Search

Centennial-to-millennial temperature records of the past provide a context for the interpretation of current and future changes in climate. Quaternary climates have been relatively well studied in north-east North America and the adjacent Atlantic Ocean over the last decades, and new research methods have been developed to improve reconstructions. We present newly inferred reconstructions of sea surface temperature for the north-western Atlantic region, together with a compilation of published temperature records. The database thus comprises a total of 86 records from both marine and terrestrial sites, including lakes, peatlands, ice and tree rings, each covering at least part of the Holocene. For each record, we present details on seasons covered, chronologies and information on radiocarbon dates and analytical time steps. The 86 records contain a total of 154 reconstructions of temperature and temperature-related variables. Main proxies include pollen and dinocysts, while summer was the season for which the highest number of reconstructions were available. Many records covered most of the Holocene, but many dinocyst records did not extend to the surface, due to sediment mixing, and dendroclimate records were limited to the last millennium. The database allows for the exploration of linkages between sea ice and climate and may be used in conjunction with other palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental records, such as wildfire records and peatland dynamics. This inventory may also aid the identification of gaps in the geographic distribution of past temperature records thus guiding future research efforts.

Modern palynological investigations (pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs) have been carried out for the first time in the entire Bay of Brest (BB; NW France), a semi-enclosed oceanic basin flooded during the Holocene that today is exposed to both marine (North Atlantic surface waters) and fluvial (Aulne and Elorn rivers) influences. Palynological analyses were conducted on 41 surface sediments collected in several mudded bays where low-energy conditions prevail, allowing for fine particle decantation, and also on 12 moss samples considered to be pollen rain collectors taken on the periphery of the BB. Furthermore, the BB allows a direct comparison between landscapes and fossilized pollen assemblages in sediments thanks to relatively small watersheds and well-studied vegetation cover on land. Our data display a well-known distortion between pollen taxa percentages calculated from palynological slides and current vegetation cover on land, with a particular overestimation of arboreal taxa as well as an underestimation of herbaceous ones, especially of cereal crops that represent a major component of the regional continental vegetation. Various factors may be involved, including pollen transport issues, taphonomic processes, and different pollination rates according to trees/herbaceous taxa. Under close examination, we find that while all surface sediments show the same major species, palynological maps established in the BB regarding some specific pollen taxa exhibit differences and upstream-downstream gradients. Also, the comparison between the pollen content in BB surface sediments and in mosses supports the hydrodynamic influence acting on the pollen distribution in sediments. More specifically, we suggest that some arboreal taxa reflect a watershed effect, especially Alnus, which seems to be highly correlated to river influences and could therefore be considered as a potential proxy for fluvial Holocene palaeo-discharges within the BB.

Modern palynological investigations (pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs) have been carried out for the first time in the entire Bay of Brest (BB; NW France), a semi-enclosed oceanic basin flooded during the Holocene that today is exposed to both marine (North Atlantic surface waters) and fluvial (Aulne and Elorn rivers) influences. Palynological analyses were conducted on 41 surface sediments collected in several mudded bays where low-energy conditions prevail, allowing for fine particle decantation, and also on 12 moss samples considered to be pollen rain collectors taken on the periphery of the BB. Furthermore, the BB allows a direct comparison between landscapes and fossilized pollen assemblages in sediments thanks to relatively small watersheds and well-studied vegetation cover on land. Our data display a well-known distortion between pollen taxa percentages calculated from palynological slides and current vegetation cover on land, with a particular overestimation of arboreal taxa as well as an underestimation of herbaceous ones, especially of cereal crops that represent a major component of the regional continental vegetation. Various factors may be involved, including pollen transport issues, taphonomic processes, and different pollination rates according to trees/herbaceous taxa. Under close examination, we find that while all surface sediments show the same major species, palynological maps established in the BB regarding some specific pollen taxa exhibit differences and upstream-downstream gradients. Also, the comparison between the pollen content in BB surface sediments and in mosses supports the hydrodynamic influence acting on the pollen distribution in sediments. More specifically, we suggest that some arboreal taxa reflect a watershed effect, especially Alnus, which seems to be highly correlated to river influences and could therefore be considered as a potential proxy for fluvial Holocene palaeo-discharges within the BB.

