Climate change: US desert areas to become even drier

Beneath the Amargosa desert of the southwest United States lies a hidden gem for climate research. The Devils Hole cave system, named after its bottomless depths, provides a window into the vast desert aquifer below. The cave system is home to a peculiar type of calcite deposit. As groundwater slowly passes through the cave, calcite precipitates layer by layer on the rock walls. "These thin layers have been accumulating on the walls for nearly one million years," explains Kathleen Wendt from the Quaternary Research Group in the Department of Geology at the University of Innsbruck. "The height of ancient deposits in Devils Hole cave tell us how high the water table was in the past."