Session abstracts > Session 4

Session 4: From one glacial to another: global climate dynamics and impact on continental environments during Quaternary interglacials

Julie Dabkowski¹ , Loïc Lebreton² et Franck Bassinot³

Interglacials are the warmest periods of the Quaternary climatic cycles, characterized by minimal extension of the ice sheets (high sea level). They are significantly shorter in duration than glacials and show a vast diversity in their timing, length and intensity as revealed by ice cores and marine records. Each specific interglacial can in turn experience various responses of continental environments, which successively expand then contract from the onset of interglacials (glacial termination) to their end (glacial inception); those transitions often corresponding to key periods in the evolution and development of human settlements.

This session is devoted to climatic and environmental reconstructions based on marine, continental and/or glacial archives using a wide range of proxies (sedimentology, geochemistry, biomarkers, etc.), and it aims to document global climate dynamics and their regional to local impacts on continental environments and biodiversity during Quaternary interglacials and preceding/following transitions. The submission of research works that deal with the comparison of interglacials, or the comparison of past interglacials with modern environments is particularly encouraged.

1 - CNRS, LGP : Environnements quaternaires et actuels - UMR 8591, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, UPEC

2 - Histoire Naturelle de l’Homme Préhistorique (HNHP), UMR 7194, Dept. Homme et Environnement du Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle, MNHN-CNRS-UPVD

3 -  CEA / LSCE, UMR 8212, Gif-sur-Yvette