Review article

Speleothem isotopic composition and its significance in paleoenvironmental reconstruction in Croatia

Nina Lončar orcid.org/0000-0003-0795-2832 ; Department of Geography, University of Zadar, Trg Kneza Višeslava 9, Zadar

Abstract

Paleoenvironmental changes are the subject of numerous scientific studies. For their reconstruction, paleoclimatic or paleoenvironmental indirect indicators, sensitive to changes in climatic and environmental parameters that indicate climatic and environmental conditions, are used. One of the very valuable and reliable indicator is variation in the isotopic composition of cave speleothems. As isotope variations in speleothems depend on complex processes, the way they are interpreted differs. On condition that calcium carbonate has been precipitated under equilibrium conditions, variations of 18O/16O and 13C/12C in calcite speleothems can provide information on changes in the environment. This paper gives an overview of the basic laws of paleoenvironmental reconstruction, primarily climatic and vegetation conditions, based on the speleothem isotopic composition, the synthesis of previous research conducted in Croatia as well as preliminary information on recent research on speleothems with phreatic overgrowth.

Keywords

speleothem; isotopic composition; paleoenvironmental reconstruction; Croatia

Hrčak ID:

272455

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/272455

Publication date:

15.2.2022.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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