New data on speleothem deposition and palaeoclimate in Britain over the last forty thousand years

Abstract 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 K...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Quaternary Science
Main Authors: Atkinson, T. C., Lawson, T. J., Smart, P. L., Harmon, R. S., Hess, J. W.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 1986
Subjects:
Ice
Ice Sheet
permafrost
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3390010108
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjqs.3390010108
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.3390010108
Description
Summary:Abstract 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.

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