Isobar Science Presents at EGU2020: Sharing Geoscience Online
The EGU General Assembly 2020 has moved online. EGU2020: Sharing Geoscience Online is free and open to anyone, no registration required. So, come hear Isobar Science research & development scientist Dr. Arash Sharifi present evidence from Iranian stalagmites that early human mobility in SW Asia was driven by regional climate change events. Results are based on δ18O and elemental time series from three stalagmites in central-northwest Iran with robust U-Th chronology over the last 450,000 years. The data are shown to correlate well with the results of other climate archives in Iran (lake and loess deposits), as well as with the Greenland ice core record. His display, D3751 | EGU2020-19608, is part of session CL1.26 “Speleothem and Continental Carbonate Archives of Modern and Palaeoenvironmental Change,” on Monday 04 May 2020, 08:30 – 10:15 CEST (GMT +2).
Climate driven mobility of the early humans in SW Asia: Preliminary evidence from Iranian Stalagmites
Arash Sharifi1,2,3*, Ali Pourmand1,3, Mehterian Sevag3, Larry C. Peterson3, and Hamid A. K. Lahijani4
1Neptune Isotope Laboratory (NIL), University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Marine Geosciences
2Research and Development Department, Beta Analytic, Inc. 4985 SW 74th Ct, Miami, FL 33155, USA
3Department of Marine Geosciences, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami
4Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Science (INIOAS), Marine Geology Division
*Corresponding author osharifi@rsmas.miami.edu , asharifi@radiocarbon.com
The dynamic interaction between synoptic systems across the Iranian Plateau in West Asia has made this region highly sensitive to climate change. Early human migration routes in the region from Africa to Eurasia are marked by Paleolithic sites and provide a unique opportunity to study the impact of climate variability on early human mobility and settlement. Preliminary results are based on δ18O and elemental time series from three stalagmites in central-northwest Iran with robust U-Th chronology over the last 450,000 years. The data raise the possibility that the Iranian Plateau experienced several episodes of wet conditions during the Paleolithic period. This is in line with findings from a compilation of independent proxy records of lake sediment in northwest Iran and loess deposits in northeast Iran. The fluctuation of Mn abundance and δ18O values in these stalagmites correlate with the Greenland ice core record (NGRIP) and coincide with periods of high solar intensity in the northern hemisphere. These early results indicate wet conditions may have prevailed over the Iranian Plateau during marine isotope stages MIS5a,b, MIS5c, MIS5e, MIS6b, MIS6d-e and most likely also during stages MIS3-4 and MIS7a. Early human occupation of the Southern Caucasus, Zagros, and the Near East regions coincides with the upper Pleistocene wet periods. The co-variability between the proxy data from these speleothems and solar insolation at 30°N suggests that early human settlements/occupations may have been more prevalent along coastal regions of the Near East during dry climate episodes.