Abstract
A series of biomarkers were analyzed in the 4000 a B.P. loess sediments in Balong, Dulan County at the north of the eastern Kunlun Mountain in Northwest China using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Olean-2,13 (18)-ene, olean-2,12-ene, urs-2,12-ene and 5α14α17 α20R-stigmasterane identified in an ancient culture bed were observed in association with charcoal grains, believed to be the products of paleofire due to the anthropogenic activity in Qijia culture. These triterpenes were proposed to be derived from dehydration of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid present in angiosperms, and 5α14α17α20R-stigmasterane was derived from stenols; they both were formed during incomplete combustion. The n-alkane distributions show a shift in the dominant carbon from C27 or C29 to C31, indicative of the abrupt change in paleovegetation from woody to herbaceous plants driven by the changing paleoclimate at 4000 a B.P. after the Holocene Optimum. Coincidently, the Qijia agriculture culture began to collapse during the 200-year cooling and dryness, and was replaced by nomadism in the mountainous area. The paleofire identified is such a record as to document the change of ancient culture induced by paleoclimate change.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brault M, Simoneit B R T (1988). Steroid and triperpenoid distributions in Bransfield Strait sediments: hydrothermally enhanced diagenetic transformations. Org Geochem, 13: 697–705
Cranwell P A, Eglinton G, Robinson N (1987). Lipids of aquatic organisms as potential contributors to lacustrine sediments. Org Geochem, 11: 513–527
Cui Z, Wu Y, Liu G (1995). Discovery of Neothilic anthropogenic traces in Kunlun mountain and its paleoenvironmental implication. Chinese Science Bulletin, 40: 624–627
Daniel R O, Simoneit B R T (2001). Identification and emission factors of molecular tracers in organic aerosols from biomass burning Part 2. Deciduous trees. Applied Geochemistry, 16: 1545–1565
Evershed R P (1993). Biomolecular archaeology and lipids. World Archaeology, 25: 74–935
Evershed R P, Dudd S N, Charters S, Mottram H, Stott AW, Raven A, van Bergen P F, Bland H (1999). Lipids as carriers of anthropogenic signals from prehistory. Phil Trans R Lond B, 1999, 354: 19–31
Huang Y, Street-Perrott F A, Perrott A, Metzger P, Eglinton G (1999). Glacial-interglacial environmental changes inferred from the molecular and compound-specific 13C analyses of sediments from Sacred Lake, Mt Kenya. Geochemica et Cosmochemica Acta, 63: 1383–1404
Meyers P A, Ishiwatari R (1993). Lacustrine organic geochemistry: An overview of indicators of organic matter sources and diagenesis in lake sediments. Org Geochem, 20: 867–900
Pääbo S (1985). Molecular cloning of ancient Egyptian mummy DNA. Nature, 314: 644–645
Rushdi A I, Ritter G, Grimalt J O, Simoneit B R T (2003). Hydrous pyrolysis of cholesterol under various conditions. Org Geochem, 34: 799–812
Simoneit B RT (1998). Biomarker PAHs in the environment. In: Neilson A, ed. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 175–221
Simoneit B R T (2002). Biomass burning-a review of organic tracers for smoke from incomplete combustion. Applied Geochemistry, 17: 129–162
Wayne R K, Leonard J A, Cooper A (1999). Full of sound and fury: the recent history of ancient DNA. Annu Rev Ecol Syst, 30: 457–477
Xiang S, Wang G (2002). Discovery of anthropogenic traces and the paleoenvironmental background at Balong in Dulan County in the north of Eastern Kunlun mountain. Geological Bulletin, 21: 764–767
Xie S H, Wang Z Y, Wang H M, Chen F H, An C B (2002). The occurrence of grassy vegetation over the loess plateau since the last interglacier: the molecular fossil record. Science in China (D), 45 (1): 53–62
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jiao, D., Xie, S., Yang, H. et al. Paleofire indicated by triterpenes and charcoal in a culture bed in eastern Kunlun Mountain, Northwest China. Front. Earth Sci. China 3, 452–456 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-009-0053-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-009-0053-1