Articles | Volume 21, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-465-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-465-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
14 Feb 2025
Research article |
| 14 Feb 2025
| 14 Feb 2025
New age constraints for glacial terminations IV, III, and III.a based on western Mediterranean speleothem records
GRC Geociències Marines, Dept. de Dinàmica de la Terra i de l'Oceà, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Isabel Cacho
GRC Geociències Marines, Dept. de Dinàmica de la Terra i de l'Oceà, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Heather Stoll
Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
Ana Moreno
Departamento de Procesos Geoambientales y Cambio Global, 639/, CSIC, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain
Joan O. Grimalt
Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Francisco J. Sierro
Departmento de Geología, Universidad de Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Joan J. Fornós
Earth Sciences Research Group. Departament de Biologia, Universitat de les Illes Balears, 07122 Palma (Mallorca), Spain
Hai Cheng
Institute of Global Environmental Change, University of Xi'an Jiaotong, Xi'an, 710049, China
R. Lawrence Edwards
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
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Irene Julián-Posada, Graciela Gil-Romera, Ana Moreno, Bérangère Leys, Blas Valero-Garcés, and Penélope González-Sampériz
Biogeosciences, 23, 7411–7446, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7411-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7411-2026, 2026
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The subalpine belt of the Pyrenees, once forested, is now a mosaic of forest patches and open landscapes with pastures. We reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental history using sedimentary ancient DNA, pollen and charcoal. We show that Neoglacial cooling initially opened the forest, and pastoralism through fire and grazing maintained it. These landscapes result not from climate or humans alone, but from their long-term synergy, implying that conservation must emulate traditional herding practices.
Sarah Rowan, Marc Luetscher, Negar Haghipour, Heather M. Stoll, Laura Endres, Sönke Szidat, and Franziska A. Lechleitner
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5813, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5813, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Biogeosciences (BG).
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Soils and plants store three times as much carbon as the atmosphere but how carbon is lost to inland water bodies remains uncertain. We present two years of data from a cave system, revealing contrasting sources and ages of dissolved carbon pools, as well as strong seasonal dynamics. A speleothem (secondary cave carbonate deposit) allows us to trace these signatures back in time. Our findings highlight the complexity of belowground transport and transformation of carbon.
Vincent Guarinos, Kazuyo Tachikawa, Marta Garcia, Giuseppe Siani, Marie Revel, Hartmut Schulz, Francisco Sierro, and Thomas Chalk
Biogeosciences, 23, 5477–5495, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-5477-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-5477-2026, 2026
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Direct observations indicate a decline in ocean oxygen concentration. The complexity of surface oxygen variability is linked to physical and biochemical parameters. To investigate past oxygen variability, foraminiferal I/Ca proxy must be calibrated. Here, we determine the drivers of the proxy using a database of modern samples. From our results, oxygen is the principal driver of the I/Ca proxy. We highlight its complex behaviour, while reinforcing its use for palaeoceanographic reconstructions.
Fernando Gázquez, Hubert Vonhof, Carlos Pérez-Mejías, Andrea Columbu, Alena Giesche, Hai Cheng, Alfredo Martínez-García, Brian DiMento, Eneko Iriarte, and José María Calaforra
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4435, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4435, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Climate of the Past (CP).
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By studying mineral deposits formed in a cave in southern Spain, we reconstructed how climate changed between about 9,700 and 4,400 years ago. We found that a humid climate gradually gave way to much drier conditions, with the main transition occurring between 6,000 and 5,500 years ago. These results show how the end of a wet period in North Africa also affected southern Europe, improving our understanding of how regional climates respond to large-scale environmental change.
Celia Campa-Bousoño, Miguel Iglesias, Iñaki Vadillo, Lucía Ojeda, Jorge Pisonero, Hai Cheng, R. Lawrence Edwards, and Heather Stoll
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3717, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3717, 2026
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To understand how rainfall changed in southern Iberia during the shift from the Medieval Climate Anomaly to the Little Ice Age, we studied yearly layers preserved in a stalagmite from Ardales Cave, southern Spain. The record shows repeated shifts between wetter and drier periods, including major droughts around 1125, 1250, 1500, and 1560 CE. It also reveals intervals of more variable rainfall, suggesting changing influence from Atlantic and Mediterranean weather patterns.
