Late Glacial fluvial response of the Niers‐Rhine (western Germany) to climate and vegetation change

The Niers valley was part of the Rhine system that came into existence during the maximum Saalian glaciation and was abandoned at the end of the Weichselian. The aim of the study was to explain the Late Pleniglacial and Late Glacial fluvial dynamics and to explore the external forcing factors: climate change, tectonics and sea level. The sedimentary units have been investigated by large‐scale coring transects and detailed cross‐sections over abandoned channels. The temporal fluvial development has been reconstructed by means of geomorphological relationships, pollen analysis and ¹⁴C dating. The Niers‐Rhine experienced a channel pattern change from braided, via a transformational phase, to meandering in the early Late Glacial. This change in fluvial style is explained by climate amelioration at the Late Pleniglacial to Late Glacial transition (at ca. 12.5 k ¹⁴C yr BP) and climate‐related hydrological, lithological and vegetation changes. A delayed fluvial response of ca. 400 ¹⁴C yr (transitional phase) was established. The channel transformations are not related to tectonic effects and sea‐level changes. Successive river systems have similar gradients of ca. 35–40 cm km^?1. A meandering river system dominated the Allerød and Younger Dryas periods. The threshold towards braiding was not crossed during the Younger Dryas, but increased aeolian activity has been observed on the Younger Dryas point bars. The final abandonment of the Niers‐Rhine was dated shortly after the Younger Dryas to Holocene transition. Traces of Laacher See pumice have been found in the Niers valley, indicating that the Niers‐Rhine was still in use during the Younger Dryas. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

河北安固里淖孢粉记录的晚冰期以来的植被演替与气候变化

河北安固里淖地处东南季风的边缘地区,是研究古气候环境演化的理想地区之一。文章以安固里淖的沉积岩芯（长18.4 m）为研究对象,利用AMS ¹⁴C测年和孢粉数据,重建了安固里淖湖区14.3 cal.ka B.P.以来的植被与气候演化历史。结果表明：14.3~11.0 cal.ka B.P.期间,湖区以疏林草原植被为主,气候偏干;11.0~6.0 cal.ka B.P.以森林草原植被为主,气候湿润;6.0~3.2 cal.ka B.P.以疏林草原植被为主,气候偏湿;3.2~0 cal.ka B.P.以荒漠草原植被为主,气候干旱。总体而言,自晚冰期以来安固里淖的气候经历了由干变湿再逐渐变干的过程,全新世适宜期出现在早中全新世。通过区域对比发现,安固里淖揭示的晚冰期以来东南季风的气候演化特征与西南季风的演化具有很大的相似性,表明晚冰期以来东南季风与西南季风在轨道尺度上的演化并无太大差异,太阳辐射是二者演化的共同驱动力。

     

Environmental variability during the Last Interglacial: a new high‐resolution pollen record from Tenaghi Philippon,Greece

A new high‐resolution Last Interglacial pollen record from the Tenaghi Philippon peatland, northeast Greece, documents variability in forest composition and cover, which we attribute to changes in temperature and moisture availability. The declining stage of the interglacial was marked by a stepwise decrease in temperate tree populations and culminated in the complete collapse of forest at the onset of the ensuing stadial. The coincidence of the onset of the stepwise declining trend with the increased prominence of North Atlantic ice‐rafting events suggests that ecological thresholds in southern Europe were only crossed once ice rafting events intensified, and implies that changes in North Atlantic ocean circulation were an important contributing factor to the declining temperate forest cover in southern Europe. Our results provide evidence for intra‐interglacial variability in the low mid latitudes and suggest a coupling between the high northern latitudes and the northeast Mediterranean during this interval. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Iberian-Roman Humid Period (2600-1600 cal yr BP) in the Zoñar Lake varve record (Andalucía, southern Spain)

The Iberian-Roman Humid Period (IRHP, 2600-1600 cal yr BP), is the most humid phase of the last 4000 yr in southern Spain as recorded in the sedimentary sequence of Zoñar Lake (37°29′00″N, 4°41′22″ W, 300 m a.s.l.). A varve chronology supported by several AMS ¹⁴C dates allows study of the lake evolution at annual scale in response to human impact and climate changes. There are four climate phases within this period: i) gradual transition (2600-2500 yr ago, 650-550 BC) from a previous arid period; ii) the most humid interval during the Iberian-Early Roman Epoch (2500-2140 yr ago, 550-190 BC); iii) an arid interval during the Roman Empire Epoch (2140-1800 yr ago, 190 BC AD 150); and iv) a humid period synchronous with the decline of the Roman Empire (1800-1600 yr ago, AD 150-350). Varve thickness and geochemical proxies show a multi-decadal cyclicity similar to modern North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) (60, 20 years) and solar variability cycles (11 yr). The timing and the structure of this humid period is similar to that described in Eastern Mediterranean and northern European sites and supports the same large-scale climate control for northern latitudes and the Mediterranean region.     

A multi‐proxy record of changing environments from ca. 30 000 to 9000 cal. a BP: Onepoto maar palaeolake,Auckland, New Zealand

We present a high‐resolution record of lacustrine sedimentation spanning ca. 30 000 to 9000 cal. a BP from Onepoto maar, northern North Island, New Zealand. The multi‐proxy record of environmental change is constrained by tephrochronology and accelerator mass spectrometric ¹⁴C ages and provides evidence for episodes of rapid environmental change during the Last Glacial Coldest Period (LGCP) and Last Glacial–Interglacial Transition (LGIT) from northern New Zealand. The multi‐proxy palaeoenvironmental record from Onepoto indicates that the LGCP was cold, dry and windy in the Auckland region, with vegetation dominated by herb and grass in a beech forest mosaic between ca. 28 500 and 18 000 cal. a BP. The LGCP was accompanied by more frequent fires and influx of clastic sediment indicating increased erosion during the LGCP, with a mid‐LGCP interstadial identified between ca. 25 000 and 23 000 cal. a BP. Rapid climate amelioration at ca. 18 000 cal. a BP was accompanied by increased terrestrial biomass exemplified by the expansion of lowland podocarp forest, especially Dacrydium cupressinum. Increasing biomass production is reversed briefly by LGIT perturbations which are apparent in many of the proxies that span ca. 14 000–10 500 cal. a BP, suggesting generally increased wetness and higher in situ aquatic plant productivity with reduced terrestrial organic matter and terrigenous detrital influx. Furthermore, conditions at that time were probably warmer and frosts rare based on the increasing importance of Ascarina. The subsequent early Holocene is characterised by podocarp conifer forest and moist mild conditions. Postglacial sea‐level rise breached the crater rim and deposited 36 m of estuarine mud after ca. 9000 cal. a BP. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification of arid phases during the last 50 cal. ka BP from the Fuentillejo maar‐lacustrine record (Campo de Calatrava Volcanic Field,Spain)

Geochemical (element analysis, molecular analysis of organic compounds), physical, palynological, mineralogical and sedimentary facies analysis were performed to characterise the sedimentary record in Fuentillejo maar‐lake in the Central Spanish Volcanic Field of Campo de Calatrava, in order to reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic processes which controlled vegetation patterns and deposition of different sedimentary facies. The upper 20 m of core FUENT‐1 show variations in clastic input, water chemistry, vegetation and organic fraction sources in the lake throughout the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. The temporal framework provided by ¹⁴C accelerator mass spectrometry dating allows assigning the sequence to the last 50 cal. ka BP. Arid phases identified in the FUENT‐1 sequence are correlated to Heinrich events (HE) and to stadials of the Dansgaard/Oeschger (D/O) cycles. Siliciclastic facies with high magnetic susceptibility values, high Juniperus pollen content, a low Paq index (aquatic macrophysics proxy index), a decrease in the relative percentage of the n‐C₂₇ and an increase in the n‐C₃₁ alkanes are indicative of arid and colder climatic events related to HE 2, HE 1 and the Younger Dryas (YD). Similar short cold and arid phases during the Holocene were identified at 9.2–8.6, 7.5–7 and 5.5–5 cal. ka BP. In dolomite–mud facies, the pollen data show an increase in the herbs component, mainly – Chenopodiaceae, Artemisia and Ephedra – steppe taxa; a low Paq index, a decrease in the relative percentage of the n‐C₂₇ alkane and an increase in the n‐C₃₁ alkane are also observed. This facies was probably the result of lower lake levels and more saline–alkaline conditions, which can be interpreted as linked to arid–warm periods. These warm and arid phases were more frequent during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 and the interstadials of MIS 2. HE 4, HE 2, HE 1 and the YD in core FUENT‐1 were immediately followed by increases of warm steppe pollen assemblages that document rapid warming similar to the D/O cycles but do not imply increasing humidity in the area. Fuentillejo hydrology is controlled by changes in the atmospheric and oceanic systems that operated on the North Atlantic region at millennial scale during the last 50 cal. ka BP. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A multiproxy record of late Holocene natural and anthropogenic environmental change from the Sphagnum peat bog Dürres Maar,Germany: implications for quantitative climate reconstructions based on pollen

