Abstract
Climate-proxy records of the past 100,000 years show that the Earth's climate has varied significantly and continuously on timescales as short as a few thousand years (1–7). Similar variability has also recently been observed for the interval 340–500 thousand years ago8. These dramatic climate shifts, expressed most strongly in the North Atlantic region, may be linked to — and possibly amplified by — alterations in the mode of ocean thermohaline circulation4,5,6,7,8,9. Here we use sediment records of past iceberg discharge and deep-water chemistry to show that such millennial-scale oscillations in climate occurred over one million years ago. This was a time of significantly different climate boundary conditions; not only was the early Pleistocene epoch generally warmer, but global climate variations were governed largely by changes in Earth's orbital obliguity. Our results suggest that such millennial-scale climate instability may be a pervasive and long-term characteristic of Earth's climate, rather than just a feature of the strong glacial–interglacial cycles of the past 800,000 years.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Dansgaard, W. et al. in Climate Processes and Climate Sensitivity (eds Hansen, J. E. & Takahashi, T.) 288–298 (Am. Geophys. Union, Washington DC, 1984).
Broecker, W. S. Massive iceberg discharges as triggers for global climate change. Nature 372, 421–424 (1994).
Bond, G. & Lotti, R. Iceberg discharge into the North Atlantic on millennial time scales during the last glaciation. Science 267, 1005–1010 (1995).
Broecker, W. S., Bond, G., Klas, M., Bonani, G. & Wolfi, W. Asalt oscillator in the glacial Atlantic? 1. The concept. Paleoceanography 5, 469–477 (1990).
Lehman, S. J. & Keigwin, L. D. Sudden changes in North Atlantic circulation during the last deglaciation. Nature 356, 757–762 (1992).
Behl, R. J. & Kennett, J. P. Brief interstandial events in the Santa Barbara basin, NE Pacific, during the past 60 kyr. Nature 379, 243–246 (1996).
Oppo, D. W. & Lehman, S. J. Suborbital timescale variability of North Atlantic Deep Water during the past 200,000 years. Paleoceanography 10, 901–910 (1995).
Oppo, D. W., McManus, J. F. & Cullen, J. C. Abrupt climate change events 500,000 to 340,000 years ago: evidence from subpolar North Atlantic sediments. Science 279, 1335–1338 (1998).
Rasmussen, T. L., Thomsen, E., Labeyrie, L. & van Weering, T. C. E. Circulation changes in the Faeroe-Scotland Channel correlating with cold events during the last glacial period (58-10 ka). Geology 24, 937–940 (1996).
MacAyeal, D. R. Binge/purge oscillations of the Laurentide ice sheet as a cause of the North Atlantic Heinrich events. Paleoceanography 8, 775–784 (1993).
Rahmstorf, S. Rapid climate transitions in a coupled ocean–atmosphere model. Nature 372, 82–85 (1994).
Suess, H. E. & Linick, T. W. The 14C record in bristlecone pine of the past 8000 years based on the dendrochronology of the late C. W. Ferguson. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 330, 403–412 (1990).
Pestiaux, P., van der Mersch, I., Berger, A. & Duplessy, J. C. Paleoclimatic variabiity at frequencies ranging from 1/10000 to 1/1000 years; evidence for nonlinear behaviour in the climate system. Clim. Change 12, 9–37 (1988).
Yiou, P. et al. High frequency paleovariability in climate and CO2 levels from the Vostok ice core records. J. Geophys. Res. 96, 20365–20378 (1991).
Raymo, M. E. in Start of a Glacial, Proc. Mallorca NATO ARW 207–223 (eds Kukla, G. & Went, E.) (NATO ASI Ser. I, Vol. 3, Springer, Heidelberg, 1992).
Van Der Burgh, J., Visscher, H., Dilcher, D. L. & Kurschner, W. Paleoatmospheric signatures in Neogene fossil leaves. Science 260, 1788–1790 (1993).
Raymo, M., Grant, B., Horowitz, M. & Rau, G. Mid-Pliocene warmth: stronger greenhouse and stronger conveyor. Mar. Micropaleontol. 27, 313–326 (1996).
Kukla, G. & An, Z. Loess stratigraphy in central China. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 72, 203–225 (1989).
Hooghiemstra, H. Quaternary and upper-Pliocene glaciations and forest development in the tropical Andes: evidence from a long high-resolution pollen record from the sedimentary basin of Bogata, Colombia. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 72, 11–26 (1989).
Ruddiman, W. F., Raymo, M. E., Martinson, D. G., Clement, B. M. & Backman, J. Mid-Pleistocene evolution of Northern Hemisphere climate. Paleoceanography 4, 353–412 (1989).
Wold, C. Cenozoic sediment accumulation on drifts in the northern North Atlantic. Paleoceanography 9, 917–941 (1994).
Shipboard Scientific Party Proc. ODP Init. Rep. Leg 162, 139–167 (1996).
Shackleton, N. J., Berger, A. & Peltier, W. R. An alternative astronomical calibration of the lower Pleistocene timescale based on ODP site 677. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb. Earth Sci. 81, 251–261 (1990).
Channell, J. E. T., Hodell, D. & Lehman, B. Relative geomagnetic paleointensity and δ18O at ODP Site 983 (Gardar Drift, North Atlantic) since 350 ka. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. (submitted).
Ruddiman, W. F., Shackleton, N. J. & McIntyre, A. in North Atlantic Palaeoceanography (eds Summerhayes, C. P. & Shackleton, N. J.) 155–173 (Spec. Publ. 21, Geol. Soc., London, 1986).
Veum, T., Jansen, E., Arnold, M., Beyer, I. & Duplessy, J. C. Water mass exchange between the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea during the past 28,000 years. Nature 356, 783–785 (1992).
Jansen, E. & Veum, T. Evidence for two-step deglaciation and its impact on North Atlantic deep-water circulation. Nature 343, 612–616 (1990).
Lehman, S. J., Wright, D. G. & Stocker, T. F. in Ice in the Climate System (ed. Peltier, W. R.) 187–209 (NATO ASI Ser. I, Vol. 12, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1993).
Oppo, D. W. & Lehman, S. J. Mid-depth circulation of the subpolar North Atlantic during the last glacial maximum. Science 259, 1148–1152 (1993).
Raymo, M. E. The timing of major climate terminations. Paleoceanography 12, 577–585 (1997).
Wei, W. Calibration of upper Pliocene–lower Pleistocene nannofossil events with oxygen isotope stratigraphy. Paleoceanography 8, 85–100 (1993).
Acknowledgements
We thank C. Rosario-Reyes and V. Vieira for assistance, and the Leg 162 Shipboard Scientific Party and crew for their accomplishments and dedication which made the collection of these cores possible. We also thank J. Adkins and T. Dokken for discussions which improved the manuscript. Samples were provided by the ODP with the support of the NSF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Raymo, M., Ganley, K., Carter, S. et al. Millennial-scale climate instability during the early Pleistocene epoch. Nature 392, 699–702 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/33658
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/33658
This article is cited by
-
Direct astronomical influence on abrupt climate variability
Nature Geoscience (2021)
-
Persistent orbital influence on millennial climate variability through the Pleistocene
Nature Geoscience (2021)
-
An ice–climate oscillatory framework for Dansgaard–Oeschger cycles
Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (2020)
-
Reconstruction of millennial-scale variations in the East Asian summer monsoon over the past 300 ka based on the total carbon content of sediment from Lake Biwa, Japan
Environmental Geology (2007)
-
Meteoritic Impacts and Climatic Changes in Pliocene–Pleistocene Epoch
Earth, Moon, and Planets (2007)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.