TY - JOUR
T1 - Multi-proxy validation of glacial-interglacial rainfall variations in southwest Sulawesi
AU - Kimbrough, Alena K.
AU - Gagan, Michael K.
AU - Dunbar, Gavin B.
AU - Hantoro, Wahyoe S.
AU - Shen, Chuan Chou
AU - Hu, Hsun Ming
AU - Cheng, Hai
AU - Edwards, R. Lawrence
AU - Rifai, Hamdi
AU - Suwargadi, Bambang W.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Speleothem δ18O is widely used as a proxy for rainfall amount in the tropics on glacial-interglacial to interannual scales. However, uncertainties in the interpretation of this renowned proxy pose a vexing problem in tropical paleoclimatology. Here, we present paired multi-proxy geochemical measurements for stalagmites from southwest Sulawesi, Indonesia, and confirm changes in rainfall amount across ice age terminations. Collectively, the stalagmites span two glacial-interglacial transitions from ~380,000 to 330,000 and 230,000 to 170,000 years ago. Mg/Ca in the slow-growing stalagmites is affected by water moving through the karst and prior calcite precipitation, making it a good proxy for changes in local rainfall. When paired, Mg/Ca and δ18O corroborate prominent shifts from drier glacials to wetter interglacials in the core of the Australasian monsoon domain. These shifts in rainfall occur 4,000-7,000 years later than glacial-interglacial increases in global temperature and the associated response of Sulawesi vegetation, determined by speleothem δ13C.
AB - Speleothem δ18O is widely used as a proxy for rainfall amount in the tropics on glacial-interglacial to interannual scales. However, uncertainties in the interpretation of this renowned proxy pose a vexing problem in tropical paleoclimatology. Here, we present paired multi-proxy geochemical measurements for stalagmites from southwest Sulawesi, Indonesia, and confirm changes in rainfall amount across ice age terminations. Collectively, the stalagmites span two glacial-interglacial transitions from ~380,000 to 330,000 and 230,000 to 170,000 years ago. Mg/Ca in the slow-growing stalagmites is affected by water moving through the karst and prior calcite precipitation, making it a good proxy for changes in local rainfall. When paired, Mg/Ca and δ18O corroborate prominent shifts from drier glacials to wetter interglacials in the core of the Australasian monsoon domain. These shifts in rainfall occur 4,000-7,000 years later than glacial-interglacial increases in global temperature and the associated response of Sulawesi vegetation, determined by speleothem δ13C.
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U2 - 10.1038/s43247-023-00873-8
DO - 10.1038/s43247-023-00873-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85161797735
SN - 2662-4435
VL - 4
JO - Communications Earth and Environment
JF - Communications Earth and Environment
IS - 1
M1 - 210
ER -
