Climate variability over the last 35,000 years recorded in marine and terrestrial archives in the Australian region: an OZ-INTIMATE compilation

• Published in: Quaternary Science Reviews
• Main Authors: Reeves, Jessica M., Barrows, Timothy T., Cohen, Timothy J., Kiem, Anthony S., Bostock, Helen C., Fitzsimmons, Kathryn E., Jansen, John D., Kemp, Justine, Krause, Claire, Petherick, Lynda, Phipps, Steven J.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Pergamon Press 2013
• Subjects: Australia; Tropics; Temperate; Arid zone; Southern Ocean; Last Glacial Maximum; Deglacial period; Holocene; INTIMATE; 1105 Ecology; Evolution; Behavior and Systematics; 1204 Archaeology; 1907 Geology; 2306 Global and Planetary Change; 3302 Archaeology
• Online Access: https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:710745

The Australian region spans some 600 of latitude and 500 of longitude and displays considerable regional climate variability both today and during the Late Quaternary. A synthesis of marine and terrestrial climate records, combining findings from the Southern Ocean, temperate, tropical and arid zones, identifies a complex response of climate proxies to a background of changing boundary conditions over the last 35,000 years. Climate drivers include the seasonal timing of insolation, greenhouse gas content of the atmosphere, sea level rise and ocean and atmospheric circulation changes. Our compilation finds few climatic events that could be used to construct a climate event stratigraphy for the entire region, limiting the usefulness of this approach. Instead we have taken a spatial approach, looking to discern the patterns of change across the continent.