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Stable carbon isotopes (δ13C) of total organic carbon and long-chain n-alkanes as proxies for climate and environmental change in a sediment core from Lake Petén-Itzá, Guatemala

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Abstract

Sediment core PI-6 from Lake Petén Itzá, Guatemala, possesses an ~85-ka record of climate and environmental change from lowland Central America. Variations in sediment lithology suggest large and abrupt changes in precipitation during the last glacial and deglacial periods, and into the early Holocene. We measured stable carbon isotope ratios of total organic carbon and long-chain n-alkanes from the core, the latter representing a largely allochthonous (terrestrial) source of organic matter, to reveal past shifts in the relative proportion of C3–C4 terrestrial biomass. We sought to test whether stable carbon isotope results were consistent with other paleoclimate proxies measured in the PI-6 core, and if extraction and isotope analysis of n-alkanes is warranted. The largest δ13C variations are associated with Heinrich Events. Carbon isotope values in sediments deposited during the last glacial maximum indicate moderate precipitation with little fluctuation. The deglacial was a period of pronounced climate variability, e.g. a relatively warm and moist Bølling–Allerød, but a cool and dry Younger Dryas. Arid periods of the deglacial were inferred from samples with high δ13C values in total organic carbon, which reflect times of greater proportions of C4 plants. These inferences are supported by stable isotope measurements on ostracod shells and relative abundance of grass pollen from the same depths in core PI-6. Similar trends in carbon stable isotopes measured on bulk organic carbon and n-alkanes suggest that carbon isotope measures on bulk organic carbon in sediments from this lake are sufficient to infer past climate-driven shifts in local vegetation.

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Fig. 1

[modified from Hodell et al. (2008)]

Fig. 2
Fig. 3

[modified from Mueller et al. (2010)]. Depths sampled for carbon isotope analysis are shown as dots on the lithology column. Additional data columns include δ13C of bulk organic carbon and C29, C31, and C33 n-alkanes. Next are plots of the relative abundance (%) of Poaceae (grass) pollen, percent organic carbon (%TOC), percent total nitrogen (%TN), and atomic C/N. An age scale is provided on the right side of the plot, based on AMS radiocarbon dates on terrestrial organic matter and a basal age on volcanic ash

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Acknowledgements

We thank the following institutions and individuals in Guatemala who provided assistance to this project: Universidad del Valle, Universidad San Carlos, Ministerio de Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, Consejo Nacional de Areas Protegidas, Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Autoridad Para el Manejo y Desarrollo Sostenible de la Cuenca del Lago Petén-Itzá, Wildlife Conservation Society, Alex Arrivillaga, Cathy Lopez, Margaret Dix, Michael Dix, Margarita Palmieri, David, Rosita, and Kelsey Kuhn, and the staff at La Casa de Don David, Lico Godoy, Tony Ortiz, Franz Sperisen, Luis Toruño, Julian Tesucún, Liseth Perez, Melisa Orozco, Silja Ramirez, Gabriela Alfaro, and Jacobo Blijdenstein. We are grateful to our collaborators from Geoforschungszentrum (Potsdam), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Zurich), Université de Genève, and the personnel from DOSECC (Drilling, Observation and Sampling of the Earth’s Continental Crust). Many thanks to Anders Noren, Kristina Brady and Amy Myrbo (LacCore) for assistance with field sampling, core curation and sample preparation. We thank three anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on the original manuscript. This project was funded by grants from the US National Science Foundation (ATM-0502030 and ATM-0502126), the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and the Swiss National Science Foundation. Radiocarbon dating was done at the US DOE Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

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  1. Jennifer L. Mays

    Present address: Geophysical Laboratory, Deep Carbon Observatory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5251 Broad Branch Road, NW, Washington, DC, 20015, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611-2120, USA

    Jennifer L. Mays, Andrea L. Dutton & Andrew R. Zimmerman

  2. Department of Geological Sciences and Land Use, Environmental Change Institute (LUECI), University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611-2120, USA

    Mark Brenner, Jason H. Curtis & Jaime Escobar

  3. Department of Soil and Water Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611-0290, USA

    Kathryn V. Curtis

  4. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 3EQ, UK

    David A. Hodell

  5. Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Ciudad Universitaria, 04510, Mexico, DF, Mexico

    Alex Correa-Metrio

  6. Universidad del Norte, Km 5 Vía Puerto Colombia, Barranquilla, Colombia

    Jaime Escobar

  7. Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA

    Thomas P. Guilderson

  8. Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA

    Thomas P. Guilderson

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Correspondence to Jason H. Curtis.

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Mays, J.L., Brenner, M., Curtis, J.H. et al. Stable carbon isotopes (δ13C) of total organic carbon and long-chain n-alkanes as proxies for climate and environmental change in a sediment core from Lake Petén-Itzá, Guatemala. J Paleolimnol 57, 307–319 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-017-9949-z

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