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The Climate and Environment of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS...
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The Climate and Environment of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), 60,000–27,000 Years before Present

A special issue of Quaternary (ISSN 2571-550X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 15139

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Frank Sirocko

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Guest Editor
Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany
Interests: cliamte; sedimentology; quaternary geology; paleoclimate; paleoweather
Dr. Pierre Antoine

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Guest Editor
Laboratoire de Géographie Physique, Environnements Quaternaires et Actuels, CNRS-Univ. Paris 1 & UPEC, F-92195 Meudon, France
Interests: stratigraphy; sedimentology; loess-palaeosol sequences, periglacial environments and features; Pleistocene fluvial terraces systems; Palaeolithic geoarchaeology
Prof. Dr. María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux, UMR 5805, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France
2. École Pratique des Hautes Études, EPHE PSL University, 75014 Paris, France
Interests: palynology; palaeoclimatology; palaeoecology; past climate-human interactions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Warming transitions during the Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3) from a cold stadial environment to a warm interstadial one had occurred, according to the annual resolution ice core chronology, within several decades. Ocean records from the North Atlantic revealed that the driving force of the different climate modes was closely related with the stability of the continental ice sheets and the Meridional Overturning Circulation of the North Atlantic. The interaction between these two globally important mechanisms is still under investigation, in particular regarding the so-called Heinrich Events in the North Atlantic.

The sea surface temperatures of the North Atlantic are known to control today the climate and weather of Europe, Northern Asia, the Mediterranean and the Near East countries. This Special Issue of “Quaternary” aims to present reviews and original research presenting new paleorecords from these regions to construct a common time series reflecting the rhythm and regional environment during the MIS3, when abrupt warming events and extreme cooling characterized the North Atlantic and European climate.

MIS3 characterizes the period when anatomically modern humans migrated from the Near East to Europe, Asia and Australia; the driving force behind these migrations is still unknown, as is the nature of the interactions between Neanderthal and Denisovan humans. Large volcanic eruptions such as the Campanian Ignimbrite devastated the land and likely impacted the weather and potentially even the climate. The environmental impact of the geomagnetic Laschamp excursion is still barely understood—especially in regard to how it impacted the fate of the MIS3 humans.

This Special Issue of Quaternary will present a comprehensive overview of different ice, marine and terrestrial archives. The issue will start with several research papers focusing on the central European climate, volcanism and environment reconstructed from the Eifel Maar lakes. The following papers will present comparable records from other parts of the global climate system. Climate Modelling studies will focus on the current state of knowledge of these dramatic millennia and their impact on the environment and humans.

Prof. Dr. Frank Sirocko
Dr. Pierre Antoine
Prof. Dr. María Fernanda Sánchez Goñi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Quaternary is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

28 pages, 4255 KiB  
Article
A Hierarchical Bayesian Examination of the Chronological Relationship between the Noaillian and Rayssian Phases of the French Middle Gravettian
by William E. Banks, Anaïs Vignoles, Jessica Lacarrière, André Morala and Laurent Klaric
Quaternary 2024, 7(2), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat7020026 - 12 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1676
Abstract
Issues of chronology are central to inferences pertaining to relationships between both contemporaneous and successive prehistoric typo-technological entities (i.e., archaeological cultures), culture–environment relationships, and ultimately the mechanisms at play behind cultural changes observed through time in the archaeological record. We refine the chronology [...] Read more.
Issues of chronology are central to inferences pertaining to relationships between both contemporaneous and successive prehistoric typo-technological entities (i.e., archaeological cultures), culture–environment relationships, and ultimately the mechanisms at play behind cultural changes observed through time in the archaeological record. We refine the chronology of Upper Paleolithic archaeological cultures between 35–18 calibrated kiloanni before the present in present-day France by incorporating recently published radiocarbon data along with new 14C ages that we obtained from several Gravettian archaeological contexts. We present the results of a Bayesian age model that includes these new radiometric data and that, more importantly, separates Gravettian contexts in regions north of the Garonne River into two successive cultural phases: The Northern Noaillian and the Rayssian, respectively. This new age model places the beginning of the Noaillian during Greenland Stadial 5.2. The appearance of contexts containing assemblages associated with the Rayssian lithic technical system occurs immediately prior to the termination of Greenland Interstadial 5.1, and it is present throughout Heinrich Event 3 (GS-5.1) and into the following GI-4 climatic amelioration. Despite the Rayssian’s initial appearance during the brief and relatively weakly expressed Greenland Interstadial 5.1, its duration suggests that Rayssian lithic technology was well-suited to the environmental conditions of Greenland Stadial 5.1. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Climate and Environment of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), 60,000–27,000 Years before Present)
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20 pages, 8539 KiB  
Article
A Cryptotephra Layer in Sediments of an Infilled Maar Lake from the Eifel (Germany): First Evidence of Campanian Ignimbrite Ash Airfall in Central Europe
by Fiona Schenk, Ulrich Hambach, Sarah Britzius, Daniel Veres and Frank Sirocko
Quaternary 2024, 7(2), 17; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat7020017 - 25 Mar 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1641
Abstract
We analyzed mineralogical characteristics, and major as well as rare earth element concentrations, from a cryptotephra layer in sediments of the infilled maar of Auel (Eifel, Germany). The results of detailed geochemical analyses of clinopyroxenes and their glassy rims from the Auel cryptotephra [...] Read more.
We analyzed mineralogical characteristics, and major as well as rare earth element concentrations, from a cryptotephra layer in sediments of the infilled maar of Auel (Eifel, Germany). The results of detailed geochemical analyses of clinopyroxenes and their glassy rims from the Auel cryptotephra layer showed that they are similar to those from the thick Campanian Ignimbrite tephra occurrence in a loess section at Urluia (Romania). Both tephras show idiomorphic green clinopyroxenes and formation of distorted grains up to millimeter scale. The cryptotephra in the Auel core has a modelled age of around 39,940 yr b2k in the ELSA-20 chronology, almost identical to the latest 40Ar/39Ar dates for the Campanian Ignimbrite/Y-5 (CI/Y-5) eruption. These observations suggest that parts of the CI/Y-5 ash cloud were transported also northwestward into Central Europe, whereas the main branch of the CI/Y-5 ash plume was transported from southern Italy towards the NE, E, and SE. Based on pollen analyses, we conclude there was no direct effect on vegetation from the CI/Y-5 fallout in the Eifel area. Trees, shrubs, and grasses remained at pre-tephra-airfall levels for roughly 240 years, but changed around 39,700 yr b2k when thermophilic woody plants (e.g., Alnus and Carpinus) disappeared and Artemisia spread. This change in vegetation was well after the Laschamp geomagnetic excursion and also after the GI9 interstadial and quite probably represents the onset of the Heinrich Event 4 (H4) cold spell, when climatic conditions over the North Atlantic, and apparently also in Central Europe, deteriorated sharply. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Climate and Environment of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), 60,000–27,000 Years before Present)
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18 pages, 4782 KiB  
Article
Vegetation Patterns during the Last 132,000 Years: A Synthesis from Twelve Eifel Maar Sediment Cores (Germany): The ELSA-23-Pollen-Stack
by Sarah Britzius, Frank Dreher, Patricia Maisel and Frank Sirocko
Quaternary 2024, 7(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat7010008 - 6 Feb 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2021
Abstract
Seven published and four new pollen records from well-dated sediment cores from six Pleistocene and Holocene maar structures located in the Eifel, Germany, are combined to a pollen stack that covers the entire last 132,000 years. This stack is complemented by new macroremain [...] Read more.
Seven published and four new pollen records from well-dated sediment cores from six Pleistocene and Holocene maar structures located in the Eifel, Germany, are combined to a pollen stack that covers the entire last 132,000 years. This stack is complemented by new macroremain data from one additional sediment core. The pollen data included into the stack show consistently that the Eifel was covered by a dense forest during the Eemian, early Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, and the Holocene. While other European records indeed indicate a warming, the early MIS 3 fully developed forest remains a unique feature in central European pollen records. Comparison to orbital parameters and insolation hints to warm and humid, however, not fully interglacial conditions, which are also visible in speleothem growth throughout Europe. With the cooling trend towards the glacial maxima of MIS 4 and 2, tree pollen declined, with recovering phases during MIS 5c and 5a, as well as during all MIS 3 interglacials. During the colder stadials, steppe vegetation expanded. For MIS 5 and 4, we defined six new landscape evolution zones based on pollen and macroremains. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Climate and Environment of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), 60,000–27,000 Years before Present)
