A 14,000-year diatom oxygen isotope record from the Romanian South Carpathians reflect changes in the seasonal distribution of precipitation and temperature

Abstract

Oxygen isotope records from lacustrine sediments have the potential to reflect short-term and long-term changes in temperature, seasonal changes in the distribution of precipitation and changes in lake water budget determined by the evaporation to inflow ratio. This proxy has widely been used in the Alps and NW Europe to provide high-resolution temperature or evaporation records, but similar studies in the Carpathians are missing. Here we provide a continuous Lateglacial and Holocene record of diatom silica oxygen isotope changes (δ¹⁸O_DIAT) in a subalpine lake sediment sequence coming from the northern flank of the Retezat Mts (Taul dintre Brazi, TDB, 1740 m a.s.l.).