Gibraltar caves and climatic records
David Mattey
Time: 5-6 pm
Venue: GIS Laboratory, Marine Campus
The southernmost point of Europe, Gibraltar, forms a long promontory made up almost entirely of limestone. Over a hundred caves have so far been recorded in The Rock. These are decorated by spectacular deposits of stalagmites, stalactite and flowstone (known collectively as speleothems). The speleothems are precipitated from waters that have their origin in rainfall on the land surface overlying the cave. Analyses of the chemistry of the spelothems may thus be used as a means of reconstructing detailed records of variations in climate over time.
