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Late Pleistocene-Recent Atmospheric δ13C Record in C4 Grasses1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Laurence J. Toolin
Affiliation:
NSF Accelerator Facility for Radioisotope Analysis, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
Christopher J. Eastoe
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
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Abstract

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Samples of Setaria species from packrat middens, herbarium specimens and modern plants preserve a record of δ13C of atmospheric CO2 from 12,600 BP to the present. No secular trend is detected between 12,600 and 1800 BP, when the mean value of δ13C during that period was −6.5 ± 0.1‰ (the error is the standard deviation of the mean). Our value agrees with δ13C averages of pre-industrial CO2 from polar ice cores, and differs significantly from modern regional (-8.2 ± 0.1‰) and global (-7.7‰) values, which are higher because of fossil fuel burning.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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