Lateglacial and early Holocene climates of the Atlantic margins of Europe: Stable isotope, mollusc and pollen records from Orkney, Scotland

QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS

卷:122

Article

Whittington, Graeme¹  Edwards, Kevin J.^2,3  Zanchetta, Giovanni⁴  Keen, David H.⁵  Bunting, M. Jane⁶  Fallick, Anthony E.⁷  Bryant, Charlotte L.⁸ 

[1] Univ St Andrews, Sch Geog & Geosci, St Andrews KY16 9AL, Fife, Scotland

[2] Univ Aberdeen, Sch Geosci, Dept Geog & Environm, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, Scotland

[3] Univ Aberdeen, Sch Geosci, Dept Archaeol, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, Scotland

[4] Univ Pisa, Dept Earth Sci, I-56126 Pisa, Italy

[5] Univ Birmingham, Inst Archaeol & Antiqu, Birmingham B15 2TT, W Midlands, England

[6] Univ Hull, Dept Geog Environm & Earth Sci, Kingston Upon Hull HU6 7RX, N Humberside, England

[7] Scottish Univ Environm Res Ctr, E Kilbride G75 0QF, Lanark, Scotland

[8] NERC Radiocarbon Facil Environm, E Kilbride G75 0QF, Lanark, Scotland

关键词: Palaeoclimates;    Isotopes;    Palynology;    Molluscs;    Orkney;    Britain;    Ireland;    Europe;    North Atlantic;    Greenland;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.05.026

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The margins of mainland Europe, and especially those areas coming under the influence of North Atlantic weather systems, are ideally placed to record changing palaeoclimates. Cores from an infilled lake basin at Crudale Meadow in Mainland, Orkney, revealed basal deposits of calcareous mud ('marl') beneath sedge peat. Stable isotope, palynological and molluscan analyses allowed the establishment of palaeenvironmental changes through the Devensian Lateglacial and the early Holocene. The delta O-18(marl) record exhibited the existence of possibly four climatic oscillations in the Lateglacial (one of which, within event cf. GI-1c, is not often commented upon), as well as the Preboreal Oscillation and other Holocene perturbations. The cold episodes succeeding the Preboreal Oscillation were demarcated conservatively and one of these (event C5, similar to 11.0 ha) may have previously been unremarked, while the putative 9.3 and 8.2 ha events seem not to produce corresponding palynologically visible floristic changes. The events at Crudale Meadow are consistent with those recorded at other sites from Britain, Ireland and elsewhere, and can be correlated with isotopic changes shown by the Greenland ice cores. The multi-proxy approach enriches the environmental reconstructions from the site, although the synchronicity of the response of the various proxies is sometimes equivocal, depending upon the time period concerned, taphonomy, and the nature of the deposits. The site may contain the most northerly Lateglacial isotope record from northwest Europe, and it has yielded one of the best archives for the demonstration of abrupt early Holocene events within Britain. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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