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Variability of Indian monsoonal rainfall over the past 100 ka and its implication for C3–C4 vegetational change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Shailesh Agrawal ,
Prasanta Sanyal ,
Anindya Sarkar ,
Manoj Kumar Jaiswal  and
Koushik Dutta
Shailesh Agrawal*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India
Prasanta Sanyal
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, 741252, India
Anindya Sarkar
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India
Manoj Kumar Jaiswal
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, 741252, India
Koushik Dutta
Affiliation:
Large Lakes Observatory, University of Minnesota, Duluth, Duluth, MN 55812, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: Research Scholar, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, WB, 721 302, India. Fax: + 91 322 228 2268. E-mail address:as.shail@gmail.com (S. Agrawal).
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Abstract

Oxygen and carbon isotope ratios of soil carbonate and carbon isotope ratios of soil organic matter (SOM) separated from three cores, Kalpi, IITK and Firozpur, of the Ganga Plain, India are used to reconstruct past rainfall variations and their effect on ambient vegetation. The δ18O values of soil carbonate (δ18OSC) analyzed from the cores range from −8.2 to −4.1‰. Using these variations in δ18OSC values we are able, for the first time, to show periodic change in rainfall amount between 100 and 18 ka with three peaks of higher monsoon at about 100, 40 and 25 ka. The estimation of rainfall variations using δ18O value of rainwater-amount effect suggests maximum decrease in rainfall intensity (~ 20%) during the last glacial maximum. The δ13C values of soil carbonate (δ13CSC) and SOM (δ13CSOM) range from −6.3 to + 1.6‰ and −28.9 to −19.4‰, respectively, implying varying proportions of C3 and C4 vegetations over the Ganga Plain during the last 100 ka. The comparison between monsoonal rainfall and atmospheric CO2 with vegetation for the time period 84 to 18 ka indicate that relative abundances of C3 and C4 vegetations were mainly driven by variations in monsoonal rainfall.

Keywords

South-central Ganga PlainMonsoonal rainfallC3–C4 plantsLate Quaternary depositSoil carbonateOptical dating
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 77 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 159 - 170
Copyright
University of Washington

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