Late Glacial Events in Northwest Europe

AbstractIn Atlantic Canada, bulk-sediment dates for the onset of a late-glacial cooling, widely regarded as the Younger Dryas event, are highly variable, ranging from 14,300 ± 270 to 10,800 ± 100 yr B.P. We present the first accelerator-mass-spectrometer (AMS) 14C dates from Atlantic Canada, at or close to the boundaries of this event, from six sites in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The mean of five dates places the onset of this cooling at ca. 10,770 yr B.P.; the inclusion of a sixth, perhaps anomalously old date, changes the mean to 10,880 yr B.P. The termination averages (three dates) ca. 10,000 yr B.P. These dates place the timing of the Younger Dryas event in Atlantic Canada closer in line with the traditional chronozone boundaries of 11,000 and 10,000 yr B.P. in Northwest Europe.

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Chronological and ecological information on Late-glacial and early Holocene reindeer from northwest Europe using radiocarbon (14C) and stable isotope (13C, 15N) analysis of bone collagen: Case study in southwestern Germany

Quaternary International ◽

10.1016/j.quaint.2011.05.007 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 245 (2) ◽

pp. 218-224 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

D.G. Drucker ◽

C.-J. Kind ◽

E. Stephan

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotope ◽

Late Glacial ◽

Early Holocene ◽

Bone Collagen ◽

Ecological Information ◽

Northwest Europe ◽

15N Analysis

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Radiocarbon calibration and Late Glacial occupation in northwest Europe

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x00066199 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 74 (283) ◽

pp. 112-119 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

S. P. E. Blockley ◽

R. E. Donahue ◽

A. M. Pollard

Keyword(s):

Late Glacial ◽

Radiocarbon Dates ◽

Northwest Europe ◽

Radiocarbon Calibration

Various methods of analysing the dating of the late Glacial suggest various interpretations. Here, in answer to a paper from 1997, radiocarbon dates are calibrated and used to reconsider the dating of this contentious period.

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Palynology of the interglacial deposits at Little Oakley, Essex, and their correlation

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.1990.0116 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 328 (1248) ◽

pp. 341-357 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Keyword(s):

Temperate Forest ◽

Deciduous Forest ◽

Late Glacial ◽

Sensu Stricto ◽

Temperate Deciduous Forest ◽

Sediment Samples ◽

River Floodplains ◽

Temperate Trees ◽

Northwest Europe ◽

Temperate Deciduous

Pollen analyses of sediment samples from five boreholes in the Little Oakley Silts and Sands provide evidence of contemporary vegetational development. Although the sequence is fragmentary, the succession can be reassembled based on the well established subdivisions of vegetational development during temperate stages in northwest Europe. The earliest vegetation represented is of late-glacial herb-dominated character. This is followed by an expansion of Betula , and subsequently Pinus , which together with Picea , Alnus , and later, Ulmus form the pre-temperate forest. After the decline in Pinus , Ulmus becomes dominant in the early temperate substage. The later expansion of Quercus and accompanied decrease in Ulmus marks the development of fully temperate deciduous forest. Other temperate trees such as Tilia and Fraxinus are rare. Throughout, the neighbouring river floodplains supported widespread herb-dominated grassland. The latter may have been maintained by alluvial aggradation and large vertebrate activity. Pollen analysis from a Megaloceros cf. dawkinsi antler base collected by S. H. Warren shows that the find dates from the early temperate substage of the interglacial. Comparison of the Little Oakley pollen sequence with others obtained from Britain, The Netherlands and neighbouring countries suggests probable correlation with the Cromerian sensu stricto of West Runton, England and ‘Interglacials III or IV ’ of the Dutch ‘Cromerian Complex’. The preceding possible late-glacial spectrum should therefore equate with the late Beestonian.

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