Climatic and environmental reconstructions based on fossil assemblages from middle devensian (Weichselian) deposits of the river Thames at south kensington, central London, UK

Coope, G. Russell; Gibbard, Philip L.; Hall, Allan; Preece, Richard C.; Robinson, J.; Sutcliffe, Antony J.

doi:10.1016/s0277-3791(97)00025-5

Cited by 58 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…7c, f, i, l), the oceans are nearly unaffected by the differences in GHG and dust forcings. Our MIS3-int climate may approach interstadial conditions fairly well, with a strong Atlantic THC (van Kreveld et al, 2000), relatively little sea-ice cover in the Nordic Seas (Rasmussen and Thomsen, 2004) and warm summer conditions over northern Europe (Coope, 1997;Helmens et al, 2007). However, the strong cooling in a stadial and the reduction in deep NADW formation (Dokken and Jansen, 1999) -and consequently a slowdown in the Atlantic THC -are not found in our MIS3-sta experiment.…”

Section: Comparison Of the Mis3-sta And Mis3-int Climatesmentioning

confidence: 52%

“…Vandenberghe (1992) did not find evidence for enhanced seasonality during MIS 3 in The Netherlands, with summer temperatures only a few degrees warmer than at LGM, while winter temperatures were much reduced, resulting in continuous permafrost. However, Coope (1997), and Engels et al (2007) point out that, during at least one MIS 3 interstadial, warm, close to present-day summer conditions prevailed over Central England (∼18 • C) and northeast Finland (∼13 • C). These warm summers in MIS 3 over mid-and high northern latitudes are consistent with our findings.…”

Section: Orbital Insolation Forcing Drives the Enhanced Seasonality Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How did Marine Isotope Stage 3 and Last Glacial Maximum climates differ? – Perspectives from equilibrium simulations

Meerbeeck¹,

Renssen²,

Roche³

2009

Clim. Past

147

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Abstract. Dansgaard-Oeschger events occurred frequently during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3), as opposed to the following MIS2 period, which included the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Transient climate model simulations suggest that these abrupt warming events in Greenland and the North Atlantic region are associated with a resumption of the Thermohaline Circulation (THC) from a weak state during stadials to a relatively strong state during interstadials. However, those models were run with LGM, rather than MIS3 boundary conditions. To quantify the influence of different boundary conditions on the climates of MIS3 and LGM, we perform two equilibrium climate simulations with the threedimensional earth system model LOVECLIM, one for stadial, the other for interstadial conditions. We compare them to the LGM state simulated with the same model. Both climate states are globally 2 • C warmer than LGM. A striking feature of our MIS3 simulations is the enhanced Northern Hemisphere seasonality, July surface air temperatures being 4 • C warmer than in LGM. Also, despite some modification in the location of North Atlantic deep water formation, deep water export to the South Atlantic remains unaffected. To study specifically the effect of orbital forcing, we perform two additional sensitivity experiments spun up from our stadial simulation. The insolation difference between MIS3 and LGM causes half of the 30-60 • N July temperature anomaly (+6 • C). In a third simulation additional freshwater forcing halts the Atlantic THC, yielding a much colder North Atlantic region (−7 • C). Comparing our simulation with proxy data, we find that the MIS3 climate with collapsed THC Correspondence to: C. J. Van Meerbeeck (cedric.van.meerbeeck@falw.vu.nl) mimics stadials over the North Atlantic better than both control experiments, which might crudely estimate interstadial climate. These results suggest that freshwater forcing is necessary to return climate from warm interstadials to cold stadials during MIS3. This changes our perspective, making the stadial climate a perturbed climate state rather than a typical, near-equilibrium MIS3 climate.

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Section: Comparison Of the Mis3-sta And Mis3-int Climatesmentioning

confidence: 52%

Section: Orbital Insolation Forcing Drives the Enhanced Seasonality Dmentioning

confidence: 99%

How did Marine Isotope Stage 3 and Last Glacial Maximum climates differ? – Perspectives from equilibrium simulations

Meerbeeck¹,

Renssen²,

Roche³

2009

Clim. Past

147

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The Sourlie £ora and fauna suggest that during formation of the organic layers mean July temperatures in general were 9^10 ‡C and there is no evidence for the presence of trees. However, the absence of trees during the Middle Weichselian has been shown to be an unreliable indicator of palaeoclimates and in many cases it seemed to con£ict with the temperature regime as deduced from periglacial features, pollen, macrofossils and beetles (e.g., Coope, 1975Coope, , 2000Coope et al, 1961Coope et al, , 1997West, 1977;Kolstrup, 1979Kolstrup, , 1982Kolstrup, , 1990Pennington, 1986;van Geel, 1996;Ran, 1990;Bos et al, 2001). Trees were absent from much of northwestern Europe even when the climate was both temperate and oceanic.…”

Section: Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

Flora, fauna and climate of Scotland during the Weichselian Middle Pleniglacial – palynological, macrofossil and coleopteran investigations

Bos

Dickson

Coope

et al. 2004

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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Thin lenses of organic-rich material, on the upper surface of a layer of glacio-fluvial deposits have been studied in an open cast coal-mine near Sourlie, western Scotland. Radiocarbon dates on antler fragments, plant debris and bulk organic matter from silt, showed that the sediments accumulated between ca. 33 500 and 29 000 14 C yr BP, during a period when this part of western Scotland was free of glaciers. The organic-rich sediments yielded a very rich flora and fauna and in total about 160 plant taxa and 61 coleopteran taxa were recorded together with other invertebrates. The Sourlie flora is one of the richest late Middle Weichselian floras yet studied within the British Isles. Leg bones of Coelodonta antiquitatis (woolly rhinoceros) and Rangifer tarandus (reindeer) were also found at the site. During this period, the landscape was treeless and the vegetation could be characterised as an intermediate between a low shrub tundra and sedge^grass^moss tundra. Both the flora and arthropod fauna suggest that during formation of the organic-rich layers at Sourlie, mean July temperatures were 9^10 ‡C. The flora suggests also that at the beginning of formation of these layers, minimum mean July temperatures increased from 7 to 9^10 ‡C, but later dropped again to 7^8 ‡C. A possible time correlation with one of the warmer periods of the Dansgaard^Oeschger cycles in the stable oxygen isotope record of the Greenland ice cores during this period is proposed. The arthropod fauna suggests that mean January temperatures were somewhere between 334 and 311 ‡C. Mean annual temperatures lay probably between 31 and 310 ‡C, which implies the possible presence of discontinuous or continuous permafrost in the area. During winter, a protective snow cover of varying thickness probably enabled perennial plants, especially shrubs, to survive. ß

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“…Prionocypris serrata is perhaps the most diagnostic species present, preferring shallow, calcareous, well-vegetated permanently flowing waters (e.g. Coope et al, 1997;Meisch, 2000;Murton et al, 2001). The presence of adult valves of this relatively large and robust species, along with fragments of other, less well-calcified taxa, suggests that (at least above 2.41 m) the deposits probably represent a shallow, vegetated stream environment.…”

Section: Environment Indicated By the Faunamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fabaeformiscandona levanderi, for example, has a British fossil record extending from the late Beestonian (West Runton Freshwater Bed, Norfolk; de Deckker, 1979) through to the Middle Devensian (Ismaili Centre, London; Coope et al, 1997), though there are no known Holocene or modern records from the UK (Meisch, 2000). Candona angulata and C. neglecta have similarly long Quaternary records (Griffiths, 1995).…”

Section: Biostratigraphic Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Middle and Late Pleistocene environmental history of the Marsworth area, south-central England

Murton

Bowen

Candy

et al. 2015

Proceedings of the Geologists' Association

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A B S T R A C TTo elucidate the Middle and Late Pleistocene environmental history of south-central England, we report the stratigraphy, sedimentology, palaeoecology and geochronology of some deposits near the foot of the Chiltern Hills scarp at Marsworth, Buckinghamshire. The Marsworth site is important because its sedimentary sequences contain a rich record of warm stages and cold stages, and it lies close to the Anglian glacial limit. Critical to its history are the origin and age of a brown pebbly silty clay (diamicton) previously interpreted as weathered till.The deposits described infill a river channel incised into chalk bedrock. They comprise clayey, silty and gravelly sediments, many containing locally derived chalk and some with molluscan, ostracod and vertebrate remains. Most of the deposits are readily attributed to periglacial and fluvial processes, and some are dated by optically stimulated luminescence to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6. Although our sedimentological data do not discriminate between a glacial or periglacial interpretation of the diamicton, amino-acid dating of three molluscan taxa from beneath it indicates that it is younger than MIS 9 and older than MIS 5e. This makes a glacial interpretation unlikely, and we interpret the diamicton as a periglacial slope deposit.The Pleistocene history reconstructed for Marsworth identifies four key elements: (1) Anglian glaciation during MIS 12 closely approached Marsworth, introducing far-travelled pebbles such as Rhaxella chert and possibly some fine sand minerals into the area. (2) Interglacial environments inferred from fluvial sediments during MIS 7 varied from fully interglacial conditions during sub-stages 7e and 7c, cool temperate conditions during sub-stage 7b or 7a, temperate conditions similar to those today in central England towards the end of the interglacial, and cool temperate conditions during sub-stage 7a. (3) Periglacial activity during MIS 6 involved thermal contraction cracking, permafrost development, fracturing of chalk bedrock, fluvial activity, slopewash, mass movement and deposition of loess and coversand. (4) Fully interglacial conditions during sub-stage 5e led to renewed fluvial activity, soil formation and acidic weathering.

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Climatic and environmental reconstructions based on fossil assemblages from middle devensian (Weichselian) deposits of the river Thames at south kensington, central London, UK

Cited by 58 publications

References 31 publications

How did Marine Isotope Stage 3 and Last Glacial Maximum climates differ? – Perspectives from equilibrium simulations

How did Marine Isotope Stage 3 and Last Glacial Maximum climates differ? – Perspectives from equilibrium simulations

Flora, fauna and climate of Scotland during the Weichselian Middle Pleniglacial – palynological, macrofossil and coleopteran investigations

Middle and Late Pleistocene environmental history of the Marsworth area, south-central England

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