Concept information
Preferred term
Older Dryas
Definition
- The Older Dryas was a stadial (cold) period between the Bølling and Allerød interstadials (warmer phases), about 14,000 years Before Present, towards the end of the Pleistocene. Its date is not well defined, with estimates varying by 400 years, but its duration is agreed to have been around 200 years. The gradual warming since the Last Glacial Maximum (27,000 to 24,000 years BP) has been interrupted by two cold spells: the Older Dryas and the Younger Dryas (c. 12,900–11,650 BP). In northern Scotland, the glaciers were thicker and deeper during the Older Dryas than the succeeding Younger Dryas, and there is no evidence of human occupation of Britain. In Northwestern Europe there was also an earlier Oldest Dryas (18.5–17 ka BP 15–14 ka BP). The Dryas are named after an indicator genus, the Arctic and Alpine plant Dryas, the remains of which are found in higher concentrations in deposits from colder periods. The Older Dryas was a variable cold, dry Blytt–Sernander period, observed in climatological evidence in only some regions, dependent on latitude. In regions in which it is not observed, the Bølling–Allerød is considered a single interstadial period. Evidence of the Older Dryas is strongest in northern Eurasia, particularly part of Northern Europe, roughly equivalent to Pollen zone Ic. Northern Europe offered an alternation of steppe and tundra environments depending on the permafrost line and the latitude. In moister regions, around lakes and streams, were thickets of dwarf birch, willow, sea buckthorn, and juniper. In the river valleys and uplands, to the south, were open birch forests. The first trees, birch and pine, had spread into Northern Europe 500 years earlier. During the Older Dryas, the glacier re-advanced, and the trees retreated southward, to be replaced by a mixture of grassland and cool-weather alpine species. The biome has been called "Park Tundra," "Arctic tundra," "Arctic pioneer vegetation," or “birch woodlands." It is now in the transition between taiga and tundra in Siberia. Then, it stretched from Siberia to Great Britain, in a more-or-less unbroken expanse. (Adapted from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Older_Dryas#Notes)
Broader concept
Entry terms
- Dryas I
- Early Dryas
- Old Dryas
In other languages
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French
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Dryas Ancien
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Dryas I
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Older Dryas
URI
http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/QX8-1470HB14-0
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