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www.clim-past-discuss.net/5/671/2009/
doi:10.5194/cpd-5-671-2009
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Rapid climatic variability in the west Mediterranean during the last 25 000 years from high resolution pollen data
1Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, UMR 1572 CNRS/CEA/UVSQ, 91198 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France
2Laboratoire de Chrono-Environnement, UMR 6249 CNRS, Université de Franche-Comté, UFR des Sciences et Techniques, 16 Route de Gray, 25030 Besançon, France
Abstract. High-temporal resolution pollen record of Alboran Sea ODP Site 976 and pollen-based quantitative climate reconstruction shows that changes of Mediterranean vegetation have been clearly modulated by short and long term variability during the last 25 000 years. The western Mediterranean vegetation response appears nearly synchronous with North Atlantic variability during the last deglaciation as well as during the Holocene. High-resolution analyses of the ODP 976 pollen record allows to separate the Bölling/Alleröd period in two warm episodes that surround a cooling representative of the climatic succession of the Bölling, Older Dryas and Alleröd. A cooling trend is observed from Bölling to Alleröd. The ODP pollen record confirms that Mediterranean environments show rapid responses to the climatic fluctuations during the last termination, in particular that of all the climate oscillations associated with the successive steps of the deglaciation in the North Atlantic have been observed in the west Mediterranean region. Recurrent Holocene declines of the forest cover on the Alboran Sea borderlands indicate repetitive climate events that correlate well with several events of increased Mediterranean dryness observed on the continent and with alkenone SST showing Mediterranean Sea cooling. These events reflect clearly the response of to Mediterranean vegetation to North Atlantic Holocene cold events.
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Citation: Combourieu Nebout, N., Peyron, O., and Dormoy, I.: Rapid climatic variability in the west Mediterranean during the last 25 000 years from high resolution pollen data, Clim. Past Discuss., 5, 671-707, doi:10.5194/cpd-5-671-2009, 2009. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
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