Continental oxygen isotopic record of the last 170,000 years in Jerusalem

A long radiometrically dated oxygen isotopic record of continental climatic variations since the penultimate glaciation was obtained from a stalagmite deposited in a sealed cave in Jerusalem, This record shows that speleothem s have the potential of assigning dates to long- and short-term climatic ev ents, with possible refining of Milankovitch tuning of ice and marine recor ds which themselves are not datable, Short-term (similar to 1000-yr) events are very significant in the region, reaching similar to 50% of glacial/int erglacial fluctuations. The Mediterranean Sea was the most probable source of local precipitation throughout the last glacial cycle. (C) 1999 Universi ty of Washington.