Last Interglacial conditions in southern Europe: evidence from Ioannina, northwest Greece

Abstract

A new record combining isotopic and palynological results over the interval 133–111 ka BP at 100–200 year resolution from a long lacustrine sequence at Ioannina, northwest Greece, is presented. The sequence provides an opportunity to examine the nature of climate variability during the Last Interglacial in southern Europe where information has hitherto been relatively limited. The record shows that the frequency and amplitude of changes during the transitional late glacial and late interglacial phases were markedly higher than that of the full interglacial interval. These differences are probably a reflection of the relative size of ice sheets in the circum-North Atlantic and associated with ice-rafting events and climatic perturbations during these periods. During intervals of increased ice volume, it appears that North Atlantic variability has a significant downstream impact, dominating the climate signal in northwest Greece. During intervals of minimum ice volume, there may be a decoupling between the North Atlantic system and continental climates with other factors, such as insolation changes, becoming more important. The length of the Last Interglacial at Ioannina defined by the presence of forest is here estimated to be ca. 15 ka, in agreement with recent results from Portugal, but in conflict with estimates of ca. 10 ka for the duration of the Eemian in northwest Europe. In the absence of independent confirmation for these estimates, however, these differences and associated implications remain unresolved.