NOAA/WDS Paleoclimatology - West Belukha Plateau 12,800 Year Ice Core Isotope and Major Ions Data

A multiple parameter dating technique was used to establish a depth-age scale for a 171.3 m surface to bedrock ice core recovered from the cold recrystallization accumulation zone of the Western Belukha Plateau (4115 m a.s.l.) in the Siberian Altai Mountains. The ice core record presented visible layering of annual and seasonal accumulation, a clear tritium reference horizon, multiple statistically significant sulfate peaks coincident with volcanic eruptions, d18O/ dD and major ion distribution. The 14C radiocarbon measurements of course particles contained in ice core samples from four depths dated the bottom and middle part of Belukha ice core. Analysis 12,800 years of the ice core records reveals that Altai glaciers did not exist in the warm Bølling-Allerød period, but were formed later during the Younger Dryas (YD). Altai glaciers survived the Pre-Boreal Interglacial Period (PBI), the Holocene Climate Optimum (HCO), and the Medieval Warm Period (MWP). Two-step transfer functions were developed for reconstruction of Holocene air temperature changes at the northern periphery of central Asia, mid- latitudes. Air temperature reconstructions suggest the YD was 6.1 ± 0.3C lower than recent mean temperature. Since the 1990s, Altai nearly reached the highest Holocene temperatures observed during HCO and MWP. Elevated d-excess values beginning prior to the MWP suggest enhanced continental water recycling, likely from transfer of evaporated land surface moisture to the Altai glaciers.