Abstract
Abstract. Cryogenic cave carbonate (CCC) represents a specific type of speleothem whose precipitation is triggered by freezing of mineralized karst water. Coarsely crystalline CCC, which formed during slow freezing of water in cave pools, has been reported from 20 Central European caves located in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. All these caves are situated in an area which was glacier-free during the Weichselian. Whereas the formation of usual types of speleothems in caves of this region usually ceased during the glacials, coarsely crystalline CCC precipitation was restricted to glacial periods. Since this carbonate type represents a novel, useful paleoclimate proxy, data from its Weichselian occurrences in caves in Central Europe were collected, including their C and O stable isotope values, U-series ages and depth below the surface. When using only the CCC data from caves with limited cave ventilation, the permafrost depths of the Weichselian can be estimated to be at least 65 m in the lowlands and uplands. An isolated CCC find indicates that Weichselian permafrost penetrated to a depth of at least 285 m in the High Tatra mountains, Slovakia. A model of the formation of coarsely crystalline CCC assumes its formation especially during periods of permafrost thawing. U-series data confirm that permafrost depth changed and CCC precipitation in deep caves occurred repeatedly in the studied area during marine isotope stages 4, 3 and 2. One important phase of coarsely crystalline CCC formation related to permafrost thawing occurred between 40 and 21 ka BP, and the last phase of its formation was related to the final permafrost destruction between 17 and 12 ka BP.
Highlights
The southern limit of the continental glaciation of the central part of Europe during the Last Glacial (Weichselian) roughly followed the line defined by the present-day cities of Hamburg–Berlin–Poznan–Warszawa–Minsk (Poser, 1948; Svendsen et al, 2004)
The principal aim of this paper is to review available data on the occurrence of coarsely crystalline Cryogenic cave carbonate (CCC) in deep caves in Central Europe and to significantly extend the existing CCC age determinations
The Weichselian coarsely crystalline CCC has been found in 20 caves located in the territories of Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland
Summary
The southern limit of the continental glaciation of the central part of Europe during the Last Glacial (Weichselian) roughly followed the line defined by the present-day cities of Hamburg–Berlin–Poznan–Warszawa–Minsk (Poser, 1948; Svendsen et al, 2004). During the coldest phases of the Weichselian, a permafrost zone developed in the glacierfree area along the southern limit of the continental glacier (Frenzel et al, 1992; Vandenberghe, 2001; Czudek, 2005). Permafrost is defined as ground (rock or soil, including ice and/or organic material) that remains at or below 0 ◦C for at least two consecutive years (cf Permafrost Subcommittee NRC Canada, 1988; Dobinski, 2011). For this glacier-free zone located between the northern continental and the Alpine mountain glaciations, little information has been available about the distribution, duration and thickness of permafrost during the Weichselian. It is usually assumed that continuous permafrost existed in the northern part of this zone during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), while discontinuous or sporadic permafrost was probably typical for more southerly located areas in the lowlands (Frenzel et al, 1992; Czudek, 2005)
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