Glacial Climate Cycles Research Articles

The last 750 ka in loess–palaeosol sequences from northern France: environmental background and dating of the western European Palaeolithic

ABSTRACTThis study presents an overview of Middle Pleistocene loess–palaeosol sequences (LPS) in northern France and discusses the palaeoclimatic significance of the pedosedimentary record in the context of western European LPS and of global climatic cycles for the last 750 ka. In this area, the oldest loess deposits (early Middle Pleistocene) are preserved in sedimentary traps (leeward scarps of fluvial terraces and dissolution sinkholes). They result from local deflation processes reworking Pleistocene sandy fluvial deposits or relicts of Tertiary sands. A large extension of typical calcareous loess over the landscape, the Loess Revolution, is then observed during MIS 6, with heavy mineral assemblages testifying to long‐distance transport from the polar desert area of the dried eastern Channel. A correlation scheme is proposed between the global records of northern France in continental environments and both global palaeoclimatic records and other main western European LPS. After 30 years of research, northern France LPS stand as a fundamental archive of the impact of interglacial–glacial climatic cycles as well as millennial events. Finally, these works provide a robust chronoclimatic framework for the study of the western European Late Acheulean and Middle Palaeolithic and for the relative dating of the various fluvial terraces that they fossilise.

Incorporating non-equilibrium dynamics into demographic history inferences of a migratory marine species.

Understanding how dispersal and gene flow link geographically separated the populations over evolutionary history is challenging, particularly in migratory marine species. In southern right whales (SRWs, Eubalaena australis), patterns of genetic diversity are likely influenced by the glacial climate cycle and recent history of whaling. Here we use a dataset of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences (n = 1327) and nuclear markers (17 microsatellite loci, n = 222) from major wintering grounds to investigate circumpolar population structure, historical demography and effective population size. Analyses of nuclear genetic variation identify two population clusters that correspond to the South Atlantic and Indo-Pacific ocean basins that have similar effective breeder estimates. In contrast, all wintering grounds show significant differentiation for mtDNA, but no sex-biased dispersal was detected using the microsatellite genotypes. An approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) approach with microsatellite markers compared the scenarios with gene flow through time, or isolation and secondary contact between ocean basins, while modelling declines in abundance linked to whaling. Secondary-contact scenarios yield the highest posterior probabilities, implying that populations in different ocean basins were largely isolated and came into secondary contact within the last 25,000 years, but the role of whaling in changes in genetic diversity and gene flow over recent generations could not be resolved. We hypothesise that these findings are driven by factors that promote isolation, such as female philopatry, and factors that could promote dispersal, such as oceanographic changes. These findings highlight the application of ABC approaches to infer the connectivity in mobile species with complex population histories and, currently, low levels of differentiation.

Topographic and microclimatic impacts on glaciation of the Denison Range, southwest Tasmania

Morphostratigraphic relationships between landforms and sediments, comparative boulder weathering status, and paired 10Be and 26Al exposure ages indicate the occurrence of at least three separate glaciations that are interpreted as dating from MIS 2, 6 and possibly 8. The Rhona Glacier remained at or close to its greatest LGM extent until ∼17.6 ka due to a very favourable micro-climate that resulted from local topography. That these factors were sufficient to over-power relatively subtle zonal temperature shifts that caused significant changes in more exposed Tasmanian glaciers implies a need for caution in correlating between glacier systems in markedly different topographic settings when environmental conditions are only marginally supportive of glaciation. No evidence was detected for any greater ice extent during MIS 3 or MIS 4 than during MIS 2, but much more extensive glaciations occurred during earlier glacial climatic cycles. Reduced local precipitation in parallel with increasing aridity of the Australian continent may account for the progressively diminishing maximum extent of glaciers during the latter part of the Pleistocene, and it would have emphasized the importance of local topography and microclimate for the glaciers of southwest Tasmania.

