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Periodic Variations in Late Pleistocene Speleothem Abundance in Britain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kenji Kashiwaya
Affiliation:
The Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kobe University, Kobe 657, Japan
Timothy C. Atkinson
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7JT, England
Peter L. Smart
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1SS, England

Abstract

Temporal change in the growth of speleothems in the United Kingdom during the past 150,000 years is shown to be related to the insolation variation by the Milankovitch theory. The speleothem data compiled by Gordon et al. (1989. Quarternary Research 31, 14–26) have two Milanokovitch frequencies: the ca. 40,000-yr period related to change in the earth's obliquity and the ca. 20,000-yr period related to the precession of the equinoxes. The abundance of speleothem growth was, in general, large during the last interglaciation and small during the last glaciation. In both periods, however, speleothem abundance was greater during periods of strong insolation and less during weak insolation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

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