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Science 4 December 1992:
Vol. 258. no. 5088, pp. 1626 - 1630
DOI: 10.1126/science.258.5088.1626
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Articles

A High-Resolution Record of Holocene Climate Change in Speleothem Calcite from Cold Water Cave, Northeast Iowa

Jeffrey A. Dorale 1, Luis A. González 2, Mark K. Reagan 2, David A. Pickett 3, Michael T. Murrell 3, and Richard G. Baker 2

1 Department of Geology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242
2 Department of Geology and Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242
3 Isotope Sciences Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545

High-precision uranium-thorium mass spectrometric chronology and 18O-13C isotopic analysis of speleothem calcite from Cold Water Cave in northeast Iowa have been used to chart mid-Holocene climate change. Significant shifts in dagger18O and dagger13C isotopic values coincide with well-documented Holocene vegetation changes. Temperature estimates based on 18O/16O ratios suggest that the climate warmed rapidly by about 3°C at 5900 years before present and then cooled by 4°C at 3600 years before present. Initiation of a gradual increase in dagger13C at 5900 years before present suggests that turnover of the forest soil biomass was slow and that equilibrium with prairie vegetation was not attained by 3600 years before present.

Submitted on July 28, 1992
Accepted on October 2, 1992


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