New Paper On Younger Dryas Cold Event

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 9:15 PM

Dear Friends,

New paper about the Younger Dryas cold event has been
published in:

Broecker, W. S., G. H. Denton, R. L. Edwards, H. Cheng,
R. B. Alley, and A. E. Putnam, 2010, Putting the Younger
Dryas cold event into context Quaternary Science Reviews.
vol. 29, no. 9-10, pp. 1078-1081.

Abstract at:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.02.019

This paper argues that “rather than being a freak occurrence,
the Younger Dryas is an integral part of the deglacial
sequence of events that produced the last termination on a
global scale.”

The abstract also states:

“The recent suggestion that the Younger Dryas was triggered
by the impact of a comet has not gained traction.”

The paper also disputes the hypothesis that the Younger
Dryas was triggered by a flood of water stored in proglacial
Lake Agassiz.

The paper concludes that “when viewed in the context of
the last four terminations, cold reversals equivalent to
the YD seem to be integral parts of global switches from
glacial to interglacial climate. No one-time catastrophe is
required.”

and

“Based on these observations of the climate signatures
during several terminations, we conclude that there is no
need to call upon a one-time catastrophic event to explain
the YD. More likely, the YD was a necessary part of the
last termination.”

A related paper by Dr. Broecker is “Was the Younger Dryas
Triggered by a Flood?” at:

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/div/ocp/gs/pubs/broecker_science.pdf

Yours,

Paul H.