Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T21:21:11.877Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Oxygen isotope records of goethite from ferricrete deposits indicate regionally varying holocene climate change in the Rocky Mountain region, U.S.A.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Derek J. Sjostrom ,
Michael T. Hren  and
C. Page Chamberlain
Derek J. Sjostrom*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA
Michael T. Hren
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
C. Page Chamberlain
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rocky Mountain College, 1511 Poly Drive, Billings, MT 59101 USA. Fax: +1-406-259-9751.E-mail address:sjostrom@alum.dartmouth.org (D.J. Sjostrom).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Oxygen isotopes of goethite from ferricrete deposits were measured from both northern and southern Rocky Mountain localities to assess geographic variability in regional Holocene paleoclimate change. A ∼3.7‰ increase in oxygen isotope values of 14C-dated goethites in the northern Rocky Mountains suggests a regional-scale relative increase in amounts of isotopically heavy summer precipitation since the early Holocene. In contrast, oxygen isotope values from the southern Rocky Mountains increase abruptly ∼2.1‰ at ∼6200 14C yr B.P. then decrease ∼2.4‰ between ∼2000 14C yr B.P. and the present. We interpret this period of relatively high δ18O values as evidence for a middle Holocene warm period combined with a relatively strong summer monsoon. These variable climate records suggest that the Rocky Mountains of the western United States have had a spatially heterogeneous Holocene climate history.

Keywords

Oxygen isotopesGoethiteFerricreteHolocenePaleoclimateRocky Mountains
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , January 2004 , pp. 64 - 71
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bao, H., Koch, P.L., (1999). Oxygen isotope fractionation in ferric-oxide-water systems: low temperature synthesis. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 63, 599–613.Google Scholar
Bao, H., Koch, P.L., Thiemens, M.K., (2000). Oxygen isotopic composition of ferric oxides from recent soil, hydrologic, and marine environments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 64, 2221–2231.Google Scholar
Bigham, J.M., Schwertmann, U., Traina, S.J., Winland, R.L., Wolf, M., (1996). Schwertmannite and the chemical modeling of iron in acid sulfate waters. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 60, 2111–2121.Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A., Hare, F.K., (1974). The climate of North America. Bryson, R.A., Hare, F.K., Climates of North America, World Survey of Climatology II Elsevier, NY., 1–47.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W., (1964). Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus. 16, 436–468.Google Scholar
Despain, D.G., (1987). The two climates of Yellowstone National Park. Proceedings of the Montana Academy of Science. 47, 11–19.Google Scholar
Elias, S.A., (1996). Late Pleistocene and Holocene seasonal temperatures reconstructed from fossil beetle assemblages in the Rocky Mountains. Quaternary Research. 46, 311–318.Google Scholar
Epstein, S., Xu, X., Carrara, P., (1999). A climatic record from 14C-dated wood fragments from southwestern Colorado. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 13, 781–784.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fall, P.L., (1997). Timberline fluctuations and late Quaternary paleoclimates in the Southern Rocky Mountains. Colorado. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 109, 1306–1320.Google Scholar
Furniss, G., Hinman, N.W., Doyle, G.A., Runnells, D.D., (1999). Radiocarbon-dated ferricrete provides record of natural acid rock drainage and paleoclimate changes. Environmental Geology. 37, 102–106.Google Scholar
Gat, J.R., (1980). The isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen in precipitation. Fritz, P., Fontes, J., Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry. Elsevier, New York., 21–44.Google Scholar
Grayson, D.K., (1998). Moisture history and small mammal community richness during the Latest Pleistocene and Holocene, northern Bonneville Basin, Utah. Quaternary Research. 49, 330–334.Google Scholar
Grayson, D.K., (2000). Mammalian responses to Middle Holocene climatic change in the Great Basin of the western United States. Journal of Biogeography. 27, 181–192.Google Scholar
