Marco Delle Rose
National Research Council, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate,
Lecce
Italy
Research Article
Changes in Holocene Precipitation Pattern of the Central MediterraneanInferred from Hypogean Tufa Proxy Data
Author(s): Marco Delle RoseMarco Delle Rose
This paper deals with proxies preserved in hypogean tufas of a highly responsive region to climate changes, the central Mediterranean. Field studies allowed determining four stages of carbonate accretion driven by climatic and / or environmental shifts over the mid-late Holocene (i.e., the last eight millennia). The studied accretions show petrological analogies with the so called ?trays?, particular speleothems reported in few worldwide caves. Positive covariation between the ratios of oxygen and carbon isotopes is interpreted as due to climate signal. Hypogean tufas have recorded a long term (probably millennial-scale) reduction in precipitation and / or shift in storm trajectories as the interlacement of geological and geochemistry features suggests. Local conditions likely became severely dry over the transition from middle to late Holocene. Comparison between tufa archives and regio.. View More»
