Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

We offer an alternative palaeoenvironmental interpretation of oxygen-isotope data obtained on two early-Holocene stalagmite records from caves in the Scandes Mountains of northern Sweden (Korallgrottan and Labrintgrottan), and the well-known Søylegrotta (Norway) SG93 record with which they are compared, that differs in several respects from that proposed by the authors. Contrary to viewing these as inverted palaeotemperature records, we suggest that they primarily reflect changes in the δ¹⁸O of local annual precipitation, modified by secondary temperature-dependent variation in water-calcite oxygen-isotope fractionation, at each of the three sites. This is supported by the striking similarity over the entire Holocene between the SG93 calcite δ¹⁸ O record and the lacustrine carbonate δ¹⁸O record from Lake Tibetanus (northern Sweden), which implies straightforward transfer of annual precipitation δ¹⁸O signals into cave drip waters. Recent studies of drip waters in Korallgrottan also support this model. This further enhances the value of cave deposits as palaeoclimate archives in this region and provides additional evidence of the sensitivity of the precipitation `isotope thermometer' to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns.

Keywords

Speleothem oxygen isotopes climate change atmospheric circulation Holocene Scandinavia Sweden.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Amundsen, R. , Chadwick, O. , Kendall, C. , Wang, Y. and DeNiro, M. 1996: Isotopic evidence for shifts in atmospheric circulation patterns during the late Quaternary in mid-North America. Geology 24, 23-26.

Dansgaard, W. 1964: Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 16, 436-68.

Edwards, T.W.D. , Wolfe, B.B. and MacDonald, G.M. 1996: Influence of changing atmospheric circulation on precipitation δ18O-temperature relations in Canada during the Holocene . Quaternary Research 46, 211-18.

Edwards, T.W.D. , Birks, S.J. , Luckman, B.H. and MacDonald, G.M. 2008: Climatic and hydrologic variability during the past millennium in the eastern Rocky Mountains and northern Great Plains of western Canada . Quaternary Research doi: 10.1016/j.yqres.2008.04.013

Fricke, H.C. and O'Neil, J.R. 1999: The correlation between 18O/16O ratios of meteoric water and surface temperature: its use in investigating terrestrial climate change over geologic time. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 170, 181-96.

Hammarlund, D. , Barnekow, L. , Birks, H.J.B. , Buchardt, B. and Edwards, T.W.D. 2002: Holocene changes in atmospheric circulation recorded in the oxygen-isotope stratigraphy of lacustrine carbonates from northern Scandinavia . The Holocene 12, 339-51.

Hellstrom, J. , McCulloch, M. and Stone, J. 1998: A detailed 31,000-year record of climate and vegetation change, from the isotope geochemistry of two New Zealand speleothems. Quaternary Research 50, 167-78.

Lauritzen, S.-E. and Lundberg, J. 1999: Calibration of the speleothem delta function: an absolute temperature record for the Holocene in northern Norway. The Holocene 9, 659-69.

Lipp, J. , Trimborn, P. , Edwards, T.W.D. , Waisel, Y. and Yakir, D. 1996 Climatic effects on the δ18O and δ13C of cellulose in the desert tree Tamarix jordanis. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 60, 3305-309.

10.

Mangini, A. , Spötl, C. and Verdes, P. 2005: Reconstruction of temperature in the Central Alps during the past 2000 yr from a δ18O stalagmite record. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 235, 741-51.

11.

Plummer, L.N. 1993: Stable isotope enrichment in paleowaters of the southeast Atlantic coastal plain, United States. Science 262, 2016-20.

12.

Rosqvist, G.C. , Leng, M.J. and Jonsson, C. 2007: North Atlantic region atmospheric circulation dynamics inferred from a late-Holocene lacustrine carbonate isotope-record, northern Swedish Lapland. The Holocene 17, 867-73.

13.

Rozanski, K. , Araguás-Araguás, L. and Gonfiantini, R. 1993: Isotopic patterns in modern global precipitation . In Swart, P.K., Lohmann, K.L., McKenzie, J. and Savin, S., editors, Climate change in continental isotopic records. Geophysical Monograph 78, American Geophysical Union, 1-37.

14.

Sundqvist, H.S. , Holmgren, K. and Lauritzen, S.-E. 2007a: Stable isotope variations in stalagmites from northwestern Sweden document climate and environmental changes during the early Holocene. The Holocene 17, 259-67.

15.

Sundqvist, H.S. , Seibert, J. and Holmgren, K. 2007b: Understanding conditions behind speleothem formation in Korallgrottan, northwest Sweden. Journal of Hydrology 347, 13-22.

16.

Yakir, D. , Gat, J. , Issar, A. , Adar, E. , Trimborn, P. and Lipp, J. 1994: 13C and 18O of wood from the Roman siege rampart in Masada (AD 70-73): evidence for a less arid climate for the region. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 58, 3535-39.

Stable isotope variations in stalagmites from northwestern Sweden document changes in temperature and vegetation during the early Holocene: a comment on Sundqvist et al. 2007a

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References