Modern palynological investigations (pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs) have been carried out for the first time in the entire Bay of Brest (BB; NW France), a semi-enclosed oceanic basin flooded during the Holocene that today is exposed to both marine (North Atlantic surface waters) and fluvial (Aulne and Elorn rivers) influences. Palynological analyses were conducted on 41 surface sediments collected in several mudded bays where low-energy conditions prevail, allowing for fine particle decantation, and also on 12 moss samples considered to be pollen rain collectors taken on the periphery of the BB. Furthermore, the BB allows a direct comparison between landscapes and fossilized pollen assemblages in sediments thanks to relatively small watersheds and well-studied vegetation cover on land. Our data display a well-known distortion between pollen taxa percentages calculated from palynological slides and current vegetation cover on land, with a particular overestimation of arboreal taxa as well as an underestimation of herbaceous ones, especially of cereal crops that represent a major component of the regional continental vegetation. Various factors may be involved, including pollen transport issues, taphonomic processes, and different pollination rates according to trees/herbaceous taxa. Under close examination, we find that while all surface sediments show the same major species, palynological maps established in the BB regarding some specific pollen taxa exhibit differences and upstream-downstream gradients. Also, the comparison between the pollen content in BB surface sediments and in mosses supports the hydrodynamic influence acting on the pollen distribution in sediments. More specifically, we suggest that some arboreal taxa reflect a watershed effect, especially Alnus, which seems to be highly correlated to river influences and could therefore be considered as a potential proxy for fluvial Holocene palaeo-discharges within the BB.

Modern palynological investigations (pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs) have been carried out for the first time in the entire Bay of Brest (BB; NW France), a semi-enclosed oceanic basin flooded during the Holocene that today is exposed to both marine (North Atlantic surface waters) and fluvial (Aulne and Elorn rivers) influences. Palynological analyses were conducted on 41 surface sediments collected in several mudded bays where low-energy conditions prevail, allowing for fine particle decantation, and also on 12 moss samples considered to be pollen rain collectors taken on the periphery of the BB. Furthermore, the BB allows a direct comparison between landscapes and fossilized pollen assemblages in sediments thanks to relatively small watersheds and well-studied vegetation cover on land. Our data display a well-known distortion between pollen taxa percentages calculated from palynological slides and current vegetation cover on land, with a particular overestimation of arboreal taxa as well as an underestimation of herbaceous ones, especially of cereal crops that represent a major component of the regional continental vegetation. Various factors may be involved, including pollen transport issues, taphonomic processes, and different pollination rates according to trees/herbaceous taxa. Under close examination, we find that while all surface sediments show the same major species, palynological maps established in the BB regarding some specific pollen taxa exhibit differences and upstream-downstream gradients. Also, the comparison between the pollen content in BB surface sediments and in mosses supports the hydrodynamic influence acting on the pollen distribution in sediments. More specifically, we suggest that some arboreal taxa reflect a watershed effect, especially Alnus, which seems to be highly correlated to river influences and could therefore be considered as a potential proxy for fluvial Holocene palaeo-discharges within the BB.

During the late Miocene, the Mediterranean developed into a hypersaline basin wherein ultimately gypsum and halite precipitated. Little is known about the evolution of the Paratethys Sea, which was situated northeast of the Mediterranean. The results described in this thesis provide valuable new insights in the late Miocene evolution of the Paratethys Sea. The migration patterns of dinoflagellate cysts and strontium isotope ratios confirm previous studies that the Pontian Flooding event (re-) connected the major Paratethyan basins at ~6.1 Ma. Furthermore, this thesis provides evidence that the Paratethys Sea did not desiccate during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC; 5.97-5.33 Myr ago). The claim that the deep Black Sea Basin desiccated in response to the MSC is based on incorrect age constraints for a peculiar layer (the so-called “Pebbly Breccia”) in DSDP Hole 380A. During the MSC, dinocyst assemblages in the Paratethys seem unaffected by the events occurring in the adjacent Mediterranean Basin. Indications of continuous presence of fresh and brackish waters in the Paratethys suggest that the Paratethys with its enormous hinterland could have played a major role in MSC.

