RT Journal Article
T1 Bioclimatic analysis of rodent palaeofaunas reveals severe climatic changes in Southwestern Europe during the Plio-Pleistocene
A1 Hernández Fernández, Manuel
A1 Álvarez Sierra, María De Los Ángeles
A1 Peláez Campomanes, Pablo
AB A recently developed method in palaeoclimatology, bioclimatic analysis, which makes it possible to extract a maximum of information from the available mammal proxy-data, is applied to a succession of fossil rodent assemblages recorded from the Pliocene and Pleistocene in the Iberian Peninsula. It consists of both qualitative and quantitative models with the capacity to produce a detailed palaeoclimate reconstruction, which is consistent with palaeobotanical, and isotopic proxy-data and the physics of atmospheric models. Using this method, the palaeoclimate of the Iberian Plio-Pleistocene is reconstructed with high resolution from 44 fossil rodent assemblages, comprising more than a hundred identified species. Analysis of these assemblages shows that the climatic evolution of the Iberian Peninsula during the Plio-Pleistocene can be divided into four distinct climatic phases. First, a long phase of subtropical climate with summer rainfall and winter drought occurred during the Ruscinian. Second, between 3.4 and 2.5 my B.P., there was a cooling phase coincident with the development of the northern hemisphere ice-sheets. Following this cooling, a temperate interlude occurred between 2.5 and 1.8 my B.P. During this phase the Mediterranean climate was established permanently in southwestern Europe. Finally, during the Pleistocene, temperate and colder stages were succeeding in relationship with the northern hemisphere glaciations. This sequence of climatic changes is linked with the tectonic rising of the central Asian and east African plateaus, variations in the atmospheric circulation pattern and changes in the Mediterranean Sea surface temperatures. All these factors led to associated changes in the precipitation regime and a latitudinal displacement of the zonal climatic belts.
PB Elsevier
SN 0031-0182
YR 2007
FD 2007
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/95611
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/95611
LA eng
NO Hernández Fernández, Manuel, et al. «Bioclimatic Analysis of Rodent Palaeofaunas Reveals Severe Climatic Changes in Southwestern Europe during the Plio-Pleistocene». Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol. 251, n.o 3-4, agosto de 2007, pp. 500-26. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2007.04.015.
NO Universidad Complutense de Madrid
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
NO Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (España)
NO Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 6 abr 2025