9:10 AM - 9:30 AM
[U05-01] Climate and vegetation changes across the Japanese archipelago since the last glacial period
★Invited Papers
Keywords:climate changes, vegetation changes, plant fossil, last glacial period, Quaternary, Japan
The oxygen isotope ratios in marine cores and ice cores collected from Greenland and Antarctica record the periodic climate changes during the Quaternary period (ca. 2.6 million years ago - present). Climate changes since the last glacial period (ca. 70.0-11.0 ka cal BP), when footprints of human activity began to appear in the Japanese archipelago, had a significant impact on their culture and society. Therefore, understanding to climate and environmental changes since the last glacial period is crucial for predicting future climate changes and assessing the its effects on various ecosystems surrounding us. This presentation will provide an overview of climate changes in the Quaternary period and introduce climate and vegetation changes on various temporal and spatial scales in the Japanese archipelago since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ca. 23.0-19.0 ka cal BP). Particularly, this presentation will focus on the plant fossil data from the last deglacial period (ca. 18.0-11.0 ka cal BP), which occurred abrupt climate changes and recognized the boundary between the Paleolithic (ca. 38.0-16.0 ka cal BP) and Jomon periods (ca. 16.0-2.8 ka cal BP), to introduce the paleoenvironment of the Japanese archipelago during the period. Additionally, this presentation will examine climate changes in the post-glacial period (ca. 11.0 ka cal BP- present) based on the recent achievements in plant fossil research by the Quaternary scientists in Japan.