PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION IN NORTHWEST SCOTLAND AND SOUTHWEST FLORIDA DURING THE LATE HOLOCENE ...

• Main Author: Wang, Ting
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2011
• Subjects: Mull; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17615/r4wp-kg29; https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/dissertations/5425kb523?locale=en

The study reconstructed seasonal climate change in mid-latitude northwest Scotland during the climate episodes Neoglacial (~3300-2500 BP) and Roman Warm Period (RWP; ~2500-1600 BP) and in subtropical southwest Florida during the latter part of RWP (1-550 AD) based on archaeological shell accumulations in two study areas. In northwest Scotland, seasonal sea surface temperature (SST) during the Neoglacial and RWP was estimated from high-resolution oxygen isotope ratios of radiocarbon-dated limpet (Patella vulgata) shells accumulated in a cave dwelling on the Isle of Mull. The SST results revealed a cooling transition from the Neoglacial to RWP, which is supported by earlier studies of pine pollen in Scotland and European glacial events and also coincident with the abrupt climate deterioration at 2800-2700 BP. The cooling transition might have been driven by decreased solar radiation and weakened North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) conditions. In southwest Florida, seasonal-scale climate conditions for the latter ...