INTERPRETING TRACE-METAL AND STABLE ISOTOPIC RESULTS FROM A HOLOCENE STALAGMITE FROM BUCKEYE CREEK CAVE, WEST VIRGINIA

Buckeye Creek Cave, Greenbrier County, WV, possesses several speleothems that grew throughout much of the Holocene, as has been determined through Th-230 age dating of multiple specimens. Trace-metal ratios (Ba/Ca, Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca) and stable isotopic (d¹³C, d¹⁸O) results for stalagmite BCC-2 (200 mm long; sampled contiguously at the mm scale) are used to infer paleoenvironmental changes that occurred above the cave during the last ~7000 years. In general, Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios moderately co-vary, suggesting similar controls on concentration. Ba/Ca ratios weakly to moderately vary inversely with Sr/Ca ratios and d¹³C. These relationships are preliminarily interpreted to distinguish periods characterized by relatively high soil zone activity (high Ba/Ca, low Sr/Ca and d¹³C) from periods during which bedrock dissolution dominates (low Ba/Ca, high Sr/Ca and d¹³C). The last 2000 years of the record are characterized by a large increase (decrease) in Ba/Ca (Sr/Ca), followed by a decrease in Ba/Ca, and abrupt increase and stabilization of Sr/Ca, and a prolonged increase in Mg/Ca and d¹³C. The last 2000 years of record may reflect paleo-Indian land-use practices. Century-scale oscillations in d¹⁸O during the pre-4000 yr BP period abruptly give way to less oscillatory, slightly more depleted d¹⁸O values during the post-4000 yr BP portion of the record, suggesting a significant shift in climatic conditions ~4000 yr BP.

Presentation Time: 1:30 PM-5:30 PM

INTERPRETING TRACE-METAL AND STABLE ISOTOPIC RESULTS FROM A HOLOCENE STALAGMITE FROM BUCKEYE CREEK CAVE, WEST VIRGINIA
WILLIAMS, Ashley Nicole, Geography and Geology, Western Kentucky University, Environmental Science and Technology Building, 304, Bowling Green, KY 42101-3576, ashley.williams@wku.edu, ROWE, Harry, Department of Geological Sciences, Univ of Kentucky, 101 Slone Research Bldg, Lexington, KY 40506, SPRINGER, Gregory, Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio Univ, 316 Clippinger, Athens, OH 45701, CHENG, Hai, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Univ. of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Dr. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, and EDWARDS, R. Lawrence, Geology and Geophysics, Univ of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Dr SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 Buckeye Creek Cave, Greenbrier County, WV, possesses several speleothems that grew throughout much of the Holocene, as has been determined through Th-230 age dating of multiple specimens. Trace-metal ratios (Ba/Ca, Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca) and stable isotopic (d¹³C, d¹⁸O) results for stalagmite BCC-2 (200 mm long; sampled contiguously at the mm scale) are used to infer paleoenvironmental changes that occurred above the cave during the last ~7000 years. In general, Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios moderately co-vary, suggesting similar controls on concentration. Ba/Ca ratios weakly to moderately vary inversely with Sr/Ca ratios and d¹³C. These relationships are preliminarily interpreted to distinguish periods characterized by relatively high soil zone activity (high Ba/Ca, low Sr/Ca and d¹³C) from periods during which bedrock dissolution dominates (low Ba/Ca, high Sr/Ca and d¹³C). The last 2000 years of the record are characterized by a large increase (decrease) in Ba/Ca (Sr/Ca), followed by a decrease in Ba/Ca, and abrupt increase and stabilization of Sr/Ca, and a prolonged increase in Mg/Ca and d¹³C. The last 2000 years of record may reflect paleo-Indian land-use practices. Century-scale oscillations in d¹⁸O during the pre-4000 yr BP period abruptly give way to less oscillatory, slightly more depleted d¹⁸O values during the post-4000 yr BP portion of the record, suggesting a significant shift in climatic conditions ~4000 yr BP.
2005 Salt Lake City Annual Meeting (October 16–19, 2005) General Information for this Meeting
Presentation Handout (.ppt format, 3967.0 kb)
Session No. 131--Booth# 169 Sigma Gamma Epsilon Student Research (Posters) Salt Palace Convention Center: Hall C 1:30 PM-5:30 PM, Monday, 17 October 2005 Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 37, No. 7, p. 303
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2005 Salt Lake City Annual Meeting (October 16–19, 2005)
Paper No. 131-33