Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Stable isotope records of Late Quaternary climate and hydrology from Mediterranean lakes : the ISOMED synthesis

Reed, Jane; Roberts, N.; Jones, M. D.; Benkaddour, A.; Eastwood, W. J.; Filippi, M. L.; Frogley, M. R.; Lamb, H. F.; Leng, Melanie; Leng, M. J.; Reed, J. M.; Stein, M.; Stevens, L.; Valero-Garc�s, Blas; Valero-Garcés, B.; Zanchetta, Giovanni; Zanchetta, G.

Authors

Jane Reed

N. Roberts

M. D. Jones

A. Benkaddour

W. J. Eastwood

M. L. Filippi

M. R. Frogley

H. F. Lamb

Melanie Leng

M. J. Leng

J. M. Reed

M. Stein

L. Stevens

Blas Valero-Garc�s

B. Valero-Garcés

Giovanni Zanchetta

G. Zanchetta



Abstract

Lake isotope records can be used to assess the spatial coherency of Late Quaternary climate change across the circum-Mediterranean region. We place modern and palaeo-data within a simple conceptual lake response model to show that the isotope hydrology of most Mediterranean lakes has been influenced strongly by water balance, even in those systems that are chemically dilute (i.e. freshwater). δ 18 O data on biogenic and endogenic carbonates from 24 lake basins are used to reconstruct multi-millennial-scale trends since the LGM. While it is difficult to make direct comparisons between lake records in terms of single climatic parameters, coherent regional isotopic trends can be identified. During glacial times Mediterranean lakes deposited carbonates isotopically heavier in δ 18 O compared to the Holocene, partly due to source area effects. Isotopic enrichment was most marked during intervals corresponding to the H1 and Younger Dryas events, confirming that Late Pleistocene cold stages in the North Atlantic region were marked by aridity around much of the Mediterranean. Almost all Mediterranean lake records shifted to more depleted isotopic values during the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition (LGIT). This shift is the reverse of the trend which characterised the same transition in lakes from northern and central Europe, and suggests that temperature changes were not an important direct driver of Mediterranean lake isotopic records over glacial-interglacial timescales. In the early Holocene, many lakes in the eastern part of the region were more depleted isotopically than in recent millennia. This corresponds with marine sapropel formation, both chronologically and geographically, and implies that increases in local rainfall contributed significantly to the creation of a freshwater lid and anoxia in the East Mediterranean Sea. In contrast, no such pattern is currently apparent from lake isotope records from the West Mediterranean, suggesting a possible NW-SE contrast in climate history during the Holocene. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Roberts, N., Jones, M. D., Benkaddour, A., Eastwood, W. J., Filippi, M. L., Frogley, M. R., …Zanchetta, G. (2008). Stable isotope records of Late Quaternary climate and hydrology from Mediterranean lakes : the ISOMED synthesis. Quaternary science reviews, 27(25-26), 2426-2441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.09.005

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 8, 2008
Online Publication Date Nov 7, 2008
Publication Date 2008-12
Deposit Date Nov 13, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Quaternary Science Reviews
Print ISSN 0277-3791
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 27
Issue 25-26
Pages 2426-2441
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.09.005
Keywords ISOMED synthesis; Hydrology; Quaternary
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/460789
Publisher URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379108002230?via%3Dihub