Late Quaternary Climate History of Northern Europe

AbstractThe Lake Tilla crater lake in northeastern Nigeria (10°23′N, 12°08′E) provides a ca. 17,000 14C yr multiproxy record of the environmental history of a Sudanian savanna in West Africa. Evaluation of pollen, diatoms, and sedimentary geochemistry from cores suggests that dry climatic conditions prevailed throughout the late Pleistocene. Before the onset of the Holocene, the slow rise in lake levels was interrupted by a distinct dry event between ca. 10,900 and 10,500 14C yr B.P., which may coincide with the Younger Dryas episode. The onset of the Holocene is marked by an abrupt increase in lake levels and a subsequent spread of Guinean and Sudanian tree taxa into the open grass savanna that predominated throughout the Late Pleistocene. The dominance of the mountain olive Olea hochstetteri suggests cool climatic conditions prior to ca. 8600 14C yr B.P. The early to mid-Holocene humid period culminated between ca. 8500 and 7000 14C yr B.P. with the establishment of a dense Guinean savanna during high lake levels. Frequent fires were important in promoting the open character of the vegetation. The palynological and palaeolimnological data demonstrate that the humid period terminated after ca. 7000 14C yr B.P. in a gradual decline of the precipitation/evaporation ratio and was not interrupted by abrupt climatic events. The aridification trend intensified after ca. 3800 14C yr B.P. and continued until the present.

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Late Quaternary glacial and climate history of the Pamir Mountains derived from cosmogenic 10Be exposure ages

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/j.yqres.2005.06.002 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 64 (2) ◽

pp. 212-220 ◽

Cited By ~ 74

Author(s):

Roland Zech ◽

Uwe Abramowski ◽

Bruno Glaser ◽

Pjotr Sosin ◽

Peter W. Kubik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Late Pleistocene ◽

Late Quaternary ◽

Limited Extent ◽

Climate History ◽

Pamir Mountains ◽

History Of ◽

Cosmogenic 10Be ◽

Exposure Ages ◽

Glacial Advance

AbstractMoraines southwest of Lake Yashilkul, Pamir, Tajikistan, were dated using 10Be exposure ages of boulder surfaces. We found evidence for (1) an extensive glaciation ∼60,000 yr ago; (2) a less extensive glacial advance, which deposited a characteristic hummocky moraine lobe with exposure ages ranging from ∼11,000 to 47,000 yr, probably deposited at or before 47,000 yr ago; and (3) lateral moraines with exposure ages of ∼40,000 yr, 27,000 yr and 19,000 yr, respectively. Increasing aridity in the Pamir is most likely responsible for the progressively limited extent of the glaciers during the Late Pleistocene.

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Late Quaternary climate variability as recorded by micropalaeontological diatom data and geochemical data in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica

Antarctic Science ◽

10.1017/s0954102013000199 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 25 (6) ◽

pp. 804-820 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

R. Tolotti ◽

C. Salvi ◽

G. Salvi ◽

M.C. Bonci

Keyword(s):

Continental Slope ◽

Ross Sea ◽

Late Quaternary ◽

Ice Sheet ◽

Geochemical Data ◽

Flow Paths ◽

Ice Flow ◽

Quaternary Climate ◽

History Of ◽

Geochemical Analyses

AbstractCores acquired from the Ross Sea continental shelf and continental slope during the XXX Italian Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide (PNRA) were analysed and yielded interesting micropalaeontological, biostratigraphic diatom results and palaeoceanographic implications. These multi-proxy analyses enabled us to reconstruct the glacial/deglacial history of this sector of the Ross embayment over the last 40 000 years, advancing our understanding of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) environmental and sedimentological processes linked to the Ross Sea ice sheet/ice shelf fluctuations in a basin and continental-slope environment, and allowed us to measure some of the palaeoceanographic dynamics. The central sector of the Ross Sea and part of its coast (south of the Drygalski Ice Tongue) enjoyed open marine conditions in the pre-LGM era (27 500–24 000 years bp). The retreat of the ice sheet could have been influenced by a southward shift of a branch of the Ross gyre, which triggered early deglaciation at c. 18 600 cal bp with a significant Modified Circumpolar Deep Water inflow over the continental slope at c. 14 380 cal BP. We assume that a lack of depositional material in each core, although at different times, represents a hiatus. Other than problems in core collection, this could be due to the onset of modern oceanographic conditions, with strong gravity currents and strong High Salinity Shelf Water exportation. Moreover, we presume that improvements in biostratigraphy, study of reworked diatom taxa, and lithological and geochemical analyses will provide important constraints for the reconstruction of the LGM grounding line, ice-flow lines and ice-flow paths and an interesting tool for reconstructing palaeo-sub-bottom currents in this sector of the Ross embayment.