Climatically controlled formation of river terraces in a tectonically active region along the southern piedmont of the Tian Shan, NW China

Combined tectonic uplift and Quaternary climate variability control the deposition and abandonment of terraces along the southern Tian Shan in northwest China. Several preserved terraces have been deformed by an actively growing anticline within the uplifted frontal thrust system of the southern Tian Shan. We combine geomorphic mapping, topographic surveys of the deformed terrace surfaces, 10Be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) depth profile dating, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to develop a new chronology for the terraces along the Huangshui He since 550ka. Our in situ 10Be dating of fluvial gravels capping strath terraces suggests a relationship between the formation and abandonment of the terraces and glacial climate cycles since the middle-late Pleistocene. These data indicate that the formation of the four terraces occurred at ~550, ~ 430, ~ 350, and ~60ka. We suggest that episodes of aggradation were facilitated by high sediment supply during glacial periods, followed by subsequent incision that led to abandonment of these terraces during deglaciation. We also estimate that tectonically induced river incision may account for about 60–70% of the total incision. However, during the intervening time between 350ka and present, only one terrace was formed and preserved. We suggest that this record might be caused by a gradually decreasing uplift rate of the anticline through time and thus has influenced the preservation of terraces. Therefore, our results demonstrate the utility of chronologic records from southern Tian Shan for deconvolving the effects of tectonics and climate on fluvial incision.

Biological and climatic consequences of a cold, stratified, high latitude ocean

The flux from deep- and shallow-living radiolarian assemblages provides evidence of a glacial, high latitude, cold ocean stratification that increased biological pump efficiency and promoted ocean carbon sequestration. Greater deep (>200 m) than shallow-living (<200 m) radiolarian assemblage flux characterizes glacial North Pacific (>45° N) sediments with the deep-living Cycladophora davisiana dominant (>24%). By contrast modern radiolarian flux consists primarily of shallow-living species (C. davisiana <10%). Clues to the cause of this unusual glacial radiolarian flux come from the presently, strongly stratified Sea of Okhotsk. Here beneath a thin nutrient depleted mixed layer radiolarian and zooplankton faunas conform to the sea's physical stratification with lower concentrations of both in a Cold (−1.5 to 1 °C) Intermediate Layer (CIL) (20–125 m) and higher concentrations in waters between 200 and 500 m (Nimmergut and Abelmann, 2002). This biological stratification generates a radiolarian flux echoing that of the glacial northwest Pacific with C. davisiana 26% of total flux. Widespread C. davisiana percentages (>20%) in high latitude (>45°) glacial sediments of both hemispheres is evidence that these oceans were capped with an Okhotsk-Like Stratification (O-LS). O-LS provides mechanisms to (1) strip nutrients from surface waters depriving the deep-ocean of preformed nutrients, increasing biological pump efficiency and (2) deepen carbon re-mineralization increasing deep-ocean alkalinity. Both may have contributed to lower glacial atmospheric CO2 concentrations. O-LS would also have amplified glacial climatic cycles by promoting the spread of high latitude sea ice in winter as occurs in the Sea of Okhotsk today, and reducing gas exchange between ocean and atmosphere in summer.

The loess sequence of Dolní Věstonice, Czech Republic: A new OSL‐based chronology of the Last Climatic Cycle

The Dolní Věstonice loess section in the Czech Republic is well known for its high‐resolution loess–palaeosol sequence of the last interglacial–glacial climatic cycle (Upper Pleistocene). The loess section is situated in a climatic transition zone between oceanic and continental climates and is therefore of great value in reconstructing past regional climate conditions and their interaction with climate systems, in particular that of the North Atlantic. Based on a combination of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages, stratigraphic field observations and magnetic susceptibility measurements, a chrono‐climatic interpretation of the Dolní Věstonice loess section is presented. To establish a reliable Upper Pleistocene chronology, a quartz OSL approach was applied for equivalent dose (De) determination. Monomineralic quartz extracts of three distinct grain sizes, fine (4–11 μm), middle (38–63 μm) and coarse (90–200 μm), were used and compared. Within error limits, the calculated OSL ages are the same for the different grain sizes, and the OSL ages are in stratigraphic order. The established OSL chronology is in agreement with a Weichselian litho‐ and pedostratigraphy. The Dolní Věstonice loess section is characterized by four pedosedimentary subsequences. At the base of the profile, subsequence I is characterized by a distinct Early Glacial soil complex, OSL‐dated to c. 110 to 70 ka, representing one of the most complete records of environmental change in the European loess belt. Subsequence II is allocated to the Lower Pleniglacial and is characterized by laminated sandy loess. Middle Pleniglacial subsequence III is represented by a brown soil complex, and is followed by the uppermost subsequence IV, characterized by a thick body of laminated sandy loess, indicating strong wind activity and a high sedimentation rate of more than ∼1 mm a−1 during the Upper Pleniglacial. According to the OSL chronology, as well as to the sedimentological and palaeopedological investigations, it is likely that the sequence at Dolní Věstonice has recorded most of the climatic events expressed in the NGRIP δ18O reference record between 110 and 70 ka.

