A high-resolution speleothem proxy record of the Late Glacial in the European Alps: extending the NALPS19 record until the beginning of the Holocene

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Authors: Li, Hanying, Spoetl, Christoph, Cheng, Hai
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: WILEY 2020
• Subjects: Alps; Late Glacial; rapid climate change; speleothems; Younger Dryas; CLIMATE RECORD; YOUNGER-DRYAS; LAST DEGLACIATION; SWISS ALPS; HALF-LIVES; STALAGMITE; GREENLAND; SEDIMENTS; RECONSTRUCTION; PALEOCLIMATE; Physical Geography; Geology; Geography; Physical; Geosciences; Multidisciplinary; Greenland; Greenland ice core; Greenland Ice core Project; Greenland ice cores; ice core; NGRIP; North Greenland; North Greenland Ice Core Project
• Online Access: http://ir.ieecas.cn/handle/361006/15487; https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3255

Previous research has shown that speleothems from the northern rim of the European Alps captured submillennial-scale climate change during the last glacial period with exceptional sensitivity and resolution, mimicking Greenland ice-core records. Here we extend this so-called NALPS19 record across the Late Glacial using two stalagmites which grew continuously into the Holocene. Both specimens show the same high-amplitude delta O-18 signal as Greenland ice cores down to decadal resolution. The start of the warming at the onset of the equivalent of Greenland Interstadial (GI) GI-1e at 14.66 +/- 0.18 ka agrees with the North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP) (14.64 +/- 0.28 ka) and comprised a temperature rise of about 5-6 degrees C. The transition from the equivalent of GI-1a into the equivalent of Greenland Stadial (GS) GS-1 (broadly equivalent to the Younger Dryas) commenced at 13.02 +/- 0.13 ka which is consistent with NGRIP (12.80 +/- 0.26 ka) within errors. The onset of the Holocene started at 11.78 +/- 0.14 ka (11.65 +/- 0.10 ka at NGRIP) and involved a warming of about 4-5 degrees C. In contrast to delta O-18, delta C-13 values show no response to (sub)millennial climate shifts due to strong rock-buffering and only record a long-term trend of soil development starting with the rapid warming at 14.7 ka.