Mid-Late Quaternary vegetation and climate change reconstructed from palynology of marine cores off southwestern New Zealand

• Published in: Quaternary International
• Main Authors: Ryan, M, Newnham, RM, Dunbar, GB, Vandergoes, M, Neil, H, Bostock, HC
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: 18th INQUA Congress 2012
• Subjects: Pollen; New Zealand; Sedimenttion; Territorial waters; Aquatic Ecosystems; Glaciers; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://apo.ansto.gov.au/dspace/handle/10238/4274; http://www.inqua2011.ch/?a=programme&subnavi=abstract&id=1676

This paper presents preliminary findings from a new PhD investigation that aims to produce a long continuous mid-late Quaternary record of terrestrial pollen, vegetation, and climate. Records are generated from marine cores collected ca. 100 km west of the central South Island of New Zealand (ca. 42 oS, 170 oE). These cores were collected as part of the 2006 MATACORE voyage of R/V Marion DuFresne. Core sites were located on channel levees that have aggraded with sea-level rise, and are fed by river discharge and littoral drift where they cross the shelf and upper slope. The main core to be used in this study extends from the present back to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11, on the basis of preliminary ?18O stratigraphy, at an estimated sedimentation rate of 10 cm ka-1, which is comparatively high for the NZ region. Previous investigation of similar marine sequences has revealed their unexpected capacity for generating robust pollen records that mirror those produced at adjacent sites on land. This, allied with analysis of surface samples, has indicated the likely provenance and vegetation source area of the pollen. The marine sequences provide additional benefits to their terrestrial counterparts, notably the capacity to generate long, continuous pollen records with rigorous chronologies. These chronologies can be intimately tied to other marine proxies, investigated in the same sequences, and the climate reconstructions generated from them. These terrestrially influenced, high sedimentation, West Coast cores will enable stronger insights than were previously possible into marine and terrestrial climate in the southern mid-latitudes across the last 4-5 glacial-interglacial cycles. Of particular interest are the differences in timing of response to climate transitions, between the marine and terrestrial realms and between the southern mid-latitudes and northern hemisphere and Antarctic glaciations. Copyright (c) 2011 INQUA 18