The project focused on developing D17O as a new tool for reconstructing paleo-hydrological parameters from archives of speleothem carbonates. The work within the project consisted these sub-projects:
1. The calibration of D17O in international standards. In the past, strong inter-laboratory discrepancies were observed for the two commonly used CaCO3 standards. Our results of D17O values for these two standards, which are based on much more thorough analysis then previously measured, are approximately consistent between our laboratory and the data set previously reported by another laboratory. Using these standards as the basis for comparison of interlaboratory data on the 17O fractionation between water and CaCO3 (see #2 and figure) indicates consistency among most published data sets. The lab work in this sub-project was performed by the laboratory manager, together with a postdoc and a student and is published as Barkan et al. (2019) in the journal Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.
2. Characterizing the 17O fractionation between CaCO3 and H2O was performed by a series of laboratory precipitation experiments, performed by a postdoc. We found that the 17O fractionation slope, which is the ratio between the fractionations of 17O and 18O is about 0.523 consistent with the fractionation slope we observed in freshwater mollusks in another project. We observed that this fractionation slope is independent of temperature. This sub-project included experiments for precipitation of either calcite or aragonite, finding that the fractionation slope is indistinguishable between the two polymorphs. This sub-project is published as Voarintsoa et al. (2020) in Chemical Geology.
3. D17O in speleothems. We measured D17O in rain water collected above Soreq Cave as well as in cave drip and pool water. Results indicate that large rain events near Soreq cave are characterized by a D17O value that reflects water vapor formation over the Mediterranean Sea and is consistent with spring water in different locations in Israel. Events with a small amount of rain deviate from that value, and reflect partial evaporation of raindrops. We analyzed CaCO3 from modern and late Holocene stalagmites that grew in Soreq cave and found that the fractionation slope between speleothems carbonate and water in Soreq cave is indistinguishable from that we observed in laboratory precipitation experiments and in biogenic carbonates. This work were performed by a postdoc and 2 students. This sub-project is published as Affek et al. (2023) in the journal EPSL.
4. The calibration work of clumped isotopes (D47) was used in an inter-laboratory comparison project that aims to create a set of standards that is shared by the clumped isotopes community. This work was performed by the PI and laboratory manager and was contributed to the publication Bernasconi et al. (2021) in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.
5. Clumped isotopes were measured in a set of ancient speleothems from Soreq Cave covering in details the last two glacial terminations. These data were preliminary results in the proposed project but has been re-interpreted as temperature using a D47 thermometer calibration that is based of speleothem analog experiments that were performed previously by the PI. This thermometer was revised within this project to account for recent modifications in the calculations of D47. Results suggested that the speleothem analog thermometer fits well the D47 data of modern speleothems in Soreq cave and allowed a good estimate of glacial-interglacial temperature difference. The newly derived temperatures also enables the reconstruction of d18O in rainfall over the glacial-interglacial transition. This was performed by the PI and published as Matthews et al. (2021) in QSR.
6. Measurements of D17O in ancient speleothems from Soreq Cave has been done. Results show that D17O in Soreq Cave paleo-water is variable, from values close to the modern mean rainfall, to values reflecting storm tracks that occur in the modern but are less common, to much lower D17O values that reflect high relative humidity and likely a more marine storm track than is observed today. This work was performed by a student and a paper is in preparation.
7. Measurements of D17O in calcite deposits from Devils Hole has been done. Results show that there is no significant difference in paleo-water D17O between glacial and interglacial period, with the mean D17O in paleo-water reconstructed from calcite being similar to D17O measured directly in Devils Hole modern water. This work was done by a student and a paper is in preparation.
