A comparative study of n-alkane biomarker and pollen records: an example from southern China

作     者：ZHENG YanHong ZHOU WeiJian XIE ShuCheng YU XueFeng 

作者机构：State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics Department of Geology Northwest University Xi'an 710069 China State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology Institute of Earth Environment Chinese Academy of Sciences Xi'an 710075 China Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environment Geology of Ministry of Education China University of Geosciences Wuhan 430074 China 

出 版 物：《Chinese Science Bulletin》 (CHINESE SCIENCE BULLETIN)

年 卷 期：2009年第54卷第6期

页      面：1065-1072页

核心收录：

学科分类：070902[理学-地球化学] 070903[理学-古生物学与地层学(含：古人类学)] 0709[理学-地质学] 07[理学] 

基　　金：Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40602004) National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2004CB720200) 

主　　题：烷烃生物标志物 花粉记录 华南地区 植被变化 气候条件 个例 气候事件 孢粉组合 

摘      要：We report the results of a comparative study of n-alkane biomarkers and pollens in lacustrine and peat deposits at Dingnan, Jiangxi Province in southern China, and discuss the likely causes for the dis-crepancy in the interpretations of the n-alkane biomarker and pollen records in terms of climate and vegetation change. The results show that past changes in climate and vegetation revealed by the n-alkane record are not always consistent with the pollen assemblage record in the whole section. Biomarkers do not permit direct identification of the plant family and/or genus and mainly record compositions of local plant remains, while pollens mainly reflect the regional vegetation change. Bio-markers and pollen records complement each other, providing a better picture of local and regional environments. Furthermore, biomarkers are more sensitive than pollen to climatic and vegetational change. Several climatic events are clearly identified by the n-alkane biomarker proxies, such as C31/(C27+C29+C 31) ratio and can be correlated to the North Atlantic Heinrich event, B/A, YD and two dry-cool events during the early Holocene such as the periods of 9850 to 9585 cal a B.P. and 8590 to 7920 cal a B.P. These events are consistent with those found in the surrounding regions, suggesting that the regional climate was coupled with global-scale abrupt climatic events. Our results suggest that biomarker and pollen data can record the more detailed climate and vegetation information, thus im-proving the resolution and precision of vegetation and climate reconstruction.