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Paleoclimatic reconstruction using the correlation in δ 18 O of hackberry carbonate and environmental water, North America

A. Hope Jahren·Ronald Amundson·Carol Kendall·Peter Wigand
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Abstract

Celtis sp. (commonly known as &ldquo;hackberry&rdquo;) fruits were collected from 101 North American sites located in 13 states and one Canadian province between the years of 1979&ndash;1994. The biomineralized carbonate endocarp of the hackberry, which is a common botanical fossil found throughout the Quaternary sediments of the Great Plains, was analyzed for its &delta; 18 O value and plotted against the &delta; 18 O value of site environmental water to demonstrate the potential of the hackberry as a paleoclimate indicator. This correlation was reinforced by intensive studies on extracted tissue-water &delta; 18 O value and hackberry endocarp carbonate &delta; 18 O value from three trees in Sterling, Colorado. The observed correlation in the large data set between hackberry endocarp carbonate &delta; 18 O value and environmental water is [endocarp &delta; 18 O=38.56+0.69&times;environmental water &delta; 18 O] ( R =0.88; R 2 =0.78; p value<0.0001). The relation of the hackberry carbonate to temperature in the Great Plains was the following: (average daily-maximum growing season temperature [&deg;C])=6.33+0.67 (&delta; 18 O of endocarp carbonate) ( R =0.73; R 2 =0.54; p value=0.0133). The &delta; 18 O value of early Holocene fossil hackberry carbonate in the Pintwater Cave, southern Nevada, suggested precipitation &delta; 18 O values more positive than today (&sim;&minus;4&permil; early Holocene vs &sim;&minus;9 to &minus;10&permil; today). This shift, combined with paleobotanical data, suggests an influx of summer monsoonal moisture to this region in the early Holocene. Alternatively, the more positive &delta; 18 O values could be viewed as suggestive of warmer temperatures, although the direct use of Great Plains hackberry/temperature relationships to the Great Basin is of debatable value.

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A. Hope Jahren, Ronald Amundson, Carol Kendall, Peter Wigand. 2017-01-20. Paleoclimatic reconstruction using the correlation in δ 18 O of hackberry carbonate and environmental water, North America. https://doi.org/10.1006/qres.2001.2259

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