Abstract
CALCITE deposits in caves, known as speleothem, can provide valuable palaeoenvironmental information1–4. In particular, because speleothem are deposited only in air-filled caves, gaps in deposition in coastal caves record high-stands of sea level. Here we report the use of isotope-dilution mass spectrometry to date speleothem by the uranium-series method. The use of mass spectrometry in uranium-series dating was first applied to corals5, and has greatly improved the precision of this dating method. The speleothem dated here—a flowstone from 15 m below modern sea level in a Bahamian cave—records changes in sea level over the past 280,000 years. The dated hiatuses in deposition indicate high sea-level stands that are in general agreement with data from deep-sea oxygen isotope stratigraphy6 and other estimates for the timing of high-stands and glacial minima1–3,7.
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Li, WX., Lundberg, J., Dickin, A. et al. High-precision mass-spectrometric uranium-series dating of cave deposits and implications for palaeoclimate studies. Nature 339, 534–536 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/339534a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/339534a0
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