palaeoenvironmental and climate changes recorded in the lacustrine sediments of the eemian interglacial mis 5e in the radom plain central poland abstract the radom plain is a region with numerous fossil palaeolakes that formed a palaeolakeland lacustrine sediments of thickness varying from 0 5 to 18 m were encountered in numerous boreholes pollen analyses of the sediments filling the palaeolakes have proven that their sedimentation began after the retreat of the saalian ice sheet mis 6 continued during the eemian interglacial mis 5e and terminated at the beginning of the weichselian glaciation mis 5d climate and palaeoenvironmental changes have been recorded in different deposits muds peats and gyttja local factors such as reservoir depth and geological conditions have influenced the type of the accumulated sediments eemian sites occur in two geomorphological positions in small depressions on the glacial plateau and in small valleys in ox bow palaeolakes eemian lakes were formed from the melting of dead ice blocks pollen data obtained from the palaeolake sediments document climate and vegetation changes characteristic of the late glacial period the eemian interglacial and the beginning of the weichselian glaciation in many sites a record of a complete eemian succession is present whereas in others it is fragmentary comparison of pollen data between the radom region and other localities in poland shows local and regional differences in the development of forest communities in the eemian in the eemian sequences of the radom plain a considerable contribution of tilia picea and abies pollen is distinct in the forest communities often higher than in other eemian sites of central poland the particularly high percentage of tilia exceeding 30 picea up to 67 and abies 30 pollen are recorded in the babin site this phenomenon may indicate favourable environmental and climate conditions facilitating further propagation of these trees in the pollen record from the babin site three distinct abrupt cool climate oscillations have been noted with the oldest one recorded in the saalian glaciation the two younger oscillations have been distinguished at the very beginning and at the very end of the last interglacial respectively eemian sites from the radom plain are important for the reconstruction of palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimate changes in the eemian interglacial in poland and europe

climate instability during the last interglacial period recorded in the grip ice core isotope and chemical analyses of the grip ice core from summit central greenland reveal that climate in greenland during the last interglacial period was characterized by a series of severe cold periods which began extremely rapidly and lasted from decades to centuries as the last interglacial seems to have been slightly warmer than the present one its unstable climate raises questions about the effects of future global warming

timing of lateglacial vegetation dynamics and respective palaeoenvironmental conditions in southern estonia evidence from the sediment record of lake nakri this paper investigates a detailed well dated lateglacial floristic colonisation in the eastern baltic area ca 14 000 9000 cal a bp using palynological macrofossil loss on ignition and 14c data during 14 000 13 400 cal a bp primarily treeless pioneer tundra vegetation existed tree birch betula sect albae macro remains and a high tree pollen accumulation rate indicate the presence of forest tundra with birch and possibly pine pinus sylvestris l trees during 13 400 12 850 cal a bp palaeobotanical data indicate that the colonisation and development of forested areas were very rapid arising within a period of less than 50 years thus far there are no indications of conifer macrofossils in estonia to support the presence of coniferous forests in the lateglacial period signs of greenland interstadial 1b cooling during 13 100 cal a bp are distinguishable biostratigraphic evidence indicates that the vegetation was again mostly treeless tundra during the final colder episode of the lateglacial period associated with greenland stadial 1 approximately 12 850 11 650 cal a bp this was followed by onset of the holocene vegetation with the expansion of boreal forests in response to rapid climatic warming copyright 2011 john wiley sons ltd

eemian and early weichselian environments in southern sweden a multi proxy study of till covered organic deposits from the smaland peneplain based on their luminescence and infinite radiocarbon ages organic deposits beneath till at two sites on the smaland peneplain southern sweden nybygget and stora gaddevik are concluded to have formed before the middle weichselian applied palaeoecological methods include analyses of pollen diatoms charcoal fragments macroscopic remains of vascular plants and mosses and insect remains pollen stratigraphical correlations with previously studied interglacial interstadial sites in southern sweden denmark and northern germany suggest that the peat at nybygget dates from the brorup interstadial or the final stage of the eemian interglacial whereas the lake sediments at stora gaddevik probably were emplaced during the middle eemian we conclude that the peat was formed in a wetland characterized by both wood swamp and open mire vegetation and surrounded by semi open woodlands dominated by pine birch and hazel the middle eemian sequence at the stora gaddevik site provides evidence of a moderately nutrient rich to nutrient rich lake environment with relatively diverse aquatic vegetation regional vegetation as reconstructed using the reveals model was spruce woodland mixed with pine alder and birch but also included more open environments with hazel oak grasslands and sedge dominated wetlands water shield brasenia schreberi now extinct in europe was identified in the eemian lake deposits from both pollen and macroscopic remains

biostratigraphy of the last glacial period in europe the european early weichselian early wurmian is characterized by two long and relatively warm interstadials brorup and odderade which can be traced and correlated with certainty across large parts of europe the amersfoort interstadial described earlier from the netherlands has been included in the brorup and represents the older part of it both great interstadials were forested in north west central and southern europe in the north conifer forests prevailed giving way towards the south to deciduous forests the climatic gradient was distinctly steeper mainly due to southward displacement of the gulf stream the two great interstadials are synchronous with the isotopic stages 5a and 5c in the deep sea cores subsequent to eemian brorup and odderade and from within the context of a continuous series two additional and clearly delimited interstadials have been recorded in a new standard profile from oerel nw germany these are now described as the oerel and glinde interstadials they were not forested and belong to the early pleni weichselian the lower one oerel can probably be correlated with the 3rd weichselian wurmian interstadial in southern central europe ognon ii durnten samerberg 3 while the upper one glinde has so far no known counterpart for the younger pleni glacial it is assumed that there was a long phase during which it was not too cold the formation of humic layers during this phase took place at different times partly due to local edaphic factors so that the relevant 14c dates show a wide scatter the hengelo and denekamp interstadials represent only slight ameliorations which facilitated the formation of shrub tundra and can be recorded in certain regions only

the importance of atmospheric dynamics in the northern hemisphere wintertime climate response to changes in the earth s orbit milankovitch proposed that variations in the earth s orbit cause climate variability through a local thermodynamic response to changes in insolation this hypothesis is tested by examining variability in an atmospheric general circulation model coupled to an ocean mixed layer model subjected to the orbital forcing of the past 165 000 yr during northern hemisphere summer the model s response conforms to milankovitch s hypothesis with high low insolation generating warm cold temperatures throughout the hemisphere however during northern hemisphere winter the climate variations stemming from orbital forcing cannot be solely understood as a local thermodynamic response to radiation anomalies instead orbital forcing perturbs the atmospheric circulation in a pattern bearing a striking resemblance to the northern annular mode the primary mode of simulated and observed unforced atmospheric variability the hypothesized reason for this similarity is that the circulation response to orbital forcing reflects the same dynamics generating unforced variability these circulation anomalies are in turn responsible for significant fluctuations in other climate variables most of the simulated orbital signatures in wintertime surface air temperature over midlatitude continents are directly traceable not to local radiative forcing but to orbital excitation of the northern annular mode this has paleoclimate implications during the point of the model integration corresponding to the last interglacial eemian period the orbital excitation of this mode generates a 1 2 c warm surface air temperature anomaly over europe providing an explanation for the warm anomaly of comparable magnitude implied by the paleoclimate proxy record the results imply that interpretations of the paleoclimate record must account for changes in surface temperature driven not only by changes in insolation but also by perturbations in atmospheric dynamics

palaeoclimatic changes in the holsteinian interglacial middle pleistocene on the basis of indicator species method palynological and macrofossils remains from nowiny żukowskie site se poland abstract analysis of pollen and macroremains from the mazovian holsteinian interglacial in the nowiny ukowskie succession enabled the identification of numerous climatic indicators the applied indicator species method allowed for a detailed description of climatic changes i e warmings and coolings that occurred in this interglacial the determined ranges of temperatures that prevailed in particular periods provide a basis for an assumption that it was probably the warmest interglacial of the pleistocene the estimated temperature of the warmest month during the climatic optimum abies carpinus period may have been 2 4 c higher than in the warmest period of the holocene moreover numerous changes in humidity evidenced by frequent oscillations from oceanic to continental climate are particularly important the cool periods are generally marked by the presence of betula nana selaginella selaginoides and s helvetica heliophytes such as helianthemum nummularium and shrubs of ephedra and hippophae rhamnoides the warmest period is documented by the occurrence of thermophylous trees e g pterocarya fraxinifolia juglans shrubs e g buxus sempervirens and vitis sylvestris as well as hedera helix viscum and aquatic plants e g brasenia borysthenica

