Tracks and tools

1981 ◽  
Vol 292 (1057) ◽  
pp. 95-102 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Weight Distribution ◽  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Olduvai Gorge ◽  
Northern Tanzania ◽  
Bipedal Gait

Recent discoveries in the Laetolil beds at Laetoli in northern Tanzania have revealed hominid tracks made by three individuals in a bed of cemented volcanic ash. The tracks extend for a distance of 27 m and indicate a fully upright, bipedal gait with weight distribution similar to that of modern man. A single trail proceeds alongside a dual trail in which the footsteps of the leading individual are almost exactly overprinted by the second set of tracks. Radiometric dating of an overlying tuff has yielded a figure of 3.6 Ma. Stone artefacts are unknown in the Laetolil beds, and a date of ca . 2 Ma for the earliest formalized tool-making is postulated on the evidence from Olduvai Gorge.

scholarly journals South Pole glacial climate reconstruction from multi-borehole laser particulate stratigraphy

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (218) ◽  
pp. 1117-1128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Particle Physics ◽  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
South Pole ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
Annual Layer ◽  
Paleoclimate Records ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractThe IceCube Neutrino Observatory and its prototype, AMANDA, were built in South Pole ice, using powerful hot-water drills to cleanly bore >100 holes to depths up to 2500 m. The construction of these particle physics detectors provided a unique opportunity to examine the deep ice sheet using a variety of novel techniques. We made high-resolution particulate profiles with a laser dust logger in eight of the boreholes during detector commissioning between 2004 and 2010. The South Pole laser logs are among the most clearly resolved measurements of Antarctic dust strata during the last glacial period and can be used to reconstruct paleoclimate records in exceptional detail. Here we use manual and algorithmic matching to synthesize our South Pole measurements with ice-core and logging data from Dome C, East Antarctica. We derive impurity concentration, precision chronology, annual-layer thickness, local spatial variability, and identify several widespread volcanic ash depositions useful for dating. We also examine the interval around ∼74 ka recently isolated with radiometric dating to bracket the Toba (Sumatra) supereruption.

Comment on “New radiometric dating of volcanic ash layers in Periadriatic foredeep basin system, Italy” — reply

2001 ◽  
Vol 167 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 205-206
Author(s):  
G. Bigazzi ◽  
F.P. Bonadonna ◽  
E. Centamore ◽  
G. Leone ◽  
M. Mozzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Basin System

PALEOECOLOGIC SIGNIFICANCE OF MALACOFAUNA, OLDUVAI GORGE, TANZANIA

Palaios ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 319-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLAUDIA C. JOHNSON ◽  
JACKSON K. NJAU ◽  
DIRK VAN DAMME ◽  
KATHY SCHICK ◽  
NICHOLAS TOTH
Keyword(s):  
Olduvai Gorge ◽  
Snail Species ◽  
Archaeological Remains ◽  
Intermediate Hosts ◽  
Running Water ◽  
Northern Tanzania ◽  
Environmental Setting ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Channel Deposits ◽  
First Time

Abstract The rich record of vertebrate, hominin and archaeological remains recovered from Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania stands in stark contrast to the largely unexplored macroinvertebrate record from the region. Here we examine fossil malacofauna from Olduvai Gorge, inclusive of new discoveries and previous reports, and survey their potential as paleoecologic indicators. Recorded for the first time from Olduvai, an assemblage of fossil bivalve shells is attributed by character comparison to modern Chambardia wahlbergi, a freshwater unionid species widespread across Africa. The fossilized shells were localized in Bed III conglomerate channel deposits, with channel geometry exhibiting scour bases and superimposed fill structures with fining upward sequences. The ecology of recent C. wahlbergi combined with sedimentological data indicate the aquatic environment in this region during Olduvai Bed III times can be reconstructed as a periodically desiccated floodplain bordering a river channel or channels with permanent running water and marked seasonal fluctuations. This paleo-environmental setting presents drastic change compared with that of the lower Bed I and Bed II deposits, when an alkaline/saline lake extended over the site and fresh water was restricted to standing groundwater-fed pools with snail species known today to be intermediate hosts for the trematode genera Schistosoma (schistosomiasis) and Fasciola (fascioliasis). This research enhances details of landscape evolution at Olduvai basin and furthers paleoenvironmental interpretations during the time of Bed III deposition.

New radiometric dating of volcanic ash layers in Periadriatic foredeep basin system, Italy

2000 ◽  
Vol 155 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 327-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Bigazzi ◽  
F.P Bonadonna ◽  
E Centamore ◽  
G Leone ◽  
M Mozzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Basin System

Calcretes of Olduvai Gorge and the Ndolanya Beds of northern Tanzania

Sedimentology ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 649-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. HAY ◽  
R. J. REEDER
Keyword(s):  
Olduvai Gorge ◽  
Northern Tanzania

scholarly journals AMS Dating of a Late Quaternary Tephra at Graham's Terrace, New Zealand

Radiocarbon ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Gillespie ◽  
A. P. Hammond ◽  
K. M. Goh ◽  
P. J. Tonkin ◽  
D. C. Lowe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Reliable Method ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Chemical Pretreatment ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Ams Dating ◽  
Charred Wood

The radiocarbon dating of volcanic ash (tephra) deposits in New Zealand has been difficult on sites remote from the eruption, which contain either little carbon or degraded and contaminated charcoal. Although many studies of contamination removal from macroscopic charcoals from tephra sequences have been made, little attention has been paid to those containing no visible charcoal, because of the difficulty of obtaining sufficient carbon for radiometric dating. We report here experiments using accelerator mass spectrometry to establish a reliable method for dating a low-carbon aeolian and peat deposit containing a tephra horizon. Results so far demonstrate that improvements to existing chemical pretreatment methods are possible, and that dates obtained on oxidized fine-grained residues can approach the maximum age determined on good quality charred wood samples.

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