The Blake Event recorded near the Eemian type locality – A diachronic onset of the Eemian in Europe

• Core-study integrating paleomagnetics, sedimentology, lumdat, bio- and chronostrat.
• Paleomagnetic Blake event started just before the Eemian in its classic type area.
• Duration of Blake event spans standard pollen assemblage zones E1-E5, ending in E6.
• Onset of temperate conditions in NW Europe in Last Interglacial as late as 121 ka.
• That onset lags SW Europe by ca. 5 kyr and lags the onset of MIS 5e by ca. 10 kyr.

Multidisciplinary analysis including paleomagnetic, sedimentologic, sea-level change, luminescence dating and palynologic research was performed on a 25 m long orientated core taken at Rutten, close to Eemian key localities in the Netherlands. The main goal of our research was to test a possible delayed onset of temperate conditions in this region compared to Southern Europe, occurring within the Last Interglacial. The sediments revealed the presence of the paleomagnetic Blake Event in ca. 10 m of lower-deltaic floodbasin sediments that contain a pollen record covering the Eemian. The position of the Blake Event in relation to the pollen stratigraphy concurs with the earlier studied Neumark Nord 2 site. Paleomagnetic correlation to core MD95-2042 off SW Iberia indicates ca. 5 kyr diachroneity between the pollen-based onset of temperate interglacial conditions between northern and southern Europe. The onset of the Eemian in north-western and central Europe (ca. 121.0 ka) post-dates the Marine Isotope Stage 6/5e transition by ca. 10 kyr. In addition, the Rutten data provide evidence for a relatively long duration of the Blake Event of at least 8 kyr. The late onset of the temperate conditions that define the base of the Eemian, imply that NW Europe with the Eemian type area is not the most suited region to define the beginning of the Last Interglacial and Late Pleistocene for global chronostratigraphic use.