Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T03:28:00.154Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Changing moisture sources over the last 330,000 years in Northern Oman from fluid-inclusion evidence in speleothems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Dominik Fleitmann ,
Stephen J. Burns ,
Ulrich Neff ,
Augusto Mangini  and
Albert Matter
Dominik Fleitmann*
Affiliation:
Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 1-3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
Stephen J. Burns
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Morrill Science Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01002, USA
Ulrich Neff
Affiliation:
Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, Im Neuenheimer Feld 229, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Augusto Mangini
Affiliation:
Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, Im Neuenheimer Feld 229, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Albert Matter
Affiliation:
Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 1-3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: +0049-0-31-631-48-43.Email Address:dominik.fleitmann@geo.unibe.ch (D. Fleitmann)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Speleothems from Hoti Cave in northern Oman provide a record of continental pluvial periods over the last 330,000 yr. Periods of rapid speleothem deposition occurred from 6000 to 10,500, 78,000 to 82,000, 120,000 to 135,000, 180,000 to 200,000, and 300,000 to 330,000 yr ago, with little or no growth during the intervening periods. During each of these five pluvial periods, δD values of water extracted from speleothem fluid inclusions (δD FI) are between −60 and −20‰ (VSMOW) and δ18O values of speleothem calcite (δ18OC) are between −12 and −4‰ to (VPDB). These values are much more negative than modern rainfall (for δD) or modern stalagmites (for δ18O). Previous work on the isotopic composition of rainfall in Oman has shown that northern and southern moisture sources are isotopically distinct. Combined measurements of the δD values of fluid-inclusion water with calculated δ18O values from peak interglacial speleothems indicate that groundwater was predominantly recharged by the southern (Indian Ocean) moisture source, when the monsoon rainfall belt moved northward and reached Northern Oman during each of these periods.

Keywords

SpeleothemsStable isotopesFluid inclusionsPaleoprecipitationOman
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 60 , Issue 2 , September 2003 , pp. 223 - 232
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, D.M., and Prell, W.L., (1993). A 300 kyr record of the upwelling off Oman during the Late Quaternary. evidence of the Asian southwest monsoon. Paleoceanography 8, 193 208.Google Scholar
Burns, S.J., Fleitmann, D., Matter, A., Neff, U., and Mangini, A., (2001). Speleothem evidence from Oman for continental pluvial events during interglacial periods. Geology 29, 623 626.Google Scholar
Burns, S.J., Matter, A., Norbert, F., and Mangini, A., (1998). Speleothem-based paleoclimate record from northern Oman. Geology 26, 499 502.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, I.D., Fritz, P.E., Quinn, O.P., Rippon, P.W., Nash, H., and bin Ghalib al Said, B., (1987). Modern and fossil groundwater in an arid environment. a look at the hydrogeology of southern Oman. In: Use of Stable Isotopes in Water Resources Development. 167–187., International Atomic Energy Agency Symposium, 299, March 1987, Vienna Google Scholar
Clemens, S.C., and Prell, W.L., (1990). Late Pleistocene variability of Arabian Sea summer monsoon winds and continental aridity. eolian records from the lithogenic component of deep-sea sediments. Paleoceanography 5, 109 145.Google Scholar
Clemens, S.C., Prell, W.L., Murray, D., Shimmield, G., and Weedon, G., (1991). Forcing mechanisms of the Indian Ocean monsoon. Nature 353, 720 725.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COHMAP Members Climatic changes of the last 18,000 years: observation and model simulations. Science 241, (1988). 1043 1052.Google Scholar
Coleman, M.L., Shepard, T.J., Rouse, J.E., and Moore, G.R., (1982). Reduction of water with zinc for hydrogen isotope analysis. Analytical Chemistry 54, 993 995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dansgaard, W., (1964). Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 16, 436 468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dennis, P.F., Rowe, P.J., Atkinson, T.C., (1997). The stable isotope composition of palaeoprecipitation and palaeogroundwaters from speleothem fluid inclusions. International Symposium on Isotope Techniques in the Study of Past and Current Environmental Changes in the Hydrosphere and the Atmosphere. International Atomic Energy Agency Report IAEA-SM-349/44 Google Scholar
Dennis, P.F., Rowe, P.J., and Atkinson, T.C., (2001). The recovery and isotopic measurement of water from fluid inclusions in speleothems. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 65, 871 884.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleitmann, D., (2001). Annual to millennial Indian Ocean monsoon variability recorded in Holocene and Pleistocene stalagmites from Oman. Ph.D. thesis, University of Bern, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Fleitmann, D., Burns, S.J., Matter, A., (1999). Stable isotope study of the active water-carbonate system in caves in Oman: a test of applicability to paleoclimate studies. Eos Trans. AGU, 80, Fall Meet. Suppl., Abstract OS22B-12 Google Scholar
Fontes, J.-C., Gasse, F., Andrews, J.N., (1993). Climatic conditions of Holocene groundwater recharge in the Sahel zone of Africa in: Isotope Techniques in the Study of Past and Current Environmental Changes in the Hydrosphere and the Atmosphere. IAEA-SM-329/59, pp. 231–248.Google Scholar
