Smoothed millennial-scale palaeoclimatic reference data as unconventional comparison targets: Application to European loess records
Scientific Reports, vol. 10, pp. 5455
Abstract
Abstract Millennial-scale palaeoclimate variability has been documented in various terrestrial and marine palaeoclimate proxy records throughout the Northern Hemisphere for the last glacial cycle. Its clear expression and rapid shifts between different states of climate (Greenland Interstadials and Stadials) represents a correlation tool beyond the resolution of e.g. luminescence dating, especially relevant for terrestrial deposits. Usually, comparison of terrestrial proxy datasets and the Greenland ice cores indicates a complex expression of millennial-scale climate variability as recorded in terrestrial geoarchives including loess. Loess is the most widespread terrestrial geoarchive of the Quaternary and especially widespread over Eurasia. However, loess often records a smoothed representation of millennial-scale variability without all fidelity when compared to the Greenland data, this being a relevant limiting feature in integrating loess with other palaeoclimate records. To better understand the loess proxy-response to millennial-scale climate variability, we simulate a proxy signal smoothing by natural processes through application of low-pass filters of δ18O data from Greenland, a high-resolution palaeoclimate reference record, alongside speleothem isotope records from the Black Sea-Mediterranean region. We show that low-pass filters represent rather simple models for better constraining the expression of millennial-scale climate variability in low sedimentation environments, and in sediments where proxy-response signals are most likely affected by natural smoothing (by e.g. bioturbation). Interestingly, smoothed datasets from Greenland and the Black Sea-Mediterranean region are most similar in the last ~15 ka and between ~50–30 ka. Between ~30–15 ka, roughly corresponding to the Last Glacial Maximum and the deglaciation, the records show dissimilarities, challenging the construction of robust correlative time-scales in this age range. From our analysis it becomes apparent that patterns of palaeoclimate signals in loess-palaeosol sequences often might be better explained by smoothed Greenland reference data than the original high-resolution Greenland dataset, or other reference data. This opens the possibility to better assess the temporal resolution and palaeoclimate potential of loess-palaeosol sequences in recording supra-regional climate patterns, as well as to securely integrate loess with other chronologically better-resolved palaeoclimate records.
Authors 10
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Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Université de Lille · Université Paris Sciences et Lettres · Observatoire de Paris · Sorbonne Université · LIAG Institute for Applied Geophysics · Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie
Affiliation as printed
IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Lille, Paris, France. christian.zeeden@leibniz-liag.de
LIAG, Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics, Hannover, Germany. christian.zeeden@leibniz-liag.de
LIAG, Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics, Hannover, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Organic Geochemistry Group, MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences and Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Romanian Academy, Institute of Speleology, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
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University of Potsdam · Heidelberg University
Affiliation as printed
Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Earth Sciences, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
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Charles University · Czech Geological Survey
Affiliation as printed
Center for Theoretical Study, Charles University and the Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
Czech Geological Survey, Prague, Czech Republic
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Affiliation as printed
Chair of Physical Geography, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Geography, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Department of Geography, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
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LIAG Institute for Applied Geophysics
Affiliation as printed
LIAG, Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics, Hannover, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
BayCEER & Chair of Geomorphology, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
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