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Halite deposits have long been utilized for interrogating past climate conditions. Microthermometry on halite fluid inclusions has been used to determine ancient water temperatures. One notable obstacle in performing microthermometric measurements, however, is the lack of a vapor bubble in the single-phase liquid inclusions at room temperature. (Pseudo-) isochoric cooling of the inclusions to high negative pressures, far below the homogenization temperature, has commonly been needed to provoke spontaneous vapor bubble nucleation in the liquid. High internal tensile stress in soft host minerals like halite, however, may induce plastic deformation of the inclusion walls, resulting in a wide scatter of measured homogenization temperatures. Nucleation-assisted (NA) microthermometry, in contrast, employs single ultra-short laser pulses provided by a femtosecond laser to stimulate vapor bubble nucleation in metastable liquid inclusions slightly below the expected homogenization temperature. This technique allows for repeated vapor bubble nucleation in selected fluid inclusions without affecting the volumetric properties of the inclusions, and yields highly precise and accurate homogenization temperatures. In this study, we apply, for the first time, NA microthermometry to fluid inclusions in halite and we evaluatethe precision and accuracy of this thermometer utilizing (i) synthetic halite crystals precipitated under controlled laboratory conditions, (ii) modern natural halite that precipitated in the 1980s in the Dead Sea, and (iii) Late Pleistocene halite samples from a sediment core from Death Valley, CA. Our results demonstrate an unprecedented accuracy and precision of the method that provides a new opportunity to reconstruct reliable quantitative temperature records from evaporite archives. 

Lacustrine halite deposits have long been utilized for interrogating past climate conditions. In particular, microthermometry performed on fluid inclusions in halite crystals has been used to interpret lake water temperatures from ancient deposits. One notable obstacle in performing microthermometry in halite fluid inclusions is the lack of a vapour bubble in the single-phase liquid brine. Isochoric cooling of the inclusions to high negative pressures far below the homogenization temperature has commonly been used to provoke spontaneous vapor bubble nucleation in the metastable liquid. In a host minerals like halite, however, internal tensile stress may result in plastic deformation of the inclusion walls and typically a wide scatter of measured homogenization temperatures. Nucleation-assisted microthermometry, in contrast, employs single ultra-short laser pulses provided by a femtosecond laser to stimulate vapour bubble nucleation in metastable single-phase liquid inclusions slightly below the expected homogenization temperature. This technique allows for repeated vapour bubble nucleation in fluid inclusions without damaging the inclusion walls, yielding highly precise and accurate paleotemperatures from halite fluid inclusions. Moreover, the highly selective nature of nucleation-assisted microthermometry allows for a higher degree of quality control compared to the previous standard method. In this study, we tested the precision and accuracy of nucleation-assisted microthermometry for use in paleoclimate reconstruction utilizing modern halites precipitated in the laboratory under controlled and monitored conditions, Pleistocene halite samples from Death Valley, and varved halites precipitated in the 1980s in the Dead Sea. 

Lacustrine strata are often among the highest-resolution terrestrial paleoclimate archives available. The manner in which climate signals are registered into lacustrine deposits varies, however, as a function of complex sedimentologic and diagenetic processes. The retrieval of reliable records of climatic forcing therefore requires a means of evaluating the potential influence of changing sedimentary transfer functions. Here, we use high-resolution X-ray fluorescence core scanning of the Wilkins Peak Member of the Green River Formation to characterize the long-term evolution of transfer functions in an ancient lacustrine record. Our analysis identifies a shift in the frequency distribution of Milankovitch-band variance between the lower and middle Wilkins Peak Member across a range of temporally calibrated elemental intensity records. Spectral analysis of the lower Wilkins Peak Member shows strong short eccentricity, obliquity, precession, and sub-Milankovitch−scale variability, while the middle Wilkins Peak Member shows strong eccentricity variability and reduced power at higher frequencies. This transition coincides with a dramatic decline in the number and volume of evaporite beds. We attribute this shift to a change in the Wilkins Peak Member depositional transfer function caused by evolving basin morphology, which directly influenced the preservation of bedded evaporite as the paleolake developed from a deeper, meromictic lake to a shallower, holomictic lake. The loss of bedded evaporite, combined with secondary evaporite growth, results in reduced obliquity- and precession-band power and enhanced eccentricity-band power in the stratigraphic record. These results underscore the need for careful integration of basin and depositional system history with cyclostratigraphic interpretation of the dominant astronomical signals preserved in the stratigraphic archive. 

