Climate changes in interior semi-arid Spain from the last interglacial to the late Holocene

Abstract. The El Cañizar de Villarquemado sequence provides a palaeoenvironmental record from the western Mediterranean Basin spanning the interval from the last part of MIS6 to the late Holocene. The pollen and sedimentological records provide qualitative information about changes in temperature seasonality and moisture conditions. We use Weighted Averaging Partial Least-Squares (WA-PLS) regression to derive quantitative reconstructions of winter and summer temperature regimes from the pollen data, expressed in terms of the mean temperature of the coldest month (MTCO) and growing degree days above a baseline of 0 °C (GDD0) respectively. We also reconstruct a moisture index (MI), the ratio of annual precipitation to annual potential evapotranspiration, taking account of the effect of low CO2 on water use efficiency. We find a rapid summer warming at the transition to MIS5. Summers were cold during MIS4 and MIS2, but some intervals in MIS3 were characterized by summers as warm as the warmest phases of MIS5 or the Holocene. However, MIS3 was not significantly warmer in winter than other intervals, and there was a gradual decline in winter temperature from MIS4 through MIS3 to MIS2. The pronounced changes in temperature seasonality during MIS5 and MIS1 are consistent with changes in summer insolation. The ecophysiological effects of changing CO2 concentration through the glacial cycle has a significant impact on reconstructed MI. Conditions became progressively more humid during MIS5 and MIS4 was also relatively humid, while MIS3 was more arid. High MI values are reconstructed during the deglaciation and there was a pronounced increase in aridity during the Holocene. Changes in MI are anti-correlated with changes in GDD0, with increased MI during intervals of summer warming indicating a strong influence of temperature on evapotranspiration. Although our main focus here is on longterm changes in climate, the Villarquemado record also shows millennial-scale changes corresponding to Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles.

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Seasonal temperature and moisture changes in interior semi‐arid Spain from the last interglacial to the Late Holocene

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1017/qua.2020.108 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-13

Author(s):

Dongyang Wei ◽

Penélope González-Sampériz ◽

Graciela Gil-Romera ◽

Sandy P. Harrison ◽

I. Colin Prentice

Keyword(s):

Late Holocene ◽

Potential Evapotranspiration ◽

Weighted Averaging ◽

Pollen Record ◽

Seasonal Temperature ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Mis 3 ◽

Summer Warming ◽

Temperature Seasonality ◽

Mis 5

Abstract The El Cañizar de Villarquemado pollen record covers the last part of MIS 6 to the Late Holocene. We use Tolerance-Weighted Averaging Partial Least Squares (TWA-PLS) to reconstruct mean temperature of the coldest month (MTCO) and growing degree days above 0°C (GDD0) and the ratio of annual precipitation to annual potential evapotranspiration (MI), accounting for the ecophysiological effect of changing CO2 on water-use efficiency. Rapid summer warming occurred during the Zeifen-Kattegat Oscillation at the transition to MIS 5. Summers were cold during MIS 4 and MIS 2, but some intervals of MIS 3 had summers as warm as the warmest phases of MIS 5 or the Holocene. Winter temperatures declined from MIS 4 to MIS 2. Changes in temperature seasonality within MIS 5 and MIS 1 are consistent with insolation seasonality changes. Conditions became progressively more humid during MIS 5, and MIS 4 was also humid, although MIS 3 was more arid. Changes in MI and GDD0 are anti-correlated, with increased MI during summer warming intervals. Comparison with other records shows glacial-interglacial changes were not unform across the circum-Mediterranean region, but available quantitative reconstructions are insufficient to determine if east-west differences reflect the circulation-driven precipitation dipole seen in recent decades.

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Palynology of the Last Interglacial-Glacial Cycle in Midlatitudes of Southern Chile

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/0033-5894(81)90014-4 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 293-321 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Calvin J. Heusser

Keyword(s):

Primary Component ◽

Southern Chile ◽

Glacial Cycle ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

The Holocene ◽

Westerly Winds ◽

Pollen And Spores ◽

Components Analysis ◽

Age Relations ◽

Nothofagus Dombeyi

AbstractPollen and spores in stratigraphic sections located between 40 and 42°S range in age from the Holocene, through much of the Llanquihue Glaciation, to the last interglaciation. Chronology of the stratigraphy derives from some 35 14C ages and the age relations of Llanquihue Drift and related deposits. Q-Mode, rotated, principal-components analysis of four key pollen records covering the last interglacial-glacial cycle resulted in four leading components: Nothofagus dombeyi type, Gramineae, Weinmannia-Fitzroya type, and Myrtaceae. Analysis emphasizes interaction between the first two components. Loadings of Gramineae during the interglaciation are high, unlike the Holocene; Weinmannia-Fitzroya-type loadings, prominent in the Holocene, are negligible during the interglaciation. N. dombeyi type is the primary component during Llanquihue Glaciation; it becomes modified by increases of Gramineae sometime after 31,000 and before 14,000 yr B.P. and of Myrtaceae later. The Myrtaceae with Weinmannia-Fitzroya type also registers some activity around 42,000 yr B.P. Fluctuations in the belt of westerly winds, reflecting changing meteorological conditions in polar latitudes, are suggested by these data. With the belt located farther south than it is today, interglacial climate was much drier and warmer than during the Holocene; more northerly displacement of the belt obtained when climate was colder during Llanquihue Glaciation. Evidence from comparable latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere points toward a synchrony of major climatic events indicating harmonious fluctuations in the position of the westerlies.

