TY - JOUR
T1 - Late Neogene to Early Quaternary climate evolution in southwestern Europe from a continental perspective
AU - Ezquerro, Lope
AU - Muñoz, Arsenio
AU - Liesa, Carlos L.
AU - Simón, José L.
AU - Luzón, Aránzazu
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge the use of the Servicio General de Apoyo a la Investigación-SAI, Universidad de Zaragoza. This study was subsidized by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación) of the Government of Spain (grant number PID2019-108705-GB-I00) and the Regional Government of Aragón (grant number E32_20R; research group Geotransfer: Investigación Geológica para la Ciencia y la Sociedad). We thank Rupert Glasgow who revised the English grammar. We would like to thank Prof. Jean-Pierre Suc and an anonymous reviewer for their useful comments and suggestions, which helped us improve the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/4
Y1 - 2022/4
N2 - Paleoclimate reconstructions are mostly based on continuous oceanic records, but continental records, controlled by global and regional conditions, are paramount in identifying long- and short-term climatic variability between regions and investigating forcing mechanisms. Here we present a high-resolution lacustrine log from a western Mediterranean intramountain basin; it is based on calcite oxygen isotope composition (δ18Oc) and records detailed paleoclimatic information from the Late Miocene to the Early Pleistocene (9.8–1.8 Ma). Evidence is found for orbital forcing in the regional paleoclimate, with minimum and maximum eccentricity related to drier and wetter conditions respectively. Superimposed onto this variability, the long-term trend reflects the influence of global paleogeographic and climate change. Variations inferred in precipitation-evaporation (P–E) are related to SST in the North Atlantic, which evidences a connection between marine dynamics and continental climate in areas far from the coast in southwestern Europe and a relation between dry periods and high SST inland. It is proposed that the regional climate was impacted by the effect of the closure of the Central Atlantic Seaway and changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Warmer/drier conditions were related to a more permanent, stable, high-pressure centre over the mid-Atlantic in a situation of strengthened AMOC, which would have blocked westerly winds, increasing aridity in southwestern Europe. The inferred warm/dry connection differs from other western Mediterranean records, supporting previous interpretations of a regional climate gradient in western Europe. As occurs at present, isolation from the influence of the humidity of the Mediterranean Sea during warm periods as a result of' to the local orography could well have been the cause of regional differences.
AB - Paleoclimate reconstructions are mostly based on continuous oceanic records, but continental records, controlled by global and regional conditions, are paramount in identifying long- and short-term climatic variability between regions and investigating forcing mechanisms. Here we present a high-resolution lacustrine log from a western Mediterranean intramountain basin; it is based on calcite oxygen isotope composition (δ18Oc) and records detailed paleoclimatic information from the Late Miocene to the Early Pleistocene (9.8–1.8 Ma). Evidence is found for orbital forcing in the regional paleoclimate, with minimum and maximum eccentricity related to drier and wetter conditions respectively. Superimposed onto this variability, the long-term trend reflects the influence of global paleogeographic and climate change. Variations inferred in precipitation-evaporation (P–E) are related to SST in the North Atlantic, which evidences a connection between marine dynamics and continental climate in areas far from the coast in southwestern Europe and a relation between dry periods and high SST inland. It is proposed that the regional climate was impacted by the effect of the closure of the Central Atlantic Seaway and changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Warmer/drier conditions were related to a more permanent, stable, high-pressure centre over the mid-Atlantic in a situation of strengthened AMOC, which would have blocked westerly winds, increasing aridity in southwestern Europe. The inferred warm/dry connection differs from other western Mediterranean records, supporting previous interpretations of a regional climate gradient in western Europe. As occurs at present, isolation from the influence of the humidity of the Mediterranean Sea during warm periods as a result of' to the local orography could well have been the cause of regional differences.
KW - AMOC
KW - Lacustrine record
KW - Late Neogene
KW - Paleoclimate
KW - Stable isotopes
KW - SW Europe
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85126962546&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2022.103788
DO - 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2022.103788
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85126962546
SN - 0921-8181
VL - 211
SP - 1
EP - 19
JO - Global and Planetary Change
JF - Global and Planetary Change
M1 - 103788
ER -