SEMINAR: Tuesday 3/12: MGG Student Seminar CORRECTION

["Katherine Inderbitzen" <kinderbitzen@rsmas.miami.edu>]

Corrected abstract below.

> Monica Arienzo: What drives lamination formation in stalagmites from the
> Bahamas?

When stalagmites are cut along the growth axis, layering is reveled. Very
few studies have been conducted on speleothem laminations. This is
primarily due to the low growth rate of speleothems (typically 10 um/year)
and also due to a lack of understanding of the factors driving lamination
formation (Tan et al., 2006). There are thought to be two main drivers for
the formation of laminations. Laminations are either formed by a more arid
environment leading to the decreased growth rate and increased clay
particle and/or organic deposition. Additionally, laminations can develop
by an increased rainfall leading to an enhanced entrainment of organic
material and/or clay particles in drip water. In order to determine the
factors driving lamination formation, a grey scale image of one stalagmite
from the Bahamas was analyzed for the pixel-by-pixel grey scale value
along the growth axis. The grey scale variability was then compared to the
oxygen and carbon isotope record from the same sample. It has been well
documented that subtropical speleothem carbon and oxygen isotopes are
driven by the amount of rainfall. As precipitation increases, the carbon
and oxygen isotopes will decrease. Therefore, by looking at the
relationship of laminations and carbon and oxygen isotopes, the driver of
laminations can be determined. The results demonstrate that the grey scale
value is inversely related to the isotopic value supporting that darker
lamina form during periods of increased aridity. This method shows promise
for application to better understanding lamination formation in
speleothems and also can be applied to a wide range of laminated datasets.



***************************
Katherine Inderbitzen
Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science
Marine Geology & Geophysics
kinderbitzen@rsmas.miami.edu


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