The Last Interglacial Stage: Definitions and Marine Highstand, North

Home , Eemian, Glacial period, Illinoian (stage), Interglacial, Last Glacial Maximum, Last glacial period

Quaternary International xxx (2014) 1e16

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Quaternary International

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint

The Last Interglacial Stage: Deﬁnitions and marine highstand, North America and Eurasia

Ervin G. Otvos

Department of Coastal Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, Ocean Springs, MS 39566, USA article info abstract

Article history: Delineation of the boundary between the Last Interglacial (LIG) and the last (Wisconsinan) Glacial Stage Available online xxx in North America represents a critical, yet unresolved issue. Subdivisions of the late Pleistocene are based on oxygen isotope, ice cover, and pollen stratigraphic data. Boundaries defined by isotope chro- Keywords: nology hinge on complex interrelationships between d18O in foraminifer tests, ice volumes stored on Last Interglacial and early Last Glacial land, and coeval sea-level position. In the absence of adequate pollen-stratigraphic documentation, delineations Pleistocene subdivision boundaries were harder to establish in North America than in Europe. Time- Sangamon stage and Geosol definition transgressive pollen zones revealed increased lengths of the climatically-floristically defined LIG from LIG coastal highstand deposits fl fi “ ” Pleistocene pollen stratigraphy the European subarctic to the Mediterranean. Con icting de nitions of Sangamon, as representing fi “ ” Late Pleistocene climate history only the last interglacial of minimum ice cover and higher temperatures or broadly de ned, sensu lato, also incorporating early part of the Last (Wisconsinan) Glacial Stage persist in the North American literature. The exclusively interglacial age of the Sangamon Geosol, originally used in dating the San- gamonian Stage proved untenable. Designation of an “Eowisconsinan” interval corresponding to Susb- tages MIS 5d-a also lacks merit. Despite climate- and vegetation-related discrepancies, pollen- and coastal deposit-based comparisons between Europe and North America during MIS 5 and the Holocene are useful in establishing the climate history of the North American Sangamonian and subsequent early Wisconsinan substages. An overarching MIS 5 cooling trend represented by scattered subarctic and high- mountain ice accumulation events followed the MIS 5e EemianeSangamonian temperature peak. Adoption of the general European practice that asymmetrically splits MIS 5 into a short MIS 5e interglacial and a long early Wisconsinan Glacial (MIS 5d-a) interval is preferred in North America as well. Subdivisions in the normalized d18O curve that serve as the chronological framework and the wealth of European pollen data support this approach. While multiple pre-Sangamon Pleistocene marine-paralic intervals do occur on the NW Gulf coast, all pre-Sangamon Pleistocene marine and brackish-inshore deposits had been removed by erosion in the NE coastal plain. A single inshore-nearshore marine sediment and highstand interval is well-documented in this region. The LIG highstand sequence cor- relates with varied Eemian marine and paralic MIS 5e deposits encountered along northern and western European, Siberian, and additional shores. Apart from reliably dated Sangamonian S Florida coral reefs, identification and dating of LIG highstand deposits remain highly problematical in SE Atlantic shore terraces. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction the Interglacial and the following early Glacial similar to those that existed between the LIG and Holocene may be applicable in Following its first recognition in late Pleistocene Netherlands considering possible future climate changes. In contrast with the deposits in the mid-19th century, the Last Interglacial Stage (LIG) scarcity of North American MIS 5 pollen data, a large body of became an important research field for Quaternary geologists European palynological record helps the redefinition of chro- and paleoclimatologists. Some of the similarities and differences nostratigraphic subdivisions and inter-regional correlations on between climate and vegetation between the warming phase of this side of the Atlantic. Drawing a firm stratigraphic division between the Last Interglacial and the cold, locally glacial climate conditions of the subsequent Wisconsin Glacial Stage represents a major challenge. Use of European interglacial-glacial pollen E-mail address: [email protected] http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.05.010 1040-6182/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Otvos, E.G., The Last Interglacial Stage: Definitions and marine highstand, North America and Eurasia, Quaternary International (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.05.010 2 E.G. Otvos / Quaternary International xxx (2014) 1e16 successions contributes to the resolution of the long-standing 3. The Last Interglacial e chronological definitions and North American paradox, the assumed presence of cold sub- climate history stages within the LIG. Most non-glacial deposits, that in the past have been attributed to the LIG in North America consist of 3.1. European nomenclature eolian, fluvial, coastal sediments, and a major paleosol entity. Highlighting this controversy, the present suggestions propose Deposits of the LIG were described first on the small Eem (Amer) streamlining the “Sangamon” terminology to create a much River near Amersfoort, central Netherlands. In the mid-19th cen- needed reliably established conformity between the North tury Professor P. Harting designated a fossiliferous transgressive American and European use of the LIG and early Wisconsinan and highstand sequence here as the Eem Formation, associated climate phases. Identification of LIG lithosomes within the Plio- with the Eemian Interglacial Stage (Zagwijn, 1961, 1989, 1996; ceneePleistocene terrace complex in the SE Atlantic coastal plain Seidenkrantz and Knudsen, 1994, 1997; Bosch et al., 2000; (Cooke, 1945) remains a major challenge. Only few S. Florida Cleveringa et al., 2000). The corresponding pollen section was interglacial deposits were dated satisfactorily and the interglacial chosen as stratotype. Replacing local terminologies such as the identity of other coastal plain units remains unclear. The single Riss-Würm Interglacial established in central Europe over a century LIG transgressive-regressive, paralic-to-marine Pleistocene sedi- ago (Penck and Brückner, 1909), since the 1970s the designation ment sequence in the NE Gulf coastal plain provides a useful Eemian spread well beyond Europe to be applied among other re- reference interval in correlating with Eemian Interglacial high- gions, to regions such as Anatolia, Turkey (Shumilovskikh et al., stand units in the global context. 2013), Greenland (Funder et al., 2011), Siberia, and Mongolia (Sheinkman, 2011, Table 1). 2. Methods 3.2. Eemian-Sangamonian Interglacial as defined by isotope This paper is based on research of European and north American chronology and vegetation literature, including recent publications that deal with the Last Interglacial (LIG) and Last Glacial stage. Pertinent publications were Retaining its North American “Sangamonian” chronostrati- selected from a voluminous literature that cover German, graphic designation for the last interglacial, Emiliani (1955, 1971) Scandinavian-Baltic, west European and other sites that yielded dated MIS 5 between 132 and 103 ka. He deemed by sensu lato detailed pollen documentation. The extensive literature search definition the Stage coeval with the previously established Sanga- involved coastal, glacial, and paleopedological topics that encom- monian Stage. Corresponding to MIS 5, “warm isotope stage,” is passed the late Pleistocene of North America and several regions applied to the much longer MIS 11 isotope interval of ~64 ka worldwide. As defined by the recovered pollen spectra, the lengths duration. In terms of the underlying astronomical parameters, part of interglacial and glacial chronostratigraphic units vary according of this period resembled the Holocene, MIS 1 to a greater degree to geographic position, altitude and numerous other factors. than it did MIS 5. MIS 11 was “a period of reduced global ice vol- Influenced by uncertainties in defining isotope substage bound- umes.” Following the prolonged MIS 11c Interglacial, four stadials aries, the relationship between d18O values in calcareous fossils, occurred during MIS 11b and 11a (Olson and Hearty, 2009; Candy et continental ice volumes, and sea-level fluctuations is non-linear al., 2014; Blain et al., 2014). and complex. Isotope stage and substage boundaries do not The literature defines interglacials as long periods of minimal conform to the time-transgressive vegetation zones. The precision global ice cover and stadials that usually precede and follow them, by which marine isotope stage and substage boundaries may be as shorter intervals of significant continental ice sheets and glacier established is variable. expansion. However, a vegetation-based interglacial definition, Isotope-based time divisions, stadials and interstadials do not based strictly on increased tree pollen/grass and shrub pollen ratios always reflect ice volume-related sea-level changes. Even when ice (e,g., Turner, 1970) is applicable only to temperate west- and central volumes stored on the continents remain stable, ocean waters and European interglacials, not to the adjacent boreal-subarctic, biogenic carbonate matter in fossils may still be 18O-enriched respectively warm Mediterranean climate belts. For various rea- (Bradley, 1999). Only relatively few closely dated deposits, sons, the terrestrial climate belts and oceanic isotope stage and including long pollen sections of climatological significance have substage boundaries cannot be expected to coincide. been made available from North American LIG continental and As an example, the pollen stratigraphy of MIS 5 reveals a marked coastal sediments. Paleosols and eolian, glacial, and periglacial discrepancy between the chronology of floral successions and deposits and coastal plain sediments of that age provide chro- isotope chronology. Changes in ice volumes on land and linked sea- nostratigraphic data. In combination with data gleaned from levels tended to precede vegetation responses to climate fluctua- postglacial vegetation successions in Europe and North America tions. Pollen stratigraphy-based climate phases failed to match the (Brubaker, 1975; Szeicz and MacDonald, 1991; Ritchie, 2004; chronological ranges of isotope stages closely. Kukla et al. (1997), Oswald et al., 2007) the objective is to delineate the LIG-Last Tzedakis (1993, 2003), Tzedakis et al. (2003), and Shackleton Glacial Stage boundary and duration of the LIG. et al. (2003). Sanchez-Goni~ et al. (2005) suggested that the inter- Several caveats apply. Long pollen logs reveal warming and glacial highstand, marked by oxygen isotope plateau began two cooling trends that usually are not closely matched with oxygen millennia following onset of MIS 5 with major sea-level rise. isotope stages and substages. Similarities between the post-MIS 5e Simultaneous decline in steppe and increase in warmer arboreal glacial history of the two continents help the determination Eurosiberian and Mediterranean taxa mark the floristic start of the whether the MIS 5d-a isotope substage interval represents warm LIG according to Sanchez-Goni~ et al. (1999) and Tzedakis et al. interstadials or cool early glacial conditions, interrupted by (2003). warmer phases. In comparing climate histories between opposite Shackleton (1969) subdivided MIS 5 into Substages MIS 5e- sides of the Atlantic, the accurate dating of isotope stage and through MIS 5a; referred to also as Substages MIS 5.1e5.5. Turon pollen assemblage boundaries are critical. Dynamically shifting (1984) similarly equated MIS 5 with the last interglacial time vegetation zones reflect diachronous NeS climate gradients be- range. While Ruddiman and McIntyre (1972) suggested a tween cold subarctic and warm-temperate north Mediterranean 127e73 ka age range for MIS 5, Shackleton and Opdyke (1973) biomes. provided nearly identical, 128e75 ka values. Assigning the

107e73.9 ka (75 ka) time span to the early Weichselian glacial interval, Kukla et al. (1997) adopted the sensu stricto interpretation. The total duration of the LIG at La Grand Pile, NE France was calculated between 129.8 and 107.0 ka. Involving the entire MIS 5 Table 1 International Nomenclature of Last Interglacial and early Last Glacial intervals. time span; i.e., 125- (or 130-) 75 ka, recently Martrat et al. (2007), Fletcher et al. (2010), Mauz et al. (2012), and Elias and Brigham- MIS 4 Glacial Stage (Weichselian, Vistulian, or Würmian in Europe; Grette (2007),defined the LIG sensu lato. Oppo et al. (2006) Wisconsinan in North America) claimed identical duration of the “MIS 5e warmth” and associated MIS 5a (Interstadial; ~85e71 ka) minimum in land-based ice volumes. Relying on lacustrine varve Odderade, Dürnten, N. Germany-NW Europe (Lagerback, 1988; Behre, 1989; count and its extrapolation, Müller (1974) estimated the duration of Zagwijn, 1989, 1996; Lundquist, 2004; Kühl and Litt, 2007; Müller and ~ the Eemian as ~11.5 ka. Using a similar method, Behre (1989) Sanchez Goni, 2007) e Ognon, Iberia (Müller and Sanchez Goni,~ 2007) arrived at the age range of 9 11 ka. Stafflangen II, S. Germany (Müller, 2000) When defined by pollen biostratigraphy, a fully interglacial St-Germain II, France (Woillard, 1978) climate phase may have been initiated only ~126 ka in temperate St-Genays II, France (Beaulieu and Reille, 1992b) central-western Europe, ~ 4-to-6 millennia after the start of MIS Chelford, England (Behre, 1989) 5. Ending ~5 ka later in S. Germany, the exclusively climate and Perapohjola,€ Kauvolkangas, Masselka,€ Mertuanoja, Tarend€ o,€ Finland and Sweden (Lunkka et al., 2004, Lundquist, 2004; Makinen,€ 2005; Helmens et al., palynology-based but isotopically not constrained Eemian inter- 2007, 2012) val prevailed between ~126 and 115 ka in N Germany and be- Rudunki, Poland (Behre, 1989; Zagwijn, 1989) tween ~127 and 109 ka in southern Italy (Müller and Sanchez _ Jonionys II, Lithuania (Guobyte and Satkunas, 2011) Goni,~ 2007). Fully interglacial marine conditions, mostly with Eleutheraopolis, Greece (Woillard, 1978; Behre, 1989) Quanjon, Highbury, Cape Collinston, Missinabi, W. Canada (Fulton et al., 1986). minor IRD (ice-rafted debris) deposition prevailed between Bras d'Or, St. Pierre, SE Canada (Fulton et al., 1986) 123.5e115.5 ka in the Atlantic Ocean off central Norway. During the 5e temperature optimum IRD was totally absent only be- e MIS 5b (Stadial; ~92 85 ka) tween 117.5e116.5 ka (Nieuwenhove and Bauch, 2008). Judging Melisey II, France (Woillard, 1978) Rederstall, N. Europe (Behre, 1989; Mangerud, 1989) from the dated vegetation gradients between subarctic and Nemunas 1b, Lithuania (Guobyte_ and Satkunas, 2011) Mediterranean Europe, the LIG may have lasted only ~123e116 ka Nicolet, E. Canada (Fulton et al., 1986) in the far North.

