Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:25:06.177Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Pleistocene Paleoclimates of North America as Inferred from Stable Isotope Studies of Speleothems1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Russell S. Harmon ,
Peter Thompson ,
Henry P. Schwarcz  and
Derek C. Ford
Russell S. Harmon
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824 USA
Peter Thompson
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Henry P. Schwarcz
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geography, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M1, Canada
Derek C. Ford
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M1, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Some speleothems (CaCO3 cave deposits) can be demonstrated to have been formed in oxygen isotopic equilibrium with their parent seepage waters and thus a record of relative fluctuations in depositional temperature can be obtained from the δ18O variations in successive growth layers of such deposits. These temperature fluctuations reflect variations in the average annual air temperature at the surface above the cave, and therefore permit inference of past continental climate changes. Equilibrium deposits have been obtained from caves in San Luis Potosi, Bermuda, Kentucky, West Virginia, Iowa, and Alberta, ranging in age from 200,000 years BP to the present, as determined by 230Th/234U dating of the speleothems. The δ18O time curves for the six sites show the following synchronous climatic fluctuations: warm periods from 190 to 165 and from 120 to 100 Ka, at 60 and 10 Ka, and cold periods from 95 to 65 and from 55 to 20 Ka. The periods of thermal maxima correspond in time to the interglacial periods of the marine foraminiferal isotopic and faunal temperature records and to periods of high sea stand as observed from radiometric dating of raised coral reefs. Maxima and minima in insolation appear to be synchronous with this record as well.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , January 1978 , pp. 54 - 70
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

Cave Research Foundation.

