SGER: Collaborative Research: Timing of Late Holocene Changes in Summer Indian Monsoon Intensity as Recorded in Mineralogic Changes in Speleothems, Pokhara Valley, Central Nepal

该奖项是对一项探索性行动的奖励，目的是调查尼泊尔Seito河谷洞穴中全新世的矿物学变化和现代洞穴，以增加对晚全新世印度夏季风变化的了解。在通风良好的白云岩洞穴中，方解石石笋指示潮湿的条件，而文石石笋记录了相对干旱的洞穴条件和伴随的洞穴内蒸发。在许多情况下，在降水丰富的夏季风期间形成的方解石沉积与文石交替形成，文石是在季风结束时或季风之间滴速降低而形成的。为了更好地量化洞穴矿物学变化与气候之间的关系，该项目将对洞穴进行笼状流体化学研究(元素和同位素)和元素分析，并扩大取样洞穴的地理覆盖面。

This award is for an exploratory operation to investigate mineralogic changes in Holocene and modern speleothems from caves in the Seito River Valley, Nepal, in order to increase understanding of late Holocene Indian summer monsoon variability. In well- vented, dolomitic caves, calcite stalagmites indicate humid conditions while aragonite stalagmites record relatively arid cave conditions and accompanying in-cave evaporation. In many cases, deposition of calcite formed during precipitation-laden summer monsoons alternates with aragonite formed from reduced drip rates at the end or between monsoons. In order to better quantify the relationship between changes in speleothem mineralogy and climate, the project will perform cage fluid chemical studies (elemental and isotopic) and elemental analyses of the speleothems, as well as increase the geographic coverage of sampled caves.