Lateglacial and early Holocene climates of the Atlantic margins of Europe: Stable isotope, mollusc and pollen records from Orkney, Scotland

Whittington, Graeme; Edwards, Kevin J.; Zanchetta, Giovanni; Keen, David H.; Bunting, M. Jane; Fallick, Anthony E.; Bryant, Charlotte L.

Abstract

The margins of mainland Europe, and especially those areas coming under the influence of North Atlantic weather systems, are ideally placed to record changing palaeoclimates. Cores from an infilled lake basin at Crudale Meadow in Mainland, Orkney, revealed basal deposits of calcareous mud (‘marl’) beneath sedge peat. Stable isotope, palynological and molluscan analyses allowed the establishment of palaeoenvironmental changes through the Devensian Lateglacial and the early Holocene. The δ18Omarl record exhibited the existence of possibly four climatic oscillations in the Lateglacial (one of which, within event cf. GI-1c, is not often commented upon), as well as the Preboreal Oscillation and other Holocene perturbations. The cold episodes succeeding the Preboreal Oscillation were demarcated conservatively and one of these (event C5, ∼11.0 ka) may have previously been unremarked, while the putative 9.3 and 8.2 ka events seem not to produce corresponding palynologically visible floristic changes. The events at Crudale Meadow are consistent with those recorded at other sites from Britain, Ireland and elsewhere, and can be correlated with isotopic changes shown by the Greenland ice cores. The multi-proxy approach enriches the environmental reconstructions from the site, although the synchronicity of the response of the various proxies is sometimes equivocal, depending upon the time period concerned, taphonomy, and the nature of the deposits. The site may contain the most northerly Lateglacial isotope record from northwest Europe, and it has yielded one of the best archives for the demonstration of abrupt early Holocene events within Britain.

Citation

Whittington, G., Edwards, K. J., Zanchetta, G., Keen, D. H., Bunting, M. J., Fallick, A. E., & Bryant, C. L. (2015). Lateglacial and early Holocene climates of the Atlantic margins of Europe: Stable isotope, mollusc and pollen records from Orkney, Scotland. Quaternary science reviews, 122, 112-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.05.026

• Acceptance Date: May 28, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jun 9, 2015
• Publication Date: Aug 15, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jun 30, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 30, 2015
• Journal: Quaternary science reviews
• Print ISSN: 0277-3791
• Electronic ISSN: 1873-457X
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 122
• Pages: 112-130
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.05.026
• Keywords: Palaeoclimates; Isotopes; Palynology; Molluscs; Orkney; Britain; Ireland; Europe; North Atlantic; Greenland
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/375883
• Publisher URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379115300032
• Additional Information: Authors' accepted manuscript of article published in: Quaternary science reviews, 2015, v.122 at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379115300032