Stadial-Interstadial Temperature and Aridity Variations in East Central Europe Preceding the Last Glacial Maximum

Last glacial North Atlantic climate is characterized by abrupt, centennial-millennial scale climate oscillations, called Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events. Understanding the cause and propagation of these D-O events into Eurasia is hampered by the scarcity of quantitative paleotemperature estimates from continental archives with precise, independent age models. Here, we present land snail shell carbonate clumped isotope-based active season paleotemperature estimates and delta C-13/delta O-18-based aridity reconstructions from Greenland stadial/interstadials (GS/GI) between 31 and 26.5 ka from the C-14-dated Dunaszekcso loess section (Hungary). This reconstruction is complemented with a new Th-230-dated flowstone stable isotope record covering 30-26 ka. Our snail shell clumped isotope (Delta(47)) data indicate growing season temperatures (GSTs) of 16 degrees C-18 degrees C and 7 degrees C-14 degrees C for the investigated interstadials and stadials, respectively. Stable carbon and oxygen stable isotope compositions of shells and flowstone calcite reveal milder interstadials with drier summers and more available moisture over the winter season, and colder stadials with annually/seasonally (winter) drier conditions, promoting increased loess/dust deposition. We propose that large-scale ocean-atmospheric variability, characterized by NAO phases, may have imparted a major control on transmitting abrupt North Atlantic climate event signals into continental Europe during the last glacial.