QUANTIFICATION OF PALEOTEMPERATURE CHANGES DURING ISOTOPIC STAGE-2 INTHE LA DRAGA CONTINENTAL SEQUENCE (NE SPAIN) BASED ON THE MG CA RATIOOF FRESH-WATER OSTRACODS/

Past summer temperature changes are quantified from the La Draga seque nce (Banyoles, NE Spain) during Stage 2 (24-10 ka BP), using trace-ele ment content in lacustrine ostracod valves. The high resolution result s from this new method are compared to summer paleotemperature reconst ructions from sequences from the North Atlantic area, providing a disc ussion about the magnitudes of some temperature changes. In NE Spain a nd offshore Portugal, the coldest part of Stage 2 is not documented at the classical date of similar to 18 C-14 ka BP (similar to 21.5 calen dar ka BP) but rather occurred later date of ca. 17-15 ka cal. BP In t he North Atlantic area, the onset of the Bolling/Allerod interstadials was relatively synchroneous at similar to 14.6 ka cal. BP, although t he magnitude of the Bolling/Allerod improvement was more important in the southern area than in the northern area. The duration of the Young er Dryas is discussed. Even if different durations are reported from c alendar ages, it seems that the summer temperature cooling of the Youn ger Dryas was similar around the North Atlantic area. (C) 1996 Elsevie r Science Ltd