Stable carbon and oxygen isotopic evidence for late Pleistocene to middle Holocene climatic fluctuations in the interior of southern Africa

Stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of ungulate grazers from four archaeological sites located in different environs within the Caledon River Valley have provided a relatively well‐dated proxy palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic sequence for the period between 16 000 and 6000 calendar (cal.) yr BP. Within the overall trend towards hot mid‐Holocene temperatures and a summer rainfall pattern, stable carbon isotope results show that there were three periods when growth season temperatures were cool enough for C₃ grasses to be present: 16 000–14 000; 10 200–9600, and 8400–8000 cal. yr BP. Similar trends were recorded in stable oxygen isotope values, reflecting shifts in either temperature or available moisture. Although having a similar pattern to that of the lower altitude site, sites situated in foothills and montane portions of the valley consistently maintained lower temperatures until the mid‐Holocene altithermal. At this time growth season temperatures warmed sufficiently for a 100% C₄ grassland to expand in altitude from the warmer low lying localities. In relation to present understanding of synoptic and global climatic patterning, these findings suggest that the early to middle Holocene transition was not a gradual warming trend, but rather it was marked by a series of climatic fluctuations. Of particular note is the possible global, rather than regional, occurrence of the 8200 cal. yr BP ‘event’. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Holocene Neoglacial conditions from the Lesotho highlands, southern Africa: phytolith and stable carbon isotope evidence from the archaeological site of Likoaeng

The late Holocene environmental history of the Lesotho highlands, southern Africa, is poorly understood with few detailed studies to date. At Likoaeng, Senqu Valley, Lesotho, a 3 m stratified sedimentary sequence from an open-air archaeological site records vegetation development for the period 3400-1070 cal. BP. Phytolith analyses and bulk sediment organic matter δ¹³C indicate that C₄ grassland dominated the lower part of the sequence until approximately 2960 cal. BP when there was a switch to C₃ Pooid grassland (2960-2160 cal. BP). Also noted was a change from hunting mainly bovids to a dominance of fishing at the site. The change in grassland type and archaeological subsistence strategies corresponds with an episode of neoglacial cooling and the expansion of Alpine sourgrasses into lower altitudes. From 2160 to 1600 cal. BP grassland became a mix of C₃ and C₄ types and by 1600-1070 cal. BP there was a return to C₄ dominated grassland. During this latter phase there was a reversal from fishing to hunting again (and eventually some keeping of domestic livestock) at the site. These data outline the vegetation response to latitudinal shifts of frontal systems, and relatively strong atmospheric circulation variability, perhaps underpinned by variations of polar water into the Benguela Current during the late Holocene.     

Stable carbon isotopic composition of soil organic matter in the karst areas of Southwest China

This study dealt with the distribution characteristics of soil organic carbon （SOC） and the variation of stable carbon isotopic composition （δ^13C values） with depth in six soil profiles, including two soil types and three vegetation forms in the karst areas of Southwest China. The δ^13C values of plant-dominant species, leaf litter and soils were measured using the sealed-tube high-temperature combustion method. Soil organic carbon contents of the limestone soil profiles are all above 11.4 g/kg, with the highest value of 71.1 g/kg in the surface soil. However, the contents vary between 2.9 g/kg and 46.0 g/kg in three yellow soil profiles. The difference between the maximum and minimum δ^13C values of soil organic matter （SOM） changes from 2.2‰ to 2.9‰ for the three yellow soil profiles. But it changes from 0.8‰ to 1.6‰ for the limestone soil profiles. The contrast research indicated that there existed significant difference in vertical pattems of organic carbon and δ^13C values of SOM between yellow soil and limestone soil. This difference may reflect site-specific factors, such as soil type, vegetation form, soil pH value, and clay content, etc., which control the contents of different organic components comprising SOM and soil carbon turnover rates in the profiles. The vertical variation patterns of stable carbon isotope in SOM have a distinct regional character in the karst areas.     

