Quaternary Climate Variability and Periglacial Dynamics

This chapter briefly describes the long term climate evolution, as well as, the superimposed abrupt climate shifts that have punctuated the last glaciation, the last deglaciation and the present-day interglacial, known as the Holocene. The last glacial period, from Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 5e to MIS 1 (115–14.7 cal ka BP), was punctuated by a series of abrupt climate shifts such as the Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles, including the extreme Heinrich Stadials (HS) associated with meltwater pulse episodes and collapse of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. The last deglaciation, from ~20 cal. ka BP to ~7 cal. ka BP, although associated with a long term increase in boreal summer insolation, was interrupted by several climate shifts including the Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS 1), the Bølling-Allerød (BA) and the Younger Dryas (YD). Finally, the Holocene, since ~11.7 cal. ka BP, is subdivided in 3 long term Sub-series/Sub-epochs (Stage/Age) an Early Holocene (Greenlandian Stage/Age), Middle Holocene (Northgrippian Stage/Age) and Late Holocene (Meghalayan Stage/Age), was also marked by a number of rapid climate shifts. A short description on the impact of these long term and abrupt changes in the North Atlantic, Greenland and over Europe is also provided