MIS 5c (Interstadial; ~105e92 ka) Brorup€ -Amersfoort, Scandinavia, N. Germany, NW Europe (Behre, 1989;Bomer,€ 1989; Zagwijn, 1989, 1996; Lundquist, 2004; Kühl and Schotzel,€ 2007; 3.3. Eemian climate history e oxygen isotope and pollen Houmark-Nielsen, 2011) stratigraphy Chelford, England (Behre, 1989) St-Germain I, France (Woillard, 1978); St-Genays I (Beaulieu and Reille, 1992b) Differences in continental topography and colder west Atlantic Stafflangen I, S. Germany (Müller, 2000) fi Jamtland,€ Sweden (Lundquist, 2004; Makinen,€ 2005) ocean current temperatures and circulation patterns modi ed the Sokli, Maaselka,€ Finland. (Makinen,€ 2005; Helmens et al., 2012) MIS 5 climate and vegetation history in North America to an extent Jonionys I, Lithuania (Guobyte_ and Satkunas, 2011) not yet adequately known. Pollen data are lacking for detailed Drahma (upper Eemian)-Doxaton (lower Eemian), Greece (Behre, 1989) comparisons with European interglacial-glacial climate and vege- MIS 5d (Stadial; its lowest interval may be part of MIS 5e in the temperate tation history. Despite anticipated differences in sundry factors that climate zone; ~115/112e105 ka) impacted climate variations and plant successions, there is funda- Melisey I, France, Herning (Woillard, 1978; Woillard and Mook, 1982; Behre, mental resemblance between the two continents in vegetation 1989; Mangerud, 1989) histories during the LIG and Last Glacial Stage. Similarities between Nemunas 1a, Lithuania (Guobyte_ and Satkunas, 2011) St. Pierre, SE Canada (Lamothe et al., 1992) well-documented postglacial (Holocene) vegetation successions on opposite sides of the Atlantic support this view (Brubaker, 1975; MIS 5e Last Interglacial (sensu stricto; ~ 132e115/112 ka) Szeicz and MacDonald, 1991; Oswald et al., 2007). Eemian, Europe and Russia (Zagwijn, 1961; Behre and Lade, 1986) Comparison with data available on the North American tem- Riss-Würm, Alpine and adjacent western and central Europe (Penck and fl Brückner, 1909; Beaulieu and Reille, 1992b; Müller, 2000) perature optimum and application of paleo ora-based European Fjosangerian,€ Norway (Mangerud, 2004) climate history may go a long way toward defining the LIG and Romele, S. Sweden (Helmens, 2014) the following early Weichselian glacial substages (Table 1). Sed- € € Tepsankumpu, Saarenkyla, Finland (Lunkka et al., 2004; Makinen, 2005) iments of the Eemian and early glacial substages yielded much Prangli, Estonia (Raukas et al., 2004) pertinent information (e.g., Sirocko et al., 2005; Funder and Balic- Felicianova, Latvia (Zelcs et al., 2011) Merkine, Lithuania (Baltrunas et al., 2013) Zunic, 2006; Rousseau et al., 2007; Seelos and Sirocko, 2007). The Ipswichian, England (Phillips, 1974) start and duration of the LIG at different sites is was greatly Ribains, Lure, France (Beaulieu and Reille, 1992a,b; Turner, 2000; Helmens, influenced by the geographic location of a given pollen sequence. 2014) Apart from critical temperature and precipitation changes, Pangaion, Greece (Woillard, 1978) fl Mikulino, Russia (Velichko and Faustova, 1986; Boettger et al., 2009) vegetative successions and variations were in uenced by many Murava, Belorussia (Karabanov et al., 2004) other factors. Altitude, geographic position, distance to ocean and Kazantsevo, Siberia-Mongolia (Lehmkuhl et al., 2004) continental interior influenced increased summer and/or low- St. Pierre, SE Canada (Fulton et al., 1986), ered winter temperatures. The dominant direction of pollen- Sangamonian, U.S.-Canada (Leverett, 1898) transporting winds, parent rock chemistry, soil types and Langelandselvian, Greenland (Funder et al., 2011) edaphic conditions, competition between arboreal taxa, relative MIS 6 Glacial (Illinoian) Stage proximity of and easy accessibility to plant refugia, arboreal migration patterns, and the composition of climax taxa have also influenced plant successions (Turner, 1980; Behre, 1989; Behre and van der Plicht, 1992; Zagwijn, 1989; Beaulieu and Reille, 1992a,b; Tzedakis et al., 2003).

Ranging from southern cool temperate steppe bionomes to expansion may have occurred at higher altitudes in the northern arctic steppe, steppe-tundra, cold tundra plant in the north, the Appalachian, Alaskan, and Rocky Mountain ranges. MIS 5e inter- cold pre-Eemian vegetation gave way to boreal forests, dominated glacial highstand deposits along the N. Gulf coast, S. Florida, and by birch, pine, and spruce. Major reduction in continental ice vol- southern California provide correlation with European Pleistocene umes and consequent sea-level rise apparently preceded a warm- coastal and nearshore deposits. North American LIG pollen data ing trend and associated forest successions. Thermophilous indicate spruce expansion to the far north (Elias and Brigham- deciduous mixed oak forests, often dominated by hornbeam or fir Grette, 2007, 2013; Turner et al., 2013). formed the climax vegetation in the temperate climate zone during the Eemian temperature optimum. Warming reached far north to 3.4. Eemian transgression: nearshore marine and inshore paralic Finnish central Ostrobothnia (Eriksson et al., 1999; Turner, 2000, deposits Table 2). Deviations from current values in northern Eurasia indicate lower temperatures at southern latitudes during the LIG Eemian deposits, first identified by Harting in the Netherlands “climate optimum.” Decreasing toward ~45 N latitude, the contained temperate lusitanian brackish and marine molluscans. northern regions experienced the greatest positive deviations Zagwijn (1961) cites several studies related to Eemian molluscan (Velichko et al., 2008). and foraminifer faunas. This transgressive sequence of early MIS 5 age overlies continental niveo-fluvial and eolian periglacial deposits of the MIS 6, Saalian Stage glaciation started with estuarine Table 2 Generalized composite summary of Last Interglacial and early Last Glacial plant and boreal shallow marine sediments. Boreal-lusitanian deep-wa- successions in central and western Europe. Subdivisions after Turner (2000). Based ter deposits accumulated near Denmark at 60 m depth. The Eemian on Zagwijn (1961, 1989, 1996); Behre (1989); Woillard (1978); Grüger (1979a,b, transgression peak may have coincided with terrestrial flora-based 1989); Mangerud et al. (1981); Beaulieu and Reille (1992a,b); Tzedakis (1993, temperature optimum, followed by fossil-rich cold water sedi- 2003); Müller et al. (2005); Kühl and Schotzel€ (2007); Borner€ (2007). mentation (Houmark-Nielsen, 2004, 2011; Knudsen et al., 2009). € BRORUP (MIS 5c) and ODDERADE (MIS 5a) INTERSTADIALS Correlative transgressive and highstand sediments are widespread / / Present temperate deciduous forest area: tree birch pine, juniper spruce/ and variable in the entire Scandinavian-Baltic region, the adjacent larch / mixed oak with alder, elm / hazel / hornbeam; boreal / cold temperate / to boreal forest (in presently subarctic areas: Kola Peninsula, and Ipswich, England (Phillips, 1974; Mangerud birch / pine / spruce boreal forest) et al., 1981; Cepek, 1986; Rzechowski, 1986; Kristensen et al., STADIAjLS (post-Eemian early glacial) 2000; Raukas et al., 2004; Kristensen and Knudsen, 2006; Haila tundra, shrub tundra to cold steppe grassland. Grasses, herbs; Ericales Poaceae, et al., 2006; Funder and Balic-Zunic, 2006; Knudsen et al., 2012; Artemisia, Graminaceae; heliophilous herbs, shrub birch. Southern areas: Miettinen et al., 2014). Eastern Mediterranean nearshore last open parkland with scattered trees; alder, birch, willow EEMIAN INTERGLACIAL interglacial deposits at Nahal Mearot, Israel, rise 9 m above sea- Post-temperate (terminal) phase level (Mauz et al., 2012). Coastal highstand deposits also occur juniper, pine, birch, willow / occasional spruce predominance, decreasing along the subarctic shorelines of the Arctic Ocean in Eurasian Russia fi proportion of thermophilous deciduous trees with few r, yew (warm including the Pechora Basin (Grøsfjeld et al., 2006; Velichko et al., temperate forests / cold temperate forests / boreal forests) Thermal optimum 2011, Table 1). Interglacial sediments of the Pelukian trans- deciduous thermophilous forests dominant to subdominant; mixed oak forest, gression in Beringia between the subarctic Lena and Mackenzie elm, ash ( / hazel / hornbeam peak; warm temperate, hornbeam- rivers, including Alaska and the Chukotka Peninsula, were also dominated forest), few fir, linden (basswood), holly, poplar, scattered larch, dated to Substage MIS 5e (Brigham-Grette et al., 2001; Elias and pine, birch (in subarctic zone: birch, pine / spruce, locally larch) Brigham-Grette, 2007, 2013). Tectonically elevated marine ter- Late (warm) temperate fi mixed oak, hazel / oak, hazel, oak, alder / hazel, oak, linden / hazel-yew- races of this age are well-documented along the Paci c Coast of / linden / yew with oak, hazel, ash / hornbeam / mixed oak, hazel, yew, North America (Muhs et al., 1992, 1994, 2002, 2006; Pedoja et al., ash 2014). Transgressive and highstand deposits of nearshore marine- Early (cool) temperate to-paralic facies formed during the LIG occupy a narrow belt open birch / pine, juniper: boreal grassy parkland / pine, elm forest with few thermophilous deciduous trees / pine, mixed oak forest, / pine, oak, beneath the seaward margin of the NE Gulf of Mexico Pleistocene alder / oak, ash, elm / cold- to-warm temperate forests; oak, elm, coastal plain (Otvos, 1975, 1991a). While the Biloxi-Gulfport inter- ash / ash, hazel / oak, elm, minor alder, willow, ash grasses and herbs glacial complex formed under warm-temperate climate conditions, (graminaceae, chenopodiaceae) the Eemian paralic and nearshore complex, including its correla- PRE-INTERGLACIAL (late glacial) tives in N. Eurasia and Alaska display a variety of depositional en- subarctic tundra, shrub-tundra, or cold-to-temperate steppe with grasses, herbs. Cold climate or heliophitic grasses, and shrubs; Helioanthemum, vironments, including deep cold-water facies. Myrica, Artemisia, Ericales, Poaceae. Western-central-southern European regions: depending on climate zone, cold- to-temperate steppe-grassland 4. Last Interglacial continental deposits in North America with scattered open birch and pine-woodlands 4.1. Sangamonian geosol development and the Last Interglacial

Following the widely-detected Corylus (hornbeam) Optimum, Identifying it with a prominent buried paleosol, Leverett (1898) climate deterioration in formerly temperate zones replaced de- was the first to describe the Sangamon Formation from Sangamon ciduous arboreal taxa by boreal evergreen coniferous forests, County, central Illinois. That author introduced the term “Sanga- including spruce and birch. This late Eemian cooling trend has been mon Interglacial” for a corresponding late Pleistocene warm period documented as far as eastern Turkey (Shumilovskikh et al., 2013). in North America. Retallack (2001, p. 83) constrained the “Sanga- Representing the last ten millennia of the Interglacial, this trend mon Geosol” to the 132e122 ka (MIS 5e) time interval. However, immediately followed the Eemian temperature peak. Pollen records extending to adjacent Indiana and Iowa, the widespread paleosol following the Eemian temperature peak indicate absence of early evolved primarily in older periglacial and glacial deposits (Willman Würmian (Weichselian/Vistulian) glaciation in the Alpine Fore- and Frey, 1970; Jacobs, 1998; Grimley et al., 2003; Wormley et al., lands of Samerberg, southern Bavaria, and at Mondsee, Austria 2003; Jacobs et al., 2009; Curry et al. 2011). Even according to the (Fig. 1). Alpine speleothems reveal interglacial warming between original broad definition of the LIG, paleosol development was not ~130 and 119 ka (Spotl€ et al., 2007). However, minor glacial confined to MIS 5 but has also impacted unglaciated parts of the

