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New data on speleothem deposition and palaeoclimate in Britain over the last forty thousand years
Author(s) -
Atkinson T. C.,
Lawson T. J.,
Smart P. L.,
Harmon R. S.,
Hess J. W.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/jqs.3390010108
Subject(s) - speleothem , geology , permafrost , glacial period , physical geography , period (music) , deposition (geology) , archaeology , paleontology , cave , geography , oceanography , physics , sediment , acoustics
230 Th/ 234 U dates are presented for 26 speleothems from three areas in Britain: Assynt, N.W. Scotland; N.W. Yorkshire; Mendip Hills, Somerset. These dates suggest that speleothem growth was widespread but rare in the period from 40 to 26 Ka, absent from 26 to 15 Ka, and abundant from 15 Ka to the present. The absence of speleothems between 26 and 15 Ka is attributed to glaciation in Yorkshire and Assynt and, tentatively, to continuous permafrost development in the Mendip Hills. The occurrence of speleothems before 26 Ka places restrictions on the extent of any ice sheet which may have been present in Scotland, and indicates that N.W. Scotland was not subjected to continuous permafrost at that time.