Seasonal temperature and ventilation changes govern proxy-signal transfer into caves in northern Mongolia

Cave monitoring is essential for the accurate interpretation of speleothem-based environmental proxies and is a necessary first step for caves of interest in palaeoenvironmental studies. Cave temperature and humidity data collected during two years from three caves in the karst region south-southwest of lake Khuvsgul in northern Mongolia are presented, with the aim of aiding understanding of ventilation patterns and providing context for future speleothem-based environmental reconstructions. The results show that local topography and cave geometry play important roles in cave temperature regimes and ventilation dynamics, with sub-vertical caves ventilating most strongly in winter. Such seasonal ventilation change indicates that airborne proxies, such as dust or pollen, are more likely to reach speleothems in winter, whereas dripwater-derived proxies such as isotopic composition, trace element composition and soil-derived biomarkers are biased towards the active infiltration season during summer.