Distinct climate change synchronous with Heinrich event one, recorded by stable oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions in stalagmites from China

Uranium-series dating of oxygen and carbon isotope records for stalagmite SJ3 collected in Songjia Cave, central China, shows significant variation in past climate and environment during the period 20-10 ka. Stalagmite SJ3 is located more than 1000 km inland of the coastal Hulu Cave in East China and more than 700 km north of the Dongge Cave in Southwest China and, despite minor differences, displays a clear first-order similarity with the Hulu and Dongge records. The coldest climatic phase since the Last Glacial Maximum, which is associated with the Heinrich Event 1 in the North Atlantic region, was clearly recorded in SJ3 between 17.6 and 14.5 ka, in good agreement in timing, duration and extent with the records from Hulu and Dongge caves and the Greenland ice core. The results indicate that there have been synchronous and significant climatic changes across monsoonal China and strong teleconnections between the North Atlantic and East Asia regions during the period 20-10 ka. This is much different from the Holocene Optimum which shows a time shift of more than several thousands years from southeast coastal to inland China. It is likely that temperature change at northern high latitudes during glacial periods exerts stronger influence on the Asian summer monsoon relative to insolation and appears to be capable of perturbing large-scale atmospheric/oceanic circulation patterns in the Northern Hemisphere and thus monsoonal rainfall and paleovegetation in East Asia. Climatic signals in the North Atlantic region propagate rapidly to East Asia during glacial periods by influencing the winter land-sea temperature contrast in the East Asian monsoon region.     

Lipid distribution in a subtropical southern China stalagmite as a record of soil ecosystem response to paleoclimate change

Lipid extracts from a 61.7-cm-long subtropical stalagmite in southern China, spanning the period of ca. 10,000–21,000 yr ago as constrained by U–Th dating, were analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The higher plants and microorganisms in the overlying soils contribute a proportion of n-alkanes identified in the stalagmite. The occurrence of LMW (lower molecular weight) n-alkanols and n-alkan-2-ones in the stalagmite was mainly related to the soil microorganisms. We suggest that HMW (higher molecular weight) n-alkanols and n-alkan-2-ones identified in the stalagmite originate from soil organics and reflect input from contemporary vegetation. Shifts in the ratio of LMW to HMW n-alkanols or n-alkan-2-ones indicative of the variation of soil ecosystems (e.g., microbial degradation of organic matter and/or the relative abundance of soil microorganisms to higher plants) are comparable with the subtropical alkenone-SST (sea surface temperature) record of the same period. The similar trends seen in the δ¹³C data and the lipid parameters in this stalagmite imply that the overlying soil ecosystem response to climate might be responsible for the variation of δ¹³C values.     

Late Quaternary downcutting rates of the Qianyou River from U/Th speleothem dates, Qinling mountains, China

Dating deposits in caves formed by rivers may yield insight into rates and processes of bedrock incision. Three cave passages at different levels have developed in the walls of the Qianyou River valley in the Qinling mountains, south of the city of Xian, China. Twelve speleothem samples near the position of palaeowater tables in three cave passages are dated by the ²³⁰Th dating method. The results show that the river cut down at the rate of 0.23 ± 0.02 mm/yr from 358,000 ± 38,000 to 247,000 ± 28,000 yr ago, 0.19 ± 0.03 mm/yr from 247,000 ± 28,000 to 118,000 ± 19,000 yr ago, and 0.51 ± 0.08 mm/yr from 118,000 ± 19,000 yr ago until today. These fall very close to the glacial-interglacial transition following marine oxygen isotope stages 10, 8, and 6, respectively. The increase in downcutting rates during the interglacial period is consistent with warm, wet weather, increasing rates of erosion. This may lead us toward an underlying mechanism for modulating incision that is not in a direct response to the presence of headwater glaciers.     

Cryptic exposure horizons in the Carboniferous Limestone of Portishead,Avon

Two unusual subaerial exposure horizons containing fibrous columnar calcite crystals are described from the (early Chadian) Lower Carboniferous of Portishead, near Bristol in southwest Britain. The lower horizon overlies the Courceyan Black Rock Limestone (mid-ramp facies) and is separated from the upper horizon by the Sub-Oolite Bed and is overlain by the Chadian Gully Oolite (both are inner ramp deposits). Regionally the Portishead Palaeosol Beds are interpreted as forming part of extensive emergent surfaces which developed along the southern margin of the Welsh–Brabant Massif. They correlate with similar subaerial exposure horizons in Belgium and southern Germany, and may be the product of a proposed major eustatic sea level fall at the end of the Courceyan.     

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

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.     

