Late Pleistocene (MIS 3-4) climate inferred from micromammal communities and δ18O of rodents from Les Pradelles, France.

• Published in: Quaternary Research
• Main Authors: Royer, Aurélien, Lécuyer, Christophe, Montuire, Sophie, Escarguel, Gilles, Fourel, François, Mann, Alan, Maureille, Bruno
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon - Terre, Planètes, Environnement (LGL-TPE), École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS de Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut universitaire de France (IUF), Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche (M.E.N.E.S.R.), Biogéosciences UMR 6282 (BGS), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Anthropology, Princeton University, De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Study supported by a grant by the Department of Charente (CG16; France), and by the French CNRS.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: Oxygen isotope; Phosphate; Rodent; Small mammals; Pleistocene; Climate; Les Pradelles; [SDU.STU.PG]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Paleontology; [SDU.STU.GC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geochemistry; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Dicrostonyx torquatus; Microtus arvalis
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00836873; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2013.03.007

12 pages International audience The middle Paleolithic stratigraphic sequence of Les Pradelles (Charente, France) spans from the end of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 until the middle of MIS 3. Micromammal remains are present in all the stratigraphic levels, offering a rare opportunity to address the questions of both environmental and climatic fluctuations throughout this period. Climate modes were studied through the taphonomy, biodiversity and oxygen isotope compositions of phosphate (δ18Op) from 66 samples of rodent tooth enamel. The δ18Op values from the lower sedimentary levels provide summer mean air temperatures of 19 ± 2°C (level 2/1) and of 16 ± 2°C (levels 2A, 2B and 4A). Within the middle of sequence (level 4B), a paleobiodiversity change can be identified with an increase of Dicrostonyx torquatus, which is associated with the largest amplitude in δ18Op values and the highest maximal δ18Op values. At the top of the sequence (level 5-2), a biodiversity change is observed with the increase of Microtus arvalis, but without any change in δ18Op values. The association of cold rodent species with unexpected high and large amplitudes in the δ18Op values of their teeth, possibly indicative of aridity, suggests their deposition during a Heinrich event.