Retracing the Quaternary history of sea-level changes in the Spanish Mediterranean–Atlantic coasts: Geomorphological and sedimentological approach

This study analyses coastal geomorphic responses to the various sea-level changes that occurred throughout the Quaternary period in the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Spain. Particular emphasis is paid to the geomorphic and stratigraphic record of the changes in amplitude, duration and frequency associated with the major gradual climate changes observed in marine cores and ice oxygen-isotope records during the Early and Middle Pleistocene (ca. 2.6Myr; ca. ~1.4–0.8Myr; ca. ~0.4–0.2Myr) and also with the rapid and abrupt Late Pleistocene and Holocene climate changes. With this aim, the best preserved and most complete sedimentary sequences known in the Spanish Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts covering diverse geodynamic and climatic contexts were selected and analyses. This study is mainly based on field investigation of geomorphic, sedimentologic and stratigraphic features of mapped morphosedimentary units, combined with reliable chronological data. The analyses include the interpretation of sedimentary environments, the 3-D reconstruction of facies and morphosedimentary unit arrangement, paying special attention to the lateral geomorphic relationships between marine and terrestrial morphosedimentary units developed during interglacials under sea-level highstand scenarios. The interglacials occurred during four key Quaternary periods might be related with major gradual changes associated with glacial climate cycles reported from marine and ice oxygen-isotope records. Almost coeval changes in geomorphological styles are reported from all studied areas, regardless of their specific geodynamic context. Results from the Mediterranean realm suggest that this area is more sensitive to climatic and sea level variability than the Spanish Atlantic coast, particularly in the case of rapid and abrupt changes.

The ghost of stochastic resonance: an introductory review

Nonlinear systems driven by noise and periodic forces with more than one frequency exhibit the phenomenon of Ghost Stochastic Resonance (GSR) found in a wide and disparate variety of fields ranging from biology to geophysics. The common novel feature is the emergence of a ‘ghost’ frequency in the system's output which is absent in the input. As reviewed here, the uncovering of this phenomenon helped to understand a range of problems, from the perception of pitch in complex sounds or visual stimuli, to the explanation of climate cycles. Recent theoretical efforts show that a simple mechanism with two ingredients are at work in all these observations. The first one is the linear interference between the periodic inputs and the second a nonlinear detection of the largest constructive interferences, involving a noisy threshold. These notes are dedicated to review the main aspects of this phenomenon, as well as its different manifestations described on a bewildering variety of systems ranging from neurons, semiconductor lasers, electronic circuits to models of glacial climate cycles.

A palaeobiogeographic model for biotic diversification within Amazonia over the past three million years

Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain high species diversity in Amazonia, but few generalizations have emerged. In part, this has arisen from the scarcity of rigorous tests for mechanisms promoting speciation, and from major uncertainties about palaeogeographic events and their spatial and temporal associations with diversification. Here, we investigate the environmental history of Amazonia using a phylogenetic and biogeographic analysis of trumpeters (Aves: Psophia), which are represented by species in each of the vertebrate areas of endemism. Their relationships reveal an unforeseen 'complete' time-slice of Amazonian diversification over the past 3.0 Myr. We employ this temporally calibrated phylogeny to test competing palaeogeographic hypotheses. Our results are consistent with the establishment of the current Amazonian drainage system at approximately 3.0-2.0 Ma and predict the temporal pattern of major river formation over Plio-Pleistocene times. We propose a palaeobiogeographic model for the last 3.0 Myr of Amazonian history that has implications for understanding patterns of endemism, the temporal history of Amazonian diversification and mechanisms promoting speciation. The history of Psophia, in combination with new geological evidence, provides the strongest direct evidence supporting a role for river dynamics in Amazonian diversification, and the absence of such a role for glacial climate cycles and refugia.