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QUATERNARY SOIL-GEOLOGICAL STRATIGRAPHY IN GREECE

Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece ◽

10.12681/bgsg.16833 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 36 (2) ◽

pp. 856 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

R. Paepe ◽

I. Mariolakos ◽

E. Van Overloop ◽

S. Nassopoulou ◽

J. Hus ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Ice Age ◽

Glacial Cycle ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Middle Term ◽

Tropical Regions ◽

The Holocene ◽

Of Greece

Peloponnesus and Crete are probably offering the best possible standard sections for Eastern Mediterranean Pleistocene Series. Complete Pleistocene Standard Lithostratigraphic Sections from Sparta (Peloponnesus) and Kandanos (Crete) reveal continuous Pleistocene Land Sequences composed of cyclic palaeosol levels interfering with clastic fluvial, eolian (loess) and gravel deposits comparable with analogues found elswhere over the earth. Most suitable for correlation are: a) the standard Idfess area of Northern Europe, Russia and China, and b) the subtropical and tropical regions of Africa and Asia. The standard Greek Pleistocene Lithostratigraphic Sequence independently recorded at both sites (and partially from sites in other regions of Greece) reveal a number of 103 palaeosols of both interglacial and interstadial stages, indicating the extreme warm to relative warm phases of the Pleistocene ice age. This number suits surprisingly well to the 103 levels of the equally warm odd numbered oxygen isotopie stages (OIS) of the Pleistocene deep sea record which equally encompass the warm phases of the Pleistocene. Special attention is given to the Upper Pleistocene of Koroni (Southern Peloponnesus) as a case study for the Last Interglacial - Last Glacial Cycle, i.e. the middle term cycle extending in time from 127 Ka (thousand years) till 10 Ka or beginning of the Holocene. It stands as a model for the recurrent 100 Ka cycles of the long term overall Pleistocene record. Finally, in addition to the Pleistocene, the twenty wet - dry cycles of the Holocene are reviewed.

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Warm Climate States during Last Glacial Cycle with a Multi-Resolution Climate/Ice Sheet Model

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-8205 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Paul Gierz ◽

Lars Ackermann ◽

Christian Rodehacke ◽

Uta Krebs-Kanzow ◽

Christian Stepanek ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Model ◽

Ice Sheets ◽

Ice Sheet ◽

Glacial Cycle ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Sea Levels ◽

The Holocene ◽

Climate Model Simulations ◽

Proxy Reconstructions ◽

Improved Model

<p>Interglacials during the Quaternary represent the youngest climate states in the paleoclimate record that are similar to potential warmer-than-present states during the Anthropocene. In particular, those periods with warmer reconstructed temperatures and/or higher sea levels provide insights into the mechanisms that may be at work now and in the future. To date, climate model simulations of Quaternary Interglacials have been restricted to Atmosphere-Biosphere-Ocean simulations, with static ice sheet geometries from glaciological, geological, and geophysical reconstructions. Simulations including fully interactive ice sheets have not been widely available. Here, we present the first simulations of the PMIP4 timeslices for the Holocene and the Last Interglacial (LIG) with a fully coupled multi-resolution climate/cryosphere model, the AWI-ESM. We compare the simulated snapshots for the Holocene and LIG to simulations to proxy reconstructions, and to runs without dynamic ice sheets to highlight the processes now represented by the improved model. Furthermore, we show various schemes implemented in our model system to represent the ice sheet mass balance, both from surface ablation as well as ocean interaction. We find that both the Holocene and Last Interglacial ice sheets contain a smaller volume of ice compared to present day, with relative sea level equivalent changes of -3% and -7%, respectively.</p>

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The Significance of Calcium Carbonate Oscillations in Eastern Equatorial Atlantic deep-Sea Sediments for the End of the Holocene Warm Interval

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/0033-5894(72)90058-0 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 355-362 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

James D. Hays ◽

Albert Perruzza

Keyword(s):

Calcium Carbonate ◽

Wind Stress ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Warm Period ◽

Equatorial Atlantic ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Pronounced Increase ◽

The Holocene ◽

Climatic Cycle ◽

The Caribbean

Distinct correlative calcium carbonate oscillations are evident in two deep-sea cores taken in the Saharan windblown dust zone of the eastern equatorial Atlantic. Using the presence and absence of Globorotalia menardii for stratigraphic control and correlating these cores with radiometrically dated cores from the Caribbean the carbonate oscillations have two distinct periods. Two major oscillations about 117,000 yr and 100,000 yr long, and shorter oscillations averaging about 14,000 yr, occur. The carbonate curves are interpreted to indicate a pronounced increase in wind stress and probable climatic deterioration after the beginning of the last interglacial (post-Eemian). This is also reflected in the carbonate curves for the previous major climatic cycle. If the Holocene warm period is analogous to the Eemian (Barbados Terrace III) then we may expect a pronounced climatic deterioration in the next few thousand years.

