Stable oxygen isotope and pollen records from eastern Scotland and a consideration of Late-glacial and early Holocene climate change for Europe

Abstract

The presence of marl deposits belonging to the Lateglacial period in a former lake basin at Lundin Tower in Fife, Scotland has allowed palaeoenvironmental investigations by means of carbonate δ13C and δ18O, and organic matter δ13C, in addition to palynology. The variations that emerge reveal strong similarities between the pollen and isotope records and these are interpreted as reflecting climatic shifts. The classic Late‐glacial pattern of Oldest Dryas–Bølling–Older Dryas–Allerød–Younger Dryas may be evident and other climatic oscillations are shown to have occurred not only during the Allerød but also in the Preboreal. The problem of the time discordance between isotopic change and pollen representation is addressed through explanations involving lags in plant colonization. A comparison of the δ18O records from 43 sites across Europe reveals two different regional patterns, which raises fundamental questions over the nature of Late‐glacial palaeoclimates.

Abrupt climate changes of the last deglaciation detected in a Western Mediterranean forest record

“…Magny et al (2007a), propose a tripartite latitudinal division (dry-wet-dry) in hydrological conditions for the PB oscillation, for which dryness in the southern sector is supported by our findings. In common with several central and northern European records which indicate a more complex pattern of multiple PB oscillations (Bohncke and Hoek, 2007;Magny et al, 2006;Björck and Wastegård, 1999;Whittington et al, 1996), our findings indicate that at least two, and possibly three, centennial-scale dry atmospheric episodes can be detected in the Western Mediterranean region.…”

The evolution of Palaeolake Flixton and the environmental context of Star Carr: an oxygen and carbon isotopic record of environmental change for the early Holocene

“…The absolute value of authigenic carbonates precipitated during this interval shows a spatial variation which is consistent with known variations in the δ 18 O value of modern day precipitation, i.e. the early Holocene peak in δ 18 O values is higher in western sites such as Loch Inchquin and Haweswater, ca -4.0 to -4.5‰ (Marshall et al, 2002;Diefendorf et al, 2006;2008)) than at eastern sites such as Lundin Tower and Palaeolake Flixton, ca -6‰ (Whittington et al, 1996). However, at all sites the magnitude of the decrease is relatively consistent, between 2 and 3‰.…”

“…Only at the location of site B does freshwater sedimentation persist in a palustrine ("paludal") environment. (Diefendorf et al, 2006;2008), Haweswater (Marshall et al, 2002;2007), Star Carr (this study), Lundin Tower (Whittington et al, 1996), Lake Tibetanus (Hammarlund et al, 2002). The chronological precision on these records is highly variable.…”

A 12 000-year record of environmental change in the Lomond Hills, Fife, Scotland: Vegetational and climatic variability

“…It may also be the case that the marginality of certain plants, imposed by altitude and at a latitude of 56 ° N, has accentuated the record of climatic variation. This phase (subzone WL-3b) seems to accord with the Gerzensee oscillation which is not only well recorded from continental European (Lotter et al 1992) and other British sites (Walker and Harkness 1990;Walker et al 1993;Whittington et al 1996) but is also recognized as an event which affected the eastern areas of North America (Levesque et al 1993). The sequence Boiling-Older Dryas-Allerod-Younger Dryas appears to be well defined (el.…”

“…lla, b). there are two occasions (WL-5c, WL-6b), and three if WL-5a is included, when the pollen record suggests that temperatures at West Lomond underwent reduction [a similar pattern was found in the stable isotope and pollen records from Lundin Tower (Whittington et al 1996)]. most probably soon after the opening of the Boiling stage.…”