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Dating stalagmites in mediterranean climates using annual trace element cycles
Gurinder Nagra1, Pauline C Treble2,3, Martin S Andersen2
1Connected Waters Initiative Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. g.nagra@unsw.edu.au.
Scientific Reports
|April 6, 2017
Summary
Speleothem dating is improved using annual trace element cycles, achieving 2-4% age uncertainty. Geochemical records reveal past climate and environmental changes, including extreme rainfall and drying periods.
Area of Science:
- Paleoclimatology
- Geochemistry
- Speleothem Science
Background:
- Speleothems offer annual-resolution geochemical archives for reconstructing past hydrology, environment, and climate.
- Dating modern stalagmites presents challenges, limiting detailed paleoclimate reconstructions.
- Prior calcite precipitation (PCP) influences trace element deposition in speleothems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To refine a dating method for speleothems using annual trace element cycles.
- To extract high-resolution climate and environmental information from speleothem geochemistry.
- To correlate speleothem records with known 20th-century climate and land-use changes.
Main Methods:
- Refined dating of speleothems by analyzing annual trace element cycles.
- Utilizing high-frequency elemental variations influenced by prior calcite precipitation (PCP) for dating.
- Comparing trace element and growth-rate data with historical climate and environmental records.
Main Results:
- A new dating method for speleothems achieves 2-4% chronological uncertainty.
- Soil-derived trace element peaks and decreased growth rates correlate with extreme rainfall events (1934, 1974).
- Bedrock-derived elements reflect the drying trend in southwest Australia starting in the 1970s.
Conclusions:
- Annual trace element cycles provide a reliable method for dating speleothems, especially in seasonally influenced regions.
- Speleothems serve as valuable archives for understanding past hydrological extremes and environmental shifts.
- This study enhances the utility of speleothems for detailed paleoclimate reconstructions.
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