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Diatom analysis performed on sediment profiles from several localities provided information on past changes in the aquatic environment related to climatic and artificial shifts since the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition. The practicality of diatom analysis from fish guts of three European fish species in palaeolimnological studies was tested.

A primary goal of paleoclimatology is to extend the instrumental record to capture a wider range of natural variability, documenting the climate system's response to past changes that have no analog in the historical record. Sediment archives of the recent geologic past, both marine and lacustrine, offer the opportunity to study how climate responds to a range of forcings and changing boundary conditions on timescales ranging from years to millennia. In this dissertation I use lacustrine and marine sediment to investigate changes late Quaternary climate, with particular focus on the Last Interglacial period (LIG). First, I use multiple approaches to reconstruct long-term changes in the West African Monsoon by investigating centennial-scale hydrologic variability recorded in Lake Bosumtwi sediments over the past 530,000 years. Over this interval, hydrology in the region is driven by a complex interplay of orbital forcing and glacial-interglacial boundary conditions. Lake level was generally much lower between 50 and 300 ka, likely due to the redistribution of rainfall from the tropics to the subtropics, driven by eccentricity's amplification of precession. Consequently, the Holocene highstand at the lake was both larger and longer lived than the maximum highstand during the LIG.Annual layers were continuously deposited through the LIG in Lake Bosumtwi, and I also present a new, 12,100 year-long, varve record spanning the interval from 128.6 to 116.5 ka. Over the course of the LIG, lake level generally tracks sea surface temperatures (SST) in Gulf of Guinea, including an abrupt drop in lake level that lasted about 500 years ca. 118 ka, coincident with cool SSTs in the North Atlantic and severe aridity in Europe. I find that the despite the generally drier conditions, hydrology varied on similar timescales as the late Holocene, with pronounced multidecadal to centennial-scale variability with non-stationary periodicities. I also investigate the contribution of ocean thermal expansion to sea level rise during the LIG, using a synthesis of paleoceanographic data and a climate model simulation. Globally, LIG SSTs were similar to, or slightly cooler than late Holocene SSTs, with the exception of the North Atlantic, which was several degrees warmer. Consequently, thermal expansion was likely a minor component of sea level rise during the interval, explaining between -0.3 and 0.4 m. of the 6 to 8 m highstand. Lastly, I tested the potential of Raman spectroscopy as a new, non-destructive technique to rapidly measure oxygen isotopic ratios in carbonates at extremely high resolution. Analyses on a suite a synthetic calcites indicate that ¹⁸O/¹⁶O ratios can be measured directly from the Raman spectra and have a 1:1 correspondence with traditional mass-spectrometry measurements. At present, the technique does not have the precision necessary to record natural variability, although there is considerable potential for improving the precision of the technique.

The first high resolution record of dinoflagellate cysts ~110-155 kyr over Termination II and the last interglacial in the Santa Barbara Basin, California from ODP Hole 893A details a complex paleoceanographic history. Changes in cyst abundances, concentrations, diversity, and assemblages reflect climatic and ocean circulation changes, and are successfully used to make quantitative reconstructions of past sea surface temperatures and annual primary productivity with the modern analogue technique based on a dinoflagellate cyst database from the northeast Pacific. The dominance of heterotrophic dinoflagellate cyst taxa Brigantedinium spp. throughout most of the section indicates coastal upwelling is an important influence on the basin. Based on the dinoflagellate cyst assemblages, five cyst zones are identified and approximately correspond to the marine isotope stage boundaries and their associated changes in sea surface temperatures and sea level. Cooler intervals, MIS 6 and MIS 5d, are characterized by cold-water indicator species Selenopemphix undulata whereas thermophyllic taxon Spiniferites mirabilis characterizes MIS 5e. In contrast to other studies in the Pacific, the data shows a one to two-thousand-year cooling event ~129 kyr that correlates to the Termination II sea level still-stand of the two-step deglaciation. A significant increase in cyst concentrations of heterotrophic and autotrophic taxa in the latest MIS 5e implies enhanced primary productivity as a result of increased seasonal upwelling and the warm, nutrient rich waters entering the basin after sea level stabilizes near modern levels. The hydrological evolution and cyst signal of the last interglacial is similar to the development of the Holocene in the Santa Barbara Basin, but the sustained presence of Spiniferites mirabilis across MIS 5e indicates sea surface temperatures were higher than modern conditions. The quantitative reconstructions appear to be less reliable, and show wide sea surface temperature changes across MIS 6 to 5d (~6.2-10.7°C in February; ~12.6-20.3°C in August) similar to modern ranges, while annual primary productivity was confined to a higher narrower range (~456-586 g C m-2 yr-1). / Graduate / 2020-04-18

