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The Holocene
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Stable isotope variations in stalagmites from northwestern Sweden document changes in temperature and vegetation during the early Holocene: a comment on Sundqvist et al. 2007a

Dan Hammarlund

GeoBiosphere Science Centre, Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, 223 62 Lund, Sweden, dan.hammarlund{at}geol.lu.se

Thomas W.D. Edwards

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo ON N2L 3G1, Canada

We offer an alternative palaeoenvironmental interpretation of oxygen-isotope data obtained on two early-Holocene stalagmite records from caves in the Scandes Mountains of northern Sweden (Korallgrottan and Labrintgrottan), and the well-known Søylegrotta (Norway) SG93 record with which they are compared, that differs in several respects from that proposed by the authors. Contrary to viewing these as inverted palaeotemperature records, we suggest that they primarily reflect changes in the {delta}18O of local annual precipitation, modified by secondary temperature-dependent variation in water-calcite oxygen-isotope fractionation, at each of the three sites. This is supported by the striking similarity over the entire Holocene between the SG93 calcite {delta}18 O record and the lacustrine carbonate {delta}18O record from Lake Tibetanus (northern Sweden), which implies straightforward transfer of annual precipitation {delta}18O signals into cave drip waters. Recent studies of drip waters in Korallgrottan also support this model. This further enhances the value of cave deposits as palaeoclimate archives in this region and provides additional evidence of the sensitivity of the precipitation `isotope thermometer' to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns.

Key Words: Speleothem • oxygen isotopes • climate change • atmospheric circulation • Holocene • Scandinavia • Sweden.

The Holocene, Vol. 18, No. 6, 1007-1008 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0959683608093541
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