Detection and origin of different types of annual laminae in recent stalagmites from Zoolithencave, southern Germany: Evaluation of the potential for quantitative reconstruction of past precipitation variability
Abstract. An arrangement of three stalagmites from Zoolithencave (southern Germany) was analysed for different types of annual laminae using both microscopic and geochemical methods. The speleothems show visible laminae (consisting of a clear and a brownish, pigmented layer pair) as well as fluorescent and elemental laminae. The age of the speleothems was constrained to 1800 to 1970 AD by 14C-dating of a charcoal piece below the speleothems, detection of the 14C bomb peak, as well as counting of annual laminae. Dating by the 230Th/U-method was impossible due to detrital contamination. On the annual time-scale, the variability of Mg, Ba, and Sr is controlled by Prior Calcite Precipitation (P…
Holocene interaction of maritime and continental climate in Central Europe: New speleothem evidence from Central Germany
Central European climate is strongly influenced by North Atlantic (Westerlies) and Siberian High circulation patterns, which govern precipitation and temperature dynamics and induce heterogeneous climatic conditions, with distinct boundaries between climate zones. These climate boundaries are not stationary and shift geographically, depending on long-term atmospheric conditions. So far, little is known about past shifts of these climate boundaries and the local to regional environmental response prior to the instrumental era.\ud \ud High resolution multi-proxy data (stable oxygen and carbon isotope ratios, S/Ca and Sr/Ca) from two Holocene stalagmites from Bleßberg Cave (Thuringia) are used…