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Late Holocene coastal hydrographic and climate changes in the eastern North Sea

Universität Bremen, Germany, dhebbeln{at}rcom-bremen.de

Karen-Luise Knudsen

University of Aarhus, Denmark

Richard Gyllencreutz

Stockholm University, Sweden

Peter Kristensen

University of Aarhus, Denmark

Dorthe Klitgaard-Kristensen

Norwegian Polar Institute, Norway

Jan Backman

Stockholm University, Sweden

Carolyn Scheurle

Universität Bremen, Germany

Hui Jiang

East China Normal University, China

Isabelle Gil

National Institute of Engineering, Technology and Innovation, Portugal

Morten Smelror

Geological Survey of Norway, Norway

Phil D. Jones

University of East Anglia, UK, University of Bergen, Norway

Hans-Petter Sejrup

University of Bergen, Norway

We present a high-resolution palaeoenvironmental reconstruction covering the late Holocene from the Skagerrak and other sites in the North Sea area. The data, which are based on the analyses of marine sediment cores, reveal a marked environmental shift that took place between AD 700 and AD 1100, with the most pronounced changes occurring at AD 900. Both surface and bottom waters in the Skagerrak were subject to major circulation and productivity changes at this time due to an enhanced advection of Atlantic waters to the North Sea marking the beginning of the ‘Mediaeval Warm Period’ (MWP). The observed increase in bottom current strength is especially remarkable as there is hardly any comparable signal in the older part of the record going back to 1000 BC. At the transition to the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA) the bottom current strength remains at a high level, now probably forced by atmospheric circulation. Thus, despite opposite temperature forcing, these two consecutive climate scenarios are apparently able to generate distinctly stronger bottom currents in the Skagerrak than observed in the preceding 2000 years, and demonstrate the significance of climatic forcing in shaping the marine environment. Indeed, both the MWP and the LIA are reported as strong climatic signals in northwest Europe, being the warmest (except the late twentieth century) and coldest periods, respectively, during at least the last 2000 years.

Key Words: Late Holocene • climate variability • palaeoceanography • hydrographic change • stable isotopes • benthic foraminifera • grain sizes • North Sea • Skagerrak • HOLSMEER project

The Holocene, Vol. 16, No. 7, 987-1001 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0959683606hl989rp


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