Stadial
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Stadials and interstadials are phases dividing the Quaternary period, or the last 2.6 million years. Stadials are periods of colder climate, and interstadials are periods of warmer climate.
Each Quaternary climate phase is associated with a
Marine Isotope Stages are sometimes further subdivided into stadials and interstadials by minor climate fluctuations within the overall stadial or interstadial regime, which are indicated by letters. The odd-numbered interstadial
Distinction between stadials and glacials
Generally, stadials endure for a thousand years or less and interstadials for less than ten thousand years, and
The MIS 1 interstadial encompasses the entirety of the present Holocene interglacial, but the Wisconsin glaciation encompasses MIS 2, 3, and 4.
Glacials and interglacials refer to the 100,000-year cycles associated with Milankovitch cycles, and stadials and interstadials are defined by the actual oxygen-isotope temperature record.
List of stadials and interstadials
Bølling/Allerød interstadial
The Bølling oscillation and the Allerød oscillation, where they are not clearly distinguished in the stratigraphy, are taken together to form the Bølling/Allerød interstadial, and dated from about 14,700 to 12,700 years before the present.[2]
Dryas Periods
The Oldest, Older, and Younger Dryas are three stadials that occurred during the warming since the Last Glacial Maximum. The Older Dryas occurred between the Bølling and Allerød interstadials. All three periods are named for the arctic plant species, Dryas octopetala, which proliferated during these cold periods.
Dansgaard-Oeschger events
See also
References
- ISBN 9781118968581.
The sequence of events demonstrated in the fossil material of such an interglacial shows a progressive change from high arctic conditions (virtually no life) through subarctic (tundra vegetation) to boreal (birch and pine forest) to temperate (deciduous forest) and then back through boreal to arctic conditions once more. If the warm event is only of a short duration, or the temperatures are not sufficiently high, then the vegetation changes may only reach a boreal stage of development. In this case, it's termed an interstadial.
- ^ Cronin, Thomas M. (1999). Principles of Climatology. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 204.
- ISBN 0-415-19841-0.