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Speleothems in Utah caves record past dynamics of mountain permafrost

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2026

Jeffrey Munroe Open the ORCID record for Jeffrey Munroe [Opens in a new window] ,
Madison Wittmer ,
David McGee Open the ORCID record for David McGee [Opens in a new window] ,
Gabriela Serrato Marks Open the ORCID record for Gabriela Serrato Marks [Opens in a new window] ,
Kristin Kimble ,
Abigail Santis ,
Christoph Spötl  and
David Herron
Jeffrey Munroe*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth & Climate Sciences, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, USA Institute of Geology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Madison Wittmer
Affiliation:
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
David McGee
Affiliation:
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Gabriela Serrato Marks
Affiliation:
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Kristin Kimble
Affiliation:
Department of Earth & Climate Sciences, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, USA
Abigail Santis
Affiliation:
Department of Earth & Climate Sciences, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, USA
Christoph Spötl
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
David Herron
Affiliation:
USDA-Forest Service, Ashley National Forest, Duchesne, UT, USA
*
Corresponding author: Jeffrey Munroe; Email: jmunroe@middlebury.edu
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Abstract

Mountain permafrost is a climatically sensitive but poorly constrained component of the terrestrial cryosphere. We use 108 U-Th dates from speleothems in two limestone caves in the Uinta Mountains of northern Utah, USA, to reconstruct a 600,000 year history of permafrost presence and absence in this alpine setting. Speleothem growth in both caves is confined almost entirely to discrete intervals that align with interglacial conditions of Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5e, 7e, 9e, 11c, and 13. In contrast, growth hiatuses correspond to glacial periods, when permafrost apparently inhibited infiltration of liquid water. Regional lapse rates indicate that cooling of ∼3°C to 5°C relative to present would be sufficient to generate permafrost above the caves. The persistence of age clustering across multiple speleothems in two independent cave systems suggests that mountain permafrost repeatedly formed and degraded in concert with orbitally paced climate cycles. Comparison with nearby paleoclimate records confirms that these changes reflect regional-scale climate forcing. Our results provide rare empirical evidence for the extent of alpine permafrost over Quaternary timescales. As mountain permafrost degrades under modern warming, such records are essential for refining climate models, assessing geomorphic and hydrologic risks, and placing recent changes within the context of natural variability.

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Research Article
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Quaternary Research , Volume 131 , May 2026 , pp. 77 - 84
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© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Quaternary Research Center.

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This article has been updated since original publication. A notice detailing the change has been published.

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