Ground-ice stable-isotope paleoclimatology at the Batagay megaslump, East Siberia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Opel ◽  
Sebastian Wetterich ◽  
Hanno Meyer ◽  
Julian Murton
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Formation Processes ◽  
East Siberia ◽  
Ground Ice ◽  
Frozen Ground ◽  
Winter Climate ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Ice Complex

<p>In recent years, permafrost ground ice (i.e. ice wedges and pore ice) has been frequently utilized as a paleoclimate archive for the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, mainly using stable isotopes from water as proxies for local air temperatures. Due to their formation processes (frost cracking in winter and crack infilling mainly with snowmelt in spring), ice wedges have a unique winter seasonality, whereas pore ice integrates summer or annual precipitation.</p><p>The world’s largest retrogressive thaw slump at Batagay in the Yana Upland, East Siberia (67.58 °N, 134.77 °E), provides unique access to Late and Middle Pleistocene permafrost formations usually deeply buried in the frozen ground. The Batagay megaslump exposes syngenetic ice wedges and composite wedges (ice–sand wedges) along with pore ice in four cryostratigraphic units: (1) the Lower Ice Complex, (2) the Lower Sand, (3) the Upper Ice Complex, and (4) the Upper Sand.</p><p>Here, we present ground-ice stable-isotope data from all four units. This dataset is accompanied by precipitation stable-isotope values from winter snowpack and summer rain as a first stable-isotope framework for this region.</p><p>The high continentality of the study region with – extremely low winter temperatures – is clearly reflected by the stable-isotope composition for ice wedges from the Upper Ice Complex (MIS 3) and nearby Holocene ice wedges. Both are much more depleted than for any other ice-wedge study site in East Siberia. The ice wedges from the Lower Ice Complex are likely the oldest ice wedges (>0.5 Ma) ever analyzed isotopically and also point to very cold winter climate during formation. Stable-isotope signatures of composite wedges and pore ice are less distinctive and require detailed studies of formation processes and seasonality.</p>

scholarly journals Past climate and continentality inferred from ice wedges at Batagay megaslump in the Northern Hemisphere's most continental region, Yana Highlands, interior Yakutia

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 1443-1461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Opel ◽  
Julian B. Murton ◽  
Sebastian Wetterich ◽  
Hanno Meyer ◽  
Kseniia Ashastina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Isotopic Fractionation ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Winter Climate ◽  
Isotopic Signatures ◽  
Mis 3 ◽  
Winter Temperatures ◽  
Ice Wedge ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
Ice Complex

Abstract. Ice wedges in the Yana Highlands of interior Yakutia – the most continental region of the Northern Hemisphere – were investigated to elucidate changes in winter climate and continentality that have taken place since the Middle Pleistocene. The Batagay megaslump exposes ice wedges and composite wedges that were sampled from three cryostratigraphic units: the lower ice complex of likely pre-Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 age, the upper ice complex (Yedoma) and the upper sand unit (both MIS 3 to 2). A terrace of the nearby Adycha River provides a Late Holocene (MIS 1) ice wedge that serves as a modern reference for interpretation. The stable-isotope composition of ice wedges in the MIS 3 upper ice complex at Batagay is more depleted (mean δ18O about −35 ‰) than those from 17 other ice-wedge study sites across coastal and central Yakutia. This observation points to lower winter temperatures and therefore higher continentality in the Yana Highlands during MIS 3. Likewise, more depleted isotope values are found in Holocene wedge ice (mean δ18O about −29 ‰) compared to other sites in Yakutia. Ice-wedge isotopic signatures of the lower ice complex (mean δ18O about −33 ‰) and of the MIS 3–2 upper sand unit (mean δ18O from about −33 ‰ to −30 ‰) are less distinctive regionally. The latter unit preserves traces of fast formation in rapidly accumulating sand sheets and of post-depositional isotopic fractionation.

scholarly journals Palaeoclimate signals as inferred from stable-isotope composition of ground ice in the Verkhoyansk foreland, Central Yakutia

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen Popp ◽  
Bernhard Diekmann ◽  
Hanno Meyer ◽  
Christine Siegert ◽  
Igor Syromyatnikov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Stable Isotope Composition ◽  
Ground Ice ◽  
Central Yakutia

scholarly journals Soil water sources in permafrost active layer of Three-River Headwater Region, China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Zongxing ◽  
Gui Juan ◽  
Zhang Baijuan ◽  
Feng Qi
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Active Layer ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Permafrost Degradation ◽  
Ground Ice ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Isotope Data ◽  
Stable Isotope Data

Abstract. Water in permafrost soil is an important factor affecting the ecology of cold environments, climate change, hydrological cycle, engineering, and construction. To explore the variations in soil water in the active layer due to permafrost degradation, the soil water sources in the Three-River Headwater Region were quantified based on the stable isotope data (δ2H and δ18O) of 1140 samples. The results showed that the evaporation equation was δ2H = 7.46 δ18O - 0.37 for entire soil water. The stable isotope data exhibited a spatial pattern, which varied over the soil profile under the influence of altitude, soil moisture, soil temperature, vegetation, precipitation infiltration, soil water movement, ground ice, and evaporation. Based on the stable isotope tracer model, precipitation and ground ice accounted for approximately 88 % and 12 % of soil water, respectively. High precipitation contributed to the soil water in the 3900–4100 m, 4300–4500 m, and 4700–4900 m zones, whereas ground ice contributed to the soil water in the 4500–4700 m and 4900–5100 m zones. Precipitation contributed approximately 84 % and 80 % to the soil water in grasslands and meadows, respectively, whereas ground ice contributed approximately 16 % and 20 %, respectively. Precipitation; evapotranspiration; physical and chemical properties of soil; and the distribution of ground ice, vegetation, and permafrost degradation were the major factors affecting the soil water sources in the active layer. Therefore, establishing an observation network and developing technologies for ecosystem restoration and conservation is critical to effectively mitigate ecological problems caused by future permafrost degradation in the study region.

scholarly journals Geochemical constraints on the origin of enigmatic cemented chalks, Norfolk, UK

2008 ◽  
Vol 146 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. WOOLHOUSE ◽  
J. E. ANDREWS ◽  
A. MARCA-BELL ◽  
P. F. DENNIS
Keyword(s):  
Calcium Carbonate ◽  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Carbon Isotope Composition ◽  
Biologically Active ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Isotope Data ◽  
Glacial Tills ◽  
Geochemical Constraints ◽  
Stable Isotope Data

AbstractVery hard cemented chalk stacks and crusts found locally in the upper part of the Cretaceous Chalk of north Norfolk, UK, are related to solution features. The solution features, mainly pipes and caves, formed after deposition of the overlying Middle Pleistocene Wroxham Crag, probably by routing of sub-glacial, or glacial, melt-waters derived from late Pleistocene glaciers. New geochemical (particularly stable isotope) data shows that cementation of the chalks, although related spatially to the solution features, was not caused by glacier-derived waters. The carbon isotope composition of the chalk cements is typically around −9.5‰, indicative of biologically active soils. Moreover, the oxygen isotope compositions of the cements, around −5‰, are incompatible with water δ18O values much below −9 to −10‰ (which probably precludes isotopically negative glacier-derived water), as resulting palaeo-temperatures are below zero. Taken together, the isotope data suggest chalk cementation occurred under interglacial conditions similar to the present. Dissolved calcium carbonate for cementation came from dissolution of reworked chalk in overlying MIS 12 glacial tills.

scholarly journals Chemical and stable isotope composition of surface and groundwater in the surroundings of the Los Humeros Caldera, Puebla, Mexico

2019 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
pp. 07013
Author(s):  
Thomas Kretzschmar ◽  
Matteo Lelli ◽  
Ruth Alfaro ◽  
Juan Ignacio Sanchez ◽  
Yann Rene Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Isotope Composition ◽  
Regression Line ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Geothermal Reservoir ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Stable Isotope Composition ◽  
Local Fracture ◽  
Hydrogeological Model ◽  
Fracture Systems

It is important to develop a regional hydrogeological model to identify possible recharge and discharge areas for a sustainable use of a geothermal reservoir. The Los Humeros geothermal area is situated within five surficial watersheds and coveres an area of more than 15.000 km2. A total of 208 well and spring samples were collected between June 2017 and November 2018. The stable isotope data for this region define a regression line of δDH2O = 8.032·δ18O + 12 and indicate that groundwater is recharged by regional precipitation. At least 39 groundwater wells, with a maximum temperature of 35 °C, show temperatures above the reported mean average surface temperature of 15 °C. Characteristic elements for geothermal reservoir fluids (B, Li, As) are also present in these groundwaters, indicating a possible connection between the reservoir fluid and the local groundwater through local fracture systems. Concentration of B in these hot wells is between 150 and 35000 ppb.

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