The Eemian - Local Sequences, Global Perspectives: Introduction

Geologie en Mijnbouw / Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 79 (2/3): 129-133 (2000)

The Eemian - local sequences, global perspectives: introduction

Thijs van Kolfschoten1 & Philip L. Gibbard2

1 Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA LEIDEN, the Netherlands; Corresponding author; e-mail: [email protected] 2 Godwin Institute of Quaternary Research, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CAMBRIDGE CB2 3EN, England; e-mail:[email protected] Received: May 2000; accepted in revised form: 20 June 2000 G

The history of this special issue gation and discussion on the Middle/Late Pleistocene boundary on the original type area of the Eemian in The history of this volume goes back to a 1973 IN- the Netherlands. The Eemian sequence was often QUA congress in New Zealand, where an INQUA used as reference and furthermore the term 'Eemian' Commission of Stratigraphy working group on major was widely used to identify the last interglacial far be subdivisions of the Pleistocene was established. The yond western central Europe. Examination of the Pleistocene series/epoch was hitherto generally subdi available data from the Eemian type area showed that vided into the Lower/Early, Middle and Upper/Late a re-evaluation of existing data and collection of criti Pleistocene (see, among others, Zeuner, 1935, 1959) cal new data were needed to define an unambiguous but the boundaries between these subseries/sube- stratigraphical boundary. Although the identification pochs were not formally defined. The boundary be of boundaries is central to stratigraphical subdivision, tween the Early and Middle Pleistocene was, in the it is nevertheless the Eemian as an entity that is of European literature, put at the base of the Cromerian particular interest for understanding the development Complex (Zagwijn, 1963) or at the Brunhes/Matuya- of a complete interglacial cycle. ma magnetic boundary (Richmond, 1996). In the lit erature, there is more consensus about the position of The Eemian as a stage the Middle/Late Pleistocene boundary. This bound ary was placed almost without exception at the base The 'Eemian' is the term used to identify the last in of the Eemian stage. terglacial temperate period, the first stage of the Late Although there was consensus about where to de Pleistocene. It is a formal chronostratigraphical unit fine the Middle/Late Pleistocene boundary, the the base of which, following biostratigraphical con INQUA Commission of Stratigraphy was aware of vention in NW Europe, is taken at the point where the fact that consensus alone is not enough, however, tree pollen replaces that of non-tree pollen in pollen to formalize a stratigraphical boundary. Based on diagrams from the sediments. The upper limit of the global standard stratigraphical rules (cf. Holland, stage is defined, again following standard stratigraphi 1998) a 'global standard stratotype and point' cal convention, by the base of the succeeding stage, (GSSP) (Salvador, 1994) must be defined for formal the Weichselian, where the opposite transition occurs, chronostratigraphical boundaries. Although there are i.e. where tree pollen is replaced by non-tree pollen many geological sections showing the transition from (cf. Jessen & Milthers, 1928).

