Fig 1.
A) Major vegetation belts at the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula are shown along with main rivers Guadiaro (a) and Guadalhorce (b) in the study area. Vegetation belts have been calculated after [29] based on 0.5° gridded climate data from WorldClim V2.0 [30]. Star indicates the location of marine sediment core ODP-161-976A and red crosses show locations of additional archives used for regional paleoclimatological analysis (see Table 1 for more detailed information): Navarrés [31], Villena [32], Elx [33], Antas [34], Padul [26], Sierra de Gádor [35], Roquetas de Mar [34], San Rafael [34], Cabo de Gata [36], El Refugio [37], TTR14-300G [38], ODP-161-976A [11, 39] and, MD95-2043 [7, 40–42]. B) Map showing the spatial distribution of amount-weighted long-term (1961–2016) annual mean hydrogen isotopic composition of precipitation (δDprec). The raw data was downloaded from the Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) database and interpolated using an inverse distance weighted (IDW) approach (unlimited search radius and power value = 3.0). Red square indicates area shown in A). Triangle denotes the location of Gibraltar meteorological station, which data is shown to the right. C) Average monthly air temperature (T), precipitation (P) and, amount-weighted δDprec of Gibraltar meteorological station for the period 1961–2016 (bottom) as well as the correlation of their annual means (top). All raw data from Gibraltar meteorological station have been downloaded from the GNIP database. Please note, that no δDprec data is available for July due to the scarce precipitation during that month.
Fig 2.
Main atmospheric drivers of temporal precipitation variability on the Iberian Peninsula.
Map showing areas on the Iberian Peninsula, where temporal winter (October–March) precipitation variability is dominated by the NAO (dotted red) and the WeMO (hatched blue). Areas have been redrawn from [45]. Red arrows indicate dominant wind direction under NAO+ and NAO- conditions, respectively. Blue arrows indicate the same for WeMO+ and WeMO- conditions. Star indicates the location of marine sediment core ODP-161-976A.
Table 1.
Dataset used for the regional precipitation analysis.
Fig 3.
Molecular and isotopic n-alkane data from ODP-161-976A.
a) CPI27-33, b) ACL29-35, c) hydrogen isotopic data of individual n-alkane homologues δDC33 (blue), δDC31 (red), and δDC29 (green), d) weighted-mean average of all individual hydrogen isotopic records (δDWMA), e) carbon isotopic data of individual n-alkane homologues δ13CC33 (blue), δ13CC31 (red), and δ13CC29 (green), f) weighted-mean average of all individual carbon isotopic records (δ13CWMA), and g) sedimentation rate. Black squares show calibrated AMS 14C dates and their according uncertainties.
Fig 4.
Atlantic versus Mediterranean influence.
a) Regional z-score of annual precipitation variability, b) regional z-score of cold season precipitation variability, and c) regional z-score of warm season precipitation variability. Numbers of individual archives (n) included into the regional data are also shown. d) Weighted-mean average hydrogen isotopic data (δDWMA) is displayed together with means of periods characterized by prolonged high (Phigh) and low δDWMA values (Plow) for orientation (see results-section). e) Reconstructed NAO from lake SS1200 in Greenland [87] and f) clay mineral ratio of Smectite (Sm), Illite (Ill), and Chlorite (Chl) from Gulf of Lions sediment core PB06 indicative of Western Mediterranean storminess [88] are shown for interpretation. Vertical grey bars indicate periods of increased Mediterranean precipitation in southeast Iberia based on the hydrogen isotopic data from ODP-161-976A.
Table 2.
Correlation of carbon and hydrogen isotopic data from ODP-161-976A.
Table 3.
Correlation of paleoclimatological parameters from ODP-161-976A.