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Stable Carbon Isotopic Composition of Black Carbon in Surface Soil as a Proxy for Reconstructing Vegetation on the Northern Slope of the Qinling Mountains
Author(s) -
Lian LIU,
Min HUANG,
Zhiqiang LIU
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
acta geologica sinica ‐ english edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1755-6724
pISSN - 1000-9515
DOI - 10.1111/1755-6724.12653
Subject(s) - isotopes of carbon , soil carbon , vegetation (pathology) , physical geography , proxy (statistics) , environmental science , geology , total organic carbon , δ13c , stable isotope ratio , soil water , soil science , geography , environmental chemistry , chemistry , medicine , pathology , machine learning , computer science , physics , quantum mechanics
Because of the unique geographical location and important ecological effect of the Qinling Mountains, reconstruction of its vegetation and climate needs comprehensive research. We need to consider a multiple‐proxy approach to gain more information on recovering the paleovegetation and climate in the Qinling Mountains. Black carbon (BC) is produced by the incomplete combustion of vegetation and fossil fuels, and is a good proxy, recording paleoenvironmental information. However, in the Qinling Mountains, what are the characteristics of the BC, and whether BC stable carbon isotope ( δ 13 C BC ) can be used as a new proxy to study ancient vegetation, still need further study. In order to establish a sound basis for studying paleoenvironmental by BC proxy in the Qinling Mountains, we carried out systematic and detailed study on modern process of BC on the northern slope of the mountains. We analyzed stable carbon isotopes and carbon concentration of organic carbon (%SOC, δ 13 C SOC ) and BC (%BC, δ 13 C BC ), and identified the pollen assemblages from systematically sampled surface soil. The results show that the calculated ratio of C 4 plants in the vegetation (%C 4 ) based on the δ 13 C SOC data reflects a similar distribution of C 4 plants in the surface vegetation and the pollen assemblage. The δ 13 C bc values have a strong positive correlation with δ 13 C soc values, and their difference (Δ 13 C SOc‐bc ) is in the low range. These data indicate that δ 13 C bc and δ 13 C soc have very similar characteristics. Surface soil δ 13 C bc values can indicate surface vegetation as effectively as δ 13 C SOC values, and the δ 13 C bc proxy can be used effectively in paleovegetational research in the northern slope of Qinling Mountains.