Short historical and shorter instrumental records limit our perspective of earthquake maximum magnitude and recurrence, and thus are insufficient to fully understand multiscale seismic behavior and its consequences. Examining long-term prehistoric events in the geological record is important for characterizing the recurrence patterns of large and great earthquakes and for reducing uncertainties in seismic hazard assessment. Earthquake-induced event deposits in marine sediments such as deep-sea turbidites, which have been formed by every large earthquake in the past, are one of the geological records used for understanding the long-term history of past large and great earthquakes. Surface-sediment remobilization is a suitable mechanism for the initiation of earthquake-induced turbidity currents and for deep-sea turbidite paleoseismology, although submarine landslides have been considered to be major contributors for the initiation of earthquake-induced turbidity currents. Here, I would like to review recent studies on the surface-sediment resuspension and remobilization by large and great earthquakes and paleoseismology using its related event deposits, and to discuss the future direction of deep-sea turbidite paleoseismology.

Nojiri-ko Formation is the sight of many vertebrate fossils, including those of Naumann’s elephants (Palaeoloxodon naumanni). In total, 15,989 materials have been obtained from the first excavation at Lake Nojiri in 1962 until the 22^nd excavation in 2018. In this study, we aimed to understand the variations in the number of fossils by stratigraphic level and the changes in the fossil density per unit time. Fossils from the T4-T6 unit (43.8-42.6 ka) of the Tategahana Sand Member of the Nojiri-ko Formation showed the highest number of fossils per unit of time. Further, the Minimum Number (69) of individuals was estimated from the Naumann’s elephant molar fossils from the Nojiri-ko Formation. Based on the characteristics of the age profile of the Naumann’s elephant fossils, the age composition of T4-T6 and T7 units differed from that of other strata, indicating that the Naumann’s elephants in this stratum may have died collectively due to selective mortality. Various problems exist in typing the age structures, and thus, considering and studying different associated factors is necessary for future studies.

The burial of a sedimentary basin and Holocene environmental evolution were investigated based on facies analysis, radiocarbon dating, diatom and pollen analyses of six alluvial drilling cores drilled in the Iriai lowland, north coast of the Oga Peninsula, NE Japan. In the Iriai lowland, about 15 m-20 m of alluvium buries a broad valley topography that was formed by scouring the Pleistocene sediments during the last glacial stage. The basement of the basin consists of a sand layer of the upper Pleistocene Katanishi Formation and a mud layer of the lowermost horizon of the Hakoi Formation of approximately 40,000 years ago. The environment of the Iriai lowland changed from an alluvial fan at the last glacial maximum to a floodplain about 10,000 years ago and to a bay about 8,500 years ago due to the sea-level rise caused by postglacial warming. At the height of the Jomon transgression, the area was transformed into a lagoon or fresh water lake which was often influenced by seawater. Subsequently, the delta progradation and the shrinkage of water area gradually occurred from the south as regression, and about 3,000 years ago, the area became a lowland with a hinterland swamp environment.

Bamboo rats and their allies (Family Rhizomyidae) are a group of large-sized rodents that is adapted to a fossorial life and now occurs in East Africa, Southeast Asia, and South China. In East Asia, including South China, the group consists mostly of the genus Rhizomys throughout the Quaternary. In addition to its present-day distribution, we here present a distribution map of Pleistocene fossils of the genus in East Asia with data sources on which the map is based. The map shows that Early Pleistocene fossils of the genus are known from a limited number of localities mostly in South China. Middle and Late Pleistocene fossils are recorded from many more localities, which are also placed mostly in South China. The genus can be regarded as one of the most representative elements, as Stegodon orientalis, in the Middle and Late Pleistocene faunas of South China. In contrast to South China, fossils of the genus are almost unknown in the Quaternary of North China. Furthermore, they are missing in Quaternary fossil records of Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula, Honshu-Shikoku-Kyushu, the Ryukyu Islands, and Taiwan; thus the distribution of the genus has been limited almost entirely to South China during the Quaternary. Fossil records of S. orientalis indicate that this species immigrated from South China to Honshu-Shikoku-Kyushu in the Middle Pleistocene, whereas Rhizomys did not migrate from South China in association with S. orientalis.