For more than one century, the textural B-horizon of the last interglacial soil and its cover deposits have been standing out in Europe as an important pedostratigraphic marker. The complexity of this horizon was well illustrated since the seventies, though its pedological and stratigraphic significance remained doubtful. Macro-, meso- and micromorphological data gathered by the authors at various key-sites in Europe and the sequential correlation principle have resulted in a better understanding of the high complexity of the pedosedimentary and stratigraphical evolution of the last interglacial and early glacial loess succession. The present study identifies four megacyclic pedosedimentary intervals that show a general trend towards dry and continental climatic conditions.

A consistent correlation exists between pedosedimentary evolution and vegetation, as recorded in the Grande Pile pollen record. The picture obtained in the present study is similar for both the Western and the Eastern European loess palaeosol successions. The so-called ‘last interglacial soil’, with three major soil-forming processes, belongs to the Eemian and Saint-Germain I (MIS substages 5e and 5c), whereas the humiferous sediments and soils on top are linked to Melisey II, Saint-Germain II and Ognon I (MIS substages 5b and 5a).The overlying loess, colluvial sediments and humiferous soils that end the palaeosol succession belong to the Ognon II and III interstadials; they record the onset of the early Pleniglacial (MIS stage 4) characterized by a significant increase in aeolian sedimentation.

The current status of knowledge concerning the Eemian interglacial in Sweden is surveyed, and comparisons are made with northern and western Finland. The course of shore displacement is fragmentarily known for Sweden, since brackish-marine sediments have been identified, on the basis of diatom analysis, at only few sites. In Finland, on the other hand, a shoredisplacement curve has been constructed for the Eemian Baltic Sea in Ostrobothnia, central western Finland.

The vegetation history is summarised for the southernmost part of Sweden, and can be correlated with that documented in Denmark. For the central part of Sweden, information is sparse, but the composition of the forests has been outlined for most of the interglacial, although information on regional pollen assemblage zones E3 and E4 (early-temperate substage) are mainly missing. A more complete picture of the interglacial vegetational history is known from Ostrobothnia in Finland. The thermophilous indicators Viscum, Ilex, Hedera and Osmunda grew far North during the Eemian. Corylus and Carpinus expanded much further to the North than during the Holocene. In Swedish and Finnish Lapland, the vegetation history is similar except that Larix was common in Finland during the Eemian, but its presence has so far not been confirmed in Sweden.

Eemian deposits relocated during the Weichselian glaciation contain pollen and diatoms that can be used for reconstruction of the Eemian environment. No clear indication of a rapid climatic deterioration during the Eemian has been found so far in either Swedish or Finnish sequences.

The marine Eemian (marine oxygen-isotope substage 5e: MIS 5e) is represented by shallow-water deposits in southern and western Denmark, while relatively deep-water environments occurred to the north and north-east, where complete interglacial successions seem to be present. We present an overview of the marine Eemian deposits in Denmark, and discuss in more detail indications of climate variability, both for the late Saalian and within the Eemian.

High-resolution pollen, dinocyst and isotopie profiles covering the marine isotope stage 5 (MIS 5) are presented from core MD952042 (Tagus abyssal plain, 37°47'N, 10°09'W). Both marine and terrestrial proxies indicate the occurrence of a Bølling-Allerød-Younger Dryas-like event at the beginning of MI substage 5e. The terrestrial Eemian stage coincides with both the lightest oxygen isotope values of substage 5e and the heavier ones approaching the 5e/5d transition. Accordingly, the Eemian is not equivalent to MI substage 5e, as the Holocene is not equivalent to MIS 1.

Remarkably, both pollen and dinocyst data reflect the same climatic pattern on land and ocean, and they evidence a succession of climatic events that the isotope signal does not identify. The Eemian began with a Mediterranean vegetation that was gradually replaced by Eurosiberian formations indicating a change from Mediterranean to oceanic climates. In the middle of the Eemian, warming conditions were interrupted by an event corresponding to a slight cooling resulting from an increase in precipitation over land and ocean. Finally, a warming trend characterised the last phase of the Eemian. The occurrence of small climatic changes during this interglacial is inconsistent with the dramatic variability suggested by the GRIP ice-core record.

The extent of regional variability in vegetation development in mainland Greece during the last interglacial is considered. Three pollen sequences – Ioannina (northwest Greece),Tenaghi Philippon (northeast Greece) and Kopais (central Greece) – all located in different environmental settings, extend into the last interglacial. Examination of the vegetation histories of the three sites during the last interglacial reveals the influence of local climatic conditions with closed mixed forests in the northwest, becoming progressively more open and less diverse farther to the east and south. All three sequences contain a number of similar trends, however, in the expansion of certain taxa. In addition, they also show the presence of a two-step late glacial interval, a short episode of forest reduction in the second part of the interglacial and a final small expansion of tree populations at the very end of the interglacial. Comparison with other European records shows a number of common features, but also suggests differences consistent with the particular environmental setting of the Greek sites.