The duration of forest stages in southern Europe and interglacial climate variability

Foraminiferal oxygen isotope and pollen analyses from a deep-sea sequence off southwest Portugal show that the duration of temperate stages on land over the past 350,000 years varied considerably. The record shows forest contractions during intervals of low ice volume, coeval with declines in atmosp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Tzedakis, PC, Roucoux, KH, de Abreu, L, Shackleton, NJ
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2004
Subjects:
ISOTOPE SUBSTAGE 5E
GLACIAL CYCLES
SEA-LEVEL
ICE CORE
RECORDS
MARINE
LONG
TERRESTRIAL
GREECE
STRATIGRAPHY
ice core
Online Access:https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/publications/74275cf8-f139-4c84-b9a6-3987f63e4f05
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1102398
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Summary:Foraminiferal oxygen isotope and pollen analyses from a deep-sea sequence off southwest Portugal show that the duration of temperate stages on land over the past 350,000 years varied considerably. The record shows forest contractions during intervals of low ice volume, coeval with declines in atmospheric methane, after which tree populations did not always recover. What emerges is that, although the broad timing of interglacials is consistent with orbital theory, their specific duration may be dictated by millennial. variability. This complicates the prediction of the natural duration of interglacials, at least until the origin of this climate variability is understood.

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