Speleothem-based paleoclimate research in South Morocco: Interest and perspectives

• Main Author: Ait Brahim, Yassine
• Other Authors: Académie Hassan II des Sciences et Techniques
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers in Science and Engineering 2022
• Subjects: Speleothems; Paleoclimate; NAO; Monsoon; African Humid Period; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: https://revues.imist.ma/index.php/fsejournal/article/view/28990; https://doi.org/10.34874/IMIST.PRSM/fsejournal-v11i2.28990

Paleoclimate information is still lacking in key regions to understand the functioning of some of the main components of Earth’s climate system. In NW Africa, the use of speleothems as a natural archive of past environmental and climate change gained considerable interest during recent years. From South Morocco, the published speleothem records constitute the only terrestrial paleoclimate information, which spans the Holocene with a high resolution. A multi-proxy speleothem record fromIfoulki cave in SW Morocco indicates relatively dry conditions during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), wetter conditions during the second part of the Little Ice Age (LIA), and a trend towards dry conditions during the current warm period. The local climate variability was modulated by the combined influence of both the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the interactions with the Sahara Low which influenced the moisture flow from the Atlantic Ocean during the last 1000 years. Another multi-speleothem δ18O from Wintimdouine cave in SW Morocco provides evidence of increased moisture during the mid‐Holocene, coincident with the northernmost expansion of the West African Summer Monsoon (WASM) during the African Humid Period (AHP). The discrepancies with speleothem records from Northern Morocco indicate that the High‐Atlas Mountains might have established a topographic barrier to the farther expansion of the WASM fringe. The paleoclimate information from South Morocco is still limited to the Holocene, whereas speleothems from the region have a promising potential to span the past climate change throughout the Pleistocene with a high resolution.