References

Bloom, A.L., Broecker, W.S., Chappel, J.J.A., Matthews, R.K., Mesolella, K.S., 1974. Quaternary sea level fluctuations on a tectonic coast: New 230Th/234U dates from the Huon Peninsula, New Guinea. Quaternary Research. 4, 185 205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bray, J.R., 1972. Cyclic temperature oscillations from 0–20, 300 year. BP. Nature (London). 237, 277 279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S., van Donk, J., 1970. Insolation changes, ice volumes, and the O18 record in deepsea cores. Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics. 8, 169 198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chappell, J., 1973. Astronomical theory of climate change: Status and problem. Quaternary Research. 3, 221 236.Google Scholar
1976 Climap Project Members. The surface of the ice-age earth. Science. 191, 1131 1137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dansgaard, W., 1964. Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus. 4, 436 468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duplessy, J.C., Labeyrie, J., Lalou, C., Nguyen, H.84., 1970. Continental climatic variations between 130,000 and 90,000 years B.P.. Nature (London). 226, 631 633.Google Scholar
Duplessy, J.C., Labeyrie, J., Lalou, C., Nguyen, H.85., 1971. La mesure des variations climatique continentales—Application a la periode comprise entre 130,000 et 90,000 ans B.P.. Quaternary Research. 1, 162 174.Google Scholar
Emiliani, C., 1966. Paleotemperature analysis of the Caribbean cores P6304-8 and P6304-9 and a generalized paleotemperature curve for the last 425,000 years. Journal of Geology. 74, 109 126.Google Scholar
Emiliani, C., Shackleton, N.J., 1974. The brunhes Epoch: Isotopic paleotemperatures and geochronology. Science. 183, 511 514.Google Scholar
Epstein, S., Buchsbaum, R., Lowenstam, H.A., Urey, H.C., 1953. Revised carbonate-water isotopic temperature scale. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. 64, 1315 1324.Google Scholar
Galimov, E.M., Grinenko, 86.A., Gubbin, I.M., 1965. Effect of leaching under surface conditions on the isotopic composition of carbon in secondary calcite. Geochemistry International. 2, 79 82.Google Scholar
Harmon, R.S., 1975. Late Pleistocene Paleoclimates in North America as Inferred from Isotopic Variations in Speleothems. Ph.D. thesis. McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. Google Scholar
Harmon, R.S., Schwarcz, H.P., Ford, D.C., 1975a. Wisconsinan paleoclimates of Northeastern lowa as recorded by oxygen isotope profiles of speleothems. Geological Society of America Abstracts for 1975. 1100 1101.Google Scholar
Harmon, R.S., Thompson, P., Schwarcz, H.P., Ford, D.C., 1975b. Uranium series dating of speleothems. National Speleological Society Bulletin. 37, 21 33.Google Scholar
Harmon, R.S., Schwarcz, H.P., Thompson, P., Ford, D.C., 1977a. Critical comment on “Uranium-series dating of stalagmites from Blanchard Springs Caverns, U.S.A.”. (in press).Google Scholar
Harmon, R.S., Schwarcz, H.P., Ford, D.C., 1977b. Late Pleistocene history of Bermuda as recorded by presently submerged speleothems. Quaternary Research. in press.Google Scholar
Hays, J.D., Imbrie, J., Shackleton, N.J., 1976. Variations in the Earth's orbit: Pacemaker of the ice ages. Science. 194, 1121 1132.Google Scholar
Hendy, C.H., 1969. The Isotopic Geochemistry of Speleothems and Its Application to the Study of Past Climates. Ph.D. thesis. Victoria University, Wellington. Google Scholar
Hendy, C.H., 1971. The isotopic geochemistry of speleothems—I. The calculation of the effects of different modes of formation on the isotopic composition of speleothems and their applicability as paleoclimate indicators. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 35, 801 824.Google Scholar
Hendy, C.H., Wilson, A.T., 1968. Paleoclimatic data from speleothems. Nature (London). 216, 48 51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, L.E., Shackleton, N.J., Moore, T.C., Balsam, W.L., 1975. Land and marine records in the Pacific Northwest during the last glacial interval. Geological Society of America Abstracts for 1975. 1113 1114.Google Scholar
Imbrie, J., Kipp, N.G., 1971. A new micropaleontological method for quantitative paleoclimatology: Application to a Late Pleistocene Caribbean core. Turekian, K.K., The Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages. Yale University Press, New Haven, 77 181.Google Scholar
Imbrie, J., van Donk, J., Kipp, N.G., 1973. Paleoclimatic investigation of a Late Pleistocene Caribbean deep-sea core: Comparison of isotopic and faunal methods. Quaternary Research. 3, 10 38.Google Scholar
1969. International Atomic Energy Agency. Environmental isotope data, No. 1: World survey of isotopic concentration in precipitation (1962–1963). Technical Report Series No. 117. IAEA, Vienna. Google Scholar
1970. International Atomic Energy Agency. Environmental isotope data, No. 2: World survey of isotopic concentration in precipitation (1964–1965). Technical Report Series No. 117. IAEA, Vienna. Google Scholar
Johnsen, S.J., Dansgaard, W., Clausen, H.B., Langway, C.C., 1972. Oxygen isotope profiles through the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. Nature (London). 235, 429 434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ku, T-L., 1966. Uranium Series Disequilibrium in Deep-Sea Sediment. Ph.D. thesis. Columbia University, New York. Google Scholar
Kukla, G., 1972. Insolation and glacials. Boreas. 1, 63 96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mesolella, K.J., Mathews, R.K., Broecker, W.S., Thurber, D.L., 1969. The astronomical theory of climatic change: Barbados data. Journal of Geology. 77, 250 274.Google Scholar
Nguyen, H.87., Lalou, C., 1969. Comportement geochemique des isotopes des familles de l'uranium et du thorium dans les concretions des grottes: Application a la datation des stalagmites. Comptes Rendus. 269, 560 563.Google Scholar
Ninkovich, D., Shackleton, N.J., 1975. Distribution stratigraphic position and age of ash layer “L”, in the Panama Basin. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 27, 20 34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Neil, J.R., Clayton, R.N., Mayeda, T.K., 'Neil et al., 1969. Oxygen isotope fractionation in divalent metal carbonates. Journal of Chemical Physics. 30, 5547 5558.Google Scholar
Rosholt, J.N., Emiliani, C., Geiss, J., Koczy, F.F., Wangersky, P.J., 1961. Absolute dating of deep-sea cores by the Pa231/Th230 method. Journal of Geology. 69, 162 185.Google Scholar
Sakanoue, M., Konishi, K., Komura, K., 1967. Stepwise determination of thorium, protactinium and uranium isotopes and their applications in geochronological studies. Radioactive Dating and Methods of Low-Level Counting. International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 313 329.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, H.P., Harmon, R.S., Thompson, P., Ford, D.C., 1976. Stable isotope studies of fluid inclusions in speleothems and their paleoclimatic significance. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta. 40, 657 665.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Opdyke, N.D., 1973. Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V28-238: Oxygen isotope temperature and ice volumes on a 105 and 106 year scale. Quaternary Research. 3, 39 55.Google Scholar
Talma, A.S., Vogel, J.C., Partridge, T.C., 1974. Isotopic contents of some Transvaal speleothems and their paleoclimatic significance. South African Journal of Science. 70, 135 140.Google Scholar
Thompson, G., Lumsden, D.N., Walker, R.L., Carter, J.A., 1975. Uranium series dating of stalagmites from Blanchard Springs Caverns, U.S.A.. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta. 39, 1211 1218.Google Scholar
Thompson, P., 1973a. Procedures for extraction and isotopic analysis of uranium and thorium from speleothem. Tech. Memo 73-9. Department of Geology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. Google Scholar
Thompson, P., 1973b. Speleochronology and Late Pleistocene Climates Inferred from O, C, H, U, and Th Isotopic Abundances in Speleothems. Ph.D. thesis. McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. Google Scholar
Thompson, P., Schwarcz, H.P., Ford, D.C., 1974. Continental Pleistocene climatic variations from speleothem age and isotopic data. Science. 184, 893 895.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thompson, P., Ford, D.C., Schwarcz, H.P., 1975. U234/U238 ratios in limestone cave seepage waters and speleothems from West Virginia. Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta. 39, 661 669.Google Scholar
Thompson, P., Schwarcz, H.P., Ford, D.C., 1976. Stable isotope geochemistry, geothermometry, and geochronology of speleothems from West Virginia. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 87, 1730 1738.Google Scholar
Urey, H.C., Lowenstam, H.A., Epstein, S., McKinney, C.R., 1951. Measurement of paleotemperatures and temperatures of the Upper Cretaceous of England, Denmark, and southeastern United States. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 62, 399 416.Google Scholar
Vernekar, A.D., 1972. Long-period global variations of incoming solar radiation. Meteorological Monographs. 12, 19 + 170 unnumbered pages.Google Scholar
Wigley, T.M.L., 1976. Spectral analysis and the astronomical theory of climate change. Nature (London). 264, 629 631.Google Scholar
Wigley, T.M.L., Brown, M.C., 1976. Cave physics. Ford, T.D., Cullingford, C.M.D., The Science of Speleology. Academic Press, New York. Google Scholar