Millennial- and orbital-scale climate variability in southeastern United States and in the subtropical Atlantic during Marine Isotope Stage 5: evidence from pollen and isotopes in ODP Site 1059

We present directly correlative, high-resolution pollen and isotopic data from marine isotope stage (MIS) 5 from a marine core taken on the continental margin off the southeastern United States (31°40′N, 75°24′W, 2985 m). These data provide the first chronostratigraphically controlled pollen data for the last interglacial from this region. Comparison of the pollen- and benthic isotope stratigraphies demonstrate that vegetation and climate development in southeastern United States did not always coincide with global ice volume changes. Deglacial terrestrial climate amelioration, which was nearly synchronous with ice decay, peaked slightly before the ice volume minimum in MIS 5e. Cooling in the latter part of the last interglacial began at C27, prior to ice growth. Vegetation and climate were not stable during MIS 5e. Suborbital climate oscillations persisted throughout MIS 5 both onshore and in the subtropical Atlantic offshore. The largest correlative suborbital oscillations in the Pinus (pine) and Quercus (oak) forests of coastal Georgia and South Carolina and sea surface variability correspond to stadial/interstadials documented in Greenland ice cores; however, coupled oscillations also occur more frequently.