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Timing of Atmospheric Precipitation in the Zagros Mountains Inferred from a Multi-Proxy Record from Lake Mirabad, Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lora R. Stevens ,
Emi Ito ,
Antje Schwalb  and
Herbert E. Wright Jr.
Lora R. Stevens*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach, CA 90840-3902, USA
Emi Ito
Affiliation:
Limnological Research Center, Winchell School of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Antje Schwalb
Affiliation:
Institut für Umweltgeologie, Technische Universität Braunschweig, D-38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Herbert E. Wright Jr.
Affiliation:
Limnological Research Center, Winchell School of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: +1 562 985 8638. E-mail address:lsteven2@csulb.edu (L.R. Stevens).
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Abstract

A sediment core 7.2 m long from Lake Mirabad, Iran, was examined for loss-on-ignition, mineralogy, oxygen-isotopic composition of authigenic calcite, and trace-element composition of ostracodes to complement earlier pollen and ostracode-assemblage studies. Pollen, ostracode-inferred lake level, and high Sr/Ca ratios indicate that the early Holocene (10000 to 6500 cal yr BP) was drier than the late Holocene. Low δ18O values during this interval are interpreted as resulting from winter-dominated precipitation, characteristic of a Mediterranean climate. Increasing δ18O values after 6500 cal yr BP signal a gradual increase in spring rains, which are present today. A severe 600-yr drought occurred at ca. 5500 cal yr BP, shortly after the transition from pistachio-almond to oak forest. During the late Holocene, two milder droughts occurred at about 1500 and 500 cal yr BP. Within the resolution of the record, no drought is evident during the collapse of the Akkadian empire (4200–3900 cal yr BP). Rather, a decrease in δ18O values to early-Holocene levels may indicate the return to a Mediterranean precipitation regime.

Keywords

Near EastHoloceneOxygen-isotopesPollenOstracodesStrontiumSeasonalityDroughtMirabad
Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 66 , Issue 3 , November 2006 , pp. 494 - 500
Copyright
University of Washington

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