16 Oct 2014
Speleothems from the Alps have proven to be sensitive archives of cold climate periods showing high-amplitude shifts in the oxygen isotope composition very similar to the famous Dansgaard-Oeschger pattern known from Greenland ice cores. We have now extended our previous U-Th-dated record from alpine stalagmites between 120 and 60 ka (Boch et al., 2011) to 35 ka, covering most of Marine Isotope Stages 4 and 3. The new record is based on four stalagmites from Hölloch, a cave straddling the Austrian-German border in the Allgäu. The new data demonstrate at unprecedented precision a 1:1 link between central Europe and Greenland during rapid climate shifts. Our data also have implications for the absolute chronology of the Greenland ice cores.
The article is available as open-access publication here.
A press release (in German) can be accessed here.
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