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Chronology of palaeoclimatic change at the end of the last glaciation

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Abstract

Analysis of sediments recorded in a piston core, located east of southern North Island, New Zealand, gives a detailed record of climate change at the end of the last glacial. Accumulation rates1 of both detrital (quartz) and biological (carbonate and biogenic silica) components of the sediment are much higher during glacial than post-glacial time and they all show a synchronous, rapid decline at 14,700 yr BP. We attribute this to a decline in intensity of the strong glacial westerly winds in the New Zealand region as the polar winds contracted to their present latitudes2–6. The greatest rate of quartz accumulation occurs between 16,200 and 14,700 yr BP and is not matched by any change in carbonate or silica accumulation. We believe this reflects accelerated fluvial transport of detritus out of the mountain ranges and consequently increased aeolian dust transport before the decline of the polar westerlies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

    R. B. Stewart & V. E. Neall

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  1. R. B. Stewart
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  2. V. E. Neall
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Stewart, R., Neall, V. Chronology of palaeoclimatic change at the end of the last glaciation. Nature 311, 47–48 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/311047a0

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