Ages of tuff beds at East African early hominid sites and sediments in the Gulf of Aden

The early hominids of East Africa were dated by determining the ages of tuff beds at the sites. Despite much research using palaeomagnetic and K/Ar-dating techniques, some of those ages are still controversial 1,2 . To obtain independent age estimates for these tephra layers, we have examined cores...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1985-01, Vol.313 (6000), p.306-308
Main Authors: Sarna-Wojcicki, A. M, Meyer, C. E, Roth, P. H, Brown, F. H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
Marine
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Stratigraphy
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Summary:The early hominids of East Africa were dated by determining the ages of tuff beds at the sites. Despite much research using palaeomagnetic and K/Ar-dating techniques, some of those ages are still controversial 1,2 . To obtain independent age estimates for these tephra layers, we have examined cores from DSDP Sites 231 and 232 in the Gulf of Aden (Fig. 1 a ) which consist mainly of calcareous nannofossil ooze, but also contain rare tephra horizons 3 dated by interpolation from the established nannofossil stratigraphy (Fig. 1 b ). Chemical analysis confirms that the identity and sequence of these horizons is the same as that at the East African sites. We conclude that the age of the Tulu Bor Tuff is
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/313306a0