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¹³C variations of loess organic matter as a record of the vegetation response to climatic changes during the Weichselian

¹ Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, UMR 1572 CNRS/CEA, avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif sur Yvette cedex, France
² Laboratoire de Paléoenvironnements et Palynologie, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, UMR 5554-CNRS, Université Montpellier II, Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 5, France and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964
³ Laboratoire de Géomorphologie et d'étude du Quaternaire, UMR 9944 CNRS, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq cedex, France
⁴ Forschungsstelle Archäometrie der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, c/o MPI für Kernphysik, P.O. Box 103980, 69029 Heidelberg, Germany
⁵ Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Laboratoire mixte CNRS/CEA, avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif sur Yvette cedex, France

This paper presents high-resolution records of ¹³C/¹²C ratios of organic matter from two loess sequences in northwestern Europe. Our analysis is the first attempt to use organic matter ¹³C as a record of the response of vegetation to climatic variations in an area where climatic changes were not strong enough to induce a radical change in vegetation cover. Over the last climatic cycle, the vegetation of the Rhine Valley showed a strong predominance of C3 plants. Thus, the small ¹³C variations, with an amplitude of only 1.5 to 3, are interpreted as corresponding to fluctuations in water supply and atmospheric CO₂ concentration variations rather than to the ratio of C4 to C3 vegetation. Furthermore, loess sequences accumulated at high rates and allow high correlation with climatic proxy data, like the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ¹⁸O and the variations in CO₂ concentration recorded in the Vostok ice core. The ¹³C constitutes a reliable and complementary proxy to study small climatic stresses endured by vegetation during the Weichselian in northwestern Europe. Moreover, by using absolute age control and correlations between global (Vostok-CO₂) or semi-global (GISP2-¹⁸O) climate effects, ¹³C values of organic matter in loess sequences offer a new tool to establish a refined chronology in continental sequences.

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