New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

A number of paleoclimate studies depend on high-resolution stalagmite data as proxies for climate change. For stalagmite records at or near annual resolution it has become important to evaluate the delay, if any, transmitted from climate changes above the cave to the stalagmites recording climate variability. For this study three drip sites were chosen at the entrance to Bat Cave passage of Carlsbad Cavern and drip rate monitors were installed at each site. Two years of continuous hourly drip rate data and hourly temperature, atmospheric pressure, and relative humidity data were collected between 2002 and 2004. Individual response at each drip site varied; however, results show the same seasonal trend of faster drip rates in the summer and slower drip rates in the winter. When compared to the daily temperature and precipitation data for the city of Carlsbad and Carlsbad Caverns, this trend reflects the surface precipitation cycle of wetter summer and drier winters. When compared to the other parameters measured inside the cave, an interesting relationship was observed between drip rate and pressure. Drip rate was well correlated to cave pressure and exhibited a strong diurnal cycle, suggesting that while the availability of water from meteoric precipitation may be the dominant factor controlling drip rate from year to year, other factors should be considered when evaluating variability on shorter timescales. Results of this study show the cave to be responsive at the sub-annual scale, supporting the use of annually resolved stalagmite records as proxies for climate change.