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Climatic transfer function from quaternary molluscs in European loess deposits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Denis-Didier Rousseau
Denis-Didier Rousseau*
Affiliation:
URA CNRS 157, Centre des Sciences de la Terre, 6 Bd Gabriel, F-21100 Dijon, France
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Abstract

Correspondence and multiple regression analysis of terrestrial molluscs in the loess sections of Achenheim (Alsace, France) has permitted the reconstruction of climatic variations during the last three glacial-interglacial cycles back to 339,000 yr B.P. The sequence has been dated according to the SPECMAP chronology of Imbrie et al. (1984) and the fossil faunas have been calibrated in relation to recent assemblages sampled in defined ecological conditions in Sweden and France. Transfer functions that relate the abundances of different species to climate allow the reconstruction of temperature and precipitation. Estimates for the coldest (February) and warmest (August) months in present-day Alsace were obtained and variations in temperature between −13° and 2°C in winter and 10° and 17°C in summer were determined. These results are consistent with those yielded by transfer functions using other continental fossils. Estimates differ for past precipitation. Summer precipitation is always less than present (with values between 50 and 78 mm, while modern August values are 76 mm higher). Winter estimates are always higher than the present mean (between 76 and 33 mm, while the recent February value is 34 mm). Comparisons between cycles show that the climatic patterns described for one cycle cannot be strictly applied to the others. Comparisons have been made with the pollen stratigraphy of La Grande Pile, the nearest quantified sequence to Achenheim, and with some Atlantic cores in order to study the magnitude of deviations from modern mean values of the climatic parameters.

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Articles
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Quaternary Research , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , September 1991 , pp. 195 - 209
Copyright
University of Washington

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