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Thursday, 1 January 2026

Late Glacial to Holocene climate oscillations


Below I reproduce the sequence of climate oscillations from the time of the LGM ice wastage period through to the present day.  After Prof Mike Walker and others.  In spite of a vast amopunt of researchj effort over the years, there is still doubt about the preciose dates allocated in this table -- radiocarbon ages and calendar ages are still being revised.  Among the questions still being mulled over:  To what extent is this sequence fully representative of various parts of the North Atlantic arena?  Was there really an Older Dryas phase that can be picked up in the field or the laboratory in multiple dispersed locations?  How widespread was the Allerod Interstadial?  Where do the Alftanes and Budi stages in Iceland fit into this table?  The Little Ice Age fits into the Sub-Atlantic phase, but where does the Neoglacial fit?   Should that label actually be used at all?

From Wikipedia:  The neoglaciation ("renewed glaciation") describes the documented cooling trend in the Earth's climate during the Holocene, following the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciation, the most recent glacial period. Neoglaciation has followed the Hypsithermal or Holocene Climatic Optimum, the warmest point in the Earth's climate during the current interglacialstage, excluding the global warming-induced temperature increase starting in the 20th century. The neoglaciation has no well-marked universal beginning, in particular not in the Greenland Icecore temperatures: local conditions and ecological inertia affected the onset of detectably cooler (and wetter) conditions.

13. Sub-Atlantic -- 2500 yrs BP to present
12. Holocene -- Sub-Boreal 5,000 -- 2500 yrs BP
11. Holocene -- Atlantic 7,500 - 5,000 yrs BP
10. Holocene -- Boreal c 9,700 - 7,500 yrs BP
9. Holocene interglacial -- Pre-Boreal c10,300 - 9,700 yrs BP
8. Sharp warming -- onset of Holocene c 10,000 yrs BP
7. Younger Dryas (Zone III) cold snap / Loch Lomond readvance c 11,000 -10,000 yrs BP
6. Allerod (Zone II) "interstadial" -- warming 11,800 - 11,000 yrs BP
5. Cooling erratically to Older Dryas (Zone I) 12,000 - 11,800 yrs BP
4. Sharp climate oscillations: mid-Weichselian substage 14,000 - 13,000 yrs BP
3. Bolling "interstadial" -- warming to almost interglacial level, started c 14,700 yrs BP (some dates place this event around 12,500 yrs BP)
2. Continuing cold -- sparse tundra vegetation 20,000 - 15,000 yrs BP
1. Deglaciation around 20,000 yrs BP

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