This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Shulmeister, J. Articles by Lees, B. G. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Pollen evidence from tropical Australia for the onset of an ENSO-dominated climate at c. 4000 BP

Department of Geology, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand

Brian G. Lees

Department of Geography, School of Resource and Environmental Management, Australian National University, GPO Box 4, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia

The Holocene climatic history of tropical northern Australia is re-examined using the recently published pollen record from Groote Eylandt to corroborate and refine previous climatic inter pretations. We identify a four-stage Holocene comprising: (1) a continuous increase in effective precipitation (EP) from the beginning of the Holocene to about 5000 BP; (2) a mid-Holocene EP maximum from about 5000 to about 4000 BP; (3) a marked decline in EP somewhere between 4000-3500 Bp; and (4) an EP recovery in the last <2000 years. The mid-Holocene EP maximum is 1000 years later than Holocene EP maxima from temperate Southern Australia and suggests that the records are decoupled at this time.

We focus on pollen evidence of environmental change at c. 4000 BP, which marks a break between a continuously ameliorating (increasing EP) climate but with small mean variation in the earlier Holocene and a steady (no directional trend) but highly variable later Holocene. We believe that this break represents the first evidence from the monsoonal lowlands of northern Australia for the onset of 'modern' ENSO-dominated ocean-atmosphere interactions in the Holocene. A simple conceptual model of trans-Pacific teleconnections is presented to explain this onset and as an hypothesis for testing.

Key Words: ENSO • precipitation • Holocene • pollen • climatic history • tropical vegetation • Australia.

The Holocene, Vol. 5, No. 1, 10-18 (1995)
DOI: 10.1177/095968369500500102


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Xiao, Z. Chang, R. Wen, D. Zhai, S. Itoh, and Z. Lomtatidze Holocene weak monsoon intervals indicated by low lake levels at Hulun Lake in the monsoonal margin region of northeastern Inner Mongolia, China The Holocene, September 1, 2009; 19(6): 899 - 908. [Abstract] [PDF]

				Y. Edelman-Furstenberg, A. Almogi-Labin, and C. Hemleben Palaeoceanographic evolution of the central Red Sea during the late Holocene The Holocene, February 1, 2009; 19(1): 117 - 127. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Fisher, E. Osterberg, A. Dyke, D. Dahl-Jensen, M. Demuth, C. Zdanowicz, J. Bourgeois, R. M. Koerner, P. Mayewski, C. Wake, et al. The Mt Logan Holocene--late Wisconsinan isotope record: tropical Pacific--Yukon connections The Holocene, August 1, 2008; 18(5): 667 - 677. [Abstract] [PDF]

				H. Builth, A. P. Kershaw, C. White, A. Roach, L. Hartney, M. McKenzie, T. Lewis, and G. Jacobsen Environmental and cultural change on the Mt Eccles lava-flow landscapes of southwest Victoria, Australia The Holocene, May 1, 2008; 18(3): 413 - 424. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. G Haberle Prehistoric human impact on rainforest biodiversity in highland New Guinea Phil Trans R Soc B, February 28, 2007; 362(1478): 219 - 228. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. Gomez, L. Carter, N. A. Trustrum, A. S. Palmer, and A. P. Roberts El Nino-Southern Oscillation signal associated with middle Holocene climate change in intercorrelated terrestrial and marine sediment cores, North Island, New Zealand Geology, August 1, 2004; 32(8): 653 - 656. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. M. Menking and R. Y. Anderson Contributions of La Nina and El Nino to middle Holocene drought and late Holocene moisture in the American Southwest Geology, November 1, 2003; 31(11): 937 - 940. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. F. T. Andrus, D. E. Crowe, D. H. Sandweiss, E. J. Reitz, C. S. Romanek, and K. A. Maasch Response to Comment on "Otolith delta 18O Record of Mid-Holocene Sea Surface Temperatures in Peru" Science, January 10, 2003; 299(5604): 203b - 203b. [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. H. Sandweiss, K. A. Maasch, R. L. Burger, J. B. Richardson III, H. B. Rollins, and A. Clement Variation in Holocene El Nino frequencies: Climate records and cultural consequences in ancient Peru Geology, July 1, 2001; 29(7): 603 - 606. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]