The palynological investigation of core TM (27.7 m long) taken in a dried out lagoon reveals both Holocene vegetation history in the north-eastern foothills of the Alborz Mountains and past water level changes of the Caspian Sea (CS). The delay in woodland expansion at the beginning of the Holocene, which is typical of eastern Turkey, the Iranian plateau and recorded in the CS south basin, is only weakly felt as the region is close to glacial refugia of trees. The succession of the main trees out of their refugia has been established as deciduous Quercus, Carpinus betulus, Parrotia persica, and Fagus orientalis-Pterocarya fraxinifolia, presenting therefore close affinities to south European interglacials of the Early Pleistocene. This suggests a similarity in climate. A Pterocarya decline is observed after AD 495. The studied region is close to the easternmost tree distribution; this could explain why it has been affected earlier than elsewhere in the northern Alborz and the Caucasus. In addition human activities during the Sasanian Empire and the subsequent drying of the climate contributed to weakening the spread of this tree. A maximal sea level occurs in the first part of the Holocene from 10.6 to 7.2 cal. ka. It is suggested that the CS levels were significantly influenced by the monsoon precipitations over the western Himalayas (via the Uzboy inflow). This is followed by low levels from 7.2 to 3.5 cal. ka with a minimum at 3.9 cal. ka. The Neocaspian period should be considered a biozone rather than a chronozone, as the environmental conditions reconstructed from dinocyst assemblages are different in shallow shelf waters and in the deep basins., Geoscience & Engineering, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

The palynological investigation of core TM (27.7 m long) taken in a dried out lagoon reveals both Holocene vegetation history in the north-eastern foothills of the Alborz Mountains and past water level changes of the Caspian Sea (CS). The delay in woodland expansion at the beginning of the Holocene, which is typical of eastern Turkey, the Iranian plateau and recorded in the CS south basin, is only weakly felt as the region is close to glacial refugia of trees. The succession of the main trees out of their refugia has been established as deciduous Quercus, Carpinus betulus, Parrotia persica, and Fagus orientalis-Pterocarya fraxinifolia, presenting therefore close affinities to south European interglacials of the Early Pleistocene. This suggests a similarity in climate. A Pterocarya decline is observed after AD 495. The studied region is close to the easternmost tree distribution; this could explain why it has been affected earlier than elsewhere in the northern Alborz and the Caucasus. In addition human activities during the Sasanian Empire and the subsequent drying of the climate contributed to weakening the spread of this tree. A maximal sea level occurs in the first part of the Holocene from 10.6 to 7.2 cal. ka. It is suggested that the CS levels were significantly influenced by the monsoon precipitations over the western Himalayas (via the Uzboy inflow). This is followed by low levels from 7.2 to 3.5 cal. ka with a minimum at 3.9 cal. ka. The Neocaspian period should be considered a biozone rather than a chronozone, as the environmental conditions reconstructed from dinocyst assemblages are different in shallow shelf waters and in the deep basins., Geoscience & Engineering, Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Centennial-to-millennial temperature records of the past provide a context for the interpretation of current and future changes in climate. Quaternary climates have been relatively well studied in north-east North America and the adjacent Atlantic Ocean over the last decades, and new research methods have been developed to improve reconstructions. We present newly inferred reconstructions of sea surface temperature for the north-western Atlantic region, together with a compilation of published temperature records. The database thus comprises a total of 86 records from both marine and terrestrial sites, including lakes, peatlands, ice and tree rings, each covering at least part of the Holocene. For each record, we present details on seasons covered, chronologies and information on radiocarbon dates and analytical time steps. The 86 records contain a total of 154 reconstructions of temperature and temperature-related variables. Main proxies include pollen and dinocysts, while summer was the season for which the highest number of reconstructions were available. Many records covered most of the Holocene, but many dinocyst records did not extend to the surface, due to sediment mixing, and dendroclimate records were limited to the last millennium. The database allows for the exploration of linkages between sea ice and climate and may be used in conjunction with other palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental records, such as wildfire records and peatland dynamics. This inventory may also aid the identification of gaps in the geographic distribution of past temperature records thus guiding future research efforts.