On the timing of retreat of the Loch Lomond (‘Younger Dryas’) Readvance icefield in the SW Scottish Highlands and its wider significance

Lowe, John J.; Matthews, Ian; Mayfield, Roseanna J.; Lincoln, Paul; Palmer, Adrian; Staff, Richard A.; Timms, Rhys

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.06.034

Cited by 37 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 117 publications

(154 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…4 and 7). The timing of these changes, and the stratigraphic occurrence of the Vedde Ash at 198 cm (Timms et al ., 2017) confirms this interval as the Loch Lomond Stadial, a high‐magnitude cold climate event broadly equivalent to the Younger Dryas and GS‐1 interval (Lowe et al ., 2008, 2019; Walker and Lowe, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for centennial‐scale Lateglacial and early Holocene climatic complexity from Quoyloo Meadow, Orkney, Scotland

Timms

Abrook

Matthews

et al. 2021

J Quaternary Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The influence of the North Atlantic on the margins of Europe means the region is particularly sensitive to changes in the ocean–atmospheric system. During the Last Glacial–Interglacial Transition (16–8 cal ka bp) this system was repeatedly disrupted, leading to a series of abrupt and short‐lived shifts in climate. Despite much research, the number and magnitude of these ‘centennial‐scale’ events is not well understood. To address this, we expand upon investigations at Quoyloo Meadow, Orkney, Scotland, one of the best chronologically constrained palaeoclimate records in northern Britain. By coupling stable isotope and chironomid fossil analyses with existing data, this study identifies multiple phases of centennial‐scale disturbance at: c. 14.0, 11.1, 10.8, 10.5, 10.45 and 10.3 cal ka bp, with the events at 14.0 and 10.3 exhibiting a particularly pronounced cold‐climate signature. During the Holocene, the strongest response to climate forcing was at c. 10.3–10.0 cal ka bp, expressed as a two‐stage drop in mean July temperatures, a shift in pollen spectra indicative of ‘less‐stable’ climatic regimes, and a depletion in δ18O values. We interpret this as the first reliably dated incidence of the ‘10.3‐ka event’ in the British Isles and consider the wider impact of this climatic reversal in other Holocene records.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for centennial‐scale Lateglacial and early Holocene climatic complexity from Quoyloo Meadow, Orkney, Scotland

Timms

Abrook

Matthews

et al. 2021

J Quaternary Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The Late Glacial chironomid records used were from Scotland, UK: Ashik and Abernethy (Brooks et al ., 2012b) and Muir Park (Brooks et al ., 2016). These lakes span a range of environments, including coastal and inland locations, and varying proximities from the Loch Lomond ice limits (Chandler et al ., 2019; Lowe et al ., 2019). Age models were available for the Ashik and Abernethy records from the original publications; however, no age model was available for the Muir Park record beyond the tephras (with associated dates) found within the stratigraphy.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Quaternary chironomid community structure shaped by rate and magnitude of climate change

Mayfield

Langdon

Doncaster

et al. 2021

J Quaternary Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Much is known about how climate change impacts ecosystem richness and turnover, but we have less understanding of its influence on ecosystem structures. Here, we use ecological metrics (beta diversity, compositional disorder and network skewness) to quantify the community structural responses of temperature‐sensitive chironomids (Diptera: Chironomidae) during the Late Glacial (14 700–11 700 cal a bp) and Holocene (11 700 cal a bp to present). Analyses demonstrate high turnover (beta diversity) of chironomid composition across both epochs; however, structural metrics stayed relatively intact. Compositional disorder and skewness show greatest structural change in the Younger Dryas, following the rapid, high‐magnitude climate change at the Bølling–Allerød to Younger Dryas transition. There were fewer climate‐related structural changes across the early to mid–late Holocene, where climate change was more gradual and lower in magnitude. The reduced impact on structural metrics could be due to greater functional resilience provided by the wider chironomid community, or to the replacement of same functional‐type taxa in the network structure. These results provide insight into how future rapid climate change may alter chironomid communities and could suggest that while turnover may remain high under a rapidly warming climate, community structural dynamics retain some resilience.

show abstract

“…2014; Lowe et al . 2019); ice‐cores contain a continuous, high‐resolution snow/ice stratigraphy, which for the younger part can be dated precisely by counting annual varves and climate properties can be measured directly in the snow, without any delay in response of environmental or depositional processes. Weaknesses with ice‐cores for boundary stratotypes are that common geological tools such as litho‐ and biostratigraphy cannot be used for correlation, and that the ice‐core and radiocarbon time scales are not identical.…”

Section: Comparison With Greenland Ice‐core Stratigraphymentioning

confidence: 99%

The discovery of the Younger Dryas, and comments on the current meaning and usage of the term

Mangerud

2020

Boreas

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Younger Dryas (YD) cold event was discovered in Denmark by Hartz and Mithers in 1904 and the term coined by Hartz in 1912. It was identified as a lacustrine clay bed containing plant macrofossils of an Arctic flora, including Dryas octopetala, and lying between Allerød and Holocene gyttjas containing a warmer flora with birch trees. The YD is unique in the sense that it is the largest and most abrupt climate change on Earth since the Last Glacial Maximum and thus within the reach of radiocarbon dating. Yet, I consider it is part of a regular Dansgaard‐Oeschger event. The term has been used for a climate event and for lithostratigraphical, biostratigraphical and several other stratigraphical units. I prefer using it as a geochronological and chronostratigraphical unit, i.e. that the YD represents a specific period of geological time and the rocks and sediments formed during this period. In the type area of southern Scandinavia, the YD chron represents the age and duration of the cold event.

show abstract

On the timing of retreat of the Loch Lomond (‘Younger Dryas’) Readvance icefield in the SW Scottish Highlands and its wider significance

Abstract: There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it.

Cited by 37 publications

References 117 publications

Evidence for centennial‐scale Lateglacial and early Holocene climatic complexity from Quoyloo Meadow, Orkney, Scotland

Evidence for centennial‐scale Lateglacial and early Holocene climatic complexity from Quoyloo Meadow, Orkney, Scotland

Late Quaternary chironomid community structure shaped by rate and magnitude of climate change

The discovery of the Younger Dryas, and comments on the current meaning and usage of the term

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About