Pleistocene-Holocene transition
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| Pleistocene-Holocene transition | |
|---|---|
| Name | Pleistocene–Holocene transition |
| Epoch start | ~11,700 BP |
| Epoch end | Holocene onset |
| Preceding epoch | Pleistocene |
| Following epoch | Holocene |
Pleistocene-Holocene transition The Pleistocene–Holocene transition marks the end of the last glacial interval and the beginning of the current interglacial, characterized by rapid climatic warming, ice-sheet retreat, and major reorganizations of ecosystems and human societies. This interval intersects with well-known events and institutions such as the Younger Dryas, the Greenland ice-core research associated with the Greenland Ice Sheet project, the archaeological work at Çatalhöyük, and palaeoclimatic syntheses produced by groups like the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. It influenced the trajectories of fauna studied by scholars connected to the Smithsonian Institution, the Natural History Museum, London, and field programs at sites such as La Brea Tar Pits and Clovis culture localities.
Definition and Chronology
The transition is conventionally bounded at ~11,700 years before present, aligning with stratigraphic markers used by panels such as the International Commission on Stratigraphy and correlated with chronologies from the Greenland Ice Core Project and North Greenland Ice Core Project. High-resolution chronologies draw on work published by teams at institutions like the British Antarctic Survey and the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, and compare radiocarbon sequences from sites including Lago Grande di Monticchio and Lake Suigetsu. Paleosequence studies cite synchrony with the end of the Younger Dryas stadial and calibration curves developed by laboratories connected to the Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit.
Climate and Environmental Changes
Major climatic shifts include rapid warming events identified in the Gisp2 and NGRIP records, shifts in atmospheric greenhouse gases documented by the Antarctic ice core programs, and reorganization of ocean-atmosphere systems studied by researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Vegetation changes inferred from pollen sequences at sites like Lake Baikal, Lake Titicaca, and Black Sea margins correspond with faunal turnovers observed in deposits curated by institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History. Teleconnections involving the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, and regional responses in the Monsoon systems were reconstructed by multidisciplinary teams including those affiliated with the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry.
Glacial Retreat and Sea-Level Rise
Retreat of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets—most notably the Laurentide Ice Sheet, the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, and the Cordilleran Ice Sheet—was mapped using geomorphological surveys by agencies like the United States Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Canada. Meltwater pulses such as Meltwater Pulse 1A are correlated with isotopic excursions recorded in cores retrieved by projects like the International Ocean Discovery Program and mapped against data from the Mediterranean Sea and Bering Sea. Consequent relative sea-level rise affected archaeological sites including Doggerland reconstructions and submerged landscapes investigated by teams from the National Oceanography Centre.
Biotic Responses and Extinctions
Megafaunal extinctions involving taxa represented in collections at the Natural History Museum, London, the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, and the Royal Ontario Museum include losses among proboscideans, large bovids, and marsupials in regions spanning the Siberian Plain, North America, and Australia. Studies by researchers associated with the Paleontological Society and paleoecological datasets from sites like La Brea Tar Pits and Lagoa Santa document population reductions and range shifts in megafauna, while plant community reorganizations evident in pollen records from Greenland, Iceland, and the British Isles reflect biome migrations noted in syntheses by the International Union for Quaternary Research.
Human Adaptations and Cultural Transitions
Human groups documented at sites such as Monte Verde, Clovis culture, Dolní Věstonice, and Göbekli Tepe experienced technological, subsistence, and settlement changes driven by postglacial environments; research by archaeologists affiliated with the University of Cambridge, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and the Peabody Museum has emphasized shifts to broad-spectrum diets, sedentism, and early cultivation practices later associated with the Neolithic Revolution. Demographic and cultural models draw on genetic results produced by labs like the Wellcome Sanger Institute and field syntheses from projects including the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain program.
Methods and Evidence (Paleoclimate Proxies and Dating)
Reconstruction methods integrate ice-core isotopes from Greenland, tree-ring chronologies from networks coordinated by the International Tree-Ring Data Bank, speleothem records from caves studied by teams linked to the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, marine sediments cored by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, and pollen sequences archived by the European Pollen Database. Dating frameworks depend on accelerator mass spectrometry performed at facilities like the ETH Zurich lab and calibration against curves produced by groups at the Royal Holloway, University of London and the University of Groningen.
Regional Variations and Case Studies
Regional case studies highlight contrasting responses: rapid deglaciation and ecosystem change across the Laurentide margin and the Great Lakes region; complex sea-level and salinity shifts in the Black Sea and Mediterranean documented by teams from the University of Barcelona and the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; and asynchronous warming and aridification events across Sahara corridors and the Australian continent explored by researchers at the Australian National University. Island records from New Zealand and the Japanese archipelago preserve unique vegetation and faunal trajectories examined by institutions including the Auckland War Memorial Museum and University of Tokyo.