TY - JOUR
T1 - Drying in the Middle East during Northern Hemisphere cold events of the early glacial period
AU - Carolin, Stacy
AU - Ersek, Vasile
AU - Roberts, William
AU - Walker, Richard
AU - Henderson, Gideon M.
PY - 2019/12/16
Y1 - 2019/12/16
N2 - Few paleoclimate records exist to assess the central Middle East’s response to natural forcing beyond the instrumental record. Here we present a multi-proxy stalagmite-based climate reconstruction from Iran’s semi-arid northeast that spans 100-70 thousand years before present(ka). During severe cold (stadial) events in the North Atlantic at ≈88, 77, and 73 ka, stalagmite trace-element data indicate anomalously dry periods at this location. Stadial event increases in the stalagmite oxygen isotopes mirror those in a published Iranian stalagmite 800 km to the west. A global climate model simulates drying across the Middle East region in response to stadial event forcing, in agreement with oxygen isotope enrichments in both Iranian records, caused by a smaller fractional loss of moisture on the trajectory upstream. The paleoproxies and model experiments are consistent in indicating a drier Middle East climate during the cold North Atlantic stadials.
AB - Few paleoclimate records exist to assess the central Middle East’s response to natural forcing beyond the instrumental record. Here we present a multi-proxy stalagmite-based climate reconstruction from Iran’s semi-arid northeast that spans 100-70 thousand years before present(ka). During severe cold (stadial) events in the North Atlantic at ≈88, 77, and 73 ka, stalagmite trace-element data indicate anomalously dry periods at this location. Stadial event increases in the stalagmite oxygen isotopes mirror those in a published Iranian stalagmite 800 km to the west. A global climate model simulates drying across the Middle East region in response to stadial event forcing, in agreement with oxygen isotope enrichments in both Iranian records, caused by a smaller fractional loss of moisture on the trajectory upstream. The paleoproxies and model experiments are consistent in indicating a drier Middle East climate during the cold North Atlantic stadials.
U2 - 10.1029/2019gl084365
DO - 10.1029/2019gl084365
M3 - Article
VL - 46
SP - 14003
EP - 14010
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
SN - 0094-8276
IS - 23
ER -