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Paleoclimate reconstruction in the Levant region from the geochemistry of a Holocene stalagmite from the Jeita cave, Lebanon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Sophie Verheyden ,
Fadi H. Nader ,
Hai J. Cheng ,
Lawrence R. Edwards  and
Rudy Swennen
Sophie Verheyden
Affiliation:
Université Libre de Bruxelles, Département des Sciences de la Terre et de l’Environnement (DSTE), CP 160/02 Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, 1050 Brussels, Belgium National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS), Belgium
Fadi H. Nader
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, American University of Beirut, PO Box: 11-0236/2010 Beirut – Lebanon
Hai J. Cheng
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive, SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Lawrence R. Edwards
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive, SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Rudy Swennen
Affiliation:
Geologie, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, B-3001 Heverlee – Leuven, Belgium
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Abstract

Dated oxygen and carbon isotopic profiles from a Holocene stalagmite (11.9–1.1 ka) from the Jeita cave, Lebanon, are compared to variations in crystallographic habit, stalagmite diameter and growth rate. The profiles show generally high δ18O and δ13C values during the late-glacial period, low values during the early Holocene, and again high values after 5.8 ka. On the basis of the good correlation between the morphological and crystallographic aspect of the stalagmite and its isotopic records, as well as the isotopic response of speleothems from central and northern Israel, we relate high δ18O and δ13C values to drier conditions. Between 6.5 and 5.8 ka an increase in isotopic values, a decrease in growth rate and stalagmite diameter suggest a transition from wet conditions in the early Holocene towards drier conditions in the mid-Holocene. The transition occurred in two steps, first a progressive change to drier conditions started at 6.5 ka but was interrupted by a short (∼ 100 years) return to wetter conditions, followed by an equally rapid (< 200 years) change to drier conditions.

Keywords

SpeleothemsOxygen isotopesHoloceneJeitaLebanonLevantPaleoclimate
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 70 , Issue 3 , November 2008 , pp. 368 - 381
Copyright
University of Washington

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