CyI Colloquium: Climatic and environmental changes recorded in stalagmites from the Eastern Mediterranean

Dates: 
14 January, 2010 - 15:15
Speaker(s): 
Prof. Dominik Fleitmann, Bern University Institute of Geological Sciences, Switzerland
Venue: 
The Cyprus Institute, Guy Ourisson Building, Athalassa Campus (Higher Technical Institute - HTI, grounds)
Abstract

An important task of current and future paleoclimate research is the characterization of variations in the hydrological cycle on a regional scale. Yet, however, there is a clear misbalance between temperature and precipitation records as past climate research was focused rather on temperature than precipitation. This is particularly true for the entire Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. One reason for the scarcity of well-dated and highly resolved paleoprecipitation records is the lack of suitable climate archives, such as trees and lake sediments. None of the hitherto-published records provides a comprehensive and continuous view of annual to decadal rainfall variability over a longer period. Given the apparent limitations of tree ring and lake records, detailed information on climate must derive from a different climate archive, such as speleothems (stalagmites, stalactites, flowstones). Speleothems are now well known to deliver well-dated and highly resolved records of either precipitation or temperature (see http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/reports/trieste2008/speleothems.pdf), and by now are a major area of paleoclimate research. Based on Prof. Fleitmann's research on speleothems from Turkey, Yemen and Oman, he will show how speleothems can be used for paleoclimatic and –environmental reconstructions on a variety of time scales.

For more information contact Prof. Manfred A. Lange, tel. +357 22208600 or email manfred [at] cyi [dot] ac [dot] cy