noaa-cave-8631
Holzkaemper et al. 2009 Wolkberg Cave Stable Isotope Data
Holzkämper, S.; Holmgren, K.; Lee-Thorp, J.A.; Talma, A.S.; Mangini, A.; Partridge, T.C.
Holzkaemper et al. 2009 Wolkberg Cave Stable Isotope Data
2009-07-01
NCDC-Paleoclimatology
ONLINE Files
Pending
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/8631
Investigator
S.
Holzkämper
Investigator
K.
Holmgren
Investigator
J.A.
Lee-Thorp
Investigator
A.S.
Talma
Investigator
A.
Mangini
Investigator
T.C.
Partridge
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
delta 13C,calcium carbonate,null,per mil PDB,null,speleothems,raw,isotope ratio mass spectrometry,N,null
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
age,null,null,calendar kiloyear before present,null,speleothems,null,null,N,null
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
delta 18O,calcium carbonate,null,per mil PDB,null,speleothems,raw,isotope ratio mass spectrometry,N,null
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
carbon isotopes
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
oxygen isotopes
geoscientificInformation
-55930 AD
-37800 AD
57880 cal yr BP
39750 cal yr BP
Complete
-24.1
-24.1
29.883
29.883
1450
1450
Continent
Africa
Southern Africa
South Africa
Wolkberg Cave>LATITUDE -24.1>LONGITUDE 29.883
None
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English
DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI
National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data
DATA Center Contact
Bruce
Bauer
bruce.a.bauer@noaa.gov
paleo@noaa.gov
303-497-6280
303-497-6513
325 Broadway, E/NE31
Boulder
CO
80305-3328
USA
online
ASCII
Holzkämper, S., Holmgren, K., Lee-Thorp, J.A., Talma, A.S., Mangini, A., Partridge, T.C. 2009. Late Pleistocene stalagmite growth in Wolkberg Cave, South Africa. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 282, 212-221.
Little is known about the sequence of climate and environmental change in southern Africa during the last glacial period, in spite of the intimations from records, such as Antarctic ice cores and archaeological sites, that very marked changes took place which would have had profound effects on vegetation and animal distributions across the sub-continent. High-resolution, (semi-) continuous climate and environmental records can be extracted from suitable cave speleothems. Speleothems are reasonably abundant in southern Africa, but their occurrence is patchy in time and space and the records can be difficult to interpret. Here we report our assessment of the stalagmite W5 from Wolkberg Cave in the northeastern part of South Africa, as an archive for glacial-period climatic and environmental shifts. The cave is located at 1450 m asl, in the dolomitic limestones of the Transvaal System in an area currently dominated by C4 grass vegetation. Nine U/Th dates show growth from 58 to 46 ka, and a second brief phase ca. 40 ka, indicating that the availablemoisture was sufficient to allow speleothems to form. The d18O and d13C values along the growth axis show variability in the order of 2 per mil for the former, while variability in the latter is characterized by a shift from values near -2 per mil in the older section to +2 per mil or more in the younger part. These high d13C values are probably the combined result of CO2 degassing of the percolating soil water prior to the carbonate precipitation in the cave chamber, the increasing dominance of C4 over C3 vegetation, and the high percentage of aragonite towards the stalagmite's top. The retrieved data point towards increasingly drier and colder conditions during the growth period of the stalagmite. Furthermore, the high-frequency variations of d18O values indicate the presence of short term climate oscillations that are probably linked to shifts of the Intertropical Convergence Zone.
GET DATA
https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/africa/wolkberg2009.txt
USA/NOAA
DIF
Version 9.8.4
2018-12-11
2018-12-11