Lacustrine chemical sediments of the Wilkins Peak Member, Eocene Green River Formation potentially preserve paleoclimate information relating to the conditions of their formation and preservation within the lake basin during the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. The Green River Formation comprises the world’s largest sodium-carbonate evaporite deposit in the form of trona (Na2CO3⋅NaHCO3⋅2H2O) in the Bridger sub-basin and nahcolite (NaHCO3) in the neighboring Piceance Creek basin. Modern analogues suggest that these minerals necessitate the existence of an alkaline source water. Detrital provenance geochronometers suggest that the most likely source for volcanic waters to the Greater Green River Basin is the Colorado Mineral Belt, connected to the basin via the Aspen paleo-river. We tested the hypothesis that magmatic waters from the Colorado Mineral Belt could have supplied the Greater Green River Basin with the alkalinity needed to precipitate sodium-carbonate evaporites that are preserved in the Wilkins Peak Member by numerically simulating the evaporation of modern soda spring waters from northwestern Colorado at various temperature and atmospheric pCO2 conditions. We compare the resulting simulated evaporite sequences of the modern soda spring waters to the mineralogy preserved within the Wilkins Peak Member. Simulated evaporation of Steamboat Springs water produces the closest match to core observations and mineralogy. These simulations provide constraints on the salinities at which various minerals precipitated in the Wilkins Peak Member as well as insights into the regional temperature (>15ºC for gaylussite and trona; >27º for pirssonite and trona) and pCO2 conditions (<1200ppm for gaylussite and trona) during the EECO. 

Searles Lake, California, was a saline-alkaline lake that deposited >25 non-clastic minerals that record the history of lake chemistry and regional climate. Here, the mineralogy and petrography from the late Pleistocene/Holocene (32−6 ka) portion of a new Searles Lake sediment core, SLAPP-SRLS17, is combined with thermodynamic models to determine the geochemical and paleoclimate conditions required to produce the observed mineral phases, sequences, and abundances. The models reveal that the primary precipitates formed by open system (i.e., fractional crystallization), whereas the early diagenetic salts formed by salinity-driven closed system back-reactions (i.e., equilibrium crystallization). For core SLAPP-SRLS17, the defining evaporite sequence trona → burkeite → halite indicates brine temperatures within a 20−29 °C range, implying thermally insulating lake depths >10 m during salt deposition. Evaporite phases reflect lake water pCO2 consistent with contemporaneous atmospheric values of ∼190−270 ppmv. However, anomalous layers of nahcolite and thenardite indicate pulses of pCO2 > 700−800 ppm, likely due to variable CO2 injection along faults. Core sedimentology indicates that Searles Lake was continuously perennial between 32 ka and 6 ka such that evaporite units reflect periods of net evaporation but never complete desiccation. Model simulations indicate that cycles of partial evaporation and dilution strongly influence long-term brine evolution by amassing certain species, particularly Cl−, that only occur in late-stage soluble salts. A model incorporating long-term brine dynamics corrects previous mass-balance anomalies and shows that the late Pleistocene/Holocene (32−6 ka) salts are partially inherited from the solutes introduced into earlier lakes going back at least 150 ka. 

Abstract Ancient lake deposits in the Mojave Desert indicate that the water cycle in this currently dry place was radically different under past climates. Here we revisit a 700 m core drilled 55 years ago from Searles Valley, California, that recovered evidence for a lacustrine phase during the late Pliocene. We update the paleomagnetic age model and extract new biomarker evidence for climatic conditions from lacustrine deposits (3.373–2.706 Ma). The MBT′_5Metemperature proxy detects present‐day conditions (21 ± 3°C,n = 2) initially, followed by warmer‐than‐present conditions (25 ± 3°C,n = 17) starting at 3.268 and ending at 2.734 Ma. Bacterial and archeal biomarkers reveal lake salinity increased after 3.268 Ma likely reflecting increased evaporation in response to higher temperatures. The δ¹³C values of plant waxes (−30.7 ± 1.4‰,n = 28) are consistent with local C₃taxa, likely expanded conifer woodlands during the pluvial with less C₄than the Pleistocene. δD values (−174 ± 5‰,n = 25) of plant waxes indicate precipitation δD values (−89 ± 5‰,n = 25) in the late Pliocene are within the same range as the late Pleistocene precipitation δD. Microbial biomarkers identify a deep, freshwater lake and a cooling that corresponds to the onset of major Northern Hemisphere glaciation at marine isotope stage marine isotope stages M2 (3.3 Ma). A more saline lake persisted for ∼0.6 Ma across the subsequent warmth of the late Pliocene (3.268–2.734 Ma) before the lake desiccated at the Pleistocene intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation.