A continuous stable isotope record of last interglacial age from the Bulgarian Cave Orlova Chuka

Abstract

Recent research shows that the last interglacial climate was more unstable in comparison to Holocene. Lack of suitable dating techniques and precisely defined absolute age benchmarks is one from main problems for present LIG studies. Therefore many of LIG chronologies base on indirect dating techniques like record alignment strategies. In this context, speleothems are valuable paleoclimate archives because of their capability to be dated by U-series method. In Europe LIG speleothem records are known mostly from western and central part of the continent. In this paper we present a 1,650 mm long stalagmite (ocz-6) from Bulgarian Cave Orlova Chuka. The ocz-6 stalagmite records the period of time ca. 129–112 ka. Ocz-6 stalagmite was analyzed in terms of stable isotopic composition of calcite and trace elements content. All analyzed geochemical proxies point to dynamic changes in the environment during the Last Interglacial time. At the time of interglacial development (129–126.5 ka), ocz-6 records shows systematic change in proportion of moisture delivered from Atlantic source and other sources. The beginning of last interglacial optimum is connected with a rapid change to more humid and warm conditions. During interglacial demise local climate become more dependent from regional settings.

The speleothem oxygen record as a proxy for thermal or moisture changes: a case study of multiproxy records from MIS 5–MIS 6 speleothems from the Demänová Cave system

“…The temperature, amount of precipitation at the cave site and changes in the main source of vapour for precipitation are considered to be the main factors determining the δ 18 O value of precipitated calcite. However, for records from the Alps and central Europe, temperature appears to be a more important factor (Moseley et al, 2015;Kern et al, 2019;Pawlak et al, 2019Pawlak et al, , 2020Comas-Bru et al, 2020). This result is consistent with the observations made by Różański et al (1993) which showed that the isotopic composition of rainfall in temperate regions of Europe mainly depends on local temperature.…”

“…Additionally, the isotopic composition of the crystallising calcite can be altered by kinetic effects when the relative humidity of the cave air is less than 100 % (Dorale and Liu 2009). Recently, more than a dozen speleothem records of the last interglacial age have been obtained from the European continent (Meyer et al, 2008;Couchoud et al, 2009;Moseley et al, 2015;Vansteenberge et al, 2016;Demény et al, 2017;Pawlak et al, 2019Pawlak et al, , 2020. The temperature, amount of precipitation at the cave site and changes in the main source of vapour for precipitation are considered to be the main factors determining the δ 18 O value of precipitated calcite.…”

“…Comparison of the JS9 δ 18 O record with other records of MIS 5-MIS 6 age from Europe and the Middle East. The records used for the comparison are as follows: NGRIP(Andersen et al, 2004); Magurska(Pawlak et al, 2020), Baradla(Demény et al, 2017); Orlova Tchuka(Pawlak et al, 2019), Schneckenloch (Mosley et al, 2015, Hölloch(Moseley et al, 2015), NALPS(Boch et al, 2011), Entrische Kirche(Meyer et al, 2008), Bourgeois-Delaunay(Couchoud et al, 2009), Cobre(Rossi et al, 2014), Han-sur-Lesse(Vansteenberge et al, 2016), Antro del Corchia(Drysdale et al, 2005), Soreq(Bar-Matthews et al, 2003), Peqiin (Bar-Matthews et al, 2003 and Kanaan(Nehme et al, 2015). The black and grey lines refer to speleothems where temperature is a dominant factor influencing the δ 18 O value, green lines denote speleothems where changes in the isotopic composition of rainwater and the amount of precipitation are dominant factors influencing the δ 18 O value, and the red line denotes the study site.…”

Palaeoenvironmental conditions during MIS 6/MIS 5 transition recorded in speleothems from the Tatra Mountains

“…2017); Orlova Tchuka (Pawlak et al . 2019). Comparison of δ 18 O (C) and δ 13 C (D) records from the Tatra Mts with records from the Alps: Entrische Kirche (Meyer et al .…”