Direct terrestrial–marine correlation demonstrates surprisingly late onset of the last interglacial in central Europe

Abstract

An interdisciplinary study of a small sedimentary basin at Neumark Nord 2 (NN2), Germany, has yielded a high-resolution record of the palaeomagnetic Blake Event, which we are able to place at the early part of the last interglacial pollen sequence documented from the same section. We use this data to calculate the duration of this stratigraphically important event at 3400 ± 350 yr. More importantly, the Neumark Nord 2 data enables precise terrestrial–marine correlation for the Eemian stage in central Europe. This shows a remarkably large time lag of ca. 5000 yr between the MIS 5e ‘peak’ in the marine record and the start of the last interglacial in this region.

Fires at Neumark-Nord 2, Germany: An analysis of fire proxies from a Last Interglacial Middle Palaeolithic basin site

“…(Richter and Krbetschek 2014), which matches stratigraphic and palaeomagnetic observations (Sier et al 2011;Strahl et al 2011 . Analysis of the lithic assemblage shows that on-site knapping was carried out using hammerstones and flint nodules derived from local glacial deposits (Pop 2014;G.…”

“…2,3). From this profile samples were taken for environmental reconstructions and dating purposes (Sier et al 2011;Strahl et al 2011;Bakels 2014).…”

“…As the calcareous silt loams of the NN2 basin infill were deposited by overland flow and animal activity took place at the margin of the basin (Sier et al 2011;, we can expect that both caused fragmentation of the charcoal through mechanical (transport, bioturbation, sediment pressure; Scott and Damblon 2010) and chemical weathering (soil alkalinity; Braadbaart et al 2009). Rounding has not been observed on the charcoal particles, which can be a consequence of limited transport and/or in situ fragmentation, especially when charcoal has been produced by high temperatures (Scott 2010 and references therein).…”

Evidence for the Blake Event recorded at the Eemian archaeological site of Caours, France

“…The Blake Event has been directly linked to the Eemian pollen sequence which in turn has been correlated to the MIS record via the same event, positioning the Eemian sensu stricto and the Blake Event after the MIS 5e peak (Sier et al, submitted for publication;Sier et al, 2011). Placing the archaeological occupation layers of Caours within the Eemian sensu stricto is an important observation, indicating when Caours was occupied, but also that the occupation was well after the "window of opportunity" (as Ashton (2002) calls it) for range expansion into Great-Britain, i.e., before the Last Interglacial sea level maximum.…”

“…At the time of palaeomagnetic sampling for the present Caours study, the Blake Event was correlated with the early part of the Eemian (e.g. Sier et al, 2011). However, a recent study of an oriented undisturbed core, taken at the Rutten site, in the region of the Eemian type locality in the Netherlands, provides evidence that the Blake Event may have lasted throughout most of the Eemian in northwest Europe or Eemian sensu stricto (Sier et al, submitted for publication).…”