Environmental controls on the δ18O composition of freshwater calcite and aragonite in a temperate, lowland river system: significance for palaeoclimatic studies

Abstract

The oxygen and carbon isotopic composition of surficial carbonates is a key technique for reconstructing past environments and climates. The understanding of modern isotopic systems is, however, a vital first step before applying these techniques to fossil examples. In this study the δ18O of aragonite shells from three different freshwater mollusc species and the δ18O of tufa stromatalites are analysed and compared to the modern temperature and isotopic regime of the river system in which they form (the river Gipping, Sproughton, southeast England). In all cases this range of carbonates appear to form in isotopic equilibrium with the δ18O of modern waters at water temperatures experienced during the summer months. It is, therefore, likely that in Quaternary interglacial deposits of the UK and western Europe the δ18O of fossil freshwater molluscs and tufa stromatolite carbonates will provide an indication of past summer temperature regimes and not mean annual temperatures, as has been previously suggested. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of this study for the isotopic analysis of interglacial deposits in Britain and western Europe.