Protracted ocean circulation slowdown drove exceptional ice-sheet melting during ice age termination IV
Glacial terminations stand out for their high rates of sea-level rise, particularly during meltwater pulses. Termination IV (T-IV; ~340,000 years before present) is a prominent example, with sea level rising at up to ~5 m per century. Due to sparse absolute age constraints on marine records, the causes for the high rates of sea-level rise at T-IV remain elusive. In this work, we provide a speleothem chronology from northern Italy, which we transpose to North Atlantic marine records. We infer that the high T-IV sea-level rise rate likely relates to a feedback whereby protracted meltwater release caused enhanced ocean heat storage, followed by heat release upon circulation recovery, driving additional ice-sheet collapse. This analysis highlights the critical role of oceanic feedbacks in driving exceptional rates of sea-level rise during terminations. Precisely dated cave records show that a prolonged slowdown in Atlantic ocean circulation drove exceptional ocean heat buildup and rapid ice-sheet melting during Termination IV (~340,000 years ago), when sea-level rise rates exceeded those of today.
Authors
- Patricia Valensi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4797-1720)
- Elisabetta Starnini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3933-0854)
- Marta Zunino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7448-1738)
- Chuan‐Chou Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2833-2771)
- Teresa Rodrigues (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7811-7506)
- Véronique Michel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8900-7190)
- Xiuyang Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9617-0431)
- E ROHLING
- Marı́a Fernanda Sánchez Goñi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8238-7488)
- J. Sakari Salonen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8847-9081)
- Qiuping Ren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7950-4305)
- Hsun‐Ming Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9204-8874)
- Gianluca Marino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9795-5337)
- Chieh-Ju Hsieh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1797-048X)
- Carlos Pérez‐Mejías (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8370-9271)
- Liangcheng Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1932-7102)
- Baptiste Chaigneau
- Maud Chevalier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0817-0358)
Institutions
- University of Pisa (IT)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Université de Bordeaux (FR)
- École Pratique des Hautes Études (FR)
- National Taiwan University (TW)
- Utrecht University (NL)
- National Oceanography Centre (GB)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Université Côte d'Azur (FR)
- Portuguese Sea and Atmosphere Institute (PT)
- Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR)
- National Dong Hwa University (TW)
- Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux (FR)
- Institute of Oceanology (CN)
- Ministry of Science (ME)
- Geographical Institute (HU)
- Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur (FR)
- Cultures et Environnements. Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen Âge (FR)
- Institute of Oceanology (BG)
- Institute of Earth Environment (CN)
- Institut Polytechnique de Bordeaux (FR)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- University of Southampton (GB)
- Universidade de Vigo (ES)
- University of Algarve (PT)
- Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
- National Taipei University (TW)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-06-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-73733-6
- Primary Topic
- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00