HR: 1400h
AN: PP43C-07    [Abstracts]
TI: Band-counting and grey tone spectral analysis in banded stalagmites, a new proxy for paleoclimate reconstruction?
AU: * Ramirez, H B
EM: dar_nauyaca@hotmail.comk
AF: Departamento de Geoquimica, Instituto de Geologia,UNAM, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, D.F 04510, Mexico
AU: Bernal, J
EM: jpbernal@geologia.unam.mx
AF: Departamento de Geoquimica, Instituto de Geologia,UNAM, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, D.F 04510, Mexico
AU: Perez-Enriquez, R
EM: roman@geociencias.unam.mx
AF: Centro de Geociencias, UNAM, Campus Juriquilla, Juriquilla, QRO 76230,
AU: Boehnel, H
EM: hboehnel@geociencias.unam.mx
AF: Centro de Geociencias, UNAM, Campus Juriquilla, Juriquilla, QRO 76230,
AU: Morales-Malacara, J
EM: jbmm@hp.fciencias.unam.mx
AF: Departamento de Biologia, Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, D.F 04510, Mexico
AU: McCulloch, M
EM: malcolm.mcculloch@anu.edu.au
AF: Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, ACTON, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
AB: Stalagmites are considered one of the most reliable records of past climate variability, due to their evolution in closed-system conditions, ease of dating, and inclusion of several geochemical proxies (such as calcite oxygen and carbon isotopic composition, trace element concentration and/or elemental ratios). While these have been proven as very useful to extract paleoclimatic information, they are also labor intensive and expensive. Banded stalagmites represent an opportunity to assess whether variations in stalagmite color can be related to climate variations. This is because stalagmite color is related to the amount of detritus and organic material included at the time of calcite precipitation. Thus, analysis of high-resolution images of banded stalagmites for variations in grey tonality might represent an additional proxy for paleoclimate reconstruction. Here we present the first results from the image and spectral analysis of a stalagmite from cueva Los Riscos in northern Querétaro, Mexico. The stalagmite has been dated using U-series disequilibria, and band counting was carried out using a band recognition algorithm. The results from the spectral analysis are discussed within the global climatic context and compared to other paleoclimatic records.
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 1635 Oceans (1616, 3305, 4215, 4513)
DE: 3309 Climatology (1616, 1620, 3305, 4215, 8408)
DE: 4215 Climate and interannual variability (1616, 1635, 3305, 3309, 4513)
SC: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology [PP]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly