Late Miocene Arctic warmth and terrestrial climate recorded by North Greenland speleothems.

ABSTRACT: The sensitivity of terrestrial Arctic climate during the Late Miocene remains poorly understood, despite this interval marking the transition towards a cooler, more variable global climate and the prelude to Northern Hemisphere glaciation. Here we present a Late Miocene terrestrial proxy record, developed through the analysis of speleothems, from eastern North Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat). Growth periods indicate multiple episodes of permafrost absence between ~10 and 5 Ma, suggesting mean annual air temperatures ~14 °C higher than present coinciding with atmospheric CO₂ concentrations above ~310 ppm and local sea surface temperature anomalies >2 °C higher than present. Such moderate thresholds for permafrost absence highlight the climate sensitivity of North Greenland. Spikes i

SUBMITTER: Moseley GE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12685739 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature