Chironomid-based palaeotemperature estimates for northeast Finland during Oxygen Isotope Stage 3

• Published in: Journal of paleolimnology Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 49 - 61
• Main Authors: Engels, S., Bohncke, S. J. P., Bos, J. A. A., Brooks, S. J., Heiri, O., Helmens, K. F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-07-2008; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Air temperature; Climate Change; Climate models; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Geology; Isotopes; Lakes; Original Paper; Oxygen; Oxygen isotopes; Paleontology; Physical Geography; Sedimentology; Studies; Temperature; Finland; Climate change; Summer temperature; Chironomids; Oxygen Isotope Stage 3; Northeast Finland
• ISSN: 0921-2728; 1573-0417
• DOI: 10.1007/s10933-007-9133-y

Quantitative palaeotemperature estimates for the earlier part of Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS-) 3 are inferred from subfossil chironomid remains. The high-latitudinal study site of Sokli, northeast Finland, provides for a unique lacustrine deposit covering the earlier part of OIS-3, and the chironomid remains found in the sediments show that a shallow lake with a diverse fauna was present at the study site throughout the record. Using a Norwegian calibration data set as a modern analogue, mean July air temperatures are reconstructed. The chironomid-inferred July air temperatures are surprisingly high, reaching values similar to the current temperature at the study site. Other proxies that were applied to the sediments included the analysis of botanical and zoological macro-remains, and our results concur with temperature estimates derived from climate indicator taxa. Summer temperatures for interstadial conditions, reconstructed with climate models, are as high as our proxy-based palaeotemperatures.