Marine Isotope Stage 5e
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| Marine Isotope Stage 5e | |
|---|---|
 Epica 18 plot.png: NOAA
derivative work: Autopilot · Public domain · source | |
| Name | Marine Isotope Stage 5e |
| Start | ~130 ka |
| End | ~116 ka |
| Chronology | Marine isotope stratigraphy |
Marine Isotope Stage 5e is the last interglacial interval of Marine Isotope Stage 5, widely recognized as a warm episode during the late Pleistocene approximately between 130,000 and 116,000 years ago. It is characterized by peak global temperatures, elevated sea levels, and important ecological shifts recorded in Greenland, Antarctica, Mediterranean Sea, and continental archives. Research on this interval integrates work from Milankovitch cycles, oxygen isotope ratio stratigraphy, and archaeological finds associated with Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens dispersals.
Definition and Chronology
Marine Isotope Stage 5e is defined within the framework of marine isotope stratigraphy developed from cores recovered during Deep Sea Drilling Project and Ocean Drilling Program expeditions, correlated to the isotopic stages first described by researchers such as Cesare Emiliani and refined by teams at Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and the British Antarctic Survey. Chronologies combine tuning to astronomical solutions by John Imbrie and Aahn H. Berger style forcing, speleothem chronologies from Huang He region caves, and radiometric constraints provided by Uranium–thorium dating, Optically Stimulated Luminescence, and Radiocarbon dating calibrations. Age models often reference stacked records like the LR04 stack by Lisiecki and Raymo and ice-core timescales from EPICA and GISP2.
Climate and Environmental Characteristics
The climate during this interval shows warmer-than-present conditions in many regions, with polar amplification evident in Greenland Ice Sheet and Antarctic Peninsula signals documented in isotopic and gas records from EPICA Dome C and Vostok Station. Terrestrial proxies from Loess Plateau sequences, pollen assemblages in the Black Sea basin, and macrofossil records from the British Isles indicate biome shifts, while marine productivity changes appear in diatom and foraminifera assemblages studied by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Vegetation changes inferred from pollen in Kilimanjaro and Sahara margin cores influenced faunal distributions, as shown by faunal remains in the Laacher See and Grotta Guattari records.
Sea Level and Glacial Extent
Sea-level reconstructions for this interval indicate global mean sea levels several meters to over ten meters higher than present, constrained by coral reef terraces at sites such as Bali, Bahamas, and Kauai and by GPS and tectonic corrections developed by groups at Australian National University. Antarctic and Greenland ice-sheet retreat is inferred from benthic foraminifera, ice-rafted debris in North Atlantic cores studied near Iceland and Greenland Sea, and glacial geomorphology across Scandinavia and the Laurentide Ice Sheet margins. Meltwater pulses and relative sea-level variability are examined alongside tectonic uplift records from Sicily, Cyprus, and Florida.
Regional Expressions (Europe, Americas, Tropics, Oceans)
In Europe, terrestrial and marine records from sites like Lago Grande di Monticchio, Sicily, and the North Sea reveal temperate flora expansions and reduced ice extent affecting archaeological contexts including Neanderthal sites. The Americas show contrasting patterns: Atlantic margin cores off South Carolina and Bermuda document reef growth, while Pacific records near Peru and Galápagos Islands indicate altered upwelling influenced by shifts linked to El Niño–Southern Oscillation variability described in work by W. S. Broecker and colleagues. Tropical records from speleothems in Borneo and lake sediments in Lake Malawi show hydrological changes, and Southern Ocean cores around Kerguelen and Drake Passage record altered circulation patterns linked to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
Causes and Forcing Mechanisms
The primary pacing of the interval is ascribed to orbital forcing from changes in Earth's axial tilt and precession described by Milutin Milanković and formalized in orbital solutions by Jean Meeus and J. D. Hays. Feedbacks involving greenhouse gases recorded in Vostok and EPICA cores, ice-albedo interactions studied in Paleoclimate modeling by groups at NCAR and MPI for Meteorology, and ocean circulation responses such as shifts in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation contributed to the warmth. Regional forcings include changes in insolation at high latitudes, sea-ice extent in the Barents Sea, and vegetation–albedo feedbacks in the Eurasian Steppe.
Proxy Records and Dating Methods
Key proxies comprise foraminiferal oxygen isotope ratios in marine sediments from cruises by RV Knorr and RRS James Clark Ross, speleothem δ18O and δ13C series from caves investigated by teams at Chinese Academy of Sciences and Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, and ice-core gas compositions measured at NCAR and British Antarctic Survey laboratories. Chronologies rely on U–Th dating of corals and speleothems, tephrochronology linking deposits to eruptions such as those from Campi Flegrei and Toba in broader stratigraphic frameworks, and luminescence dating applied by researchers at University of Oxford.
Significance for Paleoclimate and Human Evolution
This interval serves as a quasi-analogue for near-future warming, informing assessments by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change about sea-level sensitivity to warming, and it frames debates on ice-sheet stability studied by teams at USGS and IPCC working groups. Archaeologically, it overlaps with dispersals of Homo sapiens into Europe, interactions with Neanderthals, and cultural developments recorded at sites like Skhul and Qafzeh, informing models of human adaptation to high sea levels and shifting resources. The stage is pivotal for calibrating climate models used by NOAA and NASA to test responses of cryosphere, biosphere, and ocean systems to elevated temperatures.