Inter-regional correlation of palaeoclimatic records for the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition: a protocol for improved precision recommended by the INTIMATE project group

The remit of the INTIMATE(2) project of the INQUA Palaeoclimate Commission is to synthesise marine, terrestrial and ice-core data for the North Atlant ic region during the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition (LGIT: ca 13-10(1 4)C kyr BP; ca 15-11.5 ice-core kyr BP). A major problem, however, is the d ifficulty of effecting correlations at a temporal resolution that are adequ ate for defining 'leads' and 'lags' between the polar ice, terrestrial, mar ine, and atmospheric realms. The limitations of the dating and correlation methods currently employed are summarised, and new quality assurance protoc ols are proposed. These include recommendations on the contextual informati on that should accompany radiocarbon dates, procedures for radiocarbon cali bration, the use of an event-stratigraphic approach in inter-regional corre lations, and the more widespread use of time-parallel marker horizons (base d on tephra layers, oxygen isotope stratigraphy, palaeomagnetic stratigraph y, and radiocarbon 'wiggle-matching') to underpin the geochronology and cor relation of events during the LGIT. These protocols will be adopted by the INTIMATE project in future international, collaborative research and are re commended to other groups working on this important time period. (C) 2001 E lsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.