@article{HeringStinnesbeckFolmeisteretal.2018, author = {Hering, Fabio and Stinnesbeck, Wolfgang and Folmeister, Jens and Frey, Eberhard and Stinnesbeck, Sarah and Aviles, Jeronimo and Nunez, Eugenio Aceves and Gonzalez, Arturo and Mata, Alejandro Terrazas and Benavente, Martha Elena and Rojas, Carmen and Morlet, Adriana Velazquez and Frank, Norbert and Zell, Patrick and Becker, Julia}, title = {The Chan Hol cave near Tulum (Quintana Roo, Mexico)}, series = {Journal of quaternary science}, volume = {33}, journal = {Journal of quaternary science}, number = {4}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0267-8179}, doi = {10.1002/jqs.3025}, pages = {444 -- 454}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Numerous charcoal accumulations discovered in the submerged Chan Hol cave near Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico, have been C-14-dated revealing ages between 8110 +/- 28 C-14 a BP (9122-8999 cal a BP) and 7177 +/- 27 C-14 a BP (8027-7951 cal a BP). These charcoal concentrations, interpreted here as ancient illumination sites, provide strong evidence that the Chan Hol cave was dry and accessible during that time interval. Humans used the cave for at least 1200 years during the early and middle Holocene, before access was successively interrupted by global sea level rise and flooding of the cave system. Our data thus narrow the gap between an early settlement in the Tulum area reaching from the late Pleistocene (similar to 13 000 a) to middle Holocene (e.g. 7177 C-14 a BP), and the Maya Formative period at approximately 3000 a bp. Yet, no evidence has been presented to date for human settlement during the similar to 4000-year interval between 7000 and 3000 a. This is remarkable as settlement in other areas of south-eastern Mexico (e.g. Chiapas, Tabasco) and in Guatemala was apparently continuous.}, language = {en} } @article{FohlmeisterArpsSpoetletal.2018, author = {Fohlmeister, Jens Bernd and Arps, Jennifer and Spoetl, Christoph and Schroeder-Ritzrau, Andrea and Plessen, Birgit and G{\"u}nter, Christina and Frank, Norbert and Tr{\"u}ssel, Martin}, title = {Carbon and oxygen isotope fractionation in the water-calcite-aragonite system}, series = {Geochimica et cosmochimica acta : journal of the Geochemical Society and the Meteoritical Society}, volume = {235}, journal = {Geochimica et cosmochimica acta : journal of the Geochemical Society and the Meteoritical Society}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0016-7037}, doi = {10.1016/j.gca.2018.05.022}, pages = {127 -- 139}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The precise determination of the stable C and O isotope fractionation between water and calcite (CC) and water and aragonite (AR) is of special interest for climate reconstructions, e.g. paleotemperatures. Previous studies reported results from both laboratory and field experiments, but their results are only partly consistent. Here we present C and O isotope data of a stalagmite from the Swiss Alps, which shows CC-AR transitions along individual growth layers. Using detailed analyses both laterally and perpendicular to such layers we examined the difference in the C and O isotope fractionation factor of the HCO3- - CC and the HCO3- - AR system. For O this difference is similar to the water-CC and water-AR offset provided in experimental studies. The O isotope fractionation difference in the water-CC and water-AR system is comparable to those determined in laboratory studies but shows a statistically significant correlation with the CaCO3 precipitation rate. For C we found a fractionation difference, which is independent of CaCO3 precipitation rate and with slightly smaller values for the fractionation offset between HCO3- - CC and HCO3- - AR compared to literature values. However, we also found an unexpected decrease in delta C-13 along growth layers, which contradicts the widely used concept of Rayleigh fractionation during CO2 degassing and CaCO3 precipitation. The results of this study can be used e.g., to correct stable isotope time series of stalagmites showing CC-AR transitions along their growth axes. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{WarkenFohlmeisterSchroederRitzrauhetal.2018, author = {Warken, Sophie Friederike and Fohlmeister, Jens Bernd and Schr{\"o}der-Ritzrauh, Andrea and Constantin, Silviu and Sp{\"o}tl, Christoph and Gerdes, Axel and Esper, Jan and Frank, Norbert and Arps, Jennifer and Terente, Mihai and Riechelmann, Dana Felicitas Christine and Mangini, Augusto and Scholz, Denis}, title = {Reconstruction of late Holocene autumn/winter precipitation variability in SW Romania from a high-resolution speleothem trace element record}, series = {Earth \& planetary science letters}, volume = {499}, journal = {Earth \& planetary science letters}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0012-821X}, doi = {10.1016/j.epsl.2018.07.027}, pages = {122 -- 133}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We present the first high-resolution trace element (Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca) record from a stalagmite in southwestern Romania covering the last 3.6 ka, which provides the potential for quantitative climate reconstruction. Precise age control is based on three independent dating methods, in particular for the last 250 yr, where chemical lamina counting is combined with the identification of the 20th century radiocarbon bomb peak and Th-230/U dating. Long-term cave monitoring and model simulations of drip water and speleothem elemental