@article{32d6311585ab4d578603f7f6cf7fe11d,
title = "New high-precision U–Th dates for speleothems from the Assynt caves and their significance for past environmental change",
abstract = "The Late Quaternary climatic history of substantial parts of Scotland remains poorly understood because much of the sedimentological record that might have provided evidence has been erased by glacial and post-glacial erosion. Here we report 19 U/Th dates obtained from archived speleothem samples from Assynt, NW Scotland. We used state-of-the-art MC-ICP-MS U-series dating and find that speleothem deposition in Assynt was restricted to warm periods when the surface was ice-free and continuous permafrost absent. Our dataset reveals significant speleothem deposition during the Ipswichian (Marine Isotope Stage 5e) and the Holocene (MIS 1), and the formation of thin flowstone sheets during Greenland Interstadials 14 and 12 during the last glacial period. These dates highlight the potential for the use of speleothems to constrain the timings of regional glacial and periglacial conditions, and for the reconstruction of interglacial and interstadial environmental dynamics in Scotland.",
keywords = "Assynt karst, Holocene, Ipswichian interglacial, last glacial period, U-series dating",
author = "Breitenbach, {Sebastian F.M.} and Lawson, {Tim J.} and Atkinson, {Tim C.} and Fox, {Bethany R.S.} and Ola Kwiecien and Henderson, {Gideon M.}",
note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements We thank the Cave Science and Technology Research Fund of the BCRA, and the Quaternary Research Association through their Quaternary Research Award 2022 for financial support. The work was further supported by the School of Applied Sciences and the Research Centre for Climate Resilience at the University of Huddersfield. Grampian Speleological Group members are thanked for their continued generous support; without their logistical help this study would not have been possible in this form. We also thank Hamish Couper (then at the University of Oxford) for the U-series analyses, the staff of NatureScot for their friendly logistical support in the Assynt area, and Peter Smart for his permission to re-date the Firehose Cave sample. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} British Cave Research Association 2024.",
year = "2024",
month = dec,
day = "1",
language = "English",
volume = "51",
pages = "123--128",
journal = "Cave and Karst Science",
issn = "1356-191X",
publisher = "British Cave Research Association",
number = "3",
}
