Unknown

Dataset Information

0

Deglacial water-table decline in Southern California recorded by noble gas isotopes.


ABSTRACT: Constraining the magnitude of past hydrological change may improve understanding and predictions of future shifts in water availability. Here we demonstrate that water-table depth, a sensitive indicator of hydroclimate, can be quantitatively reconstructed using Kr and Xe isotopes in groundwater. We present the first-ever measurements of these dissolved noble gas isotopes in groundwater at high precision (≤0.005‰ amu-1; 1σ), which reveal depth-proportional signals set by gravitational settling in soil air at the time of recharge. Analyses of California groundwater successfully reproduce modern groundwater levels and indicate a 17.9 ± 1.3 m (±1 SE) decline in water-table depth in Southern California during the last deglaciation. This hydroclimatic transition from the wetter glacial period to more arid Holocene accompanies a surface warming of 6.2 ± 0.6 °C (±1 SE). This new hydroclimate proxy builds upon an existing paleo-temperature application of noble gases and may identify regions prone to future hydrological change.

SUBMITTER: Seltzer AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6915717 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC8333243 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC9303854 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC6031375 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4650601 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC7814676 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC9666546 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC8347956 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC5490263 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC5707372 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC7412050 | biostudies-literature