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Beyond 500ka: Progress and prospects in the Ulogy of speleothems, and their application to studies in palaeoclimate, human evolution, biodiversity and tectonics

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Title:	Beyond 500ka: Progress and prospects in the Ulogy of speleothems, and their application to studies in palaeoclimate, human evolution, biodiversity and tectonics
Authors:	Woodhead, Jon jdwood@unimelb.edu.au, Pickering, Robyn
Source:	Chemical Geology. Sep2012, Vol. 322-323, p290-299. 10p.
Subjects:	Speleothems, Climate change, Biodiversity, Structural geology, Parameter estimation, Archaeological site location
Abstract:	Abstract: This review summarises current research aimed at extending the chronology and thus scientific utility of speleothems beyond the 500ka limit previously imposed by conventional U methods. The Uscheme is familiar to all geoscientists but its application to speleothems is a relatively recent development, and one set to revolutionise their use in studies of climate change, human evolution and migration, biodiversity, tectonics and landscape evolution. Technological advances, such as the introduction of multi-collector ICPMS instruments, have played a key role in this breakthrough and multiple inter-laboratory and inter-method comparisons provide evidence that the methodology is now mature and that the ages obtained are robust. Some impediments remain, in particular with respect to corrections for initial isotopic disequilibrium (younger samples) and the construction of internal chronologies (older samples) but these are areas of intense research activity and are likely to see significant advances in the near future. The coupling of speleothem U with other nascent technologies, offering the prospect of precise palaeotemperature estimation, is an exciting development in palaeoclimate science, while Ulogies of archaeological sites are producing important new insights into human evolution. Although less well developed at this point, the methodology appears equally well suited and significant for future studies of past faunal change, and landscape evolution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
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Database:	Engineering Source

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Abstract:	Abstract: This review summarises current research aimed at extending the chronology and thus scientific utility of speleothems beyond the 500ka limit previously imposed by conventional U methods. The Uscheme is familiar to all geoscientists but its application to speleothems is a relatively recent development, and one set to revolutionise their use in studies of climate change, human evolution and migration, biodiversity, tectonics and landscape evolution. Technological advances, such as the introduction of multi-collector ICPMS instruments, have played a key role in this breakthrough and multiple inter-laboratory and inter-method comparisons provide evidence that the methodology is now mature and that the ages obtained are robust. Some impediments remain, in particular with respect to corrections for initial isotopic disequilibrium (younger samples) and the construction of internal chronologies (older samples) but these are areas of intense research activity and are likely to see significant advances in the near future. The coupling of speleothem U with other nascent technologies, offering the prospect of precise palaeotemperature estimation, is an exciting development in palaeoclimate science, while Ulogies of archaeological sites are producing important new insights into human evolution. Although less well developed at this point, the methodology appears equally well suited and significant for future studies of past faunal change, and landscape evolution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
ISSN:	00092541
DOI:	10.1016/j.chemgeo.2012.06.017