Recent Speleothem Research Articles

Variations and influence factors of 210Pb-specific radioactivity in modern calcite depositions in a subtropical cave, South China

Although 210Pb dating has been successfully used in speleothems, the understanding of the factors impacting 210Pb variations in modern calcite depositions in karst caves is poor due to the lack of in situ monitoring. Here, we studied the 210Pb variations in drip water and modern calcite depositions at five sampling sites in Maomaotou Big Cave in Guilin, south China, through more than three years of in situ monitoring. In this work, the air 222Rn concentrations, weights and 210Pb-specific radioactivity of modern calcite depositions showed significant temporal and spatial variations. The modern calcite deposition weights and 222Rn concentrations in the air of Maomaotou Big Cave ranged from 0.02 to 6.04 g and 62.9–628 Bq.m−3 (higher values in summer-autumn and lower values in winter–spring), respectively, while the 210Pb-specific radioactivities in calcite depositions varied from 7.33 to 658.52 Bq•kg−1, with lower values reported in summer–autumn and higher values in winter–spring. The opposite seasonal trends observed for the 222Rn concentrations and 210Pb-specific radioactivity indicated that the air 222Rn concentration was not the dominant factor influencing the 210Pb-specific radioactivity in the modern calcite depositions. This study concluded that 210Pb-specific radioactivity in modern calcite depositions is mainly carried by drip water; further, the remarkable negative correlation between deposition weight and 210Pb-specific radioactivity in modern calcite depositions suggests that the Constant Initial Concentration model (CIC) is fit for recent speleothem dating in a closed system. Such important information may provide a scientific basis for cave deposition dating using 210Pb.

Metagenomic Analysis from the Interior of a Speleothem in Tjuv-Ante's Cave, Northern Sweden.

Speleothems are secondary mineral deposits normally formed by water supersaturated with calcium carbonate percolating into underground caves, and are often associated with low-nutrient and mostly non-phototrophic conditions. Tjuv-Ante’s cave is a shallow-depth cave formed by the action of waves, with granite and dolerite as major components, and opal-A and calcite as part of the speleothems, making it a rare kind of cave. We generated two DNA shotgun sequencing metagenomic datasets from the interior of a speleothem from Tjuv-Ante’s cave representing areas of old and relatively recent speleothem formation. We used these datasets to perform i) an evaluation of the use of these speleothems as past biodiversity archives, ii) functional and taxonomic profiling of the speleothem’s different formation periods, and iii) taxonomic comparison of the metagenomic results to previous microscopic analyses from a nearby speleothem of the same cave. Our analyses confirm the abundance of Actinobacteria and fungi as previously reported by microscopic analyses on this cave, however we also discovered a larger biodiversity. Interestingly, we identified photosynthetic genes, as well as genes related to iron and sulphur metabolism, suggesting the presence of chemoautotrophs. Furthermore, we identified taxa and functions related to biomineralization. However, we could not confidently establish the use of this type of speleothems as biological paleoarchives due to the potential leaching from the outside of the cave and the DNA damage that we propose has been caused by the fungal chemical etching.

Forests, fields, and the edge of sustainability at the ancient Maya city of Tikal.

Tikal has long been viewed as one of the leading polities of the ancient Maya realm, yet how the city was able to maintain its substantial population in the midst of a tropical forest environment has been a topic of unresolved debate among researchers for decades. We present ecological, paleoethnobotanical, hydraulic, remote sensing, edaphic, and isotopic evidence that reveals how the Late Classic Maya at Tikal practiced intensive forms of agriculture (including irrigation, terrace construction, arboriculture, household gardens, and short fallow swidden) coupled with carefully controlled agroforestry and a complex system of water retention and redistribution. Empirical evidence is presented to demonstrate that this assiduously managed anthropogenic ecosystem of the Classic period Maya was a landscape optimized in a way that provided sustenance to a relatively large population in a preindustrial, low-density urban community. This landscape productivity optimization, however, came with a heavy cost of reduced environmental resiliency and a complete reliance on consistent annual rainfall. Recent speleothem data collected from regional caves showed that persistent episodes of unusually low rainfall were prevalent in the mid-9th century A.D., a time period that coincides strikingly with the abandonment of Tikal and the erection of its last dated monument in A.D. 869. The intensified resource management strategy used at Tikal-already operating at the landscape's carrying capacity-ceased to provide adequate food, fuel, and drinking water for the Late Classic populace in the face of extended periods of drought. As a result, social disorder and abandonment ensued.

Prediction of phylogeographic endemism in an environmentally complex biome.

