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Wirth, Stefanie B; Sessions, Alex L (2016): Younger Dryas-Holocene sedimentary plant-wax hydrogen isotopes from the southern European Alps [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.864869, Supplement to: Wirth, SB; Sessions, AL (2016): Plant-wax D/H ratios in the southern European Alps record multiple aspects of climate variability. Quaternary Science Reviews, 148, 176-191, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.07.020

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Abstract:
We present a Younger Dryas-Holocene record of the hydrogen isotopic composition of sedimentary plant waxes (dDwax) from the southern European Alps (Lake Ghirla, N-Italy) to investigate its sensitivity to climatic forcing variations in this mid-latitude region (45°N).
A modern altitudinal transect of dD values of river water and leaf waxes in the Lake Ghirla catchment is used to test present-day climate sensitivity of dDwax. While we find that altitudinal effects on dDwax are minor at our study site, temperature, precipitation amount, and evapotranspiration all appear to influence dDwax to varying extents.
In the lake-sediment record, dDwax values vary between -134 and -180 per mil over the past 13 kyr. The long-term Holocene pattern of dDwax parallels the trend of decreasing temperature and is thus likely forced by the decline of northern hemisphere summer insolation. Shorter-term fluctuations, in contrast, may reflect both temperature and moisture-source changes. During the cool Younger Dryas and Little Ice Age (LIA) periods we observe unexpectedly high dDwax values relative to those before and after. We suggest that a change towards a more D-enriched moisture source is required during these intervals. In fact, a shift from northern N-Atlantic to southern N-Atlantic/western Mediterranean Sea sources would be consistent with a southward migration of the Westerlies with climate cooling. Prominent dDwax fluctuations in the early and middle Holocene are negative and potentially associated with temperature declines. In the late Holocene (<4 kyr BP), excursions are partly positive (as for the LIA) suggesting a stronger influence of moisture-source changes on dDwax variation. In addition to isotopic fractionations of the hydrological cycle, changes in vegetation composition, in the length of the growing season, and in snowfall amount provide additional potential sources of variability, although we cannot yet quantitatively assess these in the paleo-record. We conclude that while our dDwax record from the Alps does contain climatic information, it is a complicated record that would require additional constraints to be robustly interpreted. This also has important implications for other water-isotope-based proxy records of precipitation and hydro-climate from this region, such as cave speleothems.
Coverage:
Latitude: 45.916600 * Longitude: 8.822500
Minimum DEPTH, sediment/rock: 0.01 m * Maximum DEPTH, sediment/rock: 12.57 m
Event(s):
Lake_Ghirla (S2) * Latitude: 45.916600 * Longitude: 8.822500 * Elevation: 415.0 m * Lake water depth: 14 m * Location: Central Alps * Method/Device: Piston corer (PC)
Parameter(s):
#NameShort NameUnitPrincipal InvestigatorMethod/DeviceComment
DEPTH, sediment/rockDepth sedmWirth, Stefanie BGeocode
AGEAgeka BPWirth, Stefanie BGeocode
Age, minimum/youngAge minkaWirth, Stefanie B
Age, maximum/oldAge maxkaWirth, Stefanie B
Sample typeSamp typeWirth, Stefanie B
δ DeuteriumδD‰ SMOWWirth, Stefanie B
δ Deuterium, standard deviationδD std dev±Wirth, Stefanie B1 sigma
n-fatty acid C28n-C28 FAµg/gWirth, Stefanie B
Carbon, organic, totalTOC%Wirth, Stefanie Bwt%
10 Computer tomograph valueCT valueHUWirth, Stefanie B
11 Lithology/composition/faciesLithologyWirth, Stefanie BBT: Bioturbated background sediments; RS: Regular background sediments; FL: Flood layer; MMD: Mass-movement deposit; CL: Clastic sediments
Size:
874 data points

Data

Download dataset as tab-delimited text — use the following character encoding:


Depth sed [m]

Age [ka BP]

Age min [ka]

Age max [ka]

Samp type

δD [‰ SMOW]

δD std dev [±]

n-C28 FA [µg/g]

TOC [%]
10 
CT value [HU]
11 
Lithology
0.01-0.054-0.051-0.058plant wax-1351.848.66.5122BT
0.23-0.013-0.008-0.018plant wax-1453.420.25.4122BT
0.590.0480.0750.016plant wax-1693.438.86.5197BT
0.680.0760.1120.036plant wax-1771.58.62.6756BT rich in detrital material
0.780.1120.1590.061plant wax-1622.217.33.8241BT
0.860.1450.2000.087plant wax-1645.81.10.9790BT rich in detrital material
0.930.1780.2400.113plant wax-1670.35.52.8829BT
1.080.2620.3330.187plant wax-1764.429.65.8175BT
1.260.3920.4630.314plant wax-1715.219.74.0456BT rich in detrital material
1.620.7160.7730.645plant wax-1807.669.48.2188BT
1.951.0051.0530.940plant wax-1673.513.83.8453BT slightly enriched in detrital material
2.241.2081.2601.129plant wax-1654.547.58.2154BT
2.511.3831.4391.280plant wax-1590.647.812.5138BT
2.621.4631.5201.359plant wax-1621.713.84.0496BT rich in detrital material
2.771.5691.6251.477plant wax-1552.280.02.6168BT
3.031.7721.8131.710plant wax-1611.925.66.4257BT slightly enriched in detrital material
3.291.9892.0321.933plant wax-1580.930.79.0246BT
3.582.2112.2892.143plant wax-1510.960.810.5184BT
3.732.3012.3862.225plant wax-1601.673.59.5182BT
3.912.3992.4872.322plant wax-1581.738.87.6286BT
4.002.4462.5322.368plant wax-1572.31.21.5659BT rich in detrital material
4.092.4922.5742.414plant wax-1580.47.53.3547BT rich in detrital material
4.192.5432.6152.469plant wax-1590.412.93.6450BT rich in detrital material
4.242.5732.6402.503plant wax-1610.423.65.1287BT slightly enriched in detrital material
4.322.6162.6762.548plant wax-1630.940.36.9274BT slightly enriched in detrital material
4.452.6982.7462.636plant wax-1500.675.810.8217BT
4.572.7842.8222.723plant wax-1561.142.96.4270BT slightly enriched in detrital material
4.612.8202.8592.761plant wax-1490.810.33.3552BT rich in detrital material
4.762.9503.0002.888plant wax-1520.391.311.8156BT
4.943.1233.1933.050plant wax-1542.069.310.4190BT
5.163.3703.4593.289plant wax-1541.351.010.0190BT
5.333.5733.6603.492plant wax-1573.4121.010.2198BT
5.513.7983.8823.718plant wax-1602.149.48.3231BT slightly enriched in detrital material
5.684.0134.1003.926plant wax-1531.216.45.1336BT slightly enriched in detrital material
5.854.2064.2914.100plant wax-1521.746.57.8245RS
5.944.2864.4004.202plant wax-1521.055.29.5205RS
6.054.4054.5014.284plant wax-1543.744.79.9210RS
6.144.5014.6124.384plant wax-1551.349.412.3212RS
6.234.5944.7044.465plant wax-1570.742.79.3350RS
6.324.6854.8054.565plant wax-1580.935.89.7203RS
6.414.7804.8954.656plant wax-1600.550.911.0152RS
6.504.8805.0004.771plant wax-1601.712.69.7208RS
6.594.9735.0844.864plant wax-1571.517.310.4173RS
