Developing a new proxy for speleothem paleofire records

Fire can have devastating environmental, social and economic consequences. The degree to which fire regimes are shaped by climate and anthropogenic factors vary globally. The interaction between vegetation and climate in the past could help predict and forecast how the spatial and temporal aspects of fire regimes are likely to change in the future. However, there are limitations to current paleofire records derived from sedimentary and ice cores. Speleothems are well-established records for climate and environmental change. This thesis investigates the potential of using speleothems as proxy records for paleofire using an experimental and process-based approach. Specifically, the potential of S is examined in addition to inorganic elements detected in our experimental data. A monitoring program of speleothem-forming drip waters combined with soil irrigation experiments and an experimental fire, were used to quantify the short-term (60 years) than previously hypothesised and that this post-fire S signal can be detected in a modern speleothem. Overall, the findings of this thesis elucidate some of the key processes affecting a post-fire geochemical signal in speleothems and speleothem-forming drip water and highlights the potential for speleothems to be used as paleofire proxy records