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.     

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.     

缅甸Twintaung玛珥湖碳酸盐年纹层及100年来微区原位元素分析

报道了缅甸蒙育瓦地区发现的5个玛珥湖,通过对这些玛珥湖的纹层研究,发现深度最大的Twintaung玛珥湖发育了碳酸盐年纹层,纹层层偶由厚度约为50~400?m的碳酸盐微层以及厚度100~600?m的碎屑-有机质层组成,其中碳酸盐微层是鉴定年纹层的重要标志.Twintaung玛珥湖年纹层的形成与缅甸蒙育瓦地区特殊的气候环境密切相关,每年12~4月为"干-热季",降水少、蒸发高、湖水过饱和,导致方解石微晶生成;同时,每年干旱季节也是蓝藻Spirulina的繁盛时期,藻类繁盛需要消耗大量的CO2,也促使碳酸盐生成.5~11月为"湿-热季",降水较多,形成碎屑、有机质混合层.独立的核素测年(137Cs,210Pb)数据与纹层计数基本一致,证明了纹层的年季特征.为了理解元素指标的气候意义,我们运用同步辐射原位分析方法获得高分辨率元素数据,并与气象观测记录对比.通过主成分分析及与气象记录的对比,认为第一主成分主要包括岩石成因的元素(K,Ti,Fe,Cu,Zn,Rb和Zr等),可能主要与物理化学风化作用、降水以及粉尘输入有关,影响因素复杂;第二主成分主要包括元素Ca和Sr,主要赋存于碳酸盐颗粒中,可能主要与蒸发-降水关联.气候干旱时期,湖水中Ca离子呈过饱和,促使碳酸盐沉淀.缅甸Twintaung玛珥湖碳酸盐年纹层沉积中Ca元素可能是高分辨率古气候变化研究的重要替代指标.     

10Be in quartz gravel from the Gobi Desert and evolutionary history of alluvial sedimentation in the Ejina Basin,Inner Mongolia,China

Reconstructing the evolutionary history of the Gobi deserts developed from alluvial sediments in arid regions has great significance in unraveling changes in both tectonic activity and climate. However, such work is limited by a lack of suitable dating material preserved in the Gobi Desert, but cosmogenic ¹⁰Be has great potential to date the Gobi deserts. In the present study, ¹⁰Be in quartz gravel from the Gobi deserts of the Ejina Basin in Inner Mongolia of China has been measured to assess exposure ages. Results show that the Gobi Desert in the northern margin of the basin developed 420 ka ago, whereas the Gobi Desert that developed from alluvial plains in the Heihe River drainage basin came about during the last 190 ka. The latter developed gradually northward and eastward to modern terminal lakes of the river. These temporal and spatial variations in the Gobi deserts are a consequence of alluvial processes influenced by Tibetan Plateau uplift and tectonic activities within the Ejina Basin. Possible episodes of Gobi Desert development within the last 420 ka indicate that the advance/retreat of alpine glaciers during glacial/interglacial cycles might have been the dominant factor to influencing the alluvial intensity and water volume in the basin. Intense floods and large water volumes would mainly occur during the short deglacial periods.