Vegetation and climate during warmer intervals in the Late Pleistocene of western and central Europe

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Abstract

Many warmer intervals occurred during the last interglacial-glacial cycle (130-10 ka) in Europe. The vegetational record shows several types of such intervals, among which the forest periods of the Eemian interglacial and the Amersfoort-Brørup interstadials of the Early Weichselian are of special interest. A series of map reconstructions is used to present some of the relevant vegetational and paleoclimatic characterizations. They represent two types of temperate intervals occurring in the Late Pleistocene in Europe, one with a rather uniform distribution of vegetation types, a warmer oceanic climate, and a high sea-level. The other type shows strong vegetation gradients (both north-south and east-west), a more continental climate, and a relatively low sea-level. Inland-ice probably persisted in the far north during this last type of interval.

It is suggested that these two types of ‘interglacial’ occurred throughout the Pleistocene.

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