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Paleoclimate and vegetation of the Last Glacial Cycles in Jerusalem from a Speleothem Record
Author(s) -
Frumkin Amos,
Ford Derek C.,
Schwarcz Henry P.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/1999gb001245
Subject(s) - speleothem , glacial period , interglacial , geology , physical geography , paleoclimatology , vegetation (pathology) , stadial , marine isotope stage , climate change , climatology , cave , paleontology , oceanography , geography , archaeology , pathology , medicine
A speleothem isotopic record taken from Jerusalem is used to reconstruct regional climate over the last 170,000 years. Glacial periods in Jerusalem were generally cooler and wetter than the present climate. Stage 5e in the desert margin of Jerusalem was extremely unstable, dry, and warm, and instability persisted throughout the transition to glacial conditions. The climate after stage 5e became gradually cooler and wetter over a 20,000‐year interval and did not recover to interglacial conditions in stages 5c and 5a. The δ 13 C varied by up to 12‰, from glacial (stages 6, 4, 3, 2) values of −10 to −12‰ that reflect dense C 3 vegetation above the studied cave, and up to 0‰ in early stage 5 when there was probably complete loss of vegetation. The climatic instability during interglacial periods is much larger than during glacial periods, and glacial/interglacial transitions do not behave the same in each climatic cycle in this region.