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A new approach to detecting vegetation and land-use Change using high-resolution lipid biomarker records in stalagmites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alison J. Blyth ,
Asfawossen Asrat ,
Andy Baker ,
Pauline Gulliver ,
Melanie J. Leng  and
Dominique Genty
Alison J. Blyth*
Affiliation:
School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Drummond Building, University of Newcastle, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK
Asfawossen Asrat
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Andy Baker
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
Pauline Gulliver
Affiliation:
NERC Radiocarbon Laboratory, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF, UK
Melanie J. Leng
Affiliation:
NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
Dominique Genty
Affiliation:
LSCE, UMR CEA/CNRS 1572, L'Orme des Merisiers CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif/Yvette Cedex, France
*
*Corresponding author. Present address: The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3ER, UK. Fax: +44 1223 333536.E-mail address:ajb259@cam.ac.uk (A.J. Blyth).
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Abstract

A hundred-year stalagmite lipid biomarker record from Mechara, southeastern Ethiopia, is presented. The record has been recovered at a 10-yr temporal resolution, marking the first time this has been achieved in stalagmite biomarker work and providing the first opportunity to investigate the relationship between stalagmite lipid records and hydrological transport lags, a vital issue in interpreting palaeoenvironmental signals. Preserved plant-derived n-alkanes and n-alkanols show clear changes in composition over time, relating to known land-use changes in the area, particularly the expansion of agriculture in the early twentieth century. The level of environmental detail provided by this technique, combined with the long-term chronological framework offered by stalagmites, holds significant promise for the investigation of early human environments and their associated climatic and anthropogenic controls.

Keywords

StalagmiteVegetationLand useAgriculturen-AlkaneLipidBiomarker
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , November 2007 , pp. 314 - 324
Copyright
University of Washington

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