EuroSpeleo 2016
Caves, climate change and Neanderthals: ongoing palaeoclimate research in Matienzo, northern Spain
Oral|Miss Laura Deeprose
Abstract
The Matienzo depression, northern Spain, formed over the past 2.6 million years, revealing a potential for the caves of the region to contain a record of climate and environmental change throughout the Quaternary. Ongoing research programmes of cave monitoring have been addressing how in-cave climate signals contained within the hydrology and cave atmosphere are transferred into modern carbonate deposits. Analysis of speleothem deposits is providing a palaeoclimatic perspective, revealing variability in climatic conditions stretching from the modern day back through the Pleistocene. Currently we are aiming to reconstruct past variations in climate and environment between 80,000 – 30,000 years ago; a period which marks the decline and eventual extinction of the Neanderthals. Analysis of a stalagmite from Perlas Cave which grew between 80,000 – 60,000 years ago has demonstrated a high degree of climatic instability during this period. Future work aims to extend the record to 30,000 years ago using stable isotope analysis to infer climatic change. Flowstone deposits in neighbouring cave systems with sediments containing Aurignacian artefacts above and Mousterian artefacts below will be dated using U-Th to provide a timeframe for the last known presence of Neanderthals within the Matienzo region.
More from 2016
Oral|Mr Bernard Chirol
Women and caving: a world history
Oral|Prof John Gunn
Caves and Karst in British Carbonate Rocks
Film|Mr A Freem
Caver's Cinema - Monday
Workshop|Mr Michael Laumanns
Workshop on EuroSpeleo Projects (ESP) - How to get funding from the European Speleological Federation (FSE) for your speleo event/expedition
Oral|Ms Aileen Brown
The Caves of the Kosua - Exploring the Darai Plateau in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, December 2015 – January 2016
Field|Mr Dave Hollingham
Field Trip: Accompanied Caving Trips
Oral|Mr Matthew Watson
Austria Expedition 2016
Oral|Mr Andy Freem
Search and Discovery of Ogof Marros
Oral|Mr Roo Walters
3D Mapping the world's largest cave chambers
Oral|Dr Joerg Dreybrodt
Kayah- the new caving frontier in South-East Asia