Hydrogen isotopic ratios of plant wax n-alkanes in a peat bog deposited in northeast China during the last 16 kyr

Abstract

Based on paleoclimatic reconstructions using various proxies, the Holocene Climate Optimum (10.5–6ka) has been characterized as a warmer and wetter period in most of East Asia. The summer monsoons associated with the East Asian Monsoon evidently intensified and extended further inland from the Pacific Ocean, a source region of moisture. A notable exception to this general pattern exists in northeast China, where less wet conditions are recorded. We determined molecular compositions of individual plant wax hydrocarbons and their hydrogen isotope compositions (δD values) in a radiocarbon-dated peat core recovered from the Hani marsh in Jilin Province (China) and confirmed that the temperature-dependent effective precipitation in northeast China decreased during the Holocene Climate Optimum. A combination of Paq, an indicator of the relative contribution of aquatic to terrestrial plants, and the difference in δD between low (C23, C25 and C27) and high molecular weight (C31) n-alkanes in the Hani peat bog indicates a dramatic change in vegetation from the deglaciation to the Holocene. No significant differences were observed between the δD values of low and high molecular weight n-alkanes with relatively high δD values and low Paq during the early Holocene, indicating that all n-alkanes were produced by evapotranspiration-sensitive terrestrial plants during that time. However, lower δD values of mid-chain n-alkanes (C23, C25 and C27) relative to the long chain n-alkane (C31), together with higher Paq values during the deglaciation (14–11ka), suggest an increase in the contribution of aquatic plants and a higher water level during the period. The study demonstrates that northeast China was under a markedly wetter climate condition during the late deglaciation. For the 16kyr record in the Hani peat sequence, we infer that moisture delivery by the East Asian Monsoon was relatively invariable in northeast China, but increased evaporation during the warmer Holocene Climate Optimum reduced the effective precipitation, defined by the balance between precipitation and evaporation.