Fig. 1. Sites of Eemian- and early Weichselian/Würmian key stratigraphic and pollen sections in Europe; 1- Tarend€ o,€ Veikki, N. Sweden (Lundquist, 2004); 2- Sokli, N. Finland (Helmens et al., 2007, 2012); 3-Perapohjola,€ N. Finland (Makinen,€ 2005; Helmens and Engels, 2010); 4-Hitura, W. Finland (Helmens and Engels, 2010); 5-Prangli, N. Estonia (Raukas et al., 2004; 6-Herning, Denmark (Behre, 1989; Houmark-Nielsen, 2011); 7- Brorup,€ Denmark (Behre, 1989); 8- Rederstall, Denmark (Behre and Lade, 1986; Behre, 1989); 9- € Amersfort (Zagwijn, 1989); 10-Orel, NW Germany (Behre and Lade, 1986; Behre, 1989); 11-Odderade, NW Germany (Behre and Lade, 1986; Houmark-Nielsen, 2011); 12- Brandenburg, NE. Germany (Borner,€ 2007); 13-Grand Pile, E. France (Woillard, 1978; Beaulieu and Reille, 1992a,b; Ponel, 1995); 14- Jammertal, S. Germany (Müller, 2000; Müller et al., 2005); 15-Samerberg, Bavaria, SW Germany and 16-Mondsee, Austria (Grüger, 1979a,b); 17- Les Echets (Beaulieu and Reille, 1984); 18-Ipswich, England (Phillips, 1974). region from late MIS 6 (lllinoian) through MIS 4 times (Wisconsinan et al., 2000, Fig. 37.3 in Larson, 2011). Even if only a fraction of its or Weichselian Glacial Stage; Grimley et al., 2003; Table 1). Its development has coincided with the Sangamonian Interglacial protracted ~50e100 ka development apparently was not coeval (MIS 5e), because the precedence of the original term, “Sangamon only with a typical, relatively brief warm interglacial climate phase. paleosol,” this geosol should retain its erstwhile designation. Predominantly cool glacial stage conditions prevailed. Intermittent glacial cover dominated only further north. 4.2. Duration of the Sangamon LIG e coeval with MIS 5 or only MIS Outside its Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa core areas the distribution 5e? of the Sangamon Geosol presents a discontinuous pattern. Detected west of the Mississippi Basin as far as the Great and High Plains in In establishing global marine oxygen isotope chronology, Texas (Johnson, 1976), Grimley (written com., 2013) recognizes the Emiliani (1955) allocated the entire MIS 5 to the Sangamon Inter- Sangamon Geosol as far east as West Virginia. It may extend glacial. Grant and King (1984), Fulton et al. (1986,p.214e215) and southward into Mississippi and Louisiana; toward the west, Lamothe et al. (1992) shared this view. However, in claiming that respectively northward to Nebraska, the Dakotas, Minnesota even the interglacial included both warm and cold phases and that some to the Great Lakes. B. B. Curry (written com., 2013) identiﬁes San- of the Sangamonian sediments are “not necessarily” of interglacial gamon paleosol with certainty only as far south as Tennessee. Due origin, Fulton et al. (1984, 1986) assigned even periglacial and to the geosol's poorly-drained accretion gley pedofacies, paleosol glacial sediments to the Sangamonian Stage in SE Canada. These identiﬁcation was less feasible north of Illinois. While also coeval units included the MIS 5 age Pottery Road and Scarborough For- with three MIS 5 warm intervals, most of its time span coincided mations near Toronto and pollen-bearing “Sangamonian” sedi- with cold and cool, occasionally periglacial temperatures (Karrow ments laid down in ice-dammed lakes. Glacial till deposits at

Becancour, Quebec Province, were also considered part of the front C24 terminated the LIG. Dansgaard and Duplessy (1981) Sangamon interval. Attempts to correlate Mississippi River alluvial believed in rapid post-Eemian cooling shortly after ~120 ka and units with MIS 5 sea-level positions, cold and warm climate phases that within 5-to-10 millennia in comparison with the present, the have failed; the error ranges associated with the alluvial lumines- continental ice cover doubled its volume. According to Drysdale cence dates overlapped dates that designate oxygen isotope et al. (2007), however, C 23 cold event surface waters entered the chronology-based substage and stage boundaries (Otvos, 2013b). Atlantic only at ~106e105 ka. Sharply increased IRD values and Confirming warming also in the Rocky Mountains, a well developed introduction of cold-water foraminifer species Neogloboquadrina soil of sensu stricto (MIS 5e) Sangamon interglacial age was iden- pachyderma sinistral signaled the change. Sea-level declined and a tified at Jackson Hole, Wyoming (Pierce et al., 2011). NW Alaska cold marine fauna was introduced in the nearshore. Atlantic pollen spruce forests shifted 80 km to N. In eastern Siberia the boreal data off the south Portugal coast indicated that interglacial vege- treeline was displaced 600e1000 km poleward. A similar migration tation survived well into Substage MIS 5d (Kukla et al., 1997; documented in the Yukon, NW Canada (Brigham-Grette et al., Sanchez-Goni~ et al., 1999, 2005; Müller and Sanchez Goni,~ 2007). 2001; Elias and Brigham-Grette, 2007; Turner et al., 2013). In temperate zones, boreal forests succeeded deciduous woods, Fulton et al. (1984, 1986) included the entire MIS 5de5a interval while steppe-tundra and tundra have dominated subarctic and into a newly designated transitional “Eowisconsin” chronostrati- high mountain biomes. Accompanied by ice rafting offshore, post- graphic unit. While incorporating the rest of the MIS 5 interval into MIS 5e cooling occurred in two steps. Behre (1989) estimated the the Wisconsinan Glacial Stage, in dissent with his coauthors, Kar- duration of the Brorup€ and Odderade interstades between ~5.8, row (in: Fulton et al., 1986) assigned the Sangamonian Interglacial respectively, 10.5 ka (Table 1). to MIS 5e. Clague et al. (1992, p. 259) were hesitant in assigning Substages MIS 5d and 5b to the early Wisconsinan or to late San- 5.1.1. Interstadial vegetation successions in Europe gamonian mountain glaciation in SW Canada and adjacent U.S. In pioneering studies Zagwijn (1961) and Woillard (1978) areas. Recent publications (Clague et al., 1992; Barendregt, 2011; defined two warm interstades following the LIG. Both were uni- Jackson et al., 2011; Stea et al., 2011) covering this region also versally recognized across Europe (Table 1) but less satisfactorily in follow the sensu lato definition of the LIG. Trying to avoid the North America. Initially designating them Würmian or Weichselian nomenclature quandary, Muhs et al. (2006 and written comm., interstadials, Woillard (1978) and subsequently Woillard and Mook 2013) designate the entire interval simply as “Interglacial (1982) described these warmer intervals as early Weichselian Complex.” interstades. While temperatures stayed below the mid-Eemian In recent decades, most European authors limited the LIG to high, Substages MIS 5c and 5a generally displayed fewer and less Susbstage 5e. The North American literature, on the other hand diverse temperate deciduous arboreal taxa than the ones that somewhat inconsistently tends to identify the interglacial either prevailed during Interglacial 5e (Woillard, 1978; Grüger, 1979a,b; broadly with MIS 5 or narrowly with MIS 5e. Where defined by Guiot, 1990; Guiot et al., 1993). Except when attributed to warmer pollen biostratigraphy in Europe, a warm early MIS 5d phase was continentality (Helmens, 2014), the somewhat warmer brief in- also incorporated into the LIG (Kukla et al., 1997; Shackleton et al., terstadials and the much colder stadials hindered influx of ther- 2003; Sanchez-Goni~ et al., 2005). Side-by-side with the narrow, mophilous arboreal vegetation. Boreal species Betula and Pinus sensu stricto designation, Brigham-Grette (2001, p. 17) thus also dominated in the North (Table 1). In contrast to short and cool mid- uses the broad (MIS 5e-a) definition. Hamilton and Brigham-Grette Weichselian interstadials, Abies, Larix, Picea, and Alnus thrived (1991) confined the LIG to 5e, subsequently Elias and Brigham- during the Brørup (Behre, 1989). Marked by absence of ther- Grette (2007, p. 1059) cited LIG as ranging between 130 and mophilous oak, elm, and hazel taxa in Germany, France, and adja- 75 ka. While Helmens (2014) includes early Weichselian glacial cent areas (Woillard, 1978; Grüger, 1979a,b; Woillard and Mook, substages MIS 5d-a into the Last Interglacial, but considers the LIG 1982) the cold “Montaigu Event“ did interrupt the St. Germain- as coeval with the entire MIS 5. Equally problematical is her opinion Brorup€ Interstade (Table 1). Few warmth-attuned taxa survived the that a division between the Eemian (MIS 5e) and Weichselian second, even cooler Odderade Interstade in the boreal Austrian Substages MIS 5d-a, “not useful, i.e. not relevant from a climate forests (Starnberger et al., 2013). point of view.” Protected in Alpine valleys, temperate deciduous trees survived the coldest stades. Arboreal pollen encountered in tundra or steppe 5. Post-MIS 5e (early Wisconsinan, Weichselian/Vistulian) ecozones originated in the nearest forests or sheltered Alpine climate parallels between Europe and North America foreland and Balkan valley refuges (Zagwijn, 1961, 1989; Behre, 1989; Tzedakis, 1993, 2003; Müller, 2000; Tzedakis et al., 2003; 5.1. Vegetation history and climate during MIS 5 Kühl and Schotzel,€ 2007). Appalachian valleys may have similarly served as refuges in ice-free areas near ice lobes. With only scat- Broadleaf forests in large parts of Europe were quickly replaced tered and stunted birch, juniper, and willow trees representing the by taiga, tundra vegetation. In the temperate zone deciduous for- arboreal vegetation, grasses, sedges, and shrubs dominated the ests were replaced by boreal evergreen and birch forests replaced cool-temperate and cold climate belts during MIS 5d. Open oak and deciduous forests that eventually yielded to steppe vegetation. A pine forests persisted in temperate NW Greece during colder in- close connection was discerned between changes in deep oceanic tervals (Tzedakis, 1993). Forest successions followed regional circulation, limited IRD accumulation, and much colder conditions cooling and sea-level decline. on land. Cooling during the earliest ice growth stage critically The time-transgressive vegetation zones displayed steep NeS impacted the North Atlantic Basin west of Ireland. Sediment data gradients from tundra and tundra-steppe belts in the North to the from the central Atlantic confirm these changes that followed re- warm-temperate forests of southern Europe. Tundra flora charac- cord high MIS 5e temperatures (Schwab et al., 2013). Reflecting a terized Weichselian interstades in northern Fennoscandia. Simul- powerful cooling trend, climate deterioration introduced steppe- taneously with the expansion of temperate climate deciduous tundra, shrub-tundra, and tundra vegetation in the North forests in eastern France, early Weichselian boreal forests occupied (Mangerud, 2011, Table 2). northern Germany and Denmark (Behre, 1989). Coinciding with the Melisey-1 cold stadial biozone (Woillard In contrast with record values 132e110 ka or 130e107 ka for the and Mook, 1982, Table 1), the advancing North Atlantic polar total Eemian time range, partly based on varve counts, in cold-

Please cite this article in press as: Otvos, E.G., The Last Interglacial Stage: Definitions and marine highstand, North America and Eurasia, Quaternary International (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.05.010 E.G. Otvos / Quaternary International xxx (2014) 1e16 7 temperate and temperate climate belts the MIS 5e interval is sediment sequences and postdepositional sediment reworking, generally estimated as 9e13 ka long (e.g., Müller, 1974; Behre, 1989; chronostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic correlation of LIG de- Candy et al., 2014). The Brørup and Odderade Interstadials were posits between the few established standard sections that contain shorter and the climate of the intervening Rederstall Stadial in continental and oceanic depositional facies generally are not Germany (Table 1) more severe than during the earlier Herning feasible. However, shore-parallel correlations, preferably with Stadial (Behre, 1989). Correlation with dated periglacial deposits, numerically dated transgressive, highstand, and regressive sedi- paleosols, and interstadial coastal highstand units (Fulton et al., ment sequences and sediment reference profiles, recorded in the 1984, 1986; Muhs, 2002; Pierce et al., 2011); comparisons with Amsterdam Basin, although not on any numerically dated Eemian North American postglacial Pleistocene and Holocene forest suc- unit stratotype offers the best hope (Gibbard, 2003). This would be cessions during the LIG and the Last Glacial (Wisconsinan/Weich- the case when sedimentary units are referenced to subdivisions selian) Stage (Delcourt and Delcourt, 1987; Ritchie, 2004; Oswald within globally established and continentally correlated oxygen et al., 2007) suggest taxonomic and chronostratigraphic parallels isotope chronology. between the two continents. The updated filtered and smoothed global oxygen isotope chronology and its subdivisions that utilize combination of several 5.1.2. MIS 5 climate trends: glacial cooling or overarching global data bases, despite some inherent shortcomings still provide interglacial warm interval? the best available time frame for global climate variations. The Several arguments may have favored identification of the LIG constantly changing conditions are site-dependent and often time- with the entire MIS 5 time span. Remaining at relatively high levels transgressive. They tend to overlap and only broadly correlate with throughout MIS 5, sea-level and d18O values rose substantially MIS boundaries. Unlike standard stratigraphic type sections, the above the late MIS 6 figures. Except for two brief cooler in- chronology is not based on sediment but essentially on ice core terstadials that followed record Eemian warmth during the mid- sequences indirectly related to alternating warming and cooling MIS 5e Carpinus (hornbeam) phase, a cooling trend, locally trends, as reflected by land and marine biota, archived in numeri- accompanied by glacier and ice sheet expansion dominated several cally dated biostratigraphic sediment intervals, framed by high- subarctic and mountain sites. Except for periods of interspersed resolution ocean core profiles. moderate interstadial warming, temperature declined during the In combination with overwhelming floral data, the large early Weichselian (Vistulian). contrast between the high normalized d18O values at the MIS 5e Cold conditions resulted in boreal forest spread, further cooling, in interglacial peak and their much lower values in the early Wis- takeover by tundra and steppe biomes. With temperature decline consin MIS 5de5a interval (Bradley, 1999) also helps to justify that followed each interstadial high (Rousseau et al., 2007). In addi- splitting of MIS 5 into two climatologically contrasting intervals of tion to earlier cited dates (Nieuwenhove and Bauch, 2008), IRD uneven lengths. The sharp temperature and sea-level decline deposition recurred at ~122 ka, 115 ka, and 107 ka (Sanchez-Goni~ immediately following the MIS 5e peak may have exceeded con- et al., 2005; Oppo et al., 2006). With the pollen spectrum-based ditions that characterized termination of MIS 5. These conditions cool early millennia of MIS 5e omitted from, and the locally warm should be also documented in lithostratigraphic and chronostrati- early MIS 5d interval added to the LIG, the remaining MIS 5 generally graphic sediment sequences. was considered part of the early Weichselian of Europe (Table 1). Thus, the Sangamon Interglacial time interval is identified either Despite fluctuating but generally and relatively high sea-levels and with MIS 5 or its warmest substage, MIS 5e. Where defined by intermediate oxygen isotope ratios throughout that stage, the paly- terrestrial-based pollen biostratigraphy, a warm early MIS 5d in- nological subdivision splits MIS 5 into two climatologically contrast- terval was incorporated into the LIG (Kukla et al., 1997; Shackleton ing intervals of asymmetrical length. et al., 2003; Sanchez-Goni~ et al., 2005). However, Brigham-Grette Accompanied by limited ice expansion, cooling continued early in (2001, p. 17) cites the sensu lato (MIS 5e-5a) interglacial definition MIS 4. Unusually high temperatures at Sokli, N. Finland, in NW side-by-side with the sensu stricto (MIS 5e) designation. Earlier, Canada and elsewhere (Turner et al., 2013)wereattributedto Hamilton and Brigham-Grette (2001) confined the LIG to 5e but summer continentality (Helmens et al., 2007; Helmens and Engels, later Elias and Brigham-Grette (2007, p. 1059) interpreted LIG 2010; Helmens, 2014). Derived from pollen data, including the broadly, between 130 and 75 ka. Helmens (2014) includes early Picea climax, the alleged brief subarctic warmth during MIS 5c, Weichselian glacial substages MIS 5d-a into the Last Interglacial, resembled interglacial and current temperatures, in part even those while at the same time considers the LIG coeval also with all of MIS of a warm interstadial of the much cooler MIS 3 (Helmens et al., 5. Equally challenging and perplexing is her statement that the 2007; Helmens and Engels, 2010; Helmens et al., 2012; Helmens, division between the warm Eemian (MIS 5e) and the cooler 2014). Gibbard (written com., 2014) tentatively attributes the Weichselian Stadials/MIS 5d-a is “not useful, i.e. not relevant from a warmth; indicators in the Sokli pollen sequence not to interglacial climate point of view.” warmth but to the common domino-like stacking of upthrusted Characterized globally by limited glacial expansion, the over- interglacial sediment wedges, glaciotectonically inserted into overarching cooling trend that dominated Europe and North America lying younger deposits. Additional drillcore data may prove this following the MIS 5e (locally the early MIS 5d) temperature opti- interpretation. mum thus warrants inclusion of the rest of the MIS 5 into the early Wisconsinan (Weichselian) Glacial Stage in North America as well. 6. Delineation of the Last Interglacial e Last Glacial stage Elimination of the superfluous term “Eowisconsin,” introduced by boundary Fulton et al. (1984, 1986) for the mid- and late MIS 5 as a transitional interval toward the cold mid-Wisconsinan MIS 4 has been Ideally, a stage boundary should be established on the global, or overdue. at least intercontinental or continental scale by parastratotype lo- calities in continental and oceanic sediments. With its near- 6.1. Mid- and late MIS 5 glaciations in Eurasia and worldwide complete and overwhelmingly marine sediment sequence the Amsterdam-Terminal Core was utilized to define the Saalian- The limited nature of MIS 5d and MIS 5b glaciations, accompa- Eemian, although not the Eemian-Wisconsinan boundary nied by sea-level drop resulted in minor increases in continental ice (Gibbard, 2003). Because of lateral discontinuities between sheet and glacier volumes. As noted after the peak d18O curve

(Fig.6.15 in: Bradley, 1999)reflects significant fluctuations after its radioisotope systems yielded dates of questionable reliability peak during MIS 5e. Even greater d18O and eustatic sea-level fluc- (Muhs et al., 2004; Wehmiller et al., 2004). tuations characterized isotope stages during the next glacial. Most Only relatively few U-series dates obtained from closed lime- of MIS 5 and MIS 4 between ~75 and 50 ka was devoid of major ice stone systems provided well-constrained, unquestioned intergla- cover. However, interrupted by two episodes of interstade warm- cial highstand dates from MIS 5 highstand deposits in the Atlantic ing, relatively modest glacial expansion did mark this cooling trend. Coastal Plain. Several dated non-coral limestone and calcareous Ice advance accompanied southward shift of cold Atlantic circula- sediment samples apparently represented open U-isotope systems, tion. The northern Alpine foreland vegetation survived the coldest unsuited for dating (Burdette et al., 2009, 2010). The samples MIS 5 stadials (Table 2; Grüger, 1979a,b, 1989; Grüger and included a porous coquinoid limestone from central peninsular Schreiner, 1993; Müller, 2000; Turner, 2000; Müller et al., 2005; Florida with a questionable MIS 5 date. Other Florida limestone Ehlers et al., 2011a; Fiebig et al., 2011). Development of a cold- samples taken near present sea-level provided dates of MIS 5 and temperate Alpine speleothem (Spotl€ et al., 2007) had possibly MIS 4. Amino acid racemization results of late Pleistocene coastal coincided with permanent ice accumulation at still greater units also presented dates of questionable precision (Muhs et al., altitudes. 2004; Wehmiller et al., 2010). Based on a kinetic model (York The Fennoscandian ice sheets expanded during MIS 5 stadials et al., 1989) “amino acid preferred age estimates” yielded an (Lagerback, 1988; Mangerud, 1989). Ice sheet expansion in the extremely wide age range, 80e120 ka, from samples taken at north Russian Pechora region culminated ~80e90 ka (Velichko and 7.2e11.2 m below present sea-level. Faustova, 1986; Astrakhov, 2011; Velichko et al., 2011). Moraine Few coral samples did yield what appear to be valid MIS 5 dates. ridges indicate that the E and S Siberian mountain glaciers, They were taken in tectonically uplifted Pacific coast terraces including the Verkhoyansk Range and Chukotka expanded during (Muhs et al., 1994; 2002; 2006, Fig. 2). The younger dates originated Stades MIS 5d and 5b (Elias and Brigham-Grette, 2007; Sheinkman, in sediments of cooler stages deposited during lower highstand 2011; Stauch and Lehmkuhl, 2011; Barr and Clark, 2012). The stages; the older ones reflect fully interglacial warm conditions. Vankanem and Salmon Lake glacial deposits of eastern Siberia, Reliable MIS 5e dates in the Florida Keys region of south Florida respectively Alaska were assigned to Substage MIS 5d or MIS 5b. originated at higher elevations, while the MIS 5a interstadial dates Stratigraphic evidence from the Bristol Bay area of SW Alaska here originated below present sea-level (Muhs, 2002; Muhs et al., confirms that MIS 5 glaciations were more extensive than even 2002, 2004, 2011, Fig. 2). The scarcity of MIS 5e highstand dates during the full-glacial MIS 2 and “took place at a time when eustatic and the relative abundance of MIS 5c values that would be asso- sea level was still high and arctic water masses were still warm, ciated with lower than present sea-level still defy explanation. although summer insolation was decreasing” (Brigham-Grette Many East Coast MIS 5a dates are linked to sea-levels much et al., 2001; Elias and Brigham-Grette, 2007, 2013). lower than the present sample elevations would indicate (Muhs Cosmogenic isotope- and other studies have disproven claims et al., 2004; Wehmiller et al., 2004). Muhs explains the unusually by Richmond (1986) for a MIS 5 Younger Bull Lake Glaciation in high sample positions by postdepositional tectonic uplift, post- the high Yellowstone Plateau during MIS 5 (Licciardi and Pierce, glacial glacio-isostatic adjustment, hydroisostasy, and/or loading by 2008; Licciardi, written com., 2013). Ice sheet expansion during shelf sediments. Subpolar glaciotectonic impact and isostatic MIS 5d in the Quebec-St. Lawrence region of SE Canada has been readjustment were invoked to account for the unusually high ele- also assumed. “There is strong evidence for extensive ice cover vations of Alaskan and east Siberian MIS 5c or MIS 5a marine on the eastern Canadian Shield during MIS 5b” (Occhietti et al., highstand deposits (Brigham-Grette and Hopkins, 1995; Brigham- 2011). Some of the highest Canadian and Alaskan mountain Grette et al., 2001). ranges did experience glacier and mountain ice sheet expansion. Temperature- or moisture-dependent glacier growth was docu- 8. NE Gulf of Mexico coastal terrace sequences. LIG deposits mented between 125 and 72 ka in the Cascade and Olympic and dating issues e correlation with Eemian coastal- Ranges of the Pacific Northwest (Thackray, 2008; Clague and nearshore units in Europe Ward, 2011). Cosmogenic exposure analyses of central Alaska Range glacial drift Muhs et al. (2004) assumed that shore deposits in the Pleisto- provided two dates within the MIS 5c-a range (Kaufman et al., 2011). cene Gulf coastal plain possess a history equal in complexity to that Sawagaki and Aoki (2011) assumed MIS 5b glaciations in the Japanese of the nearby SE Atlantic coastal plain. Detailed field and drillhole Alps of Hokkaido Island. Ehlers et al. (2011b) and Hughes et al. (2013) documentation of the topography, number, and last interglacial mention MIS 5 glaciations on a worldwide scale. They also include shoreline features and their sediment content refutes this view in New Zealand, the Pamir, Tien Shan, Alay, Himalaya ranges, Tibet, areas the NE Gulf coast (Otvos, 1975, 1991a,b). Continuing post-Pliocene in ColumbiaeVenezuela and Iberia among these regions. uplift and consequent regional erosion left behind but two coastal plain stratigraphic sequences of Pleistocene age in this re- 7. Last Interglacial highstand deposits, SE Atlantic coastal gion. Only the younger includes brackish and marine deposits, the plain terraces other consists of alluvial deposits. No traces of potentially numerous earlier Pleistocene highstand deposits remain, not even Numerous coastal terrace stair-steps are known south of Vir- of the extended (~424e360 ka) warm period, in part coincident ginia. They are most completely developed in Georgia and Florida. with the þ6e13 m, less likely even a þ20 m high MIS 11 “super- Shore deposits of the latest interglacial would be expected to be in interglacial” sea-level (Olson and Hearty, 2009; Candy et al., 2014). elevated positions, abundant and extensive along the mid-Atlantic Alluvial deposits of the next older Montgomery Terrace in Mis- and Gulf coasts. The most recent Pleistocene terraces include the sissippi, Louisiana, and Texas sequences yielded luminescence Talbot, Pamlico, Princess Anne, and Silver Bluff (Cooke, 1945; Doar dates 164e248 ka. Plant fossils in one sand pit excavated in this and Kendall, 2014). Several terraces were attributed to late Pleis- terrace and enriched in luminescence-dated arboreal elements tocene highstands. Electron spin resonance optical dates of these have suggested that the MIS 7 interglacial flora greatly resembled terrace deposits ranged between ~2.2 and ~0.41 Ma. Only few of modern southern pine-dominated coastal forests (Otvos, 2005). these lithosomes may be safely assigned to the LIG (Burdette et al., Transgressive paralic-to nearshore sandy-muddy marine 2013). Even fossil coral limestones characterized by closed U- Sangamonian-age Biloxi Formation deposits formed during the LIG

Fig. 2. Index map of Last Interglacial locations cited in North America. Dated corals, MIS 5e highstand shore sites: 1- S. California; 2-Baja California (Muhs et al., 1994; 2002, 2006); 3- Sangamon County: Sangamon Geosol type location (Leverett, 1898); Canadian “Sangamon Interglacial” formations: 4-Toronto area, Ontario; 5-Montreal area, Quebec; 6- Halifax area, Nova Scotia (Fulton et al., 1984, 1986); 7, 8- Newfoundland sites; S. Florida coral dates (Muhs, 2002; Muhs et al., 2002; 2011): 9-Miami area; 10- Florida Keys; 11- Last Interglacial transgressive-regressive complex, NE Gulf Coast (Otvos, 1991a,b, 2004, 2005, 2013b); 12- Last Interglacial transgressive sequence and Gulfport strandplain complex, Apalachicola. FL (Burdette et al., 2012; Otvos, 2013a). Potential MIS 5 glaciation: O- Olympic-Cascade Ranges; I- NW Idaho ranges; Y-Yellowstone Plateau (Licciardi and Pierce, 2008; Thackray, 2008). transgression and highstand. Strandplain deposits of the Gulfport Pleistocene age. The gradational relationship between the Biloxi barriers overlie them; further inland, by silty-sandy alluvium of the and overlying barrier sands is consistent with the numerous LIG late Pleistocene Prairie Formation. This paralic-nearshore sequence dates obtained from Gulfport sands (Otvos, 2005, 2013a; Burdette overlies a thick interval of compacted ﬁne-to-coarse grained allu- et al., 2012) and leaves no doubt about the interglacial age of the vial sands and muddy sands of late Neogene and/or early Biloxi-Gulfport complex along the northern Gulf coast. Three long

Fig. 3. Apalachicola Delta area, NW Florida. Late Pleistocene surface geology with Cross Section Line A-B (after Otvos, 2013a).

