Book chapter
Paleoclimate Studies from Midwestern Caves
Caves and Karst of the Upper Midwest, USA, pp.297-306
Cave and Karst Systems of the World, Springer International Publishing
12/02/2020
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-54633-5_11
Abstract
Caves of the Midwestern U.S.A. have a history of paleoclimate studies going back more than 50 years. The most valued paleoclimate archives are speleothems, especially stalagmites, which commonly contain a straightforward internal stratigraphy, grow over many thousands of years in some cases, and can be readily dated using uranium-series techniques. Some of the more unique contributions that have come from Midwestern caves include: using speleothem carbon isotopes as a vegetation proxy, reconstructing the episodic nature of cave flooding from detrital layers in speleothems, and using broken speleothems and altered speleothem growth to identify the timing of past seismic events. Because speleothems contain high-quality paleoclimate information, the pace of cave paleoclimate studies has intensified in recent years. This increased demand on a fragile resource highlights the need for a strong conservation ethic among scientists working in caves.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Paleoclimate Studies from Midwestern Caves
- Creators
- Jeffrey A Dorale - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- Caves and Karst of the Upper Midwest, USA, pp.297-306
- Series
- Cave and Karst Systems of the World
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-030-54633-5_11
- eISSN
- 2364-4605
- ISSN
- 2364-4591
- Publisher
- Springer International Publishing; Cham
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/02/2020
- Academic Unit
- Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984240908002771
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