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Geologie en Mijnbouw / Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 79(2/3) 2000 129 high eustatic sea level, retreat to minimum size of relate between the terrestrial and ocean facies, it is global ice sheets and an establishment of biotic as readily apparent that this assumption is invalid semblages that closely parallel those of the present (Sanchez-Goni et al., 2000 - this issue).The continu Holocene interglacial. Subdivision of the stage in al pressure to develop ever higher-resolution stratigra north-west Europe and beyond is based on pollen as phies throws this problem into high relief as a topic of semblages, first proposed in the classic work of Jessen considerable importance for future research. & Milthers (1928) in Denmark and north Germany, Today the Eemian is represented not only in coastal and modified by many since (among others: Zagwijn marine sediments, but in a vast range of depositional 1996).This vegetational development reflects the typ situations, from the deep sea through shelf, littoral, ical cycle of vegetational change from pioneer trees estuarine to continental settings, including fluvial, la including Betula and Pinus, through the deciduous custrine, spring and paludal environments. The tem broad-leafed trees, to the arrival of Taxus, Carpinus perate event is also recorded in weathering and pedo- and Picea in the second half of the stage and culmi logical sequences. Its recognition in ice cores, where nating in the return of Betula and Pinus as precursors potential climatic oscillations were first recognized, to the subsequent glacial stage. This cyclic change, so has sporned considerable activity in which re typical of later Pleistocene interglacials, is also reflect searchers, particularly in the North Atlantic region, ed in the development of the soils, as noted by Iversen have re-evaluated sequences in the light of these dis (1958). coveries. Some discoveries have confirmed the pres The stage was originally defined as a formal name ence of minor climatic oscillations (see, among oth for sequences of sand and fine shell-bearing sedi ers, Seidenkrantz et al., 1995; Maslin & Tzedakis, ments in the Amsterdam, and latterly the Amersfoort 1996), whilst others have dismissed these ideas and areas, of the Netherlands. Here, these fossiliferous rigorously defended the view that the interglacial cli sediments rest on glacial diamicton and associated mates remained broadly stable (among them Litt et sediments of the preceding Saalian glaciation, the lat al., 1996). Whatever the correct answer, the obvious ter shown by German scientists (among them Keil- implication of the discovery of possible climate oscil hack; mWoldstedt, 1929: 129) to be the penultimate lations is their relevance to future Holocene climate. glaciation of the Scandinavian ice sheet. Therefore, Many have adopted the Eemian as a model for the the fossiliferous Eemian beds must represent a tem world's immediate greenhouse future. The validity of perate event, post-Saalian but predating the glacial its use is questioned, however, by Loutre & Berger (in and periglacial deposits of the subsequent or last press) based on differences of insolation. Whilst this glaciation, the Weichselian. The Eemian beds must may be correct, the problems of recognizing, correlat therefore represent the last interglacial. ing and even finding older events in many parts of the world means that the Eemian will remain the primary Estimates of the duration of the stage vary some analogue for the present interglacial for the foresee what but on the basis of a combination of counting of able future. sediment annual rhythmites and extrapolation for the second half of the event, the length has been estimat ed by Miiller (1974) from the Bispingen locality in The NITG project and the SEQS meeting Niedersachsen, Germany to be 11,500 years. Beyond western central Europe, the interglacial cli Discussion of the delimitation and identification of matic event has been assigned a variety of names, in the Eemian at the 1995 INQUA Congress in Berlin cluding the Riss/Wurm interglacial (Alps), Ipswichian led to the then Geological Survey of the Netherlands (Britain), Mikulino (European Russia), Murava (Rijks Geologische Dienst; latterly the Netherlands (Byelorussia), Merkine (Lithuania), Felicianova Institute for Applied Geoscience -TNO) being re (Latvia), Tepsankumpu (Finland), Prangli (Estonia), quested to re-investigate the type area. This was initi and Sangamonian (North America) on the land. The ated to locate a suitable global standard stratotype generally agreed equivalent in the ocean-basin sedi and point (GSSP) or golden-spike locality for the ments is marine isotope substage (MIS) 5e. Assump Eemian basal boundary. This boundary is coincident tions that these events are to a greater or lesser extent with the Middle/Upper Pleistocene subseries bound the direct equivalent of the Eemian stage sensu stricto ary by definition. The Subcommission on European lies at the heart of global correlation schemes. Whilst Quaternary Stratigraphy (SEQS) was simultaneously this may be accurate in broad terms, it remains to be asked to play an intermediary, stimulating and sup demonstrated that the boundaries of these variously portive role in this process. defined units are in fact coeval. Indeed, in the light of NITG-TNO accepted the invitation and decided recent discoveries, arising from attempts to cross-cor to re-investigate and re-evaluate not only the old data

130 Geologie en Mijnbouw / Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 79(2/3) 2000

Fig. 1. Conference logo: The Eemian - Local sequences, global dation for regional investigations of neighbouring re perspectives. gions and areas beyond. The NITG-TNO investigations are subsequently but also to drill and sample a new borehole in the placed within a continental framework by Turner, in Amsterdam basin (Amsterdam-Terminal). Thus, his review of the stratigraphy and palaeobotany of the NITG-TNO began the Eemian project, one of their Eemian of northern Europe; details of the Alpine re major scientific projects of the past few years. Consul gion are then summarised by Drescher-Schneider. tations between the SEQS and NITG-TNO resulted Turning to the faunal evidence, Meijer & Preece re in the establishment of an external advisory board view the occurrence of the mollusc, Corbicula, in the and an intra-INQUA-congress programme in which NW European Pleistocene; a genus which apparently the SEQS would concentrate its activities on the Late does not occur in the Eemian but was abundant in Pleistocene. The 1997 INQUA-SEQS meeting took some previous interglacials. The coleopteran assem place in Lithuania and was entitled 'The Late Pleis blages from southern England indicate that mean July tocene in Eastern Europe: stratigraphy, palaeoenvi- temperatures in the area during the early part of the ronment and climate'. A second meeting, organised interglacial were 4°C higher than at present, accord in co-operation with NITG-TNO, entitled 'The ing to Coope.The mammalian record from the Eemi Eemian; local sequences, global perspectives' (Fig. 1) an of central Europe is summarised by Van Kolf- was held in 1998 at Kerkrade (the Netherlands). At schoten, whilst the human occupation during the the latter meeting, the results of the NITG-TNO Eemian is discussed by Speleers. The mammal assem Eemian project were extensively presented as lectures blages of the East European Plain are presented by and posters and discussed among the 120 partici Markova, whereas Dodonov et al. present evidence pants from 19 different countries. Additional papers from central Asia and the northern shore of the Black and posters dealing with information from through Sea. Haesaerts & Mestdagh discuss a transect of soil- out Europe and beyond were also presented. An ex stratigraphical localities stretching from Belgium to cursion and a wide-ranging discussion on topics in central Russia that demonstrate the link between pe- cluding the duration and climatic history of the Eemi dosedimentary evolution and vegetation. The vegeta- an completed the symposium. tional history of Sweden and Finland during the in In order to provide access to the data presented, in terglacial are compared and contrasted by Roberts- particular the new information from the Eemian type son. The environmental reconstruction from the area, it was decided to prepare a volume that com Baltic region is extended offshore by Seidenkrantz et bined contributions from invited authors representing al., who include discussions of climatic variability different disciplines and covering different geographi during both the late Saalian and the Eemian itself. cal parts of Europe with that detailing NITG-TNO The topic of land/sea correlation and climatic vari project results. An extensive list of 126 pages of refer ability is addressed by Sanchez-Goni et al., who apply ences of relevant publications on Eemian deposits high-resolution palynology to a deep-sea core succes and their fossil contents, produced by Meijer (1998), sion off the Iberian coast and conclude that the ter was given to the meeting participants. Because of its restrial Eemian stage is not the precise time-equiva length, this volume has not been incorporated in this lent of MIS 5e. Climatic variability in southern Eu issue. The data are, however, available on the internet. rope is also the theme of the final contribution, in which Tzedakis demonstrates the substantial regional The result: the present issue diversity of vegetational records during the inter glacial in Greece. The first four papers in the present issue are related Overall, the contributions represent a compilation to the NITG-TNO Eemian project. The first (Bosch of data covering a vast region of Eurasia. The amount et al.) is a historical review of recent research in the of information is remarkable when one takes into ac type area. The next one (De Gans et al.) deals with count that the interglacial event represents such a the regional stratigraphy of the sediments in the Ams short time interval: the Eemian sensu stricto. repre terdam glacial basin. The sequence in the Amster sents only about 0.5 % of the Quaternary.

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The collection of studies presented herein provides The editors would like to thank the editorial board of an exciting vision of the vast potential available to the Geologie en Mijnbouw I Netherlands Journal of Geo Quaternary community from the integrated, multidis- sciences for their permission to publish the proceed ciplinary study of the Eemian interglacial at a variety ings of the INQUA-SEQS meeting and in particular of scales. This work offers a firm foundation on which Dr. K. Kasse and Dr. A.J. van Loon for their assis to build a broad-scale framework for a Europe-wide tance. We are grateful to the many people who have understanding of the climatic and environmental de reviewed the contributions. Finally, we thank Dr M. velopment during the Eemian, as well as of its geo Head for critically reading this introduction. graphical variation. It also demonstrates the wealth of detail available from the study of single sites in critical References areas. For the future, it is obviously important to con

