Radiocarbon chronology of Namaqualand mud belt sediments: problems and prospects

This paper presents the first radiocarbon-dated chronology of the mudbelt which occupies the continental shelf around southern Africa. The results confirm the Holocene age of the superficial deposits and suggest that laminations in the sediments of the mudbelt off the Orange River mouth are recent and terrestrially derived Two anomalies are, however, apparent in the chronology. First, the surface sediments do not provide recent or contemporary radiocarbon ages, as would be expected. Second, the laminated sediments yield ages which are not in stratigraphic sequence and appear to be clustered around the period 1000 to 1700 BP. Possible reasons for these anomalies are discussed together with alternative means of deriving a more accurate and reliable chronology for the mudbelt sediments.