variability indicate that precipitation-related processes are the main drivers of speleothem Mg/Ca ratios. Calibration against instrumental climate data shows a significant anti-correlation of speleothem Mg/Ca ratios with autumn/winter (October to March) precipitation (r = -0.61, p < 0.01), which is statistically robust when considering age uncertainties and auto-correlation. This relationship is used to develop a quantitative reconstruction of autumn/winter precipitation. During the late Holocene, our data suggest a heterogeneous pattern of past regional winter hydroclimate in the Carpathian/Balkan realm, along with intermittent weakening of the dominant influence of North Atlantic forcing. In agreement with other regional paleo-hydrological reconstructions, the observed variability reveals periodically occurring strong NW-SE hydro-climate gradients. We hypothesize, that this pattern is caused by shifts of the eastern edge of the area of influence of the NAO across central eastern Europe due to the confluence of North Atlantic forcing, and other climatic features such as the East Atlantic/Western Russia (EAWR) pattern. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{RiechelmanFohlmeisterKlugeetal.2019, author = {Riechelman, Dana F. C. and Fohlmeister, Jens Bernd and Kluge, Tobias and Jochum, Klaus Peter and Richter, Detlev K. and Deininger, Michael and Friedrich, Ronny and Frank, Norbert and Scholz, Denis}, title = {Evaluating the potential of tree-ring methodology for cross-dating of three annually laminated stalagmites from Zoolithencave (SE Germany)}, series = {Quaternary geochronology : the international research and review journal on advances in quaternary dating techniques}, volume = {52}, journal = {Quaternary geochronology : the international research and review journal on advances in quaternary dating techniques}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1871-1014}, doi = {10.1016/j.quageo.2019.04.001}, pages = {37 -- 50}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Three small stalagmites from Zoolithencave (southern Germany) show visible laminae, which consist of a clear and a brownish, pigmented layer pair. This potentially provides the opportunity to construct precise chronologies by counting annual laminae. The growth period of the three stalagmites was constrained by the C-14 bomb peak in the youngest part of all three stalagmites and C-14-dating of a piece of charcoal in the consolidated base part of stalagmite Zoo-rez-2. These data suggest an age of AD 1970 for the top laminae and a lower age limit of AD 1973-1682 or AD 1735-1778. Laminae were counted and their thickness determined on scanned thin sections of all stalagmites. On stalagmites Zoo-rez-1 and -2, three tracks were measured near the growth axes, each separated into three sections at prominent anchor laminae (I, II, III). Each section was replicated three times (a, b, c). For Zoo-rez-3, only one track was measured. The total number of laminae counted for Zoo-rez-1 ranges from 138 to 177, for Zoo-rez-2 from 119 to 145, and for Zoo-rez-3 from 159 to 166. The numbers agree well with the range constrained by the bomb peak and the age of the charcoal, which supports the annual origin of the laminae. The replicated measurements of the different tracks as well as the three different tracks on the stalagmites Zoo-rez-1 and-2 were cross-dated using the TSAP-Win (R) tree-ring software. This software is very useful for cross-dating because it enables to insert or delete missing or false laminae as well as identifying common pattern by shifting the series back and forth in time. However, visual inspection of the thin sections was necessary to confirm detection of missing or false laminae by TSAP-Win (R). For all three Zoo-rez speleothems, crossdating of the mean lamina thickness series was not possible due to a missing common pattern. The cross-dating procedure results in three refined chronologies for the three Zoo-rez stalagmites of ranging from AD 1821-1970 (Zoo-rez-1), AD 1835-1970 (Zoo-rez-2), and AD 1808-1970 (Zoo-rez-3).}, language = {en} } @article{StinnesbeckBeckerHeringetal.2017, author = {Stinnesbeck, Wolfgang and Becker, Julia and Hering, Fabio and Frey, Eberhard and Gonzalez Gonzalez, Arturo and Fohlmeister, Jens Bernd and Stinnesbeck, Sarah and Frank, Norbert and Terrazas Mata, Alejandro and Elena Benavente, Martha and Aviles Olguin, Jeronimo and Aceves Nunez, Eugenio and Zell, Patrick and Deininger, Michael}, title = {The earliest settlers of Mesoamerica date back to the late Pleistocene}, series = {PLoS one}, volume = {12}, journal = {PLoS one}, publisher = {PLoS}, address = {San Fransisco}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0183345}, pages = {20}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Preceramic human skeletal remains preserved in submerged caves near Tulum in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, reveal conflicting results regarding C-14 dating. Here we use U-series techniques for dating a stalagmite overgrowing the pelvis of a human skeleton discovered in the submerged Chan Hol cave. The oldest closed system U/Th age comes from around 21 mm above the pelvis defining the terminus ante quem for the pelvis to 11311 +/- 370 y BP. However, the skeleton might be considerable older, probably as old as 13 ky BP as indicated by the speleothem stable isotope data. The Chan Hol individual confirms a late Pleistocene settling of Mesoamerica and represents one of the oldest human osteological remains in America.}, language = {en} }