Gases, noble paleotemperatures derived

Paleotemperatures derived from noble gas analyses are potentially more meaningful than those from oxygen-deuterium analyses because the noble gas content is a direct measure of the temperature of the water at the time of infiltration rather than a complex function of geographic and meteorological factors as is the case with 2H and 180. Despite this potential superiority, few noble gas studies of water paleotemperatures have been published. Specifically, questions need to be answered relative... 

The noble gas geochemistry of natural waters, including formation waters in sedimentary basins, has been used to determine paleotemperatures in the recharge areas, to evaluate water washing of hydrocarbons, and to identify mantle-derived volatiles (Pinti and Marty, 2000). The dissolved noble gases, helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon in sedimentary waters, have four principal sources the atmosphere, in situ radiogenic production, the deep crust, and the mantle. These sources have characteristic chemical and isotopic compositions (Ozima and Podosek, 1983 Kennedy et al., 1997). 

Another important aspect of ground-water paleoclimate records is the possibility to relate the absolute temperature estimates obtained from the noble gases to the relative temperature indicator provided by the stable isotope composition of the water (5 0 and 5 H). In most noble gas paleotemperature studies, stable isotopes ratios have also been determined, and in many cases clear relationships between the two climate proxys were found (e.g., Heaton et al. 1986 Stute and Deak 1989 Beyerle et al. 1998 Huneau et al. 2001). Such relationships offer the chance to derive local slopes for the long-term S O/T-relationship. 

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