Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 14 May 1993:
Vol. 260. no. 5110, pp. 962 - 968
DOI: 10.1126/science.260.5110.962
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

A Large Drop in Atmospheric 14C/12C and Reduced Melting in the Younger Dryas, Documented with 230Th Ages of Corals

R. Lawrence Edwards 1, J. Warren Beck 1, G. S. Burr 2, D. J. Donahue 2, J. M. A. Chappell 3, A. L. Bloom 4, E. R. M. Druffel 5, and F. W. Taylor 6

1 Minnesota Isotope Laboratory, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455
2 Department of Physics, National Science Foundation Accelerator Facility for Radioisotope Analysis, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
3 Department of Biogeography and Geomorphology, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
4 Department of Geological Sciences, Cornell University, 2122 Snee Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853
5 Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543
6 Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78759

Paired carbon-14 (14C) and thorium-230(230Th) ages were determined on fossil corals from the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. The ages were used to calibrate part of the 14C time scale and to estimate rates of sea-level rise during the last deglaciation. An abrupt offset between the 14C and 230Th ages suggests that the atmospheric 14C/12C ratio dropped by 15 percent during the latter part of and after the Younger Dryas (YD). This prominent drop coincides with greatly reduced rates of sea-level rise. Reduction of melting because of cooler conditions during the YD may have caused an increase in the rate of ocean ventilation, which caused the atmospheric 14C/12C ratio to fall. The record of sea-level rise also shows that globally averaged rates of melting were relatively high at the beginning of the YD. Thus, these measurements satisfy one of the conditions required by the hypothesis that the diversion of meltwater from the Mississippi to the St. Lawrence River triggered the YD event.