Fig. 4. Geological cross section A-B in Fig. 3 (after Otvos, 2013a). drillcores included 11-to-37 m thick fossil-rich marine Biloxi in- and 12.6 m, the Biloxi consists mostly of medium gray mud, fine tervals (Figs. 4e6). Correlative with the transgressive nearshore sandy clay, silty very fine sand that include abundant poly- and marine and inshore Eem Formation, associated with MIS 5e and mesohaline foraminifer taxa. Greenish-gray to light gray medium correlatives are ubiquitous along north European and Arctic Ocean silty sand, compacted very dense medium silt, medium silty fine- shores. to-very sand with occasionally pebbly to slightly granular sandy lithofacies are also present. Drillhole 29 and several adjacent 8.1. Biloxi Formation coreholes included redeposited tests of six planktonic foram taxa, transported to the Mississippi Delta from Oklahoma and Texas Core intervals in the Biloxi and Gulfport formations may serve as Upper Cretaceous deposits by the Red and Mississippi rivers that chrono- and lithostratigraphic type sections that correspond to the drain the mid-continent (Otvos and Bock, 1976). MID 5e Sangamonian Interglacial Stage on the Gulf Coast. Extend- The Biloxi becomes appreciably sandier toward the Apalachicola ing upward to a few meters above present sea-level, the Biloxi, Delta area of NW Florida. Thick Biloxi deposits underlie the Apa- usually overlain by Prairie alluvium (Otvos, 1991a,b, 2013a,b) con- lachicola Coast and the Port Bienville and Point aux Chenes in sists of a continuous sequence of gray and greenish-gray sandy coastal Mississippi (Otvos, 1991b, 1992b). Mesohaline-to-lower mud, muddy fine sand, and clayey silt. The top Biloxi interval at Port euhaline facies in these and adjacent drillholes included foramin- Bienville, MS (Fig. 6) and several other sites, includes a low-salinity ifers Elphidium galvestonense, Elphidium gunteri, Elphidium incertum oligohaline-to-polyhaline fauna with Ammotium salsum, Ammonia mexicanum, Brizalina lowmani, Buliminella elegantissima, Bulimi- beccarii and A.b. tepida, occasionally Elphidium species, often with nella cf B. bassendorfensis, Nonion depressulum matagordanum, individual shells or reefs of oyster Crassostrea virginica. The highly Nonionella atlantica, N. opima, Cribroelphidium poeyanum, Uvigerina brackish Rangia cuneata bivalve is rare. Beds of highly brackish peregrina. The meso- and euhaline marine facies of the highest foram taxa characterize the middle interval in the Pt. aux Chenes, salinity also contain Globigerina bulloides, Globigerinoides ruber, MS drillcore. This suggests episodes of increased fluvial discharge Quinqueloculina tenagos, Quinqueloculina lamarckiana, Hanzawaia that alternated with influx of more saline sea water. Wave erosion strattoni, Bigenerina irregularis, Fursenkoina pontoni, Textularia eliminated the earliest brackish Biloxi deposited at the onset of mayori, and Rosalina columbiensis. In the Apalachicola region of NW transgression. Meso- and polyhaline foraminifers dominate the Florida Late Pliocene siliciclastic and carbonate deposits and fossil- Formation in Drillholes A and B (Fig. 6). At variable depths, 32 m free sands underlie this late Pleistocene sediment complex (Figs. 3 at the greatest, the Biloxi overlies fossil-free, undifferentiated early and 4). Pleistocene and/or late Neogene deposits. Port Bienville, MS Drillhole No. 29 (Fig. 6; Otvos, 1992a) included 8.2. Gulfport barrier deposits, NE Gulf coast a 12-m thick interval of well-to-moderately sorted, fine to muddy very fine Gulfport Formation sands. These barrier sands overlie the Gulfport barrier ridges that flank the seaward margin of the NE Biloxi, in turn overlain by clayey-fine sandy, silty Prairie alluvium Gulf Pleistocene coastal plain occupy most of the gulfward edge of during MIS 5 and MIS 4. Encountered between 10.5 m the late Pleistocene coastal plain. The barrier sectors are 0.7e3.5 km

rare. Where not masked by late Pleistocene and/or early Holocene eolian sands, Gulfport strandplain ridges dominate the coast between St. Louis Bay, Mississippi and the Apalachicola Coast (Otvos, 2004, Figs. 2 and 3). The thin eolian sand blanket formed under various drier climate episodes in the mid-to-late Pleistocene and early Holocene (Otvos, 2004). Centering on the MIS 5e time interval, ﬂanked by lowstand stages and substages, the error range of three Mississippi and Florida strandplain OSL dates produced a total range of 100.7e134.8 ka (Otvos, 2005). Eleven date ranges associated with the MIS 5e highstand in the Apalachicola Coast strandplain complex in NW Florida, including associated error ranges yielded an age spread of 100e147 ka (Burdette et al., 2012). Only sediments of 5e have formed at or above modern sea-level. The rest of the age ranges chronologically overlap glacial substage and isotope stades, associated with much lower sea-levels during which no coastal marine and paralic beds accumulated in the present coastal plain areas.

8.3. Northwestern Gulf coastal plain

The generally Biloxi-bearing, interval is recognizable in the shallow subsurface throughout coastal Louisiana and Texas. West of the Pearl River, the Gulfport trend disappears in the subsurface under late Pleistocene deposits. Known as the Ingleside Trend, it represents closely-spaced barrier members in the late Pleistocene SW Texas coastal plain, only few of these barriers appear in the SE Texas coastal sites. Multiple unconformities separate fossil-free and fossiliferous pre-Sangamonian Pleistocene units of unknown ages in the sedimentary sequence that underlies individual barrier sectors (Otvos and Howat, 1996, 1997).

9. Conclusions

An accurate definition of the LIG boundaries by oxygen isotope Fig. 5. Simplified log of NW Florida Drillcore No. 32, in: Fig. 4 (after Otvos, 2013a). chronology and/or pollen-biostratigraphy has been sought since the first recognition of MIS 5 as a generally warm climate phase. wide; 1.5e2.0 km on average. Medium- and fine-grained, very well The interrelationships between d18O values obtained from fora- to moderately well sorted white sands form the usually 7e11 m minifer tests, continental ice volumes, and coeval sea-level posi- thick shallow subtidal-to-supratidal Gufport interval. Humate- tions are nonlinear and highly complex. Many factors influenced impregnated semi-consolidated ledges are common in Gulfport the numerical definition of isotope-based stage boundaries. Ocean sands that frequently include shallow subtidal Callianassa ghost waters and calcareous fossils may be 18O-enriched even without shrimp burrows. Molds of nearshore molluscan Raeta plicatella are changes in the continental ice sheet volumes (Bradley, 1999).

Fig. 6. Location of Biloxi and Gulfport type sections representing LIG transgressive-regressive sequence, NE Gulf Coast. Dashed lines indicate the landward wedgeout limit of brackish Biloxi facies and Gulfport strandplain barriers (westward continuation of trend: Otvos, 2013b. Drillhole A- 301301900N, 8934017 W; Port Bienville, MS; Drillhole B- 301903400 N, 88280780 W; Pt. aux Chenes, MS (Otvos, 1991a,b, 2004, 2005, 2013,b).

Glacial and interglacial stage and substage boundaries that mark NE Gulf coastal plain between Louisiana and peninsular Florida shifting diachronous vegetation zones tend to overlap with isotope displays a markedly different stratigraphy. Only MIS 5e coastal stage and substage boundaries. These often fail to match climate marine and brackish paralic transgressive and highstand units phase boundaries, as defined by pollen biostratigraphic evidence. remain along this stretch of the Gulf coast. The prolonged post- Originally, the LIG was deemed coeval with the entire MIS 5 Pliocene regional uplift resulted in recurring regional erosion that interval. In Europe, by pollen biostratigraphy was the LIG confined erased all earlier Pleistocene marine and paralic shore deposits to Stage MIS 5e. Several interpretations exclude the early cool in- (Otvos, 1991a). terval of 5e from the Interglacial. In temperate zones the warm Coeval with the European Eemian, the Gulf coastal plain be- early MIS 5d is included in the LIG. The extensive late Pleistocene tween Mississippi and NW Florida the Pleistocene interval includes Sangamon Geosol initially was correlated solely with the Last the fossil-rich nearshore marine and brackish paralic Biloxi For- (Sangamon) Interglacial and the term “Sangamon” was applied mation and the overlying Gulfport strandplain barrier complex. both to warm and cold deposits in Stage MIS 5. Other definitions Both units date to MIS 5e. Elevated exposures of the Biloxi and the excluded cold MIS 5 intervals from the Sangamonian Interglacial. Gulfport occur at E. Belle Fontaine Beach, Jackson County, MS, along Summer continentality was held up as the cause for the assumed the Gulfport Industrial Seaway Canal, in the SW shore of Mobile unusually warmth during MIS 5c in subarctic Finland. This led to a Bay, and elsewhere near the landward wedge-out of the Biloxi provisional sensu lato definition of the LIG as being coeval with all (Fig. 6; Otvos, 2013a). Along their landward margin paralic trans- of MIS 5 (Helmens et al., 2012; Helmens, 2014). The sensu lato gressive and highstand deposits occur at and above current sea- definition of the LIG, including middle and late MIS 5 intervals of level. This fact also supports the interglacial age of the paralic- cooling and increasing global ice cover is not supportable and nearshore Biloxi and overlying Gulfport barrier strandplain ridges. should be abandoned. Subtidal sedimentary structures and marine fossils in Gulfport Contrasting with their abundance in Europe, comprehensive barrier strandplain lithosomes located at or above modern sea- stratigraphic data obtained from detailed pollen logs from the MIS level support this conclusion. Coastal highstand deposits of the 5 interval are unavailable in North America. However, utilization of LIG apparently offer the best means for correlating interglacial European pollen stratigraphy may allow comparisons between deposits worldwide. European and North American climate and vegetation histories to establish a valid demarcation between the Last Interglacial and the 10. A brief summary Wisconsinan Glacial Stage. Despite differences in regional topography that fashioned plant refuges, postglacial North American The Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) System, based on oceanic and vegetative successions described by Brubaker (1975), Szeicz and ice cap cores while not represented by type sections that MacDonald (1991), Oswald et al. (2007), and others essentially delineate Stage and Substage depositional intervals, provides a resemble those of the European LIG and early Weichselian (Vistu- useful time frame for chrono-, bio-, and lithostratigraphic units lian) sediment sequences. Future studies of nonglacial and peri- formed during alternating cold and warm climate events. glacial North American deposits; paleosols and marine highstand The Last Interglacial Stage (Sangamonian, Eemian, etc.) does not units are expected to lead in the future to much more detailed precisely coincide with the isotopically constrained MIS 5e intercontinental correlations. Substage time range and represents an interval much shorter In addition to Fennoscandia (Mangerud et al., 1981) and Beringia than the rest of MIS 5 that consists of glacial stadials and rela- (Elias and Brigham-Grette, 2007, 2013) numerous scattered and tively cool interstadials. Due to the time-transgressive nature of locally extensive sites also experienced substantial glaciation these Pleistocene units, their vegetation-based time range, in globally immediately after the MIS 5e temperature peak (Tables 1 particular at higher latitudes and altitudes is shorter than the and 2). Following well-documented mid-Eemian (mid-Sangamo- time span of the MIS 5e oxygen isotope substage. nian) record temperatures a general cooling trend dominated the The time range of the Upper Midwestern Sangamon Geosol latter part of MIS 5 on both sides of the Atlantic. Cool conditions development for which the Sangamon (Eemian) Interglacial is without extensive ice cover continued through early Stage MIS 4 named, far exceeded both the outdated broadly defimed span times, ~71e55 ka. As in Europe, the LIG in North America corre- and the presently utilized narrow MIS 5e interglacial time span. sponds to MIS 5e, locally supplemented by a warm early MIS 5d The geosol was mostly coeval with cold MIS 6 (Saalian) and cool interval. Despite the generally high sea-levels, most of MIS 5 reflect MIS 5 (Wisconsinan-Weichselian) intervals, Only very briefly climate deterioration during the early Wisconsinan-Weichselian did it coincide with the much shorter MIS 5e Interglacial time (Vistulian or Würmian; Table 1). Comparisons of the massive Eu- span. ropean interglacial-early glacial pollen record with apparently The Last Glacial Stage (Weichselian, Wisconsinan or Würmian) similar postglacial successions in North America thus suggest an started with early Stadial MIS 5d. During MIS 5d, 5b, and 5a overarching cooling trend after the MIS 5e optimum in both con- several subpolar and high mountain regions experienced glacier tinents. Furthermore, the division of MIS 5 into a shorter intergla- and ice cap growth in the northern hemisphere. This is one cial and a longer, early glacial interval is justified by the high reason why the sensu lato definition of the LIG that also includes normalized d18O values that characterize MIS 5e sediments. They post- MIS 5e time intervals should be abandoned. It avoids significantly exceed values obtained from Glacial Substage deposits further stratigraphic confusion in intercontinental correlations. of MIS 5d-a. Numerically dated coastal deposits of last interglacial trans- Coastal landforms, such as late Pleistocene terraces and barrier gressive and marine highstand coastal deposits may serve as a ridges formed during the last interglacial transgression and high- globally correlatable chronostratigraphic framework. stand where not eroded by late Pleistocene glaciation, are reason- ably expected to dominate the seaward margin of the Atlantic Acknowledgments coastal plain. However, apart from coral reefs that cap LIG sediment sequences, the underlying MIS 5 transgressive-regressive sediment Professor Philip Gibbard, Cambridge University, most gener- interval remains virtually undocumented. Only relatively few ously suggested pertinent information and gave valuable advise on samples from southern Florida coral reefs have been validly iden- late Pleistocene nomenclature issues. Editorial aid by Professor tified with the LIG. In contrast, the late Pleistocene interval of the Thijs van Kolfschoten of Leiden University was greatly appreciated.

Thanks for a most efficient interlibrary loan service are due to Mrs. Cepek, A.G., 1986. Quaternary stratigraphy of the German Democratic Republic. e Joyce Shaw, Chief Librarian, USM Ocean Springs, MS. Mr. George Quaternary Science Reviews 5, 359 364. Clague, J.J., Ward, B., 2011. Pleistocene glaciation in British Columbia. In: Ehlers, J., Alan Criss and Dr. Gregory Carter of the USM Geospatial Center at Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chro- Stennis Space Center, MS provided expert professional help with nology: a Closer Look. Developments in Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Elsevier, e preparation of the illustrations. Amsterdam, pp. 563 573. Clague, J.J., Easterbrook, D.J., Hughes, O.L., Matthews Jr., J.V., 1992. The Sangamonian and Early Wisconsinan Stages in Western Canada and Northwestern United States. GSA Special Paper 270, pp. 253e268. References Cleveringa, O.P., Meijer, T., Van Leeuwen, R.J.W., De Wolf, F., Pouwer, R., Lissenberg, T., Burger, A.W., 2000. The Eemian type locality at Amersfoort in the Astrakhov, V., 2011. Ice margins of Northern Russia revisited. In: Ehlers, J., central Netherlands: redeployment of old and new data. Geologie en Mijnbouw Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chro- (Netherlands Journal of Geosciences) 79, 197e216. nology: a Closer Look, Developments in Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Elsevier, Cooke, C.W., 1945. Geology of Florida. Florida Geological Survey Bulletin 29, 342 pp. Amsterdam, pp. 323e336. Curry, B.B., Grimley, D.A., McKay 3rd, E.D., 2011. Quaternary glaciations in Illinois. Baltrunas, V., Seiriene,_ V., Molodkov, A., Zinkute,_ R., Katinas, V., Karmaza, B., In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent Kisieliene,_ D., Petrosius, R., Taraskevicius, R., Piliciauskas, G., Schmolcke,€ U., and Chronology: a Closer Look. Developments in Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Heinrich, D., 2013. Depositional environment and climate changes during the Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 467e487. late Pleistocene as recorded by the Netiesos section in southern Lithuania. Dansgaard, W., Duplessy, J.-C., 1981. The Eemian interglacial and its termination. Quaternary International 292, 136e149. Boreas 10, 219e228. Barendregt, R.W., 2011. Magnertostratigraphy of Quaternary section in eastern Delcourt, P.A., Delcourt, H.R., 1987. Long-term Forest Dynamics of the Temperate Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. Zone, second ed. Springer-Verlag. 439 pp. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chronology: a Closer Look. De- Doar 3rd., W.R., Kendall, C.S.C., 2014. An analysis and comparison of observed velopments in Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 591e600. Pleistocene South Carolina (USA) shoreline elevations with predicted elevations Barr, I.D., Clark, C.D., 2012. Late Quaternary glaciations in Far NE Russia; combining derived from Marine Isotope Stages. Quaternary Research 82, 164e174. moraines, topography and chronology to assess regional and global glaciation Drysdale, R.N., Zanchetta, G., Hellstrom, J.C., Fallick, A.E., McDonald, J., Cartwright, I., synchrony. Quaternary Science Reviews 53, 72e87. 2007. Stalagmite evidence for the precise timing of North Atlantic cold events Beaulieu, J.-L., Reille, M., 1984. The pollen sequence of Les Echets (France): a new during the early last glacial. Geology 35, 77e80. element for the chronology of the Upper Pleistocene. Geographie physique et Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D., 2011a. Introduction, 1e4. In: Ehlers, J., Quaternaire 38, 3e9. Grube, A., Stephan, H.-J., Wansa, S. (Eds.), Pleistocene Glaciations of North Beaulieu, J.-L., Reille, M., 1992a. The last climatic cycle at the La Grand Pile (Vosges, Germany e New Results, Development in Quaternary Science, Ehlers, J., Gib- France) e a new pollen profile. Quaternary Science Reviews 11, 431e438. bard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chronology: Beaulieu, J.-L., Reille, M., 1992b. Pleistocene pollen sequences from the Velay a Closer Look, vol. 15, 149e162. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1108 pp. Plateau (Massif Central, France). Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 1, Ehlers, J., Grube, A., Stephan, H.-J., Wansa, S., 2011b. Pleistocene glaciations of North 233e242. Germany e new results. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Qua- Behre, K.-E., 1989. Biostratigraphy of the last glacial period in Europe. Quaternary ternary Glaciations e Extent and Chronology: a Closer Look. Developments in Science Reviews 8, 25e44. Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 149e162. Behre, K.-.E., Lade, U., 1986. Eine Folge von Eem und 4 Weichsel Interstadialen in Elias, S.A., Brigham-Grette, J., 2007. Late Pleistocene events in Beringia. In: Oerel/Niedersachsen und ihr Vegetationsablauf. Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart 36, Elias, S.A., Mock, C.J. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, vol. 4. Elsevier, 11e36. Amsterdam, pp. 1057e1066. Behre, K.-E., van der Plicht, J., 1992. Towards an absolute chronology: radiocarbon Elias, S.A., Brigham-Grette, J., 2013. Late Pleistocene glacial events in Beringia. In: dates from Europe. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 1, 111e117. Elias, S.A., Mock, C.J. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science. Elsevier, Blain, H-A, Santonja, Mn., Perez-Gonz alez, A., Panera, J., Rubio-Jar, S., 2014. Climate Amsterdam, pp. 191e201. and environments during Marine Isotope Stage 11 in the central Iberian Emiliani, C., 1955. Pleistocene temperatures. Journal of Geology 63, 538e578. Peninsula: the herpetofaunal assemblage from the Acheulean site of Aridos-1. Emiliani, C., 1971. The Last Interglacial: paleotemperatures and chronology. Science Madrid. Quaternary Science Reviews 94, 7e21. 171, 571e573. Boettger, T., Novenko, E. Yu, Borisova, O.K., Kremenetski, K.V., Knettsch, S., Eriksson, B., Gronlund,€ T., Uutela, A., 1999. Biostratigraphy of Eemian sediments at Junge, F.W., 2009. Instability of climate and vegetation dynamics in Central and Mertuanoja, Pohjanmaa (Ostrobothnia), western Finland. Boreas 28, 274e291. Eastern Europe during the final stage of the Last Interglacial (Eemian, Mikulino) Fiebig, H.E., Ellwanger, D., Doppler, G., 2011. Pleistocene glaciation of southern and Early Glaciation. Quaternary International 207, 137e144. Germany. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations Borner,€ A., 2007. Vergleich der quartarstratigraphischen€ Gliederungen von Nordost- e Extent and Chronology: a Closer Look. Developments in Quaternary Science, Deutschland und Polen (Comparison of Quaternary stratigraphy between vol. 15. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 149e163. ~ Northeast-Germany and Poland). Brandenburger Geowissenschaftliche Beitrage€ Fletcher, W.J., Sanchez Goni, M.F., Allen, J.R.M., Cheddadi, R., Combourieu- 14, 15e24. Nebout, N., Huntley, B., Lawson, I., Londeix, L., Magri, D., Margari, V., Müller, U.C., Bosch, J.H.A., Cleveringa, P., Meijer, T., 2000. The Eemian-stage in the Netherland, Naughton, F., Novenko, E., Roucoux, K., Tzedakis, P.C., 2010. Millennial-scale history, character and new research. Geologie en Mijnbouw (Netherlands variability during the last glacial in vegetation records from Europe. Quaternary Journal of Geosciences) 79, 135e145. Science Reviews 29, 2839e2864. Bradley, R.S., 1999. Paleoclimatology. International Geophysics Series. Elsevier, Fulton, R.J., Karrow, P.F., LaSalle, P., Grant, D.R., 1984. Summary of Quaternary Amsterdam, 614 pp. stratigraphy and history, Eastern Canada. In: Fulton, R.J. (Ed.), Quaternary Brigham-Grette, J., 2001. New perspectives on Beringian Quaternary paleogeog- Stratigraphy of Canada e a Canadian Contribution to IGCP Project 24, Geological raphy, stratigraphy, and glacial history. Quaternary Research 20, 15e24. Survey of Canada Paper, 84-10, pp. 193e210 (Republished in Quaternary Science Brigham-Grette, J., Hopkins, D.M., 1995. Emergent marine record and paleoclimate Reviews 5, 1986, 211e228). of the last interglaciation along the northwest Alaskan coast. Quaternary Fulton, R.J., Fenton, M.M., Rutter, N.W., 1986. Summary of Quaternary stratigraphy Research 43, 159e173. and history, Western Canada. In: Fulton, R.J. (Ed.), Quaternary Stratigraphy of Brigham-Grette, J., Hopkins, D.M., Alexander, B., Basilyan, E., Ivanov, V.F., Canada. Quaternary Science Reviews 5, 229e241. Benson, S.L., Heiser, P.A., Pushkar, V.S., 2001. Last Interglacial (isotope stage 5) Funder, S., Balic-Zunic, T., 2006. Hypoxia in the Eemian: mollusc faunas and sedi- glacial and sea-level history of coastal Chukotka Peninsula and St. Lawrence ment mineralogy from Cyprina Clay in the southern Baltic region. Boreas 35, Island, Western Beringia. Quaternary Science Reviews 20, 419e436. 367e377. Brubaker, L.B., 1975. Postglacial forest patterns associated with till and outwash in Funder, S., Kjeldsen, K., Kjaer, K.H., Colaigh, C.O., 2011. The Greenland ice sheet northcentral Upper Michigan. Quaternary Research 5, 499e527. during the past 300,000 years: a review. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. Burdette, K., Rink, W.J., Means, G.H., Portell, R.W., 2009. Optical dating of the (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chronology: a Closer Look. De- Anastasia Formation, northeastern Florida, USA. Southeastern Geology 46, velopments in Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 699e714. 173e185. Gibbard, P.L., 2003. Definition of the Middle-Upper Pleistocene boundary. Global Burdette, K., Rink, W.J., Mallinson, D., Parham, P., Reinhardt, E., 2010. Geologic and Planetary Change 36, 201e208. investigation and optical dating of the Merritt Island sand ridge sequence, Grant, D.R., King, L.H., 1984. A stratigraphic framework for the Quaternary history of eastern Florida, USA. Southeastern Geology 47, 175e190. the Atlantic Provinces. In: Fulton, R.J. (Ed.), Quaternary Stratigraphy of Canada, Burdette, K., Rink, W.J., Lopez, G.I., Mallinson, D.J., Parkham, P.R., Reinhardt, E.G., pp. 193e210. IGCP Project 24. Geological Survey of Canada Paper No. 84e10. 2012. Geological investigation and optical dating of Quaternary siliciclastic Grimley, D.A., Follmer, L.R., Hughes, R.E., Solheid, P.A., 2003. Modern, Sangamon, sediments near Apalachicola, Florida, U.S.A. Sedimentology 59, 1836e1849. and Yarmouth soil development in loess of unglaciated southwestern Illinois. Burdette, K., Rink, W., Mallinson, D., Means, G.H., Parham, P.R., 2013. Electron spin Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 225e244. resonance optical dating of marine, estuarine, and aeolian sediments in Florida, Grøsfjeld, K., Funder, S., Seidenkrantz, M.-S., Glaister, C., 2006. Last Interglacial USA. Quaternary Research 79, 66e74. marine environments in the White Sea region, northwestern Russia. Boreas 35, Candy, I., Schreve, D.C., Sherriff, J., Gareth, J., Tye, G.J., 2014. Marine Isotope Stage 11: 493e520. palaeoclimates, palaeoenvironments and its role as an analogue for the current Grüger, E., 1979a. Die Seeablagerungen von Samerberg. Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart interglacial. Earth-Science Reviews 128, 18e51. 29, 23e34.

