Journal article
Carbon isotope systematics of leaf wax n-alkanes in a temperate lacustrine depositional environment
Jake W Andrae, Francesca A McInerney, JM Kale Sniderman
ORGANIC GEOCHEMISTRY | PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD | Published : 2020
Abstract
The carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) of plant-derived organic carbon preserved in geological archives can be a valuable proxy for the relative abundance of terrestrial plants using C3 and C4 photosynthesis. In certain sedimentary archives, however, mixing of terrestrial C3- and aquatic macrophyte-sourced carbon will result in sedimentary organic matter (OM) δ13C signatures that could be misinterpreted as shifts in the abundance of C3 and C4 vegetation. There is potential for this problem to be mitigated using leaf wax n-alkane compound-specific δ13C measurements because n-alkane production differs between terrestrial vegetation and aquatic macrophytes. This approach requires an increased understa..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council Future Fellowship
Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Bernhard Aichner, an anonymous reviewer and the editors for their insightful and constructive feedback. We thank Peter Kershaw and Barbara Wagstaff for access to the cores and supporting information. Thank you to Andrew L. Masterson (Northwestern University) for leaf wax n-alkane compound-specific carbon isotope analysis. Funding for this research was provided by a Royal Society of South Australia Small Research Grant awarded to J.W.A., F.A.M. and J.M.K.S., an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT110100100793) awarded to F.A.M., and Australian Government Research Training Program and University of Adelaide Faculty of Sciences Divisional scholarships awarded to J.W.A. This research was facilitated by Australian Research Council grant FL160100028 awarded to Jon Woodhead, University of Melbourne. All data required to understand and assess the conclusions of this study are available in the main text and Supplementary Datasets S1 and S2.