Sediments from caves in Greenland warn of climate change

According to geological data, a long time ago the Arctic turned out to be much hotter than it is now. This expects problems that will await us in the near future as we continue to constantly release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. A recent study, held by a team of scientists, used geological cave sediments.

To understand what the past of the Arctic could look like, the scientists examined calcite sediment, which was 12 centimeters thick. They managed to find it in a cave in the northeast of Greenland. Even though the Arctic is warming up quickly, it is still cold and covered with ice. But the formation of calcite needs warmer and more humid conditions than it is today.

Despite this, the composition of the sample showed signs of a hotter and wetter climate. This is the first time when cave sediments have revealed an important discovery, namely what the Arctic could have looked like then. Previous data of Greenland’s past climate was based on pieces taken from the ice sheet covering the island. This gave scientists knowledge about what Greenland was like when the ice sheet appeared.

Geologists describe the results achieved as a great success. And they add that it is necessary to conduct further research and take samples in order to fully concretize the climatic profile started by this work.