Paleoflood events recorded by speleothems in caves
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Gázquez, Fernando; Calaforra, José María; Forti, Paolo; Stoll, Heather; Ghaleb, Bassam; [et al.]Fecha
2014Resumen
Speleothems are usually composed of thin layers of calcite (or aragonite). However, cemented detrital materials
interlayered between laminae of speleothemic carbonate have been also observed in many caves. Flowstones comprising
discontinuous carbonate layers form due to flowing water films, while flood events introduce fluviokarstic sediments in caves that,
on occasion, are recorded as clayey layers inside flowstones and stalagmites. This record provides a potential means of understanding
the frequency of palaeofloods using cave records. In this work, we investigate the origin of this type of detrital deposit in El Soplao
Cave (Northern Spain). The age of the lowest aragonite layer of a flowstone reveals that the earliest flood period occurred before
500 ka, though most of the flowstone formed between 422 +69/-43 ka and 400 +66/-42 ka. This suggests that the cave was
periodically affected by palaeoflood events that introduced detrital sediments from the surface as a result of oc...
Palabra/s clave
Geología
Mineralogía
Paleoclimatología