Dual archive paleotemperature records over two pre-LGM stadial/interstadials in East Central Europe
<p>The generally cold climate of the last glacial period was interrupted by numerous abrupt shifts to warmer interstadial conditions in the North Atlantic. The effects of this Dansgaard&#8211;Oeschger (D&#8211;O) type climatic variability have been found in a number of European and Asian terrestrial paleoclimate archives, including speleothems, lakes and loess deposits. However, only very few of the already sparse precisely dated records provide quantitative information on stadial-interstadial temperature variations over this time period. This is a major impediment to resolving the cause and geographical propagation of D-O events, as well as to understanding the impact they have on continental climates and environments.</p><p>Here we present carbonate clumped isotope (<em>&#916;<sub>47</sub></em>)-based active season paleotemperature (AST) estimates from land snails recovered from Greenland Stadial/Interstadial (GS/GI) 5 and 3 age loess at the Dunaszekcs&#337; loess site (Hungary), based on a uniquely detailed AMS <sup>14</sup>C age dataset, alongside a new flowstone (PK-6, B&#252;kk&#246;sd, Hungary) stable isotope-based temperature change record <sup>230</sup>Th-dated to 30-26 ka. Stadial ASTs of the investigated periods were found to be in the range of 7&#8211;13 &#176;C, corresponding to <em>T<sub>annual</sub></em> of 0&#8211;6 &#176;C and <em>T<sub>July</sub></em> of 11&#8211;17 &#176;C, agreeing well with the range of model simulation results for the region. Interstadial AST values reconstructed for GI-5.1 and 3 (16&#8211;18 &#176;C) indicate warm summers (<em>T<sub>July</sub></em>: 20&#8211;22 &#176;C) and relatively high annual mean temperatures (<em>T<sub>annual</sub></em>: 9&#8211;11 &#176;C), matching present-day values. The PK-6 flowstone &#948;<sup>18</sup>O<sub>calcite</sub>-based temperature change estimates (~0.2 &#8240; &#176;C<sup>&#8211;1 </sup>&#948;<sup>18</sup>O/T gradient) reveal a 7&#8211;10 &#176;C <em>T<sub>annual</sub></em> rise for the warmest phases of GI-3 and 4 compared to stadial temperatures, in very good agreement with the land snail <em>T&#916;<sub>47</sub></em> values.</p><p>Our results show that stadial-interstadial climate variability in East Central Europe was of comparable magnitude to that in Greenland. We propose that large scale ocean-atmospheric variability (NAO-AMO) imparts a major control on transmitting abrupt North Atlantic climate event signals into continental Europe during the last glacial.</p><p>&#160;</p><p>This study was funded by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office to G&#218; (OTKA PD-108639) and SK (OTKA KH-125584). TS is grateful for the support of the Swedish Research Council (2017-03888).</p>