TY - JOUR
T1 - Western Caucasus regional hydroclimate controlled by cold-season temperature variability since the Last Glacial Maximum
AU - Wolf, Annabel
AU - Baker, Jonathan Lloyd
AU - Tjallingii, Rik
AU - Cai, Yanjun
AU - Osinzev, Alexander
AU - Antonosyan, Mariya
AU - Amano, Noel
AU - Johnson, Kathleen Rose
AU - Skiba, Vanessa
AU - McCormack, Jeremy
AU - Kwiecien, Ola
AU - Chervyatsova, Olga Yakovlevna
AU - Dublyansky, Yuri Viktorovich
AU - Dbar, Roman Saidovich
AU - Cheng, Hai
AU - Breitenbach, Sebastian Franz Martin
N1 - Funding information: We are grateful to Kei Yoshimura and Jiaoyang Ruan for their help in accessing IsoGSM2 and CESM data. Russian weather-station data were accessed from http://meteo.ru (July 2022). Funding was awarded as follows: National Natural Science Foundation of China, NSFC 41888101 (J.L.B. and H.C.), NSFC 42050410316 (J.L.B. and H.C.), National Natural Science Foundation of China, 42130503 (Y.C.), and the U.S. Fulbright Scholar program (J.L.B.).
PY - 2024/2/5
Y1 - 2024/2/5
N2 - The Caucasus region is key for understanding early human dispersal and evolution in Eurasia, and characterizing the environmental contrast between Last Glacial Maximum and Holocene is crucial for investigating human adaptation strategies to large climatic shifts. However, a paucity of high-resolution paleoclimate records leave this context largely unknown for early human populations in the Caucasus region. Based on our model-proxy comparison of high- and low-resolution records of 24 stalagmites from three caves, we find spatially distinct changes in vegetation and seasonality of precipitation, especially under glacial conditions. Supported by modern oxygen-isotope data and climate modeling, we identify a supraregional cold-season temperature control for oxygen isotopes in Black Sea speleothems, which previously had been interpreted as a local moisture-source signal. Carbon-isotope and trace-element data further suggest disproportionate changes in vegetation cover and soil dynamics at high altitudes, which would have resulted in a reduction but not a disappearance of human refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum, relative to the current interglacial. Our findings imply that abrupt climatic pressures from harsh conditions were overcome by adaptive strategies in the past.
AB - The Caucasus region is key for understanding early human dispersal and evolution in Eurasia, and characterizing the environmental contrast between Last Glacial Maximum and Holocene is crucial for investigating human adaptation strategies to large climatic shifts. However, a paucity of high-resolution paleoclimate records leave this context largely unknown for early human populations in the Caucasus region. Based on our model-proxy comparison of high- and low-resolution records of 24 stalagmites from three caves, we find spatially distinct changes in vegetation and seasonality of precipitation, especially under glacial conditions. Supported by modern oxygen-isotope data and climate modeling, we identify a supraregional cold-season temperature control for oxygen isotopes in Black Sea speleothems, which previously had been interpreted as a local moisture-source signal. Carbon-isotope and trace-element data further suggest disproportionate changes in vegetation cover and soil dynamics at high altitudes, which would have resulted in a reduction but not a disappearance of human refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum, relative to the current interglacial. Our findings imply that abrupt climatic pressures from harsh conditions were overcome by adaptive strategies in the past.
U2 - 10.1038/s43247-023-01151-3
DO - 10.1038/s43247-023-01151-3
M3 - Article
SN - 2662-4435
VL - 5
JO - Communications Earth and Environment
JF - Communications Earth and Environment
IS - 1
M1 - 66
ER -
