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Vegetation response in NW Mediterranean borderlands to the millennial-scale climate variability during the Last Glacial period

Year: 2024
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Deep-sea pollen records from the Western European margin indicate that regional vegetation oscillated between open forest and steppe during the Last Glacial period (ca. 115 – 11.7 kiloyears [kyrs]) in response to the millennial scale climate variability, specifically the Dansgaard-Oeschger, (D-O) cycles and Heinrich events (HE). The magnitude of the forest expansions during D-O warming events was modulated by orbital parameters. However, the vegetation response in the northwestern Mediterranean region during this period remains poorly understood due to the fragmentary nature of the available sequences.In this study, we present a new well-chronologically constrained high-resolution marine pollen record from the Gulf of Lion (MD99-2343, 40°29'N, 4°01'E), documenting the NW Mediterranean borderlands’ vegetation response during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 4 to 2 (~73 - 14 kyrs).Initial findings highlight that the extent of the temperate forest expansions in NW Mediterranean borderlands, i.e., the forest colonizing the Rhône and Ebro valleys, in response to D-Os warming events is modulated by precession; as previously indicated by Western European margin pollen records located in the Mediterranean region below 40°N. In Western Europe, the HEs are all characterized by steppe expansions, but the new pollen analysis documents another scenario with an increase in forest cover during HE 6 and 2. We hypothesize that local atmospheric and marine processes in the Gulf of Lion allowed the development of the temperate forest in the NW Mediterranean borderlands during HE 6 and 2, while the expansion of open and steppic environments occurred in other Western European regions.
Source: HAL
Language: English
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4416789484
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