Isotope signature of the Younger Dryas and two minor oscillations at Gerzensee (Switzerland): palaeoclimatic and palaeolimnologic interpretation based on bulk and biogenic carbonates
U. Von Grafenstein et al., Isotope signature of the Younger Dryas and two minor oscillations at Gerzensee (Switzerland): palaeoclimatic and palaeolimnologic interpretation based on bulk and biogenic carbonates, PALAEOGEO P, 159(3-4), 2000, pp. 215-229
Oxygen- and carbon-isotope ratios in the carbonate of benthic ostracodes (P
seudocandona marchica) and molluscs (Pisidium ssp.) were measured across th
e transitions bordering the Younger Dryas chronozone in littoral lacustrine
cores from Gerzensee (Switzerland). The specific biogenic carbonate record
s confirm the major shifts already visible in the continuous bulk-carbonate
oxygen-isotope record (delta(18)O(Cc)). If corrected for their vital offse
ts, oxygen-isotope ratios of Pisidium and juvenile P. marchica, both formed
in summer, are almost identical to delta(18)O(Cc). This bulk carbonate is
mainly composed of encrustations of benthic macrophythes (Chain ssp.), also
mainly produced during summer. Adult P. marchica, which calcify in winter,
show consistently higher delta(18)O, larger shifts across both transitions
, and short positive excursions compared with the summer forms, especially
during early Preboreal. Despite such complexity, the delta(18)O of adult P.
marchica probably reflects more accurately the variations of the delta(18)
O of former lake water because, during winter, calcification temperatures a
re less variable and the water column isotopically uniform. The difference
between normalised delta(18)O of calcite precipitated in winter to that for
med in summer can be used to estimate the minimum difference between summer
and winter water temperatures. In general, the results indicate warmer sum
mers during the late Allerod and early Preboreal compared with the Younger
Dryas. Altogether, the isotopic composition of lake water (delta(18)O(L)) a
nd of the dissolved inorganic carbonate (delta(13)C(DIC)) reconstructed fro
m adult Pseudocandona marchica, as well as the seasonal water temperature c
ontrasts, indicate that the major shifts in the delta(18)O of local precipi
tation at Gerzensee were augmented by changes of the lake's water balance,
with relatively higher evaporative loss occurring during the Allerod compar
ed with the Younger Dryas. It is possible that during the early Preboreal t
he lake might even have been hydrologically closed for a short period. We s
peculate that such hydrologic changes reflect a combination of varying evap
otranspiration and a rearrangement of groundwater recharge during those cli
matic shifts. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.