Paleoenvironmental dynamics in central-eastern Brazil during the last 23 000 years: tropical peatland record in the Cerrado biome

The Cerrado biome is the second largest in Brazil, but the evolution of the Cerrado during the late Quaternary is not yet fully known. This study identifies paleoenvironmental changes during the last 23 000 years, based on a tropical mountain peatland record, in the Serra do Espinhaço Meridional in central-eastern Brazil. A multi-proxy approach was used that involved palynological analysis, stable isotopes (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N), geochemistry, radiocarbon dating and multivariate statistics derived from a peatland core from Rio Preto (Minas Gerais state). The study reveals a very humid and cold climate during the late Pleistocene, with an increase in temperature and decrease in humidity at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. During this period there was strong instability in the landscape (episodes of erosion). At the beginning of the Holocene there was a reduction in humidity with greater landscape stability. The current sub-humid climatic conditions seem to have been established in the mid-/late Holocene, with periods of landscape instability. Our findings agree with other Cerrado records that contradict previously established hypotheses, such as the Amazonian Refuge and the Pleistocene Arc.     

Glacial oscillations during the Bølling–Allerød Interstadial–Younger Dryas transition in the Ruda Valley,Central Pyrenees

The Upper Garonne Basin included the largest glacial system in the Pyrenees during the last glacial cycle. Within the long-term glacial retreat during Termination-1 (T-1), glacier fluctuations left geomorphic evidence in the area. However, the chronology of T-1 glacial oscillations on the northern slopes of the Central Pyrenees is still poorly constrained. Here, we introduce new geomorphological observations and a 12-sample dataset of ¹⁰Be cosmic-ray exposure ages from the Ruda Valley. This U-shaped valley, surrounded by peaks exceeding 2800 m a.s.l., includes a sequence of moraines and polished surfaces that enabled a reconstruction of the chronology of the last deglaciation. Following the maximum ice extent, warmer conditions prevailing at ~15–14 ka, during the Bølling–Allerød (B–A) Interstadial, favoured glacial retreat in the Ruda Valley. Within the B–A, glaciers experienced two phases of advance/stillstand with moraine formation at 13.5 and 13.0 ka. During the early Younger Dryas (YD), glacial retreat exposed the highest surfaces of the Saboredo Cirque (~2300–2350 m) at 12.7 ka. Small glaciers persisted only inside the highest cirques (~2470 m), such as in Sendrosa Cirque, with moraines stabilising at 12.6 ka. The results of this work present the most complete chronology for Pyrenean glacial oscillations from the B–A to the YD.