A late Quaternary marine palynological record (oxygen isotope stages 1 to 7) for the humid tropics of northeastern Australia based on ODP Site 820

A late Quaternary marine palynological record from the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) site 820, adjacent to the humid tropics region of northeastern Australia, has demonstrated marked variation in orbital scale cyclicity, and also trends associated with both climate and human impact. However, some uncertainties in interpretation have resulted from concerns about the records chronology and continuity. Here we present, for the first time, the complete palynological data from detailed analysis of the top 67 m of sediment and examine it in relation to the marine isotope sequence from the core. It is proposed that the record is relatively continuous through the last 250,000 years although the latter part of oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 5, as well OIS 4 may be missing. Despite the variation on orbital scales, most palynological changes are not in phase with those from the marine isotope record suggesting a lack of direct Milankovitch forcing on vegetation. This lack of correspondence combined with major trends towards more open and sclerophyllous vegetation in association with increased burning supports a previous proposal that major control is being exercised by El Niño-Southern Oscillation variability whose influence may have been initiated by changes in oceanic circulation in the region within the mid Pleistocene. The lack of impact on the distribution of complex rainforest suggests that increased climate variability did not involve an overall decrease in total precipitation.