The Preboreal climate reversal and a subsequent solar-forced climate shift

Summary, in English

Accurate chronologies are essential for linking palaeoclimate archives. Carbon-14 wiggle-match dating was used to produce an accurate chronology for part of an early Holocene peat sequence from the Borchert (The Netherlands). Following the Younger Dryas-Preboreal transition, two climatic shifts could be inferred. Around 11 400 cal. yr BP the expansion of birch (Betula) forest was interrupted by a dry continental phase with dominantly open grassland vegetation, coeval with the PBO (Preboreal Oscillation), as observed in the GRIP ice core. At 11 250 cal. yr BP a sudden shift to a humid climate occurred. This second change appears to be contemporaneous with: (i) a sharp increase of atmospheric C-14; (ii) a temporary decline of atmospheric CO2; and (iii) an increase in the GRIP Be-10 flux. The close correspondence with excursions of cosmogenic nuclides points to a decline in solar activity, which may have forced the changes in climate and vegetation at around 11 250 cal. yr BP. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

• Author: J Van der Plicht; B Van Geel; SJP Bohncke; JAA Bos; M Blaauw; AOM Speranza; Raimund Muscheler; Svante Björck
• Department/s: Quaternary Sciences
• Publishing year: 2004
• Language: English
• Pages: 263-269
• Publication/Series: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 3
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.835
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
• Topic: Geology
• Keywords: wiggle-match dating; peat; climate change; Preboreal; solar forcing; C-14; Be-10; O-18
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1099-1417