Lyell Collection
Journal of the Geological Society
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by SINKA, K. J.
Right arrow Articles by ATKINSON, T. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Journal of the Geological Society; 1999; v. 156; issue.2; p. 381-396;
DOI: 10.1144/gsjgs.156.2.0381
© 1999 Geological Society of London

Article

A mutual climatic range method for reconstructing palaeoclimate from plant remains

K. J. SINKA* & T. C. ATKINSON

School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK (E-mail: t.atkinson{at}uea.ac.uk)

The mutual climatic range (MCR) technique for reconstructing palaeoclimate relies on establishing the present-day climatic tolerance ranges of living species which are also found as fossils in Quaternary deposits. The palaeoclimate under which the species in a fossil assemblage co-existed can be inferred to lie within the intersection of the individual species' tolerance ranges. This paper describes a factor analysis of modern European climate data to determine two compound variables that describe the main features of the climate: 'summer warmth and dryness' and 'wetness and winter warmth'. Distribution maps of 80 plants from Atlas Florae Europaeae were combined with the climate data to determine each species' climatic range in factor space. MCRs were determined for two living plant assemblages from southeast England and found to give a reliable, although rather imprecise, reconstruction of the true thermal and precipitation climate. Reconstructions for two plant macro-fossil assemblages from Devensian gravels at Earith, Cambridgeshire, demonstrated palaeoclimates that were colder and more continental than the present, but with similar total amounts of precipitation. The study demonstrates the potential of the MCR method for use with Quaternary macrofossil plant remains, although there are methodological drawbacks in employing a climate-space defined by factor analysis.

Key Words: Quaternary • plants • climate • palaeoclimatology




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Journal of the Geological SocietyHome page
J. J. LOWE, H. H. BIRKS, S. J. BROOKS, G. R. COOPE, D. D. HARKNESS, F. E. MAYLE, C. SHELDRICK, C. S. M. TURNEY, and M. J. C. WALKER
The chronology of palaeoenvironmental changes during the Last Glacial-Holocene transition: towards an event stratigraphy for the British Isles
Journal of the Geological Society, 1999; 156: 397 - 410.
[Abstract] [PDF]