A privilege to work with Dr. Elizabeth Patterson, Kathleen Johnson and others to provide water isotope ratios in support of their new study "Local hydroclimate alters interpretation of speleothem δ18O records," which is out this week in Nature Communications.
The proxies developed in the paper extend back 45,000 years. Quite a contrast to our day-to-day work accounting for modern-day pattern and process.
The abstract is as follows:
Oxygen isotopes (δ18O) are the most commonly utilized speleothem proxy and have provided many foundational records of paleoclimate. Thus, understanding processes affecting speleothem δ18O is crucial. Yet, prior calcite precipitation (PCP), a process driven by local hydrology, is a widely ignored control of speleothem δ18O. Here we investigate the effects of PCP on a stalagmite δ18O record from central Vietnam, spanning 45 – 4 ka. We employ a geochemical model that utilizes speleothem Mg/Ca and cave monitoring data to correct the δ18O record for PCP effects. The resulting record exhibits improved agreement with regional speleothem δ18O records and climate model simulations, suggesting that the corrected record more accurately reflects precipitation δ18O (δ18Op). Without considering PCP, our interpretations of the δ18O record would have been misleading. To avoid misinterpretations of speleothem δ18O, our results emphasize the necessity of considering PCP as a significant driver of speleothem δ18O.
The abstract is as follows:
Oxygen isotopes (δ18O) are the most commonly utilized speleothem proxy and have provided many foundational records of paleoclimate. Thus, understanding processes affecting speleothem δ18O is crucial. Yet, prior calcite precipitation (PCP), a process driven by local hydrology, is a widely ignored control of speleothem δ18O. Here we investigate the effects of PCP on a stalagmite δ18O record from central Vietnam, spanning 45 – 4 ka. We employ a geochemical model that utilizes speleothem Mg/Ca and cave monitoring data to correct the δ18O record for PCP effects. The resulting record exhibits improved agreement with regional speleothem δ18O records and climate model simulations, suggesting that the corrected record more accurately reflects precipitation δ18O (δ18Op). Without considering PCP, our interpretations of the δ18O record would have been misleading. To avoid misinterpretations of speleothem δ18O, our results emphasize the necessity of considering PCP as a significant driver of speleothem δ18O.
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