Post-glacial climate change in the Rocky Mountains from isotopic records of ferricrete deposits

该奖项是对美国西部落基山脉铁氧体矿床的稳定同位素研究。这项研究的目的是了解落基山脉当前间冰期气候变化的性质。这项研究的首要意义是调查高山集水区的快速气候变化(过去10000年)，这些变化应该对当地和区域的气候扰动很敏感。这个项目利用了铁铁矿中针铁矿的氧同位素比率随时间的变化。铁榴石矿藏遍布美国西部的天然酸性水域，通常位于富含硫化物的岩石附近。这些铁氧体沉积物由针铁矿胶结的河流沉积物组成，可达几米厚，埋藏着可测定日期的木材碎片。这位研究人员之前的研究表明，铁酸盐是一种重要的新气候指标，在目前几乎不存在其他气候指标的陆地山区很有用。

This award is for a stable isotopic study of ferricrete deposits in the Rocky Mountains of the western United States. The purpose of this study is to understand the nature of climate change during the current interglacial in the Rocky Mountains. The primary importance of this study is the investigation of rapid climate change (last 10,000 years) in high alpine catchments which should be sensitive to local and regional climate perturbations. This project makes use of variations in oxygen isotope ratios of goethite from ferricretes through time. Ferricrete deposits are found throughout the American west in areas of naturally acidic waters, typically near sulfide-rich rocks. These ferricrete deposits consist of goethite-cemented stream sediments that can be meters thick and which entombed datable wood fragments. The investigator's previous research has shown that ferricretes are an important new climate indicator which is useful in terrestrial, mountainous areas where few other climate proxies currently exist.