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Science 16 June 1978:
Vol. 200. no. 4347, pp. 1267 - 1270
DOI: 10.1126/science.200.4347.1267
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Articles

Oxygen Isotope Composition of Subglacially Precipitated Calcite: Possible Paleoclimatic Implications

BRUCE B. HANSHAW 1 and BERNARD HALLET 2

1 U.S. Geological Survey, National Center, Mail Stop 431, Reston, Virginia 22092
2 Department of Geology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305

Isotopic analyses of subglacially precipitated calcite from near a modern temperate glacier show that the dgr18O (= 18O/16O relative to standard mean ocean water) of the calcite records the dgr18O of the ice from that glacier. It may therefore be possible to determine the dgr18O of Pleistocene ice sheets on the basis of isotopic analyses of calcite formed under that ancient ice. This, in turn, would allow estimation of the dgr18O of Pleistocene oceans and correction of the paleotemperature scale based on foraminiferal oxygen isotopic analyses.

Submitted on October 7, 1977
Revised on February 1, 1978

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)