Thomas Tanner, Ivan Hernandez-Almeida, Reto Wijker, Andrea K. Manirajan, Madeleine Santos, Peter Bijl, Tim van Peer, and Heather Stoll
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3415, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3415, 2026
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In this study, we examined the relationship between surface ocean temperature in the midlatitudes in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres over a period of major Antarctic ice expansion 24 to 22 million years ago, a period when Antarctica was the only polar ice sheet. We find consistent cooling of the surface ocean in both hemispheres as ice was expanding, indicating a close coupling of global climate and polar ice caps.
Jonathan L. Baker, Alexandre Honiat, Peter M. Wynn, Jens Fohlmeister, Martin Trüssel, Samuel Hollowood, Jiaoyang Ruan, Regina Mertz-Kraus, R. Lawrence Edwards, and Christoph Spötl
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2840, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2840, 2026
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A paleoclimate record from Betten Cave in the Swiss Alps is presented, which comprises four stalagmites that grew between 415 and 360 thousand years ago. During this time, the vegetated alpine valley was gradually inundated by an advancing glacier. Meltwater from the base of the glacier fed the cave system and prevented it from freezing. Evidence of the glacier and its weathering of the rock surface is recorded by trace metals and isotopic signatures in sulphate minerals in the stalagmites.
Laura Endres, Carlos Pérez-Mejías, Ruza Ivanovic, Lauren Gregoire, Anna L. C. Hughes, Hai Cheng, and Heather Stoll
Clim. Past, 22, 797–824, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-797-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-797-2026, 2026
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Stable isotope data of a precisely dated stalagmite from northwestern Iberia indicate gradual North Atlantic meltwater input during the last glacial maximum, followed by abrupt surges early in the last deglaciation. The first abrupt surge was decoupled from first cooling about 810 years later – unlike later events – which reveals that the Atlantic circulation’s sensitivity to meltwater is variable and related to the evolving background climate boundary conditions.
Reto S. Wijker, Pere Aguiló-Nicolau, Madalina Jaggi, Jeroni Galmés, and Heather M. Stoll
Biogeosciences, 23, 1591–1608, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-1591-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-1591-2026, 2026
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Photosynthetic organisms leave characteristic carbon isotope fingerprints that help scientists study Earth’s carbon cycle. We developed a simpler laboratory method to measure these isotope effects in Rubisco, the key enzyme fixing CO2. Applying this approach, we obtained the first measurement for Gephyrocapsa oceanica, a widespread marine alga that plays a major role in ocean carbon cycling.
Ixeia Vidaller, Toshiyuki Fujioka, Juan Ignacio López-Moreno, Ana Moreno, and the ASTER Team
Clim. Past, 22, 405–425, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-405-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-405-2026, 2026
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Since the Pyrenean Last Glacial Maximum (75 ka), the deglaciation of the Ésera glacier (central Pyrenees) was characterized by complex dynamics, with advances and rapid retreats. Cosmogenic dates of moraines along the headwaters of the valley and lacustrine sediments analyses allowed to reconstruct evolutionary history of the Ésera glacier and the associated environmental implications during the last deglaciation and calculate the Equilibrium Line Altitude to determine changes in temperature.
Clara Jaén, Mireia Udina, Roy Harrison, Joan O. Grimalt, and Barend L. Van Drooge
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 18389–18407, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-18389-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-18389-2025, 2025
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Distance changes air pollution in a city, but so does the time of the day and the year, due to varying emission sources and weather conditions. These changes were studied at ground level and 400 meters above the city, and showed that wood burning affected the air quality in winter, while products of atmospheric reaction processes dominated the air in summer. Traffic emissions arrive to the elevated site during the day, while they were trapped at lower level in the night.
Alexander J. Clark, Alba Gonzalez-Lanchas, Kyra Bachmakova, Madalina Jaggi, and Heather M. Stoll
J. Micropalaeontol., 44, 673–692, https://doi.org/10.5194/jm-44-673-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/jm-44-673-2025, 2025
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We quantified the thickness of early Eocene calcareous nannofossils and linked it to different depositional environment parameters. Discoasters and placoliths do not respond in the same manner. Carbonate content affects discoasters and induces overgrowth, but palaeowater depth affects placoliths and can induce dissolution. We also find that the ratio of non-overgrown to overgrown Discoaster multiradiatus is a potential quantitative placolith preservation indicator.
