Abstract The quality of paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on speleothem records depends on the accuracy of the used proxies and the chronology of the studied record. As far as the dating method is concerned, in most cases, the best solution is the use of the U-series method to obtain a precise chronology. However, for older periods (i.e., over 0.5 Ma), dating has become a serious challenge. Theoretically, older materials could be dated with the U-Pb dating method. However, that method requires a relatively high uranium content (minimum of several ppm), whereas typical speleothems from Poland (and all of Central Europe) have uranium concentrations below 0.1 ppm. Because the materials in Polish caves are problematic, we applied oxygen isotope stratigraphy (OIS) as a tool for speleothem dating. By using OIS as an alternative tool to create a chronology of our flowstone, it was found that the studied flowstone crystallized from 975 to 470 ka with three major discontinuities, so obtained isotopic record can be correlated with oxygen isotopic stages from MIS 24 to MIS 12. The observed isotopic variability was also consistent and confirmed with the petrographic observations of the flowstone.

中文翻译：

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基于同位素和方解石组构分析的克拉科夫-齐斯托霍瓦高地（波兰）中更新世古气候记录

摘要 基于洞穴记录的古环境重建质量取决于所用代理的准确性和研究记录的年代。就年代学方法而言，在大多数情况下，最好的解决方案是使用U系列方法来获得精确的年代学。然而，对于较旧的时期（即超过 0.5 Ma），约会已成为一个严峻的挑战。理论上，较旧的材料可以用 U-Pb 测年法测年。然而，该方法需要相对较高的铀含量（最低几 ppm），而来自波兰（和整个中欧）的典型洞穴植物的铀浓度低于 0.1 ppm。由于波兰洞穴中的材料存在问题，我们应用氧同位素地层学 (OIS) 作为洞穴测年的工具。