Heinrich event 4 characterized by terrestrial proxies in southwestern Europe

Abstract

Abstract. Heinrich event 4 (H4) is well documented in the North Atlantic Ocean as a cooling event that occurred between 39 and 40 Ka. Deep-sea cores around the Iberian Peninsula coastline have been analysed to characterize the H4 event, but there are no data on the terrestrial response to this event. Here we present for the first time an analysis of terrestrial proxies for characterizing the H4 event, using the small-vertebrate assemblage (comprising small mammals, squamates and amphibians) from Terrassa Riera dels Canyars, an archaeo-palaeontological deposit located on the seaboard of the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. This assemblage shows that the H4 event is characterized in northeastern Iberia by harsher and drier terrestrial conditions than today. Our results were compared with other proxies such as pollen, charcoal, phytolith, avifauna and large-mammal data available for this site, as well as with the general H4 event fluctuations and with other sites where H4 and the previous and subsequent Heinrich events (H5 and H3) have been detected in the Mediterranean and Atlantic regions of the Iberian Peninsula. We conclude that the terrestrial proxies follow the same patterns as the climatic and environmental conditions detected by the deep-sea cores at the Iberian margins.

The end of Late Glacial in north-eastern Iberia: the small mammal assemblage from Cudó cave (Mont-Ral, Tarragona)

“…As Xaragalls cave C4 is recorded also in Terrasses de la Riera dels Canyars (López-García et al . 2013), HE4 is distinctively warmer and drier than what is recorded in Cudó cave level 107. Furthermore, if Cudó cave level 107 is compared to level C from Arbreda cave (23.5–22.9 ka cal BP), the Cudó cave level 107 is still colder and significantly wetter (López-García et al .…”

New insights in Neanderthal palaeoecology using stable oxygen isotopes preserved in small mammals as palaeoclimatic tracers in Teixoneres Cave (Moià, northeastern Iberia)

“…Environmental reconstruction proposed for these sites points always to wetter, cooler, and homogenous climatic cycles, and forested areas next to the settlements. A general trend is observed from northeastern Iberia small-mammal communities (López-García et al 2014;Fernández-García et al 2016), but also extent to the Mediterranean area, as documented in Arbreda Cave (López-García et al 2015), Terrasses de la Riera dels Canyars (López-García et al 2013), Cova del Gegant (López-García et al 2012b, Cova del Coll Verdaguer (Daura et al 2017), El Salt (Fagoaga et al 2018(Fagoaga et al , 2019, or Gorham's Cave (López-García et al 2011). Pollen and charcoal analyses conducted in some of these sites agree on a predominance of forests composed of conifers (mainly Pinus and Juniperus) and evergreen and deciduous species (González-Sampériz et al 2010;Burjachs et al 2012;Carrión 2012;Allué et al 2017;Daura et al 2017).…”

Amphibians and reptiles as palaeonvironmental proxies during the Late Pleistocene (MIS3): The case of Stratigraphic Unit V of El Salt, Alcoi, Spain

“…In other sites (such as Abric Romaní, Canyars, or Teixoneres in northeastern Spain), some identified taxa are not present in the region. Thus, the absence of the species Rana temporaria, Coronella austriaca, and Vipera aspis is related to the southward shift of the distribution area of that taxa during the Late Pleistocene and a posterior regression (Burjachs et al, 2012;López-García et al, 2013. A similar case is the presence in Cueva del Boquete de Zafarraya of C. austriaca , a Eurosiberian species with relict populations in the south of the Iberian Peninsula related to the alternation of climatic phases during the Quaternary (Santos et al, 2008).…”