What is Devils Hole in Nevada?
Devils Hole is a tectonic cave developed in the discharge zone of a regional aquifer in south-central Nevada. The walls of this predominantly subaqueous (underwater) cavern are coated with dense vein calcite that precipitated from groundwater moving through the cavern. The stable isotopic content of the calcite provides a 500,000-year record of variations in temperature and other climate conditions. The data collected at Devils Hole has been an important contribution to our understanding of the onset and duration of ice ages, and has spurred renewed interest in using cave deposits as archives of paleoclimate.
Related
500,000-year temperature record challenges ice age theory 500,000-year temperature record challenges ice age theory
Just outside the searing heat of Death Valley lies Devils Hole (fig. 1), a fault-created cave that harbors two remnants of the Earth's great ice ages. The endangered desert pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) has long made its home in the cave. A 500,000-year record of the planet's climate that challenges a widely accepted theory explaining the ice ages also has been preserved in Devils Hole.
Authors
K. Snow
Related
500,000-year temperature record challenges ice age theory 500,000-year temperature record challenges ice age theory
Just outside the searing heat of Death Valley lies Devils Hole (fig. 1), a fault-created cave that harbors two remnants of the Earth's great ice ages. The endangered desert pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) has long made its home in the cave. A 500,000-year record of the planet's climate that challenges a widely accepted theory explaining the ice ages also has been preserved in Devils Hole.
Authors
K. Snow
Updated Date: May 11, 2023