Table of Contents
Cover image

Cover Image Credits: The graphs from Ridge and others (this issue) show an alignment of similar features on North American Varve Chronology records from the Connecticut Valley of New England and the Greenland Ice Sheet GISP2 oxygen isotope record adjusted to the GICC05 time scale for three separate time periods: (top) 15,100 to 12,500 yr b2k, (A) 16,500 to 15,800 yr b2k, and (B) 17,800 to 16,800 yr b2k. Changes in varve thickness in the glacial varve records, when not triggered by local flood events and lake level changes (marked with F), depict changes in glacial melting induced by changing climate. These changes correspond to glacial events of the southeastern Laurentide Ice Sheet marking sudden changes in ice recession rate and glacial readvances. Multiple features in both the glacial and paraglacial parts of the varve records also appear to be coupled to climate change events in the ice core record at both stadial and sub-century scales with a consistent offset of the independently formulated time scales for the varve and ice core calibrations that is well within their uncertainties. The consistent offset of the time scales of the two records by 55 yr for features at all scales after 16,500 yr b2k is best explained by contemporaneity of features in both records and synchronous changes in climate across the North Atlantic region after 16,500 yr b2k.