Uplift and active tectonics of southern Albania inferred from incision of alluvial terraces

In Albania, the Osum and Vjoje rivers cross the active graben system and the active frontal thrust system of the Albanides. The effects of climatic and geodynamic forcing on the development of these two rivers were investigated by the means of field mapping, topographic surveying and absolute exposure-age dating. We established the chronology of terraces abandonment from the compilation of new dating ( 14C and in situ produced 10Be) and previously published data. We identified nine fluvial terraces units developed since Marine Isotope Stage 6 up to historic times. From this reconstituted history, we quantified the vertical uplift on a time scale shorter than the glacial climatic cycle. Regional bulging produces an overall increase of the incision rate from the west to the east that reaches a maximum value of 2.8 m/ka in the hinterland. Local pulses of incision are generated by activation of normal faults. The most active faults have a SW–NE trend and a vertical slip rate ranging from 1.8 to 2.2 m/ka. This study outlines the geodynamic control in the development of rivers flowing through the Albanides on the scale of 10 3–10 5ka.

Oscillating glacial northern and southern deep water formation from combined neodymium and carbon isotopes

While ocean circulation is driven by the formation of deep water in the North Atlantic and the Circum-Antarctic, the role of southern-sourced deep water formation in climate change is poorly understood. Here we address the balance of northern- and southern-sourced waters in the South Atlantic through the last glacial period using neodymium isotope ratios of authigenic ferromanganese oxides in thirteen deep sea cores from throughout the South Atlantic. The data indicate that northern-sourced water did not reach the Southern Ocean during the late glacial, and was replaced by southern-derived intermediate and deep waters. The high-resolution neodymium isotope record (~ 300 yr sample spacing) from two spliced deep Cape Basin sites indicates that over the last glacial period northern-sourced water mass export to the Southern Ocean was stronger during the major Greenland millennial warming intervals (and Southern Hemisphere cool periods), and particularly during the major interstadials 8, 12, and 14. Northern-sourced water mass export was weaker during Greenland stadials and reached minima during Heinrich Events. The benthic foraminiferal carbon isotopes in the same Cape Basin core reflect a partial control by Southern Hemisphere climate changes and indicate that deep water formation and ventilation occurred in the Southern Ocean during major Greenland cooling intervals (stadials). Together, neodymium isotopes and benthic carbon isotopes provide new information about water mass sourcing and circulation in deep Southern Ocean waters during rapid glacial climate changes. Combining carbon and neodymium isotopes can be used to monitor the relative proportion of northern- and southern-sourced waters in the Cape Basin to gain insight into the processes which control the carbon isotopic composition of deep waters. In this study we show that deep water formation and circulation was more important than biological productivity and nutrient regeneration changes for controlling the carbon isotope chemistry of Antarctic Bottom Water during millennial-scale glacial climate cycles. This observation also lends support to the hypothesis that ocean circulation is linked to interhemispheric climate changes on short timescales, and that ventilation in the glacial ocean rapidly switched between the northern and Southern Hemisphere on millennial timescales.

