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Microstratigraphic Logging Of Calcite Fabrics In Speleothems As Tool For Palaeoclimate Studies, Silvia Frisia

International Journal of Speleology

The systematic documentation of calcite fabrics in stalagmites and flowstones provides robustness to palaeoclimate interpretation based on geochemical proxies, but it has been neglected because it is difficult to transform crystal morphologies into numerical values, and construct fabric time series. Here, general criteria that allow for coding fabrics of calcite composing stalagmites and flowstones is provided. Being based on known models of fabric development, the coding ascribes sequential numbers to each fabric, which reflect climate-related parameters, such as changes in drip rate variability, bio-mediation or diagenetic modifications. Acronyms are proposed for Columnar types, Dendritic, Micrite, Microsparite and Mosaic fabrics, whose …