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

• 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://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/the-duration-of-forest-stages-in-southern-europe-and-interglacial-climate-variability(74275cf8-f139-4c84-b9a6-3987f63e4f05).html; https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1102398

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.