Carbon isotopes are valuable tools for determining the overall ambient conditions under which trees incorporate seasonal growth, and can act as indicators of periods of environmental stress, including salt water intrusion and droughts. When coupled with traditional dendrochronological analyses, carbon isotopes can potentially relay a high-resolution history of localized hydrologic conditions, and highlight intervals of increased tropical cyclone activity and precipitation frequency as well as long-term trends in freshwater availability.

The history of perennially ice covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MCM), Antarctica have been extensively studied under the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) project. The lakes are formed in endorheic basins enclosed by topographic relief or glaciers. Over the past century, the lakes have experienced an overall trend of continuous lake level rise despite decrease in solar radiation (Doran et al, 2002). Variability/increase of lake levels is caused by the sole water source; melt from nearby glaciers during austral summer months.

Wind and Water erosion are two dominant, interrelated transport processes that influence the dynamics of arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Complex interactions between wind and water erosion and transport events vary across different landscape units, exhibiting varying degrees of dominance; thereby, affecting soil types, topography, and the movement of soil parent material over spatial and temporal scales. Historic and prehistoric interactions of these erosion events between different landform units are poorly documented in the stratigraphic record.