Early Pleistocene climate changes in the central Mediterranean region as inferred from integrated pollen and planktonic foraminiferal stable isotope analyses

Vegetation inherited from a Pliocene subtropical climate evolved through obliquity oscillations and global cooling leading to modern conditions. An integrated, highly time-resolved record of pollen and stable isotopes (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C of Globigerina bulloides) was obtained to understand vegetation responses to Early Pleistocene climate changes. Continental and marine responses are compared in the Central Mediterranean region with a particular consideration of environmental changes during anoxic events.Pollen data illustrate vegetation dynamics as follows: [1] development of mesothermic elements (warm and humid conditions); [2] expansion of mid- and high-altitude elements (cooler but still humid conditions); and [3] strengthening of steppe and herb elements (cooler and dry conditions). These successions correlate with precession. δ¹⁸O variations recorded by Globigerina bulloides define two cycles (MIS 43-40) related to obliquity. At northern low- to mid-latitudes, the pollen signal records temperature and wetness changes related to precession even during global climate changes induced by obliquity. This may result in unexpected increasing wetness during glacial periods, which has to be considered specific to the Central and Eastern Mediterranean region. Lastly, an analysis of anoxic events reveals that enhanced runoff is indicated by increasing frequency of the riparian trees Liquidambar and Zelkova.     

Cooling history of nested plutons from the Variscan Tichka plutonic complex (Morocco)

International Journal of Earth Sciences - Four imbricated mafic to felsic plutons of Variscan age from Morocco have been investigated for their cooling history and geochemical interactions with...     

Bacterial dominance of phototrophic communities in a High Arctic lake and its implications for paleoclimate analysis

The phototrophic communities in meromictic, perennially ice-covered Lake A, on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian High Arctic, were characterized by pigment analysis using high performance liquid chromatography. Samples were taken to determine the vertical changes down the water column as well as a variation between years. These analyses showed that Lake A had distinct phototrophic communities in its oxic and anoxic layers. The pigment analyses indicated that phototrophic biomass in the upper, oxic waters was dominated by picocyanobacteria, while in the lower, anoxic layer photosynthetic green sulphur bacteria were dominant. Interannual variation in pigment concentrations was related to the penetration of photosynthetically active radiation in the water column, suggesting that light availability may be limiting the net accumulation of photosynthetic bacterial biomass in Lake A. Pigment analysis of the surface sediments indicated that deposition was dominated by the photosynthetic sulphur bacterial contribution. The sedimentary record of bacterial pigments in polar meromictic lakes offers a promising tool for the reconstruction of past changes in ice cover and therefore in climate.     

Late Pleistocene climatic change in the French Jura (Gigny) recorded in the δO of phosphate from ungulate tooth enamel

Oxygen isotope compositions of phosphate in tooth enamel from large mammals (i.e. horse and red deer) were measured to quantify past mean annual air temperatures and seasonal variations between 145 ka and 33 ka in eastern France. The method is based on interdependent relationships between the δ¹⁸O of apatite phosphate, environmental waters and air temperatures. Horse (Equus caballus germanicus) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) remains have δ¹⁸O values that range from 14.2‰ to 17.2‰, indicating mean air temperatures between 7°C and 13°C. Oxygen isotope time series obtained from two of the six horse teeth show a sinusoidal-like signal that could have been forced by temperature variations of seasonal origin. Intra-tooth oxygen isotope variations reveal that at 145 ka, winters were colder (? 7 ± 2°C) than at present (3 ± 1°C) while summer temperatures were similar. Winter temperatures mark a well-developed West–East thermal gradient in France of about ? 9°C, much stronger than the ?4°C difference recorded presently. Negative winter temperatures were likely responsible for the extent and duration of the snow cover, thus limiting the food resources available for large ungulates with repercussions for Neanderthal predators.     

Semi-automatic determination of the carbon and oxygen stable isotope compositions of calcite and dolomite in natural mixtures

A semi-automatic, on-line method was developed to determine the δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values of coexisting calcite and dolomite. An isotopic mass balance is used to calculate the compositions of dolomite after having measured that of calcite and of the “bulk” sample. The limit of validity of this method is established by performing isotopic measurements of artificial mixtures made of precisely weighted and isotopically-characterised dolomite and calcite. The accuracy and repeatability of the calculation of dolomite δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O are statistically determined with a Monte-Carlo procedure of error propagation. Stable isotope ratios are determined by using an automated MultiPrep™ system on-line with an isotope-ratio mass-spectrometer (IRMS). The reaction time and the temperature of reaction were optimised by comparing the results with the isotopic composition of known mixtures. The best results were obtained by phosphoric acid digestion after 20 min at 40 °C for calcite and 45 min at 90 °C for dolomite. This procedure allows an accurate determination of the isotopic ratios from small samples (300 μg). Application of this protocol to natural mixtures of calcite and dolomite requires the accurate determination of the relative abundance of calcite and dolomite by combining Mélières manocalcimetry (MMC) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD).     

Hydrogen and Oxygen Isotope Reference Materials for the Analysis of Water Inclusions in Halite

Fluid inclusions represent a unique opportunity for a straightforward determination of the chemical and isotopic composition of fluids that composed the hydrosphere and atmosphere over Earth’s history. The production of reference materials in the laboratory is needed to monitor and to validate the determination of hydrogen and oxygen isotope compositions of water inclusions. We propose a protocol leading to the experimental synthesis of halite crystals that contain water inclusions whose δD and δ¹⁸O values can be related to those of surrounding evaporating waters where the crystals grew. Corrections to isotopic measurements were performed by applying an orthogonal projection of the raw data to the water evaporation trajectory line whose slope can be predicted by taking into account the parameters developed in the linear resistance model of Craig and Gordon (1965). Several hundreds of grams of halite reference material can be produced rapidly (within 2 d) at a low cost and can be stored within a vacuum desiccator at ambient temperature over several months or years. The described method is especially useful for the analysis of anhydrous salts and the interpretation of isotopic fractionations that operate within the surficial water cycle.     

Microstructural weathering of sedimentary rocks by freeze–thaw cycles: Experimental study of state and transfer parameters

The frost sensitivity of a rock is resulting from the combined action of processes linked to porous network characteristics (state parameters) and to the way water flows into this porous network (transfer parameters), our study was thus about the influence of these parameters on frost weathering of rocks. Sedimentary rocks often found on buildings (limestone and sandstone) and consequently submitted to temperature variations have been selected. State and transfer parameters have been measured for sample characterization and the follow-up of weathering during freeze–thaw cycles. The coupled influence of a state parameter (dynamic modulus of elasticity) and a transfer parameter (water permeability), i.e. between rock skeletal strength and voids connection, has thus been discussed.     

Seawater-sediment-basalt interactions: stable isotope (H,O) and elemental fluxes within the Ordovician volcano-sedimentary sequence of Erquy (Brittany,France)

The Ordovician volcano-sedimentary succession of Erquy (northern Brittany) is made of immature sediments thermally metamorphosed at the contact of intruding basic sills. Pillow lavas constitute the upper part of the sequence. The trace element geochemistry of sills and pillow lavas suggests that they were derived from a tholeiitic source located beneath a passive margin. This volcanic sequence was metamorphosed under low to moderate greenschist facies conditions. In this study the direction and amplitude of chemical and isotopic fluxes in the basalt-sediment-water system were established and the oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions of the aqueous fluid that reacted with the volcanic rocks were characterized. Cationic thermometry on chlorites and isotopic thermometry on plagioclase-chlorite pairs indicate closure metamorphic temperatures in the range 200–250°C for the basaltic sills. Stable isotope compositions of iron-rich chlorites (¹⁸O-5.5; D from-60 to-50) and plagioclases (¹⁸O from +9 to +10) reveal that the source of the fluid was certainly seawater. The ¹⁸O variations within the sills are strongly correlated with the rate of progress of the main metamorphic reaction:clinopyroxene+plagioclase+ilmenite chlorite+albite+epidote+quartz+sphene that produced major element mobility at the scale of the volcanosedimentary sequence. Calculation of elemental fluxes by mass balance combined with oxygen isotopic compositions of basalts shows that the highest water-rock ratios (1) were at sill-sediment boundaries and within pillow lavas at the top of the pile. The volcanosedimentary sequence of Erquy was a net sink for Na and a source for Ca. No Mg uptake could be detected whereas the hydrothermal alteration of the sediments released Fe, Si, and K trapped by the volcanic rocks. The ¹⁸O value of the fluid reacting with sills appears to have shifted no more than +4 after percolation at low temperature through immature sediments (¹⁸O12). The Erquy volcano-sedimentary sequence represents a marine hydrothermal system dominated by low-temperature exchange which allowed a general ¹⁸O-enrichment of the volcanic rocks and a ¹⁸O-depletion of sediments.     

