How long and how stable was the last interglacial?

Surface ocean indicators in the North Atlantic during marine isotope stage (MIS) 5 correlate closely with the vegetational succession in northeastern France. The Melisey I silty layer, which marks the end of the Last Interglacial biozone in La Grande Pile pollen record, appears coeval with the polar front advance C24 registered in the core V29-191 by a sharply increased presence of ice-rafted detritus and the cold water foraminifer Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral. Since this event is younger than the peak of MIS 5d, the Last Interglacial, as recognized in northern France, correlates not only with the MIS 5e, but also with a substantial part of MIS 5d. The last interglacial in La Grande Pile was twice as long as the Holocene and the climate in its first half was apparently not less stable than during the current interglacial. If the future natural climates were to develop as analogs of the past, then the onset of the next glacial environments on land would be still many millennia ahead. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.