GEOL 290 B/ AROL235 AJ : Climate and Human societies: Methods for studying climate
Exercise 2: Stalactite: the Jeita cave
Understanding Indicators of paleoclimate in Lebanon
1.
A brief overview: What is Jeita? How does a stalactite form?
2.
Data
a Stalactite was retrieved from the cave (an alternate stalactite was molded in its place as a replacement).
The following data was collected from the different samples of powder calcite retrieved at different levels
The sampled part of the JeG-stm-1 stalagmite is 121.5 cm long. The longitudinal inner profile of the stalagmite
displays a regular deposition of dense calcite, ranging in color from dark grey to light yellow-beige.
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Record of oxygen and carbon isotopes
Record of age dating (radiometric dating)
Section in the sampled Stalactite showing dated portion using the Uranium /Thorium method. ages in years
Your analysis
1) Methodology of analysis
2) Qualitative interpretation
3) Highlights (2 to 3 important food for thought)
References and more information
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AUB Geological Museum: Formation of stalactite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iALajWbf7w
S. Verheyden, F.H. Nader, H.J. Cheng, L.R. Edwards, R. Swennen. Paleoclimate reconstruction in the Levant
region from the geochemistry of a Holocene stalagmite from the Jeita cave, Lebanon. Quat. Res., 70 (2008),
pp. 368-381
(Verheyden et al., 2008