Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-tbj44 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T05:26:45.516Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Multiproxy Record of Late Pleistocene–Holocene Climate and Vegetation Changes from a Peat Bog in Patagonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Elise Pendall ,
Vera Markgraf ,
James W. C. White ,
Mark Dreier  and
Ray Kenny
Elise Pendall
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Campus Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450
Vera Markgraf
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Campus Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450
James W. C. White
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Campus Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450
Mark Dreier
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Campus Box 450, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450
Ray Kenny
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Highlands University, Las Vegas, New Mexico 87701
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pollen assemblage changes and stable hydrogen isotope analysis of mosses (Sphagnum magellanicum and Drepanocladus s.l.) from a bog in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, provided independent proxies for reconstructing changes in effective moisture and temperature over the past 16,000 cal yr B.P. A deterministic model was used to reconstruct the stable hydrogen isotope composition of meteoric water from the D/H ratios of bog mosses over the last 16,000 years. Abrupt changes in temperature, as recorded in D/H ratios of moss cellulose, were accompanied by synchronous changes in vegetation composition during the late Pleistocene and early and middle Holocene, when moisture levels were lower than today. In contrast, temperature variability during the late Holocene was not accompanied by comparable vegetation changes. In particular, grass pollen (Poaceae) increased during periodic cold spells between 15,000 and 11,000 cal yr B.P., but a cold spell of similar magnitude ca. 2000 cal yr B.P. did not appear to affect vegetation. During the late Pleistocene, the isotopic record from the peat core shows variations similar to the D/H ratios in the Antarctic Taylor Dome ice core. However, the timing of the changes in the Harberton record is more in line with the timing of other Southern Hemisphere records.

Keywords

paleoecologypaleoclimatepollenD/H ratiosstable isotopesPatagoniaSouth AmericaTierra del Fuego

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , March 2001 , pp. 168 - 178
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ball, J.T., Woodrow, I.E., Berry, J.A., (1987). A model predicting stomatal conductance and its contribution to the control of photosynthesis under different environmental conditions. Biggins, I. Progress in Photosynthetic Research. Proceedings of the VII International Photosynthesis Congress Nijhoff, Dordrecht.221–224.Google Scholar
Blunier, T., (1997). Timing of the Antarctic Cold Reversal and the atmospheric CO2 increase with respect to the Younger Dryas event. Geophysical Research Letters 24, 2683–2686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blunier, T., Chappellaz, J., Schwander, J., Dallenbach, A., Stauffer, B., Stocker, T.F., Raynaud, D., Jouzel, J., Clausen, H.B., Hammer, C.U., Johnsen, S.J., (1998). Asynchrony of Antarctic and Greenland climate change during the last glacial period. Nature 394, 739–743.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boelke, O., Moore, D.M., Roig, F.A., (1984). Transecta Botanica de la Patagonia Austral. Royal Society of England, London.Google Scholar
Brenninkmeijer, C.A.M., (1983). Deuterium, carbon-13, and oxygen-18 in tree rings and peat deposits in relation to climate. University of Groningen, .Google Scholar
Charles, C.D., Fairbanks, R.G., (1992). Evidence from Southern Ocean sediments for the effect of North Atlantic deep-water flux on climate. Nature 355, 416–419.Google Scholar
Cole, J.E., Rind, D., Webb, R.S., Jouzel, J., Healy, R., (1999). Climatic controls on interannual variability of precipitation δ18O: Simulated influence of temperature, precipitation amount, and vapor source region. Journal of Geophysical Research 104, 14,223–14,235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, M.L., Shepard, T.J., Durham, J.J., Rouse, J.E., Moore, G.R., (1982). Reduction of water with zinc for hydrogen isotope analysis. Analytical Chemistry 54, 993–995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coplen, T.B., (1994). Reporting of stable hydrogen, carbon and oxygen isotopic abundances. Pure and Applied Chemistry 66, 273–276.Google Scholar
Craig, H., Gordon, L., (1965). Deuterium and oxygen-18 variation in the ocean and the marine atmosphere. Proceedings, Conference on Stable Isotopes in Oceanography Studies and Paleotemperatures. Lischi & Figli, Pisa.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W., (1964). Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 16, 436–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dansgaard, W., White, J.W.C., Johnsen, S.J., (1989). The abrupt termination of the Younger Dryas climate event. Nature 339, 532–534.Google Scholar
Edwards, T.W.D., Fritz, P., (1986). Assessing meteoric water composition and relative humidity from 18O and 2H in wood cellulose: Paleoclimatic implications for southern Ontario, Canada. Applied Geochemistry 1, 715–723.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Figge, R., (1996). Reconstruction of a high resolution Holocene and late Pleistocene glacial record of atmospheric CO2 concentration from stable carbon isotopes in peat. University of Colorado, .Google Scholar
Figge, R.A., White, J.W.C., (1995). High-resolution Holocene and late glacial atmospheric CO2 record: Variability tied to changes in thermohaline circulation. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 9, 391–403.Google Scholar
Friedman, I, and O'Neil, J. R. (1977)., Chapter KK. Compilation of Stable Isotope Fractionation Factors of Geochemical Interest, U.S.G.S. Professional Paper 440-KK,. U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Gat, J., (1971). Comments on the stable isotope method in regional groundwater investigations. Water Resources Research 7, 980–993.Google Scholar
Gat, J.R., (1980). The isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen in precipitation. Fritz, P., Fontes, J. Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry Elsevier, Amsterdam.21–47.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1998). Deglacial paleoclimate of the American sector of the Southern Ocean: Late glacial–Holocene records from the latitude of Canal Beagle (55°S), Argentine Tierra del Fuego. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 141, 277–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J., Heusser, L.E., Lowell, T.V., Moreira, A.M., Moreira, S.M., (2000). Deglacial palaeoclimate at Puerto del Hambre. Journal of Quaternary Science 15, 101–114.Google Scholar
Huber, U.M., (1998). Linkages between Holocene climate, vegetation and fire regimes in Patagonia. American Quaternary Association, 15th Biennial Meeting. Program and Abstracts. p. 116.Google Scholar
Jouzel, J., Lorius, C., Petit, J.R., Genthon, C., Barkov, N.I., Kotlyakov, V.M., Petrov, V.M., (1987). Vostok ice core: A continuous isotope temperature record over the last climatic cycle (160,000 years). Nature 329, 403–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanfoush, S.L., Hodell, D.A., Charles, C.D., Guilderson, T.P., Mortyn, P.G., Ninneman, U.S., (2000). Millennial-scale instability of the Antarctic ice sheet during the last glaciation. Science 288, 1815–1818.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kenny, R., Markgraf, V., White, J.W.C., (1999). Palaeotemperature estimates for the last 14,000 (radiocarbon) years B.P. from D/H isotopes in peat in southern South America. Modern Geology 21, 365–378.Google Scholar
Leavitt, S.W., Long, A., (1989). Drought indicated in carbon-13/carbon-12 ratios of southwestern tree rings. Water Resources Bulletin 25, 341–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leuenberger, M., Siegenthaler, U., Langway, C.C., (1992). Carbon isotope composition of atmospheric CO2 during the last ice age from an Antarctic ice core. Nature 357, 488–490.Google Scholar
Markgraf, V., (1991). Younger Dryas in southern South America. Boreas 20, 63–69.Google Scholar
