Jens Fohlmeister

Strong and deep Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the last glacial cycle

Extreme, abrupt Northern Hemisphere climate oscillations during the last glacial cycle (140,000 years ago to present) were modulated by changes in ocean circulation and atmospheric forcing. However, the variability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), which has a role in controlling heat transport from low to high latitudes and in ocean CO2 storage, is still poorly constrained beyond the Last Glacial Maximum. Here we show that a deep and vigorous overturning circulation mode has persisted for most of the last glacial cycle, dominating ocean circulation in the Atlantic, whereas a shallower glacial mode with southern-sourced waters filling the deep western North Atlantic prevailed during glacial maxima. Our results are based on a reconstruction of both the strength and the direction of the AMOC during the last glacial cycle from a highly resolved marine sedimentary record in the deep western North Atlantic. Parallel measurements of two independent chemical water tracers (the isotope ratios of 231Pa/230Th and 143Nd/144Nd), which are not directly affected by changes in the global cycle, reveal consistent responses of the AMOC during the last two glacial terminations. Any significant deviations from this configuration, resulting in slowdowns of the AMOC, were restricted to centennial-scale excursions during catastrophic iceberg discharges of the Heinrich stadials. Severe and multicentennial weakening of North Atlantic Deep Water formation occurred only during Heinrich stadials close to glacial maxima with increased ice coverage, probably as a result of increased fresh-water input. In contrast, the AMOC was relatively insensitive to submillennial meltwater pulses during warmer climate states, and an active AMOC prevailed during Dansgaard–Oeschger interstadials (Greenland warm periods).

Evidence of a large cooling between 1690 and 1740 AD in southern Africa

A 350-year-long, well-dated δ18O stalagmite record from the summer rainfall region in South Africa is positively correlated with regional air surface temperatures at interannual time scales. The coldest period documented in this record occurred between 1690 and 1740, slightly lagging the Maunder Minimum (1645–1710). A temperature reconstruction, based on the correlation between regional surface temperatures and the stalagmite δ18O variations, indicates that parts of this period could have been as much as 1.4°C colder than today. Significant cycles of 22, 11 and 4.8 years demonstrate that the solar magnetic and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycle could be important drivers of multidecadal to interannual climate variability in this region. The observation that the most important driver of stalagmite δ18O on interannual time scales from this subtropical region is regional surface temperature cautions against deterministic interpretations of δ18O variations in low-latitude stalagmites as mainly driven by the amount of precipitation.

Bunker Cave stalagmites: an archive for central European Holocene climate variability

Holocene climate was characterised by variability on multi-centennial to multi-decadal time scales. In central Europe, these fluctuations were most pronounced during winter. Here we present a record of past winter climate variability for the last 10.8 ka based on four speleothems from Bunker Cave, western Germany. Due to its central European location, the cave site is particularly well suited to record changes in precipitation and temperature in response to changes in the North Atlantic realm. We present highresolution records of δ18O, δ13C values and Mg/Ca ratios. Changes in the Mg/Ca ratio are attributed to past meteoric precipitation variability. The stable C isotope composition of the speleothems most likely reflects changes in vegetation and precipitation, and variations in the δ18O signal are interpreted as variations in meteoric precipitation and temperature. We found cold and dry periods between 8 and 7 ka, 6.5 and 5.5 ka, 4 and 3 ka as well as between 0.7 and 0.2 ka. The proxy signals in the Bunker Cave stalagmites compare well with other isotope records and, thus, seem representative for central European Holocene climate variability. The prominent 8.2 ka event and the Little Ice Age cold events are both recorded in the Bunker Cave record. However, these events show a contrasting relationship between climate and δ18O, which is explained by different causes underlying the two climate anomalies. Whereas the Little Ice Age is attributed to a pronounced negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation, the 8.2 ka event was triggered by cooler conditions in the North Atlantic due to a slowdown of the thermohaline circulation.

THE INFLUENCE OF SOIL ORGANIC MATTER AGE SPECTRUM ON THE RECONSTRUCTION OF ATMOSPHERIC 14C LEVELS VIA STALAGMITES

The imprint of the radiocarbon bomb peak was detected in the top of stalagmite ER-77 from Grotta di Ernesto (NE Italy). This recently grown stalagmite reveals a reservoir age, also known as dead carbon fraction (dcf), of ~1050 14C yr, or 12%. By applying a 14C soil-karst model, the age spectrum of soil organic matter (SOM) as well as the CO2 contribution of the single SOM reservoirs to the total soil CO2 can be derived. Under the assumption of constant vegetation, meaning both vegetation density and the age spectrum of SOM, it is possible to derive the soil-air 14C activity of the past using the 14C calibration curve (IntCal04). Hence, it is also possible to calculate an artificial stalagmite 14C data set covering the last 25,000 yr with parameters determined for stalagmite ER-77. With this artificially constructed data set, we derived the hypothetical atmospheric 14C activity by using the common method of applying a constant dcf on the modeled 14C data set of the stalagmite. This theoretical approach allows to analyze the impact of a constant and variable SOM age spectrum on atmospheric 14C reconstructions performed with real stalagmite 14C measurements. We observe deviations between IntCal04 and the atmospheric 14C activity as derived with our modeled 14C data set, which are larger for older SOM than for younger SOM and vary in time up to 2 pMC, depending on the strength of the variations in the atmospheric 14C level. This value is comparable with the 1-? uncertainty given by IntCal04 for the last glacial. For a varying SOM age spectrum, the deviations between the calibration curve and 14C level of the atmosphere reconstructed with a stalagmite exceed 3 pMC, which is larger than the 1-σ uncertainty of IntCal04. In general, the SOM has smoothing, shifting, and 14C-depleting effects on the stalagmite 14C record and, therefore, on the stalagmite-derived atmospheric 14C activity. In this study, changes in soil-air pCO2 and carbonate dissolution conditions, which have also an important impact on the 14C record of a stalagmite, are not accounted for.