6.685.0665.1774.967plant wax-1570.914.46.8372RS-FL
6.795.1815.3005.086plant wax-1643.823.910.8182RS
7.005.3925.5325.301plant wax-1621.228.610.8213RS
7.255.5845.7525.495plant wax-1690.314.65.3364RS-FL
7.525.7645.9165.621plant wax-1611.16.49.5197RS
7.725.9346.0725.760plant wax-1591.324.311.3213RS
7.876.1336.2445.938plant wax-1580.311.78.4509RS
8.006.3576.4586.186plant wax-1501.111.46.8283RS
8.116.6096.6406.398plant wax-1455.320.37.2256RS
8.176.7296.8116.577plant wax-1483.31.27.2RS
8.176.7316.8176.583plant wax-1420.42.8452RS-FL
8.196.7576.8386.607plant wax-1480.32.1682FL
8.246.7906.8506.623plant wax-1341.22.16.0282RS
8.276.8696.9636.755plant wax-1383.625.18.4255RS
8.367.1247.2097.022plant wax-1413.718.28.0289RS-FL
8.467.3797.4287.274plant wax-1414.97.610.5219RS
8.537.5557.6197.492plant wax-1590.211.911.3234RS
8.637.7677.8047.702plant wax-1462.45.07.8261RS
8.717.9277.9847.890plant wax-1432.820.88.8286RS
8.808.1038.1428.050plant wax-1410.126.47.8393RS-FL
8.868.2188.2608.164plant wax-1551.86.76.2325RS-FL
8.888.2668.3098.209plant wax-1551.31.94.3655FL
8.928.2958.3308.223plant wax-1610.43.5676FL
8.958.3388.3928.282plant wax-1611.75.74.8446RS-FL
8.988.3648.4138.302plant wax-1490.57.9439RS-FL
9.038.4388.4918.372plant wax-1551.42.76.7387RS-FL
9.188.5868.6458.507plant wax-1492.94.64.5562RS-FL
9.308.7488.8178.665plant wax-1443.10.84.9576RS-FL
9.428.9108.9818.810plant wax-1412.20.35.2446RS-FL
9.669.2349.3089.103plant wax-1492.14.13.9649RS-FL
9.789.3809.4569.238plant wax-1535.014.18.1402RS
9.899.5589.6459.414plant wax-1506.826.78.4461RS-FL
10.039.7329.8289.590plant wax-1531.82.55.2439RS-FL
10.109.9059.9989.761plant wax-1492.90.65.0917RS-FL
10.7510.27510.38610.148plant wax-1541.13.86.9431RS-FL
10.8810.33610.41710.176plant wax-1542.25.56.2510RS-FL
10.9410.50410.61810.372plant wax-1530.50.72.5636RS-FL
11.0110.54710.65810.411plant wax-1491.713.38.2386RS
11.0710.71010.81710.575plant wax-1522.14.88.3394RS
11.1410.93911.05410.819plant wax-1492.427.513.1264RS
11.1911.03511.14310.915plant wax-1463.30.41.4822FL
11.3611.05311.16910.941plant wax-1481.02.62.3782RS-FL
11.4311.05711.17110.949plant wax-1490.76.92.7580RS-FL
11.5111.06211.17610.954plant wax-1541.14.712.0320RS
11.5711.31111.42011.204plant wax-1560.82.98.1368RS-FL
11.6211.50911.60811.397plant wax-1514.27.311.8300RS
11.6711.69411.82811.613plant wax-1552.1110.915.0242RS
11.7211.90012.02611.810plant wax-1534.76.97.1334RS
11.7712.08212.17711.963plant wax-1591.048.012.5362RS
11.8612.29512.43412.213plant wax-1561.75.17.2420RS
11.9312.51012.66012.433plant wax-1600.957.69.7494RS
11.9812.65512.79712.564plant wax-1541.746.68.9659RS-FL
12.0312.84113.01112.760plant wax-1642.18.57.1555RS-FL
12.1712.86013.01512.764plant wax-1570.90.30.1CL
12.5712.90213.05712.806plant wax-1500.00.0CL