Multiproxy late Holocene peat records from Ireland: towards a regional palaeoclimate curve

Abstract

Two new peat-based climate records from Ireland covering the late Holocene are presented. The sequences are dated by a strong chronological framework formed by AMS radiocarbon dates and SCPs. Three proxy indicators (testate amoebae, macrofossils and humification) have been determined allowing the limitations and strengths of each to be identified and utilised to provide a bog surface wetness (BSW) record for both sites. Age-depth models take into account the potential for accumulation rates to vary with bog vegetation. The records from each site have been used to derive a combined BSW record that displays changes to a wetter/cooler climate from ca. AD 30 (1920 BP), ca. AD 310 (1640 BP), ca. AD 805 (1145 BP), ca. AD 1040 (910 BP) and ca. AD 1300 (650 BP). Changes follow closely those identified in a northern Britain composite BSW record and largely correspond with lake-level data in central France suggesting the main changes in water balance were coherent over a large region. Correspondence with increases in IRD and slower Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water (ISOW) suggests that these changes were related to oceanic forcing influencing the track of dominant westerly air flow over Ireland.

A near‐annual palaeohydrological study based on testate amoebae from a sub‐alpine mire: surface wetness and the role of climate during the instrumental period

“…In most northern European raised bogs the water tables are controlled mainly by precipitation (Charman, 2007;Blundell et al, 2008); hence testate amoeba-based water table reconstructions usually correlate with measured precipitation Langdon et al, 2003). However, a study from northeastern Europe (Barber and Langdon, 2007) suggests that over centennial timescales summer temperatures are important drivers of the peat-based palaeoclimate record.…”

Was there a ‘4.2 ka event’ in Great Britain and Ireland? Evidence from the peatland record

“…Crucially, earlier work suggests that Ireland's peat archive possesses considerable potential for the examination of climatic variation in the North Atlantic region (Holmes, 1998;Plunkett, 1999Plunkett, , 2006 100 Barber et al, 2000;Turney et al, 2005;Swindles, 2006;Swindles et al, 2007aSwindles et al, , b, 2010aAmesbury, 2008;Blundell et al 2008;Plunkett and Swindles, 2008;Langdon et al, 2012). Despite this, few published data extend beyond c. 4.5 kyr (e.g.…”

Multiproxy study of anthropogenic and climatic changes in the last two millennia from a small mire in central Poland

“…Recently, most palaeoenvironmental peatland studies have focused on ombrotrophic mires (Yeloff & Mauquoy, 2006;Hughes et al, 2007;Sillasoo et al, 2007;Blundell et al, 2008), and a minority has been carried out in fens and kettle-hole mires (Lagerback & Robertsson, 1988;Warner, 1993;Yu, 2006;Lamentowicz et al, 2008b), which can also provide interesting palaeoenvironmental data.…”