Paleoenvironmental Dynamics During the Eemian Interglacial
Summary
The Eemian Interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 5e), spanning roughly 129–116 ka BP, represents the most recent interval of sustained warmth before the Holocene. During this period, global temperatures exceeded present‐day values by several degrees, driving sea levels 6–9 m higher than today and reshaping coastlines worldwide. Terrestrial systems responded with widespread expansion of temperate forests, yet with marked regional gradients: boreal and mixed‐deciduous woodlands dominated high latitudes, while Mediterranean taxa flourished in southern Europe. Palaeolake and coastal sediment archives reveal alternating phases of stability and rapid environmental change, linked to variances in insolation and ice‐sheet dynamics. Geomorphic evidence points to pulses of fluvial incision and slope activity at the onset and termination of the Eemian, separated by intervals of landscape equilibrium. High‐resolution proxies—pollen assemblages, varve chronologies and isotopic compositions—have uncovered shifts in hydroclimate seasonality, nutrient dynamics and biotic productivity. Together, these records underscore the complexity of interglacial responses across the Earth system and offer critical analogues for projecting future climate change impacts on sea‐level rise, ecosystem distributions and landscape resilience.
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Paleoenvironmental Dynamics During the Eemian Interglacial publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in paleoenvironmental dynamics during the eemian interglacial across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Marine Isotope Stage (MIS): Climatic intervals identified by variations in oxygen isotope ratios of marine microfossils, reflecting global ice volume and temperature changes.
Palynology: Study of fossil pollen and spores preserved in sediments to reconstruct past vegetation and infer climate conditions.
Varve: A layer of sediment or sedimentary rock deposited annually in lakes, used for precise chronological reconstructions.
Benthic foraminifera: Bottom‐dwelling protists whose calcareous shells record geochemical signals of past temperature and salinity.
Palaeoclimate proxy: Natural archive—such as sediments, fossil assemblages or isotopic ratios—that provides indirect evidence of past climate variations.
References
- Last Interglacial sea-level data points from Northwest Europe. Earth System Science Data (2022).
- Eemian landscape response to climatic shifts and evidence for northerly Neanderthal occupation at a palaeolake margin in northern Germany. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms (2021).
- Re‐investigation of the Bispingen palaeolake sediment succession (northern Germany) reveals that the Last Interglacial (Eemian) in northern‐central Europe lasted at least ~15 000 years. Boreas (2024).
- Last interglacial seasonal hydroclimate in the North Sea–Baltic Sea region. Quaternary Science Reviews (2023).
- Advancing chronologies for Last Interglacial sequences. Journal of Quaternary Science (2024).
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