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Precise dating of Dansgaard-Oeschger climate oscillations in western Europe from stalagmite data

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Andrew Baker

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Abstract

The signature of Dansgaard-Oeschger events - millennial-scale abrupt climate oscillations during the last glacial period - is well established in ice cores and marine records. But the effects of such events in continental settings are not as clear, and their absolute chronology is uncertain beyond the limit of 14C dating and annual layer counting for marine records and ice cores, respectively. Here we present carbon and oxygen isotope records from a stalagmite collected in southwest France which have been precisely dated using 234U/230Th ratios. We find rapid climate oscillations coincident with the established Dansgaard-Oeschger events between 83,000 and 32,000 years ago in both isotope records. The oxygen isotope signature is similar to a record from Soreq cave, Israel, and deep-sea records, indicating the large spatial scale of the climate oscillations. The signal in the carbon isotopes gives evidence of drastic and rapid vegetation changes in western Europe, an important site in human cultural evolution. We also find evidence for a long phase of extremely cold climate in southwest France between 61.2 ± 0.6 and 67.4 ± 0.9 kyr ago.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Genty D, Blamart D, Ouahdi R, Gilmour M, Baker A, Jouzel J, Van-Exter S

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Nature

Year: 2003

Volume: 421

Issue: 6925

Pages: 833-837

ISSN (print): 0028-0836

ISSN (electronic): 1476-4687

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature01391

DOI: 10.1038/nature01391

PubMed id: 12594510

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