A Speleothem Record of Younger Dryas Cooling, Klamath Mountains, Oregon, USA

A well-dated δ 18 O record in a stalagmite from a cave in the Klamath Mountains, Oregon, with a sampling interval of 50 yr, indicates that the climate of this region cooled essentially synchronously with Younger Dryas climate change elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. The δ 18 O record also indicates significant century-scale temperature variability during the early Holocene. The δ 13 C record suggests increasing biomass over the cave through the last deglaciation, with century-scale variability but with little detectable response of vegetation to Younger Dryas cooling.