Speleothems as high-resolution paleoenvironment archives: Records from northeastern China

The isotopic compositions of oxygen and carbon and trace concentrations of magnesium and strontium in speleothems formed in limestone caves respond to climate changes outside the caves. Measurements of these properties on a stalagmite from Shihua Cave near Beijing, China, allowed reconstruction of the regional changes in precipitation, temperature and nature of vegetation. Over the last ∼ 500 years, there were fourteen precipitation cycles with a periodicity of 30–40 years, which may well reflect fluctuations in the strength of the East Asian summer monsoons reaching northeastern China. Relative to the mean temperature of this time interval, the period 1620–1900 AD was cold and periods 1520–1620 and 1900–1994 were warm. Over the last ∼ 3000-years, about eight wet/cool-dry/warm climatic cycles of 300–400 years duration occurred, the latest wet/cool half cycle corresponding to the Little Ice Age. The δ¹³C record registers the anthropogenic activities of fossil fuel CO₂ combustion in recent decades and regional deforestation between 13 and 16 centuries when Beijing was bustling with palatial constructions and being developed into the world’s most populated city.     

Testing a new combined (U,Th)–He and U/Th dating approach on Plio-Pleistocene calcite speleothems

The geochronology of cave deposits in the Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage Site in South Africa provides a timeframe essential for the interpretation of its fossils. The uranium-lead (U–Pb) and uranium-thorium disequilibrium (U/Th) dating of speleothems, mostly flowstones that underlie and blanket the fossil-bearing sediments, have been effective in this sense, but U–Pb is limited by the requirement of ∼1 ppm U concentrations and low common Pb contents, and U/Th has a c. 500 ka limit of applicability. Here we report age results for calcite-aragonite speleothems obtained using a new combined uranium-thorium-helium ((U,Th)–He) and U/Th dating routine. We reproduced within analytical uncertainty, the published U–Pb or U/Th ages for (a) flowstone in three drill core samples in the range 2000–3000 ka, (b) a flowstone hand sample taken at surface with an age of 1800 ka, and (c) five underground flowstone samples in the range 100–800 ka. Calcite retentivity for He under cave conditions is thus demonstrated. In the few cases where helium loss was observed in speleothems, only some of the subsamples were affected, and to varying degrees, suggesting loss by lattice damage not related to diagenetic processes, rather than volume diffusion. In the 100 to 800 ka range, the combined U/Th disequilibrium and (U,Th)–He method also yielded reliable values for initial (²³⁰Th/²³⁸U) and (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) activity ratios. Importantly, most subsamples had high initial (²³⁰Th/²³⁸U) values, ranging from 1.0 to 19.7, although having low Th/U ratios. This is probably due to incorporation of Fe–Mn oxides-hydroxides dust, on which ²³⁰Th was previously adsorbed. Such samples are mostly not dateable by U/Th without the additional input from the He analysis. If not detected and corrected for, such high initial (²³⁰Th/²³⁸U) values can lead to inaccurate U/Th and U–Pb ages. Our study shows that the incorporation of He analysis in U/Th dating has broad potential application, with four methods for calculating the ages, in carbonates from different environments where U-Pb or U/Th dating would not work.     

重庆丰都雪玉洞群的洞穴特征和洞穴沉积物

重庆市丰都县的雪玉洞群,由水洞子(雪玉洞群主洞)、水鸣洞和羊子洞组成,发育于三叠系下统的嘉陵江灰岩中,均为沿单斜构造地层走向发育的纵向洞穴系统,集中分布在龙河峡谷左岸2km 内高、中、低不同的相对高度,但洞穴发育特征差异甚大。在该洞穴群的次生物理— 化学沉积物( speleo thems )中碳酸盐类(方解石、文石)和硫酸盐类(石膏)并存,而且其形态的多样与完美,类型的稀有而珍贵,质地的纯粹而白净,在国内已发现的洞穴中是不多见的,其中尤以地石盾、塔珊瑚、钙膜晶锥、卷曲石等生成物为代表。      

Review on the use of natural cave speleothems as palaeoseismic or neotectonics indicators

Collapses that affect cave speleothems have frequently been attributed to earthquakes, although this has not been proved. Observations after an earthquake and laboratory tests indicate that only slender speleothems break under coseismic solicitation. Other causes as subsidence, decompression and creeping of ice or cave sediments explain most of the breaks. Tectonics is also a major cause of speleothems breakages and it is possible to detect minute movements of faults. It seems possible to make the difference between brutal coseismic movements and aseismic slow ones. However, the interpretation is often difficult, as the damage can also be caused by gravity tectonics or glacitectonics. To cite this article: É. Gilli, C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Absolute dating by uranium series disequilibrium of bones from the cave of La Chaise-de-Vouthon (Charente), France

Animal bones, associated with Palaeolithic artefacts and skeletal remains of early hominids from the cave of La Chaise-de-Vouthon, have been dated using a new approach to uranium series dating of bone. Speleothem (cave calcite) interstratified with bone-bearing sediments in the two chambers of Grotte Bourgeois-Delaunay and Grotte Suard have previously been dated by the ²³⁰Th/²³⁴ U method. This provides a chronological control for the bone ages, for which the method is still at an experimental stage. A good agreement is shown in most cases between the calcite and the bone ages, showing the cave to have been a stable environment for the deposition of bone and the acquisition of uranium.