post saalian transformation of dry valleys in eastern europe an example from ne poland the studies were conducted in a dry valley in ne poland they were aimed at determining the origin of this structure and tracing the processes that have shaped the dry valley in a time span of about 130 ka the research included detailed geological mapping including piercing of a number of boreholes and electrical resistivity tomography ert surveys the obtained material was pollen analysed osl dated and the grain size distribution and the morphoscopy of sand quartz grains were investigated additionally the organic matter om content was determined based on the obtained results it was concluded that the structure currently occupied by sediments of the dry valley was formed during the warta stadial of the odranian glaciation saalian mis 6 as a glacial tunnel valley small probably isolated depressions functioned in the dry valley bottom after the ice sheet retreat the sediments record a full succession of climate oscillations from the eemian interglacial mis 5e pollen zones e1 to e7 through the early vistulian mis 5a 5d to mis 4 in the early vistulian the depressions functioned as lakes or got shallower and were replaced by peat bogs depending on the climate conditions during mis 4 the bottom of the dry valley was subjected to erosion as a result of concentrated water flow this caused draining of the existing depressions and their incorporation within the flow probably during mis 3 solifluction was activated on the slopes of the dry valley during lgm permafrost aggradation occurred in the study area recorded by two generations of epigenetic sand wedges and development of aeolian processes in contrast to analogous processes within the european sand belt the latter processes acted for a short time and only locally the final record are holocene soils it seems that the analysed valley is a good example of palaeoenvironmental conditions in eastern europe

simulated relationships between regional temperatures and large scale circulation 125 kyr bp eemian and the preindustrial period to investigate relationships between large scale circulation and regional scale temperatures during the last eemian interglacial a simulation with a general circulation model gcm under orbital forcing conditions of 125 kyr bp is compared with a simulation forced with the late holocene preindustrial conditions consistent with previous gcm simulations for the eemian higher northern summer 2 m temperatures are found which are directly related to the different insolation differences in the mean circulation are evident such as for instance stronger northern winter westerlies toward europe which are associated with warmer temperatures in central and northeastern europe in the eemian simulation while the circulation variability analyzed by means of a principal component analysis of the sea level pressure slp field is very similar in both periods as a consequence of the differences in the mean circulation the simulated arctic oscillation ao temperature signal in the northern winter on interannual to multidecadal time scales is weaker during the eemian than today over large parts of the northern hemisphere correlations between the ao index and the central european temperature cet decrease by about 0 2 the winter and spring slp anomalies over the north atlantic european domain that are most strongly linearly linked to the cet cover a smaller area and are shifted westward over the north atlantic during the eemian however the strength of the connection between cet and these slp anomalies is similar in both simulations the simulated differences in the ao temperature signal and in the slp anomaly which is linearly linked to the cet suggest that during the eemian the link between the large scale circulation and temperaturesensitive proxy data from europe may differ from present day conditions and that this difference should be taken into account when inferring large scale climate from temperature sensitive proxy data

electrical conductivity measurements from the gisp2 and grip greenland ice cores the direct current electrical conductivity of glacial ice depends on its acidity1 3 and can also indicate changes in climate as ice formed in cold dusty periods has a high concentration of alkaline dust1 4 5 which significantly reduces the conductivity6 7 compared to warmer less dusty periods here we present electrical conductivity records for the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 and greenland ice core project grip ice cores drilled 28 km apart to enable direct comparison of the results the upper parts of both records are consistent with previous evidence from other greenland cores4 8 12 for a stable greenland climate during the holocene and a series of warm events punctuating the last glacial period however there is a significant discrepancy between the two records in the bottom 10 of the cores calling into question recent reports of climate variability in the last interglacial4 8 and the penultimate glaciation8 at this stage it is too early to say what exactly is causing the discrepancy although ice flow may have introduced some discontinuities into the records further work will be necessary to establish how much climatic information it will eventually be possible to extract from the lower parts of the two cores

vegetation patterns under climate changes in the eemian and early weichselian in central europe inferred from a palynological sequence from ustkow central poland abstract this paper presents a fresh examination of a pollen profile from ustkow central poland which after preliminary results was thought to span a period between the early eemian mis 5e and the upper pleni weichselian mis 3 the newly obtained results confirmed the age assessment of the bottom series but revealed a much older age for the uppermost part of the profile as far back as the rederstall stadial mis 5b palynological research showed slightly different patterns of vegetation in comparison to other sites located in central europe among them were an early ulmus maximum coinciding with the betula optimum in the early eemian a relatively late optimum of taxus baccata during the decline of the middle eemian and a distinct division of the older part of the late eemian into phases of abies picea and picea pinus forest domination the herning stadial mis 5d falls into a typical bipartition reflected by heathland domination during its older part and the prevalence of juniperus thickets and artemisia poaceae steppe during its younger part which makes this succession similar to those from northern germany the pollen spectra reflecting the brorup interstadial mis 5c distinctly revealed an intra brorup cold oscillation rarely detected in profiles from central europe and a period of larix dominated forests during the latest part of the interstadial extraordinarily high percentages exceeding 15 of the total pollen sum local pollen taxa together with the lithological composition of deposits revealed that there was a water body in the area during the periods of the late saalian early eemian transition middle eemian the decline of the tilia phase the herning stadial mis 5d the early brorup interstadial mis 5c and the rederstall stadial mis 5b between these time intervals a poor and or rich fen and or bog functioned

the eemian interglaciation in northwestern germany abstract hundreds of small lakes became filled with eemian deposits following the retreat of saalian ice in northwestern germany weakly expressed climate oscillations have been inferred from some local pollen records of late saalian sediments sea level stood 7 m below the current northwest german sea level datum nn during the interglacial climate optimum and decreased afterward a uniform vegetational succession of the eemian mixed forests correlated with marine isotope stage mis 5e terminated with the demise of boreal woodlands marked by a steep increase in nonarboreal pollen this is the onset of the early weichselian herning stade correlated with mis 5d no sharp climate oscillations during the eemian have been documented in the ending phase of the interglaciation the climate deteriorated gradually dominant heath and grass tundras point to a substantial decline of summer temperature during the herning stade sea level then stood at 40 m nn sedimentological considerations supported by counts of partly varved deposits indicate that the eemian lasted about 10 000 11 000 yr and the herning for several millennia

age and palaeoenvironment of the enigmatic arternian interglacial evidence from the muschelton at voigtstedt hackelsberg thuringia central germany abstract the arternian interglacial has been established on the basis of a pollen record within the muschelton shell clay horizon near voigtstedt type locality in the surroundings of artern in central germany this horizon is older than the early middle pleistocene voigstedt lehmzone loam zone layers which overlie the muschelton due to the lack of a comprehensive fossil record the age of the arternian interglacial has long been disputed as has its palaeoenvironmental conditions here we present the results of new interdisciplinary studies from new exposures of the muschelton at voigtstedt hackelsberg palaeomagnetic screening revealed dominantly reversed polarity of the muschelton partly overprinted by normal magnetisations fossil content consists of identifiable plant mollusc ostracod fish small and large mammal remains the stratigraphic range of the recorded taxa in combination with the palaeomagnetic reverse polarity and amino acid racemization studies indicate an early pleistocene age for the arternian interglacial within the range of mis marine isotope stages 29 21 c 990 810 ka in contrast to interpretations in former studies our investigations of the muschelton from voigtstedt hackelsberg do not indicate subarctic climate prior to or following a clearly separated interglacial as evidence for high summer temperatures was present throughout the muschelton sequence the changes between cold and temperate stages in the pollen record can be best explained by changes in continentality this result confirms climatic inferences for pollen records of other early and early middle pleistocene sites in central europe

the upper pleistocene deposits at cassington near oxford england for much of the middle and all of the upper pleistocene the upper thames valley has remained outside the limit of ice advance the main agents of landform evolution have been the river thames and its tributaries which have cut down episodically and in so doing have abandoned a series of river terraces this study reports the findings of an investigation into exposures in the deposits underlying the floodplain terrace at cassington near oxford england the sequence exposed reveals a stratigraphy of basal predominantly fine grained lithofacies overlain by coarser gravel lithofacies the fluvial architecture of these deposits indicates a major change in fluvial style from a low energy meandering to a high energy braided channel system the flora and fauna from the lower fine grained lithofacies display a marked change from temperate at the base to colder conditions towards the top indicating a close association between deteriorating climate and changing fluvial depositional style amino acid and luminescence geochronology from the basal fine grained lithofacies suggest correlation with oxygen isotope stage 5 and hence it is argued that the major environmental change recorded at the site relates to the oxygen isotope stage 5 4 transition deposition of much of the overlying gravel sequence probably occurred during oxygen isotope stage 4 suggesting that the latter half of the devensian may be less significant in terms of fluvial landscape evolution in the upper thames valley than was believed previously c 1998 john wiley sons ltd

paleoenvironmental history of the middle dnieper area from the dnieper to weichselian glaciation a case study of the maksymivka loess profile abstract the paper presents the results of interdisciplinary studies on environmental characteristics of the middle and upper pleistocene mis 8 2 of central ukraine based on an example of the new research site at maksymivka the tested profile is situated on the left bank of the dnieper river on the western edge of the dnieper plain it is a representative section of the cliff of the east lakeshore of the kremenchuk reservoir located in the border zone both in longitudinal and latitudinal terms it is located in the southern part of the dnieper terraced plateau on the border of two varieties of forest steppes with an admixture of meadow steppes defined as left bank dnieper and dniester dnieper to the south of the site extends a typical steppe zone the transient position of the research site is a good point to start to trace the history of the volatility of the vegetation cover and the shift of the landscape vegetation boundaries according to the climatic fluctuations to reconstruct environmental changes in the analysed time interval the litho pedo and palaeobotanical methods were used to determine the chronology of changes a number of parallel datings of the loess paleosol sequence were conducted tl gdansk kyiv lublin osl gliwce the profile is comprised of glacial and loess parts the bottom section is built of glacigenic sediments of the marginal zone of the dnieper glaciation the overlying loess soil sequence of the last two glacial interglacial cycles underwent detailed analyses this section is composed of multiple soil levels whose participation in the entire thickness of the layer dominates over primary loess the studies have confirmed that they are lower stratigraphic rank soils of the vytachiv vt unit mis 3 and two complex higher rank units pryluky pl mis 5 and kaydaky kd mis 7 for the distinguished litho and pedostratigraphic units paleoenvironmental characteristics were developed the stratigraphic rank of these units was confirmed by dating the results of the tl and osl dating of the samples show good agreement between the laboratories particularly in relation to the last cycle however the osl dates for the penultimate cycle are significantly underestimated in relation to the tl dates which in turn relate well to the global time framework the reasons of the osl dates underestimation might be connected with the post sedimentation pedogenic changes

orbital forcing and role of the latitudinal insolation temperature gradient orbital forcing of the climate system is clearly shown in the earths record of glacial interglacial cycles but the mechanism underlying this forcing is poorly understood traditional milankovitch theory suggests that these cycles are driven by changes in high latitude summer insolation yet this forcing is dominated by precession and cannot account for the importance of obliquity in the ice age record here we investigate an alternative forcing based on the latitudinal insolation gradient lig which is dominated by both obliquity in summer and precession in winter the insolation gradient acts on the climate system through differential solar heating which creates the earths latitudinal temperature gradient ltg that drives the atmospheric and ocean circulation a new pollen based reconstruction of the ltg during the holocene is used to demonstrate that the ltg may be much more sensitive to changes in the lig than previously thought from this it is shown how lig forcing of the ltg may help explain the propagation of orbital signatures throughout the climate system including the monsoon arctic oscillation and ocean circulation these relationships are validated over the last eemian interglacial which occurred under a different orbital configuration to the holocene we conclude that lig forcing of the ltg explains many criticisms of classic milankovitch theory while being poorly represented in climate models

late weichselian valdaian and holocene vegetation and environmental history of the northern timan ridge european arctic russia abstract lake and peat deposits from the timan ridge arctic russia were pollen analysed reconstructing the vegetation history and paleoenvironment since the last glacial maximum lgm 20 18 000 years ago the sites studied are located inside the margins of a large paleolake of about 20 km 2 by us named lake timan this lake developed in the late weichselian more than 30 000 years after the deglaciation of this region and was formed due to increased precipitation and warmer summers that accelerated the melting of stagnant ice within its catchment the lake was drained during the early holocene when the outlet rivers eroded the spillways a new generation of much smaller lakes formed during the holocene when the last remnants of buried glacier ice melted away causing the exposed floor of lake timan to subside since deglaciation the following regional vegetation development has been recorded 1 during the initial stage of lake timan the dominant vegetation was discontinuous steppe tundra with patches of snow bed vegetation 2 a dwarf shrub tundra established during the late weichselian interstadial allerod probably reflecting warmer and moister conditions 3 the younger dryas cooling is recognised by a reversal to steppe tundra and snowbeds on unstable mineral soils and higher palynological richness 4 soon after the transition into the holocene a birch forest established on the timan ridge 5 a cooling starting around 8200 cal years bp initiated the deforestation of the exposed hills in the most protected sites birch trees persisted until later than 4000 years ago reflecting a gradual development into the present treeless dwarf shrub tundra

rodent palaeofaunas from biśnik cave krakow czestochowa upland poland palaeoecological palaeoclimatic and biostratigraphic reconstruction abstract a unique record of faunal changes from the late middle pleistocene until the end of the late pleistocene was provided by rodent assemblages from bi nik cave in poland the 17 rodent assemblages of different qualitative and quantitative composition included a total of 25 species of various ecological requirements and associated with five types of climate represented by over 8500 individuals for biostratigraphic analysis the following indices were used the ratio of enamel thickness on anterior and posterior edges of tooth loops in the genus arvicola sdq and morphological teeth changeability of microtus oeconomus and dicrostonyx all three biostratigraphic methods are consistent and made it possible to determine the stratigraphic position of the rodent assemblages the layers from 19 to 14 were deposited in middle pleistocene and the layers from 13 to 1 were deposited in the late pleistocene the layers 14 and 13 constitute the border between the middle and late pleistocene climatic and environmental conditions temperature and humidity duration of vegetation season during the deposition were reconstructed based on the assemblages representing the late middle pleistocene layers 19 14 mis 7 6 the eemian interglacial layers 14 13 mis 5e and the vistulian weichselian glaciation layers 12 1 mis 5d 2 the analysis of bioclimatic indices made it possible to determine the most probable climate during the deposition of the respective assemblages the environmental preferences allowed reconstruction of the prevailing biomes in the environments of bi nik cave the results of quantitative bioclimatic analysis indicate that the deposition of same of the assemblages may be associated with cold temperature climate the values of 11 climatic indices show the oscillations of two types of climate temperate and boreal with oceanic and continental influence reconstruction values of 11 climatic parameters shows an interesting pattern of relative stability in almost all the climatic parameters only drought length shows a remarkable change across middle and late pleistocene sediment sequences from bi nik cave

high resolution climate records from the north atlantic during the last interglacial the two deep ice cores recovered by the grip1 and gisp22 projects at summit greenland agree in detail over the past 100 000 years3 and demonstrate dramatic climate variability in the north atlantic region during the last glacial before the current period of holocene stability this glacial climate instability has subsequently been documented in the marine sedimentary record of surface ocean conditions in the north atlantic4 before 100 kyr ago the two ice core records are discrepant however casting doubt on whether the oxygen isotope fluctuations during the last interglacial eemian seen in the grip core1 5 represent a true climate signal here we present high resolution records of foraminiferal assemblages and ice rafted detritus from two north atlantic cores for the interval 65 kyr to 135 kyr ago extending the surface ocean record back to the eemian the correlation between our records and the greenland ice core records is good throughout the period in which the two ice cores agree suggesting a regionally coherent climate response during the eemian our marine records show a more stable climate than that implied by the grip ice core suggesting that localized phenomena may be responsible for the variability in the latter record during the eemian

the last climatic cycles in western europe a comparison between long continuous lacustrine sequences from france and other terrestrial records abstract during the last two decades numerous studies applied to various continental deposits have highly improved the knowledge of environmental changes in western europe during the last climatic cycles here we review a set of available data and try to correlate and compare the three long lacustrine sequences from france la grande pile les echets and le velay with other west european discontinuous limnic deposits fluvial systems and l ss accumulations limnic sequences provide the best records of the last interglacial and early glacial ca 125 75 kyr allowing a clear picture of environmental changes during this interval nevertheless there are divergent interpretations on the timing and climate regime of the last interglacial during the last glacial in the north atlantic deep sea cores and greenland ice cores short term abrupt climatic fluctuations bond events dansgaard oeschger events which are poorly or partly reflected on the continent have been recognised the classical subdivision in a lower ca 75 55 kyr very cold middle ca 55 29 kyr cold and upper pleniglacial ca 29 15 kyr very cold is confirmed both by limnic and terrestrial sequences in the rhine valley north eastern france belgium and the netherlands subcontinuous l ss accumulation river systems and associated periglacial features provide quantitative climate reconstructions that are compared with those obtained from limnic sequences interstadial events may be correlated with the major warm oscillations of the grip core during the upper pleniglacial no clear vegetation changes are apparent from lacustrine pollen sequences whereas thick l ss accumulations have registered a succession of climatic changes the timing of the lateglacial warming is now well documented from rare annually laminated lake sediments

