Oxygen isotope compositions of phosphate from arvicoline teeth and Quaternary climatic changes, Gigny, French Jura

• Published in: Quaternary Research
• Main Authors: Navarro, Nicolas, Lécuyer, Christophe, Montuire, Sophie, Langlois, Cyril, Martineau, François
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2004
• Subjects: Greenland; Jura; Greenland ice core; ice core
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2004.06.001; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589404000717?httpAccept=text/xml; http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0033589404000717?httpAccept=text/plain; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S003358940002679X

Oxygen isotope compositions of biogenic phosphates from mammals are widely used as proxies of the isotopic compositions of meteoric waters that are roughly linearly related to the air temperature at high- and mid-latitudes. An oxygen isotope fractionation equation was determined by using present-day European arvicoline (rodents) tooth phosphate: δ 18 O p = 20.98(±0.59) + 0.572(±0.065) δ 18 O w . This fractionation equation was applied to the Late Pleistocene karstic sequence of Gigny, French Jura. Comparison between the oxygen isotope compositions of arvicoline tooth phosphate and Greenland ice core records suggests to reconsider the previously established hypothetical chronology of the sequence. According to the δ 18 O value of meteoric water–mean air temperature relationships, the δ 18 O value of arvicoline teeth records variations in mean air temperatures that range from 0° to 15°C.