A speleothem perspective on millennial-scale climate change in south-eastern Europe during the last glacial

Abstract

High-resolution stable O isotope data from two U-Th dated speleothems from Romania, one from Tăuşoare cave in N Romania spanning the last 68 ka, and one from Ascunsă cave in S Romania spanning the interval between  47 ka and  30 ka BP record a regional N-S climate contrast in SE Europe during marine isotope stage 3.  The Tăuşoare data-set records "Heinrich-stadial" type cold events (low δ18O) throughout MIS 3. While the magnitude of speleothem δ18O variability in N Romania is much less pronounced in comparison to Sofular cave in NW Turkey, the pacing is generally similar. That suggests a common response to Atlantic millennial scale climate variability as observed in the Greenland record, but without the magnification of the δ18O signal observed in NW Turkey due to a local Black Sea source effect. The short time-interval recorded in Ascunsă cave (S Romania), however, shows virtually no similarity in δ18O with the corresponding section at Tăuşoare in N Romania, but instead resembles the record from Soreq cave (Israel).