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Stable carbon isotope variations in northwest Europe during the last glacial–interglacial transition
Author(s) -
Turney Chris S. M.,
Beerling David J.,
Harkness Douglas D.,
Lowe J. John,
Scott E. Marian
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1417(199707/08)12:4<339::aid-jqs317>3.0.co;2-4
Subject(s) - macrofossil , interglacial , glacial period , geology , isotopes of carbon , ice core , δ13c , δ18o , stable isotope ratio , climatology , physical geography , holocene , oceanography , paleontology , total organic carbon , chemistry , geography , physics , quantum mechanics , environmental chemistry
Stable carbon isotope data that span part of the last glacial–interglacial transition (ca. 14‐9 ka 14 C BP; ca. 15–11 ka cal. BP), and which derive from organ‐specific plant macrofossils recovered from two lake sediment profiles in the UK and one in Norway, are compared. The recorded temporal variations show similar trends, which, over a millennial time‐scale appear to parallel the main drift in δ 18 O as determined for the GRIP ice‐core. It is postulated that some smaller scale variations in the δ 13 C profiles may reflect the shorter term oscillations in δ 18 O values evident in the GRIP record, although this is less certain. Overall, however, the results suggest that stable carbon isotope measurements based on organ‐specific terrestrial plant macrofossils may provide (i) a means for establishing correlations between terrestrial successions and (ii) additional paleoenvironmental information, as the apparent ‘shadowing’ of the GRIP record indicates a common forcing mechanism for both Greenland δ 18 O and northwest European δ 13 C variations. From the evidence available we suggest that the recorded δ 13 C variations reflect fluctuations in air temperature and/or changes in water vapour pressure in the atmosphere. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.