Speleothems as environmental recorders A study of Holocene speleothems and their growth environments in Sweden

Sammanfattning: The main aim of this thesis was to contribute with detailed information of regional environmental change during the Holocene through studies of speleothems and their growth environments from two caves, Korallgrottan and Labyrintgrottan in northwestern Sweden, and a cellar vault in Uppsala. This was done through studies of stable isotopes and luminescence properties in the speleothems in combination with a detailed monitoring study in Korallgrottan.The monitoring study suggests that stalagmites fed by stalactites with slow and stable drip rates from deep inside the cave may be suitable as palaeoclimate archives. Similarities between oxygen isotope signals of contemporary samples from Labyrintgrottan and Korallgrottan emphasize the potential of speleothems from Labyrintgrottan to also provide high resolution regional palaeoclimate information.Except for a number of cold events stalagmite ?18O records from northern Scandinavia indicate that temperatures were warmer than today between 9500 and 6000 years ago. During this period the interval between 7800 and 6000 years ago seems to have been the warmest. The area above Labyrintgrottan was most likely covered by much denser vegetation than today at the time of stalagmite growth (9500-7500 years ago) and was, unlike today, probably situated below the local tree-limit between 9000 and 8000 years ago. The ?18O record of a stalagmite from Korallgrottan covering the last 4000 years agrees with the concept of a warmer period, the so called Medieval Warm Period, centred around AD1000 and a colder period, the so called Little Ice Age, somewhere between AD1000 and today.Studies of luminescence properties in fast growing speleothems from Uppsala indicate that the variations in luminescence intensity are annual and that the annual lamiae of the luminescent record represent a flush of organic material.