Last Glacial Maximum and Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition pollen record from northern NSW, Australia: evidence for a humid late Last Glacial Maximum and dry deglaciation in parts of eastern Australia

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 717-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Ellerton ◽  
J. Shulmeister ◽  
C. Woodward ◽  
P. Moss
Keyword(s):  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Eastern Australia

scholarly journals A palaeoenvironmental record of the Southern Hemisphere last glacial maximum from the Mount Cass loess section, North Canterbury, Aotearoa/New Zealand

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Peter C. Almond ◽  
Sándor Gulyás ◽  
Pál Sümegi ◽  
Balázs P. Sümegi ◽  
Stephen Covey-Crump ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Good Correspondence ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Event Stratigraphy ◽  
Westerly Winds

Abstract Calcareous loess in North Canterbury, eastern South Island, New Zealand (NZ), preserves subfossil bird bone, terrestrial gastropods, and eggshell, whose abundances and radiocarbon ages allowed us to reconstruct aspects of palaeoenvironment at high resolution through 25 to 21 cal ka BP. This interval includes millennial-scale climatic variability during the extended last glacial maximum (30–18 ka) of Australasia. Our loess palaeoclimatic record shows good correspondence with stadial and interstadial climate events of the NZ Climate Event Stratigraphy, which were defined from a pollen record on the western side of South Island. An interstade from 25.4 to 24 cal ka BP was warm but also relatively humid on eastern South Island, and loess grain size may indicate reduced vigour of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. The subsequent stade (24–22.6 cal ka BP) was drier, colder, and probably windier. The next interstade remained relatively dry on eastern South Island, and westerly winds remained vigorous. The 25.4–24 ka interstade is synchronous with Heinrich stade 2, which may have driven a southward migration of the subtropical front, leading to warming and wetting of northern and central South Island and retreat of Southern Alps glaciers at ca. 26.5 ka.

scholarly journals Constant wind regimes during the Last Glacial Maximum and early Holocene: evidence from Little Llangothlin Lagoon, New England Tablelands, eastern Australia

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1435-1444 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Shulmeister ◽  
Justine Kemp ◽  
Kathryn E. Fitzsimmons ◽  
Allen Gontz
Keyword(s):  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Early Holocene ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. Here we present the results of a multi-proxy investigation – integrating geomorphology, ground-penetrating radar, and luminescence dating – of a high-elevation lunette and beach berm in northern New South Wales, eastern Australia. The lunette occurs on the eastern shore of Little Llangothlin Lagoon and provides evidence for a lake high stand combined with persistent westerly winds at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM – centring on 21.5 ka) and during the early Holocene (ca. 9 and 6 ka). The reconstructed atmospheric circulation is similar to the present-day conditions, and we infer no significant changes in circulation at those times, as compared to the present day. Our results suggest that the Southern Hemisphere westerlies were minimally displaced in this sector of Australasia during the latter part of the last ice age. Our observations also support evidence for a more positive water balance at the LGM and early Holocene in this part of the Australian sub-tropics.

Late Pleistocene Megafauna and Archaeology from Cuddie Springs, South-eastern Australia

1999 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 275-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Field ◽  
John Dodson
Keyword(s):  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Human Occupation ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
Last Glacial ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial ◽  
South Eastern Australia

The Cuddie Springs site in south-eastern Australia provides the first evidence of an unequivocal association of megafauna with humans for this continent. Cuddie Springs has been known as a fossil megafauna locality for over a century, but its archaeological record has only recently been identified. Cuddie Springs is an open site, with the fossil deposits preserved in a claypan on the floor of an ancient ephemeral lake. Investigations revealed a stratified deposit of human occupation and fossil megafauna, suggesting a temporal overlap and an active association of megafauna with people in the lead up to the Last Glacial Maximum, when conditions were more arid than the present day. Two distinct occupation phases have been identified and are correlated to the hydrology of the Cuddie Springs lake. When people first arrived at Cuddie Springs, sometime before 30,000 BP, the claypan on the lake floor was similar to a waterhole, with five species of megafauna identified. Flaked stone artefacts were found scattered through this level. After the lake dried, there was human occupation of the claypan. The resource base broadened to include a range of plant foods. Megafauna appear to be just one of a range of food resources exploited during this period. A return to ephemeral conditions resulted in only periodic occupation of the site with megafauna disappearing from the record around 28,000 BP. The timing of overlap and association of megafauna with human occupation is coincident with the earliest occupation sites in this region. The archaeological evidence from Cuddie Springs suggests an opportunistic exploitation of resources and no specialised strategies for hunting megafauna. Disappearance of megafauna is likely to be a consequence of climatic change during the lead up to the Last Glacial Maximum and human activities may have compounded an extinction process well under way.

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