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Evidence of long‐term seasonal climate forcing in rhizolith isotopes during the last glaciation
Author(s) -
Wang Hong,
Ambrose Stanley H.,
Fouke Bruce W.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2004gl020207
Subject(s) - glacial period , loess , carbonate , precipitation , forcing (mathematics) , paleoclimatology , paleosol , δ13c , isotopes of oxygen , stable isotope ratio , isotopes of carbon , geology , climatology , atmospheric sciences , climate change , ecology , chemistry , paleontology , oceanography , total organic carbon , biology , geochemistry , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , meteorology
High density carbonate rhizoliths were found from a loess‐paleosol succession from the late Wisconsin period (21–11 ka) in Illinois. Their morphology shows that they formed in a close contact with living and decomposing roots, suggesting a root/microbial respiration origin. Carbon (δ 13 C) and oxygen (δ 18 O) isotopic analyses were performed on 36 and 37 individual rhizoliths of two separate 10 cm intervals and 98 bulk rhizoliths of all 10 cm intervals. The results of the individual rhizolith δ 13 C and δ 18 O analyses suggest that the carbon source was largely derived from respiring C 3 , C 4 and microbial biomass, and that meteoric water was controlled mainly by warm‐season precipitation. The results of bulk rhizolith δ 13 C and δ 18 O analyses show that warm‐season proxies varied in phase with glacial fluctuations at submillennial scales, suggesting long‐term seasonal forcing may have played an important role on climate change during the late Wisconsin glaciation in North America.