Middle Pleistocene climate and habitat change at Zhoukoudian, China, from the carbon and oxygen isotopic record from herbivore tooth enamel

The Pleistocene deposits at Zhoukoudian, often referred to as the “Peking Man” site, contain dental remains from a diverse group of herbivores, including Equus sanmeniensis, Cervus elaphus, Cervus nippon, Megaloceros pachyosteus, Sus lydekkeri, and Dicerorhinus choukoutienensis. The carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of structural carbonate within the enamel of these teeth are used to reconstruct the paleodiet and paleoenvironment of the mammals. The δ¹³C values of enamel from Zhoukoudian range from −2.3‰ to −13.0‰, indicating that these mammals consumed between 25% and 100% C₃ plants. The presence of significant amounts of C₄ plants in the diets of some herbivore species indicates that at the onset of the Middle Pleistocene local habitats included mixed C₃/C₄ vegetation. By approximately 470,000 yr ago, C₃ plants dominated the diets of herbivores studied, suggesting that the abundance of C₄ flora had decreased in the area. For all deer analyzed in this study, the values of δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O decrease substantially from about 720,000 to 470,000 yr ago. This trend may be due to a strengthening of the winter monsoon during the Middle Pleistocene.     

Vegetation dynamics during the late Pleistocene in the Barreirinhas region, Maranhão State, northeastern Brazil, based on carbon isotopes in soil organic matter

The study place is in the Barreirinhas region, Maranhão State, northeastern Brazil. A vegetation transect of 78 km was studied among four vegetation types: Restinga (coastal vegetation), Cerrado (woody savanna), Cerradão (dense woody savanna), and Forest, as well as three forested sites around Lagoa do Caçó, located approximately 10 km of the transect. Soil profiles in this transect were sampled for δ¹³C analysis, as well as buried charcoal fragments were used for ¹⁴C dating. The data interpretation indicated that approximately between 15,000 and ∼9000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., arboreal vegetation prevailed in the whole transect, probably due to the presence of a humid climate. Approximately between ∼9000 and 4000-3000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., there was the expansion of the savanna, probably related to the presence of drier climate. From ∼4000-3000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. to the present, the results indicated an increase in the arboreal density in the area, due to the return to a more humid and probably similar climate to the present. The presence of buried charcoal fragments in several soil depths suggested the occurrence of palaeofires during the Holocene. The vegetation dynamic inferred in this study for northeastern Brazil is in agreement with the results obtained in areas of Amazon region, based on pollen analysis of lake sediments and carbon isotope analysis of soil organic matter (SOM), implying than similar climatic conditions have affected these areas during the late Pleistocene until the present.     

Late Quaternary vegetation changes around Lake Rutundu,Mount Kenya,East Africa: evidence from grass cuticles,pollen and stable carbon isotopes

Woody, subalpine shrubs and grasses currently surround Lake Rutundu, Mount Kenya. Multiple proxies, including carbon isotopes, pollen and grass cuticles, from a 755‐cm‐long core were used to reconstruct the vegetation over the past 38 300 calendar years. Stable carbon‐isotope ratios of total organic carbon and terrestrial biomarkers from the lake sediments imply that the proportion of terrestrial plants using the C₄ photosynthetic pathway was greater during the Late Pleistocene than in the Holocene. Pollen data show that grasses were a major constituent of the vegetation throughout the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. The proportion of grass pollen relative to the pollen from other plants was greatest at the last glacial maximum (LGM). Grass cuticles confirm evidence that C₄ grass taxa were present at the LGM and that the majority followed the cold‐tolerant NADP‐MEC₄ subpathway. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stable oxygen isotope and pollen records from eastern Scotland and a consideration of Late-glacial and early Holocene climate change for Europe

The presence of marl deposits belonging to the Lateglacial period in a former lake basin at Lundin Tower in Fife, Scotland has allowed palaeoenvironmental investigations by means of carbonate δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O, and organic matter δ¹³C, in addition to palynology. The variations that emerge reveal strong similarities between the pollen and isotope records and these are interpreted as reflecting climatic shifts. The classic Late-glacial pattern of Oldest Dryas–Bølling–Older Dryas–Allerød–Younger Dryas may be evident and other climatic oscillations are shown to have occurred not only during the Allerød but also in the Preboreal. The problem of the time discordance between isotopic change and pollen representation is addressed through explanations involving lags in plant colonization. A comparison of the δ¹⁸O records from 43 sites across Europe reveals two different regional patterns, which raises fundamental questions over the nature of Late-glacial palaeoclimates.     

