Search

Abstract: This multiproxy study on SE Black Sea sediments provides the first detailed reconstruction of vegetation and environmental history of Northern Anatolia between 134 and 119ka. Here, the glacial–interglacial transition is characterized by several short-lived alternating cold and warm events preceding a meltwater pulse (~130.4–131.7ka). The latter is reconstructed as a cold arid period correlated to Heinrich event 11. The initial warming is evidenced at ~130.4ka by increased primary productivity in the Black Sea, disappearance of ice-rafted detritus, and spreading of oaks in Anatolia. A Younger Dryas-type event is not identifiable. The Eemian vegetation succession corresponds to the main climatic phases in Europe: i) the Quercus–Juniperus phase (128.7–126.4ka) indicates a dry continental climate; ii) the Ostrya–Corylus–Quercus–Carpinus phase (126.4–122.9ka) suggests warm summers, mild winters, and high year-round precipitation; iii) the Fagus–Carpinus phase (122.9–119.5ka) indicates cooling and high precipitation; and iv) increasing Pinus at ~121ka marks the onset of cooler/drier conditions. Generally, pollen reconstructions suggest altitudinal/latitudinal migrations of vegetation belts in Northern Anatolia during the Eemian caused by increased transport of moisture. The evidence for the wide distribution of Fagus around the Black Sea contrasts with the European records and is likely related to climatic and genetic factors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: An interdisciplinary study of a small sedimentary basin at Neumark Nord 2 (NN2), Germany, has yielded a high-resolution record of the palaeomagnetic Blake Event, which we are able to place at the early part of the last interglacial pollen sequence documented from the same section. We use this data to calculate the duration of this stratigraphically important event at 3400±350yr. More importantly, the Neumark Nord 2 data enables precise terrestrial–marine correlation for the Eemian stage in central Europe. This shows a remarkably large time lag of ca. 5000yr between the MIS 5e ‘peak’ in the marine record and the start of the last interglacial in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Reevaluation of geological and archaeological evidence from western Mount Carmel constrains its maximal tectonic uplift since the Middle Pleistocene. Tabun Cave, presently 45 m above sea level (asl), revealed human occupation from about 600 ka to 90 ka before present. The 25 m thick archaeological strata at Tabun are composed of laminated fine sand, silt and clays. Moreover, no marine deposits were found in Tabun or nearby caves. Since sea level in the last 600 ka reached a maximal of 5 to 10 m asl, Tabun Cave could not have been uplifted since then by more than 35 to 40 m, that is a maximal average rate of 58 to 67 mm/ka. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]