A 2000 year record of palaeoclimatic variability from Kerala coast, southwest India
Abstract
Last millennium climate reconstructions are complex and limit our understanding of the mechanisms behind environmental and climate variability. We present high-resolution multi-proxy centennial-scale records from the Cherai, Kerala, southwest India. The last 2000 cal yr AD record suggests a complex environmental condition prevailed at the depositional site augmenting the role of natural as well as anthropogenic agents. The elemental variations and indices values indicate stronger weathering, presumably wetter conditions and strong precipitation. Provenance studies suggest diverse sources and the main composition fall close to the Charnockite and Gneissic composition. Multi-proxy data suggests that a shift towards wetter climatic conditions occurred during 910 to 1228 cal yr AD. The core also records a shift towards the drier conditions started during the early 13th Century AD with a loss in vegetation diversity. The pollution load index values suggest that the overall study area falls in moderate contamination levels; however, the diatoms data suggest role of human intervention to the natural habitat during the deposition time. The present study revealed that the enhanced Cd and As concentration is due to strong anthropogenic influences. We compared the multi-proxy record with other continental and marine palaeoclimatic records to explore global and/or regional trends of climate variability during the past 2000 years. The authors are of the view that the present findings are coherent with different centennial-scale episodes of warm/cool events such as Medieval Warm Period, Medieval Climate Anomaly, Little Ice Age and recent warming and support the hypothesis of marine-terrestrial teleconnection.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMPP23B..05M
- Keywords:
-
- 0473 Paleoclimatology and paleoceanography;
- BIOGEOSCIENCESDE: 1050 Marine geochemistry;
- GEOCHEMISTRYDE: 1833 Hydroclimatology;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 4914 Continental climate records;
- PALEOCEANOGRAPHY