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Holocene warming in western continental Eurasia driven by glacial retreat and greenhouse forcing

Nature Geoscience volume 10, pages 430–435 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

The global temperature evolution during the Holocene is poorly known. Whereas proxy data suggest that warm conditions prevailed in the Early to mid-Holocene with subsequent cooling, model reconstructions show long-term warming associated with ice-sheet retreat and rising greenhouse gas concentrations. One reason for this contradiction could be the under-representation of indicators for winter climate in current global proxy reconstructions. Here we present records of carbon and oxygen isotopes from two U–Th-dated stalagmites from Kinderlinskaya Cave in the southern Ural Mountains that document warming during the winter season from 11,700 years ago to the present. Our data are in line with the global Holocene temperature evolution reconstructed from transient model simulations. We interpret Eurasian winter warming during the Holocene as a response to the retreat of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets until about 7,000 years ago, and to rising atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and winter insolation thereafter. We attribute negative δ18O anomalies 11,000 and 8,200 years ago to enhanced meltwater forcing of North Atlantic Ocean circulation, and a rapid decline of δ13C during the Early Holocene with stabilization after about 10,000 years ago to afforestation at our study site. We conclude that winter climate dynamics dominated Holocene temperature evolution in the continental interior of Eurasia, in contrast to regions more proximal to the ocean.

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Figure 1: Results from stable-isotope and geochronological analysis.
Figure 2: Overview of Holocene climate dynamics related to KC δ18O.
Figure 3: Continental proxy records of Holocene warming.
Figure 4: Comparison of KC δ18O with model and proxy reconstructions of Holocene surface temperature.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to N. Rychagova, the Ufa Speleo Club, and P. Yakubson for cave access and assistance with stalagmite sampling. We thank J. Alder, O. Timm, Z. Liu and R. Smith for providing palaeoclimate model data. Fieldwork and cave monitoring equipment were funded by grants to J.L.B. from the National Speleological Society, Geological Society of America, William J. Fulbright Foundation, and the UNLV Graduate and Professional Student Association. Stable-isotope analyses were supported by NSF grant EAR-0521196 to M.S.L. and facilities support by UNLV, and by EAR-0326902 to UNM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154, USA

    Jonathan L. Baker & Matthew S. Lachniet

  2. Shulgan-Tash State Nature Reserve, Gadelgareevo 453588, Russia

    Olga Chervyatsova

  3. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA

    Yemane Asmerom & Victor J. Polyak

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  1. Jonathan L. Baker
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Contributions

J.L.B., M.S.L. and O.C. designed the study; J.L.B. and O.C. completed the fieldwork. J.L.B. and M.S.L. performed stable-isotope analyses; Y.A. and V.J.P. performed U-series dating. J.L.B. wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to data interpretation and the preparation of the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jonathan L. Baker.

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Baker, J., Lachniet, M., Chervyatsova, O. et al. Holocene warming in western continental Eurasia driven by glacial retreat and greenhouse forcing. Nature Geosci 10, 430–435 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2953

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