Incremental laser-heating analyses of supergene cryptomelane clusters extracted from three distinct weathering profiles from the Mary Valley region, southeast Queensland, Australia, yield reproducible and well-defined plateau ages ranging from 346+ or -15 to 291+ or -14 ka (2 sigma ). Precipitation of supergene cryptomelane in this period implies that relative humid climate prevailed in southeast Queensland from 340 to 290 ka, a result consistent with oxygen isotope analyses of marine sediments from Ocean Drilling Program Site 820 and with regional pollen and spore records. These results, the first report on the precise (super 40) Ar/ (super 39) Ar dating of Quaternary supergene cryptomelane, indicate that (super 40) Ar/ (super 39) Ar analysis of pedogenic minerals provides a reliable geochronometer for the study of Quaternary surficial processes useful in the study of soil formation rates, continental paleoclimates, and archaeological sites devoid of datable volcanic minerals.

West: 152.3000 East: 153.0000 North: -26.0000 South: -26.0000

With GSA Data Repository Item 2001071

Provider: SEDIS Publication Catalogue

Data set link: http://sedis.iodp.org/pub-catalogue/index.php?id=2001-051502 (c.f. for more detailed metadata)

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