Journal article
High-resolution reconstruction of infiltration in the Southern Cook Islands based on trace elements in speleothems
M Faraji, A Borsato, S Frisia, A Hartland, JC Hellstrom, A Greig
Quaternary Research United States | Published : 2024
DOI: 10.1017/qua.2023.51
Abstract
This study utilizes speleothem trace elements as climate proxies to reconstruct hydroclimate variability over approximately 350 years in the Southern Cook Islands. Stalagmites Pu17 and Pu4 from Pouatea cave were analyzed using high-resolution LA-ICP-MS for trace elements (Mg, Na, Sr, P, U, Y). By monitoring cave dripwater and conducting regression analysis, we found that Mg, Sr, and Na in Pouatea dripwater mostly originated from marine aerosols, while Sr and Ba were primarily from bedrock, with additional Ba coming from marine aerosols and weathered oceanic basalt leaching. Mg was identified as the most reliable element for hydroclimate reconstruction due to its predominantly marine aerosol ..
View full abstractGrants
Awarded by Australian Government
Funding Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the Cook Islands Meteorological Service for granting us permission to access historic precipitation data held at NIWA for this work, and thanks to Andrew Lorrey for providing the rainfall data. Special thanks to the landowners, people, and Island Council, and to the National Research Committee of the Cook Islands for permission to explore the caves of Atiu and take samples, and to Tura Koronui and George Mateariki, who introduced us to the caves in Atiu. Dave Mattey and Garry Smith participated in the fieldwork. The SR-micro XRF analyses were undertaken at the X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) beamline at the Australian Synchrotron, part of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), with the assistance of Daryl Howard. This study was supported by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant DP160101058. M.F. was supported by the Australian Government through an "Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship" and was supported by The Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering through a Postgraduate Research Award (award ALNSTU12486). We would also like to thank the editor, Dr James Baldini, and the anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments and suggestions that greatly improved the quality of this manuscript.