Groundwater lowering and stream incision rates in the Central Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, USA

Springer, Gregory S.; Poston, Holly A.; Hardt, B. F.; Rowe, Harold D.

doi:10.5038/1827-806x.44.1.9

“…In eastern North America, δ 18 O spel is interpreted to reflect the seasonal balance of precipitation between summer precipitation sourced from the Gulf of Mexico, and winter precipitation from various sources that are more depleted in 18 O [55]. In West Virginia, this summer/winter moisture balance is related to strength of the Bermuda High and its ability to advect summer moisture from the Gulf of Mexico [67,68]. The combination of speleothem δ 18 O with δ 13 C can help to distinguish between periods of shifts in moisture balance and periods of strong seasonal drought [55].…”

Section: Climate Of Eastern North Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

Oster

¹

,

Warken

²

,

Sekhon

³

et al. 2019

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Speleothem oxygen isotope records from the Caribbean, Central, and North America reveal climatic controls that include orbital variation, deglacial forcing related to ocean circulation and ice sheet retreat, and the influence of local and remote sea surface temperature variations. Here, we review these records and the global climate teleconnections they suggest following the recent publication of the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and Analysis (SISAL) database. We find that low-latitude records generally reflect changes in precipitation, whereas higher latitude records are sensitive to temperature and moisture source variability. Tropical records suggest precipitation variability is forced by orbital precession and North Atlantic Ocean circulation driven changes in atmospheric convection on long timescales, and tropical sea surface temperature variations on short timescales. On millennial timescales, precipitation seasonality in southwestern North America is related to North Atlantic climate variability. Great Basin speleothem records are closely linked with changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation. Although speleothems have revealed these critical global climate teleconnections, the paucity of continuous records precludes our ability to investigate climate drivers from the whole of Central and North America for the Pleistocene through modern. This underscores the need to improve spatial and temporal coverage of speleothem records across this climatically variable region.Quaternary 2019, 2, 5 2 of 33 original authors. The challenges found while compiling such data are discussed in [1]. The database archives speleothem oxygen and carbon isotope data, detailed chronologic and analytical information, and important metadata for each cave site and speleothem such as bedrock geology, overburden thickness, and whether cave monitoring was conducted, among other pieces of information that are essential for working with and interpreting speleothem isotope records.Of the 376 records included in SISAL_v1, 42 are from cave sites in Central and North America and the Caribbean [2]. These records cover a vast region, spanning the tropics to mid-latitudes and bordering two oceans, with climate controls that are highly variable both in the modern and through time. Speleothem records from this region have revealed critical climate teleconnections between the polar regions, the tropics, and the mid-latitudes at decadal to orbital timescales [3][4][5][6]. These records have provided evidence for the effects of climate variability on ancient civilizations [7-9], and contributed toward open questions and key debates regarding Earth's climate system [3,10]. Here, we discuss the spatial and temporal coverage of North and Central American and Caribbean speleothem records included in SISAL_v1 and the predominant controls on δ 18 O spel variability in each region. We review the most salient discoveries arising from regional records included in SISAL_v1 and conduct a statistical analysis to underscore observed spatial relationships. O...

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“…In eastern North America, δ 18 Ospel is interpreted to reflect the seasonal balance of precipitation between summer precipitation sourced from the Gulf of Mexico, and winter precipitation from various sources that are more depleted in 18 O [55]. In West Virginia, this summer/winter moisture balance is related to strength of the Bermuda High and its ability to advect summer moisture from the Gulf of Mexico [60,61]. The combination of speleothem δ 18 O with δ 13 C can help to distinguish between periods of shifts in moisture balance and periods of strong seasonal drought [55].…”

Section: Controls On δ 18 Op and δ 18 Ospelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

Oster¹,

Warken²,

Sekhon³

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Speleothem oxygen isotope records from the Caribbean, Central, and North America reveal climatic controls that include orbital variation, deglacial forcing related to ocean circulation and ice sheet retreat, and the influence of local and remote sea surface temperature variations. Here, we review these records and the global climate teleconnections they suggest following the recent publication of the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and Analysis (SISAL) database. We find that low-latitude records generally reflect changes in precipitation, whereas higher latitude records are sensitive to temperature and moisture source variability. Tropical records suggest precipitation variability is forced by orbital precession and North Atlantic Ocean circulation driven changes in atmospheric convection on long timescales, and tropical sea surface temperature variations on short timescales. On millennial timescales, precipitation seasonality in southwestern North America is related to North Atlantic climate variability. Great Basin speleothem records are closely linked with changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation. Although speleothems have revealed these critical global climate teleconnections, the paucity of continuous records precludes our ability to investigate climate drivers from the whole of Central and North America for the Pleistocene through modern. This underscores the need to improve spatial and temporal coverage of speleothem records across this climatically variable region.

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Rivers in the Landscape

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Groundwater lowering and stream incision rates in the Central Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, USA

Cited by 6 publications

References 20 publications

Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America

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