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Late Quaternary environmental and climate history of Rauer Group, East Antarctica

Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology ◽

10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.08.002 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 297 (1) ◽

pp. 201-213 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Sonja Berg ◽

Bernd Wagner ◽

Holger Cremer ◽

Melanie J. Leng ◽

Martin Melles

Keyword(s):

Late Quaternary ◽

East Antarctica ◽

Climate History ◽

History Of

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Late Quaternary vegetation and climate history of a perennial river canyon in the Río Salado basin (22°S) of Northern Chile

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/j.yqres.2006.02.002 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 65 (3) ◽

pp. 450-466 ◽

Cited By ~ 94

Author(s):

Claudio Latorre ◽

Julio L. Betancourt ◽

Mary T.K. Arroyo

Keyword(s):

Late Quaternary ◽

Plant Macrofossils ◽

Annual Rainfall ◽

Mean Annual Temperature ◽

Northern Chile ◽

Climate History ◽

Emerging Trends ◽

History Of ◽

Bolivian Altiplano ◽

Vegetation And Climate

AbstractPlant macrofossils from 33 rodent middens sampled at three sites between 2910 and 3150 m elevation in the main canyon of the Río Salado, northern Chile, yield a unique record of vegetation and climate over the past 22,000 cal yr BP. Presence of low-elevation Prepuna taxa throughout the record suggests that mean annual temperature never cooled by more than 5°C and may have been near-modern at 16,270 cal yr BP. Displacements in the lower limits of Andean steppe and Puna taxa indicate that mean annual rainfall was twice modern at 17,520–16,270 cal yr BP. This pluvial event coincides with infilling of paleolake Tauca on the Bolivian Altiplano, increased ENSO activity inferred from a marine core near Lima, abrupt deglaciation in southern Chile, and Heinrich Event 1. Moderate to large increases in precipitation also occurred at 11,770–9550 (Central Atacama Pluvial Event), 7330–6720, 3490–2320 and at 800 cal yr BP. Desiccation occurred at 14,180, 8910–8640, and 4865 cal yr BP. Compared to other midden sites in the region, early Holocene desiccation seems to have happened progressively earlier farther south. Emerging trends from the cumulative midden record in the central Atacama agree at millennial timescales with improved paleolake chronologies for the Bolivian Altiplano, implying common forcing through changes in equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperature gradients.

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Glacial survival of trophically linked boreal species in northern Europe

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2016.2799 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 284 (1856) ◽

pp. 20162799 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Maud C. Quinzin ◽

Signe Normand ◽

Simon Dellicour ◽

Jens-Christian Svenning ◽

Patrick Mardulyn

Keyword(s):

Late Quaternary ◽

Leaf Beetle ◽

Northern Europe ◽

Distribution Models ◽

Quaternary Climate ◽

Temperate Trees ◽

Suitable Climate ◽

Cold Tolerant ◽

Quaternary Climate Changes ◽

New Evidence

Whether non-arctic species persisted in northern Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is highly debated. Until now, the debate has mostly focused on plants, with little consideration for other groups of organisms, e.g. the numerous plant-dependent insect species. Here, we study the late-Quaternary evolution of the European range of a boreo-montane leaf beetle, Gonioctena intermedia , which feeds exclusively on the boreal and temperate trees Prunus padus and Sorbus aucuparia . Using species distribution models, we estimated the congruence between areas of past and present suitable climate for this beetle and its host plants. Then we derived historical hypotheses from the congruent range estimates, and evaluated their compatibility with observed DNA sequence variation at five independent loci. We investigated compatibility using computer simulations of population evolution under various coalescence models. We find strong evidence for range modifications in response to late-Quaternary climate changes, and support for the presence of populations of G. intermedia in northern Europe since the beginning of the last glaciation. The presence of a co-dependent insect in the region through the LGM provides new evidence supporting the glacial survival of cold-tolerant tree species in northern Europe.

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