Chronology of the Last Climatic Cycle (Upper Pleistocene) of the Surduk loess sequence, Vojvodina, Serbia

The Surduk loess section in Serbia provides a 20 m thick pedosedimentary record of the last interglacial–glacial climatic cycle (Upper Pleistocene). Based on optical dating, a chronostratigraphy could be established for the last climatic cycle, yielding the first numerical ages of a loess record from the middle Danube basin. Infrared‐stimulated luminescence (IR‐OSL) dating has been applied to the polymineral silt fraction using a multiple aliquot additive‐dose protocol to determine the equivalent dose (DE). Within error limits, all age estimates are in stratigraphic order. Owing to the application of shine‐plateau tests, the samples showed no evidence of insufficient bleaching. The Surduk loess section comprises three major periods of soil formation. Based on the IR‐OSL chronostratigraphy, the lowermost pedocomplex is attributed to the Last Interglacial and to the Early Glacial (Marine Isotope Stage – MIS 5e to 5a). The middle part of the section exhibits a succession of weakly developed brown soils and a humic horizon, named ‘Surduk soil’, formed during MIS 3. On top of the section, recent soil formation is related to the Holocene. Thick loess deposits are preserved between these palaeosols and are attributed to the Lower and Upper Pleniglacials (MIS 4 and 2), respectively. Estimated mean sedimentation rates are 0.1–0.2 mm/yr for the last glacial cycle, with a strong increase to 0.6 mm/yr with onset of the Pleniglacial.

Possible solar origin of the 1,470-year glacial climate cycle demonstrated in a coupled model

Many palaeoclimate records from the North Atlantic region show a pattern of rapid climate oscillations, the so-called Dansgaard-Oeschger events, with a quasi-periodicity of approximately 1,470 years for the late glacial period. Various hypotheses have been suggested to explain these rapid temperature shifts, including internal oscillations in the climate system and external forcing, possibly from the Sun. But whereas pronounced solar cycles of approximately 87 and approximately 210 years are well known, a approximately 1,470-year solar cycle has not been detected. Here we show that an intermediate-complexity climate model with glacial climate conditions simulates rapid climate shifts similar to the Dansgaard-Oeschger events with a spacing of 1,470 years when forced by periodic freshwater input into the North Atlantic Ocean in cycles of approximately 87 and approximately 210 years. We attribute the robust 1,470-year response time to the superposition of the two shorter cycles, together with strongly nonlinear dynamics and the long characteristic timescale of the thermohaline circulation. For Holocene conditions, similar events do not occur. We conclude that the glacial 1,470-year climate cycles could have been triggered by solar forcing despite the absence of a 1,470-year solar cycle.

River response to an active fold-and-thrust belt in a convergent margin setting, North Island, New Zealand

High-resolution digital elevation data (TOPSAR 10-m grid) are used to reconstruct Late Quaternary growth histories of subtle folding in the Wairarapa fold-and-thrust belt, North Island, New Zealand. Outcrop data of deformed latest Miocene and younger strata are combined with observations of warped and faulted late Quaternary terrace surfaces to unravel the geomorphic and structural history of the Huangarua River valley. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of loess that accumulated on these strath terraces and paleosol stratigraphy allow temporal correlation among the terraces and with glacial climate cycles since the Last Interglaciation. These data indicate that five intervals of strath cutting occurred, at ∼125, 60–70, ∼30, ∼15, and <10 ka. Strath beveling is largely independent of local folding or regional base-level change. We hypothesize that straths are cut when an increase in sediment supply, during cool climatic periods, brings river sediment load and river transport capacity into balance. In the Wairarapa, strath-cutting events appear to occur near the end of cool climatic cycles. This study shows that the identification of subtle departures from regional topographic trends becomes practical when a high-resolution DEM is available. After subtraction of an average valley gradient from the digital topography, the residual topography on the terrace treads reveals cross-valley and longitudinal tilting. Although rates of folding are slow and the magnitude of deformation is commonly limited to less than a few tens of meters, these topographic anomalies define fold axes that coincide with subsurface structures. When combined with time control, these anomalies serve to define the patterns and rates of fold growth over the past 125 kyears.

A Fluvial Record of Long-term Steady-state Uplift and Erosion Across the Cascadia Forearc High, Western Washington State

Six late Quaternary river terraces, preserved along the Clearwater River in northwestern Washington State, provide a ∼140 ka record of long-term incision and uplift across the western side of the Cascadia forearc high. Terrace ages are constrained by weathering rind and radiocarbon dating and by correlation to dated coastal glacio-fluvial deposits and the global eustatic curve. The terraces overlie flat bedrock surfaces, called straths, which represent uplifted segments of the river channel. Bedrock incision is measured by the height of a strath relative to the adjacent modern river channel. The straths along the Clearwater show an upstream increase in bedrock incision, ranging from ∼0 at the coast to a maximum of 110 m in the headwaters. The incision at any point along the profile increases systematically with strath age. The calculated incision rates range from ∼10 ky) the Clearwater River valley has maintained a steady-state profile defined by a long-term balance in the rates of incision and rock uplift. Upstream divergence of terraces is best explained by an increase in the rate of rock uplift from the coast toward the central part of the range. These results are consistent with other evidence indicating a long-term steady-state balance between the accretionary influx and the erosional outflux for this part of the Cascadia subduction wedge since ∼14 Ma. These results help show how terrace deposits form in tectonically active landscapes. The dominantly fluvial Clearwater drainage was forming straths while alpine glaciers were advancing in adjacent drainages. In turn, the straths were buried during the transition to interglacial times because of increased sediment supply due to local deglaciation and because of eustatic highstands that forced aggradation in the lower reach of the drainage and across the continental shelf as well. The fluvial system shows strong forcing by the glacial climate cycle. Even so, the river appears to have returned to the same valley profile during each cycle of strath cutting. Thus, bedrock incision is clearly unsteady at time scales shorter than the glacial climate cycle (∼100 Ky) but appears to be relatively steady when averaged over longer time scales. A simple kinematic model is used to examine how uplift of the Cl. Our analysis indicates that the accretionary flux into the wedge occurs mainly by frontal accretion and not by underplating. If accretion occurred entirely at the front of the wedge, the present west coast should be moving to the northeast at ∼3 m/ky, relative to a fixed Puget Sound. This prediction is in good agreement with offset of a ∼122 ka sea cliff preserved at the southwest side of the Clearwater valley profile. In this case, the long-term margin-perpendicular shortening would account for 20 to 35 percent of the geodetically-measured northeast-southwest shortening across the Olympic Mountains.

Factors controlling late Cenozoic continental margin growth from the Ebro Delta to the western Mediterranean deep sea

The Ebro continental margin sedimentation system originated with a Messinian fluvial system. This system eroded both a major subaerial canyon cutting the margin southeastward from the present Ebro Delta and an axial valley that drained northeastward down Valencia Trough. Post-Messinian submergence of this topography and the Pliocene regime of high sea levels resulted in a marine hemipelagic drape over the margin. Late Pliocene to Pleistocene glacial climatic cycles, drainagebasin deforestation, and sea-level lowstands combined to increase sediment supply, cause the margin to prograde, and create a regime of lowstand sediment-gravity flows in the deeper margin. The depositional patterns of regressive, transgressive and highstand sea-level regimes suggest that location of the sediment source near the present Ebro Delta throughout the late Cenozoic, southward current advection of sediment, and greater subsidence in the southern margin combined to cause generally asymmetric progradation of the margin to the southeast. Thicker, less stable deposits filling the Messinian subaerial canyon underwent multiple retrograde failures, eroded wide gullied canyons and formed unchanneled base-of-slope sediment aprons in the central margin area; other margin areas to the north and south developed a series of channel-levee complexes. On the basin floor, the formation of Valencia Valley over the Messinian subaerial valley and earlier faults led to draining of about 20% of the Ebro Pleistocene sediment from channel-levee complexes through the valley to prograde Valencia Fan as much as 500 km northeast of the margin. Thus, the Ebro margin has two growth directions, mainly southeastward during higher sea levels, and eastward to northeastward during lower sea levels. The northeastward draining of turbidity currents has produced unusually thin and widely dispersed turbidite systems compared to those on ponded basin floors. During the past few centuries, man's impact has exceeded natural controls on Ebro margin growth. Deforestation of the drainage basin more than doubled the normal Holocene sediment supply, and construction of dams then reduced the supply by 95%. This reduction of the past 50 years has caused erosion of the delta and contamination of bottom sediment because normal Holocene sediment discharge is not available to prograde the delta or help dilute pollutants.