Variation of soil Δδ13C values in Xifeng loess-paleosol sequence and its paleoenvironmental implication

The carbon isotopic compositions of soil organic matter （SOM） and total carbonate （TC） in Xifeng Ioess-paleosol sequence have been studied. The δ^13CsoM values vary from -23.8‰ to -20.2‰, which are higher in interglacial than in glacial stages. Contrary to δ^13Csoi values, the δ^13CTc values vary from -8.5‰ to -3.6‰ and are lower in interglacial than in glacial stages. The differences （△δ^13C） between the δ^13CsoM and δ^13CTc values vary from 14.1‰ to 19.4‰. Our results from the Xifeng loesspaleosol sequence indicate that the △δ^13C values represent the ratio of primary carbonate （PC） to secondary carbonate （SC）. The △δ^13C values were high in the loess stages, and the maximal PC-to-SC ratio can reach 6：4. But in the paleosol stages, the △δ^13C values were low, with a small proportion of PC. The △δ^13C values in Ioess-paleosol sequence also indicate the contributions of the dust to the loess sediment in the Chinese Loess Plateau because the dust contains the PC.     

Carbon isotopic record from Upper Devonian carbonates at Dongcun in Guilin, southern China, supporting the worldwide pattern of carbon isotope excursions during Frasnian-Famennian transition

Two positive δ^13C excursions are presented in records from the Frasnlan-Famenninn (F-F) marine carbonate sediments in Europe, America, Africa, and Australia,having been considered as a worldwide pattern, and attributed to enhanced organic carbon burial during the F-F biological mass extinction, However, this worldwide pattern has not been revealed from the well-deposited Late Devonian sequences in southern China. In this paper, a detailed investigation has been made on the Late Devonian section at Dongcun, Guilin, southern China to constrain perturbationsin δ^13C of carbonates in the F-F deposited sequence. The result from this section also indicates two positive δ^13C excursions during the F-F transition. The first excursion with an amplitude of 1.5‰ occurred at the bottom of linguiformis Zone, later than the early excursion existing in the Late rhenana Zone of the Late Devonian profiles in other continents,especially, in central Europe. This difference has been expected to be a result as conodont Palmatolepis linguiformis occurred earlier in southern China than other sites. The second excursion with an amplitude of 2.1‰ is located at the F-F boundary, same as the records from other continents.This result strongly supports the view that two carbon isotope positive excursions during the F-F transition are common in carbonate sediments, resulting from worldwide increases of organic carbon burial intensity.     

C-isotope composition and correlation of the Upper Neoproterozoic in Keping area, Xinjiang

C-isotope analysis of the carbonates in the Upper Neoproterozoic in Keping, Xinjiang indicates that the Qigebrak Formation and the Upper Sugaitbrak Formation mainly record positive C-isotope values, and a distinct positive excursion occurs in the lower part of the Qigebrak Formation. There are three negative excursions in the boundary between the Qigebrak Formation and the Cambrian, the uppermost and lowermost Upper Sugaitbrak Formation. These characters resemble those of the Upper Neoproterozoic in the Three-Gorge area, which suggests that the Upper Sugaitbrak Formation and Qigebrak Formation can be correlated with the middle and upper parts of the Doushantuo Formation and Dengying Formation, respectively. The negative excursion at the top of the Upper Sugaitbrak Formation corresponds to that at the top of the Doushantuo Formation, while the negative excursion at the bottom of the Sugaitbrak Formation can be correlated with that at the middle part of the Doushantuo Formation in the Three-Gorge area and that at the top of the Hangelchaok diamictites in the Quruqtagh area.     

