North Atlantic climate impact on early late‐glacial climate oscillations in the south‐eastern Alps inferred from a multi‐proxy lake sediment record

High‐resolution multi‐proxy analyses of a sediment core section from Lake Jeserzersee (Saissersee) in the piedmont lobe of the Würmian Drau glacier (Carinthia, Austria) reveal pronounced climatic oscillations during the early late glacial (ca. 18.5–16.0k cal a BP). Diatom‐inferred epilimnetic summer water temperatures show a close correspondence with temperature reconstructions from the adjacent Lake Längsee record and, on a hemispheric scale, with fluctuations of ice‐rafted debris in the North Atlantic. This suggests that North Atlantic climate triggered summer climate variability in the Alps during the early late glacial. The expansion of pine (mainly dwarf pine) between ca. 18.5 and 18.1k cal a BP indicates warming during the so‐called ‘Längsee oscillation’. The subsequent stepwise climate deterioration between ca. 18.1 and 17.6k cal a BP culminated in a tripartite cold period between ca. 17.6 and 16.9k cal a BP with diatom‐inferred summer water temperatures 8.5–10 °C below modern values and a shift from wet to dry conditions. This period probably coincides with a major Alpine glacier advance termed the Gschnitz stadial. A warmer interval between ca. 16.9 and 16.4k cal a BP separates this cold phase from a second, shorter and less pronounced cold phase between ca. 16.4 and 16.0k cal a BP, which is thought to correlate with the Clavadel/Senders glacier advance in the Alps. The following temperature increase, coupled with wet (probably snow‐rich) conditions, caused the expansion of birch during the transition period to the late glacial interstadial. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lake‐level fluctuations at Lake Bourget (eastern France) around 4500–3500 cal. a BP and their palaeoclimatic and archaeological implications

On the basis of sedimentological analysis of two cores taken at Chatillon, Lake Le Bourget (northern French Pre‐Alps), and well dated by radiocarbon dates in addition to tree ring dates obtained from an archaeological layer, this paper presents a high‐resolution lake‐level record for the period 4500–3500 cal. a BP. The collected data provide evidence of a complex palaeohydrological (climatic) oscillation spanning the ca. 4300–3850 cal. BP time interval, with major lake‐level maxima at ca. 4200 and 4050–3850 cal. a BP separated by a lowering episode around 4100 cal. a BP. The lake‐level highstands observed at Chatillon between 4300 and 3850 cal. BP appear to be synchronous with (i) a major flooding period recorded in deep cores from the large lakes Le Bourget and Bodensee, and (ii) glacier advance and tree line decline in the Alps. Such wetter and cooler climatic conditions in west‐central Europe around 4000 cal. a BP may have been a nonlinear response to decrease and seasonal changes in insolation. They may also provide a possible explanation for the general abandonment of prehistoric lake dwellings north of the Alps between 4360 and 3750 cal. a BP. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Advance,deglacial and sea‐level chronology for Foxe Peninsula,Baffin Island,Nunavut

The impact of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) deglaciation on Northern Hemisphere early Holocene climate can be evaluated only once a detailed chronology of ice history and sea‐level change is established. Foxe Peninsula is ideally situated on the northern boundary of Hudson Strait, and preserves a chronostratigraphy that provides important glaciological insights regarding changes in ice‐sheet position and relative sea level before and after the 8.2 ka cooling event. We utilized a combination of radiocarbon ages, adjusted with a new locally derived ΔR, and terrestrial in‐situ cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) exposure ages to develop a chronology for early‐Holocene events in the northern Hudson Strait. A marine limit at 192 m a.s.l., dated at 8.1–7.9 cal. ka BP, provides the timing of deglaciation following the 8.2 ka event, confirming that ice persisted at least north of Hudson Bay until then. A moraine complex and esker morphosequence, the Foxe Moraine, relates to glaciomarine outwash deltas and beaches at 160 m a.s.l., and is tightly dated at 7.6 cal. ka BP with a combination of shell dates and exposure ages on boulders. The final rapid collapse of Foxe Peninsula ice occurred by 7.1–6.9 cal. ka BP (radiocarbon dates and TCN depth profile age on an outwash delta), which supports the hypothesis that LIS melting contributed to the contemporaneous global sea‐level rise known as the Catastrophic Rise Event 3 (CRE‐3).     

New age estimates and climatostratigraphic correlations for the Borrobol and Penifiler Tephras: evidence from Abernethy Forest,Scotland

The emerging tephrostratigraphy of NW Europe spanning the last termination (ca. 15–9 ka) provides the potential for synchronizing marine, ice‐core and terrestrial records, but is currently compromised by stratigraphic complications, geochemical ambiguity and imprecise age estimates for some layers. Here we present new tephrostratigraphic, radiocarbon and chironomid‐based palaeotemperature data from Abernethy Forest, Scotland, that refine the ages and stratigraphic positions of the Borrobol and Penifiler tephras. The Borrobol Tephra (14.14–13.95 cal ka BP) was deposited in a relatively warm period equated with Greenland Interstadial sub‐stage GI‐1e. The younger Penifiler Tephra (14.09–13.65 cal ka BP) is closely associated with a cold oscillation equated with GI‐1d. We also present evidence for a previously undescribed tephra layer that has a major‐element chemical signature identical to the Vedde Ash. It is associated with the warming trend at the end of the Younger Dryas, and dates between 11.79 and 11.20 cal ka BP. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Animals and humans in the European Russian Arctic towards the end of the last Ice Age and during the mid‐Holocene time

Here, we present and discuss results from geo‐archaeological and palaeo‐zoological investigations at the Palaeolithic site Pymva Shor, in the Russian Arctic. As many as 3324 vertebrate fauna remains were recovered during two excavations. This includes bones of mammals, birds and fish. Radiocarbon dates were obtained from 26 specimens. The results show ages in the range 30–3 cal. ka BP. Hare and reindeer are the best represented amongst the identified mammalian species, whilst ptarmigan and various wader species dominate the avian bones. The Pleistocene assemblage includes herbivorous herd animals such as horse, bison and musk ox. These species are typical of the treeless tundra‐steppe landscape that existed during the Lateglacial. Of particular interest is a cave lion specimen that has been radiocarbon dated to approximately 15.5 cal. ka BP. According to our knowledge, this is one of the latest dated examples of this species in Eurasia. The faunal composition in the Holocene assemblage is strikingly different and includes distinct forest taxa such as beaver and pine marten. The avifauna also supports a forested environment with the presence of black grouse. A few stone artefacts were found within the strata, and have been radiocarbon dated to 16–15 cal. ka BP, suggesting that there were humans in the Pymva Shore area at that time. We identified impact notches and cut marks on some radiocarbon‐dated reindeer and bison bones, showing that humans were present twice during the Younger Dryas period. A fourth occupation phase is identified during the mid‐Holocene (6–5 cal. ka BP). We also investigated river terraces and obtained a series of luminescence dates. These have been used to reconstruct the geological history and the relationship to the find‐bearing strata.     

Extinction chronology of the cave lion Panthera spelaea

The cave lion, Panthera spelaea, was widespread across northern Eurasia and Alaska/Yukon during the Late Pleistocene. Both morphology and DNA indicate an animal distinct from modern lions (probably at the species level) so that its disappearance in the Late Pleistocene should be treated as a true extinction. New AMS radiocarbon dates directly on cave lion from across its range, together with published dates from other studies – totalling 111 dates – indicate extinction across Eurasia in the interval ca. 14–14.5 cal ka BP, and in Alaska/Yukon about a thousand years later. It is likely that its extinction occurred directly or indirectly in response to the climatic warming that occurred ca. 14.7 cal ka BP at the onset of Greenland Interstadial 1, accompanied by a spread of shrubs and trees and reduction in open habitats. Possibly there was also a concomitant reduction in abundance of available prey, although most of its probable prey species survived substantially later. At present it is unclear whether human expansion in the Lateglacial might have played a role in cave lion extinction. Gaps in the temporal pattern of dates suggest earlier temporary contractions of range, ca. 40–35 cal ka BP in Siberia (during MIS 3) and ca. 25–20 cal ka BP in Europe (during the ‘Last Glacial Maximum’), but further dates are required to corroborate these. The Holocene expansion of modern lion (Panthera leo) into south-west Asia and south-east Europe re-occupied part of the former range of P. spelaea, but the Late Pleistocene temporal and geographical relationships of the two species are unknown.     

Varve counting reveals high resolution radiocarbon reservoir age variations in palaeolake Lisan

The laminated lacustrine sediments deposited in the last glacial Lake Lisan represent annual deposits of primary aragonite and silty detritus that reflect the annual supply of bicarbonate‐bearing freshwater to the lake. A varve‐counting curve was constructed for the time interval of ca. 17.4–22 cal. ka BP based on aragonite U/Th, and atmospheric radiocarbon ages of organic debris recovered from the studied section. Radiocarbon in the primary (evaporitic) aragonite comprises both atmospheric and old carbon (reflecting the reservoir age). The aragonite reservoir ages were determined by comparing the aragonite radiocarbon dates to the varve counting curve, and are found to lie in the range 1900–600 a and display a continuous decline. This opens the possibility for high (annual) resolution monitoring of the reservoir age, similar in quality to tree ring counting, during the upper part of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2. Our work also demonstrates that a ‘uniform’ reservoir age correction is inappropriate when determining the chronology of short‐term climate events in lacustrine environments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Devensian ice‐marginal features in the central North Sea – processes and chronology

Palaeoglaciological reconstructions of the North Sea sector of the last British Ice Sheet have, as other shelf areas, suffered from a lack of dates directly related to ice‐front positions. In the present study new high‐resolution TOPAS seismic data, bathymetric records and sediment core data from the Witch Ground Basin, central North Sea, were compiled. This compilation made it possible to map out three ice‐marginal positions, partly through identification of terminal moraines and partly through location of glacial‐fed debrisflows. The interfingering of the distal parts of the glacial‐fed debrisflows with continuous marine sedimentation enabled the development of a chronology for glacial events based on previously published and some new radiocarbon dates on marine molluscs and foraminifera. From these data it is suggested that after the central Witch Ground Basin was deglaciated at c. 27 cal. ka BP, the eastern part was inundated by glacial ice from the east in the Tampen advance at c. 21 cal. ka BP. Subsequently, the basin was inundated by ice from northeast during the Fladen 1 (c. 17.5 cal. ka BP) and the Fladen 2 (16.2 cal. ka BP) events. It should be emphasized that the Fladen 1 and 2 events, individually, may represent dynamics of relatively small lobes of glacial ice at the margin of the British Ice Sheet and that the climatic significance of these may be questioned. However, the Fladen Events probably correlate in time with the Clogher Head and Killard Point re‐advances previously documented from Ireland and the Bremanger event from off western Norway, suggesting that the British and Fennoscandian ice sheets both had major advances in their northwestern parts, close to the northwestern European seaboard, at this time.     

Climatic oscillations in central Italy during the Last Glacial–Holocene transition: the record from Lake Accesa

This paper presents an event stratigraphy based on data documenting the history of vegetation cover, lake‐level changes and fire frequency, as well as volcanic eruptions, over the Last Glacial–early Holocene transition from a terrestrial sediment sequence recovered at Lake Accesa in Tuscany (north‐central Italy). On the basis of an age–depth model inferred from 13 radiocarbon dates and six tephra horizons, the Oldest Dryas–Bølling warming event was dated to ca. 14 560 cal. yr BP and the Younger Dryas event to ca. 12 700–11 650 cal. yr BP. Four sub‐millennial scale cooling phases were recognised from pollen data at ca. 14 300–14 200, 13 900–13 700, 13 400–13 100 and 11 350–11 150 cal. yr BP. The last three may be Mediterranean equivalents to the Older Dryas (GI‐1d), Intra‐Allerød (GI‐1b) and Preboreal Oscillation (PBO) cooling events defined from the GRIP ice‐core and indicate strong climatic linkages between the North Atlantic and Mediterranean areas during the last Termination. The first may correspond to Intra‐Bølling cold oscillations registered by various palaeoclimatic records in the North Atlantic region. The lake‐level record shows that the sub‐millennial scale climatic oscillations which punctuated the last deglaciation were associated in central Italy with different successive patterns of hydrological changes from the Bølling warming to the 8.2 ka cold reversal. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evidence of a two-fold glacial advance during the last glacial maximum in the Tagliamento end moraine system (eastern Alps)

The glacial history of the Tagliamento morainic amphitheater (southeastern Alpine foreland, Italy) during the last glacial maximum (LGM) has been reconstructed by means of a geological survey and drillings, radiocarbon dating and pollen analysis in the amphitheater and in the sandur. Two phases of glacial culmination, separated by a distinct recession, are responsible for glacial landforms and related sediments in the outer part of the amphitheater. The age of the younger advance fits the chronology of the culmination of the last glaciation in the Alps, well established between 24 and 21 cal ka BP (20 to 17.5 ¹⁴C ka BP), whereas the first pulse between 26.5 and 23 cal ka BP (22 to 21 ¹⁴C ka BP), previously undated, was usually related to older (pre-LGM) glaciations by previous authors. Here, the first pulse is the most extensive LGM culmination, but is often buried by the subsequent pulse. The onset and final recession of the late Würm Alpine glaciation in the Tagliamento amphitheater are synchronous with the established global glacial maximum between 30 and 19 cal ka BP. The two-fold LGM glacial oscillation is interpreted as a millennial-scale modulation within the late Würm glaciation, caused by oscillations in inputs of southerly atmospheric airflows related to Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles. Phases of enhanced southerly circulation promoted increased rainfall and ice accumulation in the southern Alps.     

Glacier fluctuations in the western Alps during the Neoglacial,as indicated by the Miage morainic amphitheatre (Mont Blanc massif,Italy)

Holocene glacier variations pre‐dating the Little Ice Age are poorly known in the western Alps. Studied for two centuries, the Miage morainic amphitheatre (MMA) is composed of three subconcentric sets of c. 25 moraines. Because of its location and of a dominant mode of morainic accretion, the MMA is a well‐preserved marker of the glacier dynamics during the Neoglacial. Radiocarbon dates were obtained by digging and coring in inter‐ morainic depressions of the MMA and through a deep core drilling in a dammed‐lake infill (Combal); complementary data for the inner MMA were obtained by lichenometry and dendrochronology. Radiocarbon chronology shows that (i) the MMA not only pre‐dates the Little Ice Age (LIA), but was built at least since 5029–4648 cal. yr BP (beginning of the Neoglacial); (ii) outer sets of moraines pre‐date 2748–2362 cal. yr BP; (iii) the MMA dammed the Lake Combal from 4.8 to 1.5 cal. kyr BP, while lakes/ponds formed inside the moraines (e.g. from 2147–1928 to 1506–1295 cal. yr BP). The ‘Neoglacial model’ proposed here considers that the MMA formed during the whole Neoglacial by a succession of glacier advances at 4.8–4.6 cal. ky BP (early Neoglacial), around 2.5 cal. ky BP (end of Göschener I), at AD 600–900 (end of Göschener II) and during the LIA, separated by raising phases of the right‐lateral moraine by active dumping because of the Miage debris cover.     

Timing and extent of early marine oxygen isotope stage 2 alpine glaciation in Skagit Valley, Washington

Twenty-two new radiocarbon ages from Skagit valley provide a detailed chronology of alpine glaciation during the Evans Creek stade of the Fraser Glaciation (early marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 2) in the Cascade Range, Washington State. Sediments at sites near Concrete, Washington, record two advances of the Baker valley glacier between ca. 30.3 and 19.5 cal ka BP, with an intervening period of glacier recession about 24.9 cal ka BP. The Baker valley glacier dammed lower Skagit valley, creating glacial Lake Concrete, which discharged around the ice dam along Finney Creek, or south into the Sauk valley. Sediments along the shores of Ross Lake in upper Skagit valley accumulated in glacial Lake Skymo after ca. 28.7 cal ka BP behind a glacier flowing out of Big Beaver valley. Horizontally laminated silt and bedded sand and gravel up to 20 m thick record as much as 8000 yr of deposition in these glacially dammed lakes. The data indicate that alpine glaciers in Skagit valley were far less extensive than previously thought. Alpine glaciers remained in advanced positions for much of the Evans Creek stade, which may have ended as early as 20.8 cal ka BP.     

Lateglacial to Holocene relative sea‐level changes in the Stykkishólmur area,northern Snæfellsnes,Iceland

Comparatively little research has been undertaken on relative sea‐level (RSL) change in western Iceland. This paper presents the results of diatom, tephrochronological and radiocarbon analyses on six isolation basins and two coastal lowland sediment cores from the Stykkishólmur area, northern Snæfellsnes, western Iceland. The analyses provide a reconstruction of Lateglacial to mid‐Holocene RSL changes in the region. The marine limit is measured to 65–69 m above sea level (asl), with formation being estimated at 13.5 cal ka BP. RSL fall initially occurred rapidly following marine limit formation, until ca. 12.6 cal ka BP, when the rate of RSL fall decreased. RSL fell below present in the Stykkishólmur area during the early Holocene (by ca. 10 cal ka BP). The rates of RSL change noted in the Stykkishólmur area demonstrate lesser ice thicknesses in Snæfellsnes than Vestfirðir during the Younger Dryas, when viewed in the regional context. Consequently, the data provide an insight into patterns of glacio‐isostatic adjustment surrounding Breiðafjörður, a hypothesized major ice stream at the Last Glacial Maximum.     

Deglaciation history of Lake Ladoga (northwestern Russia) based on varved sediments

Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia is Europe's largest lake. The postglacial history of the Ladoga basin is for the first time documented continuously with high temporal resolution in the upper 13.3 m of a sediment core (Co1309) from the northwestern part of the lake. We applied a multiproxy approach including radiographic imaging, (bio‐)geochemical and granulometric analyses. Age control was established combining radiocarbon dating with varve chronology, the latter anchored to a correlated radiocarbon age from a lake close by. The age‐depth model reveals the onset of glacial varve sedimentation at 13 910±140 cal. a BP, when Lake Ladoga was part of the Baltic Ice Lake. Linear extrapolation of published retreat rates of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet provides a formation age of the Luga moraine close to Lake Ladoga's southern shore of 14.5–15.9 cal. ka BP, older than previously assumed. Varve sedimentation covers the Bølling/Allerød interstadial, the Younger Dryas stadial and the Early Holocene. Varve‐thickness variations, conjoined with grain‐size and geochemical variations, inform about the relative position of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and the climate during the deglaciation phase. The upper limit of the varved succession marks the change from glaciolacustrine to normal lacustrine sedimentation and post‐dates the drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake as well as the formation of the Salpausselkä II moraine north of Lake Ladoga, by c. 250 years. The Holocene sediment record is divided into three periods in the following order: (i) a lower transition zone between the Holocene boundary and c. 9.5 cal. ka BP, characterized by mostly massive sediments with low organic content, (ii) a phase with increased organic content from c. 9.5 to 4.5 cal. ka BP corresponding to the Holocene Thermal Maximum, and (iii) a phase with relatively stable sedimentation in a lacustrine environment from c. 4.5 cal. ka BP until present.     

Exposure dating and reinterpretation of coarse debris accumulations (‘rock glaciers’) in the Cairngorm Mountains,Scotland

Relict rock glaciers have considerable potential for contributing to palaeoclimatic reconstruction, but this potential is often undermined by lack of dating control and problems of interpretation. Here we reinvestigate and date four proposed ‘rock glaciers’ in the Cairngorm Mountains and show that the morphology of only one of these appears consistent with that of a true rock glacier produced by creep of underlying ice or ice‐rich sediment. All four features comprise rockslide or rock avalanche runout debris, and the possibility that all four represent unmodified runout accumulations cannot be discounted. Surface exposure dating of the four debris accumulations using cosmogenic ¹⁰Be produced uncertainty‐weighted mean ages of 15.4 ± 0.8 ka, 16.2 ± 1.0 ka, 12.1 ± 0.6 ka and 12.7 ± 0.8 ka. All four ages imply emplacement under cold stadial conditions, two prior to the Windermere Interstade of ca. 14.5–12.9 cal. ka BP and two during the Loch Lomond Stade of ca. 12.9–11.5 cal. ka BP. The above ages indicate that paraglacial rock‐slope failure on granite rockwalls occurred within a few millennia after deglaciation. The mean exposure ages obtained for runout debris at two sites – Strath Nethy (16.2 ± 1.0 ka) and Lairig Ghru (15.4 ± 0.8 ka) – are consistent with basal radiocarbon ages from Loch Etteridge, 22 km to the southwest (mean = 15.6 ± 0.3 cal. ka BP) and imply widespread deglaciation of the Cairngorms and adjacent valleys before 15 ka and possibly 16 ka. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Orbital imprint on Holocene palaeohydrological variations in west‐central Europe as reflected by lake‐level changes at Cerin (Jura Mountains,eastern France)

This paper presents a lake‐level record for the Holocene at Lake Cerin (Jura Mountains, eastern France). It is based on a range of sedimentological techniques validated in previous studies, with a combination of systematic lithostratigraphic investigations of the infillings accumulated in the lacustrine basin, and sediment analyses of two selected cores. The chronology is based on 10 radiocarbon dates and pollen stratigraphy. On a millennial scale, the Cerin lake‐level record shows three distinct successive phases characterised by higher lake‐level conditions until ca. 9000 cal. a BP, followed by a maximal lowering at ca. 9000–8500 cal. a BP, and a progressive rise until the present. This rise was punctuated by centennial‐scale fluctuations, with major events around 4000, 2800 and after 1500 cal. a BP. Considered on a multimillennial scale, the general pattern of palaeohydrological changes reconstructed at Cerin reflects the impact of orbitally driven summer insolation. This is in agreement with other regional and extra‐regional palaeoclimatic records, although every record shows peculiarities in timing and shape depending on the proxy used for reconstruction. In this general context, centennial to multicentennial oscillations appear to have been second‐order events in comparison with the major influence of the orbital factor. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chronologies of sedimentary changes in the south Bohai Sea,China: constraints from luminescence and radiocarbon dating

The alternation of terrestrial and marine deposits is an indicator of past environmental and sea‐level changes. The age of deposition is usually dated by means of radiocarbon. However, radiocarbon dates of molluscan shells from coastal areas may be complicated by various sources of carbon, and problematic for deposits of 40–50 ka or older. Herein, we apply the Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating method to date samples from terrestrial and marine/coastal sediments extracted from three cores in the south Bohai Sea, China. Multiple‐ and single‐aliquot regenerative‐dose procedures using OSL signals from fine‐silt (4–11 μm), coarse‐silt (38–63 μm) and fine‐sand (63–90 or 90–125 μm) quartz were employed to determine the equivalent dose (D _e). The results showed that: (i) OSL ages from quartz of different grain sizes and different protocols are consistent with each other; (ii) for Holocene samples, most of the radiocarbon dates agree well with OSL ages; (iii) for pre‐Holocene samples, radiocarbon dates cluster at 40–50 ¹⁴ C ka BP, whereas OSL ages are in stratigraphic order from 11 ka to 176 ka. Because of the self‐consistency of the quartz OSL ages, the stratigraphic agreement in the three cores, and the clustering of the radiocarbon dates, we suggest that the quartz OSL ages are more reliable with respect to dating the samples from the south Bohai Sea. Finally, the four marine strata identified in the south Bohai Sea are likely to have formed during the Holocene, Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 3–5, MIS 6 and probably MIS 7, respectively.     

Vegetation and climate during the Weichselian Early Glacial and Pleniglacial in the Niederlausitz,eastern Germany — macrofossil and pollen evidence

Cryoturbated organic beds and channel fills, intercalated with sandy and gravelly fluvial units, have been studied in an opencast brown‐coal mine near Nochten (Niederlausitz), eastern Germany. The fluvial–aeolian sequence covers parts of the Early, Pleni‐ and Late‐glacial. The detailed chronology is based on 11 radiocarbon and 12 OSL dates, covering the period between ca. 100 kyr and 11 kyr BP. Basal peat deposits are correlated with an Early Weichselian interstadial. During this period boreal forests were present and minimum mean summer temperatures were > 13°C. Early Pleniglacial deposits are absent. The Middle and Late Pleniglacial environments were treeless and different types of tundra vegetation can be recognised. Minimum mean summer temperatures varied between 10 and 15°C. Vegetation and climate is reconstructed in detail for the periods around 34–38 kyr BP and 24–25 kyr BP. Around 34–38 ka, a mixture between a low shrub tundra and a cottongrass tussock–subshrub tundra was present. The botanical and sedimentological data suggest that from the Middle to the Late Pleniglacial, the climate became more continental, aridity and wind strength increased, and the role of a protecting winter snow cover decreased. A sedge–grass–moss tundra dominated around 24 and 25 kyr BP. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new late glacial to early Holocene palaeobotanical and archaeological record in the Eastern Pre‐Alps: the Palughetto basin (Cansiglio Plateau,Italy)

A late glacial to early Holocene lacustrine and peat succession, rich in conifer remains and including some palaeolithic flint artefacts, has been investigated in the Palughetto intermorainic basin (Venetian Pre‐Alps). The geomorphological and stratigraphical relationships, ¹⁴C dates and pollen analyses allow a reconstruction of the environmental history of the basin and provide significant insights into the reforestation and peopling of the Pre‐Alps. The onset of peat accumulation is dated to 14.4–14.1 kyr cal. BP, coinciding with reforestation at middle altitudes that immediately post‐dates the immigration of Larix decidua and Picea abies subsp. europaea. Plant macrofossils point to the expansion of spruce about 14.3 kyr cal. BP, so far one of the earliest directly dated in the late glacial period of southern Europe. The previous hypothesis of an early Holocene spruce immigration in the Southern Alps from Slovenia needs reconsideration. Organic sedimentation stopped at the end of the Younger Dryas and was followed by the evolution of hydromorphic soils containing lithic artefacts, anthropic structures and wood charcoal. The typological features of the flint implements refer human occupation of the site to the end of the recent Epigravettian. Charcoals yielded dates either consistent with, or younger than, the archaeological chronology, in the early and middle Holocene. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Did large ice caps persist on low ground in north‐west Scotland during the Lateglacial Interstade?

Recent research based primarily on exposure ages of boulders on moraines has suggested that extensive ice masses persisted in fjords and across low ground in north‐west Scotland throughout the Lateglacial Interstade (≈ Greenland Interstade 1, ca. 14.7–12.9 ka), and that glacier ice was much more extensive in this area during the Older Dryas chronozone (ca. 14.0 ka) than during the Younger Dryas Stade (ca. 12.9–11.7 ka). We have recalibrated the same exposure age data using locally derived ¹⁰Be production rates. This increases the original mean ages by 6.5–12%, implying moraine deposition between ca. 14.3 and ca. 15.1 ka, and we infer a most probable age of ca. 14.7 ka based on palaeoclimatic considerations. The internal consistency of the ages implies that the dated moraines represent a single readvance of the ice margin (the Wester Ross Readvance). Pollen–stratigraphic evidence from a Lateglacial site at Loch Droma on the present drainage divide demonstrates deglaciation before ca. 14.0 ka, and therefore implies extensive deglaciation of all low ground and fjords in this area during the first half of the interstade (ca. 14.7–14.0 ka). This inference appears consistent with Lateglacial radiocarbon dates for shells recovered from glacimarine sediments and a dated tephra layer. Our revised chronology conflicts with earlier proposals that substantial dynamic ice caps persisted in Scotland between 14 and 13 ka, that large active glaciers probably survived throughout the Lateglacial Interstade and that ice extent was greater during the Older Dryas period than during the Younger Dryas Stade. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.