Barker, Philip and Street-Perrott, F. A. and Leng, M. J. and Greenwood, P. B. and Swain, D. L. and Perrott, R. A. and Telford, R. J. and Ficken, K. J. (2001) A 14,000-year oxygen isotope record from diatom silica in two alpine lakes on Mt. Kenya. Science, 292 (5525). pp. 2307-2310. ISSN 0036-8075
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Oxygen isotopes are sensitive tracers of climate change in tropical regions. Abrupt shifts of up to 18 per mil in the oxygen isotope ratio of diatom silica have been found in a 14,000-year record from two alpine Lakes on Mt. Kenya. Interpretation of tropical-montane isotope records is controversial, especially concerning the relative roles of precipitation and temperature. Here, we argue that Holocene variations in delta O-18 are better explained by Lake moisture balance than by temperature-induced fractionation. Episodes of heavy convective precipitation dated similar to 11,100 to 8600, 6700 to 5600, 2900 to 1900, and <1300 years before the present were linked to enhanced soil erosion, neoglacial ice advances, and forest expansion on Mt. Kenya.