Carlos Sancho, Ánchel Belmonte, Maria Leunda, Marc Luetscher, Christoph Spötl, Juan Ignacio López-Moreno, Belén Oliva-Urcia, Jerónimo López-Martínez, Ana Moreno, and Miguel Bartolomé
The Cryosphere, 19, 6283–6300, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6283-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6283-2025, 2025
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Ice caves, vital for paleoclimate studies, face rapid ice loss due to global warming. A294 cave, home to the oldest firn deposit (6100 years BP), shows rising air temperatures (1.07–1.56 °C in 12 years), fewer freezing days, and melting rates (15–192 cm/year). Key factors include warmer winters, increased rainfall, and reduced snowfall. This study highlights the urgency of recovering data from these unique ice archives before they vanish forever.
Nicolas Tapia, Laura Endres, Madalina Jaggi, and Heather Stoll
Biogeosciences, 22, 6861–6875, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6861-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6861-2025, 2025
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We use stalagmites to study past changes in the terrestrial P cycle. Our P records from multiple, coeval stalagmites from Northwest Spain show that the onsets of past abrupt cooling events are characterized by multi-century reproducible peaks in stalagmite P which reflect higher groundwater P/Ca concentrations and enhanced P export, potentially resulting from increased freeze-thaw frequency and more intense infiltration from snowmelt.
Heather M. Stoll, Clara Bolton, Madalina Jaggi, Alfredo Martinez-Garcia, and Stefano M. Bernasconi
Clim. Past, 21, 2189–2203, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2189-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2189-2025, 2025
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In periods of high atmospheric CO2 many proxies suggest more extreme past polar warming than is simulated by current coupled climate models. Providing new data on high latitude temperatures in the South Atlantic over the last 15 million years using clumped isotope thermometry, we show that absolute temperatures may not have been as warm as indicated by some biomarker based proxy climate records.
José Guitián, Samuel Phelps, Reto S. Wijker, Pratigya J. Polissar, Laura Arnold, and Heather M. Stoll
Clim. Past, 21, 2115–2132, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2115-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-2115-2025, 2025
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We reconstructed from sediments of different ocean sites phytoplankton carbon isotopic fractionation (εp), mainly linked to CO2 variations, during the Oligocene to early Miocene. Data confirm Cenozoic long-term CO2 record but show contrasting relationships with the sea surface temperatures evolution. We evaluate the role of non-CO2 environmental factors such as temperature and nutrients at each site εp, highlighting the complexity of interpreting climate dynamics and CO2 reconstructions.
Nikita Kaushal, Carlos Pérez-Mejías, and Heather M. Stoll
Clim. Past, 21, 1633–1660, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1633-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1633-2025, 2025
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Terminations are large-magnitude rapid events triggered in the North Atlantic region that manifest across the global climate system. They provide key examples of climatic teleconnections and dynamics. In this study, we use the SISAL global speleothem database and find that there are sufficient climatic records from key locations to make speleothems a valuable archive for studying terminations and provide instances for more targeted work on speleothem research.
Timothy J. Pollard, Jon D. Woodhead, Russell N. Drysdale, R. Lawrence Edwards, Xianglei Li, Ashlea N. Wainwright, Mathieu Pythoud, Hai Cheng, John C. Hellstrom, Ilaria Isola, Eleonora Regattieri, Giovanni Zanchetta, and Dylan S. Parmenter
Geochronology, 7, 335–355, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-7-335-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-7-335-2025, 2025
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The uranium–thorium (U–Th) and uranium–lead (U–Pb) radiometric dating methods are both suitable for dating carbonate samples ranging in age from about 400 000 to 650 000 years. Here we test agreement between the two methods by dating speleothems (i.e. secondary cave mineral deposits) that are well-suited to both methods. We demonstrate excellent agreement between them and discuss their relative strengths and weaknesses.
Hu Yang, Xiaoxu Shi, Xulong Wang, Qingsong Liu, Yi Zhong, Xiaodong Liu, Youbin Sun, Yanjun Cai, Fei Liu, Gerrit Lohmann, Martin Werner, Zhimin Jian, Tainã M. L. Pinho, Hai Cheng, Lijuan Lu, Jiping Liu, Chao-Yuan Yang, Qinghua Yang, Yongyun Hu, Xing Cheng, Jingyu Zhang, and Dake Chen
Clim. Past, 21, 1263–1279, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1263-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1263-2025, 2025
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For 1 century, the hemispheric summer insolation is proposed as a key pacemaker of astronomical climate change. However, an increasing number of geologic records reveal that the low-latitude hydrological cycle shows asynchronous precessional evolutions that are very often out of phase with the summer insolation. Here, we propose that the astronomically driven low-latitude hydrological cycle is not paced by summer insolation but by shifting perihelion.