Pollen data are well established for quantitative climate reconstructions over long timescales, including the Holocene and older interglacials. However, anthropogenically induced environmental change in central Europe was strong during the last 4 ka, challenging quantitative reconstructions of this time period. Here we present quantitative climate reconstructions based on pollen analyses and evaluate them with the peat humification record and the stable carbon isotopes of Sphagnum plant material (δ¹³C_cellulose). All analyses were carried out on the same 7.5 m long, largely ombrotrophic peat bog section from Dürres Maar. Three different methods were used for the quantitative climate reconstructions on the basis of the pollen data: (1) a probabilistic indicator taxa approach (the ‘pdf method’); (2) a modern analogue technique based on pollen taxa from modern surface samples (cMAT); and (3) a modern analogue technique expanded by plant functional types (pMAT). At Dürres Maar the peat humification is only affected by peat cutting during the Roman period and the Middle Ages. The stable carbon isotopes are seemingly unaffected by human impact. Thus both proxies provide independent data to evaluate the reconstructions on the basis of pollen data. The quantitative climate reconstructions on the basis of the individual methods are in general relatively similar. Nevertheless, distinct differences between the individual approaches are also apparent, which could be attributed to taxa that reflect human impact on a local to regional scale. While the pdf method appears to be relatively robust to all observed anthropogenically induced vegetation changes, it potentially underestimates climate variability. This method is therefore expected to be independent of local site characteristics and to provide robust quantitative estimates of climatic trends rather than of climatic variability of small amplitude. This is of value for palaeoclimate reconstructions of older interglacials, for which neither multiple sites nor independent climate proxies are available for comparison. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anthropogenic changes in the landscape of west Java (Indonesia) during historic times,inferred from a sediment and pollen record from Teluk Banten

Palynological and charcoal analyses of shallow marine core 98‐28 from the northern coastal area of West Java provide a regional vegetation history during the last few centuries. Reliable chronostratigraphical control is provided by ²¹⁰Pb analyses and the occurrence of the 1883 Krakatau ash/tsunami layer as a time marker. The results permit the distinction of four successive stages, reflecting increased disturbance and land clearance, with some evidence for the presence of deciduous lowland forests in the Banten area during the early Holocene. The establishment of coconut and pine plantations and the severe loss of biodiversity in the last few decennia are also echoed in the pollen record. The effect of the Krakatau eruption was insignificant compared with human impact on vegetation in the Banten area. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A long pollen record from Lac du Bouchet, Massif Central, France: for the period ca. 325 to 100 ka BP (OIS 9c to OIS 5e)

Pollen analysis was carried out on sediments older than the Würm pleniglacial (OIS 4), in two new sequences (H and I) derived from the centre of Lac du Bouchet, Massif Central. The inferred vegetation history enables, for the first time in France, five temperate episodes to be defined which pre-date the last interglacial. These temperate episodes alternate with episodes during which the changes in vegetation are indicative of glacial climates. Comparison of these climatic episodes with the oceanic isotope record shows that the pollen record of sequences H and I from Lac du Bouchet spans the time interval from OIS 9c (Ussel interstadial) to OIS 5e (Ribains/Eemian interglacial). In the organic sediments from the Amargiers interstadial (OIS 9a), a trachytic layer, Ar/Ar dated to ca 275 ka, enables a correlation to be established with the upper part of a sequence derived from the nearby Praclaux crater, the lower part of this sequence being of Holsteinian age (OIS 11c). The cross-dating of the pollen sequences from Lac du Bouchet (cores H, I and D) and from Praclaux provides a complete record from the Massif Central, southern France, of successive glacial and interglacial episodes that span the last ca. 400 ka, that is the interval from the Holsteinian to the Holocene.