Novel heating/cooling stage designed for fluid inclusion microthermometry of large stalagmite sections

Krüger, Yves; Hiltbrunner, Beat; Luder, Andres; Fleitmann, Dominik; Frenz, Martin

doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2014.08.004

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Therefore, a chronological reconstruction of the temperature data within the last 450 yr was not possible. In future, an exact positioning of the inclusion will be possible due to our novel freezing/heating stage which allows us to study large samples (Krüger et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technical Note: How accurate can stalagmite formation temperatures be determined using vapour bubble radius measurements in fluid inclusions?

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Stalagmites are natural archives containing detailed information on continental climate variability of the past. Microthermometric measurements of fluid inclusion homogenisation temperatures allow determination of stalagmite formation temperatures by measuring the radius of stable laser-induced vapour bubbles inside the inclusions. A reliable method for precisely measuring the radius of vapour bubbles is presented. The method is applied to stalagmite samples for which the formation temperature is known. An assessment of the bubble radius measurement accuracy and how this error influences the uncertainty in determining the formation temperature is provided. We demonstrate that the nominal homogenisation temperature of a single inclusion can be determined with an accuracy of ±0.25 • C, if the volume of the inclusion is larger than 10 5 µm 3 . With this method, we could measure in a proof-of-principle investigation that the formation temperature of 10-20 yr old inclusions in a stalagmite taken from the Milandre cave is 9.87 ± 0.80 • C, while the mean annual surface temperature, that in the case of the Milandre cave correlates well with the cave temperature, was 9.6 ± 0.15 • C, calculated from actual measurements at that time, showing a very good agreement. Formation temperatures of inclusions formed during the last 450 yr are found in a temperature range between 8.4 and 9.6 • C, which corresponds to the calculated average surface temperature. Paleotemperatures can thus be determined within ±1.0 • C. IntroductionIn recent years, stalagmites have gained growing interest in palaeoclimate research since they can provide long (up to several hundred thousand years), detailed and precisely dated records of past climate variability. In many cases cave air temperature is stable throughout the year and is closely related to the mean annual air temperature above the cave (McDermott, 2004;Fairchild et al., 2006). Assuming that the stalagmite formation temperature equals the cave air temperature, stalagmites can deliver well-dated and highly resolved palaeotemperature records.Until now, palaeoclimate information from stalagmites has mainly been obtained from stable isotope measurements of speleothem calcite (δ 18 O and δ 13 C), annual band thickness and trace element contents (Fairchild and Treble, 2009). These climate proxies can deliver qualitative records of climate variability, but a quantitative interpretation of the data still remains difficult. Uncertainties associated with the interpretation of the most widely used climate proxy, the δ 18 O signal, are caused by the lack of knowledge of the exact cave temperature. Furthermore, the δ 18 O signal can be influenced by other climatic factors such as precipitation and moisture source as well as by environmental factors in the epikarst and the cave. Thus, an independent temperature proxy would form the basis for a quantitative interpretation of the highresolution δ 18 O isotope records.Several quantitative temperature proxies have been used to determine stalagmite f...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%