An alternative astronomical calibration of the lower Pleistocene timescale based on ODP Site 677 | Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh | Cambridge Core (original) (raw)

Abstract

Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 677 provided excellent material for high resolution stable isotope analysis of both benthonic and planktonic foraminifera through the entire Pleistocene and upper Pliocene. The oxygen isotope record is readily correlated with the SPECMAP stack (Imbrie et al. 1984) and with the record from DSDP 607 (Ruddiman et al. 1986) but a significantly better match with orbital models is obtained by departing from the timescale proposed by these authors below Stage 16 (620 000 years). It is the stronger contribution from the precession signal in the record from ODP Site 677 that provides the basis for the revised timescale. Our proposed modification to the timescale would imply that the currently adopted radiometric dates for the Matuyama–Brunhes boundary, the Jaramillo and Olduvai Subchrons and the Gauss–Matuyama boundary underestimate their true astronomical ages by between 5 and 7%.

References

Alexandrovich, J. 1989. Radiolarian Biostratigraphy of Site 677, Eastern Equatorial Pacific. Late Miocene through Pleistocene. PROC ODP, SCI RESULTS 111, 245–62.Google Scholar

Alexandrovich, J. & Hays, J. D. 1989. High-resolution stratigraphic correlation of ODP Leg 111 Holes 677A and 677B and DSDP Leg 69 Hole 504. PROC ODP SCI RESULTS 111, 263–85.Google Scholar

Backman, J. & Shackleton, N. J. 1983. Quantitative biochronology of Pliocene and early Pleistocene nannofossils from the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. MAR MICROPALEONTOL 8, 141–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Becker, K., Sakai, H. et al. 1988. PROC ODP INIT REPTS (Pt A), 111Google Scholar

Berger, A. 1976. Obliquity and precession for the last 5,000,000 years. ASTRON & ASTROPHYS 51, 127–35.Google Scholar

Berger, A. 1984. Accuracy and frequency stability of the Earth's orbital elements during the Quaternary. In Berger, A., Imbrie, J., Hays, J. D., Kukla, G. & Saltzman, B. (eds) Milankovitch and Climate, pp. 3–39. Hingham, Mass.: D. Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Berger, A. 1989. THIRD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PALEO-OCEANOGRAPHY, 16.Google Scholar

Berger, A. & Loutre, M. F. 1988. New insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years. Scientific Report 1988/13. Institut d'Astronomie et de Geophysique Georges Lemaitre. Universite Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve.Google Scholar

Berggren, W. A., Kent, D. V. & Flynn, J. J. 1985. Jurassic to Paleogene: Part 2, Paleogene geochronology and chronostratigraphy. In Snelling, N. J. (ed.) The Chronology of the Geological Record, GEOL SOC MEM 10, 141–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Broecker, W. S., Thurber, D. L., Goddard, J., Ku, T. L., Matthews, R. K. & Mesolella, K. J. 1968. Milankovitch hypothesis supported by precise dating of coral reefs and deep-sea sediments. SCIENCE 159, 297–300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Emiliani, C. 1958. Paleotemperature analysis of core 280 and Pleistocene correlations. J GEOL 66, 264–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Hays, J. D., Imbrie, J. & Shackleton, N. J. 1976. Variations in the earth's orbit: pacemaker of the ice ages. SCIENCE 194, 1121–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

Hilgen, F. J. & Langereis, C. G. 1989. Periodicities of CaCO3 cycles in the Pliocene of Sicily: discrepancies with the quasi-periodicities of the Earth's orbital cycles. TERRA NOVA 1, 409–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Imbrie, J., Hays, J. D., Martinson, D. G., Mclntyre, A., Mix, A., Morley, J. J., Pisias, N. G.Prell, W. & Shackleton, N. J. 1984. The orbital theory of Pleistocene climate: support from a revised chronology of the marine δ18O record. In Berger, A., Imbrie, J., Hays, J. D., Kukla, G. & Saltzman, B.Milankovitch and Climate, pp. 269–305. Hingham, Mass.: D. Reidel.Google Scholar

Jenkins, G. M. & Watts, D. G. 1968. Spectral Analysis and its Applications. San Francisco: Holden Day.Google Scholar

Johnson, R. G. 1982. Brunhes–Matuyama magnetic reversal dated at 790,000 yr B.P. by marine-astronomical correlations. QUATERN RES 17, 135–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Maniken, E. A. & Grommé, C. S. 1982. Paleomagnetic data from the Coso Range, California and current status of the Cobb Mountain normal Geomagnetic Polarity Event. GEOPHYS RES LETT 9, 1279–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Martinson, D. G., Pisias, N., Hays, J. D., Imbrie, J., Moore, T. C. & Shackleton, N. J. 1987. Age dating and the orbital theory of the ice ages: development of a high-resolution 0 to 300,000-year chronostratigraphy. QUATERN RES 27, 1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Milankovitch, M. 1930. Mathematische Klimalehre und astronomische Theorie der Klimaschwankungen. In Köppen, W. & Geiger, R. (eds) Handbuch der Klimatologie, I (A), pp. 1–176. Berlin: Gebrüder Borntraeger.Google Scholar

Morley, J. J. & Shackleton, N. J. 1984. The effect of accumulation rate on the spectrum of geologic time series: evidence from two South Atlantic sediment cores. In Berger, A. L. et al. (eds) Milankovitch and Climate, Part 1, pp. 467–480. Hingham, Mass.: D. Reidel.Google Scholar

Nelson, C. S., Hendy, C. H., Cuthbertson, A. M. & Jarrett, G. R. 1986. Late Quaternary carbonate and isotope stratigraphy, subantarctic Site 594, southwest Pacific. INITIAL REPORTS OF THE DEEP SEA DRILLING PROJECT 90, 1425–36.Google Scholar

Ninkovitch, D. & Shackleton, N. J. 1975. Distribution, stratigraphic position and age of ash layer “L”, in the Panama Basin region. EARTH AND PLANET SCI LETT 27, 20–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Peng, T.-S., Broecker, W. S., Kipphut, G. & Shackleton, N. J. 1977. The relation of sediment mixing to the distortion of climatic records in the deep sea sediments. In Andersen, N. R. & Malahoff, A. (eds) The Fate of Fossil Fuel CO2 in the Oceans. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar

Pisias, N., Martinson, D. G., Moore, T. C. Jr., Shackleton, N. J., Prell, W., Hays, J. D. & Boden, G. 1984. High resolution stratigraphic correlations of benthic oxygen isotopic records spanning the last 300,000 years. MAR GEOL 56, 119–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Prell, W., Imbrie, J., Martinson, D. G., Morley, J., Pisias, N., Shackleton, N. J. & Streeter, H. 1986. Graphic correlation of oxygen isotope stratigraphy application to the late Quaternary. PALEOCEANOGR 1, 137–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Raymo, M. E., Ruddiman, W. F., Backman, J., Clement, B. M. & Martinson, D. G. 1989. Late Pliocene variations in northern hemisphere ice sheets and North Atlantic deep water circulation. PALEOCEANOGR 4, 413–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Raymo, M. E., Ruddiman, W. F., Shackleton, N. J. & Oppo, D. W. 1990. Evolution of global ice volume and Atlantic-Pacific δ13C gradients over the last 2·5 M.Y. EARTH AND PLANET SCI LETT 97, 353–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Ruddiman, W. F., McIntyre, A. & Raymo, M. E. 1986. Matuyama 41,000-year cycles: North Atlantic Ocean and northern hemisphere ice sheets. EARTH AND PLANET SCI LETT 80, 117–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Ruddiman, W. F., Cameron, D. & Clement, B. M. 1987. Sediment disturbance and correlation of offset holes drilled with the hydraulic piston corer. In Ruddiman, W. F., Kidd, R. B., Thomas, E. et al. , (eds) INITIAL REPORTS OF THE DEEP SEA DRILLING PROJECT, 94, pp. 615–634. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar

Ruddiman, W. F., Raymo, M. E., Martinson, D. G., Clement, B. M. & Backman, J. 1989. Pleistocene evolution: Northern hemisphere ice sheets and North Atlantic Ocean. PALEOCEANOGR 4, 353–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Shackleton, N. J. 1969. The last interglacial in the marine and terrestrial records. PROC R SOC LOND (B) 174, 135–54.Google Scholar

Shackleton, N. J. 1977. Carbon-13 in Uvigerina: tropical rainforest history and the Equatorial Pacific carbonate dissolution cycles. In Andersen, N. R. & Malahoff, A. (eds) The Fate of Fossil Fuel CO2 in the Oceans. pp. 401–27. New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Shackleton, N. J. & Hall, M. A. 1983. Stable isotope record of Hole 504 sediments: high-resolution record of the Pleistocene. In Cann, J. R., Langseth, M. G. et al. (eds) INITIAL REPORTS OF THE DEEP SEA DRILLING PROJECT 69, 431–441.Google Scholar

Shackleton, N. J. & Hall, M. A. 1989. Stable isotope history of the Pleistocene at ODP Site 677. In Becker, K., Sakai, H. et al. (eds) PROC ODP, SCI RESULTS 111, College Station, TX, 295–316.Google Scholar

Shackleton, N. J. & Opdyke, N. D. 1973. Oxygen isotope and palaeomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V28-238: oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 and 106 year scale. QUATERN RES 3, 39–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Shackleton, N. J. & Opdyke, N. D. 1976. Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of Pacific core V28-239, Late Pliocene to Latest Pleistocene. In Cline, R. M. & Hays, J. D. (eds) Investigation of Late Quaternary Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, GEOL SOC AMER MEM 145, 449–64.Google Scholar

Shackleton, N. J. & Pisias, N. G. 1985. Atmospheric carbon dioxide, orbital forcing and climate. In Sundquist, E. T. & Broecker, W. S. (eds) The Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric CO2: Natural Variations Archaean to Present. GEOPHYS MONOGR 32, 303–317. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar

Shackleton, N. J., Backman, J., Zimmerman, H. B., Kent, D. V., Hall, M. A., Roberts, D. G., Schnitker, D., Baldauf, J. G., Despraires, A., Homrighausen, R., Huddlestun, P., Keene, J. B., Kaltenback, A. J., Krumsiek, K. A. O., Morton, A. C., Murray, J. W. & Westberg-Smith, J. 1984. Oxygen isotope calibration of the onset of ice-rafting and history of glaciation in the North Atlantic region. NATURE 307, 620–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Shipboard Scientific Party, 1988. Sites 677 and 678. In Becker, K., Sakai, H. et al. (eds) PROC ODP INIT REPTS (Pt A) 111, 253–346.Google Scholar

Steiger, R. H. & Jäger, E. 1977. Subcommission on Geochronology: convention on the use of decay constants in geo- and cosmochronology. EARTH PLANET SCI LETT 36, 359–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar