A Late-glacial and Holocene record of climatic change from a Swiss peat humification profile, 2004, Roosbarraclough Fiona, Van Der Knaap W. O. , Van Leeuwen J. F. N. , Shotyk W. ,

Colorimetric measurements of alkaline extracts from two Swiss peat cores have provided a complete 14500-year-long record of peat humification, a proxy of effective precipitation. Peat from the cold Younger Dryas (11050-9550 cal. bc) was well preserved despite low levels of precipitation. A particularly dry period, peaking at c. 7100 cal. bc, is indicated by well-decomposed peat. Peat from c. 6750-4250 cal. bc shows a low degree of decomposition, indicating a wet bog surface despite relatively warm temperatures and therefore indicating high levels of precipitation. A sharp transition to higher levels of decomposition c. 4450-3750 cal. bc indicates a major transition to a drier bog surface. Subsequently, peat humification generally decreases towards the end of the deeper profile (c. cal. ad 1050), indicating a gradual return to wetter conditions. This gradual decrease is punctuated by periods of particularly low humification which appear to be due to shifts to higher levels of effective precipitation from c. 2500 to 1350 cal. bc, c. 1050 to 550 cal. bc, centered around 150 cal. bc, and from c. cal. ad 550 onwards. Anthropogenic influences appear to have affected peat humification at the site at least since the Middle Ages. This study indicates that humification in colder regions/time periods could be more affected by temperature than precipitation and vice versa

Modification and preservation of environmental signals in speleothems, 2006, Fairchild Ij, Smith Cl, Baker A, Fuller L, Spotl C, Mattey D, Mcdermott F, Eimp,

Speleothems are primarily studied in order to generate archives of climatic change and results have led to significant advances in identifying and dating major shifts in the climate system. However, the climatological meaning of many speleothem records cannot be interpreted unequivocally, this is particularly so for more subtle shifts and shorter time periods, but the use of multiple proxies and improving understanding of formation mechanisms offers a clear way forward. An explicit description of speleothem records as time series draws attention to the nature and importance of the signal filtering processes by which the weather, the seasons, and longer-term climatic and other environmental fluctuations become encoded in speleothems. We distinguish five sources of variation that influence speleothem geochemistry, i.e. atmospheric, vegetation/soil, karstic aquifer, primary speleothem crystal growth and secondary alteration, and give specific examples of their influence. The direct role of climate diminishes progressively through these five factors. We identify and review a number of processes identified in recent and current work that bear significantly on the conventional interpretation of speleothem records, for example: (1) speleothem geochemistry can vary seasonally and hence a research need is to establish the proportion of growth attributable to different seasons and whether this varies over time; (2) whereas there has traditionally been a focus on monthly mean delta O-18 data of atmospheric moisture, current work emphasizes the importance of understanding the synoptic processes that lead to characteristic isotope signals, since changing relative abundance of different weather types might control their variation on the longer-term; (3) the ecosystem and soil zone overlying the cave fundamentally imprint the carbon and trace element signals and can show characteristic variations with time; (4) new modelling on aquifer plumbing allows quantification of the effects of aquifer mixing; (5) recent work has emphasized the importance and seasonal variability Of CO2-degassing leading to calcite precipitation upflow of a depositional site on carbon isotope and trace element composition of speleothems; (6) although much is known about the chemical partitioning between water and stalagmites, variability in relation to crystal growth mechanisms and kinetics is a research frontier; (7) aragonite is susceptible to conversion to calcite with major loss of chemical information, but the controls on the rate of this process are obscure. Analytical factors are critical in generating high-resolution speleothem records. A variety of methods of trace element analysis is available, but standardization is a common problem with the most rapid methods. New stable isotope data on Irish stalagmite CC3 compares rapid laser-ablation techniques with the conventional analysis of micromilled powders and ion microprobe methods. A high degree of comparability between techniques for delta O-18 is found on the millimeter to centimeter scale, but a previously described high-amplitude oxygen isotope excursion around 8.3 ka is identified as an analytical artefact related to fractionation of the laser-analysis associated with sample cracking. High-frequency variability of not less than 0.5 parts per thousand may be an inherent feature of speleothem delta O-18 records. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A gray system model for studying the response to climatic change: The Liulin karst springs, China, 2006, Hao Yonghong, Yeh Tian Chyi, Gao Zongqiang, Wang Yanrong, Zhao Ying,

