ABSTRACT
Marine sediments have provided critical insight into the climatic variability of the Holocene. They provide continuous palaeoclimatic records for the last 10,000 years with a temporal resolution anywhere from centennial to annual. Marine sediments provide information on changes in the oceans as well as the adjacent continents. For example the following parameters have been reconstructed for the Holocene using marine sediments: (i) ocean conditions: surface and deep circulation patterns, current strengths, sea-surface temperature, sea-surface salinity, iceberg quantity and source, up-welling intensity, productivity, surface-water carbon dioxide content and even water column oxygen content; (ii) continental conditions: global ice volume, failure of ice sheets, wind strength, amount and distribution of dust, aridity, vegetation composition and even erosion rates. Marine sediments have also provided vital palaeo-records to understand the causes of both climatic thresholds and cycles within the Holocene. Examples in this chapter include Holocene Dansgaard–Oeschger cycles, Amazon Basin and African continental hydrology and Asian monsoons.