Phylogeographic endemism, the degree to which the history of recently evolved lineages is spatially restricted, reflects fundamental evolutionary processes such as cryptic divergence, adaptation and biological responses to environmental heterogeneity. Attempts to explain the extraordinary diversity of the tropics, which often includes deep phylogeographic structure, frequently invoke interactions of climate variability across space, time and topography. To evaluate historical versus contemporary drivers of phylogeographic endemism in a tropical system, we analyse the effects of current and past climatic variation on the genetic diversity of 25 vertebrates in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest. We identify two divergent bioclimatic domains within the forest and high turnover around the Rio Doce. Independent modelling of these domains demonstrates that endemism patterns are subject to different climatic drivers. Past climate dynamics, specifically areas of relative stability, predict phylogeographic endemism in the north. Conversely, contemporary climatic heterogeneity better explains endemism in the south. These results accord with recent speleothem and fossil pollen studies, suggesting that climatic variability through the last 250 kyr impacted the northern and the southern forests differently. Incorporating sub-regional differences in climate dynamics will enhance our ability to understand those processes shaping high phylogeographic and species endemism, in the Neotropics and beyond.

Late Quaternary humidity and aridity dynamics in the northeast Rub' al-Khali, United Arab Emirates: Implications for early human dispersal and occupation of eastern Arabia

The major driver of palaeoclimatic dynamics over the southeast Arabian region is the varying latitudinal interface between the Westerly driven shamaal winds and a northward branch of the southwesterly Indian Ocean Summer Monsoon (IOM). At present, this latter system is restricted in extent to the southern coastal regions of Yemen and Oman. Monsoonal winds are widely believed to have increased in strength and penetrated much further north across southeast Arabia at various intervals during the Quaternary, resulting in a series of humid phases, which early studies suggested focussed within MIS 3 and MIS 1. Recent speleothem studies from Oman and UAE have indicated humidity within MIS 5 which, with current debates surrounding early human dispersal and occupation, could be significant for affirming the regional potential for early occupation. We investigate two new geoproxy suites, from Al Ain and Tawi Asmar, northern UAE, in the presently hyper-arid. Rub' al-Khali Sand Sea, that preserve evidence of multiple episodes of aeolian deposition and humidity in the form of fluvial gravels, sands and silts, and dune sands. 35 OSL ages demonstrate humid episodes occurred in MIS 5e, 5a and the early Holocene, with a major dry dune building phase in late MIS 3, and the onset of dry conditions again from 6 ka. The fluvial sedimentary evidence from MIS 5e and 5a suggest that the present hyper-arid desert landscape of the northeastern Rub' al-Khali was at those times represented by an environment experiencing significant seasonal wadi flow. This provides an environmental context that supports recent studies indicating archaeological visibility in Arabia dating from MIS 5, and the presence of anatomically modern humans in Arabia at this time.

Speleothem calcite farmed in situ: Modern calibration of δ 18O and δ 13C paleoclimate proxies in a continuously-monitored natural cave system

Understanding the relationships between speleothem stable isotopes (δ 13C δ 18O) and in situ cave forcing mechanisms is important to interpreting ancient stalagmite paleoclimate records. Cave studies have demonstrated that the δ 18O of inorganically precipitated (low temperature) speleothem calcite is systematically heavier than the δ 18O of laboratory-grown calcite for a given temperature. To understand this apparent offset, rainwater, cave drip water, groundwater, and modern naturally precipitated calcite (farmed in situ) were grown at multiple locations inside Hollow Ridge Cave in Marianna, Florida. High resolution micrometeorological, air chemistry time series and ventilation regimes were also monitored continuously at two locations inside the cave, supplemented with periodic bi-monthly air gas grab sample transects throughout the cave. Cave air chemistry and isotope monitoring reveal density-driven airflow pathways through Hollow Ridge Cave at velocities of up to 1.2 m s −1 in winter and 0.4 m s −1 in summer. Hollow Ridge Cave displays a strong ventilation gradient in the front of the cave near the entrances, resulting in cave air that is a mixture of soil gas and atmospheric CO 2. A clear relationship is found between calcite δ 13C and cave air ventilation rates estimated by proxies pCO 2 and 222Rn. Calcite δ 13C decreased linearly with distance from the front entrance to the interior of the cave during all seasons, with a maximum entrance-to-interior gradient of Δδ 13C CaCO3 = −7‰. A whole-cave “Hendy test” at multiple contemporaneous farming sites reveals that ventilation induces a +1.9 ± 0.96‰ δ 13C offset between calcite precipitated in a ventilation flow path and calcite precipitated on the edge or out of flow paths. This interpretation of the “Hendy test” has implications for interpreting δ 13C records in ancient speleothems. Calcite δ 13C CaCO3 may be a proxy not only for atmospheric CO 2 or overlying vegetation shifts but also for changes in cave ventilation due to dissolution fissures and ceiling collapse creating and plugging ventilation windows. Farmed calcite δ 18O was found to exhibit a +0.82 ± 0.24‰ offset from values predicted by both theoretical calculations and laboratory-grown inorganic calcite. Unlike δ 13C CaCO3, oxygen isotopes showed no ventilation effects, i.e. Δδ 18O CaCO3 appears to be a function of growth temperature only although we cannot rule out a small effect of (unmeasured) gradients in relative humidity (evaporation) accompanying ventilation. Our results support the findings of other cave investigators that water–calcite fractionation factors observed in speleothem calcite are higher that those measured in laboratory experiments. Cave and laboratory calcite precipitates may differ mainly in the complex effects of kinetic isotope fractionation. Combining our data with other recent speleothem studies, we find a new empirical relationship for cave-specific water–calcite oxygen isotope fractionation across a range of temperatures and cave environments: 1000 ln α = 16.1 10 3 T - 1 - 24.6 with a fractionation temperature dependence of Δδ 18O/Δ T = −0.177‰/°C, lower than the currently accepted −0.206‰/°C.

