The variations of stable carbon isotope ratio of land plant-derived n-alkanes in deep-sea sediments from the Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean during the last 250,000 years

• Published in: Chemical Geology
• Main Authors: Ratnayake, Nalin Prasanna, Suzuki, Noriyuki, Okada, Makoto, Takagi, Miyuki
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier
• Subjects: Bering Sea; Pacific Ocean; n-alkanes; stable carbon isotope; deep-sea sediments; higher plants; average chain length; 452; Pacific
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2115/13695; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2005.10.005

Two piston cores, one located far from the continents (The North Pacific Ocean: ES core), and another located comparatively closer to the continents (The Bering Sea: BOW-8a core) were investigated to reconstruct environmental changes on source land areas. The results show significant contribution of terrestrial organic matter to sediments in both cores. The δ13C values of n-C27, n-C29, and n-C31 alkanes in sediments from the North Pacific ES core show significant glacial to interglacial variation whereas those from the Bering Sea core do not. Variations of δ13C values of land plant n-alkanes are related to the environmental or vegetational changes in the source land areas. Environmental changes, especially, aridity, rainfall, and pCO2 during glacial/interglacial transitional periods can affect vegetation, and therefore C3 / C4 plant ratios, resulting in δ13C changes in the preserved land plant biomarkers. Maximum values of δ13C as well as maximum average chain length values of long chain n-alkanes in the ES core occur mostly at the interglacial to glacial transition zones reflecting a time lag related to incorporation of living organic matter into soil and transportation into ocean basins via wind and/or ability of C4 plants to adapt for a longer period before being replaced by C3 plants when subjected to gradual climatic changes. Irregular variations with no clear glacial to interglacial trends in the BOW-8a core may result from complex mixture of aerosols from westerly winds and riverine organic matter from the Bering Sea catchments. In addition, terrestrial organic matter entering the Bering Sea could originate from multiple pathways including eolian, riverine, and ice rafted debris, and possibly be disturbed by turbidity and other local currents which can induce re-suspension and re-sedimentation causing an obliterated time relation in the Bering Sea biomarker records.