Structure of the 8200-Year Cold Event Revealed by a Speleothem Trace Element Record

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Publication Date

6-21-2002

Publication Title

Science

Volume Number

296

Issue Number

5576

Abstract

Abrupt first-order shifts in strontium and phosphorus concentrations in stalagmite calcite deposited in western Ireland during the 8200-year event (the major cooling episode 8200 years before the present) are interpreted as responses to a drier climate lasting about 37 years. Both shifts are centered on 8330 ± 80 years before the present, coinciding with a large oxygen isotope anomaly and a change in the calcite petrography. In this very high resolution (monthly) record, antipathetic second-order oscillations in phosphorus and strontium reveal decreased growth rates and increased rainfall seasonality. Growth rate variations within the event reveal a two-pronged structure consistent with recent model simulations.

Document Type

Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1071776

Language

English

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