Publication Date:
2001-06-26
Description:
Oxygen isotopes are sensitive tracers of climate change in tropical regions. Abrupt shifts of up to 18 per mil in the oxygen isotope ratio of diatom silica have been found in a 14,000-year record from two alpine lakes on Mt. Kenya. Interpretation of tropical-montane isotope records is controversial, especially concerning the relative roles of precipitation and temperature. Here, we argue that Holocene variations in delta(18)O are better explained by lake moisture balance than by temperature-induced fractionation. Episodes of heavy convective precipitation dated approximately 11,100 to 8600, 6700 to 5600, 2900 to 1900, and 〈1300 years before the present were linked to enhanced soil erosion, neoglacial ice advances, and forest expansion on Mt. Kenya.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Barker, P A -- Street-Perrott, F A -- Leng, M J -- Greenwood, P B -- Swain, D L -- Perrott, R A -- Telford, R J -- Ficken, K J -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2001 Jun 22;292(5525):2307-10.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Geography, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YB, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11423656" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Diatoms/*chemistry
;
Ecosystem
;
Fresh Water
;
Geologic Sediments/*chemistry
;
Kenya
;
Oxygen Isotopes/*analysis
;
Pollen
;
Rain
;
Silicon Dioxide/chemistry
;
Temperature
;
Time
;
*Tropical Climate
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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