Late-glacial and Holocene climate reconstruction as inferred from a stalagmite - grotte du Père Noël, Han-sur-Lesse, Belgium
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Geological Survey, Jenner straat 13, B-1000 Brussels and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. E-mail: sophie.verheyden@naturalsciences.be
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Université de Mons, Rue de Houdain 9, B-7000 Mons, Belgium.
Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China and Department of Geological Sciences, University of Minnesota, 100 Union Street SE, Minneapolis MN 55455, USA.
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Minnesota, 100 Union Street SE, Minneapolis MN 55455, USA.
Abstract
The 64.5 cm long Père Noël stalagmite PN-95-5 was deposited between 12.9 ka and 1.8 ka (U-series dated) with an uncertainty on the ages of the order of ca. 100 years. Besides changes in the macroscopic aspect of the stalagmite along its longitudinal section, changes in its isotopic (18O and 3C) and chemical (Sr/Ca, Mg/Ca) composition are observed. These changes, combined with changes in stalagmite diameter are interpreted in terms of changes in climate in the Han-sur-Lesse region. This multi-proxy approach based on previous studies of the chemical and isotopic functioning of the cave suggests a generally wet early Holocene, important and rapid dry-wet changes around 8.5 ka, a wetter and warmer period between 7.9 ka and 6.6 ka and a dry and/or colder climate after 6.6 ka. This preliminary interpretation from the Père Noël speleothem should be tested against other speleothems and from other caves to construct a regional climate model for the Holocene.