This project is aimed at creating a reference climate record for Gibraltar using speleothems from caves where the physico-chemical processes controlling climate capture have been calibrated by cave monitoring. It will deliver well dated isotope and multi proxy records within an optimal framework of interpretation based on d18O-climate transfer functions calibrated using PCA-regression techniques on an instrumental record that extends back to 1792. For the first time we shall also be able to investigate how a d18O-climate transfer function may change with time as the cave microclimate and aquifer system respond to uplift and erosion. Using a model framework we hope to be able to interpret the speleothem d18O record in terms of progressively evolving climate capture processes and their effect on each specimen during its active growth. The long term goal is to construct a reference speleothem record for the western Mediterranean to compare with speleothem and other oxygen isotope archives (published and being researched) from NW Europe (i.e. recent NERC ASCRIBE & ISOMAP-UK projects), central Mediterranean & Near East, lake records (e.g. IsoMed) and marine cores.
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