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Palaeoclimate significance of speleothems in crystalline rocks: a test case from the Late Glacial and early Holocene (Vinschgau, northern Italy)
oleh: G. Koltai, H. Cheng, C. Spötl
| Format: | Article |
|---|---|
| Diterbitkan: | Copernicus Publications 2018-03-01 |
Deskripsi
Partly coeval flowstones formed in fractured gneiss and schist were studied to test the palaeoclimate significance of this new type of speleothem archive on a decadal-to-millennial timescale. The samples encompass a few hundred to a few thousand years of the Late Glacial and the early Holocene. The speleothem fabric is primarily comprised of columnar fascicular optic calcite and acicular aragonite, both indicative of elevated Mg ∕ Ca ratios in the groundwater. Stable isotopes suggest that aragonite is more prone to disequilibrium isotope fractionation driven by evaporation and prior calcite/aragonite precipitation than calcite. Changes in mineralogy are therefore attributed to these two internal fracture processes rather than to palaeoclimate. Flowstones formed in the same fracture show similar <i>δ</i><sup>18</sup>O changes on centennial scales, which broadly correspond to regional lacustrine <i>δ</i><sup>18</sup>O records, suggesting that such speleothems may provide an opportunity to investigate past climate conditions in non-karstic areas. The shortness of overlapping periods in flowstone growth and the complexity of in-aquifer processes, however, render the establishment of a robust stacked <i>δ</i><sup>18</sup>O record challenging.