Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2009 High Resolution Microclimate Study of Hollow Ridge Cave: Relationships Between Cave Meteorology, Air Chemistry, and Hydrology and the Impact on Speleothem Deposition Andrew Kowalczk Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES HIGH RESOLUTION MICROCLIMATE STUDY OF HOLLOW RIDGE CAVE: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CAVE METEOROLOGY, AIR CHEMISTRY, AND HYDROLOGY AND THE IMPACT ON SPELEOTHEM DEPOSITION By ANDREW KOWALCZK A Thesis submitted to the Department of Oceanography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2009 Copyright © 2009 Andrew Kowalczk All Rights Reserved The members of the committee approve the thesis of Andrew Kowalczk defended on October 12, 2009. __________________________________ Philip N Froelich Professor Directing Thesis __________________________________ Yang Wang Committee Member __________________________________ Doron Nof Committee Member __________________________________ Tom Scott Committee Member __________________________________ Bill Burnett Committee Member Approved: _____________________________________ William Dewar, Chair, Oceanography The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank Nicole Tibbitts, Sammbuddha Misra, Ricky Peterson, Darrel Tremaine, Dr. Bill Burnett, Dr. Tom Scott, and Allen Mosler for editorial comments. The author would like to thank Darrel Tremaine, Craig Gaffka, Brian Kilgore, and Allen Mosler for assistance with field sampling. The author would like to thank Nicole Tibbitts, Sammbuddha Misra, Ricky Peterson, Natasha Dimova, Claire Langford, Dr. Michael Bizimus, Dr. Yang Wang, Dr. Yingfeng Xu, and Dr. Jeff Chanton for assistance in sample analyses and interpretation. The author would like to thank Dr. Philip Froelich for guidance, support, and funding throughout this project. Funding was provided by research (Oceanography) and teaching (FSU) assistantships. Project funding was provided by the Eppes Foundation. The author would like to acknowledge the Southeastern Cave Conservancy for permission to conduct research at the Hollow Ridge Cave Preserve. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ............................................................................................. vi List of Figures ............................................................................................ viii List of Symbols .......................................................................................... xii Abstract ................................................................................................ xiii 1. Introduction to Research ........................................................................ 1 1.1. Purpose of Study ............................................................................ 1 1.2. Statement of Scientific Problem .................................................... 1 1.3. Overview of Thesis ........................................................................ 3 2. Background on Speleology .................................................................... 5 2.1. Introduction to Speleology ............................................................. 5 2.2. Speleogenesis and Karst Geology .................................................. 6 2.3. Speleothem Formation and Research............................................. 7 2.4. Cave Meteorology .......................................................................... 12 2.5. Summary ........................................................................................ 15 3. Cave Air Ventilation and CO2 Outgassing by Radon-222 Modeling: How Fast do Caves Breathe? ................................................................. 28 3.1. Abstract .......................................................................................... 28 3.2. Introduction .................................................................................... 29 3.3. Site Description .............................................................................. 31 3.4. Methods.......................................................................................... 32 3.5. Results ............................................................................................ 33 3.6. Discussion ...................................................................................... 38 3.7. Conclusions .................................................................................... 42 3.8. Acknowledgements ........................................................................ 44 4. In situ Cave Monitoring at Hollow Ridge Cave .................................... 56 4.1. Previous Studies ............................................................................. 56 4.2. Cave Monitoring Methods ............................................................. 60 4.3. Cave Monitoring Results and Discussion ...................................... 67 4.4. Cave Monitoring Conclusions ....................................................... 83 5. Speleothem Research ............................................................................. 125 5.1. Introduction .................................................................................... 125 5.2. Previous Research .......................................................................... 125 iv 5.3. Methods.......................................................................................... 126 5.4. Results and Discussion .................................................................. 129 5.5. Summary ........................................................................................ 134 6. Summary of Thesis ................................................................................ 147 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................. 150 APPENDIX B ............................................................................................. 208 REFERENCES .......................................................................................... 224 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...................................................................... 235 v LIST OF TABLES 2.1: Summary of primary inorganic geochemical time-series in other drip water and speleothem climate studies. ....................................................................... 17 3.1: Average and Annual “Seasonal” Values for Time-Series Measurements ....... 45 3.2: Radon-222 Emission Rates (Φ222) ................................................................... 46 4.1: Cave Monitoring Equipment ........................................................................... 86 4.2: RAD7 Portable 222Rn Detector Settings .......................................................... 87 4.3: Radon-222 Emission Rates in Hollow Ridge Cave ......................................... 88 4.4: Radon-222 Emission Rates from Wall Flux Chambers ................................... 89 18 4.5: Range of calcite-water and equilibrium Ocalcite with temperature variations .. 90 4.6: Summary of Time Series Data at Hollow Ridge Cave .................................... 91 A.1: Hollow Ridge Cave Time Series Data and Headers ....................................... 178 A.2: Hollow Ridge Cave CO2 Transect Data .......................................................... 194 A.3: Hollow Ridge Cave 222Rn Transect Data ........................................................ 196 A.4: Hollow Ridge Cave Drip and Sump Water Isotopes ...................................... 197 A.5: Hollow Ridge Cave 222Rn Intensive Data ....................................................... 198 A.6: Recalculation of Φ222Rn during Flood Events ................................................. 207 B.1: Speleothem BC1, BC2, and BC3 U-series and Radiocarbon Dates ............... 208 B.2: Speleothem BC1 Stable Isotope Data ............................................................. 209 B.3: Speleothem BC1 Trace Element Data ............................................................. 215 B.4: Speleothem BC1 Color Spectrum Data and Headers ...................................... 216 B.5: Speleothem BC2 Stable Isotope Data ............................................................. 217 B.6: Speleothem BC2 Trace Element Data ............................................................. 219 vi B.7: Speleothem BC2 Color Spectrum Headers ..................................................... 220 B.8: Speleothem BC3 Stable Isotope Data ............................................................. 221 B.9: Speleothem BC3 Color Spectrum Headers ..................................................... 223 vii LIST OF FIGURES 1.1: Asian Monsoon Strength Evidenced in Chinese Speleothems ........................ 4 2.1: Distribution of major cave and karst regions of the world .............................. 18 2.2: Major cave and karst regions of the United States. ......................................... 19 2.3: Geologic Map of Florida .................................................................................. 20 2.4: Simplified Visual Representation of Karst Atmosphere Dynamics ................ 21 2.5: Typical ranges of oxygen and carbon isotopes in carbonate cave deposits and carbonate bedrock. ...................................................................................