Oxygen isotope variability in calcite shells of the ostracod Cyprideis torosa in Akyatan Lagoon,Turkey

The euryhaline ostracod Cyprideis torosa lives in Akyatan Lagoon, Turkey, which is exposed to large spatial and seasonal variations in water salinity, δ¹⁸O, and temperature. Hydrogen and oxygen isotope measurements of waters reveal that the large range of salinity (15–80 g L^?1) in the lagoon results from a combination of evaporation and mixing between Mediterranean seawater and Seyhan River input. Round sieve-pore relative abundance in C. torosa provides a robust proxy for water salinity (S) from 15 to 80 g L^?1, according to the equation: S = 161.41 (±4.52) * log₁₀(% rounded pores) ? 94.04 (±3.44) (R² = 0.937; p = 10^?31). Seasonal sampling and isotope analysis of C. torosa in waters of known δ¹⁸O values (?4.7 to +6.9 ‰ V-PDB) and temperatures (15–35 °C) yielded a weak positive correlation (r = 0.71) between 1000 lnα_{(calcite–water)} ‰ V-SMOW) and 10³ * T^?1. Specimens of C. torosa collected during the mild and warm seasons have oxygen isotope compositions close to those of inorganic calcite precipitated in equilibrium with ambient water. The large oxygen-isotope variability observed during any season of the year most likely results from shell calcification in water bodies of highly variable salinity, alkalinity, Mg/Ca and water saturation relative to calcite. Indeed, distinct water bodies in the Akyatan Lagoon are generated by mixing of fresh and marine waters, which are exposed to different evaporation rates at the seasonal scale.     

Oxygen Isotope Composition Of Human Teeth And The Record Of Climate Changes In France (Lorraine) During The Last 1700 Years

In order to study climate variations during the last 1700 years in eastern France, fifty-eight oxygen isotope compositions of phosphate were measured in human tooth enamel. The individuals, who lived in Lorraine, are assumed to have drunk local water derived directly from rainfall. According to previous work, drinking water is the main source of oxygen that sets the isotopic composition of phosphatic tissues in humans. The empirical fractionation equation determined from our data combined with those of Longinelli’s one [Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 48 (1984) 385] was used to calculate the oxygen isotope composition of meteoric waters. The mean air temperature was inferred from these isotope ratios and the Von Grafenstein et al.’s [Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 60 (1996) 4025] relationship between δ¹⁸O and air temperature. Oxygen isotope composition of present-day individuals yields a mean air temperature of 9.9± 1.7 ^∘C which is consistent with meteorological data. Application of this method to historical individuals results in mean air temperatures estimates 0 to 3 ^∘C higher than present-day air temperature. These warm air temperatures are not realistic during the so-called Little Ice Age for which an air-cooling of about 0.5 to 2 ^∘C has been documented. We propose that these relatively high δ¹⁸O values of human tooth enamel reflect higher mean δ¹⁸O values of meteoric water which can be attributed to an increased proportion of summer rainfall during the “Little Ice Age” time frame in Lorraine.