PEDOGENIC CARBONATE δ13C AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRECIPITATION CONDITIONS

Authors

  • Marcella Catoni DIVAPRA – Chimica Agraria e Pedologia, Università di Torino, Torino
  • H Curtis MONGER MONGER Department of Plant and Environmental Science, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces
  • Eleonora Bonifacio DIVAPRA – Chimica Agraria e Pedologia, Università di Torino, Torino

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2281-4485/3830

Keywords:

stable C isotopes, C3-C4 vegetation, paleoenvironment

Abstract

Carbon isotopic analysis is a useful tool for investigating paleoenvironments, as the pedogenic carbonate δ13C is related to δ13CSOM and to the proportions of C3/C4 plants. In this work we interpreted the paleoenvironmental conditions at the time of carbonate precipitation in soils formed under different climates and during different geological ages. Samples were taken from a Bk (PR1, Holocene) and from two Bkm horizons (PR2 and PR3, Pleistocene). When the mean δ13C plant values and the most plausible paleotemperatures were used in the evaluation, PR1 showed a lower percentage of C4 plants (48%) than Pleistocene soils (~53%), in agreement with paleoclimate changes. When instead the δ13C values of current plants were used for PR1, C4 plants ranged from 59 (12°C) to 66% (18°C), suggesting two possible interpretations: either plant species changed during the Holocene, or the plant mean values normally used in the literature are not suitable for Pleistocene reconstructions

References

ANTEVS E. (1955) Geologic-climatic dating in the West. American Antiquity 20:317-335

BREECKER D.O., SHARP Z.D., MCFADDEN L.D. (2009) Seasonal bias in the formation and stable isotopic composition of pedogenic carbonate in modern soils from central New Mexico, USA. Geological Society of America Bulletin 121:630-640.

BUCK B. J., MONGER H.C. (1999) Stable isotopes and soil-geomorphology as indicators of Holocene climate change, northern Chihuahuan Desert. J. of Arid Envir. 43:357–373.

CERLING T.E., QUADE J., WANG Y., BOWMAN J.R. (1989) Carbon isotopes in soil and paleosols as ecology and paleoecology indicators. Nature 341:138-139.

CERLING T.E., QUADE J. (1993) Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in soil carbonates. Geophysical Monographs 78:217-231

CERLING T.E. (1999) Paleorecords of C4 plants and ecosystems. In: Sage R.F., Monson R.K., editors. C4 plant biology. Academic Press, San Diego, California, USA, pp. 445-469.

CRAIG H. (1957). Isotopic standards for carbon and oxygen and correction factors for mass spectrometric analysis of carbon dioxide. Geochim. et Cosmoch. Acta 12:133-149.

DEINES P., LANGMUIR D., HARMON R.S. (1974) Stable carbon isotope ratios and the existence of a gas phase in the evolution of groundwater. Geochim. et Cosmoch. Acta 38:1147-1164.

DEUTZ P., MONTAÑEZ I.P., MONGER H.C. (2002) Morphology and stable and radiogenic isotope composition of pedogenic carbonates in late Quaternary relict soils, New Mexico, U.S.A.: an integrated record of pedogenic overprinting. Journal of Sedimentary Research 72:809–822.

GILE L.H., PETERSON F.F., GROSSMAN R.B. (1966) Morphological and genetic sequences of carbonate accumulation in desert soils. Soil Science 101:347-360.

GILE L.H., GROSSMAN R.B. (1979) The desert project soil monograph. Soil Conservation Service, US Dept of Agriculture. Govern. Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

HAWLEY J.W. (2005) Five million years of landscape evolution in New Mexico: An overview based on two centuries of geomorphic conceptual-model development. In: Lucas S.G., Morgan G.S., Zeigler K.E., editors. New Mexico’s ice ages. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin Number 28, Albuquerque, pp. 9–94.

KRAIMER R.A., MONGER H.C. (2009) Carbon isotopic subsets of soil carbonate–A particle size comparison of limestone and igneous parent materials. Geoderma 150:1-9.

MONGER H.C., COLE D.R., GISH J.W., GIORDANO T.H. (1998) Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in Quaternary soil carbonates as indicators of ecogeomorphic changes in the northern Chihuahuan Desert, USA. Geoderma 82:137–172.

MONGER H.C., COLE D.R., BUCK B.J., GALLEGOS R.A. (2009) Scale and the isotopic record of C4 plants in pedogenic carbonate: from the biome to the rhizosphere. Ecology 90:1498-1511.

MORGUN E.G., KOVDA I.V., RYSKOV YA.G., OLEINIK S.A. (2008) Prospects and problems of using the methods of geochemistry of stable isotopes in soil studies. Eurasian Soil Science 41:265-275.

NELLESSEN J.E. (2004) Larrea Tridentata. In: Frances J.K., editor. Wildland shrubs of the United States and its territories: thamnic description. General Technical Report 11TF-GTR-26. USDA Forest Service, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA.

NORDT L.C., HALLMARK C.T., WILDING L.P, BOUTTON, T.W. (1998) Quantifying pedogenic carbonate accumulations using stable carbon isotopes. Geoderma 82: 115-136.

PHILLIPS F.M., PETERS L.A., TANSEY M-K., DAVIS S.N. (1986) Paleoclimatic interferences from an isotopic investigation of groundwater in the central San Juan Basin, New Mexico. Quaternary Research 26:179-193.

RAO Z., ZHU Z., ZHANG J. (2007) Different climatic controls of soil δ13Corg in three mid-latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere since the Last Glacial period. Chinese Science Bulletin 52:259-266.

SCHAETZL R., ANDERSON S. (2005) Soil Genesis and Geomorfphology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

SCHULZE E.-D., ELLIS R., SCHULZE W., TRIMBORN P. (1996) Diversity, metabolic types and δ13C carbon isotope ratios in the grass flora of Namibia in relation to growth form, precipitation and habitat conditions. Oecologia 106:352-369.

SMITH F.A., BETANCOURT J.L. (2003) The effect of Holocene temperature fluctuations on the evolution and ecology of Neotoma (woodrats) in Idaho and northwestern Utah. Quaternary Research 59:160-171.

SOIL SURVEY STAFF (2010) Keys to Soil Taxonomy, 11th ed. USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Washington, DC.

WHITFORD W.G. (2002) Ecology of the desert systems. Academic Press, San Diego, California, USA.

Downloads

Published

2011-12-24

How to Cite

Catoni, M., MONGER, H. C. M., & Bonifacio, E. (2011). PEDOGENIC CARBONATE δ13C AND ENVIRONMENTAL PRECIPITATION CONDITIONS. EQA - International Journal of Environmental Quality, 7(7), 17–24. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2281-4485/3830

Issue

Section

Articles