European Climatic Response to Millennial-Scale Changes in the Atmosphere–Ocean System during the Last Glacial Period

Abstract

Pollen, foraminifer, dinocyst, and coarse lithic high-resolution analyses and δ18O measurements have been carried out for the last-glacial section of marine core MD95-2042 located near the southwestern margin of the Iberian Peninsula. The pollen data indicate a high frequency of vegetational changes on the adjacent continent during this period, suggesting a climatic variability very similar to that of the Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles recorded by the Greenland ice cores. The detailed direct correlation of the terrestrial and marine proxy data from core MD95-2042 indicates a three-phase pattern of Heinrich events in land and ocean environments. The first and last phases of the H5 and H4 events are characterized by a mild and humid climate in southwestern Europe, probably associated with the European origin of the ice-rafted detritus. The middle phase exhibits a cold and dry climate in Iberia linked with the maximum input of ice-rafted detritus. This phase seems to correspond with the Laurentide ice-sheet surges. Between the Heinrich events, several cold and dry periods on land are correlated with stades of the Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles. The impact of the Dansgaard-Oeschger stades in southwestern Europe seems to be preferentially connected to the cold winter air masses reaching this mid-latitude region.