The antiquity of Nullarbor speleothems and implications for karst palaeoclimate archives

Jon D Woodhead; JM Kale Sniderman; John Hellstrom; Russell N Drysdale; Roland Maas; Nicholas White; Susan White; Paul Devine

Journal article

The antiquity of Nullarbor speleothems and implications for karst palaeoclimate archives

Jon D Woodhead, JM Kale Sniderman, John Hellstrom, Russell N Drysdale, Roland Maas, Nicholas White, Susan White, Paul Devine

SCIENTIFIC REPORTS | NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP | Published : 2019

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-37097-2

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Abstract

Speleothems represent important archives of terrestrial climate variation that host a variety of proxy signals and are also highly amenable to radiometric age determination. Although speleothems have been forming on Earth for at least 400 million years, most studies rely upon the U-Th chronometer which extends only to the mid Pleistocene, leaving important questions over their longer-term preservation potential. To date, older records, exploiting the advantages of the U-Pb chronometer, remain fragmentary 'snapshots in time'. Here we demonstrate the viability of speleothems as deep time climate archives by showing that a vast system of shallow caves beneath the arid Nullarbor plain of souther..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Roland Maas Author Earth Sciences

John Hellstrom Author Earth Sciences

Kale Sniderman Author Earth Sciences

Russell Drysdale Author Earth Sciences

Jon Woodhead Author Earth Sciences

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Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

Nullarbor speleothem samples were obtained over a period of many years and numerous expeditions by various parties: appropriate sampling permits were in place where applicable. Most of the cave systems noted in this study are located on pastoral leases and we thank the many station owners who have over the years allowed access to their properties for research purposes. Gavin Prideaux is thanked for assistance with field logistics. This research was facilitated by Australian Research Council Grants DP130101829 to JDW and RD, FT130100801 to JH, and FL160100028 to JDW.