Transferring radiometric dating of the last interglacial sea level high stand to marine and ice core records

• Published in: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
• Main Authors: Waelbroeck, C., Frank, Norbert, Jouzel, Jean, Parrenin, Frédéric, Masson-Delmotte, Valérie, Genty, Dominique
• Other Authors: Paléocéanographie (PALEOCEAN), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Géochrononologie Traceurs Archéométrie (GEOTRAC), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Glaces et Continents, Climats et Isotopes Stables (GLACCIOS), Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement (LGGE), Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (OSUG), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Pole–Ocean–Pole (EVK-2000-00089), EPICA-MIS (STREP-003868), ANR-05-BLAN-0312,PICC(2005)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2008
• Subjects: last interglacial; open-system ages; sea level; North Atlantic marine cores; ice cores; [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; ice core; North Atlantic; Planktonic foraminifera
• Online Access: https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-00381121; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2007.10.006

International audience In order to derive a radiometric age marker for the end of the penultimate glacial–interglacial transition, we compiled published U-series isotope measurements on corals from the period extending from stage 6 to the middle of the last interglacial, and computed the corresponding open-system ages using Thompson et al. model (Thompson, W.G., Spiegelman, M.W., Goldstein, S.L., Speed, R.C., An open-system model for U-series age determinations of fossil corals. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 210 (2003) 365–381). We obtain a global mean age of 126 calendar kyr BP (ka) ± 1.7kyr (2σ) for the beginning of the last interglacial sea level high stand. After showing that the phase relationships observed between changes in sea level, North Atlantic benthic and planktonic foraminifera oxygen isotopic records, and atmospheric methane over the last deglaciation were likely also valid over the penultimate deglaciation, we derive an age of 131.2ka ± 2kyr (2σ) for the abrupt increase in atmospheric CH4 and North Atlantic surface temperature marking the end of the penultimate glacial–interglacial transition. This age is consistent with U–Th dates of the penultimate glacial–interglacial transition recorded in speleothems from sites where speleothems isotopic records are synchronous with North Atlantic temperature records over the last deglaciation. Finally, we show that the phase obtained between the climatic response and northern hemisphere summer insolation is not constant from Termination II to Termination I, implying that northern hemisphere summer insolation alone cannot explain the timing of terminations.