Radiocarbon Dating of Leaf Waxes in the Loess-Paleosol Sequence Kurtak, Central Siberia

Haas, Mischa; Bliedtner, Marcel; Borodynkin, Igor; Salazar Quintero, Gary Abdiel; Szidat, Sönke; Eglinton, Timothy Ian; Zech, Roland (2017). Radiocarbon Dating of Leaf Waxes in the Loess-Paleosol Sequence Kurtak, Central Siberia. Radiocarbon, 59(01), pp. 165-176. Arizona Board of Regents, University of Arizona 10.1017/RDC.2017.1

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Loess-paleosol sequences (LPS) are valuable archives for Quaternary climate and environmental changes. So far, LPS are generally dated using luminescence, with ~10% uncertainties, or radiocarbon (14C) analyses in the rare cases that charcoal or macrofossils are available. For this study, we determined 14C ages of leaf waxes (long-chain n-alkanes) extracted from the LPS Kurtak in central Siberia. 14C ages range from 16.7 to 22.9 ka cal BP for the last glacial loess and from 24.5 to 35.3 ka cal BP for the paleosol correlated with marine isotope stage (MIS) 3. Overall, this is in good agreement with independent age control based on stratigraphy, infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating, and 14C dating on charcoal and macrofossils. However, strong cryoturbation and solifluction seem to have affected the MIS 3 paleosol early during MIS 2. Our results corroborate the stratigraphic integrity of leaf waxes, and highlight their potential for dating LPS back to ~35–40 ka BP. Compared to compound-specific 14C analyses, which are very time-consuming and require specialized instrumentation (gas chromatograph with fraction collector), 14C dating of leaf waxes as a whole compound class is relatively quick and straightforward and warrants further investigation as a chronological tool.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences (DCBP)
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography > Unit Biogeochemistry and Paleoclimate
10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)
08 Faculty of Science > Institute of Geography > Physical Geography

UniBE Contributor:

Bliedtner, Marcel, Salazar Quintero, Gary Abdiel, Szidat, Sönke, Zech, Roland

Subjects:

900 History > 910 Geography & travel
500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
500 Science > 540 Chemistry
500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology

ISSN:

0033-8222

Publisher:

Arizona Board of Regents, University of Arizona

Language:

English

Submitter:

Sönke Szidat

Date Deposited:

20 Apr 2017 08:07

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:04

Publisher DOI:

10.1017/RDC.2017.1

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.97991

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/97991

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