PALAEOCLIMATOLOGICAL SURVEY OF STALAGMITES FROM COASTAL AREAS IN TANZANIA

ABSTRACT. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of Tanzanian stalagmites as palaeoclimatic archives. Twelve stalagmites were collected in cave systems in the coastal areas. U-series dating, combined with published ¹⁴C-data, shows that one of the stalagmites was precipitated during the latter half of the latest glacial, between approximately 39 and 27 ka. Stable isotope analysis results indicate millennial-scale fluctuations in atmospheric CO₂ level during that time; and these fluctuations show a pattern very similar to that of the δ¹⁸O variations in the GRIP and Byrd ice-cores. The other stalagmites analysed turned out to be too porous and/or contained too much detritus to allow for reliable U-series dating. Due to low uranium content, the precision of the dating results is generally also poor. Samples from the five most compact and clean specimens yielded ages from c. 105 ka to c. 17 ka, though sometimes with an inverse age stratigraphy, indicating that the stalagmite precipitates were partly not compact enough to prevent post-depositional uranium leakage.