Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Anovitz, L. M. Articles by Elam, J. M. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Obsidian hydration: A new paleothermometer

¹ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, and Chemical Sciences Division, MS 6110, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6110, USA
² Chemical Sciences Division, MS 6365, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6365, USA
³ Chemical Sciences Division, MS 6110, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6110, USA
⁴ Chemical Sciences Division, MS 6365, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6365, USA
⁵ Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA

The natural hydration of obsidian was first proposed as a dating technique for young geological and archaeological specimens by Friedman and Smith (1960), who noted that the thickness of the hydrated layer on obsidian artifacts increases with time. This approach is, however, sensitive to temperature and humidity under earth-surface conditions. This has made obsidian hydration dating more difficult, but potentially provides a unique tool for paleoclimatic reconstructions. In this paper we present the first successful application of this approach, based on combining laboratory-based experimental calibrations with archaeological samples from the Chalco site in the Basin of Mexico, dated using stratigraphically correlated ¹⁴C results and measuring hydration depths by secondary ion mass spectrometry. The resultant data suggest, first, that this approach is viable, even given the existing uncertainties, and that a cooling trend occurred in the Basin of Mexico over the past 1450 yr, a result corroborated by other paleoclimatic data.

Key Words: obsidian • hydration • secondary ion mass spectrometry • Pachuca • Basin of Mexico • paleoclimate • paleotemperature

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. M. Anovitz, D. R. Cole, and M. Fayek Mechanisms of rhyolitic glass hydration below the glass transition American Mineralogist, July 1, 2008; 93(7): 1166 - 1178. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]