Project Details
Projekt
Varve chronology and high-resolution vegetation and climate dynamics in central Japan during the last glacial (ca. 15-50 kyr BP) derived from the Lake Suigetsu sediment record
Subject Area
Palaeontology
Term
from 2008 to 2012
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 91747603
High-resolution vegetation and climate archives from monsoonal E. Asia are still rare but necessary for better understanding of past and future environmental dynamics in the region, which hosts 30% of the world population; for evaluating the role of vegetation in glacial-interglacial climate variations; and for validating climate models. Precise and accurate absolute chronologies are essential for all these goals. The actual calibration curve for terrestrial radiocarbon dates is provided by tree ring data presently reaching back to ca. 12,500 cal. yr BP. Our proposed project should become an essential part of the international Lake Suigetsu Varved Sediment Project {started in July 2006) working on a 73.5-m continuous sediment core from Japan covering the last 150 kyr (SG06). Our main goals are (i) to establish a radiocarbon calibration model to the limit of 14C dating method (~ 50 kyr), using microscopic varve counting (GFZ Potsdam) and extensive 14C dating (provided by the cooperation partners from ORAU Oxford and RCL East Kilbride, University of Newcastle, UK) of plant remains free of reservoir effects recovered from annually laminated SG06 sediment; and (ii) to produce quantitative reconstruction of the monsoonal climate in the W. Pacific region during ca. 10,000-50,000 cal. yr BP using high-resolution pollen/vegetation and diatom records from the SG06 core (FU Berlin).
DFG Programme
Research Grants
International Connection
Japan, Russia, United Kingdom
