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Terrestrial impact of abrupt changes in the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation: Early Holocene, UK

¹ Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK
² Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3GP, UK, and Department of Natural Geographical and Applied Sciences, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk L39 4QP, UK
³ Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK
⁴ Climate and Land-Surface Systems Interaction Centre, Department of Geography, University of Wales, Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK
⁵ Department of Earth Sciences, Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK
⁶ Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK
⁷ Environmental Change Research Centre, Department of Geography, University College, London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, UK
⁸ Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK
⁹ Department of Natural Geographical and Applied Sciences, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk L39 4QP, UK
¹⁰ Department of Entomology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
¹¹ Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK
¹² Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK

Abrupt cooling events are features of Holocene climate and may recur in the future. We use lake records from Hawes Water, NW England, to quantify the impact of two prominent early Holocene climatic events. Subdecadal oxygen isotope records from sedimentary carbonate (¹⁸O_c), dated using thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) U-series analyses, provide evidence for abrupt cold events, lasting 50 and 150 yr at 9350 and 8380 yr ago, which correlate with the 9.3 ka and 8.2 ka events recognized in Greenland ice cores. At Hawes Water, mean July air temperatures, inferred from chirono-mid assemblages, decreased by 1.6 °C during each event. Calculations show that the isotopic excursions were dominantly caused by decreases in the isotopic composition of meteoric precipitation (¹⁸O_p) by 1.3; this is interpreted as a direct downstream response to cooling and freshening of northeast Atlantic surface water by melting ice sheets. Intermediate in magnitude between events observed in Greenland and central Europe, the effects are consistent with a partial shutdown of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation.

Key Words: abrupt climate change • Holocene • 8200 event • 9.3 ka event • stable isotopes • lacustrine record

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