Krishnamurthy, R. V. and Epstein, S. (1990) Glacial-interglacial excursion in the concentration of atmospheric CO_2: effect in the ^(13)C/^(12)C ratio in wood cellulose. Tellus B, 42 (5). pp. 423-434. ISSN 0280-6509. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20131030-104059526
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Abstract
Stable carbon isotope ratios (^(13)C/^(12)C) of cellulose extracted from wood belonging to the last glacial-maximum period (20 ± 2k yr) is on the average 4‰ higher than that for the corresponding ratios from the recent interglacial age, and could not be the result of any changes in humidity or temperature alone. This temporal variation of δ^(13)C in wood cellulose corresponds chronologically to the reduced concentration of atmospheric CO_2 measured in glacial ice cores, thus providing the first direct evidence of the effect of reduced atmospheric CO_2 concentration on land biota. The higher δ^(13)C in wood cellulose and the manner in which it varies with time could be explained if, in addition to causes introduced by a changing ocean chemistry during glacial time, there is an additional carbon reservoir created by vegetation flourishing in the newly exposed land surfaces accompanying a lowering of the sea level.
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| Additional Information: | © 1990 Co-Action Publishing. This journal is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) License. Manuscript received 13 September 1988; in final form 19 April 1990. We are grateful to the many individuals who supplied us with age-determined samples of this study. In particular, we are indebted to the following: R. Berger, S. Burner, L. D. Carter, T. E. Cerling, B. Criss, K. Echelmeyer, C. J. Ferguson, T. D. Hamilton, I. H. Mercer, D. Mickelson, K. Nagy, C. L. Oman, R. L. Phipps, H. Polach, M. Rubin, E. Spiker, B. N. Smith, H. E. Suess, K. Vancleve and S. Wood. This research was supported by Grant NSF EAR-8504096. We thank Joseph Ruth and Eleanor Dent for technical assistance. Contribution No. 4524 of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology. | |||||||||
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| Issue or Number: | 5 | |||||||||
| Record Number: | CaltechAUTHORS:20131030-104059526 | |||||||||
| Persistent URL: | https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20131030-104059526 | |||||||||
| Usage Policy: | No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided. | |||||||||
| ID Code: | 42137 | |||||||||
| Collection: | CaltechAUTHORS | |||||||||
| Deposited By: | Tony Diaz | |||||||||
| Deposited On: | 31 Oct 2013 22:04 | |||||||||
| Last Modified: | 03 Oct 2019 05:55 |
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