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Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes of terra rossa in Guizhou Province of China and their relationship to climate and ecology

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Abstract

This paper analyzed stable carbon and oxygen isotopic changes in organic matter (δ 13CSOM) and disseminated carbonate (δ 13CSC and δ 18OSC) in four terra rossa profiles in Gouzhou, southwestern China. The objectives were to understand more information about climate change in this area and to determine whether the isotope values of disseminated carbonate in terra rossa preserved a record of environmental change and to distinguish environmental sources that may have influenced the isotopic chemistry. Results suggested that carbonate in terra rossa is mainly pedogenic carbonate, and its formation is closely associated with root activities. The δ 13CSOM variations indicate a climate change into warmer and drier conditions at about 6000–8000 a BP, 12000–14000 a BP and 28000 a BP. Plants were more depleted in δ 13C when carbonate precipitated. Compared with the δ 13CSOM, the δ 13CSC tends to reflect more average climate change information. Most large variations of the δ 13CSC and δ 13CSOM between adjacent sampling layers are accompanied with the change in soil color and texture, suggesting a certain connection between the δ 13C and the soil properties. This study found a positive linearity between δ 13CSC and δ 18OSC; a striking different value and correlation coefficient in different sites may provide a meaningful signal of regional climate change.

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Acknowledgments

This work was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Grants (Nos. 41473122 and 41073096), National Key Basic Research Program of China (2013CB956702) and the Hundred Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. We thank Geng L. for isotope analysis, Zhu X.F. and Liang X.T. for SOC content analysis. Furthermore, we are indebted to Academician & Prof. Liu C.Q. for discussion and suggestions on this study. We wish to express our sincere gratitude to anonymous reviewer for providing thorough and valuable reviews.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550002, China

    Daojing Li, Hongbing Ji, Xiao Wei & Shijie Wang

  2. College of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Hongbing Ji

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  1. Daojing Li
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Correspondence to Hongbing Ji.

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Li, D., Ji, H., Wei, X. et al. Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes of terra rossa in Guizhou Province of China and their relationship to climate and ecology. Environ Earth Sci 75, 1061 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-016-5858-0

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