Stable isotope record and its palaeoenvironmental interpretation for a late Middle Pleistocene speleothem from Victoria fossil Cave, Naracoorte, South Australia

A speleothem from Victoria Fossil Cave, South Australia, provides a continuous stable isotope record from 185 to 157 ka. Oxygen isotope analysis indicates that, at commencement of deposition, mean annual temperatures were much lower than at present and that between 178 and 162 ka regional surface temperatures were similar to today. Such high temperatures during an interstadial are surprising but may be attributable to increased continentality due to low sealevels. Carbon isotope analysis indicates the presence of an active vegetation cover dominated by C3 plants during the interstadial while a sparse vegetation dominated by C4 grasses appears to have been dominant during full-glacial conditions. Variations in moisture availability and vegetation productivity are probably closely related to stages in pressesional cycle. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd

Uplift rates defined by U-series and 14 C ages of serpulid-encrusted speleothems from submerged caves near Siracusa, Sicily (Italy)

We have established a plausible rate of uplift near Siracusa in southeastern Sicily (Italy) over the last glacial-interglacial cycle using U-series ages of submerged speleothem calcite and 14C ages of calcite serpulid layers that encrust the speleothems during cave submergence. The precisely determined ages of these sea level benchmarks were compared with expected relative sea level position based on glacio-hydro-isostatic modeling to assess the rate of uplift in this region. When combined with the age of various late Holocene archaeological sites that have been recently described and characterized in terms of their functional position relative to sea level these data collectively define a rate of uplift ≤0.4 mm a-1 along this portion of the Sicilian coastline. These results are consistent with an age assignment of marine isotope stage (MIS) 5.3 or 5.5 for the Akradina terrace, which in turn places temporal constraints on paleoshorelines above and below this level