Juan Luis Bernal-Wormull, Ana Moreno, Yuri Dublyansky, Christoph Spötl, Reyes Giménez, Carlos Pérez-Mejías, Miguel Bartolomé, Martin Arriolabengoa, Eneko Iriarte, Isabel Cacho, Richard Lawrence Edwards, and Hai Cheng
Clim. Past, 21, 1235–1261, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1235-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1235-2025, 2025
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In this paper we present a record of temperature changes during the last deglaciation and the Holocene using isotopes of fluid inclusions in stalagmites from the northeastern region of the Iberian Peninsula. This innovative climate proxy for this study region provides a quantitative understanding of the abrupt temperature changes in southern Europe in the last 16 500 years before present.
Hubert B. Vonhof, Sophie Verheyden, Dominique Bonjean, Stéphane Pirson, Michael Weber, Denis Scholz, John Hellstrom, Hai Cheng, Xue Jia, Kévin Di Modica, Gregory Abrams, Marjan A. P. van Nunen, Joost Ruiter, Michèlle van der Does, Daniel Böhl, and Jeroen H. J. L. van der Lubbe
Clim. Past, 20, 2741–2758, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2741-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2741-2024, 2024
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The sedimentary sequence in Scladina Cave (Belgium) is well-known for its rich archeological assemblages and its numerous faunal remains. Of particular interest is the presence of a nearly complete jaw bone of a Neanderthal child. In this study, we present new uranium series ages of stalagmites from the archeological sequence that allow more precise dating of the archeological finds. One key result is that the Neanderthal child may be slightly older than previously thought.
Konstantina Agiadi, Niklas Hohmann, Elsa Gliozzi, Danae Thivaiou, Francesca R. Bosellini, Marco Taviani, Giovanni Bianucci, Alberto Collareta, Laurent Londeix, Costanza Faranda, Francesca Bulian, Efterpi Koskeridou, Francesca Lozar, Alan Maria Mancini, Stefano Dominici, Pierre Moissette, Ildefonso Bajo Campos, Enrico Borghi, George Iliopoulos, Assimina Antonarakou, George Kontakiotis, Evangelia Besiou, Stergios D. Zarkogiannis, Mathias Harzhauser, Francisco Javier Sierro, Angelo Camerlenghi, and Daniel García-Castellanos
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4767–4775, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4767-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4767-2024, 2024
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We present a dataset of 23032 fossil occurrences of marine organisms from the Late Miocene to the Early Pliocene (~11 to 3.6 million years ago) from the Mediterranean Sea. This dataset will allow us, for the first time, to quantify the biodiversity impact of the Messinian salinity crisis, a major geological event that possibly changed global and regional climate and biota.
Alexander J. Clark, Ismael Torres-Romero, Madalina Jaggi, Stefano M. Bernasconi, and Heather M. Stoll
Clim. Past, 20, 2081–2101, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2081-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2081-2024, 2024
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Coccoliths are abundant in sediments across the world’s oceans, yet it is difficult to apply traditional carbon or oxygen isotope methodologies for temperature reconstructions. We show that our coccolith clumped isotope temperature calibration with well-constrained temperatures systematically differs from inorganic carbonate calibrations. We suggest the use of our well-constrained calibration for future coccolith carbonate temperature reconstructions.
Thibauld M. Béjard, Andrés S. Rigual-Hernández, Javier P. Tarruella, José-Abel Flores, Anna Sanchez-Vidal, Irene Llamas-Cano, and Francisco J. Sierro
Biogeosciences, 21, 4051–4076, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4051-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-4051-2024, 2024
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The Mediterranean Sea is regarded as a climate change hotspot. Documenting the population of planktonic foraminifera is crucial. In the Sicily Channel, fluxes are higher during winter and positively linked with chlorophyll a concentration and cool temperatures. A comparison with other Mediterranean sites shows the transitional aspect of the studied zone. Finally, modern populations significantly differ from those in the sediment, highlighting a possible effect of environmental change.
