earth, here's a video of an eruption of a volcano in Papua New Guinea.  Wait for the shock wave.

Impacts of Human Colonization of Pleistocene Quaternary Sahul

The process, biotic impact, and global implications of the human colonization of Sahul about 47,000 years ago

Authors:

O’Connell et al

Abstract:

Comprehensive review of archaeological data shows that Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea) was first occupied by humans ca. 47 ka (47,000 years ago); evidence for earlier arrival is weak. Colonizing populations remained low – perhaps two orders of magnitude below those estimated at European contact – for many millennia, and were long restricted to relatively favorable habitats. Though human arrival coincided with changes in native flora and fauna, these were mainly the products of climatic factors, not human interference. The genetic makeup of founding populations and their arrival date are consistent with the Late Dispersal Model of anatomically modern humans beyond SW Asia, beginning ca. 50 ka. Early Dispersal Models (120-70 ka) are not refuted, but draw no support from the Sahul record as currently understood.