Snapshots in time: precise correlations of peat-based proxy climate records in Scotland using mid-Holocene tephras

Abstract

Mid-Holocene tephra layers have been located and geochemically analysed from seven ombrotrophic bogs in Scotland. The tephras found in these Scottish peats occur as stratigraphically discrete horizons, not visible to the naked eye, and originate from volcanic activity in Iceland. Identifying and geochemically typing the tephra layers can enable precise correlations between sites on regional scales, depending on the spatial extent of the airfall events. Dispersal of both the Glen Garry and Hekla-4 tephras is excellent over Scotland, enabling snapshot views of the past at the time of these tephra depositions. Palaeoecological analyses have also been undertaken on these bogs, providing detailed reconstructions of past changes in bog vegetation and surface wetness, a proxy for past climates. Correlations between the ombrotrophic bogs at the time of the Glen Garry tephra revealed significant differences between the proxy climate records in the north and the south of Scotland, suggesting asynchronous changes between northern Scotland and the rest of Great Britain.