Climate variability in the Spanish Pyrenees during the last 30,000 yr revealed by the El Portalet sequence

Abstract

Palynological, sedimentological and stable isotopic analyses of carbonates and organic matter performed on the El Portalet sequence (1802 m a.s.l., 42°48′00ʺN, 0°23′52ʺW) reflect the paleoclimatic evolution and vegetation history in the central-western Spanish Pyrenees over the last 30,000 yr, and provide a high-resolution record for the late glacial period. Our results confirm previous observations that deglaciation occurred earlier in the Pyrenees than in northern European and Alpine sites and point to a glacial readvance from 22,500 to 18,000 cal yr BP, coinciding with the global last glacial maximum. The patterns shown by the new, high-resolution pollen data from this continental sequence, chronologically constrained by 13 AMS 14C dates, seem to correlate with the rapid climate changes recorded in Greenland ice cores during the last glacial–interglacial transition. Abrupt events observed in northern latitudes (Heinrich events 3 to 1, Oldest and Older Dryas stades, Intra-Allerød Cold Period, and 8200 cal yr BP event) were also identified for the first time in a lacustrine sequence from the central-western Pyrenees as cold and arid periods. The coherent response of the vegetation and the lake system to abrupt climate changes implies an efficient translation of climate variability from the North Atlantic to mid latitudes.

Abrupt climate changes during Termination III in Southern Europe

“…This connection results from the expansion of the polar vortex during AMOC shutdowns, which lead to the southward arrival of polar or continental air outbreaks. Several pollen sequences have demonstrated the synchrony of shifts to arid-adapted vegetation in the Iberian Peninsula and the marine cooling (23,24). A further proof for this tight AMOC-Iberia connection during T-I is provided by an accurately dated speleothem record from the southern Pyrenees which shows parallel changes in humidity and AMOC intensity along the Younger Dryas period (YD) (25).…”

Revealing the last 13,500 years of environmental history from the multiproxy record of a mountain lake (Lago Enol, northern Iberian Peninsula)

“…Naughton et al, 2007b;Peñalba et al, 1997;González-Sampériz et al, 2006Morellón et al, 2008). Optimum at ≈ 9 kyrs Improved climate conditions in terms of temperature and increase in effective moisture (Roberts et al 2004) as a result of insolation forcing and consequent ice-sheet retreat.…”

Western Mediterranean climate and environment since Marine Isotope Stage 3: a 50,000-year record from Lake Banyoles, Spain

“…7;Cacho et al 1999;de Abreu et al 2003). Although the chronology could be better constrained, a response to abrupt HE has been suggested from previous reconstructions from the lake (Valero-Garcés et al 1998;Höbig et al 2012) and in the surrounding region (González-Sampériz et al 2006). However, there is evidence neither for cold or arid rapid-climate-change events in δ 18 O calcite or δ 13 C calcite data (Fig.…”

“…The understanding of past climate variability across the peninsula itself has improved considerably over the last two decades, employing a range of proxy methods and sources, including sequences from peatbogs (González-Sampériz et al 2006), speleothems (Stoll et al 2013), cave sediment (Fernández et al 2007), and lacustrine sediment (Reed et al 2001;Valero-Garcés et al 2004). Iberian palaeoclimate records show broad similarities, but many do not extend beyond the Holocene and the understanding of pre-Late Glacial climate, in particular, is still limited.…”