in stalagmites from Anjohibe Cave

Abstract: Two stalagmites from Anjohibe Cave have annual layers made up of inclusion-rich calcite over inclusion-free calcite or of darker aragonite over clear aragonite. Geochemical evidence indicates that the basal units are deposited slowly in the wet season and the upper units more rapidly in th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: George A. Brook, Margaret A. Rafter, L. Bruce Railsback, Shaw-wen Sheen, Joyce Lundberg
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Key words
Speleothems
caves
annual layers
ENSO
palaeoclimates
Madagascar
Pacific
Soi
Ice cap
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1027.7197
http://hol.sagepub.com/content/9/6/695.full.pdf
Description
Summary:Abstract: Two stalagmites from Anjohibe Cave have annual layers made up of inclusion-rich calcite over inclusion-free calcite or of darker aragonite over clear aragonite. Geochemical evidence indicates that the basal units are deposited slowly in the wet season and the upper units more rapidly in the dry season. For the period with rainfall and temperature data (ad 1951–1992), layer thickness correlates well with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), as well as rainfall, water surplus, and actual evapotranspiration (AET) at nearby Majunga. Com-parison of the layer record for one stalagmite with 1866–1994 SOI data indicates that layer thickness correlates best with the frequency and intensity of warm, low-phase SO (El Niño) events, not with average SOI conditions. In addition, the 415-year layer thickness time-series from that speleothem agrees remarkably well with historical records of El Niño frequency, with Galápagos (Ecuador) coral records of sea-surface temperature in the eastern Pacific, and with accumulation rates on the Quelccaya Ice Cap of Peru, which are lower at times of high El Niño frequency.

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