Eemian
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| Eemian | |
|---|---|
 Epica 18 plot.png: NOAA
derivative work: Autopilot · Public domain · source | |
| Name | Eemian |
| Other names | Last Interglacial |
| Time start | ~130,000 BP |
| Time end | ~115,000 BP |
| Preceding | Saale glaciation |
| Following | Weichselian glaciation |
Eemian The Eemian was the most recent interglacial stage before the last glacial period, occurring approximately 130,000–115,000 years before present. It is documented in stratigraphic sequences across Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, and Oceania and is central to debates involving Milankovitch cycles, Marine Isotope Stage 5e, Antarctic climate records, Greenland ice cores, and glacial-interglacial dynamics.
Definition and chronology
The Eemian corresponds to Marine Isotope Stage 5e and is correlated with deposits such as the type section in the Eem River valley and stratotypes in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany. Chronologies integrate data from U-Th dating, radiocarbon dating limits, luminescence dating, argon-argon dating, and astronomical tuning tied to precession, obliquity, and eccentricity cycles described by Milankovitch. Key chronological frameworks reference results from Vostok, EPICA, Dome C, GRIP, and NGRIP ice-core projects as well as deep-sea cores like ODP Site 980 and IODP Expedition 339. Correlative faunal and floral biostratigraphy uses assemblages from sites including La Madeleine, Sima de los Huesos, and Boxgrove.
Climate and environment
Eemian climates were generally warmer than present in many regions, inferred from isotopic signatures in Greenland Ice Sheet Project (GISP2), GISP2, and from benthic foraminiferal records in cores such as ODP 658C, MD95-2042, and PS2157-2. Temperature reconstructions combine oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O), deuterium excess, and paleovegetation indicators applied in contexts like Iberian Peninsula, Sahara Desert margin studies, Siberia permafrost sequences, and Beringia comparisons. Atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations during the Eemian are constrained by trapped air analyses from EPICA Dome C, Law Dome, and Siple Dome, which inform links to Milankovitch forcing and feedbacks involving albedo and ocean circulation such as changes to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation measured in proxies like Neogloboquadrina pachyderma abundances.
Flora, fauna, and ecosystems
Vegetation during the Eemian included northward expansions of taxa documented in pollen sequences from cores at Lake Baikal, Lough Neagh, Loch Lomond, Lake Mungo, and Lake Towuti. Palynological assemblages show presence of Pinus silvestris and Quercus robur in regions that are today boreal, and thermophilous taxa recorded at sites like Hainich, Kraków-Częstochowa, and Taman Peninsula. Megafaunal records include remains attributed to Mammuthus primigenius, Equus ferus, Cervus elaphus, Ursus spelaeus, and Bison priscus in contexts such as Kolahoi, Taymyr Peninsula, Denisova Cave, Qesem Cave, and Schöningen. Freshwater and marine ecosystems shifted as evidenced by mollusc assemblages from Kattegat, Adriatic Sea, and Mediterranean Sea sediments and coral records from Red Sea reefs and Great Barrier Reef backreef sequences.
Sea level and glacial dynamics
Global sea level during the Eemian is constrained by coral reef terraces at Bermuda, Bahamas, Flinders Reef, Huon Peninsula, and submerged littoral deposits along Florida Keys, Seychelles, and Mauritius. Estimates place peak sea level several meters above present, inferred from shoreline markers, uplifted terraces, and tidal notches studied at Sierra Leone coasts, Ligurian basins, and Isle of Wight exposures. Ice-sheet behavior involves partial retreat of the Greenland Ice Sheet and possible contributions from West Antarctic Ice Sheet instability, with modeling work referencing ICE-5G and Peltier reconstructions and observational constraints from Bering Glacier and Fennoscandian evidence. Glacial dynamics are also discussed with regard to outlet glacier retreat at sites like Jakobshavn Isbræ and isotopic excursions in Cariaco Basin strata tied to meltwater pulses.
Human presence and archaeological evidence
Evidence for hominin activity during the Eemian includes lithic artifacts and habitation indicators at Qesem Cave, Tabun Cave, Skhul and Qafzeh, Zuttiyeh, Mugharet el-Zuttiyeh, Ksar Akil, and open-air sites such as Terre del Romito and Vogelherd. Debates over presence of Homo sapiens versus Neanderthals in Europe and the Levant during this interval reference skeletal finds from Teshik-Tash, Vindija Cave, and Sima de las Palomas, while genetic inferences relate to ancient DNA recovered from Denisova Cave and comparative studies involving Y-chromosome haplogroups and mitochondrial DNA lineages. Archaeological assemblages show Mousterian, Acheulean, and early Upper Paleolithic technologies documented at Le Moustier, Ksar Akil sequence layers, and Blombos Cave indicating varied cultural adaptations to Eemian environments.
Regional records and proxies
Regional proxy records include marine microfossils from ODP Hole 980, ODP 658C, and DSDP Site 610; speleothems from Harrison's Cave, Grotta di Ernesto, and Cueva del Angel; pollen and macrofossil sequences from Lake El'gygytgyn, Lake Ohrid, Lake Baikal, and Lago Grande di Monticchio; and loess-paleosol sequences in the Chinese Loess Plateau, Pleistocene loess of Europe, and Siberian loess. Ice-core isotopes from Greenland Ice Sheet Project (GISP2), GRIP, NGRIP, and EPICA provide high-resolution climate signals, while geochemical proxies like alkenone unsaturation indices, Mg/Ca ratios, and speleothem δ18O from Soreq Cave, Padirac, and Devil's Hole refine regional paleotemperatures. Multi-proxy syntheses draw on datasets from institutions such as the British Geological Survey, United States Geological Survey, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, and the Alfred Wegener Institute.