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20 pages, 17097 KiB  
Article
Vegetation Dynamics and Megaherbivore Presence of MIS 3 Stadials and Interstadials 10–8 Obtained from a Sediment Core from Auel Infilled Maar, Eifel, Germany
by Sarah Britzius and Frank Sirocko
Quaternary 2023, 6(3), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6030044 - 7 Aug 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1800
Abstract
We present a record of pollen and spores of coprophilous fungi from a sediment core from Auel infilled maar, Eifel, Germany, covering the period from 42,000 to 36,000 yr b2k. We can show that vegetation cover was dominated by a boreal forest with [...] Read more.
We present a record of pollen and spores of coprophilous fungi from a sediment core from Auel infilled maar, Eifel, Germany, covering the period from 42,000 to 36,000 yr b2k. We can show that vegetation cover was dominated by a boreal forest with components of steppe and cold-temperate wood taxa. The proportion of wood taxa was higher during interstadials, whereas steppe-vegetation became more prominent during stadials. During Heinrich stadial 4, temperate taxa are mostly absent. Spores of coprophilous fungi show that megaherbivores were continuously present, albeit in a larger number during stadials when steppe environment with abundant steppe herbs expanded. With the onset of Greenland stadial 9, forests became more open, allowing for steppe-environment to evolve. The shift in vegetation cover coincides with the highest values of herbivore biomass at the time that Neanderthal humans demised and Anatomically Modern Humans most probably arrived in Central and Western Europe. Megaherbivore biomass was a direct consequence of vegetation cover/availability of food resources and thus an indirect consequence of a changing climate. Herds of large herbivores following suitable (steppe) habitats may have been one cause of the migration of AMH into Europe, going along with their prey to productive hunting grounds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Climate and Environment of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), 60,000–27,000 Years before Present)
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14 pages, 6751 KiB  
Article
New Perspectives on the Quaternary Paleogeography of Coastal Ecuador and Its Relationships with Climate Change
by María Quiñónez-Macías, Kervin Chunga, Theofilos Toulkeridis, Alvaro Mora-Mendoza and Angelo Constantine
Quaternary 2023, 6(3), 41; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6030041 - 13 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2479
Abstract
Well-preserved Quaternary sedimentary sequences in the central coast of Ecuador have provided sufficient relevant information for paleogeographic reconstruction and climatic evolution, from stratigraphic, geochemical, and biological analysis. The Jaramijo canton site is one of the most remarkable results in the stratigraphic correlation of [...] Read more.
Well-preserved Quaternary sedimentary sequences in the central coast of Ecuador have provided sufficient relevant information for paleogeographic reconstruction and climatic evolution, from stratigraphic, geochemical, and biological analysis. The Jaramijo canton site is one of the most remarkable results in the stratigraphic correlation of lithological units with delineation of a paleo sea-cliff of age 14C 43,245 ± 460 B.P. (belonging to the MIS-3). This MIS-3 is associated with a period of glaciation, but the data obtained, such as δ 18O, indicate paleo-temperature values of −1 to −1.5, which are interpreted in this study, indicate that the central coast of Ecuador has an interstadial phase (warm years in a glacial stage). Two more paleo-coastal cliffs have been mapped from orthophoto analysis, but these are younger. The sedimentary levels analyzed in this study include deposits that occurred in MIS 3 to MIS 1. Holocene transgression has modified the central coast of Ecuador and increased the level of coastal climate hazard by sea level rise. Indeed, paleo-coastlines have been evidenced from bathymetric data in the depth contours of −5.5 m and −7.6 m, at 440 and 650 m distances from the up-to-date coastline. For the Jaramijó site, the rate of cliff-erosion and wave-cut platforms are in the order of 1.1 to 2.4 m/yr. These cliff-erosion rates, with a moderate to high coastal vulnerability index, can be increased if we consider mathematical models with an estimated sea-level rise scenario to be, in 2100, about +1 to +1.4 m. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Climate and Environment of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), 60,000–27,000 Years before Present)
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17 pages, 5022 KiB  
Article
Evidence for an Extreme Cooling Event Prior to the Laschamp Geomagnetic Excursion in Eifel Maar Sediments
by Johannes Albert and Frank Sirocko
Quaternary 2023, 6(1), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat6010014 - 12 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3347
Abstract
We present a timeseries of flood and slumping phases in central Europe for the past 65,000 years from event layers in sediment cores from infilled Eifel maar basins (Germany). Palynological, petrographic and organic carbon (chlorins) records are used to understand the precise timing [...] Read more.
We present a timeseries of flood and slumping phases in central Europe for the past 65,000 years from event layers in sediment cores from infilled Eifel maar basins (Germany). Palynological, petrographic and organic carbon (chlorins) records are used to understand the precise timing of these events. Periods of increased flood activity seem to coincide with Heinrich stadials in marine sediment records, which are associated with cold and more arid climate conditions, indicating a vegetation response within the maars’ catchment areas. This multi-proxy correlation reveals prominent slumps at different maar sites during Greenland Stadial (GS) 12. The stratigraphy is based on sediment records from the Auel infilled maar and we thus call this event Auel Cold Event (ACE). Frozen and fractured sediment packages within the slump suggest deep frost or permafrost conditions for the region during the stadial. The results agree well with sediment archives and archeological sites across Europe that report severely cold and arid conditions for the stadial. This supports the assumption that GS12 was indeed one of the coldest periods of the last glacial cycle rather than the Heinrich stadials. Based on our age model, the ACE occurred at 43,500 yr b2k (years before the year 2000), which coincides with the initial weakening of Earth’s magnetic field strength prior to the Laschamp geomagnetic excursion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Climate and Environment of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), 60,000–27,000 Years before Present)
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