Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 586 (2022) 110761 Available online 23 November 2021 0031-0182/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. High resolution environmental conditions of the last interglacial (MIS5e) in the Levant from Sr, C and O isotopes from a Jerusalem stalagmite Amos Frumkin a, * , Mordechai Stein a, b , Steven L. Goldstein c, d a Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91904, Israel b Geological Survey of Israel, 32 Yesha’ayahu Leibowitz, Jerusalem 9371234, Israel c Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA d Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA A R T I C L E INFO Editor: Paul Hesse Keywords: Speleothem Paleoclimatology Hydroclimate Soils 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios Stable isotopes ABSTRACT The southern Levant region at the fringe of the Saharan-Arabian deserts is particularly vulnerable to warming and desertifcation, therefore reconstruction of the hydroclimate conditions of this region during periods of past climate change provide important insight on what may occur in the future. Here we report on high temporal resolution 87 Sr/ 86 Sr, δ 13 C and δ 18 O isotope data of a stalagmite from the Har Nof cave in Jerusalem, demon- strating major climate changes during the last interglacial MIS5e between ~131–116 ka. We combine also data from other caves in Israel and the ICDP Dead Sea deep drill core. The following palaeoenvironmental history is observed: • At 131–127.5 ka, Jerusalem experienced moderate Mediterranean climate conditions. Desert dust accumulated above the cave, while salt deposition occurred in the Dead Sea. • At 127.5–122 ka, across the MIS5e insolation peak and Sapropel S5 interval in the Mediterranean, highly negative speleothem δ 18 O indicate both Mediterranean and southern (tropical) derived rains. Surface cover diminished, and by 122 ka the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr and δ 13 C values indicate complete soil removal above the cave. Very high temperatures and intensive fres caused the removal of C 3 vegetation. The rainfall season shifted from winter to summer with tropical-sourced precipitation. • At 122–120.5 ka, the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios indicate contributions of sea salts. Extremely high speleothem δ 13 C values indicate no vegetation. • At ~120.5–118 ka there was higher rainfall and lower temperatures, associated with re- establishment of vegetation, including savannah-like C 4 pioneer grasses that appeared on soil patches. • At 118–116 ka, the sedimentation rate of Har Nof AF12 stalagmite is extremely low, indicating regional aridity, coinciding with massive salt deposition in the Dead Sea. 1. Introduction Climate models consider the Mediterranean area as a hotspot of climate warming effects (e.g., Kelley et al., 2012, 2015). The southern Levant region (Fig. 1a,b), located in the subtropical climate zone at the fringe of the Saharan-Arabian desert belt, is particularly vulnerable to climate changes, and increased warming may cause droughts and expansion of the desert belt (e.g., Held and Soden, 2006). Poleward movement of atmospheric circulation systems may result in shifts of precipitation and environmental patterns. The recent rate of desert expansion is even greater than climate model projections (Seidel et al., 2008). Thus, the reconstruction of the hydro-climate regime of the southern Levant region during previous warm periods may have important implications for evaluating various scenarios of the effects of global warming on regional environmental-hydrological conditions (e. g., Kiro et al., 2020). Palaeorecords suggest that Earth system has tipping * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: amos.frumkin@mail.huji.ac.il (A. Frumkin), motis@mail.huji.ac.il (M. Stein), steveg@ldeo.columbia.edu (S.L. Goldstein). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/palaeo https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110761 Received 6 May 2021; Received in revised form 3 October 2021; Accepted 14 November 2021