Grüger, E., 1979b. Spatriss,€ Riss/Würm und Frühwürm am Samerberg in Oberbayern Kühl, N., Litt, T., 2007. Quantitative time-series reconstruction of Holsteinian and e ein vegetationsgesichtlicher Beitrag zu Gliederung der Jungpleistozans.€ Eemian temperatures using botanical data. In: Sirocko, F., Claussen, M.S., San- Geologica Bavarica 80, 5e64. chez Goni, M.F., Litt, T. (Eds.), The Climate of Past Interglacials. Developments in Grüger, E., 1989. Palynostratigraphy of Last Interglacial-Glacial cycle in Germany. Quaternary Science, vol. 7. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 239e254. Quaternary International 3-4, 69e79. Kühl, N., Schotzel,€ T., 2007. Eemian and Early Weichselian temperature and pre- Grüger, E., Schreiner, A., 1993. Riss/Würm und würmzeitliche Ablagerungen in cipitation variability in northern Germany. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, Wurzacher Becken (R. Theingletschergebiet). Neues Jahrbuch für Palaontologie€ 3311e3319. Abhandlungen 189, 81e117. Kukla, G., McManus, J., Rousseau, D.-D., Chuine, I., 1997. How long and how stable Guiot, J., 1990. Methodology of the last climatic cycle reconstruction in France from was the last interglacial. Quaternary Science Reviews 16, 605e612. pollen data. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 80, 49e69. Lagerback, R., 1988. The Veiki moraines in northern Sweden e widespread evidence Guiot, J., Beaulieu, J.-L. de, Cheddadi, R., David, F., Ponel, P., Reille, M., 1993. The of an Early Weichselian deglaciation. Boreas 17, 469e486. climate in Western Europe during the Last Glacial-Interglacial cycle derived Lamothe, M., Parent, M., Shilts, W.W.,1992. Sangamonian and early Wisconsinan events from pollen and insect remains. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Paleo- in the St. Lawrence lowland and Appalachians of southern Quebec, Canada. In: ecology 103, 73e93. Clark, P.U., Lea, P.D. (Eds.), The Last Interglacial-Glacial Transition in North America. Guobyte,_ R., Satkunas, J., 2011. Pleistocene glaciations in Lithuania. In: Ehlers, J., Special Paper 270. Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado, pp. 171e184. Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Development in Quaternary Science, Quater- Larson, G.J., 2011. Ice-margin fluctuations at the end of the Wisconsin Episode, nary Glaciations e Extent and Chronology: a Closer Look, vol. 15. Elsevier, Michigan, USA. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Developments in Amsterdam, pp. 247e260. Quaternary Science 15. Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chronology. Haila, H., Miettinen, A., Eronen, M., 2006. Diatom succession of a dislocated Eemian Elsevier, Amsterdam, 489e497, 1108 pp. sediment sequence at Mommark, South Denmark. Boreas 35, 378e384. Lehmkuhl, F., Klinger, M., Stauch, G., 2004. The extent of Late Pleistocene glaciations Hamilton, T.D., Brigham-Grette, J., 1991. The last interglaciation in Alaska: stratig- in the Altai and Khangai Mountains. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. raphy and paleoecology of potential sites. Quaternary International 10e12, (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chronology, vol. 2. Elsevier, 49e71. Amsterdam, pp. 243e254. Helmens, K.F., 2014. The last interglacial-glacial cycle (MIS 5-2) re-examined based Leverett, F., 1898. The weathered zone (Sangamon) between the Iowan loess and on long proxy records from Central and Northern Europe. Quaternary Science Illinoian till sheet. Journal of Geology 8, 171e181. Reviews 86, 115e143. Licciardi, J.M., Pierce, K.L., 2008. Cosmogenic exposure age chronologies of Pinedale Helmens, K.F., Bos, J.A.A., Engels, S., Van Meerbeck, C.J., Bohncke, S.J.P., Renssen, H., and Bull Lake glaciations in greater Yellowstone and the Teton Range, USA. Heiri, O., Brooks, S.J., Seppa,€ H., Birks, H.H.B., Wohlfarth, B., 2007. Present-day Quaternary Science Reviews 27, 814e831. temperatures in northern Scandinavia during the last glaciation. Geology 35, Lundquist, J., 2004. Glacial history of Sweden. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., 987e990. Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Developments in Quaternary Science 15. Quaternary Gla- Helmens, K.F., Engels, S., 2010. Ice-free conditions in eastern Fennoscandia during ciations- Extent and Chronology. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 401e411. early Marine Isotope Stage 3: lacustrine records. Boreas 39, 399e409. Lunkka, J.P., Johansson, P., Saarnisto, M., Sallasmaa, O., 2004. Glaciation of Finland. Helmens, K.F., Valiranta,€ M., Engels, S., Shala, S., 2012. Large shifts in vegetation In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chro- and climate during the Early Weichselian (MIS 5d-c) inferred from multi- nology. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 93e100. proxy evidence at Sokli (northern Finland). Quaternary Science Reviews 41, Makinen,€ K., 2005. Dating the Weichselian deposits of Finnish Lapland. Geological 22e38. Survey of Finland Special Paper 40, 67e78. Houmark-Nielsen, M., 2004. The Pleistocene of Denmark, a review of stratigraphy Mangerud, J., 1989. Correlation of the Eemian and the Weichselian with deep sea and glaciation history. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations oxygen isotope stratigraphy. Quaternary International 3e4, 1e4. e Extent and Chronology: Part 1, Europe, second ed., Elsevier Science, Mangerud, J., 2004. Ice sheet limits in Norway and on the Norwegian continental Amsterdam, pp. 35e46. 475 pp. shelf. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Houmark-Nielsen, M., 2011. Pleistocene glacial in Denmark, a closer look at chro- Chronology. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 271e295. nology, ice dynamics and landforms. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. Mangerud, J., 2011. Glacial history of Norway. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations eExtent and Chronology e a Closer Look (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chronology: a Closer Look. De- Developments in Quaternary Science, vol. 5. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 47e58, velopments in Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 279e298. 1108 pp. Mangerud, J., Sønstegaard, E., Sejrup, H.-P., Haldorsen, S., 1981. A continuous Hughes, P.D., Gibbard, P.L., Ehlers, J., 2013. Timing of glaciation during the last glacial Eemian-Early Weichselian sequence containing pollen and marine fossils at cycle: evaluating the concept of a global ‘Last Glacial Maximum' (LGM). Earth- Fjøsanger, western Norway. Boreas 10, 137e208. Science Reviews 125, 171e198. Martrat, B., Grimalt, J.O., Shackleton, N.J., de Abreu, L., Hutterli, M.A., Stocker, T.F., Jackson, L.E., Andriashek, L.D., Phillips, F.M., 2011. Limits of successive Middle and 2007. Four climate cycles of recurring deep and surface water destabilizations Late Pleistocene continental ice sheets, interior plains of southern and central on the Iberian Margin. Science 317, 502e507. Alberta and adjacent areas. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Mauz, B., Fanelli, F., Elmejdoub, N., Barbieri, R., 2012. Coastal response to climate Quaternary Glaciations eExtent and Chronology e a Closer Look Developments change: Mediterranean shorelines during the Last Interglacial (MIS 5). Qua- in Quaternary Science Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 575e589. ternary Science Reviews 47, 673e689. Jacobs, P.M., 1998. Influence of parent material on genesis of the Sangamon Geosol Miettinen, A., Head, M.J., Knudsen, K.L., 2014. Eemian sea-level highstand in the in south-central Indiana. Quaternary International 51e52, 127e132. eastern Baltic Sea linked to long-duration White Sea connection. Quaternary Jacobs, P.M., Konen, M.E., Curry, B.B., 2009. Pedogenesis of a catena of the Farmdale- Science Reviews 86, 158e174. Sangamon Geosol complex in the north central United States. Palaeogeography, Muhs, D.R., 2002. Evidence for the timing and duration of the last interglacial Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 282, 119e132. period from high-precision uranium-series ages of corals on tectonically stable Johnson, W.H., 1976. Quaternary stratigraphy in Illinois; status and current coastlines. Quaternary Research 58, 36e40. problems. In: Mahaney, W.C. (Ed.), Quaternary Stratigraphy of North Amer- Muhs, D.R., Rockwell, T.K., Kennedy, G.L., 1992. Late quaternary uplift rates of ma- ica. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross Publishers, Stroudsburg, Pa, pp. 161e196, rine terraces on the Pacific coast of North America, southern Oregon to Baja 512 pp. California Sur. Quaternary International 15e16, 121. Karabanov, A.K., Matveyev, A.V., Pavlovskaya, I.E., 2004. The main glacial limits in Muhs, D.R., Kennedy, G.L., Rockwell, T.K., 1994. Uranium-series ages of marine Belarus. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciationse terrace corals from the Pacific coast of North America and implications for Last- Extent and Chronology, Europe, vol. 2. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 15e18, 475 pp. Interglacial sea level history. Quaternary Research 42, 72e87. Karrow, P.F., Dreimanis, A., Barnett, P.J., 2000. A proposed diachronic revision of Late Muhs, D.R., Simmons, K.R., Kennedy, G.L., Rockwell, T.K., 2002. The Last Interglacial Quaternary time-stratigraphic classification in the eastern and northern Great period on the Pacific Coast of North America: timing and paleoclimate. Lakes area. Quaternary Research 54, 1e12. Geological Society of America Bulletin 114, 569e592. Kaufman, D.S., Young, N.E., Briner, J.P., Manley, Wm, F., 2011. Alaska paleo-glacier Muhs, D.R., Wehmiller, J.F., Simmons, K.R., York, L.L., 2004. Quaternary sea-level Atlas (Version 2). In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Development history of the United States. In: Developments in Quaternary Science, vol. 1. in Quaternary Science, Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chronology: a Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 147e182. Closer Look, vol. 15. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 427e445, 1108 pp. Muhs, D.R., Simmons, K.R., Kennedy, G.L., Ludwig, K.R., Groves, L.T., 2006. A cool Knudsen, K.L., Kristensen, P., Larsen, N.K., 2009. Marine glacial and interglacial eastern Pacific Ocean at the close of the Last Interglacial complex. Quaternary stratigraphy in Vendsyssel, northern Denmark e foraminifera and stable iso- Science Reviews 25, 235e262. topes. Boreas 38, 787e810. Muhs, D.A., Simmons, K.R., Schumann, R.R., Halley, R.B., 2011. Sea-level history of Knudsen, K.L., Jiang, H., Gibbard, P.L., Kristensen, P., Seidenkrantz, M.-S., Janczyk- the past two interglacial periods: new evidence from U-series dating of reef Kopikowa, Z., Marks, L., 2012. Environmental reconstructions of Eemian Stage corals from south Florida. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 570e590. interglacial marine records in the Lower Vistula area, southern Baltic Sea. Müller, H., 1974. Pollenanalytische Untersuchungen und Jahresschichtenzahlungen€ Boreas 41, 209e234. an der eem-zeitlichen Kieselgur von Bispingen/Luhe. Geologisches Jahrbuch A Kristensen, P.H., Knudsen, K.L., 2006. Palaeoenvironments of a complete Eemian 21, 149e169. sequence at Mommark, South Denmark: foraminifera, ostracods and stable Müller, U.C., 2000. A Late-Pleistocene pollen sequence from the Jammertal, south- isotopes. Boreas 35, 349e366. western Germany with particular reference to location and altitude as factors Kristensen, P., Gibbard, P., Knudsen, K.L., Ehlers, J., 2000. Last interglacial stratig- determining Eemian forest composition. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany raphy at Ristinge Klint, South Denmark. Boreas 29, 103e116. 9, 25e131.

Müller, U.C., Klotz, S., Geyh, M.A., Pross, J., Bont, G.C., 2005. Cyclic climate fluctua- Richmond, G.M., 1986. Stratigraphy and chronology of glacial deposits in Yelllow- tions during the last interglacial in central Europe. Geology 33, 449e452. stone National Park. Quaternary Science Reviews 5, 83e98. Müller, U.,C., Sanchez Goni,~ M.F., 2007. Vegetation dynamic in soutrhern Germany Ritchie, J.C., 2004. Postglacial Vegetation of Canada. Cambridge University Press, during Marine Isotope Stage 5 (~130 to 70 kyr ago), 277e287. In: Sirocko, F., 196 pp. Claussen, M.S., Sanchez Goni,~ M.F., Litt, T. (Eds.), The Climate of Past In- Rousseau, D.-D., Hatte, C., Duzer, D., Schewin, P., Kukla, G., Guiot, J., 2007. Estimates terglacials. Developments in Quaternary Science, vol. 7. Elsevier, Amsterdam, of temperature and precipitation variations during the Eemian Interglacial: new p. 625 pp. data from the Grande Pile record. In: Sirocko, F., Claussen, M., Sanchez Nieuwenhove, N.V., Bauch, H.A., 2008. Last interglacial (MIS 5e) surface water Goni,~ M.F., Litt, T. (Eds.), The Climate of Past Interglacials. Developments in conditions at the Vøring Plateau (Norwegian Sea), based on dinoflagellate cysts. Quaternary Science, vol. 7. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 231e238. Polar Research 27, 175e186. Ruddiman, W.F., McIntyre, A., 1972. Northeast Atlantic post-Eemian paleo-ocean- Occhietti, S., Parent, M., Lajeunesse, P., Robert, F., Govare, E., 2011. Late Pleistocene- ography: a predictive analog of the future. Quaternary Research 2, 350e354. Early Holocene decay of the Laurentide ice sheet in Quebec-Labrador. In: Rzechowski, J., 1986. Pleistocene till stratigraphy in Poland. Quaternary Science Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Reviews 5, 365e372. Chronology: a Closer Look Development in Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Elsevier, Sanchez-Goni,~ M.F., Eynaud, F., Turon, J.L., Shackleton, N.J., 1999. High resolution Amsterdam, pp. 601e630. palynological record off the Iberian margin: direct landesea correlation for the Olson, S.L., Hearty, P.J., 2009. A sustained þ21 m sea-level highstand during MIS 11 last interglacial complex. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 171, 123e137. (400 ka): direct fossil and sedimentary evidence from Bermuda. Quaternary Sanchez-Goni,~ M.F., Loutre, M.F., Crucifix, M., Peyron, O., Santos, L., Duprat, I., Science Reviews 28, 271e285. Malaize, B., Turon, J.L., Peypouquet, J.P., 2005. Increasing vegetation and climate Oppo, D.W., McManus, J.F., Cullen, J.L., 2006. Evolution and demise of the Last gradient in Western Europe over the Last Glacial Inception (122e110 ka); data- Interglacial warmth in the subpolar North Atlantic. Quaternary Science Reviews model comparison. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 231, 111e130. 25, 3269e3277. Sawagaki, T., Aoki, T., 2011. The Quaternary glaciations in Japan. In: Ehlers, J., Oswald, W.W., Faison, E.K., Foster, D.R., Doughty, E.D., Hall, B.R., Hansen, B.C.S., 2007. Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chro- Post-glacial changes in spatial patterns of vegetation across southern New nology: a Closer Look, Developments in Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Elsevier, England. Journal of Biogeography 34, 900e913. Amsterdam, pp. 1013e1022. Otvos, E.G., 1975. Late Pleistocene transgressive unit (Biloxi Formation), north- Schwab, C., Kinkel, H., Weinelt, M., Repschlager, J., 2013. A coccolithophore based ern Gulf Coast. Bulletin American Association Petroleum Geologists 59, view on paleoenvironmental changes in the open ocean mid-latitude North 148e154. Atlantic between 130 and 48 ka BP with special emphasis on MIS 5e. Quater- Otvos, E.G., 1991a. Quaternary geology of the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain. In: nary Science Reviews 81, 35e47. DuBar, J.R., Morrison, R.B. (Eds.), Quaternary Nonglacial Geology: Conterminous Seelos, K., Sirocko, F., 2007. Abrupt cooling events at the very end of the Last United States. Decade of North American Geology Series, K-2. Geological Society Interglacial. In: Sirocko, F., Claussen, M.S., Sanchez Goni, M.F., Litt, T. (Eds.), The of America, pp. 583e610. Climate of Past Interglacials. Developments in Quaternary Science, vol. 7. Otvos, E.G., 1991b. Stratigraphic Framework for Mapping Mineral Resources, Coastal Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 207e222. Mississippi. Phase 1, new Coastal Geologic Map. Mississippi Marine Resources Seidenkrantz, M.S., Knudsen, K.L., 1994. Marine high resolution records of the Last Institute Report, Biloxi, MS. #MMRI-91-F, 59 pp. (available at Gunter Library, Interglacial in Northwest Europe: a review. Geographie Physique et Quaternaire USM Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, Ocean Springs, MS 39564). 48, 157e168. Otvos, E.G., 1992a. South Hancock County Geology and Sand Resources: Framework Seidenkrantz, M.S., Knudsen, K.L., 1997. Eemian climatic and hydrographical insta- for Resource Mapping. Phase 2. Mississippi Mineral Resources Institute Report, bility on a marine shelf in Northern Denmark. Quaternary Research 47, # MMRI-92e1F, 46 p. with map (available at USM-GCRL Gunter Library, Ocean 218e234. Springs, MS). Shackleton, N.J., 1969. The last interglacial in the marine and terrestrial records. Otvos, E.G., 1992b. Apalachicola Coast Quaternary evolution, NE Gulf of Mexico. In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B 174, 135e154. Fletcher, C.H., Wehmiller, J.F. (Eds.), Quaternary Coasts of the United States: Shackleton, N.J., Opdyke, N.D., 1973. Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratig- Marine and Lacustrine Systems, SEPM (Society of Economic Petrologists and raphy. Quaternary Research 3, 39e55. Mineralogists) Special Publication No. 48, pp. 221e232. Shackleton, N.J., Sanchez-Gonei, F., Pailler, D., Lancelot, Y., 2003. Marine Isotope Otvos, E.G., 2004. Prospects for interregional correlations using Wisconsin and Substage 5e and the Eemian Interglacial. Global Planetary Change 36, Holocene aridity episodes e northern Gulf of Mexico coastal plain. Quaternary 151e155. Research 61, 105e115. Sheinkman, V.C., 2011. Glaciations in the high mountains of Siberia. In: Ehlers, J., Otvos, E.G., 2005. Numerical chronology of Pleistocene coastal plain and valley Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chro- development; extensive aggradation during glacial low sea-levels. Quaternary nology: a Closer Look, Developments in Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Elsevier, International 135, 91e113. Amsterdam, pp. 885e907. Otvos, E.G., Bock, W.D., 1976. Massive long-distance transport and redeposition of Shumilovskikh, L.S., Arz, H., Wegwerth, W.A., Fleitmann, D., Marret, F., Upper Cretaceous planktonic foraminifers in Quaternary sediments. Journal of Nowaczyk, N., Tarasov, P., Behling, H., 2013. Vegetation and environmental Sedimentary Petrology 47, 978e984. changes in Northern Anatolia between 134 and 119 ka recorded in Black Sea Otvos, E.G., Howat, W.E., 1996. South Texas Ingleside barrier: coastal sediment sediments. Quaternary Research 80, 349e360. cycles and vertebrate fauna/Late Pleistocene stratigraphy revised (with W. Sirocko, F., Seelos, K., Schaber, K., Rein, B., Dreher, F., Diehl, M., Lehne, R., Jager,€ K., Howat). Transactions Gulf Coast Association Geological Societies 46, Krbetschek, M., Degring, D., 2005. A late Eemian aridity pulse in central Europe 333e344. during the last glacial inception. Nature 436, 833e836. Otvos, E.G., Howat, W.E., 1997. East Texas-Louisiana “Ingleside barriers” interglacial Spotl,€ C., Holzkamper,€ S., Mangini, A., 2007. The last and penultimate interglacial as shoreline markers? Transactions Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies recorded by speleothems from a climatically sensitive high-elevation cave site 47, 443e452. in the Alps, 471e491. In: Sirocko, F., Claussen, M., Sanchez Goni,~ M.F., Litt, T. Otvos, E.G., 2013a. Discussion: “Geological Investigation and Optical Dating of (Eds.), The climate of Past Interglacials. Developments in Quaternary Science, Quaternary Siliciclastic Sediments Near Apalachicola, Northwest Florida, USA vol. 7. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 622 pp. by Burdette et al. (2012) in Sedimentology 59, 1836e1849.” Sedimentology, vol. Starnberger, R., Drescher-Schneider, R., Reitner, J.M., Rodnight, H., Reimer, P.J., 60, pp. 670e676. Spotl,€ Ch, 2013. Late Pleistocene climate change and landscape dynamics in the Otvos, E.G., 2013b. Rapid and widespread response of the Lower Mississippi river to Eastern Alps: the inner-alpine Unterangerberg record (Austria). Quaternary eustatic forcing during the Last Glacial-Interglacial cycle: discussion. Bulletin Science Reviews 68, 17e42. Geological Society America 125, 1369e1374. Stauch, G., Lehmkuhl, F., 2011. Extent and timing of Quaternary glaciations in the Pedoja, K., Husson, L.E., Johnson, M.E., Melnick, D., Witt, C., Pochat, S., Nexer, M., Verkhoyansk Mountains. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Qua- Delcaillau, B., Pinegina, T., Poprawski, Y., Authemayou, Ch, Elliot, M., Regard, V., ternary Glaciations d Extent and Chronology: A Closer Look. Developments in Garesti, F., 2014. Coastal staircase sequences reflecting sea-level oscillations and Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Elsevier, Amsterdam, p. 877. tectonic uplift during the Quaternary and Neogene. Earth-science Reviews 132, Stea, R.R., Seaman, A.A., Pronk, T., Parkhill, M.A., Allard, S., Uhling, D., 2011. The 13e38. Appalachian glacier complex in Maritime Canada. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Penck, A., Brückner, E., 1909. Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter. Tauschnitz, Leipzig, 1199 pp. Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and Chronology: A Closer Phillips, L., 1974. Vegetation history of the Ipswichian/Eemian Interglacial in Britain Look, Developments in Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Elsevier, Amsterdam, and central Europe. New Phytologist 73, 589e604. pp. 631e659. Pierce, K.L., Muhs, D.R., Fosberg, M.A., Mahan, S.A., Rosenbaum, J.G., Licciardi, J.M., Szeicz, J.M., MacDonald, G.M., 1991. Postglacial vegetation history of oak savanna in Pavich, M.J., 2011. A loess-paleosol record of climate and glacial history over the southern Ontario. Canadian Journal of Botany 69, 1507e1519. past two glacial-interglacial cycles (~150 ka), southern Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Thackray, G.D., 2008. Varied climate and topographic influences of Late Pleistocene Quaternary Research 76, 119e141. mountain glaciation in the western U. S. Journal of Quaternary Science 23, Ponel, P., 1995. Rissian, Eemian and Würmian Coleoptera assemblages from La 671e681. Grande Pile (Vosges, France). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palae- Turner, C., 1970. The Middle Pleistocene deposits at Marks Tey, Essex. Transactions oecology 114, 1e41. of the Royal Philosophical Society of London B 257, 373e440. Raukas, A., Volli, K., Kaurkapp,€ R., Rattas, M., 2004. Pleistocene glaciations in Turner, C., 2000. The Eemian interglacial in the North European plain and adjacent Estonia. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and areas. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 79, 217e231. Chronology, vol. 2. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 83e91. Turner, D.G., Ward, B.C., Bond, J.D., Jensen, B.J.L., Froese, D.G., Telka, A.M., Retallack, G.J., 2001. Soils of the Past. Blackwell Science, Oxford Publishing, 404 pp. Zazula, G.D., Bigelow, N.H., 2013. Middle to Late Pleistocene ice extents,

tephrochronology and paleoenvironmnets of the White River area, southwest Aminostratigraphy of surface and subsurface Quaternary sediments, North Yukon. Quaternary Science Reviews 75, 59e77. Carolina coastal plain, USA. Quaternary Geochronology 5, 459e492. Turon, J.L., 1984. Direct land/sea correlations in the last interglacial complex. Nature Willman, H.B., Frey, J.C., 1970. Pleistocene stratigraphy of Illinois. Illinois State 309, 673e676. Geological Survey Bulletin 94, 202 pp. Tzedakis, P.C., 1993. Long-term tree populations in northwest Greece through Woillard, G.M., 1978. Grande Pile peat bog: a continuous pollen record for the last multiple Quaternary climatic cycles. Nature 364, 437e440. 140,000 years. Quaternary Research 9, 1e21. Tzedakis, P.C., 2003. Timing and duration of Last Interglacial conditions in Europe: a Woillard, G.M., Mook, W.G., 1982. Carbon-14 dates at Grande Pile: correlation of chronicle of a changing chronology. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 763e768. land and sea. Science 215, 159e161. Tzedakis, P.C., Frogley, M.R., Heaton, T.H.E., 2003. Last Interglacial conditions in Wormley, D.A., Follmer, L.R., Hughes, R.E., Solheid, P.A., 2003. Modern, Sangamon southern Europe: evidence from Ioannina, northwest Greece. Global and and Yarmouth soil development in loess of unglaciated southwestern Illinois. Planetary Change 36, 157e170. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 225e244. Velichko, A.A., Faustova, M.A., 1986. Glaciations in the East European region of the York, L.L., Wehmiller, J.F., Cronin, T.M., Ager, T.A., 1989. Stetson Pit, Dare County, USSR. Quaternary Science Reviews 5, 447e461. North Carolina: an integrated chronologic, faunal, and ﬂoral record of subsur- Velichko, A.A., Borisova, O.K., Zelikson, E.M., 2008. Paradoxes of the Last Interglacial face coastal Quaternary sediments. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, climate: reconstruction of the northern Eurasia climate based on palaeoﬂoristic Palaeoecology 72, 115e132. data. Boreas 37, 1e19. Zagwijn, W.H., 1961. Vegetation, climate and radiocarbon datings in the Late Velichko, A.A., Faustova, M.A., Pisareva, V.V., Gribchenko, Yu N., Sudakova, N.G., Pleistocene of the Netherlands. Part I: Eemian and Early Weichselian. Mede- Lavrentiev, N.V., 2011. Glaciations of the East European Plain: distribution and delingen van de Geologische Stichting Nieuwe Serie 14, 5e45. chronology. In: Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glacia- Zagwijn, W.H.,1989. Vegetation and climate change during warmer intervals in the Late tions e Extent and Chronology: a Closer Look, Developments in Quaternary Pleistocene of west and central Europe. Quaternary International 3e4, 57e67. Science, vol. 15. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 337e359. Zagwijn, W.H., 1996. An analysis of Eemian climate in western and central Europe. Wehmiller, J.F., Simmons, K.R., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Martin-McNaughton, J., Quaternary Science Reviews 15, 451e469. York, L.L., Krantz, D.E., Shen, C.-C., 2004. Uranium-series coral age from the US Zelcs, V., Markots, A., Nartiss, M., Saks, T., 2011. Pleistocene glaciations in Latvia. In: Atlantic Coastal Plain e the 80 ka problem revisited. Quaternary International Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Hughes, P.D. (Eds.), Quaternary Glaciations e Extent and 120, 3e41. Chronology: a Closer Look, Developments in Quaternary Science, vol. 15. Wehmiller, J.F., Thieler, E.D., Miller, D., Pellerito, V., Bakeman, K.V., Riggs, S.R., Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 221e246. Culver, S., Mallinson, D., Farrell, K.M., York, L.L., Pierson, J., Parham, P.R., 2010.