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Late Quaternary carbon cycling responses to environmental change revealed by multi-proxy analyses of a sediment core from an upland lake in southwest China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Enlou Zhang ,
Weiwei Sun ,
Ming Ji ,
Cheng Zhao ,
Bin Xue  and
Ji Shen
Enlou Zhang*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Weiwei Sun
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Ming Ji
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Cheng Zhao
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Bin Xue
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Ji Shen
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
*
*Corresponding author.Email Address: elzhang@niglas.ac.cn
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Abstract

Stable carbon isotope (δ13C) values of organic matter in lacustrine sediments are commonly used to trace past changes in terrestrial and aquatic carbon cycles. Here we use a high-resolution, well-dated δ13C record from Lake Tengchongqinghai (TCQH) in southwestern China, together with other proxy indices, to reconstruct the paleolimnological history over the past 18.5 ka. Organic matter in the sediments of Lake TCQH is derived predominately from aquatic macrophytes. The lacustrine primary productivity is closely linked with lake-level changes affected by variations in the strength of the Asian summer monsoon and modified by evapotranspiration. Similar to lake sediments world-wide, a ca. − 3‰ shift occurred in the δ13C values of Lake TCQH in response to the significant increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration during the last deglaciation. In the Holocene, the availability of dissolved CO2 in the lake water of Lake TCQH was determined by variations in hydraulic energy: low water turbulence creates a thick, stagnant boundary layer around aquatic plants, which will restrict the rate of CO2 diffusion and result in more positive δ13C values of aquatic plants. In contrast, significant water turbulence dramatically reduces the boundary layer thickness leading to more negative δ13C values of aquatic plants.

Keywords

Carbon isotopesCarbon cyclingAsian summer monsoonLast glacial maximumLake
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 84 , Issue 3 , November 2015 , pp. 415 - 422
Copyright
University of Washington

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