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Climate patterns revealed by pollen and oxygen isotope records of a Tyrrhenian sea core

Nature volume 342, pages 413–416 (1989)Cite this article

Abstract

THE analysis of pollen from marine cores has produced continental palaeoclimate records which have been directly correlated with the oxygen isotope record of global ice volume and regional climate1–3. Here we tie the palaeoclimate of southern Europe to this global climate signal by reporting continuous pollen and δ18O records of a well-dated core in the Tyrrhenian Sea for the time span of 55–9 kyr BP. These records show a strong covariation between the marine δ18O reversed curve and a good terrestrial climate indicator, namely the pollen abundance of deciduous oak from the upland sub-humid Mediterranean forest of southern Italy and Sicily, which seems mainly constrained by moisture variation. The Artemisia and grass pollen abundances document the shift between continental semi-desert and oceanic steppe climates. Repetitive successions between 55 and 33 kyr BP of grass, oak, Artemisia and Abies pollen abundance peaks occur in locked phase with δ18O depletion events and indicate that regional vegetation cycles closely accompany deglacial pulses of global extent.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Palynologie, URA 327 du CNRS, Université de Montpellier II, Sciences et Techniques du Languedoc, 34095, Montpellier, Cedex 2, France

    Martine Rossignol-Strick & Nadine Planchais

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  1. Martine Rossignol-Strick
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  2. Nadine Planchais
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Rossignol-Strick, M., Planchais, N. Climate patterns revealed by pollen and oxygen isotope records of a Tyrrhenian sea core. Nature 342, 413–416 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/342413a0

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