Foliar δ^13C and δ^15N values of C3 plants in the Ethiopia Rift Valley and their environmental controls

The foliar C and N stable isotopic compositions （δ^13C and δ^15N） and the relationships between these compositions and environmental factors of C3 plants in the Ethiopia Rift Valley were investigated. There were three distribution patterns for foliar δ^13C with mean values of -26.7‰±0.4‰, -29.7‰ ±0.6‰ , and -26.9‰± 1.2‰ in cold-moist, temperate-moist, and arid-hot environments, respectively. The δ^15N values ranged from -1.4‰ ±1.7‰ to 14.3‰ ± 0.1‰, with higher values under arid-hot conditions and the lowest values in plants growing at higher altitudes under cold-moist conditions. A strong negative relationship between mean annual precipitation and δ^15N explained more than half of the observed variation in the δ^15N values （r2= 0.54, P 〈 0.001）; a modest positive relationship was also found between δ^15N and temperature （r2 = 0.32, P 〈 0.01）. A weakly positive relationship existed between δ^13C and temperature, and changes in δ^13C values with precipitation and altitude followed quadratic curves. This suggests a shift in the effects of water and heat conditions caused by altitude on carbon isotopic discrimination.     

Stable carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of carbonates in middle Mesoproterozoic Wumishan Formation and sea-level change

δ13C of dolostones from the Wumishan Formation (1 310-1 207 Ma) in the Ming Tombs area near Beijing ranges from - 1.5 to 1.5‰ (PDB), and generally, the δ18O ranges from - 4 to - 5‰ (PDB). The secular variation of stable carbon isotopic compositions is cyclic. δ13C displays positive shifts from a sequence boundary to 1.5 per mil (PDB), then a negative shifts to - 1.5 per mil (PDB). In some unit, where δ13C values of the rocks are negative, they have relatively high δ18O values close to -4.0‰ (PDB). These characteristics of the carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions may be associated with sea-level changes.     

The possible contribution of a mantle-derived fluid to the Ningwu porphyry iron deposits-Evidence from carbon and strontium isotopes of apatites

Apatite is a characteristic mineral for the iron deposits in the Ningwu region. Apatite shows a range of δ^13CPDB values from -9.6‰ to -0.6‰, and most of them with the δ^13CPDB values distributed in a range of mantle carbon （i.e., -2‰to -9‰）, except for samples T-06-1 and J-06-3. Apatites in the Ningwu porphyry iron deposits yield a narrow variation range of ^87Sr/^86Sr values from 0.706326 to 0.707577, similar to those of the volcanic and subvolcanic rocks and higher than that of a typical mantle-derived magmatic apatite （i.e., about 0.7040）, indicating that formation of the apatites was involved with crust material contamination.δ^13CPDBand ^87Sr/^86Sr values of the apatite indicate a possible contribution of mantle-derived fluid and material to formation of the Ningwu porphyry iron deposits, supported by regional geology, regional gravities and geochemistry of the volcanic and subvolcanic rocks in the Ningwu region.     

Comparison of the carbon isotope composition of total organic carbon and long-chain <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-alkanes from surface soils in eastern China and their significance

Surface soil samples collected over a high spatial resolution in eastern China were analyzed for carbon isotope composition （δ^13C） of total organic carbon （TOC） and higher plant-derived long-chain n-alkanes, with the latter reported as weighted mean values. The two sets of δ^13C values are significantly correlated and show similar trends in spatial variation. The spatial distribution of δ^13C shows less negative values in the mid-latitudes between 31°N and 40°N and more negative ones at higher and lower latitudes. This is consistent with previously reported carbon isotope data from surface soil phytoliths in the same region and suggests that the mid-latitude area provides relatively favorable growing condi- tions for C4 plants. Furthermore, δ^13C values of both TOC and long-chain n-alkanes from 12 surface soil samples collected from a small grassland in north China displayed similar carbon isotope values and the difference between paired δ^13C of a soil samples remains relatively constant. Our data demonstrate that in eastern China, soil δ^13C composition of both TOC and long-chain n-alkanes is effective indicators of C3/C4 ratios of the prevailing vegetation. This work suggests that -22‰ and -32‰ are good es- timated end members for the weighted mean δ^13C values of long-chain n-alkanes （C27, C29 and C31 n-alkanes） from soils under dominant C4 or C3 vegetation, allowing us to reconstruct paleovegetation trends.     

