Speleothem stable isotopes as recorders of climate change from the Eastern part of Europe and Turkey

Abstract

The region comprising of East Central Europe, South East Europe and Turkey contributed to the SISAL (Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and AnaLysis) global database with stable carbon- and oxygen isotope time-series from 37 speleothems from 24 caves. The temporal distribution of the compiled records from the region reach back to ~236 ka with sporadic data from the Sofular Cave (Turkey). The currently available oldest record from the studied region is the SO-14B record (Sofular Cave) reaching back to MIS 16. The regional subset of SISALv2 records displays a continuous coverage for both δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O for the past 160 kyr, with a mean temporal resolution of ~14 yr for the Holocene, and ~75 yr for the pre-Holocene period. The relationship between δ¹⁸O of modern precipitation (amount weighted annual and winter season mean values) and climatological parameters show a strong positive correlation in East Central Europe reinforcing the link between modern day precipitation δ¹⁸O, temperature and large-scale circulation (North Atlantic Oscillation) expected to be preserved in the speleothem δ¹⁸O record; while a negative relationship was documented between precipitation amount and oxygen isotope compositions in South East Europe. Variations of δ¹³C values are primarily interpreted as reflecting dry/wet periods across the region.