Journal article
Robust chronological reconstruction for young speleothems using radiocarbon
Q Hua, J McDonald, D Redwood, R Drysdale, S Lee, S Fallon, J Hellstrom
Quaternary Geochronology | Published : 2012
Abstract
We have studied two young speleothems, SC4 from Smiths Cave (Christmas Island, eastern Indian Ocean) and WM7 from Wollondilly Cave (Wombeyan caves, SE Australia). Attempts to date these speleothems by the Th/U method have proved unsuccessful with some age reversals for SC4 due to multiple sources of non-authigenic Th. This method has also resulted in imprecise ages for WM7 because of low U concentrations (<10 ppb) and consequently very low levels of authigenic 230Th relative even to the very low levels of detrital 230Th present. Here, we present an alternative method for reliable dating of these young speleothems using radiocarbon. Approximately 100 carbonate samples from SC4 and WM7 were an..
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Funding Acknowledgements
AMS <SUP>14</SUP>C measurements were supported by Ainse grants (08/046, 09/088 & AINSTU1007) and ANSTO's Cosmogenic climate Archives of the Southern Hemisphere (CcASH) Project. We would like to thank the Sydney Catchment Authority and the Australian Research Council Linkage Projects and Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme and the University of Newcastle for generous financial support. We also thank the staff at Wombeyan Caves and Parks Australia North (Christmas Island) for their excellent support for this research. Christoph Spotl and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful and constructive comments, which greatly improved the manuscript.