Frank, N., Braun, M., Hambach, U., Mangini, A., and Wagner, G., (2000). Warm period growth of travertine during the last interglaciation in southern Germany. Quaternary Research 54, 38 48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, I., O’Neil, J.R., (1977). Compilation of stable isotope fractionation factors of geochemical interest. In Data of Geochemistry, sixth edition, United States Geological Survey, Washington DC., Chapter KK, Professional Paper 440-KK Google Scholar
Gasse, F., (2000). Hydrological changes in the African tropics since the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, 189 213.Google Scholar
Gasse, F., (2002). Diatom-inferred salinity and carbonate oxygen isotopes in Holocene waterbodies of the western Sahara and Sahel (Africa). Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 737 767.Google Scholar
Gibb, Sir A., Partners (1976). Water resources survey of northern Oman. Internal Report, Ministry of Water Resources, Sultanate of Oman.Google Scholar
Harmon, R.S., Schwarcz, H.P., and O’Neil, J.R., (1979). D/H ratios in speleothem fluid inclusions. a guide to variations in the isotopic composition of meteoric precipitation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 42, 254 266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hastenrath, S., (1985). Climate and Circulation of the Tropics. Reidel, Boston.Google Scholar
IAEA/WMO (1998). Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation. The GNIP Database. Release 3, October 1999. URL: http://www.iaea.org/programs/ri/gnip/gnipmain.htm Google Scholar
Imbrie, J., et al. . (1990). SPECMAP Archive 1. IGB.P. PAGES/World Data Center-A for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series 90–001. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Ivanovich, M., and Harmon, R.S., (1993). Uranium Series Disequilibrium. Applications to Environmental Problems. Clarendon, Oxford.Google Scholar
Kendall, A.C., and Broughton, P.L., (1978). Origin of Fabrics in Speleothems composed of columnar calcite crystals. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 48, 519 538.Google Scholar
Macumber, P.G., Barghash bin Ghalib, Al-Said, Kew, G.A., and Tennakonn, T.B. (1995). Hydrogeologic implications of a cyclonic rainfall event in central Oman. In: Groundwater Quality, Nash, H., McCall, G.J.H., (Eds.). Chapman & Hall, London., pp. 87–97.Google Scholar
Matter, J.M., (2001). Geochemical evolution and hydrodynamics of groundwater in the Alluvial aquifer of the Dakhiliya area, Sultanate of Oman. Ph.D. thesis, ETH-Zürich, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Matthews, A., Ayalon, A., and Bar-Matthews, M., (2000). D/H ratios of fluid inclusions of Soreq cave (Israel) speleothems as a guide to the Eastern Mediterranean Meteoric Line relationships in the last 120 ky. Chemical Geology 166, 183 191.Google Scholar
McClure, H.A., (1976). Radiocarbon chronology of late Quaternary lakes in the Arabian Desert. Nature 263, 755 756.Google Scholar
Murray, D.W., and Prell, W.L., (1992). Late Pliocene and Pleistocene climatic oscillations and monsoon upwelling recorded in sediments from the Owen Ridge, northwestern Arabia Sea. Summerhayes, C.P. et al. Upwelling Systems. Evolution since the Early Miocene. Geological Society, [London]. 301 321. Special Publication 64 Google Scholar
Neff, U., Burns, S.J., Mangini, A., Mudelsee, M., Fleitmann, D., and Matter, A., (2001). Evidence for solar forcing of the Indian Monsoon in a high-resolution speleothem record from Oman. Nature 411, 290 293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Neil, J.R., Clayton, R.N., and Mayeda, T.K., (1969). Oxygen isotope fractionation in divalent metal carbonates. Journal Chemical Physics 51, 5547 5558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pedgely, D.E., (1989). Cyclones along the Arabian coast. Weather 24, 456 486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preusser, F., Radies, D., and Matter, A., (2002). A 160 ka record of dune development and atmospheric circulation in Southern Arabia. Science 296, 2018 2020.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, H.P., Harmon, R.S., Thompson, P., and Ford, D.C., (1976). Stable isotope studies of fluid inclusions in speleothems and their paleoclimatic significance. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 40, 657 665.Google Scholar
Stanger, G., (1986). The hydrogeology of the Oman Mountains. Ph.D. thesis, Open University, UK, Google Scholar
Street-Perrott, F.A., and Perrott, R.A., (1990). Abrupt climate fluctuations in the tropics. the influence of Atlantic circulation. Nature 343, 607 612.Google Scholar
Szabo, B.J., Haynes, C.V. Jr., and Maxwell, T.A., (1995). Ages of Quaternary pluvial episodes determined by uranium-series and radiocarbon dating of lacustrine deposits of Eastern Sahara. Palaeogeography, Paleoclimatology, Palaeoecology 113, 227 242.Google Scholar
Van Campo, E., Duplessy, J.C., and Rossignol-Strick, M., (1982). Climatic conditions deduced from a 150-kyr oxygen isotope-pollen record from the Arabian Sea. Nature 296, 56 59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weyhenmeyer, C.E., Burns, S.J., Waber, H.N., Aeschbach-Hertig, W., Kipfer, R., Beyerle, R., Loosli, H., and Matter, A., (2000). Cool glacial temperatures recorded by noble gases in a groundwater study from Northern Oman. Science 287, 842 845.Google Scholar
Weyhenmeyer, C.E., Burns, S.J., Waber, H.N., Macumber, P.G., and Matter, A., (2002). Isotope study of moisture sources, recharge areas and groundwater flowpaths within the Eastern Batinah coastal plain, Sultanate of Oman. Water Resources Research 38, 1184 doi: 10.1029/2000WR000149,2002 Google Scholar
Yonge, C.J., (1982). Stable isotope studies of water extracted from speleothems. Ph.D. thesis, McMaster University, Canada.Google Scholar
Yonge, C.J., Ford, D.C., Gray, J., and Schwarcz, H.P., (1985). Stable isotope studies of seepage water. Chemical Geology 58, 97 105.Google Scholar