Continuous 500,000-year climate record from vein calcite in Devils Hole, Nevada

Journal Article · Fri Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 1992 · Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.258.5080.255· OSTI ID:7225692

Winograd, I J; Coplen, T B; Landwehr, J M; Revesz, K M ^[1]; Riggs, A C; Ludwig, K R; Szabo, B J ^[2]; Kolesar, P T ^[3]

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1. U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA (United States)
2. U.S. Geological Survey, Lakewood, CO (United States)
3. Utah State Univ., Logan, UT (United States)

Oxygen-18 ({delta}{sup 18}O) variations in a 36-centimeter-long core (DH-11) of vein calcite from Devils Hole, Nevada, yield an uninterrupted 500,000-year paleotemperature record that closely mimics all major features in the Vostok (Antarctica) paleotemperature and marine {delta}{sup 18}O ice-volume records. The chronology for this continental record is based on 21 replicated mass-spectrometric uranium-series dates. Between the middle and latest Pleistocene, the duration of the last four glacial cycles recorded in the calcite increased from 80,000 to 130,000 years; this variation suggests that major climate changes were aperiodic. The timing of specific climatic events indicates that orbitally controlled variations in solar insolation were not a major factor in trigering deglaciations. Interglacial climates lasted about 20,000 years. Collectively, these observations are inconsistent with the Milankovitch hypothesis for the origin of the Pleistocene glacial cycles but they are consistent with the thesis that these cycles originated from internal nonlinear feedbacks within the atmosphere-ice sheet-ocean system.

• OSTI ID: 7225692
• Journal Information: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Vol. 258:5080; ISSN 0036-8075
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
CALCITE
ISOTOPE RATIO
CLIMATIC CHANGE
MONITORING
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
DRILL CORES
GLACIERS
NEVADA
OXYGEN ISOTOPES
PALEOCLIMATOLOGY
PLEISTOCENE EPOCH
CARBONATE MINERALS
CENOZOIC ERA
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
FEDERAL REGION IX
GEOLOGIC AGES
ISOTOPES
MINERALS
NORTH AMERICA
PALEONTOLOGY
QUATERNARY PERIOD
USA
540110*
290301 - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety- Regional & Global Environmental Aspects- (1992-)