Paper No. 268-7
Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-6:30 PM
SPATIAL ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON OF TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION IN THE AMERICAN MIDWEST, EUROPE, AND THE CHINESE LOESS PLATEAU USING CLUMPED ISOTOPE THERMOMETRY
BRICKER, Hayley, Department of Earth & Planetary Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90024, BRICKER, Jace, Department of Geology, Mt Vernon, IA 52314, MITSUNAGA, Bryce A., Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 595 Charles E. Young Dr. East, Los Angeles, CA 90095, MERING, John, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waikato, Hamilton, 3240, New Zealand, FRECHEN, Manfred, Geochronology and isotope Hydrology, Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG), Stilleweg 2, Hannover, 30655, Germany, OCHES, Rick, Department of Natural & Applied Sciences, Bentley University, Waltham, MA 02452, EAGLE, Robert, Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 595 Charles Young Drive East, Los Angeles, CA 90095 and TRIPATI, Aradhna K., Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, Departments of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, 595 Charles Young Drive East, Box 951567, Los Angeles, CA 90095, hbricker@g.ucla.edu
The Last Glacial Maximum occurred globally approximately 18,000-25,000 years ago, and saw pervasion of mass glaciation in much of present-day North America, Europe, and Asia. Across these regions are spatial variations of temperature and precipitation, hypothesized to be caused by globally variable insolation effects. These three regions were colder and drier than modern day measurements display.
We are interested in analyzing geochemical proxies dating from the Last Glacial Maximum through to the present. The climate trends we identify can help us better constrain the rapidly changing climate of the immediate future. We are currently reconstructing and evaluating processes that affect recent climate and precipitation in these regions using 18O and carbonate “clumped” isotope thermometry signatures of archives from the Loess Plateau. We have examined modern Holocene (5,000-10,000 year old) snail specimens (Sp. Cathaica) from four locations within the Chinese Loess Plateau, and plan to extend our analyses to sites across the American Midwest, and from a northeast-to-southwest transect of continental Europe. We then will employ the evaporative flux balance model of Balakrishnan (2005) to analyze snail aragonite crystallization in oxygen isotope equilibrium as a proxy measurement for 18O evaporation. Finally, we will compare these measurements with empirical, modern-day meteoric 18O and temperature data from local weather stations and the Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP), as well as data from in situ carbonate nodular loess concretions.
![[Visit Client Website]](/img/gsa/banner.jpg)