Implementing oxygen isotopes (H218O, H216O) in coupled climate models provides both an important test of the individual model's hydrological cycle, and a powerful tool to mechanistically explore past climate changes while producing results directly comparable to isotope proxy records. The addition of oxygen isotopes in the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model (UVic ESCM) is described. Equilibrium simulations are performed for preindustrial and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) conditions. The oxygen isotope content in the model's preindustrial climate is compared against observations for precipitation and seawater. The distribution of oxygen isotopes during the LGM is compared against available paleo-reconstructions. Records of temporal variability in the oxygen isotopic composition of biogenic carbonates from ocean sediment cores inform our understanding of past continental ice volume and ocean temperatures. Interpretation of biogenic carbonate d18O variability typically neglects changes due to factors other than ice volume and temperature, equivalent to assuming constant local seawater isotopic composition. This investigation focuses on whether sea ice, which fractionates seawater during its formation, could shift the isotopic value of seawater during distinct climates. Glacial and interglacial states are simulated with the isotope-enabled UVic ESCM, and a global analysis is performed. Results indicate that interglacial-glacial sea ice variability produces as much as a 0.13 permil shift in local seawater, which corresponds to a potential error in local paleotemperature reconstruction of approximately 0.5 C. Isotopic shifts due to sea ice variability are concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere, specifically in the Labrador Sea and northeastern North Atlantic. / Graduate

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Paleoproductivity records during the late Pleistocene are sparse. The equatorial Pacific and the Southern Ocean are collectively responsible for the majority of the new production in the oceans. The nutrient and carbon mass balances of these regions must be constrained in order to fully understand net global biological productivity on glacial timescales. The geochemistry of two east-central equatorial Pacific Ocean cores (02° 33.48 N; 117° 55.06 W) and (00° 15.42 S; 113° 00.57 W) are used to examine changes in biological productivity due to nutrient upwelling on glacial timescales during the Pleistocene. The cores were recovered in March 2006 on the AMAT03 cruise, a site survey cruise for IODP Proposal 626. The total concentrations of Ca, Ti, Fe, Al, P, Ba, S, Mg, Sr, Zn and Mn were determined by a total sediment digestion followed by analysis by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP). Original solid forms of P for 34 evenly spaced samples throughout one core were determined using the P Sequential Extraction technique. This study is attempting to compare upwelling and productivity records by determining temporal records of nutrient proxies, using Latimer and Filippelli (2006) which focused on the Southern Ocean. Equatorial upwelling and Southern Ocean upwelling both appear to exhibit strong glacial timescale variability. The P geochemistry results indicate that the P signal is largely biological. The equatorial Pacific evidence, in accordance with Southern Ocean patterns, supports a nutrient budget-driven productivity signal over time. Gabriel M. Filippelli, Ph. D, Committee Chair

Neste trabalho, a partir de um testemunho coletado na Bacia de Santos, foi realizada a análise quantitativa de espécies de cocolitoforídeos com o intuito de estimar a variação da paleoprodutividade primaria superficial marinha e relacioná-la com a variação elementos maiores (Ti, Fe, Ca, Al e K) para os últimos 35 mil anos. A paleoprodutividade apresentou relação com elementos maiores em períodos de nível do mar baixo com altas e baixas pluviosidade e pareceu não apresentar relação a partir da última transgressão marinha. Adicionalmente buscou-se identificar as associações de cocolitoforídeos para os estágios isotópicos marinhos 1, 2 e 3. Foram observadas duas associações de espécies: uma com maiores abundâncias relativas durante o Glacial e outra no Interglacial. Por último procurou-se relacionar as variações das espécies de cocolitoforídeos aos eventos climáticos Younger Dryas e Heinrich 1, 2 e 3, porém os táxons não apresentaram padrão de variação em suas abundâncias durante estes eventos. / In this work, a quantitative analysis of cocolithophores species was carried out from a piston core collected in the Santos Basin in order to estimate primary paleoproductivity variation at the sea surface and to relate it with the fluctuation of major elements (Ti, Fe, Ca, Al and K) in the interval for the last 35 thousand years and the present. The paleoproductivity was related to major elements in periods of low sea level with high and low rainfall and did not present a relation since the last marine transgression. It was also sought to identify associations of cocolithophores for the marine isotopes stages 1, 2 and 3. Two most abundant species associations were observed: one during the Glacial and another one in the Interglacial. Finally, we sought to relate the cocolithophores species with the climatic events of Younger Dryas and Heinrich 1, 2 and 3, however, the species showed no pattern of variation in their abundance during these events.

