"Cryptic" diagenesis and its implications for speleothem geochronologies

Petra Bajo; John Hellstrom; Silvia Frisia; Russell Drysdale; Jay Black; Jon Woodhead; Andrea Borsato; Giovanni Zanchetta; Malcolm W Wallace; Eleonora Regattieri; Ralf Haese

Journal article

"Cryptic" diagenesis and its implications for speleothem geochronologies

Petra Bajo, John Hellstrom, Silvia Frisia, Russell Drysdale, Jay Black, Jon Woodhead, Andrea Borsato, Giovanni Zanchetta, Malcolm W Wallace, Eleonora Regattieri, Ralf Haese

Quaternary Science Reviews: the International Journal of Earth, Climate and Life Interactions | Elsevier | Published : 2016

DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.06.020

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Abstract

Speleothems are usually considered as one of the most amenable palaeoclimate archives for U-series dating. A number of studies in recent years, however, report cases of diagenetic alteration which compromises the use of U-series systematics in speleothems, resulting in inaccurate U-Th ages. Here we present the results of a high-resolution U-Th dating study of a stalagmite (CC26) from Corchia Cave in Italy where we document a number of departures from an otherwise well-defined age-depth model, and explore potential causes for these outliers. Unlike examples illustrated in previous studies, CC26 contains no visible evidence of neomorphism, and appears, at least superficially, ideally suited to..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

John Hellstrom Author Earth Sciences

Malcolm Wallace Author Earth Sciences

Ralf Haese Author Earth Sciences

Russell Drysdale Author Geography

Jay Black Author Earth Sciences

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Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council Discovery Projects scheme

Awarded by Australian Research Council Future Fellowship

Funding Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects scheme (DP110102185) awarded to RD, SF, JH, JW and GZ. PB is the recipient of a University of Melbourne International Postgraduate Research Scholarship and Postgraduate Writing-Up Award supported by Albert Shimmins Fund and JH of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT130100801). The XRF analyses were undertaken at the X-ray fluorescence microscopy beamline of the Australian Synchrotron, Victoria, Australia. We would like to thank Daryl Howard, beamline scientist, and Valentina Vanghi for assistance in synchrotron analyses. XRD analyses were performed at the Materials Characterization and Fabrication Platform (MCFP) at the University of Melbourne and the Victorian Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF). S. Frisia conducted this work whilst Honorary Principal Fellow at the School of Geography, the University of Melbourne. Finally, we thank the Federazione Speleologica Toscana for generous research support.