Continental Pleistocene Climatic Variations from Speleothem Age and Isotopic Data

Abstract

Speleothems from continental North American caves have been dated by means of the (230)Th/(234)U method. Oxygen isotopic variations in the dated samples and phases of speleothem deposition can be interpreted in terms of climatic change. A glacial chronology constructed from the age and isotopic data lends support to the astronomical theory of climatic change.