Synchronous Radiocarbon and Climate Shifts During the Last Deglaciation

2000/12/08 by Konrad A Hughen, John Southon, Scott J. Lehman +1 · 8 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Isotope Analysis in Ecology #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies

paper · doi:10.1126/science.290.5498.1951

openalex publication_date 2000/12/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Radiocarbon data from the Cariaco Basin provide calibration of the carbon-14 time scale across the period of deglaciation (15,000 to 10, 000 years ago) with resolution available previously only from Holocene tree rings. Reconstructed changes in atmospheric carbon-14 are larger than previously thought, with the largest change occurring simultaneously with the sudden climatic cooling of the Younger Dryas event. Carbon-14 and published beryllium-10 data together suggest that concurrent climate and carbon-14 changes were predominantly the result of abrupt shifts in deep ocean ventilation.

Citations

• INTCAL98 Radiocarbon Age Calibration, 24,000–0 cal BP
• Abrupt increase in Greenland snow accumulation at the end of the Younger Dryas event
• Paleocean circulation during the Last Deglaciation: A bipolar seesaw?
• Apparent tropospheric response to MeV‐GeV particle flux variations: A connection via electrofreezing of supercooled water in high‐level clouds?

Cited by

• Mechanisms of abrupt climate change of the last glacial period
• Younger Dryas: A data to model comparison to constrain the strength of the overturning circulation
• Time-transgressive environmental shifts across Northern Europe at the onset of the Younger Dryas
• Catastrophic meltwater discharge down the Hudson Valley: A potential trigger for the Intra-Allerød cold period
• Sudden Deaths: The Chronology of Terminal Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction
• The 12,460-Year Hohenheim Oak and Pine Tree-Ring Chronology from Central Europe—A Unique Annual Record for Radiocarbon Calibration and Paleoenvironment Reconstructions
• Resolving varve and radiocarbon chronology differences during the last 2000 years in the Santa Barbara Basin sedimentary record, California
• Younger Dryas [wikipedia]