List of contributors; Preface: the new Pleistocene; Foreword; Part I. Definition of the Base of the Quaternary: 1. International Geological Correlation Program, Project 41: Neogene/Quaternary Boundary Ksenia V. Nikiforova and Mikhail N. Alekseev; Part II. Characterization of the Pleistocene Boundary-Stratotype: 2. The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary-stratotype at Vrica, Italy Giancarlo Pasini and Maria Luisa Colalongo; 3. The magnetostratigraphy of the Vrica section, Italy, and its correlation with the Plio-Pleistocene of the Boso Peninsula, Japan Hisao Nakagawa, Nobuaki Niitsuma, Toshiaki Takayama, Yasumochi Matoba, Motoyoshi Oda, Shigemoto Tokunaga, Hiroshi Kitazato, Toyosaburo Sakai and Itaru Koizumi; 4. Comparison of the laminated units at Vrica and deep-sea sapropels from the Eastern Mediterranean Isabella Raffi and Robert Thunell; 5. Calcareous nannofossil biochronology and the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary Domenico Rio, Isabella Raffi and Jan Backman; 6. Diatom microfossils from the Vrica section Andrew J. M. Palmer; Part III. The Paleontological Context of the Pleistocene Boundary: 7. The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary in deep sea sediments William A. Berggren and Lloyd H. Burckle, Jr.; 8. Late Cenozoic changes of flora in extra-tropical Eurasia in the light of paleomagnetic stratigraphy Vladimir P. Grichuk; 9. Pliocene-Pleistocene mammal faunas: an overview Emiliano Aguirre, Eleanora A. Vangengeim, Jorge Morales, Marina V. Sotnikova and Vladimir S. Zazhigin; 10. Human evolution in the Plio-Pleistocene interval Emiliano Aguirre; Part IV. The Pleistocene Boundary in Regional Sequences: 11. The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary in Italy Augusto Azzaroli, Maria Luisa Colalongo, Hisao Nakagawa, Giancarlo Pasini, Domenico Rio, Giuliano Ruggieri, Samuele Sartoni and Rodolfo Sprovieri; 12. Stratigraphy of the Plio-Pleistocene sequence of the Mediterranean coastal belt of Israel and its implications for the evolution of the Nile Cone Gedaliahu Gvirtzman, Guido M. Martinotti and Shimon Moshkovitz; 13. Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in the Iberian peninsula Emiliano Aguirre; 14. Biostratigraphy and calibrated climatic chronology of the upper Pliocene and lower Pleistocene of France Jean Chaline; 15. Pliocene-Pleistocene of England Richard W. Hey; 16. Quaternary boundary in the Netherlands Waldo H. Zagwijn; 17. Quaternary boundary in western Germany Gunther Von Der Brelie, Karl Brunnacker, Winfried Hinsch and Heinz Tobien; 18. The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary in eastern Germany Hans-Dietrich Kahlke, Lothar Eissmann and Friedrich Wiegank; 19. The Pliocene-Pleistocene of Hungary Andrew A. Ronai; 20. The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary in Romania Constantin Ghenea; 21. The Pliocene and Pleistocene of the European part of the Commonwealth of Independent States Ksenia V. Nikiforova; 22. The N/Q boundary in Asian Russia and Tadjikistan Mikhail N. Alekseev; 23. The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary in the Indian subcontinent M. V. A. Sastry; 24. The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary in Japan: the Osaka Group, Kinki district Minoru Itihara, Shusaku Yoshikawa and Tadao Kamei; 25. The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary in Japan: stratigraphy in the Boso Peninsula, central Japan Hisao Nakagawa, Nobuaki Niitsuma, Takashi Mitsunashi, Motoyoshi Oda, Toshiaki Takayama and Toyosaburo Sakai; 26. The base of the Quaternary in China Zhang Shouxin; 27. Pliocene-Pleistocene deposits and the Quaternary boundary in sub-Saharan Africa H. Basil S. Cooke; 28. Pliocene-Pleistocene reference sections in Indonesia Francois Semah; 29. The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary in New Zealand Anthony R. Edwards; 30. The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary in continental sequences of North America Everett H. Lindsay; Index.