Speleothem records of changes in tropical hydrology over the Holocene and possible implications for atmospheric methane

Recent speleothem records from the tropics of both hemispheres document a gradual decrease in the intensity of the monsoons in the Northern Hemisphere and increase in the Southern Hemisphere monsoons over the Holocene. These changes are a direct response of the monsoons to precession-driven insolation variability. With regard to atmospheric methane, this shift should result in a decrease in Northern Hemisphere tropical methane emissions and increase in Southern Hemisphere emissions. It is plausible that that overall tropical methane production experienced a minimum in the mid-Holocene because of decreased seasonality in rainfall at the margins of the tropics. Changes in tropical methane production alone might, therefore, explain many of the characteristics of Holocene methane concentrations and isotopic chemistry.

Speleothem climate records from deep time? Exploring the potential with an example from the Permian

Speleothems are well-proven archives of terrestrial climate variation, recording mean temperature, rainfall, and surface vegetation data at subannual to millennial resolution. They also form within the generally stable environment of caves, and thus may remain remarkably well preserved for many millions of years and, most important, can be dated radiometrically to provide robust chronologies that do not rely on orbital tuning, ice-flow modeling, or estimates of sediment deposition rates. The recent adaptation of the U-Pb dating technique to speleothems has greatly extended their potential as paleoclimate recorders back into the more distant geological past, well beyond the ∼500 k.y. limit previously imposed by U-series techniques, but the opportunities presented by these new methods have yet to be fully explored. As an extreme example, here we report on samples recovered from Permian cave fills, the oldest radiometrically dated speleothems so far documented. Using state of the art analytical techniques it is possible to determine not only their age and state of preservation, but also to extract apparently nearly pristine climate proxy data. Armed with these methods, it now seems reasonable to apply the lessons learned from more recent speleothems to ancient materials, wherever they can be found, and of whatever age, to generate snapshots of paleoclimate that can be used to greatly refine the records preserved within the sediments and fossils of the time.

A reconnaissance on the use of the speleothems in Korean limestone caves to retrospective study on the regional climate change for the recent and geologic past

More than 1,000 limestone caves are extensively developed in Gangwon-do and Chungcheongbuk-do, Korea. A variety of numerous speleothems are actively growing in these caves today. A potential to use speleothems as regional paleoclimate proxy was explored by analyzing soda straw, stalactite and stalagmite. These proxy recorders that have grown during the past several decades were investigated using the presence of excess210Pb. Most specimens collected from six limestone caves were found to have an excess210Pb, indicating that they are less than about 100 yrs old. This excess210Pb was employed to estimate the growth rate for a tubular “soda straw” that yielded a longitudinal growth rate of 1.7 mm/yr past 60 years. Coeval decrease in δ13C values of the soda straw, spanning the time period of about 1930–1995 AD, may reflect the carbon isotope ratio of about 1930–1995 AD, may reflect the carbon isotope ratio of atmospheric CO2 for the same period. Studies on fine scale variations in the isotopic composition of recent speleothems along with age control using210Pb excess method from the speleothems in Korean limestone caves promise a great potential for the reconstruction of climate and environmental changes during the past hundred years or so.