Submitted on December 22, 1992
Accepted on April 19, 1993


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Last Glacial Maximum.
P. U. Clark, A. S. Dyke, J. D. Shakun, A. E. Carlson, J. Clark, B. Wohlfarth, J. X. Mitrovica, S. W. Hostetler, and A. M. McCabe (2009)
Science 325, 710-714
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Integration of core, logging and drilling data in modern reefal carbonates to improve core location and recovery estimates (IODP Expedition 310).
J. Inwood, T. Brewer, H. Braaksma, and P. Pezard (2008)
Journal of the Geological Society 165, 585-596
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mass mortality following disturbance in Holocene coral reefs from Papua New Guinea.
J.M. Pandolfi, A.W. Tudhope, G. Burr, J. Chappell, E. Edinger, M. Frey, R. Steneck, C. Sharma, A. Yeates, M. Jennions, et al. (2006)
Geology 34, 949-952
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Deciphering Holocene sea-level history on the U.S. Gulf Coast: A high-resolution record from the Mississippi Delta.
T. E. Tornqvist, J. L. Gonzalez, L. A. Newsom, K. van der Borg, A. F.M. de Jong, and C. W. Kurnik (2004)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 116, 1026-1039
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Drowning of the -150 m reef off Hawaii: A casualty of global meltwater pulse 1A?.
J. M. Webster, D. A. Clague, K. Riker-Coleman, C. Gallup, J. C. Braga, D. Potts, J. G. Moore, E. L. Winterer, and C. K. Paull (2004)
Geology 32, 249-252
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Meltwater Pulse 1A from Antarctica as a Trigger of the Bolling-Allerod Warm Interval.
A. J. Weaver, O. A. Saenko, P. U. Clark, and J. X. Mitrovica (2003)
Science 299, 1709-1713
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Uranium-series Dating of Marine and Lacustrine Carbonates.
R. L. Edwards, R.L. Edwards, C.D. Gallup, and H. Cheng (2003)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 52, 363-405
   Full Text »    PDF »
Uranium-series Chronology and Environmental Applications of Speleothems.
D. A. Richards, D. A. Richards, and J. A. Dorale (2003)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 52, 407-460
   Full Text »    PDF »
The Salinity, Temperature, and delta 18O of the Glacial Deep Ocean.
J. F. Adkins, K. McIntyre, and D. P. Schrag (2002)
Science 298, 1769-1773
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Geochronology of late Pleistocene to Holocene speleothemsfrom central Texas: Implications for regional paleoclimate.
M. Musgrove, J. L. Banner, L. E. Mack, D. M. Combs, E. W. James, H. Cheng, and R. L. Edwards (2001)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 113, 1532-1543
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sea Level Change Through the Last Glacial Cycle.
K. Lambeck and J. Chappell (2001)
Science 292, 679-686
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Rapid Flooding of the Sunda Shelf: A Late-Glacial Sea-Level Record.
T. Hanebuth, K. Stattegger, and P. M. Grootes (2000)
Science 288, 1033-1035
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Mass-spectrometric 234U-230Th ages from the Key Largo Formation, Florida Keys, United States: Constraints on diagenetic age disturbance.
C. Fruijtier, T. Elliott, and W. Schlager (2000)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 112, 267-277
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Speleothem evidence for Holocene fluctuations of the prairie-forest ecotone, north-central USA.
R. F. Denniston, R. F. Denniston, L. A. Gonzalez, R. G. Baker, Y. Asmerom, M. K. Reagan, R. L. Edwards, and E. C. Alexander (1999)
The Holocene 9, 671-676
   Abstract »    PDF »
Rapid Fluctuations in Sea Level Recorded at Huon Peninsula During the Penultimate Deglaciation.
T. M. Esat, M. T. McCulloch, J. Chappell, B. Pillans, and A. Omura (1999)
Science 283, 197-201
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Climate and Vegetation History of the Midcontinent from 75 to 25 ka: A Speleothem Record from Crevice Cave, Missouri, USA.
J. A. Dorale, R. L. Edwards, E. Ito, and L. A. González (1998)
Science 282, 1871-1874
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Evidence for Large Earthquakes in Metropolitan Los Angeles.
C. M. Rubin, S. C. Lindvall, and T. K. Rockwell (1998)
Science 281, 398-402
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Deep-Sea Coral Evidence for Rapid Change in Ventilation of the Deep North Atlantic 15,400 Years Ago.
J. F. Adkins, H. Cheng, E. A. Boyle, E. R. Druffel, and R. L. Edwards (1998)
Science 280, 725-728
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Atmospheric Radiocarbon Calibration to 45,000 yr B.P.: Late Glacial Fluctuations and Cosmogenic Isotope Production.
H. Kitagawa and J. van der Plicht (1998)
Science 279, 1187-1190
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Decoupling post-glacial tectonism and eustasy at Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea.
J. Chappell, Y. Ota, and C. Campbell (1998)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 146, 31-40
   Abstract »    PDF »
Variable rates of Late Quaternary surface uplift along the Banda Arc-Australian plate collision zone, eastern Indonesia.
D. Merritts, R. Eby, R. Harris, R. L. Edwards, and H. Chang (1998)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 146, 213-224
   Abstract »    PDF »
Geochemistry of corals: Proxies of past ocean chemistry, ocean circulation, and climate.
E. R. M. Druffel (1997)
PNAS 94, 8354-8361
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A plausible hydrological scenario for the Bolling-Allerod atmospheric methane increase.
R. M. Kalin, R. M. Kalin, and J. L. Jirikowic (1996)
The Holocene 6, 111-118
   Abstract »    PDF »
Thorium-230 Ages of Corals and Duration of the Last Interglacial Sea-Level High Stand on Oahu, Hawaii.
B. J. Szabo, B. J. Szabo, K. R. Ludwig, D. R. Muhs, and K. R. Simmons (1994)
Science 266, 93-96
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Timing of High Sea Levels Over the Past 200,000 Years.
C. D. Gallup, C. D. Gallup, R. L. Edwards, and R. G. Johnson (1994)
Science 263, 796-800
   Abstract »    PDF »
Paleoindians in Beringia: Evidence from Arctic Alaska.
M. L. Kunz, M. L. Kunz, and R. E. Reanier (1994)
Science 263, 660-662
   Abstract »    PDF »
Sun, ocean, climate and atmospheric 14CO2 : an evaluation of causal and spectral relationships.
M. Stuiver, M. Stuiver, and T. F. Braziunas (1993)
The Holocene 3, 289-305
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

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