SummaryGray system theory uses a black-gray-white color spectrum to describe a complex system whose characteristics are only partially known or known with uncertainty. In this study, we use gray system theory to investigate the relation between precipitation and spring flows in a karst region in China. The gray incidence analysis was applied to the Liulin Springs, Shanxi Province, China to analyze the time-lag between spring flow and precipitation. The results showed that the average groundwater residence time at Liulin Spings is about 4 years. The gray system GM(1,2) model was subsequently used as a predictive tool for spring discharge. It was found that model predictions are in agreement with observed data. This study also shows that the discharge of the Liulin Springs primarily responds to climate change; anthropogenic impacts are secondary. The continuous decline of water level in the karst aquifer and waning of spring discharges in semi-arid regions of China might be largely a response of the groundwater system to the decline in regional precipitation over the past two decades

How much did climate force the Messinian salinity crisis? Quantified climatic conditions from pollen records in the Mediterranean region, 2006, Fauquette S, Suc Jp, Bertini A, Popescu Sm, Warny S, Bachiri Taoufiq N, Perez Villa Mj, Chikhi H, Feddi N, Subally D,

The latest Miocene (5.96 to 5.33[no-break space]Ma) is characterised by an outstanding event: the desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea (Messinian salinity crisis). It has been suggested that this was caused by a tectonic event, with no climatic change playing a role in desiccation. Quantifying the climate of the region during this period will help support or refute this hypothesis. An effective method for reconstructing the climate from Neogene pollen data is the 'Climatic Amplitude Method' based on the modern climatic requirements of plants to interpret fossil data. It has been conceived especially for periods devoid of modern vegetation analogue.Twenty Messinian to Lower Zanclean pollen sequences are now available in the peri-Mediterranean region. Most of them do not cover the whole Messinian interval, particularly those along the Mediterranean shorelines where sedimentation was interrupted during the sea's desiccation. In contrast, sedimentation was almost continuous in such areas as the Atlantic side of Morocco, along the Adriatic coast (including the Po Valley), and to a lesser extent the Black Sea. The Mediterranean sites nonetheless provide a reliable if not a discontinuous record of vegetation variability in time and space.A first examination of the pollen diagrams reveals a high regional variability controlled by local conditions, and throughout the interval a southward increase in herb pollen frequency in contrast to the tree pollen frequency. This indicates that open and probably dry environments existed in the southern Mediterranean region prior to, during and after the salinity crisis. Trees developed in areas close to mountains such as in the Po Valley, in Cerdanya and in the Black Sea region. Most variations observed in the pollen diagrams are constrained by fluctuations of Pinus pollen amounts, indicating eustatic variations. Climatic quantification from pollen data does not show obvious climatic changes due to the desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea, especially in the dry and warm southwestern Mediterranean area (Sicily, southern Spain and North Africa). At Maccarone, along the Adriatic Sea, a decrease in temperatures of the coldest month and, less importantly, a decrease in mean annual temperatures, corresponding to a drastic vegetation change, are reconstructed. These temperature variations are assumed to be controlled by regional environmental changes (massive arrival of waters in this basin) rather than to reflect cooling, because some authors link the second phase of evaporite deposition to a period of global warming. Some migrations of plants probably occurred as a response to Mediterranean desiccation. But the climatic contrast which has probably existed at that time between the central Mediterranean and the peripheral areas might be amplified.Climatic reconstruction from pollen data in the western Mediterranean area shows that climate is not the direct cause of the Mediterranean desiccation, as the Mediterranean region had experienced continuously high evaporation long before the crisis. Therefore the main factor leading to this event seems to be the successive closures of the Betic and Rifian corridors, isolating the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean

The Messinian salinity crisis: Looking for a new paradigm?, 2006, Roveri M. , Manzi V. ,

The importance of the sedimentary record of Messinian events in the Apennines foredeep is due to its geological and structural settings, which allow the reconstruction of the relationships between marginal and basinal settings and provide fundamental insights into some important issues. A geologic-stratigraphic model of the Messinian Apennine foredeep indicating a possible solution for closing the last `Messinian gap' is here presented. Moreover, the establishment of a preliminary high-resolution stratigraphy for the terminal Lago Mare stage allows us to attempt Mediterranean-scale correlations across different structural settings.The Messinian evolution of the Apennine foredeep and some considerations of adjacent areas suggest the great importance of tectonic deformation in controlling Messinian events. The intra-Messinian unconformity is a common feature of the marginal basins of the Mediterranean, and it is associated in many cases to the collapse and resedimentation of primary evaporites. The genesis of such unconformity seems to be strictly related to a general tectonic reorganization of the Mediterranean area. Preliminary observation on the stratigraphy of the Lago Mare stage suggest that the high-frequency lithological cyclicity observed in the non-marine deposits of this stage, as well as the superimposed transgressive trend, are common to many Mediterranean basins. These characteristic features might reflect the interplay between a longer-term tectonic trend and higher-frequency, precession-related, climatic changes; this could represent a fundamental tool for establishing a high-resolution stratigraphic framework of the latest Messinian allowing long-distance correlations between terrestrial and marine ecosystems and hence more accurate palaeoenvironmental studies