Markgraf, V., (1993). Paleoenvironments and paleoclimate in Tierra del Fuego and southernmost Patagonia, South America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 102, 53–68.Google Scholar
Markgraf, V., (1993). Younger Dryas in southermost South America—An update. Quaternary Science Reviews 12, 351–355.Google Scholar
Markgraf, V., Anderson, L., (1994). Fire history of Patagonia: Climate versus human cause. Revista do Instituto Geologico, Sao Paolo, Brazil 15, 35–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markgraf, V., Dodson, J.R., Kershaw, A.P., McGlone, M.S., Nicholls, N., (1992). Evolution of late Pleistocene and Holocene climates in the circum-South Pacific land areas. Climate Dynamics 6, 193–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markgraf, V., and Kenny, R. (1997). Character of rapid vegetation and climate change during the late glacial in southernmost South America . In Past and Future Rapid Enrivonmental Changes: The Spatial and Evolutionary Responses of Terrestrial BiotaB. Huntleyet al., Eds., pp. 81–90. Springer, Berlin.Google Scholar
Merlivat, L., (1978). Molecular diffusivities of H2 16O, HD16O, and H2 18O in gases. Journal of Chemical Physics 69, 2864–2871.Google Scholar
Pendall, E. (1997)., Precipitation Seasonality Recorded in D/H Ratios of Piñon Pine Cellulose in the Southwestern U.S . Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona.Google Scholar
Pendall, E., (2000). Influence of precipitation seasonality on piñon pine cellulose δD values. Global Change Biology 6, 287–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pendall, E., Betancourt, J.L., Leavitt, S.W., (1999). Paleoclimatic significance of δD and δ13C values in piñon pine needles from packrat middens spanning the last 40,000 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 147, 53–72.Google Scholar
Rozanski, K., Araguas-Araguas, L., Gonfiantini, R., (1993). Isotopic patterns in modern global precipitation. Swart, P.H., Lohmann, K.C., McKenzie, J., Savin, S. Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records American Geophysical Union, Washington.1–36.Google Scholar
Schweger, C.E., Janssens, J.A.P., (1980). Paleoecology of the Boutellier nonglacial interval, St. Elias Mountains, Yukon Territory, Canada. Arctic and Alpine Research 12, 309–317.Google Scholar
Steig, E.J., Brook, E.J., White, J.W.C., Sucher, C.M., Bender, M.L., Lehman, S.J., Morse, D.L., Waddington, E.D., Clow, G.D., (1998). Synchronous climate changes in Antarctica and the North Atlantic. Science 282, 92–95.Google Scholar
Sternberg, L.d.L., (1989). Oxygen and hydrogen isotope measurements in plant cellulose analysis. Linskins, H.F., Jackson, J.F. Modern Methods of Plant Analysis Springer-Verlag, Berlin.89–99.Google Scholar
Stine, S., Stine, M., (1990). A record from Lake Cardiel of climate change in southern South America. Nature 345, 705–708.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., (1993). Radiocarbon calibration program Rev. 3.0.3. Radiocarbon 35, 215–230.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., v.d. Plicht, J., Spurk, M., (1998). INTCAL 98 radiocarbon age calibration 24,000–0 cal B.P. Radiocarbon 40, 1041–1083.Google Scholar
Tuhkanen, S., Kuokka, I., Hyvonen, J., Stenroos, S., Niemela, J., (1990). Tierra del Fuego as a target for biogeographical research in the past and present. Anales Instituto de la Patagonia 19, 5–107.Google Scholar
White, J.W.C., Ciais, P., Figge, R.A., Kenny, R., Markgraf, V., (1994). A high resolution record of atmospheric CO2 content from carbon isotopes in peat. Nature 367, 153–156.Google Scholar
White, J.W.C., Lawrence, J.R., Broecker, W.S., (1994). Modeling and interpreting D/H ratios in tree rings: A test case of white pine in the northeastern United States. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 58, 851–862.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, T. G., and Flanagan, L. B. (1996). Effect of changes in water content on photosynthesis, transpiration, and discrimination against 13CO2 and C18O16O in Pleurozium and Sphagnum . Oecologia 108, 38–46.Google ScholarPubMed
Wise, L.E., (1994). Wood Chemistry. Reinhold, New York.Google Scholar
Yapp, C.J., Epstein, S., (1982). Climatic significance of the hydrogen isotope ratios in tree cellulose. Nature 297, 636–639.CrossRefGoogle Scholar