The genesis of H2S in the Weiyuan Gas Field, Sichuan Basin and its evidence

The Sinian Dengying Formation gas pool in Weiyuan is the oldest large-scale sulfur-bearing gas field in China, which has a H2S content ranging from 0.8% to 1.4%. The Cambrian Xixiangchi Formation gas pool discovered recently above the Dengying Formation contains gas geochemical behaviors similar to those of Dengying Formation but different in sulfur isotopes of H2S. Investigations show that though these two Sinian and Cambrian gas pools are separate ones, they share the same Cambrian source rock. The higher dry coefficient, heavier carbon isotopes, sulfur isotopes of sulfide, lower filling of gas pools, formation water characteristics, reservoir properties and H2S distribution, indicate that H2S in both the Sinian and Cambrian gas pools originates from TSR. The sulfur isotopes of sulfates have shown that H2S was formed in respective pools, namely hydrocarbons charged into the pools reacted with the Dengying Formation and the Xixiangchi Formation gypsum （TSR）, respectively, to form H2S. Compared with sulfur isotopes of sulfates in each pool, δ^34S values of H2S are 8‰ lighter for the Dengying Formation pool and 12‰ lighter for the Xixiangchi Formation pool, respectively, which is attributed to the difference in temperatures of TSR occurrence. The reservoir temperature of the Xixiangchi Formation pool is about 40℃ lower than that of the Dengying Formation pool. Temperature plays a controlling role in both the sulfur isotopic fractionation and amounts of H2S generation during TSR.     

Indicators of δ13C and δ18O of gas hydrate-associated sediments

The analyses of δ13C and δ18O of gas hydrate-associated sediments from two cores on Hydrate Ridge in Cascadia convergent margin offshore Oregon, eastern North Pacific show the values of d 13C from -29.81‰ to -48.28‰ (PDB) and d 18O from 2.56‰ to 4.28‰ (PDB), which could be plotted into a group called typical carbonate minerals influenced by the methane in cold venting. Moreover, the values of d 13C and d 18O show a consistent trend in both cores from top to bottom with increasing of d 13C and decreasing of d 18O. This trend could be explained as an effect caused by the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) in depth and the oxygen fraction during the formation of gas hydrate in depth together. These characteristics of d 13C and d 18O indicate that the gas hydrate-associated sediments are significantly different from the normal marine carbonates, and they are deeply influenced by the formation and evolution of gas hydrate. So, the distinct characteristics of d 13C and d 18O of gas hydrate-associated sediments could be undoubtedly believed as one of parameters to determine the presence of gas hydrates in other unknown marine sediment cores.     

Oxygen isotope geochemistry of phosphorite and dolomite and palaeo-ocean temperature estimation: A case study from the Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation, Guizhou Province,South China

The Neoproterozoic Doushantuo Formation at Weng'an in Guizhou Province of South China consists of phosphorites and dolomites.Three types of samples are recongnized for the phosphate-bearing rocks.In Type I samples, interstitial phosphates occur within the dolomite rocks, whereas in Type III samples, interstitial dolomites occur within the phosphorites; both of them may have diagenetic origin.The Type II samples are interbedded phosphorites and dolomites.Oxygen isotopic compositions of phosphate and coeval carbonate were analyzed.Phosphates of Type I and II samples show similar low δ18Ophos (SMOW) values of 10.9‰～12.1‰ and 10.7‰～12.8‰, respectively, whereas Type III phosphates show higher δ18Ophos (SMOW) values of 13.2‰～15.0‰.Dolomites from Type I and II samples have δ18Ocarb (PDB) and δ13Ccarb (PDB) values of -6.2‰～-3.4‰ and -2.2‰～-0.7‰, respectively, whereas interstitial dolomites from Type III samples show lower δ18Ocarb (PDB) and δ13Ccarb (PDB) values of -12.9‰～-8.6‰ and -4.4‰～-2.6‰.Petrology and oxygen isotope data suggest that diagenetic alteration may have partially affected the studied rocks, but the dolomites from Type I and phosphates from Type III samples represent the most pristine isotopic compositions of primary carbonates and phosphates precipitated from seawater.Calculations of palaeocean temperatures from the most 18O enriched dolomite and phosphate indicate a temperature range of 32.2 ℃ to 34.0 ℃ for the seawater of the Doushantuo Formation period.Ce anomaly also suggests more oxic conditions and possibly shallower water depth in the upper strata of the Doushantuo Formation at Weng'an, Guizhou Province.     

Carbon and oxygen isotopes analyses for the Sinian carbonates in the Helan Mountain, North China

We conducted detailed studies of the Sinian carbonates from the Helan Mountain, Ningxia by both field investigation and laboratory analyses of carbon and oxygen isotopes. The carbon isotopic compositions of the Sinian Zhengmuguan Formation shows variations with regularity in the five studied sections, the δ ¹³C values all gradually decrease from bottom to top, with a total range from ?4.51‰ to 0.11‰, and the biggest negative excursion reaches up to ?6.88‰. In addition, abundant macro-body fossils were also found from the Tuerkeng Formation in this study, similar to those found from the Dengying Formation in the South China Block. This observation firmly constrained the age for the Zhengmuguan and Tuerkeng formations to the Sinian period. Here we interpreted that the Zhengmuguan Formation formed during a glacial period when the extremely cold climate substantially decreased the amount of burial of organic matter in the ocean and thus led to the general negative δ ¹³C excursion. The increasing δ ¹³C values in the Tuerkeng Formation dolomites imply the ending of the glacial period in the Zhengmuguan epoch, biological recovery and increase of organic matter burial in the ocean occurred during this period. Comparing our obtained carbon and oxygen isotopes of the Zhengmuguan and Tuerkeng formations with those of coeval carbonate successions from other places all over the world, the Zhengmuguang-aged glacial deposits might be deposited after the Gaskiers glaciation. This study provides important information for paleo-ocean, paleogeographic and biological evolution in the North China Block during the Ediacaran period and adds new carbon and oxygen isotopes data for the global Sinian carbon-oxygen isotopes dataset.     

Variability of snail growing season at the Chinese Loess Plateau during the last 75 ka

Knowledge of seasonal climate change is one of the key issues facing Quaternary paleoclimatic studies and estimating seasonal climate change is difficult,especially changes such as seasonal length on glacial-interglacial timescales.The stable isotope composition from seasonal land snail shells provides the potential to reveal seasonal climatic features.Two modern land snail species,cold-aridiphilous Pupilla aeoli and thermo-humidiphilous Punctum orphana,were collected from different climatic zones in 18 localities across the Chinese Loess Plateau,spanning 11 degrees of longitude and covering a range of 1000 km2.The duration of the snail growing season(temperature ≥10℃) was shorter(202 ± 6 d) in the eastern Loess Plateau compared with in the western Loess Plateau(162 ±7 d).The δ13C of P.aeoli shells was ?9.1‰ to ?4.7‰ and ?5.0‰ to 0.3‰ for δ18O.For P.orphana,the δ13C ranged from ?9.1‰ to ?1.9‰ and ?8.9‰ to ?2.9‰ for δ18O.Both the δ13C and δ18O differences between the two snail species were reduced from the east to the western Loess Plateau(2.8‰ to 0.2 ± 1.1‰ for δ13C and 4.7‰ to 2.9 ± 1.3‰ for δ18O).These isotopic differences roughly reflect the difference in the growing season lengths between the east and west Loess Plateau indicating that the duration of the snail growing season shortens by 15 d or 19 d if the difference decreases by 1‰ in δ13C or δ18O,respectively.Thus,the difference in δ13C and δ18O between both snail species can be used to reveal the length of the snail growing season in the past.Based on our investigation,the length of the snail growing seasons from the Xifeng region during the last 75 ka was reconstructed.During the mid-Holocene(8-3 ka),the mean isotopic difference from both snail species reached maximum values of 2.6 ± 0.7‰ and 2.1 ± 1.4‰ for δ13C and δ18O,respectively.This was followed by MIS 3 that ranged from 2.5 ± 0.4‰ for δ13C and 1.6 ± 0.8‰ for δ18O.The Last Glacial Maximum changed by only 0.2‰ and 0.4‰ for δ13C and δ18O,respectively.Therefore,we estimate that the duration of the snail growing seasons to be ～200 ± 10 d during the mid-Holocene,190 ± 6 d in MIS 3 and 160 ± 3 d during the last glacial period.     

Variations of organic carbon isotopic composition and its environmental significance during the last glacial on western Chinese Loess Plateau

The last glacial period is characterized by a cold and dry climate with low atmospheric CO2 concentration. The relatively arid climate and low CO2 concentration are favorable to the growth of C4 plants, but the low temperature limits the development of th…     

Natural gas geochemistry of low evolutionary stage of medium- and small-sized basins in Yunnan Province, southwestern China

The biogenic gas and premature-low mature associated gases in some medium and small-sized basins of Yannan Province, such as Luliang, Yanglin, Baoshan and Jinggu basins, have beed researched. The results show that the biogenic-gas consists mainly of methane which is more than 99% in gasous hydrocarbons and of lighter carbon isotopic composition with δ13C1 values from -60.0‰ to - 75.4‰. The methane carbon isotopic compositions in the Baoshan Basin is relatively heavy (δ13C1 - 60‰- - 65‰), but those in Luliang and Yanglin basins are lighter (δ13C1, less than -70‰), which implies that the gas field of the Baoshan Basin formed earlier than the others. In the Jinggu Basin, where crude oil is premature-lower mature, the natural gas of associated oil relatively wet and the relative content of methane about 58%-95% in gasous hydrocarbons. Constituently the gas composition is much similar to associated one, but the methane carbon isotopic compositions from - 53.8‰ to - 57.8‰ are obviously richer in 12C than those of general oil fields and similarly characterize the biothermo-catalytic transitional zone gas. Their ethane carbon isotopic compositions from - 34.6‰ to -29.0‰ show that they may be derived from type Ⅰ or Ⅱ source rock. But for the associated gas from lower evolutionary stage, the heavier ethane carbon isotopic composition as well as the reversed order among the carbon isotopic composition of ethane, propylane and butane also implies that some gases from the type Ⅲ organic matter are mixed. The δ13CCo2 of the samples essentially less than - 10‰ may be generated from organic matter.     

A reconnaissance of Cu isotopic compositions of hydrothermal vein-type copper deposit Jinman,Yunnan, China

The Jinman deposit is a low-temperature hydrothermal vein-type copper deposit, which occurs along faults and fractures within Middle Jurassic sandstone and mudstone units of the Lanping-Simao Mesozoic-Cenozoic basin of Yunnan Province. In this note, we report for the first time the Cu isotopic compositions of Cu-sulfides from the Jinman deposit. The data show large variations and low δ⁶⁵Cu values of -3.70‰ to +0.30‰, which are in sharp contrast to the δ⁶⁵Cu values of high-temperature magmatic-hydrothermal copper deposits (-0.62‰ to +0.40‰) and the modern ocean-floor massive sulfide deposits (-0.48‰ to +1.15‰). It is suggested that the Cu isotope fractionation at Jinman is affected mainly by the following factors, i.e. a low temperature of ore formation (150—286℃); a sedimentary source for ore materials; various stages of ore deposition; and involvement of organic matter in the ore-forming processes.     

Diet control on carbon isotopic composition of land snail shell carbonate

Carbon isotope compositions for both the carbonate shells and soft bodies (organic tissue) of living land snails collected mostly from the Loess Plateau, China have been measured. The result shows that δ 13C values range from -13.1‰ to -4.3‰ for the aragonite shell samples and from -26.8‰ to -18.0‰ for the soft body samples. Although the shells are enriched in 13C relative to the bodies averagely by 14.2(±0.8)‰, the shell δ 13Ca values are closely correlated to the body δ 13Corg values, expressed as δ 13Ca = 1.021 δ 13Corg 14.38 (R = 0.965; N = 31). This relationship indicates that δ 13Ca is primarily a function of the isotopic composition of the snail diets since previous studies have proved that the snail body is the same as their food in carbon isotope composition. In other words, carbon isotope compo-sition of the carbonate shell can be used as a proxy to estimate the dietary 13C abundance of the land snails. The data also support that the 13C enrichment of the carbonate shells results mainly from the equilibrium fractionations between the metabolic CO2, HCO3-in the hemolymph and shell aragonite, and partially from kinetic fractionations when snail shells form during their activity.     

The biomarkers of 2,6,10,15, 19-pentamethylicosenes and their carbon isotopic composition in the sediments from the Gulf of Mexico

The methanogenic archaea and sulfate reduction bacteria are flourishing in the sediments associated with gas venting and gas hydrate settings on the sea floor, where the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) me-diated by these bacteria is the dominant path…