Major factors controlling Holocene δ 13 C org changes in a seasonal sea-ice environment, Adélie Land, East Antarctica

International audience In an effort to investigate the controlling factors behind Holocene d 13 C org changes in East Antarctica we report high-resolution down-core records of bulk organic matter carbon isotopic ratios (d 13 C org), diatom census counts, total organic carbon, and biogenic silica con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global Biogeochemical Cycles
Main Authors: Crosta, X., Crespin, J., Billy, I., Ther, O.
Other Authors: Environnements et Paléoenvironnements OCéaniques (EPOC), Observatoire aquitain des sciences de l'univers (OASU), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre Européen de Recherche et d'Enseignement des Géosciences de l'Environnement (CEREGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hal.science/hal-02105693
https://hal.science/hal-02105693/document
https://hal.science/hal-02105693/file/Crosta_GBC2005b.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GB002426
Description
Summary:International audience In an effort to investigate the controlling factors behind Holocene d 13 C org changes in East Antarctica we report high-resolution down-core records of bulk organic matter carbon isotopic ratios (d 13 C org), diatom census counts, total organic carbon, and biogenic silica content taken from one core recovered in the Adélie Trough. A good correspondence between the d 13 C org record and records of small/large and pennate/centric ratios in many of the core segments indicates that diatom species composition affected Holocene d 13 C org variations, possibly via diatom shape and size effects. Variations in the surface water CO 2 concentration and in the isotopic composition of the source during the Holocene cannot be ruled out although they cannot explain rapid and large-amplitude d 13 C org changes. Within the limit of our investigation, our results argue against active carbon acquisition through a carbon concentration mechanism as evidenced in low-latitude upwelling systems. The bulk organic matter thus represents a mixing of diatom taxa having different fractionation affinity to aqueous CO 2. Our results confirm previous evidence which demonstrates that d 13 C org down-core records should be used with great caution to reconstruct past CO 2 content in surface waters.