0000000000465172
AUTHOR
Christian Mühlinghaus
Modelling fractionation of stable isotopes in stalagmites
Abstract High resolution δ13C and δ18O profiles recorded in precisely dated speleothems are widely used proxies for the climate of the past. Both δ13C and δ18O depend on several climate related effects including meteorological processes, processes occurring in the soil zone above the cave and isotope fractionation processes occurring in the solution layer on the stalagmite surface. Here we model the latter using a stalagmite isotope and growth model and determine the relationship between the stable isotope values in speleothem calcite and cave parameters, such as temperature, drip interval, water p CO 2 and a mixing coefficient describing mixing processes between the solution layer and the …
Stable isotope fractionation in speleothems: Laboratory experiments
Abstract In recent years, stalagmites have become important archives for paleoclimate. Several studies applying carbon and oxygen isotopes of stalagmites show a simultaneous increase of δ 13 C and δ 18 O along individual growth layers, which is interpreted as being indicative of isotope fractionation under disequilibrium conditions. In order to obtain robust paleoclimatic information from calcite precipitated under these non-equilibrium conditions it is important to improve the quantitative understanding of the corresponding isotope fractionation processes. Here we present laboratory experiments simulating calcite precipitation under cave-analogue conditions. The major focus was the investi…