Paleotemperatures from fluid inclusion liquid-vapor homogenization in speleothems

Abstract

To date, paleoclimate information from sta-lagmites has mainly been obtained from stable isotope compositions (δ 18 O and δ 13 C) and trace element contents of the calcite host mineral (e.g., Wang et al., 2001; Fleitmann et al., 2003). However, stable iso-topes and trace elements are influenced by several climatic and environmental fac-tors, making it difficult to employ these cli-mate proxies for quantitative temperature reconstructions. Therefore, we propose a novel approach to determining paleotem-peratures, based on direct microthermo-metric measurements of the liquid-vapor homogenization temperatures (T h) of fluid inclusions in stalagmite sections of approx. 300-µm thickness.