tinue integrating the evidence from specific regions Bosch, J.H.A., Cleveringa, P. & Meijer,T., 2000. The Eemian stage into broader-scale reconstructions, including in par of the Netherlands: history, character and new research. In: Van ticular data from the type area. A more complete pic Kolfschoten, Th. & Gibbard, P.L. (eds.): The Eemian - local se ture of the botanical and faunal development during quences, global perspectives. Geologie en Mijnbouw / Nether the Eemian offers the potential to cast new light on lands Journal of Geosciences 79: 135-145 (this issue). Cleveringa, P., Meijer, T., Van Leeuwen, R.J.W., De Wolf, H., the discussion of the assignment of certain succes Pouwer, R., Lissenberg, T. & Burger, A.W., 2000. The Eemian sions to the Eemian. stratotype locality at Amersfoort in the central Netherlands: a re- There is, however, as discussed before, still no for evaluation of old and new data. In: Van Kolfschoten, Th. & Gib mally accepted definition of either the beginning or bard, P.L. (eds.): The Eemian - local sequences, global perspec tives. Geologie en Mijnbouw / Netherlands Journal of Geo the end of the Eemian stage. For the former, the situa sciences 79: 197-216 (this issue). tion is particularly embarrassing since it also repre Coope, G.R., 2000. The climatic significance of coleopteran assem sents the Middle/Upper Pleistocene subseries bound blages from the Eemian deposits in southern England. In: Van ary. Recognition of the Amsterdam-Terminal borehole Kolfschoten, Th. & Gibbard, P.L. (eds.): The Eemian - local se as the unit stratotype for the Eemian stage, and the quences, global perspectives. Geologie en Mijnbouw / Nether lands Journal of Geosciences 79: 257-267 (this issue). Saalian/Eemian transitional boundary as the bound De Gans,W., Beets, D.J. & Centineo, M.C., 2000. Late Saalian and ary stratotype, would offer a significant advance in the Eemian deposits in the Amstradam glacial basin. In: Van Kolf accuracy of the terrestrial European stratigraphical schoten, Th. & Gibbard, P.L. (eds.): The Eemian - local se succession. In proposing adoption of these stratotypes, quences, global perspectives. Geologie en Mijnbouw / Nether it is implicit that they may be superceded at a later lands Journal of Geosciences 79: 147-160 (this issue). date by what may be deemed to be more suitable suc Dodonov, A.E., Tchepalyga, A.L., Mihailescu, C.D., Zhou, L.P., Markova, A.K., Trubikhin, V.M., Simakova, A.N. & Konikov, cessions from other environmental settings. This is be E.G., 2000. Last-interglacial records from central Asia to the cause stratigraphy must be dynamic and reference sec northern Black Sea shoreline: stratigraphy and correlation. In: tions should be selected to provide the most detailed Van Kolfschoten,Th. & Gibbard, P.L. (eds.):The Eemian - local and diverse information applicable for wide-ranging sequences, global perspectives. Geologie en Mijnbouw/Nether- correlations. Such sections may potentially be upgrad lands Journal of Geosciences 79: 303-311 (this issue). ed to parastratotypes as appropriate, for instance in Drescher-Schneider, R., 2000. The Riss-Wurm interglacial from west to east in the Alps: an overview of the vegetational succes shallow-marine settings, an environment of increasing sion and climatic development. In: Van Kolfschoten, Th. & Gib importance in the near future. Successions from these bard, P.L. (eds.):The Eemian - local sequences, global perspec situations give us insight into the movement of water tives. Geologie en Mijnbouw / Netherlands Journal of Geo masses that appear to influence climatic variability at a sciences 79: 233-239 (this issue). regional scale. The exchange of water in the Baltic Sea Haesaerts, P. & Mestdagh, H., 2000. Pedosedimentary evolution of the last interglacial and early glacial succession in the European between the North Sea and the White Sea, for exam loess belt from Belgium to central Russia. In: Van Kolfschoten, ple, had a profound influence on the environment and Th. & Gibbard, P.L. (eds.): The Eemian - local sequences, global climate in northern Europe by comparison with the perspectives. Geologie en Mijnbouw / Netherlands Journal of Holocene. These successions furthermore potentially Geosciences 79: 313-324 (this issue). provide intermediate stepping-stones for onshore/off Holland, C.H., 1998. Chronostratigraphy (global standard strati shore correlation. Through the application of se graphy): a personal perspective. In: Doyle, P. & Bennett, M.R. (eds.): Unlocking the stratigraphical record. J. Wiley & Sons quence stratigraphy, they provide important elements (Chichester): 383-392. in the establishment of sea-level change histories for Iversen, J., 1958. 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