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Fossil oribatid mites (Acari, Oribatida) from the Florisbad Quaternary deposits, South Africa

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/s0033-5894(02)00024-8 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 59 (2) ◽

pp. 246-254 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Louise Coetzee ◽

James S Brink

Keyword(s):

Late Holocene ◽

Middle Stone Age ◽

Oribatid Mites ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Quaternary Sediments ◽

Quaternary Deposits ◽

The Holocene ◽

The Third ◽

Aeolian Deposits ◽

Aeolian Sediments

AbstractIn a pioneer application of acarology to Quaternary fossil-bearing sediments in southern Africa, the oribatid composition in the Florisbad Quaternary sediments was determined and compared to the currently known distribution of those species. Nine species of oribatid mites were recorded in the Holocene aeolian deposits of the third test pit, three species from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) horizon sediments of the third test pit, and thirteen species from the Holocene spring sediments. The Florisbad results indicate a better agreement between the oribatid fauna of the last interglacial MSA horizon of the third test pit and the organic-rich mid-Holocene deposits near the spring than between either of these and early- and late-Holocene aeolian sediments of the third test pit, suggesting some similarity in microsedimentary environments. The majority of the species recorded in the sediments are parthenogenetic and can be regarded as pioneer species.

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Contrasting patterns of climatic changes during the Holocene in the Central Mediterranean (Italy) reconstructed from pollen data

Climate of the Past Discussions ◽

10.5194/cpd-8-5817-2012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 8 (6) ◽

pp. 5817-5866 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

O. Peyron ◽

M. Magny ◽

S. Goring ◽

S. Joannin ◽

J.-L. de Beaulieu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lake Level ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Summer Precipitation ◽

Aegean Sea ◽

Weighted Averaging ◽

Lake Levels ◽

Central Mediterranean ◽

The Holocene ◽

The North ◽

The Mediterranean

Abstract. Lake-level records from Italy suggest a north–south climatic partition in the Central Mediterranean during the Holocene with respect to precipitation, but the scarcity of reliable palaeoclimatic records in the North and Central-Southern Mediterranean means new evidence is needed to validate this hypothesis. Here, we provide robust quantitative estimates of Holocene climate in the Mediterranean region based on four high-resolution pollen records from Northern (Lakes Ledro and Accesa) and Southern (Lakes Trifoglietti and Pergusa) Italy. Multiple methods are used to provide an improved assessment of the paleoclimatic reconstruction uncertainty. The multi-method approach uses the pollen-based Weighted Averaging, Weighted-Average-Partial-Least-Squares regression, Modern Analogues Technique, and the Non-Metric-Multidimensional Scaling/Generalized-Additive-Model methods. The precipitation seasonality reconstructions are validated by independent lake-level data, obtained from the same records. A climatic partition between the north and the south during the Holocene confirms the hypothesis of opposing mid-Holocene summer precipitation regimes in the Mediterranean. During the early-to-mid-Holocene the northern sites (Ledro, Accesa) are characterized by minima for summer precipitation and lake-levels while the southern sites (Trifoglietti, Pergusa) are marked by maxima for precipitation and lake-levels. During the late Holocene, both pollen-inferred precipitation and lake-levels indicate the opposite pattern, a maximum in North Italy and a minimum in Southern Italy/Sicily. Summer temperatures also show partitioning, with warm conditions in Northern Italy and cool conditions in Sicily during the early/mid-Holocene, and a reversal during the Late-Holocene. Comparison with marine cores from the Aegean Sea suggests that climate trends and gradients observed in Italy shows strong similarities with those recognized from the Aegean Sea, and more generally speaking in the Eastern Mediterranean.

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The Quaternary arthropod fauna of Greenland: a review with new data

Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark ◽

10.37570/bgsd-2000-47-09 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. 111-134

Author(s):

O. Bennike ◽

S. Björck ◽

J. Böcher ◽

I. R. Walker

Keyword(s):

Vascular Plants ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Late Glacial ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Quaternary Deposits ◽

Glacial Sediments ◽

The Holocene ◽

Wide Range ◽

Arthropod Fauna

Arthropod fossils from Quaternary deposits in Greenland are considered. The few occurrences of Early and Middle Pleistocene age have yielded only three species of barnacles. This contrasts sharply with the last interglacial stage which is represented by many sites, from which a range of marine, lacustrine and terrestrial crustaceans and insects are reported. The only secure late glacial sediments from Greenland are found in the far south, and only a few taxa of arthropods have so far been identified from these. The best dated and richest faunas come from the Holocene. Most records of insects are from the late Holocene, but there are also a number of finds from the early and mid Holocene. Arthropods are considered good palaeoclimate indicators, because they are generally dispersed quicker, for example, than vascular plants. This group of animals is also highly useful for reconstructing former ecological conditions, because they occupy such a wide range of biotopes. A total of about 105 taxa have been reported so far, but several groups of arthropods, such as marine ostracodes, chironomids and oribatids, have received little attention, and many more taxa can be expected when these groups are being studied in the future.

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