Search results for "Surface Processes"

Productivity modes in the Mediterranean Sea during Dansgaard–Oeschger (20,000–70,000 yr ago) oscillations

2013

The study of planktonic organisms during abrupt climatic variations of the last glacial period (Dansgaard-Oeschger oscillations, D-O) may reveal important insights on climatic, oceanographic and biological interactions. Here we present planktic foraminifera and coccolithophore data collected at the Ocean Drilling Program Site 963 (Sicily Channel), with a mean sampling resolution of respectively 43.5 and 98.9. yr, over the interval between 70,000 and 20,000. yr ago. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction suggests that three different scenarios can be seen across each D-O cycle: 1. oligotrophic surface water and a deep thermocline for the early Interstadials; 2. a Deep Chlorophyll Maximum and …

2021

Abstract. The collection of modern, spatially extensive pollen data is important for the interpretation of fossil pollen assemblages and the reconstruction of past vegetation communities in space and time. Modern datasets are readily available for percentage data but lacking for pollen accumulation rates (PARs). Filling this gap has been the motivation of the pollen monitoring network, whose contributors monitored pollen deposition in modified Tauber traps for several years or decades across Europe. Here we present this monitoring dataset consisting of 351 trap locations with a total of 2742 annual samples covering the period from 1981 to 2017. This dataset shows that total PAR is influence…

Climate variability and lake ecosystem responses in western Scandinavia (Norway) during the last Millennium

2017

This paper provides a high-resolution temperature reconstruction for the last Millennium from Lake Atnsjøen, SE Norway (61°52′31″N, 10°10′37″E). The sedimentary record reveals strong influence of the large-scale global climate patterns on the local climate in southern part of Eastern Norway. We reconstructed mean July air temperature using Chironomidae-based transfer function and fossil Chironomidae assemblages. The reconstruction was supported by a selection of climate-sensitive geochemical and paleoecological sedimentary proxies of terrestrial and aquatic origin, including Cladocera, pollen and macrofossils. Presented results revealed that summer temperatures were 1–2 °C warmer than the m…

Mammalian Faunas as Indicators of Environmental and Climatic Changes in Spain during the Pliocene–Quaternary Transition

1999

The study of mammal communities provides useful knowledge of paleoenvironments and paleoclimates during the Quaternary Period, and better documentation about the main fossil sites is making this task easier. Paleoecological reconstructions of this study are based on (i) rodent evolution and species richness, (ii) the cenogram method, and (iii) methods for quantifying climatic parameters. These analyses applied to a Pliocene–Quaternary faunal sequence of Spain indicate that a climatic change occurred at the end of the Pliocene when considerable cooling led to the onset of the glacial–interglacial cycles. Subsequently, during the Quaternary Period, alternating environmental patterns occurred,…

The response of flood-plain ecosystems to the Late Glacial and Early Holocene hydrological changes: A case study from a small Central European river …

2016

Abstract We use a range of environmental variables to explore the possible drivers influencing the biota, especially the composition of aquatic invertebrates, during the Younger Dryas (YD) and Early Holocene (EH) in different river valley sites: a well-developed meandering river and the confluence zone of headwater streams. Using pollen, macrofossil, cladoceran, and chironomid as well as geochemical and lithological data as proxies for environmental factors (i.e., water depth and temperature), we attempt to show that these different sites display similar hydroclimatic signals (especially floods). The geochemical records in the studied valley are correlated with environmental factors, such a…

Age and sedimentary record of inland eolian sediments in Lithuania, NE European Sand Belt

2015

We present a study based on four inland eolian locations in Eastern, Central and Southeastern Lithuania belonging to the northeastern part of the ‘European Sand Belt’ (ESB). Although there have been several previous studies of the ESB, this north-eastern extension has not been investigated before in any detail. The sedimentary structural–textural features are investigated and a chronology was derived using optically stimulated luminescence on both quartz and feldspar. The sedimentary structures and the rounding and surface characteristics of the quartz grains argue for a predominance of eolian transport. Additionally, some structural alternations and a significant contribution of non-eolian…

Oxygen isotope compositions of phosphate from arvicoline teeth and Quaternary climatic changes, Gigny, French Jura

2004

Oxygen isotope compositions of biogenic phosphates from mammals are widely used as proxies of the isotopic compositions of meteoric waters that are roughly linearly related to the air temperature at high- and mid-latitudes. An oxygen isotope fractionation equation was determined by using present-day European arvicoline (rodents) tooth phosphate: δ18Op = 20.98(±0.59) + 0.572(±0.065) δ18Ow. This fractionation equation was applied to the Late Pleistocene karstic sequence of Gigny, French Jura. Comparison between the oxygen isotope compositions of arvicoline tooth phosphate and Greenland ice core records suggests to reconsider the previously established hypothetical chronology of the sequence. …

Carbon and oxygen stable isotope compositions of late Pleistocene mammal teeth from dolines of Ajoie (Northwestern Switzerland)

2014

AbstractFossils of megaherbivores from eight late Pleistocene 14C- and OSL-dated doline infillings of Ajoie (NW Switzerland) were discovered along the Transjurane highway in the Swiss Jura. Carbon and oxygen analyses of enamel were performed on forty-six teeth of large mammals (Equus germanicus, Mammuthus primigenius, Coelodonta antiquitatis, and Bison priscus), coming from one doline in Boncourt (~ 80 ka, marine oxygen isotope stage MIS5a) and seven in Courtedoux (51–27 ka, late MIS3), in order to reconstruct the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental conditions of the region. Similar enamel δ13C values for both periods, ranging from − 14.5 to − 9.2‰, indicate that the megaherbivores lived i…

Holocene climate and seasonality of shell collection at the Dundas Islands Group, northern British Columbia, Canada—A bivalve sclerochronological app…

2013

article i nfo To analyze environmental changes and the seasonality of shell collection in British Columbia during the Ho- locene, oxygen isotopes were measured from modern and archeological (1337-7438 cal yr BP) shells of the butter clam Saxidomus gigantea. 1697 discrete isotope samples were taken from two modern and 27 arche- ological shells with a high temporal resolution (sub-seasonal up to daily). Archeological shells were collected from five shell midden sites on the Dundas Islands Group, northern British Columbia, Canada. The oxygen iso- tope data reveal clear annual cycles, with the most positive δ 18 Oshell values occurring during the cold season (slower growth, annual growth line f…

The north-eastern aeolian ‘European Sand Belt’ as potential record of environmental changes: A case study from Eastern Latvia and Southern Estonia

2016

Abstract The Latvian and Estonian inland dunes belong to the north-eastern part of the ‘European Sand Belt’ (ESB). These dunes are widely distributed over broad glaciolacustrine plains and Late Glacial alluvial deltas, considered to be potential sources for the aeolian material. Little is known about these aeolian sediments and their substratum; here we present a detailed sedimentary structural and textural characterisation together with a luminescence-based chronology. Through a comparison between grain-size, rounding of quartz grains and surface characteristics in medium/coarse (0.5–0.8 mm) sand, and the light mineral content, we found an alternation of aeolian and periglacial components.…