Neste trabalho, a partir de um testemunho coletado na Bacia de Santos, foi realizada a análise quantitativa de espécies de cocolitoforídeos com o intuito de estimar a variação da paleoprodutividade primaria superficial marinha e relacioná-la com a variação elementos maiores (Ti, Fe, Ca, Al e K) para os últimos 35 mil anos. A paleoprodutividade apresentou relação com elementos maiores em períodos de nível do mar baixo com altas e baixas pluviosidade e pareceu não apresentar relação a partir da última transgressão marinha. Adicionalmente buscou-se identificar as associações de cocolitoforídeos para os estágios isotópicos marinhos 1, 2 e 3. Foram observadas duas associações de espécies: uma com maiores abundâncias relativas durante o Glacial e outra no Interglacial. Por último procurou-se relacionar as variações das espécies de cocolitoforídeos aos eventos climáticos Younger Dryas e Heinrich 1, 2 e 3, porém os táxons não apresentaram padrão de variação em suas abundâncias durante estes eventos. / In this work, a quantitative analysis of cocolithophores species was carried out from a piston core collected in the Santos Basin in order to estimate primary paleoproductivity variation at the sea surface and to relate it with the fluctuation of major elements (Ti, Fe, Ca, Al and K) in the interval for the last 35 thousand years and the present. The paleoproductivity was related to major elements in periods of low sea level with high and low rainfall and did not present a relation since the last marine transgression. It was also sought to identify associations of cocolithophores for the marine isotopes stages 1, 2 and 3. Two most abundant species associations were observed: one during the Glacial and another one in the Interglacial. Finally, we sought to relate the cocolithophores species with the climatic events of Younger Dryas and Heinrich 1, 2 and 3, however, the species showed no pattern of variation in their abundance during these events.

