Late Pleistocene–Holocene climatic implications of high‐resolution stable isotope profiles of a speleothem from south‐central Anatolia, Turkey

Abstract

High-resolution 230 Th ages and stable isotope (δ 18 O and δ 13 C) records from a stalagmite that grew between 39 and 2 ka in Incesu Cave located in south-central Anatolia allow us to evaluate paleoclimate conditions for growth periods during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3) and the Holocene. High δ 18 O values and Heinrich events H3 and H4 are observed during the MIS3 interval. After a dry period in the Younger Dryas, low values between ca. 10 and 5.3 ka suggest a transition to wet mid-to early Holocene conditions. In the early Holocene, there are drier periods at 9.4 and 10.3 ka, coincident with cooling events recorded in the North Atlantic sediments and, after 5.3 ka a relatively dry late Holocene is seen. The IN-01 isotope record is in phase with general trends of speleothem records in Turkey and the Eastern Mediterranean but differs in detail at the millennial scale. The more depleted δ 18 O values of IN-01 compared to those of Eastern Mediterranean speleothems during the Holocene indicate that central Anatolian winter rainfall was isotopically influenced by the same air mass trajectories derived from the North Atlantic and Mediterranean with an isotopic rain shadow effect.

Climate variability in the northern Levant from the highly resolved Qadisha record (Lebanon) during the Holocene optimum

“…This isotopic source effect is expressed in the Soreq, Peqiin (Bar-Mathews et al, 2003; Bar-Mathews and Ayalon, 2011; Burstyn et al, 2022), and Jeita Cave records (Verheyden et al, 2008; Cheng et al, 2015), with more negative oxygen isotope values following the depletion of sea-surface δ 18 O as resolved from planktonic foraminifera (Grant et al, 2016). In the southern Taurus Mountains, both Dim (Unal-Imer et al, 2015) and Incesu Cave records (Erkan et al, 2022) show a trend toward more depleted δ 18 O from ~10 to ~8 ka. Although the isotopic composition of the EM source is considered to have a primary effect on the δ 18 O signal of the terrestrial records, the isotopic δ 18 O depletion is amplified by increased rainfall (Emeis et al, 2003; Almogi-Labin et al, 2009), also leading to more negative δ 18 O values.…”

“…This isotopic source effect is expressed in the Soreq, Peqiin (Bar-Mathews et al, 2003;Bar-Mathews and Ayalon, 2011;Burstyn et al, 2022), and Jeita Cave records (Verheyden et al, 2008;Cheng et al, 2015), with more negative oxygen isotope values following the depletion of sea-surface δ 18 O as resolved from planktonic foraminifera (Grant et al, 2016). In the southern Taurus Mountains, both Dim (Unal-Imer et al, 2015) and Incesu Cave records (Erkan et al, 2022) show a trend toward more depleted δ 18 O from ∼10 to ∼8 ka. Although the isotopic composition of the EM source is considered to have a primary effect on the δ 18 O signal of the terrestrial records, the isotopic δ 18 O depletion is amplified by (Torfstein et al, 2013a(Torfstein et al, , 2013b, Soreq Cave (Bar- Matthews et al, 2003;Burstyn et al, 2022), Zalmon Cave (Keinan et al, 2019), Peqiin Cave (Bar- Matthews et al, 2003), Mizpe Shelagim (MS) Cave (Ayalon et al, 2013), Ammiq peat record (Hajjar et al, 2010), Jeita Cave (Verheyden et al, 2008;Cheng et al, 2015), Yammouneh basin (Develle et al, 2010), El-Jurd peat record (Chedaddi and Khater, 2016), Ghab core (Van Zeist and Woldring, 1980;Yasuda et al, 2000), Sağlik peat (Sekeryapan et al, 2020), Incesu Cave (Erkan et al, 2022), Dim Cave (Ünal-Imer et al, 2015, LC21 (Grant et al, 2012), and ODP 967 (Emeis et al, 2003;Scrivner et al, 2004).…”

“…During the past decades, several synthesis reports were prepared on paleoclimate studies in the EM (Robinson et al, 2006; Finné et al, 2011; Burstyn et al, 2019), compiling many marine (Rossignol-Strick and Paterne, 1999; Kallel et al 2000; Emeis et al 2003; Almogi-Labin et al, 2009) and terrestrial records spanning the Holocene (Frumkin et al 2000; Bar-Matthews et al 2003; Verheyden et al, 2008; Develle et al 2010; Rowe et al, 2012; Ayalon et al, 2013; Cheng et al, 2015; Gasse et al, 2015; Ünal-İmer et al, 2015; Cheddadi and Khater, 2016; Flohr et al, 2017; Carolin et al, 2019; Sinha et al, 2019; Jacobson et al, 2021; Burstyn et al, 2022; Erkan et al, 2022). Focusing more on the Levantine coast, from the Sinai and Negev Deserts to the southern flanks of the Taurus Mountains in Turkey, and including Cyprus, studies have revealed a general climatic state of a wet and warm Early Holocene from ~10 to ~6 ka during maximum summer insolation, coeval with the deposition of Sapropel S1.…”

New paleohydroclimate record of the MIS 5e/5d transition from Yelini Cave, central Anatolian region of Türkiye

“…Speleothem-based paleoclimate studies in Türkiye are mostly focused on the last ice age or the Holocene period, some with important linkages with early human settlements (Fleitmann et al, 2009; Göktürk et al, 2011; Rowe et al, 2012; Ünal-İmer et al, 2015, 2016a; Koç et al, 2020; Erkan et al, 2021; Jacobson et al, 2021, 2022). The oldest records from the region are from Sofular (Badertscher et al, 2011) in NW Türkiye and Dim Cave (Rowe et al, 2020) from SSW Türkiye.…”

“…In the case of Yelini Cave, the evaporation component in the P−E balance might be important due to atmospheric circulation at the geographical location of the studied cave. The barrier effect of the mountain ranges in the northern and southern parts of Türkiye prevents moisture from moving inland(Erkan et al, 2021), resulting in a prevalence of semi-arid climatic conditions around Yelini Cave.In arid and semi-arid areas, near-surface evaporation processes are reflected as seasonal variations in δ18 O (McDermott et al, 2006, and references therein). Schemmel et al (2013) reported a modern meteoric water study suggesting that the general trend of increase in δD and δ 18 O from the sheltered sides of the mountain ranges in the southern and northern parts of Türkiye to the interior Central Anatolian Plateau (CAP) is the result of increased sub-cloud and surface evaporation due to drought conditions.…”