Note: Intro -- Speleothem Science -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- I: Scientific and geologica lcontext -- CHAPTER 1: Introduction to speleothems and systems -- 1.1 What is all the fuss about? -- 1.1.1 What types of speleothem areuseful for generating climate archives? -- 1.1.2 Where do speleothems occur? -- 1.1.3 How do they form? -- 1.1.4 How do we date them? -- 1.1.5 What are the proxies for past environments and climates? -- 1.1.6 How do speleothems compare with other archives? -- 1.1.7 What next for speleothem science? -- 1.2 How is this book organized? -- 1.3 Concepts and approaches of system science -- Box 1.1 Box models and feedback -- 1.4 The speleothem factory within the karst system -- 1.4.1 Long-term change -- 1.4.2 Annual-scale behaviour -- 1.4.3 Decadal- to multi-millennial-scale changes -- CHAPTER 2: Carbonate and karst cave geology -- 2.1 Carbonates in the Earth system over geological time -- 2.2 Lithologies of carbonate hostrocks -- 2.2.1 Carbonate facies -- 2.2.2 The architecture of carbonate host rocks: sequence stratigraphy -- 2.2.3 Impure and geologically complex host rocks -- 2.2.4 Carbonate porosity -- 2.3 Carbonate diagenesis and eogenetic karst -- 2.3.1 Early diagenesis in marine waters and brines -- 2.3.2 Vadose diagenetic processes -- 2.3.3 Meteoric phreatic diagenesis -- 2.3.4 Eogenetic karst development -- 2.3.5 Burial diagenesis -- 2.4 Speleogenesis in mesogenetic and telogenetic karst (with contributions from John Gunn and David J Lowe) -- 2.4.1 Chronologies of cavedevelopment -- 2.4.2 Geometry of cave passages and systems -- 2.4.3 Localization of caves: the inception horizon hypothesis -- 2.4.4 Mesogenetic caves -- 2.4.5 Modelling the development of conduits and networks -- 2.5 Cave infilling -- 2.5.1 Mechanisms of cave infill and their relative power -- 2.5.2 Dating the infills. , 2.5.3 Physical sedimentology -- 2.5.4 Archaeological issues -- 2.5.5 The long-term prognosis -- 2.6 Conclusion -- CHAPTER 3: Surface environments: climate, soil and vegetation -- 3.1 The modern climate system -- 3.1.1 The global energy budget -- 3.1.2 Global patterns of temperature, rainfall and evapotranspiration -- 3.1.3 The general circulation of the atmosphere -- 3.1.4 Ocean circulation and land-ocean interactions -- Box 3.1 Climate indices -- Box 3.2 Back trajectory analysis -- 3.2 Water isotopes in the atmosphere -- 3.2.1 Variation in stable isotopes owing to evaporation and Rayleigh condensation -- 3.2.2 Other factors responsible for variations in isotopic composition -- 3.2.3 Isotopic variations in space within the annual cycle -- 3.2.4 Inter-annual isotopic variations -- 3.3 Soils of karst regions -- 3.3.1 Processes of soil formation -- 3.3.2 Soil development through time -- 3.3.3 Concluding views on karst soils -- 3.4 Vegetation of karst regions -- 3.5 Synthesis: inputsto the incubator -- II: Transfer processes in karst -- CHAPTER 4: The speleothem incubator -- 4.1 Introduction to speleophysiology -- 4.2 Physical parameters and f luid behaviour -- 4.2.1 Measurement of parameters -- 4.2.2 Static parameters in air -- 4.2.3 Dynamic f luid behaviour: laminar versus turbulent f low -- 4.2.4 Dynamic f luid behaviour: advective versus diffusive transport -- 4.3 Water movement -- 4.4 Air circulation -- 4.4.1 Physical causes -- Cave breathing -- Wind-induced f low -- Chimney circulation -- Convection -- Water-induced f low -- 4.4.2 Radon studies as indicators of rates of air-exchange -- 4.4.3 Carbon dioxide and its variability -- 4.4.4 Generalizing seasonality and its implications for speleothems -- 4.5 Heat f lux (authored by David Domínguez-Villar) -- 4.5.1 Sources and mechanisms of heat transfer into caves -- Geothermal heat f lux. , Surface heat f lux -- Heat transferred by the atmosphere -- Heat transferred from water -- Heat transferred from the rock -- 4.5.2 Thermal equilibrium in caves -- 4.6 Synthesis: cave climatologies -- CHAPTER 5: Inorganic water chemistry -- 5.1 Sampling protocols for water chemistry -- Box 5.1 Aqueous chemistry definitions -- 5.2 The carbonate system -- 5.3 Weathering, trace elements and isotopes -- 5.3.1 Overview of element sourcesand sinks -- 5.3.2 Calcite dissolution as an exemplar of weathering processes -- 5.3.3 Mineral weathering -- 5.3.4 Isotope studies -- 5.3.5 Colloidally bound elements -- Box 5.2 Ion behaviour and complexation -- 5.4 Carbon isotopes -- Box 5.3 Stable isotopes and their fractionation -- 5.5 Evolution of cave water chemistry: modelling sources and environmental signals -- 5.5.1 Forward modelling -- 5.5.2 Backward modelling -- CHAPTER 6: Biogeochemistry of karstic environments -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Organic macromolecules -- 6.2.1 Fluorescent organic matter -- Box 6.1 Organic macromolecules in speleothems -- 6.2.2 Lipid and lignin macromolecules -- Box 6.2 Colloids and gels: interactions between organic matter and inorganic stalagmite proxies (lead author Adam Hartland) -- 6.2.3 Ribosomal DNA -- 6.3 Pollen and spores -- 6.3.1 Pollen -- 6.3.2 Spores -- 6.4 Cave faunal remains -- 6.5 Synthesis and research gaps -- Box 6.3 Vegetation and soil cycling of inorganic proxies: evidence from sulphur isotopes -- III: Speleothem properties -- CHAPTER 7: The architecture of speleothems -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Theoretical models of stalagmite growth and of stalagmite and stalactite shapes -- 7.2.1 Theories of speleothem growth rate -- 7.2.2 Models of stalagmite shapes -- 7.2.3 Models of stalactite shapes -- 7.3 Geometrical classificationof speleothems -- 7.3.1 Soda-straw stalactites -- 7.3.2 Non-'soda-straw' stalactites. , 7.3.3 'Minimum-diameter' stalagmites -- 7.3.4 Non-'minimum-diameter' stalagmites -- 7.3.5 Flowstones -- 7.3.6 Other speleothem forms -- Box 7.1 Speleoseismicity in the Mechara karst, southeastern Ethiopia (authored by Asfawossen Asrat) -- 7.4 Mineralogy and petrology -- 7.4.1 Mineralogy: aragonite versus calcite -- 7.4.2 Crystal fabrics -- Nucleation -- Crystal morphology -- Impingement growth -- Stalagmite fabrics -- 7.4.3 Laminae -- 7.4.4 Growth phases and hiatuses -- 7.5 Synthesis -- CHAPTER 8: Geochemistry of speleothems -- 8.1 Analysis and the sources of uncertainty -- 8.1.1 What's the research question? -- 8.1.2 Analytical specificity -- 8.1.3 The geometry of the growth surface and spatial precision -- 8.1.4 Analytical precision and accuracy -- 8.2 The growth interface -- 8.2.1 Nanostructure of the growth surface -- 8.2.2 Organic molecules -- 8.2.3 Biological activity at the growth interface -- 8.3 Trace element partitioning -- 8.3.1 Thermodynamic and mixed empirical-thermodynamic approaches -- 8.3.2 Limitations of the partition coefficient concept -- 8.4 Oxygen and carbon isotope fractionation -- 8.4.1 Fluid inclusions -- 8.4.2 Can an equilibrium composition be defined? -- 8.4.3 Kinetic effects during CaCO3 precipitation -- pH and growth rate effects -- The Hendy test -- Modelling fractionation along speleothem surfaces -- 8.4.4 Clumped isotope geothermometry (Δ47 value) -- 8.5 Evolution of dripwater and speleothem chemistry along water f lowlines -- 8.6 Process models of variability over time -- 8.6.1 Stadial- to glacial-length episodes -- 8.6.2 Sub-millennial variation -- 8.6.3 Annual cycles -- CHAPTER 9: Dating of speleothems -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 Dating techniques -- 9.2.1 Interval dating -- 9.2.2 14C -- 9.2.3 U-Th -- 9.2.4 U-Pb -- 9.2.5 Other techniques -- 9.3 Age-distance models -- 9.4 Conclusions -- IV: Palaeoenvironments. , CHAPTER 10: The instrumental era: calibration and validation of proxy-environment relationships -- 10.1 Available instrumental and derived series -- 10.1.1 Directly measured data -- 10.1.2 Interpolated data products -- 10.1.3 Reanalysis data -- 10.1.4 Climate indices -- 10.2 Methodologies -- 10.2.1 Overview of methodologies used in other f ields -- Linear-regression-based techniques -- Compositing records -- Forward modelling -- Pseudoproxies -- 10.2.2 Appropriate methodologies for speleothem calibration -- Linear-regression-based approaches -- Compositing -- Forward modelling -- Pseudoproxies -- 10.3 Case studies of calibrated speleothem proxies -- 10.3.1 Annual lamina thickness -- 10.3.2 δ18O -- 10.3.3 Other proxies -- 10.4 Questions raised and future directions -- CHAPTER 11: The Holocene epoch: testing the climate and environmental proxies -- 11.1 A brief overview of the Holocene -- 11.1.1 The Early Holocene -- 11.1.2 The Mid-Holocene -- 11.1.3 Late Holocene -- 11.2 The past millennium -- 11.2.1 Instrumentally calibrated speleothem climate reconstructions -- 11.2.2 Multi-proxy reconstructions and model-proxy comparisons -- 11.3 Holocene environmental changes: speleothem responses -- 11.3.1 The period of remnant ice sheets in the Early Holocene -- The last Mediterranean sapropel -- The '8.2 ka event' -- 11.3.2 Orbital forcing over the Mid- to Late Holocene -- 11.3.3 Evidence for multi-decadal and multi-centennial climate variability -- Box 11.1 Times-series analysis of speleothems -- 11.3.4 Speleothem evidence of Holocene soil and vegetation change -- 11.4 Questions raised and future directions -- CHAPTER 12: The Pleistocene and beyond -- 12.1 Pleistocene proxy records (ice-age climate f luctuations defined and drawn) -- 12.1.1 Subaqueous speleothem records: Devils Hole, USA -- 12.1.2 Composite speleothem records: Soreq Cave, Israel. , 12.1.3 Palaeoclimate hotspots: the Asian monsoon and the nature of glacial terminations.