Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 13.6
High-resolution marine and terrestrial records from the Mediterranean
basin between c. 50 and 10 ka (see fi gure 13.5). The upper fi gure (a) shows the marine
record from core MD95-2043 in the Alboran Sea showing discrete cooling events in
the western Mediterranean Sea in response to Heinrich Events in the North Atlantic
(modifi ed after Cacho et al., 1999). The lower fi gure (b) shows the response of the
temperate tree populations at three sites in Greece (table 13.2). See text for discussion
(modifi ed from Tzedakis et al., 2004).
13.6b and the impact of Heinrich Event 4 is especially clear at Ioannina and Kopais
(table 13.2). A key challenge is to establish the impact of Heinrich Events on
resource availability and human survival strategies at these times.
In the same kinds of deep limestone caves that contain the ice age art mentioned
earlier, important high-resolution records of climate change have been recovered
from speleothems in the Mediterranean region (fi gure 13.7). Speleothems are the
product of calcium carbonate precipitation from groundwater. This process takes
place very slowly over long periods of time and they record the changing oxygen
isotopic composition of the groundwater. Speleothems can be dated using the
uranium-series method and this provides a robust chronological framework. These
caverns and their hydrology are also sensitive environmental systems and they have
recorded the impact of Heinrich Events, for example, in the most easterly parts of
the Mediterranean region over 4,000 km from the North Atlantic Ocean. An
example from Soreq Cave in Israel is shown in fi gure 13.7. It shows marine isotope
stages 1 to 6 with evidence of rapid environmental change within MIS 5 as well as
rapid and high-amplitude change between 50,000 and 10,000 years BP. This record
is important because it shows that the Heinrich Events in the North Atlantic