The Influences of Hydrology on the Radiogenic and Stable Carbon Isotope Composition of Cave Drip Water, Grotta di Ernesto (Italy)

14C and δ13C values of C-containing species in cave drip waters are mainly controlled by the C isotope composition of karst rock and soil air, as well as by soil carbon dynamics, in particular the amount of soil CO2 in the unsaturated soil zone and the process of calcite dissolution. Here, we investigate soil carbon dynamics by analyzing the 14C activity and δ13C values of C dissolved in cave drip water. Monthly over a 2-yr period, we collected drip water from 2 drip sites, one fast and one relatively slow, within the shallow Grotta di Ernesto Cave (NE Italy). The 14C data reveal a pronounced annual cycle. In contrast, the δ13C values do not show an annual pattern and only small interannual variability compared to the δ13C values of soil waters. The annual 14C drip-water cycle is a function of drip-rate variability, soil moisture, and ultimately hydrology.

COMNISPA II: Update of a mid-European isotope climate record, 11 ka to present

We present an update (COMNISPA II) of a precisely dated, high-resolution speleothem δ18O record from the Austrian Alps. COMNISPA II consists of five stalagmites from Spannagel Cave, which have comparable δ18O values within periods of simultaneous growth and show similar δ18O variations on centennial to millennial timescales. This allows combining the five stalagmites to one composite record using a newly developed statistical approach. The COMNISPA II stack differs slightly from the previous version, but is better constrained because of additional stalagmites used for the reconstruction and a more objective method used for constructing the composite record. Furthermore, the record now covers the last 11 ka and shows variations in δ18O values by about 2‰. As previously shown, these variations compare well with other records in central Europe and the North Atlantic, and thus reflect a large-scale climate evolution.

The earliest settlers of Mesoamerica date back to the late Pleistocene

Preceramic human skeletal remains preserved in submerged caves near Tulum in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, reveal conflicting results regarding 14C dating. Here we use U-series techniques for dating a stalagmite overgrowing the pelvis of a human skeleton discovered in the submerged Chan Hol cave. The oldest closed system U/Th age comes from around 21 mm above the pelvis defining the terminus ante quem for the pelvis to 11311±370 y BP. However, the skeleton might be considerable older, probably as old as 13 ky BP as indicated by the speleothem stable isotope data. The Chan Hol individual confirms a late Pleistocene settling of Mesoamerica and represents one of the oldest human osteological remains in America.

Laser Ablation – Accelerator Mass Spectrometry: An Approach for Rapid Radiocarbon Analyses of Carbonate Archives at High Spatial Resolution

A new instrumental setup, combining laser ablation (LA) with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), has been investigated for the online radiocarbon ((14)C) analysis of carbonate records. Samples were placed in an in-house designed LA-cell, and CO2 gas was produced by ablation using a 193 nm ArF excimer laser. The (14)C/(12)C abundance ratio of the gas was then analyzed by gas ion source AMS. This configuration allows flexible and time-resolved acquisition of (14)C profiles in contrast to conventional measurements, where only the bulk composition of discrete samples can be obtained. Three different measurement modes, i.e. discrete layer analysis, survey scans, and precision scans, were investigated and compared using a stalagmite sample and, subsequently, applied to terrestrial and marine carbonates. Depending on the measurement mode, a precision of typically 1-5% combined with a spatial resolution of 100 μm can be obtained. Prominent (14)C features, such as the atomic bomb (14)C peak, can be resolved by scanning several cm of a sample within 1 h. Stalagmite, deep-sea coral, and mollusk shell samples yielded comparable signal intensities, which again were comparable to those of conventional gas measurements. The novel LA-AMS setup allowed rapid scans on a variety of sample materials with high spatial resolution.

Winter precipitation changes during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age in arid Central Asia

Abstract The strength of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is considered to be the main driver of climate changes over the European and western Asian continents throughout the last millennium. For example, the predominantly warm Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and the following cold period of the Little Ice Age (LIA) over Europe have been associated with long-lasting phases with a positive and negative NAO index. Its climatic imprint is especially pronounced in European winter seasons. However, little is known about the influence of NAO with respect to its eastern extent over the Eurasian continent. Here we present speleothem records (δ13C, δ18O and Sr/Ca) from the southern rim of Fergana Basin (Central Asia) revealing annually resolved past climate variations during the last millennium. The age control of the stalagmite relies on radiocarbon dating as large amounts of detrital material inhibit accurate 230Th dating. Present-day calcification of the stalagmite is most effective during spring when the cave atmosphere and elevated water supply by snow melting and high amount of spring precipitation provide optimal conditions. Seasonal precipitation variations cause changes of the stable isotope and Sr/Ca compositions. The simultaneous changes in these geochemical proxies, however, give also evidence for fractionation processes in the cave. By disentangling both processes, we demonstrate that the amount of winter precipitation during the MCA was generally higher than during the LIA, which is in line with climatic changes linked to the NAO index but opposite to the higher mountain records of Central Asia. Several events of strongly reduced winter precipitation are observed during the LIA in Central Asia. These dry winter events can be related to phases of a strong negative NAO index and all results reveal that winter precipitation over the central Eurasian continent is tightly linked to atmospheric NAO modes by the westerly wind systems.