The "Calamine" of Southwest Sardinia: Geology, Mineralogy, and Stable Isotope Geochemistry of Supergene Zn Mineralization

The mining district of southwest Sardinia, Italy, is one of the classic areas where primary carbonate-hosted Zn-Pb sulfide ores are associated with a relatively thick secondary oxidation zone containing Zn (hydroxy-)carbonates and silicates, the so-called calamine, exploited until the 1970s. The extent of the capping oxidized ore zones, reaching deep below the surface, is generally independent of the present-day water table. The base of the oxidation profile containing nonsulfide Zn minerals in various uplifted blocks in the Iglesiente area can be both elevated above or submerged below the recent water table. The genesis of the ores is therefore considered to be related to fossil, locally reactivated, oxidation phenomena. The mineralogy of the nonsulfide mineralization is generally complex and consists of smithsonite, hydrozincite, and hemimorphite as the main economic minerals, accompanied by iron and manganese oxy-hydroxides and residual clays. This study places the secondary ores in the context of the tectonostratigraphic and climatic evolution of Sardinia and includes a petrographic and mineralogic study of the most abundant minerals, relating the mineralogy of secondary Zn and Pb carbonates to their stable C and O isotope geochemistry and constraining the origin of the oxidizing fluids and the temperature of mineralization. The δ 18 O VSMOW values of smithsonite are homogeneous, regardless of crystal morphology, position, and mine location (avg. 27.4 ± 0.9‰). This homogeneity points to a relatively uniform isotopic composition of the oxidation fluid and corresponding formation temperatures of 20° to 35°C. Considering the karstic environment of smithsonite formation in southwest Sardinia, this high temperature could be due to heat release during sulfide oxidation. The carbon isotope compositions of secondary Zn carbonates display considerable variations of more than 9 per mil ( δ 13 C VPDB from –0.6 to –10.4‰). This large range indicates participation of variable amounts of reduced organic and marine carbonate carbon during sulfide oxidation. The isotopic variation can be related to a variation in crystal morphologies of smithsonite, reflecting different environments of formation with respect to water table oscillations in karstic environments (upper to lower vadose to epiphreatic). The same range in δ 13 C isotope values is displayed by the calcite associated with Zn carbonates and by recent speleothems. The most reliable time span for the deposition of bulk calamine ore in southwest Sardinia ranges from middle Eocene to Plio-Pleistocene, although further multiple reactivation of the weathering profiles, peaking within the warm interglacial periods of the Quaternary, cannot be excluded.

Age determination of recent cave deposits using excess 210Pb ‐ A new technique

Cave deposits have been widely used as proxy recorders in deciphering palaeoclimate during the last glacial/interglacial maxima (∼ 120 ka) [Harmon et al., 1975; Atkinson et al., 1978; Goede and Harmon, 1983; Ayliffe and Veeh, 1989]. Palaeoclimatic studies of cave deposits for the past 1–1000 yr time scale require a precise dating technique, that until now has been lacking. Due to the multiple sources of carbon in speleothems, 14C dates obtained for recently deposited calcite are highly variable and thus, 14C dating techniques are not suitable to obtain speleothem ages for the past 1–1000 years.Here, we show for the first time that speleothems contain high concentrations of excess 210Pb and that this 210Pb excess can be successfully employed to obtain growth rates of speleothems deposited during the last 100 years. Of two specimens analyzed, a tubular “soda straw” stalactite yielded a longitudinal growth rate of 1.1 mm/yr, while a normal icicle‐shaped stalactite had a lateral growth rate of 0.028 mm/yr. The mass growth rates of these two speleothems (149 and 78 mg/yr respectively) are comparable within a factor of two. Studies of fine‐scale variations in the isotopic composition of recent speleothems will help to corroborate the validity of palaeoclimate records obtained using longer lived isotopes and extending back into Pleistocene.

Growth Mechanisms of Recent Speleothems from Castleguard Cave, Columbia Icefields, Alberta, Canada, Inferred from a Comparison of Uranium-Series and Carbon-14 Age Data

Growth Mechanisms of Recent Speleothems from Castleguard Cave, Columbia Icefields, Alberta, Canada, Inferred from a Comparison of Uranium-Series and Carbon-14 Age Data

Growth Mechanisms of Recent Speleothems from Castleguard Cave, Columbia Icefields, Alberta, Canada, Inferred from A Comparison of Uranium-Series and Carbon-14 Age Data

Growth Mechanisms of Recent Speleothems from Castleguard Cave, Columbia Icefields, Alberta, Canada, Inferred from A Comparison of Uranium-Series and Carbon-14 Age Data