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Late Miocene changes in C3, C4 and aquatic plant vegetation in the Indus River basin: evidence from leaf wax δ13C from Indus Fan sediments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 October 2019

Kenta Suzuki ,
Masanobu Yamamoto Open the ORCID record for Masanobu Yamamoto [Opens in a new window]  and
Osamu Seki
Kenta Suzuki
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Kita-10, Nishi-5, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
Masanobu Yamamoto*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Kita-10, Nishi-5, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Kita-10, Nishi-5, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
Osamu Seki
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Kita-10, Nishi-5, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Kita-19, Nishi-8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan
*
Author for correspondence: Masanobu Yamamoto, Email: myama@ees.hokudai.ac.jp
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Abstract

Vegetation changes in the Indus River basin within the past 10.8 million years were investigated based on the analysis of n-fatty acids and their carbon isotopes in sediments from IODP Site U1457 in the Laxmi Basin of the Arabian Sea. The δ13C of long-chain n-C32 fatty acid shifted from −34 to −22 ‰ from 10 to 6.3 Ma, while the δ13C of mid-chain n-C24 fatty acid was nearly constant at around −23 to −22 ‰ over the same period. This large difference in the δ13C values suggests that the mid-chain fatty acids reflect the contribution of aquatic vascular C3 plants. Before 6.3 Ma, the average chain length of n-fatty acids and the δ13C values of long-chain fatty acids were negatively correlated, suggesting that the δ13C values reflected the relative abundance of terrestrial C3 versus aquatic C3 plants in the Indus River basin and western India. After 5.8 Ma, the average chain length was variable, but the δ13C values remained nearly the same, suggesting that the δ13C values reflected heavier δ13C values of both aquatic C3 and C4 plants. A three-end-member model calculation suggests that terrestrial C3 plants were replaced by C4 plants in the Indus River basin and western India from 9.7 or 8.2 to 6.3 Ma. Aridification in those areas during the late Miocene period may have driven the replacement of terrestrial C3 plants by C4 plants. An episodic increase in the abundance of terrestrial plants around 8 Ma is attributed to elevated precipitation by regionally enhanced moisture transport.

Keywords

C4 plantleaf wax δ13Clate MioceneIndus RiverIndus FanIODP Site U1457
Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 157 , Special Issue 6: Climate-tectonic interactions in the eastern Arabian Sea , June 2020 , pp. 979 - 988
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

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