An Oxygen isotope record of lacustrine opal from a European Maar indicatesclimatic stability during the last interglacial

The penultimate temperate period, 127 - 110 ka before present (BP), bracket ed by abrupt shifts of the global climate system initiating and terminating it, is considered as an analogue of the Holocene because of a similar low global ice-volume. Ice core records as well as continental and marine recor ds exhibit conflicting evidence concerning the climate variability within t his period, the Last Interglacial. We present, for the first time, a high-r esolution record of oxygen isotopes in diatom opal of the Last Interglacial obtained from the Ribains Maar in France (44 degrees 50'09"N 3 degrees 49' 16"E). Our results indicate that the Last Interglacial in southwestern Euro pe was generally a period of climatic stability. The record shows that the temperate period was initiated by an abrupt warm event followed midway by a minor climatic transition to a colder climate. An abrupt isotopic depletio n that occurs simultaneously with abrupt changes in pollen and diatom assem blages marks the end of the temperate period, and is correlative with the M elisey I stadial. Variations in the isotopic composition of lake-water rela ted to the isotopic composition of precipitation and evaporation dominate t he biogenic opal oxygen isotope record.