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Science 24 August 1979:
Vol. 205. no. 4408, pp. 806 - 808
DOI: 10.1126/science.205.4408.806
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Articles

Sea-Level Lowering During the Illinoian Glaciation: Evidence from a Bahama "Blue Hole"

M. GASCOYNE 1, G. J. BENJAMIN 2, H. P. SCHWARCZ 3, and D. C. FORD 3

1 Department of Geology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1 Canada
2 247 Richmond Street, East, Toronto, Ontario M5A 1P2
3 Department of Geology, McMaster University

Stalagmites have been recovered from 45 meters below sea level in an underwater karstic cave ("blue hole") near Andros Island in the Bahamas. Uranium series ages, corrected for contamination of the sample by young marine carbonate replacements, show that the speleothem was deposited between 160,000 and 139,000 years before the present. This period corresponds to the Illinoian glacial event and demonstrates that sea level must have been lowered by at least 42 meters (allowing for subsidence) from its present position during this time.

Submitted on December 21, 1978
Revised on February 27, 1979


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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
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Tropical caves in retrospect and prospect.
D. Gillieson and D. Gillieson (1987)
Progress in Physical Geography 11, 511-532
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