Timing of the late-glacial climate reversal in the Southern Hemisphere using high-resolution radiocarbon chronology for Kaipo Bog, New Zealand

• Published in: Quaternary research Vol. 65; no. 2; pp. 340 - 345
• Main Authors: Hajdas, Irka, Lowe, David J., Newnham, Rewi M., Bonani, Georges
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.03.2006; Elsevier
• Subjects: Bgi / Prodig; New Zealand; Oceania; Physical geography; Short Paper; New Zealand; North Island; New Zealand; Abrupt climate change; Radiocarbon dating; Late-glacial; Antarctic Cold Reversal; Interhemispheric asynchrony; Tephrochronology; Climate reversal; Kaipo bog; High-resolution palynology; Wiggle matching; Younger Dryas; Palynology; C 14 dating; Lateglacial; Climatic change; Quaternary; Palaeoclimatology; Peat bog
• ISSN: 0033-5894; 1096-0287
• DOI: 10.1016/j.yqres.2005.08.028

The pattern of climate change in the Southern Hemisphere during the Younger Dryas (YD) chronozone provides essential constraint on mechanisms of abrupt climate change only if accurate, high-precision chronologies are obtained. A climate reversal reported previously at Kaipo bog, New Zealand, had been dated between 13,600 and 12,600 cal yr B.P. and appeared to asynchronously overlap the YD chron, but the chronology, based on conventionally radiocarbon-dated bulk sediment samples, left the precise timing questionable. We report a new high-resolution AMS 14C chronology for the Kaipo record that confirms the original chronology and provides further evidence for a mid-latitude Southern Ocean cooling event dated between 13,800 and 12,400 cal yr B.P. (2σ range), roughly equivalent to the Antarctic Cold Reversal.