High-precision U-series dating of corals from Western Australia and implications for the timing and duration of the Last Interglacial

U-series ages using methods of thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (TIMS) are reported for Last Interglacial fossil reefs along the stable coastal margin of Western Australia. Thorium isotope ratios were measured with superior precision using methods of charge collection. High levels of precision in the measurement of both uranium and thorium isotopes has reduced the age uncertainty due to analytical errors, excluding the uncertainty in the decay constants, by a factor of four over the precisions reported by many earlier TIMS workers. Uncertainties in δ234U(T), determined from both 230Th/238U and 234U/238U, are also significantly smaller than previously reported, allowing samples which have undergone diagenetic exchange of uranium and thorium to be more easily identified. Strict criteria were adopted to screen the new Western Australian data. Reliable ages range from 127 to 122 ka. Published TIMS observations from other localities have been assessed using the same strict criteria. When these are combined with glacio-hydro isostatic sea-level models they indicate that the Last Interglacial period occurred from at least 130 to 117 ka. However, these age constraints are largely determined from single data points and need to be verified with additional ages before considering them to be robust estimates for the timing of onset and termination of the Last Interglacial. Globally, the main episode of reef growth appears to be confined to a narrow interval occurring from 127 to 122 ka, in direct agreement with the narrow range in ages obtained from the Western Australian sites. This may indicate that the Last Interglacial was of short duration, extending from 127 to 122 ka only. Alternatively, this interval may reflect a major reef-building event in the middle of a longer duration (130-117 ka) interglacial interval.