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A 12,000-yr pollen record off Cape Hatteras — Pollen sources and mechanisms of pollen dispersion

Publication . Naughton, F.; Keigwin, L.; Peteet, D.; Costas, S.; Desprat, S.; Oliveira, Dulce; de Vernal, A.; H L Voelker, Antje; Abrantes, Fatima

Integrating both marine and terrestrial signals from the same sediment core is one of the primary challenges for understanding the role of ocean-atmosphere coupling throughout past climate changes. It is therefore vital to understand how the pollen signal of a given marine record reflects the vegetation changes of the neighboring continent. The comparison between the pollen record of marine core JPC32 (KNR178JPC32) and available terrestrial pollen sequences from eastern North America over the last 12,170 years indicates that the pollen signature off Cape Hatteras gives an integrated image of the regional vegetation encompassing the Pee Dee river, Chesapeake and Delaware hydrographic basins and is reliable in reconstructing the past climate of the adjacent continent. Extremely high quantities of pollen grains included in the marine sediments off Cape Hatteras were transferred from the continent to the sea, at intervals 10,100-8800 cal yr BP, 8300-7500 cal yr BP, 5800-4300 cal yr BP and 2100-730 cal yr BP, during storm events favored by episodes of rapid sea-level rise in the eastern coast of US. In contrast, pollen grains export was reduced during 12,170-10,150 cal yr BP and 4200-2200 cal yr BP, during episodes of intense continental dryness and slow sea level rise episodes or lowstands in the eastern coast of US. The near absence of reworked pollen grains in core JPC32 contrasts with the high quantity of reworked material in nearby but deeper located marine sites, suggesting that the JPC32 record was not affected by the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) since the end of the Younger Dryas and should be considered a key site for studying past climate changes in the western North Atlantic.

2015Journal article

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Climate variability across the last deglaciation in NW Iberia and its margin

Publication . Naughton, F.; Goni, Maria F. Sanchez; Rodrigues, T.; Salgueiro, Emilia; Costas, Susana; Desprat, S.; Duprat, J.; Michel, E.; Rossignol, L.; Zaragosi, S.; Voelker, Antje; Abrantes, Fatima

The direct comparison between marine and terrestrial data from the NW Iberian margin, core MD03-2697, allows us to accurately evaluate, without chronological ambiguity, the vegetation response to North Atlantic climate events across the last deglaciation. Comparison of MD03-2697 data with other marine and terrestrial records from a vast area stretching from the Azores to western (W) France, Iberia and its margin, the W Mediterranean and NW Africa reveals the importance of enhanced winter North Atlantic westerlies episodes in driving a heterogeneous regional climatic signal during particular events of the last deglaciation. Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1)/Oldest Dryas is a complex event marked by three synchronous main phases (a: extremely cold/relatively wet; b: cool/dry; c: relatively warmer/increasing moisture availability) in regions directly influenced by the North Atlantic while it is characterized by a single phase (cold and dry) in most inland and high altitude areas. Changes in the strength and position of North Atlantic westerlies could explain the variability in moisture during HS1 from W Pyrenees to W Mediterranean. The Bolling-Allerod (B-A) event is marked by a synchronous progressive increase of ocean and atmospheric temperatures and precipitation from the Bolling to the Allerod in W Iberia and W Pyrenees contrasting with the Greenland temperature pattern. Mid-to high latitudes thermal contrast and the gradual strengthening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) triggered the continuing enhancement of westerlies, and moisture, along this period.Finally, the Younger Dryas (YD) Stadial is characterized by a land-ocean synchronous returning cold conditions (but not so cold as HS1) and, although dry conditions persisted during this period, extreme winter precipitation occurrences might have affected the most coastal areas of north and central W Iberia and Pyrenees. In contrast, dry conditions persisted during the YD in the western Mediterranean regions. The westerlies migrated further north following the displacement of the Polar Front during the deglaciation precluding the input of moisture in the W Mediterranean region, which persisted very dry during the YD Stadial. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

2016-09Journal article

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