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Changes in solar activity and Holocene climatic shifts derived from 14C wiggle-match dated peat deposits

Palaeobiology Program, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden; mauquoy{at}science.uva.nl

Bas van Geel

Maarten Blaauw

Alessandra Speranza

Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 318, 1098 SM Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Johannes van der Plicht

Centre for Isotope Research, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands

Closely spaced sequences of accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) ¹⁴C dates of peat deposits display century-scale wiggles which can be fitted to the radiocarbon calibration curve. By wiggle-matching such sequences, high-precision calendar age chronologies can be generated which show that changes in mire surface wetness during the Bronze Age/Iron Age transition (c. 850 cal. BC) and the ‘Little Ice Age’ (Wolf, Spörer, Maunder and Dalton Minima) occurred during periods of suddenly increasing atmospheric concentration of ¹⁴C. Replicate evidence from peat-based proxy climate indicators in northwest Europe suggest these changes in climate may have been driven by temporary declines of solar activity. Carbon-accumulation rates of two raised peat bogs in the UK and Denmark record low values during the ‘Little Ice Age’ which reflects reduced primary productivity of the peat-forming vegetation during these periods of climatic deterioration.

Key Words: Solar forcing • 14C • 14C wiggle-match dating • palaeoclimate • Sphagnum • carbon accumulation • late Holocene • ‘Little Ice Age’

The Holocene, Vol. 14, No. 1, 45-52 (2004)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683604hl688rp


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