an analysis of eemian climate in western and central europe on the basis of 31 pollen diagrams and additional data for botanical macrofossils an analysis is made of the last interglacial eemian climatic history in western and central europe the main tool for this analysis is the climatic indicator species method only selected woody species are used for the quantification of data partial climatic range diagrams are presented for abies alba acer monspessulanum acer tataricum buxus sempervirens tilia tomentosa the problem of time correlation and pollen zonation of the eemian is discussed the climatic analysis itself is based on an improved version of the indicator species method in this version not every site is analysed for its climatic values instead maps and tables on the migrational history of hedera ilex buxus abies and species of acer tilia and abies are the basis for climatic maps showing respectively january and july isotherms for the periods of the corylus zone e4a and the carpinus zone e5 it is concluded that mean january temperatures were as much as 3 c higher at amsterdam the netherlands than at present and mean temperatures in july were 2 c higher however the thermal maximum in winter was later zone e5 than the summer thermal maximum zone e4a winter temperatures changed parallel to rise and fall of global sea level precipitation changes are more difficult to estimate in the first part of the eemian precipitation must have been relatively low but from zone e4b onward it increased to higher values reaching 800 mm and probably substantially more in zones e5 and e6 hence the eemian climate was in its beginning relatively more contintental and later from e4b onward more oceanic however as compared with the holocene the eemian climate was generally speaking more oceanic

multiproxy climate reconstructions for the eemian and early weichselian palaeobotanical coleopteran and periglacial data from 106 sites across northwestern europe have been analysed in order to reconstruct palaeoclimatic conditions during the eemian and early weichselian three time slices in the eemian and four in the early weichselian have been considered in the pinus quercetum mixtum corylus phase of the eemian summer temperatures were probably at their highest and the botanic evidence suggests a southeast to northwest gradient for both the warmest and coldest month coleoptera indicate that the summers in southern england were several degrees warmer than those of present day the climate during thecarpinus picea phase was uniform and oceanic without obvious gradients in the final time slice of the eemian the pinus picea abies phase temperatures of the warmest month seem to drop slightly with some indication of a shift towards a more boreal and suboceanic climate the reconstruction of the palaeoclimate in the herning stadial and rederstall stadial is hampered by the limited number of sites but botanical evidence suggests a gradient in temperature of the coldest month from east to west coleoptera from the herning stadial in central england and eastern germany suggest similarly cold and continental climates during the brorup interstadial and the odderade interstadial the botanical evidence suggests that the minimum mean july temperatures rose to 15 16 c but during the coldest month these temperatures show a gradient between 13 c in the east and 5 c in the west 1998 john wiley sons ltd

comparison of oxygen isotope records from the gisp2 and grip greenland ice cores recent results1 2 from the greenland ice core project grip summit ice core suggest that the climate in greenland has been remarkably stable during the holocene but was extremely unstable for the time period represented by the rest of the core spanning the last two glaciations and the intervening eemian inter glacial here we present the complete oxygen isotope record for the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 core drilled 28 km west of the grip core we observe large rapid climate fluctuations throughout the last glacial period which closely match those reported for the grip core however in the bottom 10 of the cores spanning the eemian interglacial and the previous glacia tion there are significant differences between the two records it is possible that ice flow may have altered the chronological sequences of the stratigraphy for the bottom part of one or both of the cores considerable further work will be necessary to evaluate the likelihood of this and the extent to which it will still be possible to extract meaningful climate information from the lowest sections of the cores

last interglacial eemian hydrographic conditions in the southwestern baltic sea based on dinoflagellate cysts from ristinge klint denmark a dinoflagellate cyst record with strong mediterranean lusitanian affinities is described from marine deposits of eemian age last interglacial late pleistocene at ristinge klint denmark revealing new information about the hydrographic evolution of the southwestern baltic sea a revised correlation of the pollen record at ristinge klint with that of the annually laminated site at bispingen in northern germany provides temporal control approximately the first quarter of eemian time is represented a marine ingression into a lake took place during the quercus rise about 300years into the interglacial and is marked by low c 3 psu salinities at the base of the cyprina clay that increased progressively an abrupt and significant rise in the inflow of warm saline waters from the north sea occurred at about 750 years into the interglacial the corylus rise and at about 1900 years into the interglacial strongly stratified waters developed higher in the cyprina clay and continuing to its top at nearly 3000 years into the interglacial more open marine waters are indicated although fully marine conditions were not reached the dinoflagellate record throughout the cyprina clay at ristinge klint is therefore one of increasing marine influence summer sea surface temperatures approached and may have exceeded 26 28 c during early eemian time indicating temperatures at least 5 c warmer than at present these warm conditions persisted to the top of the record at ristinge klint no evidence exists at ristinge klint for the influence of arctic watermasses and the paucity of cold water species throughout the section reflects mild winter temperatures in the southwestern baltic sea the new species spiniferites ristingensis is formally described and the name operculodinium centrocarpum var cezare de vernal goyette rodrigues 1989 is validated

late pleistocene evolution of the rhine meuse system in the southern north sea basin imprints of climate change sea level oscillation and glacio isostacy high resolution continuous core material geophysical measurements and hundreds of archived core descriptions enabled to identify 13 late pleistocene rhine meuse sedimentary units in the infill of the southern part of the north sea basin the netherlands northwestern europe this sediment record and a large set of optical stimulated luminescence dates 14c dates and biostratigraphical data allowed to establish detailed relationships between climate change sea level oscillation glaciation history and the sedimentary development of the rhine fluvial system during the last glacial cycle marine isotope stages 5e 2 eemian weichselian a well preserved eemian sediment record was encountered as the infill of a late saalian mis6 subglacial basin part of this record reflects groundwater rise controlled fine grained sedimentation as a result of postglacial early eemian sea level rise it shows strong analogy to developments known from the holocene rhine meuse delta outside of the glacial depressions near coastal deposits are only fragmentarily preserved the early glacial rhine sediment record is dominated by organic debris and peat layers marking landscape stability and low fluvial activity part of this record may have been formed under near coastal conditions significant amounts of reworked marine biomarkers in the lag deposits of early pleniglacial mis4 fluvial systems indicate that this period is characterized by extensive reworking of older mis5 near coastal sediments despite the marked early pleniglacial climatic cooling input of new sediment from the drainage basin was relatively low a feature that is related to the presence of regolith protective relic soil complexes in the basin during the early middle pleniglacial a major rhine avulsion indicates the system was in an aggrading mode and that sediment supply into the lower reaches of the rhine had strongly increased this increase in sediment supply coincided with the timing of major climate cooling that occurred from 50 to 45 ka onwards the increase in sediment supply is related to final breakup of the soil complexes in the drainage basin after 24 ka a strong input of coarse grained gravelly sediments was observed which indicates a strong increase in physical weathering processes and periglacial controlled supply of bedload sediment in the catchment a time delay between climate change 30 ka and channel belt aggradation 24 ka is explained as a result of transport path length between source and sink and or effects of higher continental runoff rates after 22 ka the late middle pleniglacial late pleniglacial and lateglacial rhine meuse record testifies for strong influence of glacio isostatic controlled differential upwarping of the study area glacio isostatic controlled forebulge upwarping and lateral valley tilting is shown to have deflected rhine meuse channel belts after 35 ka glacio isostatic upwarping is seen as the main cause for strong incision during the first phase of the late pleniglacial 30 24 ka at later stage glacio isostatic controlled incision was overruled due to high climate controlled sediment input from the catchment and probably initial glacio isostatic subsidence migration of channel belts towards the direction of the former centre of glacio isostatic uplift indicates that glacio isostacy influenced rhine meuse paleogeography until far into the lateglacial 2007 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

