We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Environmental evolution recorded by lipid biomarkers from the Tawan loess-paleosol sequences on the west Chinese Loess Plateau during the late Pleistocene.
- Authors
Zeng, Fangming; Xiang, Shuyuan; Zhang, Kexin; Lu, Yulin
- Abstract
This study provides a reconstruction of the environmental evolution since 128 ka recorded by the lipid biomarkers of the C-C n-alkanes, the C-C n-alkan-2-ones and the C-C n-alkanols isolated from the Tawan loess section, Northwest China. Variations in paleoenvironment are reconstructed from the values of the carbon preference index (CPI), the average chain length (ACL), the L/ H (ratio of lower-molecular-weight to higher-molecular-weight homologues), the n-alkane C/C ratios, and the n-alkan-2-one C/C ratio. These parameters indicate the dominance of grasses over the west Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) during the late Pleistocene. Lower values of the CPI and the ACL values, respectively, indicate stronger microbial reworking of organic matter and changes in plant species, which are both indicative of a warmer-wetter environment. Furthermore, the fluctuations of environment recorded in the Tawan section exhibit ten phases that show obvious cycles between warm periods and cold intervals. This study reveals that changes in the biomarker proxies agree well with changes in the magnetic susceptibility and grain size, and it indicates a huge potential for paleoenvironmental reconstructions by using the n-alkan-2-one and n-alkanol proxies.
- Subjects
CHINA; ECOLOGY; LIPIDS; LOESS; BIOMARKERS; PALEOPEDOLOGY; COLUMBIA Aquifer
- Publication
Environmental Earth Sciences, 2011, Vol 64, Issue 7, p1951
- ISSN
1866-6280
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s12665-011-1012-1