Title: Speleothem carbon isotopic records of Holocene environments in the Ozark Highlands, USA
Abstract: The carbon isotopic compositions of six stalagmites from five caves in the Ozark Highlands of central and southern Missouri and northern Arkansas provide a detailed record of early and late Holocene vegetation dynamics. A rapid decrease in speleothem ∂13C values between ∼9500 and ∼8200 yr BP indicates a period of increased C3 vegetation, suggesting cool and/or moist conditions relative to the earliest Holocene and the prairie-dominated middle Holocene. A second negative ∂13C excursion from ∼4500 to ∼3000 yr BP interrupts a predominantly C4-rich middle Holocene prairie environment that became established at ∼7500 yr BP. Speleothem mineralogical indicators of cave aridity do not support previous inferences of increased regional dryness between 3800 and 3100 yr BP.
Publication Year: 2000
Publication Date: 2000-05-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 42
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