Geological Society of America

T268 Cenozoic Paleoclimates and Ecosystems (Posters)

Tuesday, 24 October 2017
9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Halls 4EF

SPATIAL ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON OF TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION IN THE AMERICAN MIDWEST, EUROPE, AND THE CHINESE LOESS PLATEAU USING CLUMPED ISOTOPE THERMOMETRY

Paper number: T268-7
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM

Authors

Hayley Bricker Presenting Author
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Jace Bricker
Mt Vernon, IA
Bryce A. Mitsunaga
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
John Mering
University of Waikato, Hamilton
Manfred Frechen
Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics (LIAG), Hannover
Rick Oches
Bentley University, Waltham, MA
Robert Eagle
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Aradhna K. Tripati
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

Abstract

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.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 49, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2017AM-308017

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