Cette thèse est centrée sur les changements paléoenvironnementaux et climatiques survenus dans le période entre 130 et 70 ka (Dernier Complexe Interglaciaire), pour étudier la variabilité du climat à long terme sur l'environnement, sur la base des données de pollen à haute résolution provenant des sédiments du lac Ohrid (Albanie / F.Y.R.O.M), le plus ancien lac d'Europe. La reconstruction du climat obtenue à partir des données polliniques est basée sur un intervalle plus large, 160-70 ka.Le matériel pollinique provient des sédiments prélevés en 2013, dans le cadre du projet SCOPSCO (Scientific Collaboration On Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid) dont le carottage a été financé par l'ICDP (International Continental Scientific Drilling Program). Pendant la campagne de carottage, 6 carottes parallèles ont été prélevées à partir de l’épicentre du lac, obtenant une séquence composite extraordinaire de 569 m (DEEP).Les 247.8 m supérieurs de la carotte DEEP ont été datés et ils couvrent les derniers 637 ka. Nous avons amélioré le modèle d’âge pour le Dernier Complexe Interglaciaire et en particulier pour la transition entre MIS6 et 5, en comparant les données polliniques avec d'autres proxies de la carotte DEEP et de la Méditerranée. Cela rend le lac Ohrid extrêmement important car pour les autres enregistrements de la région Européenne, de telles contraintes chronologiques ne sont pas disponibles.L'analyse des premiers 200 m de la carotte DEEP, couvrant les derniers 500 ka, a été étudiée avec une résolution de 1,6 ka. La séquence a révélé une alternance entre des ouvertures forestières et périodes boisées reflétant une cyclicité glaciaires-interglaciaires comparable à celle de la stratigraphie des isotopes marins. Parmi les différents cycles glaciaires-interglaciaires, l’analyse pollinique à haute résolution du Dernier Complexe Interglaciaire montre l'alternance classique de périodes caractérisées par la forêt (interstades, périodes chaudes et humides) et la végétation ouverte (stades, et périodes sèches), ressemblant clairement à la succession végétale et climatique bien connue des autres séquences européennes.Concernant le Dernier Interglaciaire (ou Eémien, 128-112 ka), l'analyse pollinique et les reconstructions quantitatives climatiques basées sur ces dernières identifient trois phases clés : une phase initiale caractérisée par un réchauffement soudain (propagation des forêts mésophiles), puis une diminution des températures associées à des conditions humides (expansion de Carpinus betulus) et à la fin un établissement progressif vers des conditions froides et sèches jusqu'à la fin de Eemian à 112 ka, confirmant l’hypothèse déjà avancée par plusieurs études antérieures basées sur des séquences polliniques européennes , à savoir que l’Eemien n'était pas une période climatiquement stable.D’autres changements climatiques sont également visibles dans la région du lac Ohrid entre 112-70 ka et probablement liés à la succession d'événements froids enregistrés dans les carottes de glace du Groenland, associé à un affaiblissement de l’AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation).Ce travail a permis de fournir une nouvelle séquence de référence pollinique pour le Dernier Complexe Interglaciaire en Europe. Ce travail a également permis de quantifier les paléoclimats pour la période 160-70 ka, encore peu étudiée en Europe, principalement dans le sud (<45 ° lat. N), où un seul enregistrement a été étudié pour toute la période, avec une résolution temporelle élevée.Sur la base de ces résultats, le lac Ohrid apparait comme un site clé pour l'étude des changements climatiques survenus à une échelle centenaire et millénaire dans une région de moyenne altitude entre les régions européennes et méditerranéennes, fournissant en outre des nouvelles informations sur la connexion entre les oscillations climatiques de la région méditerranéenne et de l'Hémisphère du Nord. / This thesis is focussed on the palaeonvironmental and climatic changes occurred during the period between 130 and 70 ka (Last Interglacial Complex), with the aims to investigate the long-term climate variability on environment, on the basis of high resolution pollen data from Lake Ohrid sediments (Albania/F.Y.R.O.M. border), the oldest lake in Europe. The climate reconstruction obtained from pollen data is based on a wider interval, 160-70 ka.The investigated pollen material comes from the sediments retrieved in spring 2013 in the frame of the project SCOPSCO (Scientific Collaboration On Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid) whose drilling was financed by the ICDP (International Continental Scientific Drilling Program). During the drilling campaign 6 parallel cores have been collected from the depocenter of Lake Ohrid obtaining an extraordinary composite sequence 569 m long (DEEP).The upper 247.8 m of DEEP core have been dated using tephrostratigraphic information and tuning of biogeochemical proxy data to orbital parameters and covers the last 637 ka. In the framework of this careful temporal establishment, an even more precise chronology for the Last Interglacial Complex, and in particular for the transition between MIS6 and 5, was obtained by comparing pollen data from the same period with other DEEP and Mediterranean proxies. This make Lake Ohrid extremely important because for the other records from Mediterranean and European area such chronological constrains are not available and so the chronologies are less precise.The pollen analysis results come from the uppermost 200 m of the DEEP core (covering the last 500 ka) and revealed a succession of non-forested and forested periods clearly connected with glacial–interglacial cycles of the marine isotope stratigraphy.Among the different glacial-interglacial cycle, the new high-resolution pollen stratigraphy of the Last Interglacial Complex shows the classical alternation of periods characterized by forest (interstadials, warm and wet periods) and open vegetation (stadials, cold and dry periods), clearly resembling the well-known vegetational and climate succession of other European records.Concerning the Last Interglacial (or Eemian, 128-112 ka, roughly equivalent to MIS5e), pollen analysis and climate quantitative reconstructions identify three key phases with a slight different timing, with an initial phase characterized by a sudden warming (propagation of mesophilous forests), then a decrease of temperatures associated with wet conditions (expansion of Carpinus betulus) and at the end a progressive establishment towards cold and dry conditions until the termination of Eemian at 112 ka, confirming what other previous studies on European records said, namely Eemian was not a stable period.Several abrupt events are in also identified, during the successive stadials and interstadials (Early Last Glacial), probably correlated to the succession of cold events recorded in the Greenland ice core records, associated to a weakening of the North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.This work provides a new pollen reference sequence for the Last Interglacial Complex in Europe and concerning climate reconstruction provides new information for a period (160-70 ka, from the last part of Riss Glaciation to the beginning of Würm Glaciation) still poorly investigated in Europe, mostly in the south (< 45° lat. N), where only one record has been studied for the whole interval, with high resolution time.According to my results, Lake Ohrid can be considered a key role site for the investigation of the climatic changes occurred in centennial and millennial scale in a region of mid-altitude between European and Mediterranean areas, providing furthermore new evidence for the connection between the Europe and Northern Hemisphere climate oscillations.

<p>Tephrochronology, or the dating and correlation of stratigraphic sediment sequences by the use of tephra, is a dating method that has been much refined in the last decade. This refinement has enabled the detection of cryptotephra, which has expanded the known distribution of different tephras. At the site Lake Mulakullegöl in the southwest of Sweden, three distinct tephra horizons have been detected, of which two have been geochemically identified. The identified tephras are the Vedde Ash (ca 12,000 cal. yrs BP) and the Hässeldalen Tephra (ca 11,500 cal. yrs BP), both of Icelandic origin. These tephras were deposited during the middle of the Younger Dryas Stadial and the Younger Dryas/Preboreal transition, respectively. The Vedde Ash is one of the most widespread tephras of Icelandic provenance, while the Hässeldalen Tephra so far only has been found at two sites in southeastern Sweden, prior to the current study. A third, unidentified, tephra was also detected. Based on the stratigraphic position, this tephra might be the Borrobol Tephra, which has been dated to ca 14,400 cal. yrs BP. This might indicate that warming had not yet occurred in this part of Sweden. The extended known distribution of especially the Hässeldalen Tephra, but also the Vedde Ash, has enabled a higher potential for correlations between different records deposited during the Last Glacial/Interglacial transition.</p>