SPELEOTHEM PALEOLUMINESCENCE-THE PAST TWENTY YEARS

Abstract

This paper reviews the development and recent advances in the uses of speleothem luminescence as a proxy record of environmental change. Speleothem paleoluminescence records have the potential to provide a variety of high-resolution proxy paleoclimate records (e.g., paleotemperature, solar insolation, solar luminosity, glaciations, past precipitation, plants communities, paleosoils, and chemical pollution). Some speleothems can be used for obtaining quantitative proxy records of Holocene climate variation with an annual resolution. © 2006 Geological Society of America.