Geochemistry and Petrography of Speleothems from Turkey and Iran: Palaeoclimate and Diagenesis
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GEOCHEMISTRY AND PETROGRAPHY OF SPELEOTHEMS FROM TURKEY AND IRAN: PALAEOCLIMATE AND DIAGENESIS LERETTA BROOK WICKENS A thesis submitted to for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of East Anglia School of Environmental Sciences June 2013 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution Abstract Speleothems contain key archives of palaeoclimatic information, which can be interpreted through multiple geochemical and petrographic proxies, and precisely dated by Uranium Series dating. As U/Th dating is only viable for samples up to approximately 700 kyr of age, U/Pb dating must be used to date older samples. In this study, U/Pb methods were used to date an aragonite layer in a speleothem from Iran, following the use of autoradiography to select samples with appropriately high uranium. Aragonite is metastable at earth surface conditions, and is therefore prone to recrystallisation as calcite if it comes into contact with a fluid that is undersaturated with respect to aragonite. This process affected two speleothems from Dim Cave, SW Turkey, and one speleothem from Torang Cave, Iran. The older Dim Cave stalagmite, which precipitated during MIS 5e, was not identified as a recrystallised stalagmite at first, as the mineralogy of the growth axis appeared to show a change in primary mineral rather than recrystallisation. Despite the fact that recrystallisation had occurred, it was possible to create an age model, as the system had not opened to a great degree. The persistence of an aragonite layer in this speleothem, as well as several other geochemical proxies, indicates that an arid phase occurred during early MIS 5e in SW Turkey. The second recrystallised speleothem from Dim Cave provides useful insights into the geochemical and petrographic character of recrystallised speleothems. The recrystallised speleothem from Torang Cave produced a record of climatic instability in southern Iran during MIS period 9- 7, although the age model was not precise enough to draw precise conclusions. A small aragonitic Holocene growth from Dim Cave grew during a time which corresponds to an early Holocene pluvial period that affected the entire eastern Mediterranean Basin, coinciding with the deposition of Sapropel 1. 2 Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... 2 Contents ................................................................................................................................... 3 List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... 11 List of Tables .......................................................................................................................... 16 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 17 1 Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 18 1.1 Why Use Speleothems as Palaeoclimatic Proxies? ................................................ 19 1.1.1 Comparison with Other Records....................................................................20 1.1.2 Problems with Speleothems as Palaeoclimatic Proxies.................................21 1.2 The Need for Palaeoclimate Records from the Eastern Mediterranean – Middle East (EM-ME) Region ......................................................................................................... 22 1.3. Project Aims and Objectives .................................................................................. 22 1.4 Geography and Present Day Climate of the EM-ME Region .................................. 24 1.4.1 The Mediterranean Sea.................................................................................24 1.4.2 Climate of the Eastern Mediterranean Region..............................................24 1.4.2.1 Atmospheric Circulation in the EM-ME Region ......................................... 25 1.4.2.1.1 Anticyclone Ridge................................................................................. 25 1.4.2.1.2 Cyprus Lows ......................................................................................... 25 1.4.2.1.3 The Persian Trough and Etesian Winds ............................................... 26 1.4.3 Controls on EM Climate.................................................................................26 1.4.3.1 The North-Atlantic Oscillation ................................................................... 26 1.4.3.2 The North Sea-Caspian Pattern and Eastern Atlantic-Western Russia Pattern 28 1.4.3.3 The Eastern Mediterranean Pattern .......................................................... 30 1.4.4 Mediterranean Low Pressure Systems...........................................................31 1.4.5 Isotope Composition of Air Moisture.............................................................32 1.4.6 Present Day Climate of Turkey.......................................................................34 1.4.6.1 The Climate Zones of Turkey ...................................................................... 35 1.4.7 Present Day Climate of Iran...........................................................................37 1.4.7.1 Topography of Iran and its Relation to Precipitation ................................. 37 1.4.7.2 Precipitation Amount and Distribution ...................................................... 38 1.4.7.3 Seasonal Variability .................................................................................... 40 3 2 Chapter 2 Speleothems as Archives of Palaeoclimatic Information ............................. 41 2.1 The Components of the Karst System .................................................................... 42 2.2 Cave Formation ...................................................................................................... 42 2.3 Speleothem Formation .......................................................................................... 43 2.3.1 The Soil Zone..................................................................................................43 2.3.2 The Karst Zone...............................................................................................45 2.3.3 The Cave Environment...................................................................................46 2.3.3.1 Degassing of Drips ...................................................................................... 46 2.3.3.2 Speleothem Precipitation .......................................................................... 47 2.4 Types of Speleothem ............................................................................................. 48 2.4.1 Flowstones.....................................................................................................48 2.4.2 Stalactites.......................................................................................................49 2.4.3 Stalagmites.....................................................................................................49 2.5 Speleothem Growth Rates ..................................................................................... 50 2.5.1 Factors affecting growth rate.........................................................................50 2.5.1.1 Supersaturation ......................................................................................... 50 2.5.1.2 Cave Air Ventilation and Cave Air pCO2 ..................................................... 51 2.5.1.3 Variations in Drip Rate ............................................................................... 52 2.5.1.4 Other factors .............................................................................................. 53 2.6 Physical Properties of Speleothems ....................................................................... 54 2.6.1 Stalagmite Width and Shape..........................................................................54 2.6.2 Annual Layers.................................................................................................54 2.6.3 Hiatuses..........................................................................................................55 2.7 Speleothem Mineralogy and Petrography ............................................................. 55 2.7.1 Cave Carbonate Minerals...............................................................................55 2.7.2 Mineralogy of Speleothems used for Palaeoclimatic Studies........................56 2.7.2.1 Benefits of Performing Petrographic Observations of Speleothems ......... 57 2.7.3 Calcite............................................................................................................58 2.7.4 Aragonite........................................................................................................59 2.7.4.1 Characteristics of Aragonite ....................................................................... 59 2.7.5 Isotopic Characteristics of Speleothem Fabrics.............................................60 2.7.6 Diagenesis and Recrystallisation....................................................................60