Journal
ORGANIC GEOCHEMISTRY
Volume 66, Issue -, Pages 48-59Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2013.10.015
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Funding
- U.S National Science Foundation [EAR-1002656]
- University of Southern California
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory [LDRD-09ERI003]
- Directorate For Geosciences [1002656] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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The hydrogenisotopic composition of plant molecular markers in modern vegetation and marine sediments in southern California have been intensively studied. Here we report a late Holocene reconstruction from Zaca Lake in coastal southern California, together with modern hydrological and vegetation studies in the catchment. The small catchment and decadal sampling resolution throughout the 9 m, 3000 yr sedimentary record provided a high resolution terrigenous counterpart of nearby marine records from the Santa Barbara Basin. Today, delta D values of precipitation average -51.5 parts per thousand +/- 18 (1 sigma, n = 7). Modern plant leaf wax delta D values for the C-28 n-alkanoic acid averaged -141 parts per thousand +/- 11(1 sigma, n = 10) for Quercus agrifolia, with a calculated fractionation relative to precipitation (epsilon(wax/precip)) of -94 parts per thousand +/- 22(1 sigma, n = 10); in contrast, therewas negligible production of the C-28 acid by co-dominant Pinus coulteri. Downcore, the C-28 acid delta D values ranged between -101 parts per thousand and -177 parts per thousand (mean -150 parts per thousand +/- 8, 1 sigma, n = 490). Abundance distributions suggested that the sedimentary C-28 acid was dominated by Quercus, implying that paleoprecipitation varied between extremes of -8 parts per thousand and -92 parts per thousand (mean -63 parts per thousand +/- 14, compound 1 sigma, n = 490). The 3000 yr leaf wax D/H record from Zaca Lake revealed substantial temporal variability, greater than observed in a speleothem reconstruction of similar resolution. We suggest that the plant-based proxy may magnify the variability by sampling spring precipitation preferentially. Centennial-duration positive isotopic excursions were associated with more sub-tropical moisture sources and drier conditions including during the Medieval Climatic Anomaly, and negative excursions were associated with N Pacific sources and wetter conditions including during the Little Ice Age. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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