A review of current and emerging approaches for Quaternary marine sediment dating

Wenpeng Li; Xinxin Li; Xi Mei; Fan Zhang; Jingping Xu; Chunru Liu; Chuanyi Wei; Qingsong Liu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146522

A review of current and emerging approaches for Quaternary marine sediment dating

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Aug 1:780:146522. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146522. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

Authors

Wenpeng Li¹, Xinxin Li², Xi Mei³, Fan Zhang⁴, Jingping Xu⁵, Chunru Liu⁶, Chuanyi Wei⁶, Qingsong Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Archaea Geo-Omics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China.
² Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Archaea Geo-Omics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511458, Guangdong, China. Electronic address: lixinxin@sustech.edu.cn.
³ Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, Qingdao 266071, China; Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology/Evaluation and Detection Technology Laboratory of Marine Mineral Resources, Qingdao 266237, China.
⁴ Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China.
⁵ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Archaea Geo-Omics, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511458, Guangdong, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China.

PMID: 33770600
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146522

Abstract

Dating methodologies for Quaternary marine sediments play increasingly important roles in the reconstruction of paleoenvironments and paleoclimate in (paleo)oceanography. Previous reviews or studies have focused mainly on one or two methodologies, and their applications in one specific environment. With the continuing technological and methodological advances in different methods over the past few decades, an up-to-date comparison of the pros and cons of each dating methodology is needed to clearly understand their applications in marine geoscience research. In this review, we first briefly summarized the common methods of absolute dating and relative dating. These are (1) radioisotope dating with different half-lives using natural nuclides of ²³⁴Th, ²¹⁰Pb, ²³⁰Th, and ²²⁶Ra, cosmogenic nuclides of ⁷Be, ¹⁴C, ¹⁰Be, ³²Si, ²⁶Al, ³⁶Cl and ²¹Ne, and the artificial radionuclides of ¹³⁷Cs, ^{239, 240}Pu, ²⁴¹Am and ¹²⁹I that have been induced by atmospheric nuclear tests, accidents in nuclear plants, and discharges of radioactive wastes; (2) radiation exposure dating of luminescence and electron paramagnetic resonance (ESR) dating; and (3) stratigraphic dating of δ¹⁸O and paleomagnetic sequence. Applications and limitations from the marine terraces, estuaries, to hadal trenches have been summarized to each technique in the study of Quaternary marine geoscience extending from the Anthropocene through the Pleistocene. Finally, we introduced some emerging event dating methods, namely the arrivals of microplastics, mercury isotopes, and organic pollutant deposition that all appeared after the industrial resolution in our now changing ocean influenced by acidification, global warming, and anthropogenic activities. We ended by discussing future perspectives for reliable and high-resolution chronology by interdisciplinary methods including computer programming to better understand the natural geological evolution and predict the future changes in earth science.

Keywords: Marine sediment; Pollutant dating; Quaternary chronology; Radiation exposure dating; Radioisotope dating; Stratigraphic dating.

Publication types

Review