88Sr/86Sr fractionation and calcite accumulation rate in the Sea of Galilee

Massive precipitation of primary calcite with a wide spread of accumulation rates occurs during the spring phytoplankton bloom in Lake Kinneret. The bloom dictates the degree of calcite saturation in the lake and hence the stable Sr isotopic composition of the precipitating calcite. The correlation between Δ88Sr/86Sr and the calcite accumulation rate can be therefore used as a tool to reconstruct environmental and ecological variations in the historical lake by analyzing the 88Sr/86Sr ratio in the primary CaCO3 recovered from the lake's sedimentary archives.