An Isotopic Calibration Study of Precipitation, Cave Dripwater, and Climate In West-Central Florida

A calibration study of oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition from precipitation and cave dripwater was conducted in west-central Florida at Legend Cave during 2007–2008. This study was performed to better understand how modern precipitation patterns can be discerned through examination of cave dripwater and speleothem calcite for paleoclimate reconstruction. The ‘amount effect’ was shown to be a dominant control on the oxygen isotopic composition of precipitation for the study area. A meteoric water line with a slope of 6·7 suggests evaporative effects occur either during precipitation or subsequent hydrological processes. However, δ18O values of cave dripwater averaged near the mean annual amount-weighted average of precipitation, suggesting that the isotopic composition of dripwater tracks the long-term average of rainfall. An observed weak seasonal influence occurred in the d-excess values, with summer precipitation being more enriched due to increased evaporative effects. Comparison of precipitation δ18O values to synoptic weather data shows the dominant amount effect influence occurs due to strong convective storms producing highly 18O-depleted rainfall at greater amounts during the year. Constant δ18O values of the dripwater indicate that paleoclimate reconstructions using speleothems from this area would record changes in annual to interannual shifts in precipitation amount above the cave