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2007-05-22
Spatial structure of the 8200 cal yr BP event in northern Europe
H. Seppä
heikki.seppa@helsinki.fi
H. J. B. Birks
T. Giesecke
D. Hammarlund
T. Alenius
K. Antonsson
A. E. Bjune
M. Heikkilä
G. M. MacDonald
A. E. K. Ojala
R. J. Telford
S. Veski
Department of Geology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 64, 00014, Finland
Department of Biology, University of Bergen, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway
Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Allégaten 55, 5007 Bergen, Norway
Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H OAP, UK
Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, Roxby Building, Liverpool, L69 7ZT, UK
GeoBiosphere Science Centre, Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, 22362 Lund, Sweden
Geological Survey of Finland, P.O. Box 96, 02151 Espoo, Finland
Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, 75236 Uppsala, Sweden
Department of Geography, UCLA, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1524, USA
Institute of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia
A synthesis of well-dated high-resolution pollen records
suggests a spatial structure in the 8200 cal yr BP event in northern Europe.
The temperate, thermophilous tree taxa, especially <i>Corylus</i>,
<i>Ulmus</i>, and <i>Alnus</i>, decline abruptly between 8300 and 8000 cal yr BP
at most sites located south of 61° N, whereas there is no clear
change in pollen values at the sites located in the North-European tree-line
region. Pollen-based quantitative temperature reconstructions and several
other, independent palaeoclimate proxies, such as lacustrine oxygen-isotope
records, reflect the same pattern, with no detectable cooling in the
sub-arctic region. The observed patterns challenges the general view of
the wide-spread occurrence of the 8200 cal yr BP event in the North Atlantic
region. An alternative explanation is that the cooling during the 8200 cal yr BP
event took place mostly during the winter and spring, and the
ecosystems in the south responded sensitively to the cooling during the
onset of the growing season. In contrast, in the sub-arctic area, where the
vegetation was still dormant and lakes ice-covered, the cold event is not
reflected in pollen-based or lake-sediment-based records.
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