Responses of terrestrial ecosystems to Dansgaard–Oeshger cycles and Heinrich-events: A 28,000-year record of environmental changes from SE Hungary

Abstract

According to the findings of a complex sedimentological, geochemical, malacological and pollen study implemented on a core sequence of an alkaline lake (Fehér Lake), interstadials in the SE Great Hungarian Plain were characterized by increased boreal woodland cover during Marine Isotope Stage 2 (MIS 2: 29,700–14,500 cal BP). These interstadials were dated to 26,420–27,970, 23,185–24,880, and 18,810–20,770 cal BP, and correlate well with the Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) interstadials 2 and 3 and the post LGM warm interval seen in the Greenland ice core oxygen isotope records. Intervening cold phases, on the other hand, were found between 24,880–26,420 and 20,770–23,185 cal BP, correlating with Heinrich event 2 and the LGM. These data overall confirm that millennial scale climate variability during Marine Isotope Stage 2 had profound effect on the terrestrial ecosystems in the continental interior of SE Europe, leading to periodic boreal woodland expansions and contractions and wildfires.