Evidence from Lake Lisan of solar influence on decadal- to centennial-scale climate variability during marine oxygen isotope stage 2

Abstract

Documentation of short-term climate variability during the glacial period has been limited by the availability of well-dated high-resolution archives. Here we present a paleoclimate reconstruction from varved lacustrine sediments of Lake Lisan, Dead Sea Rift, for ca. 26.2–17.7 (calendar) ka. The age is based on a floating varve chronology anchored to radiometric dates. Our reconstruction indicates that small ice-rafting events (a, b, c, and d), as well as Heinrich events in the North Atlantic, are associated with the Eastern Mediterranean arid intervals. Study of seasonal sublaminae yields evidence of several additional decadal- to century-scale arid events that correlate with cooler temperatures at higher latitudes. Analyses in the frequency domain indicate the presence of periodicities centered at 1500 yr, 500 yr, 192 yr, 139 yr, 90 yr, and 50–60 yr, suggesting a solar forcing on climate.