Variation of karst spring discharge in the recent five decades as an indicator of global climate change: A case study at Shanxi, northern China, 2005, Guo Q. H. , Wang Y. X. , Ma T. , Li L. X. ,

Karst in Shanxi Province is representative of that in northern China, and karst water systems discharge in the form of springs that are among the most important sources for local water supply. Since the 1950s, attenuation has been the major trend of discharge variation of most karst springs at Shanxi. Based on the case study of 7 karst springs including Niangziguan, Xin'an, Guozhuang, Shentou, Jinci, Lancun, and Hongshan springs, the discharge variation process of karst springs was divided into natural fluctuation phase and anthropogenic impact phase. Discharge attenuation of the 7 karst springs was controlled mainly by climate and human activities, with their contributions being respectively about 60% and 40%. According to the difference of the effect of climate and human activities for each spring, attenuation modes of spring discharge fall into three types: natural process dominated attenuation type, exploitation induced process dominated attenuation type, and mixed attenuation type. The total restored discharge variation of 7 karst springs matched well with the global air temperature change in 1956-2000, clearly indicating the trend of global warming and aridity in the last several decades, and the analysis of discharge variation processes of karst springs can be used as a new tool for global change studies

Sensitivity of ancient Lake Ohrid to local anthropogenic impacts and global warming, 2006, Matzinger A. , Spirkovski Z. , Patceva S. , Wuest A. ,

Human impacts on the few ancient lakes of the world must be assessed, as any change can lead to an irreversible loss of endemic communities. In such an assessment, the sensitivity of Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania; surface area A = 358 km(2), volume V = 55 km(3), > 200 endemic species) to three major human impacts-water abstraction, eutrophication, and global warming-is evaluated. It is shown that ongoing eutrophication presents the major threat to this unique lake system, even under the conservative assumption of an increase in phosphorus (P) concentration from the current 4.5 to a potential future 9 mg P m(-3). Eutrophication would lead to a significant reduction in light penetration, which is a prerequisite for endemic, deep living plankton communities. Moreover, a P increase to 9 mg P m(-3) would create deep water anoxia through elevated oxygen consumption and increase in the water column stability due to more mineralization of organic material. Such anoxic conditions would severely threaten the endemic bottom fauna. The trend toward anoxia is further amplified by the predicted global warming of 0.04 degrees C yr(-1), which significantly reduces the frequency of complete seasonal deep convective mixing compared to the current warming of 0.006 degrees C yr(-1). This reduction in deep water exchange is triggered by the warming process rather than by overall higher temperatures in the lake. In contrast, deep convective mixing would be even more frequent than today under a higher temperature equilibrium, as a result of the temperature dependence of the thermal expansivity of water. Although water abstraction may change local habitats, e.g., karst spring areas, its effects on overall lake properties was shown to be of minor importance

How much did climate force the Messinian salinity crisis? Quantified climatic conditions from pollen records in the Mediterranean region, 2006, Fauquette S, Suc Jp, Bertini A, Popescu Sm, Warny S, Bachiri Taoufiq N, Perez Villa Mj, Chikhi H, Feddi N, Subally D,

The latest Miocene (5.96 to 5.33[no-break space]Ma) is characterised by an outstanding event: the desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea (Messinian salinity crisis). It has been suggested that this was caused by a tectonic event, with no climatic change playing a role in desiccation. Quantifying the climate of the region during this period will help support or refute this hypothesis. An effective method for reconstructing the climate from Neogene pollen data is the 'Climatic Amplitude Method' based on the modern climatic requirements of plants to interpret fossil data. It has been conceived especially for periods devoid of modern vegetation analogue.Twenty Messinian to Lower Zanclean pollen sequences are now available in the peri-Mediterranean region. Most of them do not cover the whole Messinian interval, particularly those along the Mediterranean shorelines where sedimentation was interrupted during the sea's desiccation. In contrast, sedimentation was almost continuous in such areas as the Atlantic side of Morocco, along the Adriatic coast (including the Po Valley), and to a lesser extent the Black Sea. The Mediterranean sites nonetheless provide a reliable if not a discontinuous record of vegetation variability in time and space.A first examination of the pollen diagrams reveals a high regional variability controlled by local conditions, and throughout the interval a southward increase in herb pollen frequency in contrast to the tree pollen frequency. This indicates that open and probably dry environments existed in the southern Mediterranean region prior to, during and after the salinity crisis. Trees developed in areas close to mountains such as in the Po Valley, in Cerdanya and in the Black Sea region. Most variations observed in the pollen diagrams are constrained by fluctuations of Pinus pollen amounts, indicating eustatic variations. Climatic quantification from pollen data does not show obvious climatic changes due to the desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea, especially in the dry and warm southwestern Mediterranean area (Sicily, southern Spain and North Africa). At Maccarone, along the Adriatic Sea, a decrease in temperatures of the coldest month and, less importantly, a decrease in mean annual temperatures, corresponding to a drastic vegetation change, are reconstructed. These temperature variations are assumed to be controlled by regional environmental changes (massive arrival of waters in this basin) rather than to reflect cooling, because some authors link the second phase of evaporite deposition to a period of global warming. Some migrations of plants probably occurred as a response to Mediterranean desiccation. But the climatic contrast which has probably existed at that time between the central Mediterranean and the peripheral areas might be amplified.Climatic reconstruction from pollen data in the western Mediterranean area shows that climate is not the direct cause of the Mediterranean desiccation, as the Mediterranean region had experienced continuously high evaporation long before the crisis. Therefore the main factor leading to this event seems to be the successive closures of the Betic and Rifian corridors, isolating the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean

Cave sediments and paleoclimate, 2007, White William B.

This paper is a review of cave sediments: their characteristics and their application as paleoclimate archives. Cave sediments can be separated into two broad categories, clastic sediments and chemical sediments. Of these, stream-transported clastic sediments and calcite speleothems are both the most common and also the most useful as climatic records. Techniques for dating cave sediments include radiocarbon and U/Th dating of speleothems and paleomagnetic reversals and cosmogenic isotope dating of clastic sediments. Cosmogenic isotope dating of clastic sediments in caves with multiple levels or which occur at different elevations provide a geomorphic record of cave ages and river system evolution over the past 5 Ma. Isotope profiles, trace element profiles, color banding and luminescence profiles of speleothems, mainly stalagmites, produce a detailed paleoclimate record with very high time resolution over the past several hundred thousand years. There is potential application of these methods to late Holocene climates with implications for evaluation of current concern over global warming.

Karst and Cryokarst, 2007,

"Karst and Cryokarst", dedicated to the memory of Teresa Wiszniowska (authority on research of large fossil mammals, cave bear especially) and Marian Pulina (authority on speleology and geomorphology), contains works covering the subjects of their broad scientific interests.
The book is a joint publication of IGU Karst Commission and UIS Commission Glacier Caves and Cryokarst in Polar and High Mountain Regions /GLACKIPR/.

Contents:
Eraso A., Domìnguez M.C.
Subpolar glacier network as natural sensors of global warming evolution
Mavlyudov B.R.
Internal drainage systems of glaciers
Schroeder J.
Moulins of a subpolar glacier seen as a thermal anomaly Domìnguez M.C., Eraso A.
Frequent systematic errors In the measurements of the glacier discharge
Domínguez M.C., Eraso A.
Substantial changes happened during the last years in the icecap of King George, Insular Antarctica
Eraso A., Domínguez M.C.
Physicochemical characteristics of the subglacier discharge in Potter Cove, King George Island, Antarctica
Sauro U.
Forms of mixed origin in the karst environment of the Venetian Prealps
Auly T.
Quelques morphologies de rapport karst/glaciaire dans les Pyrénées (France)
Pawłowska-Bielawska P.
Evolution of Wielka Śnieżna Cave in the light of geomorphologic observations
Dobrowolski R.
Model of glaciogenic transformation of the Lublin-Volhynia chalk karst (Poland SE, Ukraine NW)
Bieroński J., Socha P., Stefaniak K.
Deposits and fauna of the Sudetic caves ? the state of research Trofimova E.V.
Particularités du développement récent du karst calcaire de Sibérie et d'Extrême-Orient (Russie)
Cao Jianhua, Yuan Daoxian, Zhang Cheng, Jiang Zhangcheng
Karst ecosystem of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region constrained by geological setting: Relationship between carbonate rock exposure and vegetation coverage
Smieja A., Smieja-Król B.
Springs with active calcium carbonate precipitation in the Polish part of the Tatra Mountains
Parise M., Trisciuzzi M.A.
Geomechanical characterization of carbonate rock masses in underground karst systems
Piasecki J., Sawiński T.
Acoustic measurements of airflow in speleo-climatological studies
Kadebskaya O.
News in monitoring system and recommendations in development of use and protection of Kungur Ice cave
Mokrushina O.
Ordinskaya cave as new object of speleoturism

Book is available at the Department of Geomorphology University of Silesia ordering via e-mail: atyc@us.edu.pl