Paul Töchterle, Anna Baldo, Julian B. Murton, Frederik Schenk, R. Lawrence Edwards, Gabriella Koltai, and Gina E. Moseley
Clim. Past, 20, 1521–1535, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1521-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1521-2024, 2024
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We present a reconstruction of permafrost and snow cover on the British Isles for the Younger Dryas period, a time of extremely cold winters that happened approximately 12 000 years ago. Our results indicate that seasonal sea ice in the North Atlantic was most likely a crucial factor to explain the observed climate shifts during this time.
Pengzhen Duan, Hanying Li, Zhibang Ma, Jingyao Zhao, Xiyu Dong, Ashish Sinha, Peng Hu, Haiwei Zhang, Youfeng Ning, Guangyou Zhu, and Hai Cheng
Clim. Past, 20, 1401–1414, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1401-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1401-2024, 2024
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We use multi-proxy speleothem records to reveal a two droughts–one pluvial pattern during 8.5–8.0 ka. The different rebounded rainfall quantity after two droughts causes different behavior of δ13C, suggesting the dominant role of rainfall threshold on the ecosystem. A comparison of different records suggests the prolonged 8.2 ka event is a globally common phenomenon rather than a regional signal. The variability of the AMOC strength is mainly responsible for these climate changes.
Nikita Kaushal, Franziska A. Lechleitner, Micah Wilhelm, Khalil Azennoud, Janica C. Bühler, Kerstin Braun, Yassine Ait Brahim, Andy Baker, Yuval Burstyn, Laia Comas-Bru, Jens Fohlmeister, Yonaton Goldsmith, Sandy P. Harrison, István G. Hatvani, Kira Rehfeld, Magdalena Ritzau, Vanessa Skiba, Heather M. Stoll, József G. Szűcs, Péter Tanos, Pauline C. Treble, Vitor Azevedo, Jonathan L. Baker, Andrea Borsato, Sakonvan Chawchai, Andrea Columbu, Laura Endres, Jun Hu, Zoltán Kern, Alena Kimbrough, Koray Koç, Monika Markowska, Belen Martrat, Syed Masood Ahmad, Carole Nehme, Valdir Felipe Novello, Carlos Pérez-Mejías, Jiaoyang Ruan, Natasha Sekhon, Nitesh Sinha, Carol V. Tadros, Benjamin H. Tiger, Sophie Warken, Annabel Wolf, Haiwei Zhang, and SISAL Working Group members
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1933–1963, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1933-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1933-2024, 2024
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Speleothems are a popular, multi-proxy climate archive that provide regional to global insights into past hydroclimate trends with precise chronologies. We present an update to the SISAL (Speleothem Isotopes
Synthesis and AnaLysis) database, SISALv3, which, for the first time, contains speleothem trace element records, in addition to an update to the stable isotope records available in previous versions of the database, cumulatively providing data from 365 globally distributed sites.
Synthesis and AnaLysis) database, SISALv3, which, for the first time, contains speleothem trace element records, in addition to an update to the stable isotope records available in previous versions of the database, cumulatively providing data from 365 globally distributed sites.
Miguel Bartolomé, Ana Moreno, Carlos Sancho, Isabel Cacho, Heather Stoll, Negar Haghipour, Ánchel Belmonte, Christoph Spötl, John Hellstrom, R. Lawrence Edwards, and Hai Cheng
Clim. Past, 20, 467–494, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-467-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-467-2024, 2024
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Reconstructing past temperatures at regional scales during the Common Era is necessary to place the current warming in the context of natural climate variability. We present a climate reconstruction based on eight stalagmites from four caves in the Pyrenees, NE Spain. These stalagmites were dated precisely and analysed for their oxygen isotopes, which appear dominated by temperature changes. Solar variability and major volcanic eruptions are the two main drivers of observed climate variability.
Heather M. Stoll, Leopoldo D. Pena, Ivan Hernandez-Almeida, José Guitián, Thomas Tanner, and Heiko Pälike
Clim. Past, 20, 25–36, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-25-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-25-2024, 2024
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The Oligocene and early Miocene periods featured dynamic glacial cycles on Antarctica. In this paper, we use Sr isotopes in marine carbonate sediments to document a change in the location and intensity of continental weathering during short periods of very intense Antarctic glaciation. Potentially, the weathering intensity of old continental rocks on Antarctica was reduced during glaciation. We also show improved age models for correlation of Southern Ocean and North Atlantic sediments.
