TY - JOUR A1 - Apaestegui, James A1 - Cruz, Francisco William A1 - Vuille, Mathias A1 - Fohlmeister, Jens Bernd A1 - Carlo Espinoza, Jhan A1 - Sifeddine, Abdelfettah A1 - Strikis, Nicolas A1 - Guyot, Jean Loup A1 - Ventura, Roberto A1 - Cheng, Hai A1 - Edwards, R. Lawrence T1 - Precipitation changes over the eastern Bolivian Andes inferred from speleothem (delta O-18) records for the last 1400 years JF - Earth & planetary science letters N2 - Here we present high-resolution delta O-18 records obtained from speleothems collected in the eastern Bolivian Andes. The stable isotope records are related to the regional- to large-scale atmospheric circulation over South America and allow interpreting changes in delta O-18 during the last 1400 yr as a function of changes in precipitation regimes over the southern tropical Andes. Two distinct phases with more negative delta O-18 values, interpreted as periods of increased convective activity over the eastern Andean Cordillera in Bolivia are observed concomitantly with periods of global climate anomalies during the last millennium, such as the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and the Little Ice Age (LIA) respectively. Changes in the Bolivian delta O-18 record during the LIA are apparently related to a southward displacement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which acts as a main moisture driver to intensify convection over the tropical continent. During the MCA, however, the increased convective activity observed in the Bolivian record is likely the result of a different mechanism, which implies moisture sourced mainly from the southern tropical Atlantic. This interpretation is consistent with paleoclimate records further to the north in the tropical Andes that show progressively drier conditions during this time period, indicating a more northerly position of the ITCZ. The transition period between the MCA and the LIA shows a slight tendency toward increased delta O-18 values, indicating weakened convective activity. Our results also reveal a non-stationary anti-phased behavior between the delta O-18 reconstructions from Bolivia and northeastern Brazil that confirms a continental-scale east-west teleconnection across South America during the LIA. KW - speleothems KW - stable isotopes KW - MCA KW - LIA KW - Bolivia KW - South American Monsoon Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.04.048 SN - 0012-821X SN - 1385-013X VL - 494 SP - 124 EP - 134 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Markowska, Monika A1 - Fohlmeister, Jens Bernd A1 - Treble, Pauline C. A1 - Baker, Andy A1 - Andersen, Martin S. A1 - Hua, Quan T1 - Modelling the C-14 bomb-pulse in young speleothems using a soil carbon continuum model JF - Geochimica et cosmochimica acta : journal of the Geochemical Society and the Meteoritical Society N2 - The ‘bomb-pulse’ method is a chronological approach to further constrain the age of speleothems that grew between 1950 CE – present. Establishing dependable chronological constraints is crucial for modern calibration studies of speleothems to instrumental climate records, which provides the basis for paleoclimate interpretations. However, a large unknown is how 14C is transferred from the atmosphere to any individual speleothem owing to the site-specific residence times of organic matter above cave systems. Here, we employ the bomb-pulse method to build chronologies from 14C measurements in combination with a new unsaturated zone C model which considers C decomposition as a continuum, to better understand unsaturated zone 14C dynamics. The bomb-pulse curves of eight speleothems from southern Australia in three contrasting climatic regions; the semi-arid Wellington Caves site, the mediterranean Golgotha Cave site and the montane Yarrangobilly Caves site, are investigated. Overall, the modelled 14C bomb-pulse curves produce excellent fits with measured 14C speleothem data (r2 = 0.82–0.99). The C modelling reveals that unsaturated zone C is predominately young at the semi-arid site, with a weighted-mean residence time of 32 years and that tree root respiration is likely an important source of vadose CO2. At the montane site, ∼39% of C is young (<1 years), but the weighted-mean C ages are older (145–220 years). The mediterranean site has very little contribution from young C (<12%: 0–1 years), with weighted-mean ages between 157 and 245 years, likely due to greater adsorption of organic matter in the upper vadose zone during matrix flow, and remobilisation of C from young syngenetic karst. New end members for low speleothem Dead Carbon Proportion (DCP) are identified (2.19% and 1.65%, respectively) for Australian montane and semi-arid zone speleothems, where oversupply of modern CO2 in the vadose zone leads to lower DCP. It is also demonstrated that DCP can be quite variable over small time scales, that processes may be difficult to untangle and a constant DCP assumption is likely invalid. DCP variability over time is mainly controlled by the changes vadose zone CO2, where vegetation regeneration, wild-fires and karst hydrology play an important role. KW - Carbon 14 KW - speleothems KW - vadose zone KW - modelling Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2019.04.029 SN - 0016-7037 SN - 1872-9533 VL - 261 SP - 342 EP - 367 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER -