TY - JOUR
T1 - A new approach to detecting vegetation and land-use change using high-resolution lipid biomarker records in stalagmites
AU - Blyth, Alison J.
AU - Asrat, Asfawossen
AU - Baker, Andy
AU - Gulliver, Pauline
AU - Leng, Melanie J.
AU - Genty, Dominique
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by NERC studentship NER/S/A/2003/11297 awarded to Blyth, a Royal Society International Exchange Grant to Asrat and Baker, a Phillip Leverhulme Prize to Baker, a START-PACOM Grant to Asrat and NERC Radiocarbon support (1096.1004) to Baker and Ian Fairchild (University of Birmingham). Special thanks are offered to Sheik Mohammed Ahmed Surre, Imam of the Grand Mosque, Mechara, who provided in-depth information on the agricultural history of the area. Paul Donohoe provided invaluable assistance and support for GC-MS analysis, Paul Hands provided rock preparation facilities, Peter Wynn drilled the 14 C samples and Hilary Sloane undertook the stable isotope analyses. We also thank Peter Smart, Paul Farrimond, Jay Quade and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on the manuscript.
PY - 2007/11
Y1 - 2007/11
N2 - A hundred-year stalagmite lipid biomarker record from Mechara, southeastern Ethiopia, is presented. The record has been recovered at a 10-yr temporal resolution, marking the first time this has been achieved in stalagmite biomarker work and providing the first opportunity to investigate the relationship between stalagmite lipid records and hydrological transport lags, a vital issue in interpreting palaeoenvironmental signals. Preserved plant-derived n-alkanes and n-alkanols show clear changes in composition over time, relating to known land-use changes in the area, particularly the expansion of agriculture in the early twentieth century. The level of environmental detail provided by this technique, combined with the long-term chronological framework offered by stalagmites, holds significant promise for the investigation of early human environments and their associated climatic and anthropogenic controls.
AB - A hundred-year stalagmite lipid biomarker record from Mechara, southeastern Ethiopia, is presented. The record has been recovered at a 10-yr temporal resolution, marking the first time this has been achieved in stalagmite biomarker work and providing the first opportunity to investigate the relationship between stalagmite lipid records and hydrological transport lags, a vital issue in interpreting palaeoenvironmental signals. Preserved plant-derived n-alkanes and n-alkanols show clear changes in composition over time, relating to known land-use changes in the area, particularly the expansion of agriculture in the early twentieth century. The level of environmental detail provided by this technique, combined with the long-term chronological framework offered by stalagmites, holds significant promise for the investigation of early human environments and their associated climatic and anthropogenic controls.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=35348813702&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.yqres.2007.08.002
DO - 10.1016/j.yqres.2007.08.002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:35348813702
VL - 68
SP - 314
EP - 324
JO - Quaternary Research
JF - Quaternary Research
SN - 0033-5894
IS - 3
ER -