红壤酸化过程中铁铝氧化物矿物形态变化及其环境意义

铁铝矿物对土壤中有机质的稳定保持具有十分重要的作用。酸化作用的研究表明,随着浸泡时间的增加,红壤中铁铝总量降低,铝溶蚀较严重;红壤中铁铝氧化物的矿物形态变化表现为:游离态晶质铁铝氧化物大量溶出,而无定形和络合态变化不大。酸性条件下有机质溶出显著,说明除了可能发生水解作用外,游离态铁铝的溶出也起着关键性作用。此外,SEM观察也表明酸化作用引起了土壤团聚体结构的破坏。     

A multiproxy record of late Holocene natural and anthropogenic environmental change from the Sphagnum peat bog Dürres Maar,Germany: implications for quantitative climate reconstructions based on pollen

Pollen data are well established for quantitative climate reconstructions over long timescales, including the Holocene and older interglacials. However, anthropogenically induced environmental change in central Europe was strong during the last 4 ka, challenging quantitative reconstructions of this time period. Here we present quantitative climate reconstructions based on pollen analyses and evaluate them with the peat humification record and the stable carbon isotopes of Sphagnum plant material (δ¹³C_cellulose). All analyses were carried out on the same 7.5 m long, largely ombrotrophic peat bog section from Dürres Maar. Three different methods were used for the quantitative climate reconstructions on the basis of the pollen data: (1) a probabilistic indicator taxa approach (the ‘pdf method’); (2) a modern analogue technique based on pollen taxa from modern surface samples (cMAT); and (3) a modern analogue technique expanded by plant functional types (pMAT). At Dürres Maar the peat humification is only affected by peat cutting during the Roman period and the Middle Ages. The stable carbon isotopes are seemingly unaffected by human impact. Thus both proxies provide independent data to evaluate the reconstructions on the basis of pollen data. The quantitative climate reconstructions on the basis of the individual methods are in general relatively similar. Nevertheless, distinct differences between the individual approaches are also apparent, which could be attributed to taxa that reflect human impact on a local to regional scale. While the pdf method appears to be relatively robust to all observed anthropogenically induced vegetation changes, it potentially underestimates climate variability. This method is therefore expected to be independent of local site characteristics and to provide robust quantitative estimates of climatic trends rather than of climatic variability of small amplitude. This is of value for palaeoclimate reconstructions of older interglacials, for which neither multiple sites nor independent climate proxies are available for comparison. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reconstructing the response of C3 and C4 plants to decadal-scale climate change during the late Pleistocene in southern Illinois using isotopic analyses of calcified rootlets

The δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values of well-preserved carbonate rhizoliths (CRs) provide detailed insights into changes in the abundance of C₃ and C₄ plants in response to approximately decadal-scale changes in growing-season climate. We performed stable isotope analyses on 35-40 CRs sampled at 1-cm intervals from an 18-cm-thick paleosol formed in southern Illinois during Wisconsin interstadial 2. Minimum δ¹³C values show little variation with depth, whereas maximum values vary dramatically, and average values show noticeable variability; maximum δ¹⁸O values vary less than the minimum δ¹⁸O values. These findings indicate that a diverse and stable C₃ flora with a limited number of C₄ grass species prevailed during this interval, and suggest that the maximum growing-season temperatures were relatively stable, but minimum growing-season temperatures varied considerably. Two general patterns characterize the relationships between the δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values obtained from the 1-cm samples. In some cases, low δ¹³C values correspond to low δ¹⁸O values and high δ¹³C values correspond to high δ¹⁸O values, suggesting that cooler growing-season temperatures favored C₃ and warmer growing-season temperatures favored C₄ plants. In other cases, low δ¹³C values correspond to high δ¹⁸O values, likely suggesting that wetter growing-season conditions were favorable to C₃ plants. The high density of well-preserved CRs in this paleosol provides a unique opportunity to study detailed ecological responses to high-resolution variability in growing-season climate.     

Turonian to Santonian carbon isotope data from the Tethys Himalaya, southern Tibet

New stable carbon and oxygen isotope data from an Upper Cretaceous section in Tibet are presented, and compared to carbon isotope records from England, Italy, and Germany. Together with a stratigraphic re-interpretation of published carbon isotope data from a nearby section in Tibet, our data can surprisingly well be correlated with the European sections. This indicates that, similar to the distinct positive carbon isotope excursion at the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary, also the broad positive carbon isotope shift in the middle-late Coniacian and early Santonian reflects a major perturbation of the carbon cycle on a global scale, even though organic-rich sediments related to the OAE3 appear to be mainly restricted to the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent basins. The data further show that, apart from the broad Coniacian-Santonian carbon isotope excursion, also isotopic shifts on a smaller scale in the Turonian and Coniacian, such as the Round Down, Pewsey, and Hitchwood Events, can be correlated over both hemispheres. This demonstrates that the development of global oceanic anoxic conditions and associated burial of large amounts of organic carbon do not constitute a prerequisite for globally reflected carbon isotopic shifts. The data from Tibet support the concept of a relation between main carbon isotope excursions and major sea-level variations. Cyclic fluctuations of geochemical and lithological parameters are likely to be orbitally driven. These cycles appear to be preferably reflected in the sediments during periods of lower or variable sea-level, whereas the ocean-atmosphere system seems to have operated in a different mode during long phases of high, stable sea-level, as during the Coniacian-Santonian OAE3.     

皋兰山红黏土-黄土记录的上新世-更新世转型期C3/C4植被演化

上新世-更新世转型是上新世温暖气候向更新世冰期-间冰期旋回过渡的重要时段,与此同时,青藏高原的强烈隆升也深刻改变了高原及周边地区的地貌格局和生态环境面貌.因此,开展青藏高原东北缘地区上新世-更新世转型期的古气候变化是理解地球各圈层相互作用的重要切入点.而兰州盆地地处中国三大自然区的衔接位置,对气候变化和构造活动响应较为...     

The Variation of Soil Organic Matter in a Forest-Cultivation Sequence Traced by Stable Carbon Isotopes

On the basis of different photosynthetic pathways.there is an obvious difference in δ^13C values between C3 and C4 plants,In terms of this characteristic,we analyzed the organic carbon content (forestlands:1.81%-16.00%;farmland:0.45%-2.22%) and δ^13C values(forestlands:-23.86‰--27.12‰;farmland:-19.66‰--23.26‰)of three profile-soil samples either in farmland or in forestland near the Maolan Karst virgin forest,where there were developed plant C3 plants previously and now are C4 plants.Results showed that the deforestation has accelerated the decomposition rate of soil organic matter and reduced the proportion of active components in soil organic matter and thus soil fertility.     

Molluscs as evidence for a late Pleistocene and early Holocene humid period in the southern coastal desert of Peru (14.5°S)

The southern Peruvian coastal desert around Palpa, southern Peru (14.5°S) is currently characterized by hyper-arid conditions. However, the presence of two species of molluscs (Scutalus, Pupoides) and desert-loess deposits indicates the past development of semi-desert and grassland ecosystems caused by a displacement of the eastern desert margin due to hydrological changes. Radiocarbon dating shows that the transition to a semi-arid climate in the southern Peruvian coastal desert took place during the Greenland interstadial 1, ∼ 13.5 cal ka BP. At the beginning of the Holocene, the mollusc fauna vanished due to increasing humidity and the development of grasslands. Dust particles were fixed by the grasses, as indicated by abundant Poaceae phytoliths, and desert loess was formed. The humid period we observe here is out of phase with the palaeoenvironmental records from the Titicaca region, which indicates dry conditions at that time. This paper offers a new idea for this contradiction: an orbitally driven meridional shift of the Bolivian high might have altered the moisture supply across the Andes.     

Phytolith evidence for C4-dominated grassland since the early Holocene at Long Pocket, northeast Queensland, Australia

Preliminary phytolith analysis of ephemeral lake fill sediment at Long Pocket, near Toomba, northeast Queensland, Australia, indicates that a C4-dominated grassland with a minor woody component has been present in the region since ca. 8000 cal yr B.P. Based on the modern distribution of C4 and C3 native grasses in Australia, this suggests that mean summer temperatures of at least 14°C (ca. 10°C cooler than present) were maintained since the early Holocene. This interpretation is comparable with previous studies, which together imply that the establishment of C4-dominated grasses in central and northeast Australia occurred between the last glacial maximum (most likely after ca. 16,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P.) and ca. 7200 ¹⁴C yr B.P. (ca. 8000 cal yr B.P.). Taxonomic composition of the grassland appears relatively consistent since the early Holocene at Long Pocket and includes phytoliths comparable with those from modern Arundinoideae, Panicoideae, and Chloridoideae. Rare non-grass phytoliths are also present. A gradual decrease in abundance of saddle phytolith forms (attributed to Chloridoideae grasses) from the base of the record at ca. 6500-7000 cal yr B.P. suggests decreasing aridity throughout the Holocene. This trend could reflect a locally drawn out effect of the end of the postglacial arid period due to the well-drained basalt flow catchment maintaining a local arid habitat for the Chloridoideae grasses.