Hanshaw, B.B., (1974). Geochemical evolution of a goethite deposit. International Symposium on Water–Rock Interaction 22(Abstracts).Google Scholar
Horton, T.W., Chamberlain, C.P., Fantle, M., Blum, J.D., (1999). Chemical weathering in a high-elevation river system: Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River, Wyoming and Montana. Water Resources Research. 35, 1643–1655.Google Scholar
Kutzbach, J.E., Webb, T., (1993). Conceptual basis for understanding late-Quaternary climates. Wright, H.E. Jr., Global Climates since the Last Glacial Maximum. University of Minneapolis Press, Minneapolis., 5–23.Google Scholar
Langmuir, D., Whittemore, D.O., (1971). Variations in the stability of precipitated ferric oxyhydroxides. Advances in Chemistry Series. 106, 209–234.Google Scholar
Lyford, M.E., Betancourt, J.L., Jackson, S.T., (2002). Holocene vegetation and climate history of the northern Bighorn Basin, southern Montana. Quaternary Research. 58, 171–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markgraf, V., Scott, L., (1981). Lower timberline in central Colorado during the past 15,000 yr. Geology. 9, 231–234.Google Scholar
McKeague, J.A., Brydon, J.E., Miles, N.M., (1971). Differentiation of forms of extractable iron and aluminum in soils. Proceedings of Soil Science Society of America. 35, 33–38.Google Scholar
Mock, C.J., Bartlein, P.J., (1995). Spatial variability of Late-Quaternary paleoclimates in the western United States. Quaternary Research. 44, 425–433.Google Scholar
Poage, M.A., Sjostrom, D.J., Goldberg, J., Chamberlain, C.P., Furniss, G., (2000). Isotopic evidence for Holocene climate change in the northern Rockies from a goethite-rich ferricrete chronosequence. Chemical Geology. 166, 327–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polyak, V.J., Cokendolpher, J.C., Norton, R.A., Asmeron, Y., (2001). Wetter and cooler late Holocene climate in the southwestern United States from mites preserved in stalagmites. Geology. 29, 643–646.Google Scholar
Schmitt, D.N., Madsen, D.B., Lupo, K.D., (2002). Small-mammal data on Early and Middle Holocene climates and biotic communities in the Bonneville Basin, USA. Quaternary Research. 58, 255–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwertmann, U., Bigham, J.M., Murad, E., (1995). The first occurrence of schwertmannite in a natural stream environment. European Journal of Mineralogy. 7, 547–552.Google Scholar
Schwertmann, U., Friedl, J., Stanjek, H., (1999). From Fe(III) ions to ferrihydrite and then to hematite. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. 209, 215–223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, F.A., Betancourt, J.L., (1998). Response of bushy-tailed woodrats (Neotoma cinerea) to Late Quaternary climatic change in the Colorado Plateau. Quaternary Research. 50, 1–11.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.S., Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., Harrison, S.P., Spaulding, W.G., (1993). Climatic changes in the western United States since 18,000 yr B.P.. Wright, H.-E. Jr., Global Climates Since the Last Glacial Maximum. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis., 468–513.Google Scholar
Vierling, L.A., (1998). Palynological evidence for late- and postglacial environmental change in central Colorado. Quaternary Research. 49, 222–232.Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., (1993). Postglacial vegetation and climate of Grand Teton and southern Yellowstone National Parks. Ecological Monographs. 63, 173–198.Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., (1993). Spatial variations of Holocene climatic change in the Yellowstone region. Quaternary Research. 39, 231–238.Google Scholar
Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., Van Norman, K.J., (1995). Stability of Holocene climate regimes in the Yellowstone region. Quaternary Research. 43, 433–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yapp, C.J., (1990). Oxygen isotopes in iron (III) oxides. 1. Mineral–water fractionation factors. Chemical Geology. 85, 329–335.Google Scholar
Yapp, C.J., (1997). An assessment of isotopic equilibrium in goethites from a bog iron deposit and a lateritic regolith. Chemical Geology. 135, 159–171.Google Scholar
Yapp, C.J., (2001). Rusty relics of Earth history: Iron (III) oxides, isotopes, and surficial environments. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Science. 29, 165–199.Google Scholar
Zheng, Y.F., (1998). Oxygen isotope fractionation between hydroxide minerals and water. Physics and Chemistry of Minerals. 25, 213–221.Google Scholar