Early Last Interglacial environmental changes recorded by speleothems from Katerloch (south-east Austria)

Abstract

In the European Alps, the Last Interglacial (LIG, ~129–116 ka) has been primarily studied using pollen preserved in mires and lake sediments. These records document the vegetation succession across the LIG, but are poorly constrained chronologically. Here, we present a precisely dated stable isotope record for the early LIG (129.6 ± 0.4 to 125.0 ± 0.8 ka) based on two stalagmites from Katerloch, a cave located on the south-eastern side of the Alps. The onset of the interglacial is marked by a sharp rise in the oxygen isotope values at 129.4 ± 0.4 ka, consistent within dating uncertainty with the timing of Termination II as recorded by other Alpine speleothems. Carbon isotope values show an equally prominent drop at Termination II and the establishment of a forest ecosystem. Although concentrations are low, pollen from these stalagmites provide insights into how the local vegetation changed across the first five millennia of the LIG. The spectra indicate a vegetation optimum recorded by the occurrence of warm-demanding taxa typical of the Eemian mesocratic phase. By combining stable isotopes and pollen data, we propose an absolutely dated chronological framework for peri-Alpine pollen successions from lacustrine sediments covering the first half of the LIG.