Heather M. Stoll, Chris Day, Franziska Lechleitner, Oliver Kost, Laura Endres, Jakub Sliwinski, Carlos Pérez-Mejías, Hai Cheng, and Denis Scholz
Clim. Past, 19, 2423–2444, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2423-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2423-2023, 2023
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Stalagmites formed in caves provide valuable information about past changes in climate and vegetation conditions. In this contribution, we present a new method to better estimate past changes in soil and vegetation productivity using carbon isotopes and trace elements measured in stalagmites. Applying this method to other stalagmites should provide a better indication of past vegetation feedbacks to climate change.
Giselle Utida, Francisco W. Cruz, Mathias Vuille, Angela Ampuero, Valdir F. Novello, Jelena Maksic, Gilvan Sampaio, Hai Cheng, Haiwei Zhang, Fabio Ramos Dias de Andrade, and R. Lawrence Edwards
Clim. Past, 19, 1975–1992, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1975-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1975-2023, 2023
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We reconstruct the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) behavior during the past 3000 years over northeastern Brazil based on oxygen stable isotopes of stalagmites. Paleoclimate changes were mainly forced by the tropical South Atlantic and tropical Pacific sea surface temperature variability. We describe an ITCZ zonal behavior active around 1100 CE and the period from 1500 to 1750 CE. The dataset also records historical droughts that affected modern human population in this area of Brazil.
Ixeia Vidaller, Eñaut Izagirre, Luis Mariano del Rio, Esteban Alonso-González, Francisco Rojas-Heredia, Enrique Serrano, Ana Moreno, Juan Ignacio López-Moreno, and Jesús Revuelto
The Cryosphere, 17, 3177–3192, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3177-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3177-2023, 2023
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The Aneto glacier, the largest glacier in the Pyrenees, has shown continuous surface and ice thickness losses in the last decades. In this study, we examine changes in its surface and ice thickness for 1981–2022 and the remaining ice thickness in 2020. During these 41 years, the glacier has shrunk by 64.7 %, and the ice thickness has decreased by 30.5 m on average. The mean ice thickness in 2022 was 11.9 m, compared to 32.9 m in 1981. The results highlight the critical situation of the glacier.
Anika Donner, Paul Töchterle, Christoph Spötl, Irka Hajdas, Xianglei Li, R. Lawrence Edwards, and Gina E. Moseley
Clim. Past, 19, 1607–1621, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1607-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1607-2023, 2023
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This study investigates the first finding of fine-grained cryogenic cave minerals in Greenland, a type of speleothem that has been notably difficult to date. We present a successful approach for determining the age of these minerals using 230Th / U disequilibrium and 14C dating. We relate the formation of the cryogenic cave minerals to a well-documented extreme weather event in 1889 CE. Additionally, we provide a detailed report on the mineralogical and isotopic composition of these minerals.
Charlotte Honiat, Gabriella Koltai, Yuri Dublyansky, R. Lawrence Edwards, Haiwei Zhang, Hai Cheng, and Christoph Spötl
Clim. Past, 19, 1177–1199, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1177-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1177-2023, 2023
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A look at the climate evolution during the last warm period may allow us to test ground for future climate conditions. We quantified the temperature evolution during the Last Interglacial using a tiny amount of water trapped in the crystals of precisely dated stalagmites in caves from the southeastern European Alps. Our record indicates temperatures up to 2 °C warmer than today and an unstable climate during the first half of the Last Interglacial.
Oliver Kost, Saúl González-Lemos, Laura Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Jakub Sliwinski, Laura Endres, Negar Haghipour, and Heather Stoll
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2227–2255, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2227-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2227-2023, 2023
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Cave monitoring studies including cave drip water are unique opportunities to sample water which has percolated through the soil and rock. The change in drip water chemistry is resolved over the course of 16 months, inferring seasonal and hydrological variations in soil and karst processes at the water–air and water–rock interface. Such data sets improve the understanding of hydrological and hydrochemical processes and ultimately advance the interpretation of geochemical stalagmite records.
Amanda Gerotto, Hongrui Zhang, Renata Hanae Nagai, Heather M. Stoll, Rubens César Lopes Figueira, Chuanlian Liu, and Iván Hernández-Almeida
Biogeosciences, 20, 1725–1739, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1725-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1725-2023, 2023
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Based on the analysis of the response of coccolithophores’ morphological attributes in a laboratory dissolution experiment and surface sediment samples from the South China Sea, we proposed that the thickness shape (ks) factor of fossil coccoliths together with the normalized ks variation, which is the ratio of the standard deviation of ks (σ) over the mean ks (σ/ks), is a robust and novel proxy to reconstruct past changes in deep ocean carbon chemistry.
Thibauld M. Béjard, Andrés S. Rigual-Hernández, José A. Flores, Javier P. Tarruella, Xavier Durrieu de Madron, Isabel Cacho, Neghar Haghipour, Aidan Hunter, and Francisco J. Sierro
Biogeosciences, 20, 1505–1528, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1505-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1505-2023, 2023
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The Mediterranean Sea is undergoing a rapid and unprecedented environmental change. Planktic foraminifera calcification is affected on different timescales. On seasonal and interannual scales, calcification trends differ according to the species and are linked mainly to sea surface temperatures and carbonate system parameters, while comparison with pre/post-industrial assemblages shows that all three species have reduced their calcification between 10 % to 35 % according to the species.
Miguel Bartolomé, Gérard Cazenave, Marc Luetscher, Christoph Spötl, Fernando Gázquez, Ánchel Belmonte, Alexandra V. Turchyn, Juan Ignacio López-Moreno, and Ana Moreno
The Cryosphere, 17, 477–497, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-477-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-477-2023, 2023
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In this work we study the microclimate and the geomorphological features of Devaux ice cave in the Central Pyrenees. The research is based on cave monitoring, geomorphology, and geochemical analyses. We infer two different thermal regimes. The cave is impacted by flooding in late winter/early spring when the main outlets freeze, damming the water inside. Rock temperatures below 0°C and the absence of drip water indicate frozen rock, while relict ice formations record past damming events.
Jessica G. M. Crumpton-Banks, Thomas Tanner, Ivan Hernández Almeida, James W. B. Rae, and Heather Stoll
Biogeosciences, 19, 5633–5644, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5633-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5633-2022, 2022
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Past ocean carbon is reconstructed using proxies, but it is unknown whether preparing ocean sediment for one proxy might damage the data given by another. We have tested whether the extraction of an organic proxy archive from sediment samples impacts the geochemistry of tiny shells also within the sediment. We find no difference in shell geochemistry between samples which come from treated and untreated sediment. This will help us to maximize scientific return from valuable sediment samples.
José Guitián, Miguel Ángel Fuertes, José-Abel Flores, Iván Hernández-Almeida, and Heather Stoll
Biogeosciences, 19, 5007–5019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5007-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5007-2022, 2022
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The effect of environmental conditions on the degree of calcification of marine phytoplankton remains unclear. This study implements a new microscopic approach to quantify the calcification of ancient coccolithophores, using North Atlantic sediments. Results show significant differences in the thickness and shape factor of coccoliths for samples with minimum dissolution, providing the first evaluation of phytoplankton physiology adaptation to million-year-scale variable environmental conditions.
Paul Töchterle, Simon D. Steidle, R. Lawrence Edwards, Yuri Dublyansky, Christoph Spötl, Xianglei Li, John Gunn, and Gina E. Moseley
Geochronology, 4, 617–627, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-617-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-617-2022, 2022
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Cryogenic cave carbonates (CCCs) provide a marker for past permafrost conditions. Their formation age is determined by Th / U dating. However, samples can be contaminated with small amounts of Th at formation, which can cause inaccurate ages and require correction. We analysed multiple CCCs and found that varying degrees of contamination can cause an apparent spread of ages, when samples actually formed within distinguishable freezing events. A correction method using isochrons is presented.
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Short summary
We offer a clearer view of the timing of three relevant past glacial terminations. By analyzing the climatic signal recorded in stalagmite and linking it with marine records, we revealed differences in the intensity and duration of the ice melting associated with these three key deglaciations. This study shows that some deglaciations began earlier than previously thought; this improves our understanding of natural climate processes, helping us to contextualize current climate change.
We offer a clearer view of the timing of three relevant past glacial terminations. By analyzing...
