Speleothem Records from the Eastern Part of Europe and Turkey—Discussion on Stable Oxygen and Carbon Isotopes

• Published in: Quaternary
• Main Authors: Zoltán Kern, Attila Demény, Aurel Perşoiu, István Gábor Hatvani
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019
• Subjects: speleothems; carbon and oxygen stable isotopes; paleohydroclimate; Human evolution; GN281-289; Stratigraphy; QE640-699; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2030031; https://doaj.org/article/ff74cc45fc874e49b26f10d03e072b33

The region comprising of East Central Europe, South East Europe and Turkey contributed to the SISAL (Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and AnaLysis) global database with stable carbon and oxygen isotope time-series from 18 speleothems from 14 caves. The currently available oldest record from the studied region is the ABA-2 flowstone record (Abaliget Cave; Hungary) reaching back to MIS 6. The temporal distribution of the compiled 18 records from the region points out a ~20 kyr-long period, centering around 100 ka BP, lacking speleothem stable isotope data. The regional subset of SISAL_v1 records displays a continuous coverage for the past ~90 kyr for both δ 13 C and δ 18 O, with a mean temporal resolution of ~12 yr for the Holocene, and >50 yr for the pre-Holocene period. The highest temporal resolution both for the Holocene and the pre-Holocene was achieved in the So-1 record (Sofular Cave; Turkey). The relationship between modern day precipitation δ 18 O (amount weighted annual and winter season mean values; 1961−2017) and climatological parameters was evaluated. The strong positive correlation found in East Central Europe reinforces the link between modern day precipitation δ 18 O, temperature and large-scale circulation (North Atlantic Oscillation) expected to be preserved in the speleothem δ 18 O record; while a negative relationship was documented between precipitation amount and oxygen isotope compositions in South East Europe. Variations of δ 13 C values are primarily interpreted as reflecting dry/wet periods across the region. Elevation gradients from three non-overlapping periods of the last ~5 kyr indicated elevation gradients around −0.26‱ per 100 m −1 for calcite δ 18 O.