Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-n9wrp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-24T17:33:34.047Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trends of 13C/12C Ratios in Pinyon Tree Rings of the American Southwest and the Global Carbon Cycle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

S W Leavitt  and
Austin Long
S W Leavitt
Affiliation:
Division of Science, University of Wisconsin-Parkside Kenosha, Wisconsin 53141
Austin Long
Affiliation:
Division of Science, University of Wisconsin-Parkside Kenosha, Wisconsin 53141
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

An accurate atmospheric 13C/12C chronology can provide important constraints to models of the global carbon cycle. Trees accumulate carbon from atmospheric CO2 into growth rings and offer potential for 13C/12C reconstructions, but results have not been reproducible. This paper presents δ13C curves from 5 sites, representing 20 pinyon (Pinus edulis) trees, where cores of 4 trees from each site have been pooled into a composite sample. Isotopic analysis of cellulose in 5-yr ring groups produces curves with a general trend of decreasing δ13C after 1800, but with pronounced short-term fluctuations superimposed upon the trend. Evidence indicates the fluctuations are strongly related to moisture availability (drought). A mean curve of the 5 δ13C chronologies from which the fossil-fuel component is subtracted suggests a substantial biospheric CO2 contribution to the atmosphere since 1800.

Type
III. The Carbon Cycle
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 28 , Issue 2A , 1986 , pp. 376 - 382
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

References

Craig, H, 1957, Isotopic standards for carbon and oxygen and correction factors for mass-spectrometric analysis of CO2 : Geochim et Cosmochim Acta, v 12, p 133–149.Google Scholar
Francey, R J and Farquhar, G D, 1982, An explanation of the 13C/12C variations in tree rings: Nature, v 297, p 28–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freyer, H D and Belacy, N, 1983, 13C/12C records in northern hemispheric trees during the past 500 years: anthropogenic impact and climatic superpositions: Jour Geophys Research, v 88, p 6844–6852.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, J W, 1963, Wood cellulose, in Whistler, R L, ed, Methods of carbohydrate chemistry: New York, Academic Press, p 9–21.Google Scholar
Karl, T R, 1983, Some spatial characteristics of drought duration in the United States: Jour Climate Applied Meteorol, v 22, p 1356–1366.Google Scholar
Leavitt, S W and Long, A, 1983, An atmospheric 13C/12C reconstruction generated through removal of climate effects from tree-ring 13C/12C measurements: Tellus, v 35B, p 92–102.Google Scholar
Leavitt, S W and Long, A, 1984, Sampling strategy for stable carbon isotope analysis of tree rings in pine: Nature, v 311, p 145–147.Google Scholar
Leavitt, S W and Long, A, 1985, The global biosphere as net CO2 source or sink: evidence from carbon isotopes in tree rings, in Caldwell, D E, Brierley, J A and Brierley, C L, eds, Planetary ecology: New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, p 89–99.Google Scholar
Palmer, W C, 1965, Meteorological drought: U S Weather Bureau, Washington, DC, Research paper no. 45.Google Scholar
Peng, T H, Broecker, W S, Freyer, H D and Trumbore, S, 1983, A deconvolution of the tree ring based δ13C record: Jour Geophys Research, v 88, p 3609–3620.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Burk, R L and Quay, P D, 1984, 13C/12C ratios in tree rings and the transfer of biospheric carbon to the atmosphere: Jour Geophys Research, v 89, p 11731–11748.Google Scholar