eemian and holocene sea surface conditions in the southern black sea organic walled dinoflagellate cyst record from core 22 gc3 in order to compare the sea surface conditions in the black sea during the holocene and eemian sapropelic parts of marine core 22 gc3 42 13 53 n 36 29 55 e 838 m water depth were studied for organic walled dinoflagellate cyst content the record shows a change from freshwater brackish assemblages pyxidinopsis psilata spiniferites cruciformis and caspidinium rugosum to more marine assemblages lingulodinium machaerophorum and spiniferites ramosus complex during each interglacial due to the inflow of saline mediterranean water the lacustrine marine transitions in 22 gc3 occurred at 8 3 cal kyr bp during the early holocene and 128 kyr bp during the early eemian slightly later compared to the onset of interglacial conditions on the adjacent land dinoflagellate cyst assemblages reveal higher sea surface salinity 28 30 e g spiniferites pachydermus bitectatodinium tepikiense and spiniferites mirabilis around 126 5 121 kyr bp in comparison to the holocene 15 20 as well as relatively high sea surface temperature e g tuberculodinium vancampoae s pachydermus and s mirabilis especially at 127 6 125 3 kyr bp establishment of high sea surface salinity during the eemian correlates very well with reconstructed relatively high global sea level and is explained as a combined effect of increased mediterranean supply and high temperatures at the beginning of the last interglacial the observed changes in the dinocyst record highlight the importance of nutrients for the composition of the eemian and holocene dinocyst assemblages

palynology of organic beds below devensian glacigenic sediments at pen y bryn gwynedd north wales pollen diagrams from organic facies overlain by glacigenic sediments at pen y bryn north wales 53 7 n 4 16 w suggest that it is the first locality in the british isles to provide evidence for several devensian interstadials prior to devensian stadial glaciation s the evidence is not however unequivocal at least two main episodes of organic sedimentation are indicated separated by an interval of uncertain duration one eposide records a pinus picea betula forest a second possibly later event with tree pollen less than 10 of total land pollen tlp suggests a cool largely unforested environment a third episode with tree pollen up to 25 of tlp may be related to the latter or be of intermediate age whereas a fourth and later episode of organic accumulation may be of reworked material radiocarbon dating of organic deposits and of a wood macrofossil enclosed in basal till is inconclusive as is preliminary uranium series dating the principal biogenic episodes may correlate with oxygen isotope substages 5c and 5a but as the pollen records reflect facies floras the correlation remains tentative it is also possible that other temperate periods are recorded further resolution of the chronostratigraphy is required to help clarify the problematic correlation of interstadial and stadial events in northwest europe and to correlate more accurately the biogenic and glacigenic facies at pen y bryn with their pleistocene equivalents elsewhere

freshwater organic deposits and stratified sediments between early and late midlandian devensian till sheets at aghnadarragh county antrim northern ireland the following events have been identified from a complex sequence of midlandian devensian sediments recently exposed at aghnadarragh county antrim 1 a lower till interpreted as early midlandian was deposited by a major lowland ice sheet which moved south eastwards from central ulster across the lough neagh depression 2 deglacial conditions were followed by a periglacial phase characterised by ice wedge growth and sedimentation by gravelly debris flows the latter contain the oldest known remains of mammuthus primigenius in ireland 3 an early midlandian interstadial is represented by a woody detritus peat with evidence of betula pinuos and picea woodlands and a rich beetle fauna wood from this horizon has been shown to be beyond the range of radiocarbon dating 48 180 bp 4 interstadial conditions were succeeded by a cold non glacial phase dominated by in channel gravelly flows and deposition of organic muds which contain plant and insect fossils these horizons are older than 46 850 bp 5 an upper non drumlinised till was deposited during the late midlandian by a major lowland ice sheet which moved generally eastwards across the lough neagh lowlands from central ulster this glaciation probably reached its maximum at ca 20 24 ka 6 drumlin formation occurred in the lough neagh lowlands towards the end of the late midlandian the limiting moraines are dated to 17 ka the lower till at aghnadarragh is the first positive record of a major lowland ice sheet in ireland during the early part of the last cold stage the early midlandian interstadial peats have not been documented elsewhere in ireland and correlate broadly with the chelford interstadial complex of the english midlands related exposures elsewhere in ulster confirm that the middle part of the last cold stage was free of major lowland ice masses but deposits of this period are absent from aghnadarragh

the last interglacial glacial cycle mis 5 2 re examined based on long proxy records from central and northern europe abstract current multi proxy studies on a long sediment sequence preserved at sokli n finland i e in the central area of fennoscandian glaciations are drastically changing classic ideas of glaciations vegetation and climate in northern europe during the late pleistocene the sediments in the sokli basin have escaped major glacial erosion due to non typical bedrock conditions in this review the sokli record is compared in great detail with other long proxy records from central temperate and northern boreal europe these comprise the classic records of la grande pile e france and oerel n germany and more recently obtained records from horoszki duze e poland and lake yamozero nw russia the focus of the review is on pollen lithology and macrofossil and insect based temperature inferences the long records are further compared with recent proxy data from nearby terrestrial sites as well as with the rapidly accumulating high resolution proxy data from the ocean realm the comparison allows a re examination of the environmental history and climate evolution of the last interglacial glacial li g cycle mis 5 2 it shows that environmental and climate conditions during mis 5 ca 130 70 ka bp were distinctly different from those during mis 4 2 ca 70 15 ka bp mis 5 is characterized by three long forested intervals broadly corresponding to mis 5e 5c 5a both in temperate and northern boreal europe these mild periods were interrupted by two short relatively cold and dry intervals mis 5d and 5b with mountain centered glaciation in fennoscandia millennial scale climate events were superimposed upon these longer lasting climate fluctuations the time interval encompassing mis 4 2 shows open vegetation it is characterized by two glacial maxima mis 4 and 2 with sub continental scale glaciation over northern europe and dry conditions in strongly continental eastern european settings high amplitude climate oscillations of millennial duration characterized the climate variability of mis 3 mild climate conditions in early mis 3 caused large scale deglaciation of the fennoscandian ice sheet and ice free conditions with betula dominated vegetation including tree birch persisted over large parts of fennoscandia possibly interrupted by glaciation during major part of mis 3 till ca 35 ka bp overall mis 5 was mostly mild with warmest or peak interglacial conditions at the very start during mis 5e mis 4 2 was mostly cold with most extreme or peak glacial conditions in the closing phase during mis 2 this points to a subdivision of the last climate cycle into an early overall mild interglacial half and a late overall cold glacial half each with duration of ca 50 ka this review also shows that the climate variability in central and northern europe during the li g cycle was mostly in degrees of continentality with major shifts in winter temperature and precipitation values summer temperatures on the other hand remained largely unchanged it points to the waxing and waning of sea ice over the north atlantic ocean as a possible characteristic feature of the late pleistocene the present compilation based on long terrestrial sequences high resolution multi proxy data from the oceans and quantified paleo climate data strongly favors a definition of entire marine oxygen isotope stage 5 as the last interglacial similar as in the original marine stratigraphy and the stratigraphy at la grande pile in france the proxy based climate data places the start of the last glacial at the base of mis 4 and the northwest european pleniglacial it shows that the division between the eemian mis 5e and the early weichselian mis 5d a is not useful as not relevant from a climate point of view

summer temperatures and lake development during the mis 5a interstadial new data from the unterangerberg palaeolake in the eastern alps austria abstract investigations of interstadials during early stages of glacial periods are of special interest because they featured large scale transformations of the climate system and the build up of land based ice sheets lacustrine sediment sequences are considered to be important natural archives that register past climate and environmental signals here we present new multi proxy data obtained from a palaeolake succession preserved in the inner alpine terrace of unterangerberg eastern alps these sediments formed during the second early wurmian interstadial equivalent to marine isotope stage mis 5a and were used to reconstruct changes in lake conditions and to infer past air temperatures the sediment geochemical data and subfossil aquatic biota provide evidence of a cyclic lake fen lake development during this interstadial the proxy records reveal stable lacustrine conditions with dense charophyte meadows and abundant aquatic fauna during the early part of the interstadial a progressive shallowing of the lake resulting in the spreading out of fen vegetation in the middle part and a transition from wetland to a renewed shallow lake stage towards the end of the interstadial chironomids were used to reconstruct mean july air temperatures employing a combined norwegian swiss chironomid temperature inference model the reconstruction indicates a temperature close to present day values of ca 18 c in the middle part of the record while temperatures of ca 13 14 c are recorded for the lower and upper parts the proxy data from this palaeolake provide evidence of heat and drought in the middle part of mis 5a supported by the chironomid based temperature reconstruction our reconstruction shows a climate pattern broadly similar to that found in pollen based estimates of mean july air temperatures from sites in the northern alpine foreland and compares well to other european palaeoclimatic reconstructions of mis 5a climate

oxygen isotope analysis of equus teeth evidences early eemian and early weichselian palaeotemperatures at the middle palaeolithic site of neumark nord 2 saxony anhalt germany abstract here we present phosphate oxygen isotope 18opo4 data from horse equus sp tooth enamel bioapatite from early eemian and early weichselian find levels at the archaeological site of neumark nord 2 germany based on the relationship between 18opo4 of bioapatite body water local precipitation and air temperature these data are used to reconstruct palaeoclimatic conditions contemporary to the different phases of neanderthal activity at the site bulk enamel samples representing one year of growth were taken from horse teeth from early eemian nn2 2b 121 5 ka and nn2 1c and early weichselian nn2 0 93 7 ka find levels and 18opo4 values were then utilised to calculate 18o of local environmental water and mean annual air temperatures mats during these phases of mis5 results indicate that during the early eemian mat was 9 c with some evidence of variability through time although 3 c lower the calculated early weichselian mat exceeds that indicated by other local and regional climate proxy datasets suggesting that neanderthal activity may have coincided with more ameliorate phases of the early weichselian in this area

last interglacial arctic warmth confirms polar amplification of climate change the warmest millennia of at least the past 250 000 years occurred during the last interglaciation when global ice volumes were similar to or smaller than today and systematic variations in earth s orbital parameters aligned to produce a strong positive summer insolation anomaly throughout the northern hemisphere the average insolation during the key summer months m j j was ca 11 above present across the northern hemisphere between 130 000 and 127 000 years ago with a slightly greater anomaly 13 over the arctic greater summer insolation early penultimate deglaciation and intensification of the north atlantic drift combined to reduce arctic ocean sea ice allow expansion of boreal forest to the arctic ocean shore across vast regions reduce permafrost and melt almost all glaciers in the northern hemisphere insolation amplified by key boundary condition feedbacks collectively produced last interglacial summer temperature anomalies 4 5 c above present over most arctic lands significantly above the average northern hemisphere anomaly the last interglaciation demonstrates the strength of positive feedbacks on arctic warming and provides a potentially conservative analogue for anticipated future greenhouse warming

evolution of palaeolake environment in poland during the eemian interglacial based on oxygen and carbon isotope data from lacustrine carbonates abstract the results of oxygen and carbon stable isotope investigations of eight eemian lacustrine sediments from poland are presented the values of 18o changed from ca 11 to 1 and 13c values oscillated between 3 5 and 7 0 the isotopic record correlated well with pollen cladoceran and diatom data the evolution of the palaeolakes in poland was reconstructed the palaeolakes originated during the final phase of the wartanian late saalian glaciation the 18o and 13c values of that time reflect the input of detrital carbonates into the basins the boundary between the glaciation and the interglacial period is expressed by a significant decrease in 18o and 13c values during the early eemian a positive trend in 18o values confirms the gradual climatic changes the eemian optimum is characterized by constant 18o and 13c values during the early vistulian weichselian glaciation the palaeolake declined the varying 18o values likely reflect frequent changes in water balance between precipitation and evaporation associated with an influence of marine circulation the fluctuations of the isotopic curves in the upper parts of the successions the post optimum were caused by a shallowing of the basin by infilling with sediments the observed shifts in the isotopic curves are due to the proximity of the baltic sea and earlier strong oceanic influences

constraining modern day silicon cycling in lake baikal constraining the continental silicon cycle is a key requirement in attempts to understand both nutrient fluxes to the ocean and linkages between silicon and carbon cycling over different time scales silicon isotope data of dissolved silica 30sidsi are presented here from lake baikal and its catchment in central siberia as well as being the world s oldest and voluminous lake lake baikal lies within the seventh largest drainage basin in the world and exports significant amounts of freshwater into the arctic ocean data from river waters accounting for 92 of annual river inflow to the lake suggest no seasonal alteration or anthropogenic impact on river 30sidsi composition the absence of a change in 30sidsi within the selenga delta through which 62 of riverine flow passes suggests a net balance between biogenic uptake and dissolution in this system a key feature of this study is the use of 30sidsi to examine seasonal and spatial variations in dsi utilization and export across the lake using an open system model against deepwater 30sidsi values from the lake we estimate that 20 24 of dsi entering lake baikal is exported into the sediment record while highlighting the impact that lakes may have upon the sequestration of continental dsi mixed layer 30sidsi values from 2003 and 2013 show significant spatial variability in the magnitude of spring bloom nutrient utilization with lower rates in the north relative to south basin

early holocene climate variability and the timing and extent of the holocene thermal maximum htm in northern iceland the magnitude and timing of holocene maximum warmth in the arctic and sub arctic has been the subject of considerable recent interest particularly in the context of future climate change although lying at a crucial location in the north atlantic close to significant atmospheric and oceanic boundaries terrestrial holocene climatic data from iceland are few and predominantly derive from glacial and palaeoecological evidence here we present new datasets from trollaskagi based on chironomid inferred temperatures ci t using sub fossil chironomids from the same lake sediments supplemented by pollen data july air temperatures have been derived using an icelandic training set and the data suggest optimal temperatures at sea level up to 1 5 c above current levels around 8 k cal yr bp a time when birch woodland was well developed in trollaskagi but when woodland had still not fully developed in the more isolated nw peninsula our data thus suggest that optimal summer warmth did not occur in iceland until 8 kcal yr bp at the earliest possibly lasting until 6 7 kcal yr bp the amount of warming for july was therefore at least 1 5 c but possibly up to 2 3 c higher than the 1961 1990 average on the basis of the tree line data comparison with data from elsewhere in adjacent arctic regions greenland and eastern arctic canada show peak warmth to be later in iceland and less pronounced it also appears that there were enhanced temperature gradients during the first half of the holocene between the two study areas trollaskagi and the nw peninsula and that they influenced patterns of vegetation colonisation with current spatial temperature patterns only developing as holocene climate deteriorated after around 6 kcal yr bp

periodic lake peatland shifts under the eemian and early weichselian climate changes in central europe on the basis of multi proxy studies abstract long term palaeoecological sequences dated to the eemian interglacial and weichselian glaciation are crucial for understanding cyclic climate changes and ecosystem responses this article presents a multi proxy palaeobotanical zoological and geochemical study considering variable aspects of the eemian early weichselian lake mire succession in central poland the investigated sequence collected from a former small kettle hole revealed many ecosystem alterations i e warm stages led to the terrestrialisation of the lake whereas stadial coolings to its reappearance hence we examined whether i the eemian warming influenced the ecological succession of the lake ii lakes which reappeared during the herning and rederstall stadial coolings developed alike and iii the beginning of peatland functioning interglacial or interstadial had an impact on further plant succession the results show that thermal amelioration during the eemian interglacial supported domination of tetraedron minimum and pediastrum boryanum var boryanum which contributed to the sedimentation of bituminous shales the expansion of salvinia natans in the final stage of lake existence middle eemian was probably a result of the mild climate characterised by the lack of late spring frosts algae in contrast to cladocera revealed bipartition of the herning and rederstall stadials older sections were colder younger warmer however geochemical and isotopic data point to the very low productivity of the lakes during those stadials the lake that existed during the herning stadial revealed very low taxonomical diversity of cladocera whereas that during the rederstall was characterised by relatively high diversity of this group during the late eemian and brorup interstadial rich fens with some oligotrophic patches with sphagnum sp developed this study revealed that small water bodies due to their very local character and often uniqueness of palaeo records may be a very valuable source of information about climate and palaeoecology of different groups of organisms during the eemian interglacial and the weichselian glaciation

the terrestrial eemian to late weichselian sediment record at beckentin ne germany first results from lithostratigraphic palynological and geochronological analyses abstract over recent decades a growing number of well documented records from terrestrial last interglacial sites across central europe have substantially improved our understanding of eemian climate and landscape dynamics despite this progress there are also large areas from which little information is available thus constituting significant paleo geographic gaps in the last interglacial record among the regions with still inadequate paleo environmental information is the maritime influenced area of ne germany at the southern margin of the eemian baltic sea here we present first results from a geological investigation of a new last interglacial site recently discovered during archaeological excavations near beckentin sw mecklenburg the study area is located approximately 25 km to the south of the maximum mis 2 ice limit of the scandinavian ice sheet in ne germany and thus lies outside the weichselian belt of glaciation based on lithostratigraphic and sedimentological logging complemented by geochemical xrf and palynological investigations we divide the local succession into three sections 1 a basal facies comprising saalian till and associated glaciofluvial sand overlain by section 2 consisting of a fen peat which grades into laminated organic to minerogenic mud the organic deposits of section 2 preserve a near complete eemian pollen inventory encompassing pollen zones pz i to vi menke and tynni 1984 above this rest poorly sorted periglacial sands section 3 with ventifacts and evidence for cryogenic deformation geochronological results from 230th u dating of the buried organic rich deposits at beckentin show that these units accumulated in a former dead ice depression between 118 7 6 ka and 114 6 5 ka during the eemian interglacial high resolution optically stimulated luminescence osl profiling undertaken with a portable luminescence reader reveals a significant hiatus between the lacustrine fines and overlying periglacial cover sand five osl ages obtained from these cover sediments and the sand filling of an ice wedge cast show that these strata formed between during the last glacial interglacial transition

