Solar forcing of Holocene droughts in a stalagmite record from West Virginia in east‐central North America

Elevated Sr/Ca ratios and δ13C values in Holocene‐age stalagmite BCC‐002 from east‐central North America record six centennial‐scale droughts during the last five North Atlantic Ocean ice‐rafted debris (IRD) episodes, previously ascribed to solar irradiance minima. Spectral and cross‐spectral analyses of the multi‐decadal resolution Sr/Ca and δ13C time series yield coherent ∼200 and ∼500 years periodicities. The former is consistent with the de Vries solar irradiance cycle. Cross‐spectral analysis of the Sr/Ca and IRD time series yields coherent periodicities of 715‐ and 455‐years, which are harmonics of the 1,450 ± 500 year IRD periodicity. These coherencies corroborate strong visual correlations and provide convincing evidence for solar forcing of east‐central North American droughts and strengthen the case for solar modulation of mid‐continent climates. Moisture transport across North America may have lessened during droughts because of weakened north‐south temperature and pressure gradients caused by cooling of the tropical Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

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