Calibration of speleothem delta O-18 records against hydroclimate instrumental records in Central Brazil

Author(s):Show less -

Moquet, J. S. ^[1] ; Cruz, F. W. ^[1] ; Novello, V. F. ^[1] ; Strikis, N. M. ^[1] ; Deininger, M. ^[2] ; Karmann, I. ^[1] ; Ventura Santos, R. ^[3] ; Millo, C. ^[1] ; Apaestegui, J. ^[4] ; Guyot, J. -L. ; Siffedine, A. ^{[5, 6]} ; Vuille, M. ^[7] ; Cheng, H. ^[8] ; Edwards, R. L. ^[9] ; Santini, W.

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Geociencias, BR-01498 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Collage Dublin, UCD Sch Earth Sci, Dublin 4 - Ireland

^[3] Univ Brasilia, Inst Geociencias, Campus Univ Darcy Ribeiro, BR-70910900 Brasilia, DF - Brazil

^[4] Inst Geofis Peru, Lima - Peru

^[5] Univ Fed Fluminense, Dept Geoquim, LMI PALEOTRACES, IRD, Uantof Chili, Niteroi, RJ - Brazil

^[6] UPMC, LOCEAN, CNRS, IRD, MNHN, Bondy - France

^[7] SUNY Albany, Dept Atmospher & Environm Sci, Univ Albany, Albany, NY - USA

^[8] Xi An Jiao Tong Univ, Inst Global Environm Change, Xian 710049 - Peoples R China

^[9] Univ Minnesota, Dept Geol & Geophys, Minneapolis, MN - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: GLOBAL AND PLANETARY CHANGE; v. 139, p. 151-164, APR 2016.
• Web of Science Citations: 11

Abstract

delta O-18 in speleothems is a powerful proxy for reconstruction of precipitation patterns in tropical and sub-tropical regions. The aim of this study is to calibrate the delta O-18 record of speleothems against historical precipitation and river discharge data in central Brazil, a region directly influenced by the Southern Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ), a major feature of the South American Monsoon System (SAMS). The present work is based on a sub annual resolution speleothem record covering the last 141 years (the period between the years 1870 and 2011) from a cave in central Brazil. The comparison of this record with instrumental hydroclimate records since 1921 allows defining a strong relationship between precipitation variability and stable oxygen isotope ratios from speleothems. The results from a monitoring program of climatic parameters and isotopic composition of rainfall and cave seepage waters performed in the same cave, show that the rain delta O-18 variability is dominated by the amount effect in this region, while delta O-18 drip water remains almost constant over the monitored period (1.5 years). The delta O-18 of modern calcite, on the other hand, shows clear seasonal variations, with more negative values observed during the rainy season, which implies that other factors also influence the isotopic composition of carbonate. However, the relationship between delta O-18 of carbonate deposits and rainwater is supported by the results from the comparison between speleothem delta O-18 records and historical hydroclimate records. A significant correlation between speleothem delta O-18 and monsoon rainfall variability is observed on sub-decadal time scales, especially for the monsoon period (DJFM and NDJFM), once the rainfall record have been smoothed with a 7-9 years running mean. This study confirms that speleothem delta O-18 is directly associated with monsoon rainfall variability in central Brazil. The relationship between speleothem delta O-18 records and hydroclimatic historical records allows approximation of the absolute changes in mean annual rainfall during the last millennia in the SACZ/SAMS domain. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/12238-6 - Multidecadal variability of summer monsoon system during the Holocene from central-western Brazil based on speleothem records
• Grantee: Jean-Sébastien Moquet
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 14/10095-1 - South America monsoon system activity in certer-west of Brazil based in spelothem records associated with other paleoclimate records from South America
• Grantee: Valdir Felipe Novello
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 11/12013-4 - South America Monsoon System Activity in the central part of Brazil during the last hundred thousand years based on the application of multi-records in stalagmites
• Grantee: Nicolás Misailidis Stríkis
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 12/03942-4 - South America Monsoon System activity in certer-west of Brazil based in spelothem records associated with other paleoclimate records from South America
• Grantee: Valdir Felipe Novello
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 12/50260-6 - Structure and evolution of the Amazonian biota and its environment: an integrative approach
• Grantee: Lúcia Garcez Lohmann
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants