Stable Isotope Study of Laminated Sediments from Ethiopian Crater Lakes

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

This award is for a study of oxygen-isotope records from Ethiopian lakes. High-resolution multi-proxy paleoclimate records that have been calibrated against instrumental data are rare from the continental tropics. A group of crater lakes in Ethiopia present an unusually favorable combination of accessible and inter-comparable study sites with laminated carbonate-rich sediments, and long instrumental records of climate, hydrology and limnology. This project will use oxygen-isotope records from the lacustrine carbonates, calibrated against instrumental data and compared to model simulations and other paleoclimate proxies, to document climate variability at the study site at decadal to century timescales over the last 2000 years.