| 1. |
- Van Meerbeeck, C. J., et al.
(författare)
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The nature of MIS 3 stadial-interstadial transitions in Europe : New insights from model-data comparisons
- 2011
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Ingår i: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 30:25-26, s. 3618-3637
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 15 abrupt warming transitions perturbed glacial climate in Greenland during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3, 60-27 ka BP). One hypothesis states that the 8-16 degrees C warming between Greenland Stadials (GS) and Interstadials (GI) was caused by enhanced heat transport to the North Atlantic region after a resumption of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) from a weak or shutdown stadial mode. This hypothesis also predicts warming over Europe, a prediction poorly constrained by data due to the paucity of well-dated quantitative temperature records. We therefore use a new evidence from biotic proxies and a climate model simulation to study the characteristics of a GS-GI transition in continental Europe and the link to enhanced AMOC strength. We compare reconstructed climatic and vegetation changes between a stadial and subsequent interstadial - correlated to GS15 and GI14 (similar to 55 ka BP) - with a simulated AMOC resumption using a three-dimensional earth system model setup with early-MIS 3 boundary conditions. Over western Europe (12 degrees W-15 degrees E), we simulate twice the annual precipitation, a 17 degrees C warmer coldest month, a 8 degrees C warmer warmest month, 1300 degrees C-day more growing degree days with baseline 5 degrees C (GDD5) and potential vegetation allowing tree cover after the transition. However, the combined effect of frequent killing frosts, <20 mm summer precipitation and too few GDD5 after the transition suggest a northern tree limit lying at similar to 50 degrees N during GI14. With these 3 climatic limiting factors we provide a possible explanation for the absence of forests north of 48 degrees N during MIS 3 interstadials with mild summers. Finally, apart from a large model bias in warmest month surface air temperatures, our simulation is in reasonable agreement with reconstructed climatic and vegetation changes in Europe, thus further supporting the hypothesis.
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| 2. |
- Engels, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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A comparison of three Eurasian chironomid-climate calibration datasets on a W-E continentality gradient and the implications for quantitative temperature reconstructions
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Paleolimnology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0921-2728 .- 1573-0417. ; 51:4, s. 529-547
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Multiple regional chironomid-climate calibration datasets are available to reconstruct quantitatively July air temperatures from fossil chironomid assemblages. We examined the relationship between July air temperature and the 40 most common chironomid taxa in three independent Eurasian calibration (training) sets. The estimated temperature optimum of each chironomid taxon is systematically lower (by similar to 1-2 A degrees C) in a Norwegian calibration set compared to Finnish and Russian calibration sets. This result might partly be explained by the fact that the Norwegian calibration set extends further at the cold end of the temperature gradient. A difference in continentality between the Russian sites and the European sites might also contribute to this pattern. The number of taxa that show a statistically significant unimodal response to temperature is higher in the Norwegian calibration set (34 out of 40 taxa) compared to the modern Finnish (11 of 37 taxa; 3 common taxa absent) and the Russian calibration set (20 of 40 taxa), probably due to the longer temperature gradient incorporated in the Norwegian calibration set. We applied all three calibration sets to fossil chironomid assemblages from the high-latitude study site of Sokli (northeast Finland), a site with a unique series of lacustrine deposits covering (amongst others) the Holocene, part of early MIS 3 (at similar to 53 ka) and MIS 5d-c (at similar to 110-95 ka) and with independent proxy-records for comparison. In the early Holocene and during MIS 5c, the chironomid-based temperature inferences from all three inference models had similar values. Temperature reconstructions based on the Norwegian calibration set are 2-4 A degrees C lower for the late Holocene, early MIS 3 and MIS 5d than the inferred temperatures based on the other calibration sets. Although the lakes included in the Finnish calibration set are located closest to the site of Sokli, evaluation tests and a comparison with independent proxy data suggests that the Norwegian calibration set provides the most suitable analogues for reconstruction purposes for most of the fossil assemblages. Our results imply that when choosing a calibration set for quantitative climate reconstructions on glacial timescales, regional proximity of the fossil site may not be a sufficient basis, and the length of the temperature gradient of the calibration dataset and factors such as the continentality gradient covered by the calibration set must also be considered.
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| 3. |
- Engels, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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Early Weichselian (MIS 5d and 5c) temperatures and environmental changes in northern Fennoscandia as recorded by chironomids and macroremains at Sokli, northeast Finland
- 2010
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Ingår i: Boreas. - : Wiley. - 0300-9483 .- 1502-3885. ; 39:4, s. 689-704
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A 25-m-long sediment record spanning the time from the Eemian to the Holocene was recovered from Sokli, northeast Finland. This study focuses on a 6-m-long sediment interval that is dated to the Early Weichselian period (MIS 5d and 5c) and consists of lacustrine and fluvial deposits. Using chironomid remains, botanical and zoological macroremains as well as sediment lithology, we were able to reconstruct past changes in the environment, including climate. The results indicate that the site was situated on a flood-plain during the latter stages of MIS 5d (Herning Stadial) and that summer temperatures might have been similar to 6 degrees C lower than at present. Although this value should be treated with caution, as numerical analysis shows that it has a very poor fit-to-temperature, this low reconstructed value concurs with several other reconstructions that are available from western Europe. During MIS 5c (Brorup interstadial), the depositional environment changed into a lake system, initially with stratification of the water and subsequently with complete mixing and a strong influence of streams. Both chironomid-based and macroremain-based temperature inferences indicate past July air temperatures that were significantly higher than at present. This result is in contrast to other (low-resolution) reconstructions from northern Fennoscandia that indicate past temperatures 6-7 degrees C lower than present using fossil coleopteran assemblages. However, several central European sites indicate that there was a phase during the Brorup interstadial that was characterized by high summer temperatures, and a comparison between the high-resolution reconstructions from western Europe and the results presented in this study suggests that the north south July air temperature gradient between the mid- and high-latitudes was much weaker during the Brorup interstadial than it is at present. High solar insolation values (particularly the obliquity) during the Brorup interstadial might explain the low summer temperature gradient over the European continent. A return to fluvial conditions occurred in the upper parts of the sediment sequence, and, after a brief interval of gyttja deposition under cooling conditions, the site became glaciated during MIS 5b.
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| 4. |
- Helmens, Karin F., et al.
(författare)
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Ice-free conditions in eastern Fennoscandia during early Marine Isotope Stage 3 : lacustrine records
- 2010
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Ingår i: Boreas. - : Wiley. - 0300-9483 .- 1502-3885. ; 39:2, s. 399-409
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The traditional notion that Fennoscandia was glaciated throughout Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 4-2, from c. 70 kyr BP to the deglaciation 15-10 kyr BP ago, has been challenged during the last decade. Recent studies have shown that climate and environmental settings during MIS 3 were more dynamic than previously assumed, and lacustrine sediment bodies indicate open-water conditions for several sites in eastern Fennoscandia. In this study, three sediment sequences from western, eastern and northeast Finland are compared in detail with respect to their chronology, vegetation reconstruction and climatic inferences. OSL-dating places the sediments in early MIS 3. Pollen evidence suggests the presence of isolated birch trees and open birch forest close to the retreating ice margin, in contrast to vegetation reconstructions from central Europe, which indicate tree-less vegetation. Furthermore, reconstructions of climate using transfer functions have yielded surprising results, indicating present-day summer temperatures in northeast Finland. The combined results suggest ice-free and warm conditions in major parts of eastern Fennoscandia in early MIS 3, possibly during Greenland Interstadial (GIS) 14 around 53 kyr BP ago.
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| 5. |
- Helmens, Karin F., et al.
(författare)
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Large shifts in vegetation and climate during the early weichselian (mis 5d c) inferred from multi proxy evidence at Sokli (Northern Finland)
- 2012
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Ingår i: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 41, s. 22-38
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)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 degrees 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 degrees 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.
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| 6. |
- Helmens, Karin F.
(författare)
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The Last Interglacial Glacial cycle (MIS 5-2) re-examined based on long proxy records from central and northern Europe
- 2014
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Ingår i: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 86, s. 115-143
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)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 Duke (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.
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| 7. |
- Hessler, Ines, et al.
(författare)
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Millennial-scale changes in vegetation records from tropical Africa and South America during the last glacial
- 2010
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Ingår i: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 29:21-22, s. 2882-2899
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To reconstruct the response of vegetation to abrupt climate changes during the last glacial we have compiled pollen records from the circum-Atlantic tropics between 23 degrees N and 23 degrees S from both marine and terrestrial sediment cores. Pollen data were grouped into mega-biomes to facilitate the comparison between the different records. Most tropical African records do not appear to register Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) variability, although there are vegetation changes during Heinrich Stadials (HS). There is a stronger signal of D-O and HS variability in the South American records. Records close to the modern northern and southern limits of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) show opposite trends in vegetation development during HS and D-O cycles. The pollen data from tropical South America corroborate the hypothesis of a southward shift in the migration pattern of the ITCZ and a reduction in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) during HS.
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| 8. |
- Salonen, J. Sakari, et al.
(författare)
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Pollen-based palaeoclimate reconstructions over long glacialinterglacial timescales : methodological tests based on the Holocene and MIS 5dc deposits at Sokli, northern Finland
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Quaternary Science. - : Wiley. - 0267-8179 .- 1099-1417. ; 28:3, s. 271-282
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Palaeoclimatic reconstructions over long glacialinterglacial 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) 5dc) 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 5dc. Especially in MIS 5dc, 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.
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| 9. |
- Shala, Shyhrete, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluating environmental drivers of Holocene changes in water chemistry and aquatic biota composition at Lake Loitsana, NE Finland
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Paleolimnology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0921-2728 .- 1573-0417. ; 52:4, s. 311-329
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study presents a detailed analysis of geochemical and biotic proxies in a lake sediment profile to assess the effects of local and regional environmental drivers on the Holocene development of Lake Loitsana, situated in the northern boreal forest of NE Finland. Multi-proxy studies, in particular those that include a detailed plant macrofossil record, from the part of the northern boreal zone of Fennoscandia which has not been affected by treeline fluctuations, are scarce and few of these records date back to the earliest part of the Holocene. A 9-m sediment sequence of gyttja overlying silts representing the last c. 10,700 cal year, allowed for a high-resolution study with emphasis on the early to mid-Holocene lake history. The lacustrine sediments were studied using lithology, loss-on-ignition and C/N ratios, micro- and macro-fossils of aquatic and wetland taxa, diatoms, chironomids and accelerator mass spectrometry C-14 dating on terrestrial plant macrofossils. Our study shows that the local development at Loitsana was complex and included a distinct glacial lake phase and subsequent drainage, a history of fluvial input affected by nearby wetland expansion, and lake infilling in an eventual esker-fed shallow lake. Enhanced trophic conditions, due to morphometric eutrophication, are recorded as Glacial Lake Sokli drained and open water conditions became restricted to a relatively small Lake Loitsana depression. pH appears to have been stable throughout the Holocene with a well-buffered lake due to the local carbonatite bedrock (Sokli Carbonatite Massif). The fossil assemblage changes are best explained by a complex mixture of drivers, including water-body conditions (i.e. depth, turbidity and turbulence), rate of sediment input, and the general infilling of the lake, highlighting the need to carefully evaluate the possible influence of such local factors as palaeoenvironmental conditions are reconstructed based on aquatic proxies.
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| 10. |
- Shala, Shyhrete, et al.
(författare)
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Palaeoenvironmental record of glacial lake evolution during the early Holocene at Sokli, NE Finland
- 2014
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Ingår i: Boreas. - : Wiley. - 0300-9483 .- 1502-3885. ; 43:2, s. 362-376
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The development of a glacial lake impounded along the retreating, northeastern ice margin of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet during the last deglaciation and environmental conditions directly following the early Holocene deglaciation have been studied in NE Finland. This so-called Sokli Ice Lake has been reconstructed previously using topographic and geomorphologic evidence. In this paper a multiproxy approach is employed to study a 3-m-thick sediment succession consisting of laminated silts grading into gyttja cored in Lake Loitsana, a remnant of the Sokli Ice Lake. Variations in the sediment and siliceous microfossil records indicate distinct changes in water depth and lake size in the Loitsana basin as the Sokli Ice Lake was drained through various spillways opening up along the retreating ice front. Geochemical data (XRF core-scanning) show changes in the influence of regional catchment geochemistry (Precambrian crystalline rocks) in the glacial lake drainage area versus local catchment geochemistry (Sokli Carbonatite Massif) within the Lake Loitsana drainage area during the lake evolution. Principal component analysis on the geochemical data further suggests that grain-size is an additional factor responsible for the variability of the sediment geochemistry record. The trophic state of the lake changed drastically as a result of morphometric eutrophication once the glacial lake developed into Lake Loitsana. The AMS radiocarbon dating on tree birch seeds found in the glaciolacustrine sediment indicates that Lake Loitsana was deglaciated sometime prior to 10 700 cal. a BP showing that tree Betula was present on the deglaciated land surrounding the glacial lake. Although glacial lakes covered large areas of northern Finland during the last deglaciation, only few glaciolacustrine sediment successions have been studied in any detail. Our study shows the potential of these sediments for multiproxy analysis and contributes to the reconstruction of environmental conditions in NE Finland directly following deglaciation in the early Holocene.
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