Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

8.2 ka Event - Timing & Structure inferred from Δ¹⁸O Records of Stalagmites from China, Oman, and Brazil

Stalagmites from China and Oman have revealed a weak summer monsoon event that had a structure with a double plunge feature beginning 8.21 ± 0.02 Kyr BP. In eastern Brazil an identical, though antiphased pattern, has been found in the records from 2 stalagmites indicating the summer monsoon in South America had intensified during the 8.2 kyr BP Event. According to the authors¹ it is demonstrated by these records that the event occurred on a global scale and was synchronous with dating errors of less than 50 years. When compared with recent model simulations the 8.2 kyr BP event can plausibly be linked to changes of the AMOC that were triggered by a lake draining event. The AMOC then affected the North Atlantic climate and the latitudinal position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, that resulted in monsoonal the pattern that was observed in low latitudes.

Sources & Further reading

1. Cheng, Hai, Dominik Fleitmann, R. Lawrence Edwards, Xianfeng Wang, Francisco W. Cruz, Augusto S. Auler, Augusto Mangini, et al. "Timing and Structure of the 8.2 Kyr B.P. Event Inferred from Δ¹⁸O Records of Stalagmites from China, Oman, and Brazil." Geology 37, no. 11 (November 1, 2009 2009): 1007-10.