Identifying abrupt climate change in SE Europe during MIS 12-11 based on high-resolution pollen analysis of the Tenaghi Philippon archive (NE Greece)

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The project aims to generate a new terrestrial pollen record for Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 12 and 11 at unprecedented temporal resolution (~150 years) for that time interval. This will provide detailed insight into the climate evolution of the most extreme glacial and interglacial intervals of the Quaternary, thus contributing to a better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for abrupt climate change. The project goals will be achieved via analysis of the iconic terrestrial climate archive of Tenaghi Philippon (NE Greece) using new cores recovered in 2009. Specifically, the project will reconstruct (i) the D-O- and Heinrich-like climate variability during MIS 12, which represents the coldest glacial of the Quaternary in marine and ice records; and (ii) the ecosystem response to gradual climate warming and abrupt change during MIS 11, which serves as one of the best orbital analogues for the current interglacial. The Tenaghi Philippon archive is optimally suited for addressing these objectives due to (i) its exceptional stratigraphical completeness; (ii) its proximity to glacial refugia of thermophilous plants, which minimizes the time lag between climate forcing and vegetation response as documented in pollen data; and (iii) its high sensitivity in recording Northern Hemisphere high-latitude climate variability. The project goals will be reached based on the analysis of 394 pollen samples that will yield a ~5x higher resolution than previously available for Tenaghi Philippon. In combination with ongoing cryptotephra and XRF analyses on the same cores (DFG project KO4960/3-1), the identified vegetation events will be calibrated against a robust chronostratigraphical framework, allowing detailed comparison with marine records from the Eastern Mediterranean (ODP Site 967), the Iberian Margin, and the North Atlantic (ODP Sites 980 and 983). The project will provide new insights into the nature of short-term climate and environmental change in the Eastern Mediterranean region during the Quaternary; ultimately, it will contribute to a better understanding of the trigger mechanisms of climate change under boundary-condition endmembers as they were realized during MIS 12 and 11.