Uranium-thorium dating of speleothems

Speleothems are important timekeepers of Earth's climate history. A key advantage of speleothems is that they can be dated using U-Th techniques. Mass spectrometric methods for measuring U and Th isotopes has led to vast improvements in measurement precision and a dramatic reduction in sample size. As a result, the timing of past climate, environment, and Earth system changes can be investigated at exceptional temporal precision. In this review, we summarize the principles and history of U-Th dating of speleothems. Finally, we highlight three studies that use U-Th dated speleothems to investigate past changes to the Asian monsoon, constrain the timing of sociopolitical change in ancient civilizations, and develop a speleothem-based calibration of the ¹⁴C timescale.