sensitivity of weichselian fluvial systems to climate change nochten mine eastern germany abstract this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of fluvial system response to climate change during the last glacial interglacial cycle fluvial and aeolian successions have been studied in the opencast brown coal mine nochten in eastern germany an absolute chronology was established by luminescence and 14 c dating enabling to demonstrate the relations between depositional units and changes in sedimentary environment over time with regional climatic and vegetational changes it is concluded that the major climatic periods coinciding with the oxygen isotope stages are generally reflected in the fluvial sequence by distinct fluvial environments major climatic changes oxygen isotope stage boundaries have been preserved in the fluvial record as erosional bounding surfaces and by changes in fluvial style rapid climate changes like the middle pleniglacial dansgaard oeschger cycles are in general not reflected in the fluvial succession these cycles were too short or with too low amplitude to cause a strong vegetational response and related changes in water and sediment supply it is emphasized that also the preservation potential of short lived climatic warming events in high energy fluvial systems is low warming events may however have been preserved in lacustrine successions in former thermokarst lakes a strong cooling event at ca 40 ka leading to continuous permafrost conditions and changes in the water and sediment budget was reflected in the fluvial archive by a change from sandy anabranching to braided river conditions

pollen based palaeoclimate reconstructions over long glacial interglacial timescales methodological tests based on the holocene and mis 5d c deposits at sokli northern finland palaeoclimatic reconstructions over long glacial interglacial timescales present major methodological challenges as calibration methods based on modern climate and vegetation patterns may yield biased reconstructions from non analogue palaeoclimates such as severely continental glacial periods in this work we present pollen based summer temperature reconstructions based on holocene and early weichselian marine isotope stages mis 5d c deposits at sokli northern finland we attempt to improve the robustness of reconstructions of continental palaeoclimates by using two calibration sets with one located in the region surrounding the fossil site and another in a more continental region in northwestern russia we assess the reliability of the reconstructions by estimating the compositional fit between fossil and calibration samples and by comparison with independent plant macrofossil based reconstructions we find the fossil samples to fit the extra regional high continentality calibration set better during the early holocene and mis 5d c especially in mis 5d c however even the high continentality calibration set fits the fossil samples poorly compared to the fit achieved in the mid and late holocene thus our results highlight the problem of finding applicable calibration data for pre holocene periods we finally discuss the relative strengths and vulnerabilities of different calibration methods in reconstruction of non analogue palaeoclimates copyright 2013 john wiley sons ltd

reconstruction of quaternary temperature fields by dynamically consistent smoothing conventional methods of palaeoclimate reconstruction provide estimates of climatic parameters using proxy data which have originated from individual sites these reconstructions yield information on the local environment but only limited information on spatial scales that are required for model data intercomparisons we present here a new approach that connects these different scales by an upscaling of the local palaeoinformation together with a dynamically consistent spatial smoothing a probabilistic data based method for local reconstructions is combined with a dynamic constraint on the reconstructed climate parameter which stabilises the reconstruction on the target scale the variational analysis leads to climatological fields being optimised with respect to the proxy data and to the prescribed dynamics in a statistically consistent way this method allows a probabilistic approach of quality control of the palaeodata in terms of their spatial consistency and homogeneity and for an estimation of reconstruction errors the method was applied to palaeobotanical data to reconstruct near surface temperature fields constrained by simple linear dynamics an approximate approach was used to estimate the magnitude of reconstruction errors in terms of standard deviations reconstructed january and july mean temperature of the early eemian 125 000 years bp have errors with a median value of about 1 8 c in january and about 1 1 c in july reconstructions across europe show positive temperature anomalies for scandinavia and near the east coast of the baltic sea in contrast early eemian temperatures were apparently quite similar to those found today in central europe as no drastic differences were reconstructed between the eemian and modern 1961 1990 climate this implies somewhat stronger temperature gradients in the eemian than are observed today

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

increased seasonality in middle east temperatures during the last interglacial period the last interglacial period about 125 000 years ago is thought to have been at least as warm as the present climate owing to changes in the earth s orbit around the sun it is thought that insolation in the northern hemisphere varied more strongly than today on seasonal timescales which would have led to corresponding changes in the seasonal temperature cycle here we present seasonally resolved proxy records using corals from the northernmost red sea which record climate during the last interglacial period the late holocene epoch and the present we find an increased seasonality in the temperature recorded in the last interglacial coral today climate in the northern red sea is sensitive to the north atlantic oscillation a climate oscillation that strongly influences winter temperatures and precipitation in the north atlantic region from our coral records and simulations with a coupled atmosphere ocean circulation model we conclude that a tendency towards the high index state of the north atlantic oscillation during the last interglacial period which is consistent with european proxy records contributed to the larger amplitude of the seasonal cycle in the middle east

vegetation and environmental changes in tropical south america from the last glacial to the holocene documented by multiple cave sediment proxies abstract 18 o values in speleothems have been utilized to document past changes in south american monsoon intensity however changes in regional vegetation and ecosystems have not been part of this discussion and other cave proxies such as speleothem 13 c values a useful proxy for vegetation reconstruction have been neglected due to interpretive complexities here we report 13 c values and 87sr 86sr ratios in stalagmites together with xrf derived elemental chemistry 13 corg values and carbon content from a sedimentary profile from the same cave where the stalagmites were collected in combination with a previously published 18 o record this enables us to clarify climate and environmental shifts that occurred between the last glacial maximum and the holocene in central south america we show that vegetation was sparse during the last glacial period in spite of a previously inferred strong monsoon and that changes in atmospheric pco2 combined with local hydrological and temperature feedbacks may have determined vegetation development during this time

cyclic climate fluctuations during the last interglacial in central europe differentiating natural climate change from anthropogenic forcing is a major challenge in the prediction of future climates in this context the investigation of interglacials provides valuable information on natural climate variability during periods that resemble the present this paper shows that natural cyclic changes in winter climates affected central european environments during the last interglacial i e the eemian 126 110 ka as a result of the extraordinarily high counting sums performed at eemian pollen samples it was possible to reveal a robust presence absence pattern of the insect pollinated and therefore in the pollen rain underrepresented taxon hedera this plant is known to require the influence of oceanic winter climates i e moist and mild in northwest and central europe by analogy with recent findings from the north atlantic s holocene interglacial the trigger of the eemian climate variability may have been changes in solar activity possibly amplified by changes in north atlantic ocean currents and or in the north atlantic oscillation our findings suggest natural cyclic changes to be a persistent feature of interglacial climates

eemian and vistulian weichselian development of the meltout depression on the watershed between the mroga and mrozyca rivers central poland based on lithological and pollen analysis the lithological and palaeobotanical research conducted in a closed drainage depression located in the watershed zone between the mroga and mrozyca rivers central poland allowed for the reconstruction of its palaeogeography in the period subsequent to the retreat of the last ice sheet wartanian stage of the odranian glaciation the purpose of this article is to gather and synthesise the obtained results as well as to reconstruct the processes of development and filling in the studied depression over the last 135 000 years the post glacial evolution of the relief was recorded in the mineral and biogenic sediments deposited on glacial formations the modern closed drainage depression is a trace of a fossil extensive glacial meltout depression the post glacial development of the land relief within the depression involved three stages dominated by different types of morphogenesis i e the deglaciation stage during the wartanian stage of the odranian glaciation the eemian interglacial early vistulian aggradation stage and the vistulian aggradation denudation stage high thickness of the identified biogenic sediments suggests considerable transformations of the relief of the watershed during the two cycles of temperate climate the eemian interglacial and the holocene the thickness of the mineral sediments suggest low dynamics of the environment during the last glacial maximum lgm and undermine the hypotheses on the determining effect of periglacial conditions on the character of the relief of central poland the obtained results constitute an inspiration and starting point for another research project concerning the reconstruction of the watersheds in central poland

evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250 kyr ice core record recent results1 2 from two ice cores drilled in central greenland have revealed large abrupt climate changes of at least regional extent during the late stages of the last glaciation suggesting that climate in the north atlantic region is able to reorganize itself rapidly perhaps even within a few decades here we present a detailed stable isotope record for the full length of the greenland ice core project summit ice core extending over the past 250 kyr according to a calculated timescale we find that climate instability was not confined to the last glaciation but appears also to have been marked during the last interglacial as explored more fully in a companion paper3 and during the previous saale holstein glacial cycle this is in contrast with the extreme stability of the holocene suggesting that recent climate stability may be the exception rather than the rule the last interglacial seems to have lasted longer than is implied by the deep sea specmap record4 in agreement with other land based observations5 6 we suggest that climate instability in the early part of the last interglacial may have delayed the melting of the saalean ice sheets in america and eurasia perhaps accounting for this discrepancy

eemian climate fluctuations observed in a european pollen record recent ice core data from greenland1 2 suggest that the climate during the last interglacial period the eemian was more unstable than that of the holocene about 10 000 years ago to the present being characterized in particular by a series of cold episodes each lasting about 70 to 750 years subsequent analysis of a second greenland ice core3 4 however failed to corroborate the details of these eemian climate fluctuations a result that may be attributable to the effects of ice flow4 to resolve this discrepancy it is imperative to seek alternative sources of information about the eemian climate here we present climate reconstructions from pollen data from the annually laminated eemian lake sediment record at bispingen5 and from the eemian and holocene peat records at la grande pile6 the former record indicates that an initially warm period of 2 900 yr was followed by cooling and a series of colder episodes one of which had winter temperatures comparable to those at the end of the preceding cold stage the latter records show greater climate instability during the eemian than the holocene these results are in broad agreement with those from the grip ice core but contrast both with the gisp2 core3 4 and with recent high resolution marine records from the north atlantic7 8

fluvial response to weichselian climate changes in the niederlausitz germany the last glacial shows large variations in climate which are reflected in the fluvial record in the niederlausitz eastern germany the entire sequence resembles the fluvial development in other river basins in northwestern europe which show contemporaneous changes in depositional style at the onset of a climatic change during the middle and the late pleniglacial permafrost conditions resulted in an episodic river discharge the presence or absence of vegetation in combination with such ephemeral stream conditions determined the type of river during each period a relatively well developed vegetation cover on the flood plains during the middle pleniglacial resulted in a low sediment yield in combination with the intermittent discharge this caused the development of an ephemeral anastomosing river system a river with stable channels and extensive sandy overbank areas the decline in vegetation cover at ca 28 ka bp caused an increase in sediment yield and peak discharges which resulted in the development of a sandy braided river in adjustment to these new conditions following the coldest period at around 20 ka precipitation was so low that fluvial activity was limited and aeolian deposition took place in the valley 1997 by john wiley sons ltd

large shifts in vegetation and climate during the early weichselian mis 5d c inferred from multi proxy evidence at sokli northern finland abstract for decades detailed studies on early weichselian deposits have been made in central europe in contrast these studies are rare in fennoscandia in northern europe we here integrate an extensive multi proxy data set obtained on sediments of mis 5d c age that form part of a long sediment record preserved at sokli in northern finland we make a detailed interpretation of the vegetation and depositional history for mis 5d c using pollen macrofossils diatoms and other siliceous microfossils insect remains and sediment characteristics and combine these data with recently published estimates on july temperatures based on chironomids and selected plant indicator species in order to make inferences of paleo climate regimes the fossil record obtained on the seven meter thick mis 5d c deposit at sokli is exceptionally rich in species due to the large variety of habitats associated with an overall fluvial depositional environment a braided river system flanked by steppe tundra vegetation is inferred for mis 5d mean july temperatures of at least 12 14 c are indicated by chironomids and plant indicator species and are in agreement with the presence of conifers and birch trees as recorded by macrofossils the reconstructed environmental conditions suggest strong continental climate conditions at sokli during mis 5d the gradual infilling of an oxbow lake and subsequent return to stream channel deposition is traced in great detail in the overlying gyttja and gravelly sediment of mis 5c age the terrestrial pollen and plant macrofossil record from the gyttja shows the establishment of birch forest followed by the spread of pine and then spruce rich plant indicator species assemblages indicate that the boreal environment at sokli during mis 5c experienced july temperatures several degrees higher than the present day value of 13 c the high summer temperatures and presence of larch suggest more continental conditions more open vegetation returned at sokli during late mis 5c and was followed by glaciation by the fennoscandian ice sheet mis 5b despite the major differences in zonal vegetation types during mis 5d c differences in reconstructed july temperatures are minor and suggest that winter temperatures combined with precipitation values mostly determined the stadial interstadial climate variability the most compelling conclusion from our study is that forest development during mis 5c was remarkably similar to that recorded for the eemian mis 5e and holocene interglacials at the high latitude site sokli and also to that inferred from mis 5c sediments on the northern european mainland our results question the definition of mis 5c in the terrestrial record of europe as an interstadial interval of the last glacial cycle and suggest inclusion of mis 5c together with the eemian mis 5e in an interglacial complex

sedimentology palaeoecology and geochronology of marine isotope stage 5 deposits on the shetland islands scotland hall a m gordon j e whittington g duller geoff a t heijns h 2002 sedimentology palaeoecology and geochronology of marine isotope stage 5 deposits on the shetland islands scotland journal of quarternary science 17 1 51 67

characterising and dating weichselian organogenic sediments a case study from the lusatian ice marginal valley scheibe opencast mine eastern germany abstract dates determined with three absolute dating methods 14c luminescence and 230th u supported the findings of the paleobotanical investigations of the weichselian upper fluvial sequence of the scheibe opencast mine in the niederlausitz lower lusatia eastern germany they allowed to identify three units of organogenic sediments organogenic complexes oc developed as peaty and or humic silts samples from the uppermost oc i unit displayed 14c age ranges from 32 to 28 and 26 to 24 ka respectively for the latest phase an open landscape was identified although high arboreal values point to locally extended sparse forests the lithologically and paleobotanically heterogeneous oc ii unit 37 ka represents at least two periods during which organic matter accumulated in an open landscape the uppermost subunit represents an unforested interstadial of the middle pleniglacial the lowermost oc iii unit has an age of about 56 ka or higher according to the 230th u or tl dates respectively it represents a forested interstadial assigned to the early weichselian

quantitative reconstruction of climate variability during the eemian merkinė and weichselian nemunas in lithuania abstract little is known concerning climate changes in the eastern baltic region during the last interglacial glacial cycle and in particular climate changes during the weichselian in this study a quantitative reconstruction of the mean january and july temperature for the medininkai 117 site in lithuania is presented the reconstruction is based on pollen and plant macrofossils from this site which reveal that the vegetation was characteristic of many northern europe sites during the eemian and early weichselian gradual evolution of the vegetation suggests that relatively uniform climate conditions existed during the eemian our reconstructions support the view of a relatively stable eemian with short cooling phases of low amplitude a strong increase in temperature was apparent during the beginning of the interglacial and decrease during the transition to the weichselian reconstructed july temperatures of the eemian interglacial were approximately 2 c higher than today 18 5 c today 16 2 c and were similar to today for january 5 2 c today 5 1 c july temperatures during the early weichselian were only 2 c lower than during the eemian whereas the january temperatures gradually decreased winter temperatures were relatively high above 10 c during the early weichselian

direct land sea correlations in the last interglacial complex isotopic and pollen analyses of an eastern atlantic core permit the first direct correlation of substages 5e and 5c of the marine climatostratigraphical system with the eemian and st germain i respectively of the classical grande pile pollen sequence north east france the vegetational sequences during the warm intervals of the last interglacial complex 125 000 75 000 yr bp indicate that climatic deterioration occurred late on the mid european continent after the initiation of glaciation over continental masses in high latitudes

age dating and the orbital theory of the ice ages development of a high resolution 0 to 300 000 year chronostratigraphy using the concept of orbital tuning a continuous high resolution deep sea chronostratigraphy has been developed spanning the last 300 000 yr the chronology is developed using a stacked oxygen isotope stratigraphy and four different orbital tuning approaches each of which is based upon a different assumption concerning the response of the orbital signal recorded in the data each approach yields a separate chronology the error measured by the standard deviation about the average of these four results which represents the best chronology has an average magnitude of only 2500 yr this small value indicates that the chronology produced is insensitive to the specific orbital tuning technique used excellent convergence between chronologies developed using each of five different paleoclimatological indicators from a single core is also obtained the resultant chronology is also insensitive to the specific indicator used the error associated with each tuning approach is estimated independently and propagated through to the average result the resulting error estimate is independent of that associated with the degree of convergence and has an average magnitude of 3500 yr in excellent agreement with the 2500 yr estimate transfer of the final chronology to the stacked record leads to an estimated error of 1500 yr thus the final chronology has an average error of 5000 yr