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Episodes of late Holocene aridity recorded by stalagmites from Devil's icebox Cave, Central Missouri, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Rhawn F. Denniston ,
Michelle DuPree ,
Jeffrey A. Dorale ,
Yemane Asmerom ,
Victor J. Polyak  and
Scott J. Carpenter
Rhawn F. Denniston*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Cornell College, Mount Vernon, IA 52314, USA
Michelle DuPree
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Cornell College, Mount Vernon, IA 52314, USA
Jeffrey A. Dorale
Affiliation:
Department of Geoscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Yemane Asmerom
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Victor J. Polyak
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Scott J. Carpenter
Affiliation:
Department of Geoscience, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: +1 319 895 5667.E-mail address:[email protected] (R.F. Dennison)
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Abstract

Two stalagmites from Devil's Icebox Cave, central Missouri, display similar δ13C and δ18O values and trends during the late Holocene. Positive δ13C excursions at 3.5–2.6 ka and 1.2–0.9 ka are interpreted to reflect drier conditions. These elevated stalagmite δ13C values could have plausibly been driven by increasing C4 plant abundances over the cave or an increased contribution of bedrock carbon, both of which could reflect decreased effective moisture. A lack of corresponding oxygen isotopic anomalies during these intervals suggests that neither mean annual temperature nor the seasonality of precipitation changed concomitantly with dryness. Both of the δ13C excursions identified in our stalagmite record are roughly coincident with dry intervals from a number of sites located across the Great Plains.

Keywords

SpeleothemPrairieLate HoloceneDrynessCarbonOxygenIsotope
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 68 , Issue 1 , July 2007 , pp. 45 - 52
Copyright
University of Washington

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Footnotes

1 Current address: Department of Geology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, USA

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