D/H ratios in speleothem fluid inclusions: A guide to variations in the isotopic composition of meteoric precipitation?
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Abstract
D/H ratios of fluid inclusion waters extracted from230Th/234U-dated speleothems that were originally deposited under conditions of isotopic equilibrium should provide a direct estimate of the hydrogen isotopic composition of ancient meteoric waters. We present here D/H ratios for 47 fluid inclusion samples from thirteen speleothems deposited over the past 250,000 years at cave sites in Iowa, West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri. At each site glacial-age waters are depleted in deuterium relative to those of interglacial age. The average interglacial/glacial shift in the hydrogen isotopic composition of meteoric precipitation over ice-free areas of east-central North America is estimated to be −12‰. This shift is consistent with the present climatic models and can be explained in terms of the prevailing pattern of atmospheric circulation and an increased ocean-continent temperature gradient during glacial times which more than compensated for the increase in deuterium content of the world ocean.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | D/H ratios in speleothem fluid inclusions: A guide to variations in the isotopic composition of meteoric precipitation? |
| Series title | Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
| DOI | 10.1016/0012-821X(79)90033-5 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Year Published | 1979 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Elsevier |
| Description | 13 p. |
| First page | 254 |
| Last page | 266 |
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