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Declining Trend in the 13C/12C Ratio of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide from Tree Rings of South African Widdringtonia cedarbergensis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Edmund C. February  and
William D. Stock
Edmund C. February
Affiliation:
South African Museum, P.O. Box 61, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa
William D. Stock
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7700, South Africa
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Abstract

Stable carbon isotope chronologies using tree ring wood cellulose have proved useful for developing hypotheses on climate and environment change. However, within both the Southern Hemisphere and Africa there has been very little tree-ring-based isotope research. Here we report the first high-resolution (annual) 13C/12C chronology for both Africa and the Southern Hemisphere. The 77-yr stable carbon isotope chronology was developed from six Widdringtonia cedarbergensis trees from a site in the Cedarberg Mountains, Western Cape Province, South Africa. The results indicate that 13C/12C ratios are not different from 1900 to 1949. After 1949, however, values become significantly more negative to 1977. The isotopic record from the pooled trees at the Die Bos site does not correlate with rainfall. This correlation is not significant even when the Widdringtonia stable carbon isotope record is de-trended for the anthropogenic CO2 contribution. The Widdringtonia record does, however, correlate significantly with atmospheric 13C/12C CO2 values derived from ice core data, tree ring 13C/12C chronologies from the Northern Hemisphere, and recent Southern Hemisphere records.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , September 1999 , pp. 229 - 236
Copyright
University of Washington

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