Climatic changes in areas adjacent to the North Atlantic during the last glacial‐interglacial transition (14‐9 ka BP): A contribution to IGCP‐253

Abstract

This paper presents a summary of the evidence for climatic changes during the last glacial-interglacial transition (14-9 ka BP) in land areas adjacent to the North Atlantic. It is a synthesis of the results of the 12 regional summaries compiled by contributors to the North Atlantic Seaboard Programme of IGCP-253 that are published separately in this issue of journal of Quaternary Science. Eighteen palaeotemperature curves are compared and arranged in three transects, one from southern Europe to Spitsbergen, a second from Ireland to Poland, and the third from southern New England to the Labrador-Baffin Shelf area. Ten maps are presented that summarise the synoptic climatic conditions of the region in 500-year time periods. The purpose of the exercise is to examine the extent to which any emerging patterns support the Ruddiman and Mclntyre model of large-scale shifts in the position of the oceanic Polar Front during the last glacial-interglacial transition. Some broad agreement emerges, although the influence of oceanic changes is diminished in areas that lay in close proximity to the Laurentide and Fennoscandian ice sheets. Attention i s drawn to limitations in the compilations and to the potential for improved models in the future. Journal of Quaternary Science UNE

Palaeoenvironmental changes and vegetation history of the northern Upper Rhine Graben (southwestern Germany) since the Lateglacial

“…This Younger Dryas bipartition is also evidenced in many other European records (e.g. Vandenberghe & Bohncke, 1985;Lowe et al, 1994;Leroy et al, 2000;Isarin et al, 1998;Bos, 2001 large European rivers showed a higher fluvial dynamics and a shift to a braided river pattern, while during the drier second part aeolian activity was increased and dune formation occurred (Bohncke & Vandenberghe, 1991, Bohncke et al, 1993Vandenberghe, 1995). A more or less analogous development is thus suggested for the northern Upper Rhine Graben.…”

Environmental and climatic changes in the Jura mountains (eastern France) during the Lateglacial–Holocene transition: a multi-proxy record from Lake Lautrey

“…Since the Last Glacial-Interglacial transition was marked by rapid and pronounced climatic oscillations associated with successive climatic steps during general deglaciation (Lowe, 1994;Björck et al, 1996;Clark et al, 2001), many investigations have focused on this period. Stimulated by the high-resolution records obtained from the Greenland ice-cores (Johnsen et al, 1992), increasing efforts are now being undertaken to quantify Lateglacial climatic changes and to improve the temporal resolution and chronology of multi-proxy continental records.…”

La déglaciation de la région de Rimouski, Bas-Saint-Laurent (Québec) : indices d’une récurrence glaciaire dans la Mer de Goldthwait entre 12 400 et 12 000 BP

“…Que dire des crues glaciaires de 12 400-12 100 BP et de 11 800 BP notées dans plusieurs régions de l'axe laurentien ? Dans la mesure où elles impliquent simultanément un inlandsis (Laurentidien) et trois calottes glaciaires régionales (Appalaches, NouveauBrunswick, Anticosti), on se doit d'envisager une origine climatique (Mörner, 1970 ;Hillaire-Marcel et Occhietti, 1980), d'autant plus qu'elles coïncident avec des péjorations climatiques fermement établies tant en Europe (Lowe et al, 1994) que dans l'Atlantique Nord (Lehman et Keigwin, 1992). La période 12 400-12 000 BP, qui nous intéresse particulière-ment (récurrence de Neigette), correspond au refroidissement du Dryas ancien I (ODI) enregistré dans la microfaune fossile de la mer de Norvège (Karpuz et Jansen, 1992).…”