Climate and Vegetation History of the Midcontinent from 75 to 25 ka: A Speleothem Record from Crevice Cave, Missouri, USA
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Publication Date
December 1998
Abstract
Four Missouri stalagmites yield consistent overlapping records of oxygen and carbon isotopic changes and provide a climate and vegetation history with submillennial resolution from 75 to 25 thousand years ago (ka). The thorium-230–dated records reveal that between 75 and 55 ka, the midcontinental climate oscillated on millennial time scales between cold and warm, and vegetation alternated among forest, savanna, and prairie. Temperatures were highest and prairie vegetation peaked between 59 and 55 ka. Climate cooled and forest replaced grassland at 55 ka, when global ice sheets began to build during the early part of Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 3.
Keywords
Climate History, Vegetation History, Midcontinent From 75 To 25 Ka, A Speleothem Record, Crevice Cave, Missouri, USA
Document Type
Article
Notes
Science, Vol. 282, no. 5395 (1998-12-04).
Identifier
SFS0073186_00001
Recommended Citation
Dorale, Jeffrey A.; Edwards, R. Lawrence; and Ito, Emi, "Climate and Vegetation History of the Midcontinent from 75 to 25 ka: A Speleothem Record from Crevice Cave, Missouri, USA" (1998). KIP Articles. 976.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/976
