Calibration of Radiocarbon Dates for the Late Pleistocene Using U/Th Dates on Stalagmites

Twenty paired 14C and U/Th dates covering most of the past 50,000 yr have been obtained on a stalagmite from the Cango Caves in South Africa as well as some additional age-pairs on two stalagmites from Tasmania that partially fill a gap between 7 ka and 17 ka ago. After allowance is made for the ini...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inRadiocarbon Vol. 39; no. 1; pp. 27 - 32
Main Authors Vogel, John C., Kronfeld, Joel
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, US Cambridge University Press 1997
University of Arizona
Subjects
Dating
Excavation and methods
Laboratory methods
Methodology and general studies
Prehistory and protohistory
Late
Pleistocene
South Africa
Tasmania
Africa
Oceania
Radiocarbon
Calibration
Dating
Uranium-Thorium
Age of rocks
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Twenty paired 14C and U/Th dates covering most of the past 50,000 yr have been obtained on a stalagmite from the Cango Caves in South Africa as well as some additional age-pairs on two stalagmites from Tasmania that partially fill a gap between 7 ka and 17 ka ago. After allowance is made for the initial apparent 14C ages, the age-pairs between 7 ka and 20 ka show satisfactory agreement with the coral data of Bard et al. (1990, 1993). The results for the Cango stalagmite between 25 ka and 50 ka show the 14C dates to be substantially younger than the U/Th dates except at 49 ka and 29 ka, where near correspondence occurs. The discrepancies may be explained by variations in 14C production caused by changes in the magnetic dipole field of the Earth. A tentative calibration curve for this period is offered.
ISSN:0033-8222
1945-5755
DOI:10.1017/S003382220004087X