Description
Working with two sediment cores extracted from the extreme southern end of Cayuga Lake (~42°25'N, 76°35'W) in central New York (USA), Mullins et al. (2011) report that they "found paleolimnological evidence for the Medieval Warm Period (~1.4-0.5 ka), which was warmer and wetter than today." This evidence included weight percent total carbonate (TC), total organic matter (TOM), non-carbonate inorganic terrigenous matter (TT), carbonate stable isotopes (δ¹⁸OTC and δ¹³CTC), carbon isotope values of total organic matter (δ¹³CTOM) and fossil types (gastropods, ostracods, bivalves, oogonia) and amounts, all of which were used to interpret past climate based on their relationship to modern climate data for the Finger Lakes region of the state. And to make their findings perfectly clear, they repeat that the "data for central New York suggest a warmer, wetter climate than today."