Analysis of oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) by ion microprobe resolves a sub-annual climate record for the Eastern Mediterranean from a Soreq Cave stalagmite that grew between 2.2 and 0.9 ka. In contrast to conventional drill-sampling methods that yield a total variation of 1.0‰ in δ18Ocalcite values across our sample, the methods described here reveal up to 2.15‰ variation within single annual growth bands. Values of δ18O measured by ion microprobe vary in a regular saw-tooth pattern that correlates with annual, fluorescent growth banding where calcite grades from light to dark fluorescence. Modern records of precipitation and of cave dripwater indicate that variable δ18Ocalcite values record regular seasonal differences in δ18Orainfall modified by mixing in the vadose zone. Large differences in δ18O values measured across a single band (i.e., between the dark and light fluorescent calcite, or Δ18Odark-light) are interpreted to indicate wetter years, while smaller differences represent drier years. Oxygen isotopes record: 1) month-scale growth increments, 2) changes in Δ18Odark-light that represent seasonality, 3) a systematic, long-term decrease in maximum Δ18Odark-light values, and 4) an overall increase in average δ18Ocalcite values through time. These results suggest a drying of regional climate that coincides with the decline of the Roman and Byzantine Empires in the Levant region.

No abstract

Chinese speleothems (cave deposits) preserve a remarkable paleoclimate record in their oxygen isotope ratios (d 18 O); the precise interpretation of this record has been the subject of stimulating discussion. Most studies link the d 18 O variability in Chinese speleothems to regional summer monsoon rainfall and/or rainfall integrated between tropical sources and cave sites. Discussion has centered on mechanisms behind this link as well as the location and seasonality of hypothesized rainfall changes. Until now, these hypotheses were not directly tested in speleothems because conventional drill sampling techniques are insufficient for measuring speleothem d 18 O at seasonal resolution. Here we use an ion microprobe to analyze seasonal d 18 O variability in an annually banded stalagmite from Kulishu Cave (northeastern China) that grew during the last deglaciation. The new seasonal resolution data show that the stalagmite d 18 O values record two aspects of regional monsoon dynamics: (1) changes in the isotopic fractionation of water vapor sourced from both the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and (2) the annual proportion of summer monsoon rainfall, which was systematically greater during the Holocene and Bølling-Allerød than during the Younger Dryas. Both relate to regional rainfall; the isotopic fractionation changes also relate to rainfall integrated from tropical sources.

A climate/vegetation model simulates episodic wetter and drier periods at the 21,000-y precession period in eastern North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Levant over the past 140,000 y. Large orbitally forced wet/dry extremes occur during interglacial time, ∼130 to 80 ka, and conditions between these two extremes prevail during glacial time, ∼70 to 15 ka. Orbital precession causes high seasonality in Northern Hemisphere (NH) insolation at ∼125, 105, and 83 ka, with stronger and northward extended summer monsoon rains in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and increased winter rains in the Mediterranean Basin. The combined effects of these two seasonally distinct rainfall regimes increase vegetation and narrow the width of the Saharan–Arabian desert and semidesert zones. During the opposite phase of the precession cycle (∼115, 95, and 73 ka), NH seasonality is low, and decreased summer insolation and increased winter insolation cause monsoon and storm track rains to decrease and the width of the desert zone to increase. During glacial time (∼70 to 15 ka), forcing from large ice sheets and lowered greenhouse gas concentrations combine to increase winter Mediterranean storm track precipitation; the southward retreat of the northern limit of summer monsoon rains is relatively small, thereby limiting the expansion of deserts. The lowered greenhouse gas concentrations cause the near-equatorial zone to cool and reduce convection, causing drier climate with reduced forest cover. At most locations and times, the simulations agree with environmental observations. These changing regional patterns of climate/vegetation could have influenced the dispersal of early humans through expansions and contractions of well-watered corridors.