Calibration and application of lipid hydrogen isotopic ratios for quantitative reconstruction of new england climate variability over the past 15 kyr

In Chapter 1, I use transects of modern lake surface sediment in eastern North America to demonstrate that the D/H ratios of C22 n-alkanoic acid (deltaDBA), mainly produced by aquatic macrophytes, effectively capture lake water isotopic composition. Downcore variations in deltaDBA values and pollen taxa are highly consistent with the known climate change history of New England. D/H fractionations of long chain even numbered fatty acids (C24-C30 n-acids) relative to lake water provide independent estimates of relative humidity during the growing season.In Chapter 2, I investigate the variability of deltaD values of leaf waxes produced by various terrestrial plants in order to understand the controlling factors of leaf wax deltaD values. The results indicate that inferring precipitation D/H ratios based on sedimentary leaf waxes are only viable when significant vegetation change is absent or can be accounted for isotopically. In addition, the negative correlation between leaf wax deltaD and delta13C values of various trees suggest that plant water-use efficiency exerts an important control on the leaf wax deltaD variation among different tree species.In Chapter 3, the D/H ratios of leaf waxes (deltaDwax) derived from terrestrial plants and preserved in lake sediments have been shown as a reliable proxy for precipitation isotopic variation, especially in relative dry regions. Leaf waxes produced by plants grown under controlled conditions (RH = 80, 60, 40%) show a small increase in D/H ratios as RH decreases, consistent with prediction from the Craig-Gordon model. However, the isotopic effect of RH on deltaDwax along the entire transect is partially countered by the opposing influence of vegetation changes. The correlation between deltaD wax and deltaDP values is significantly higher (R 2 = 0.84) in the drier portions of the transect than in the wetter regions (R2 = 0.64). This study suggests that D/H ratios of sedimentary leaf waxes can be used as a proxy for precipitation deltaD variations, with particularly high fidelity in dry regions, although more studies in other regions will be important to further test this proxy.In Chapter 4, I present a centennial-scale record of climate change during the transition based on D/H ratios of C22 n-alkanoic acid (deltaDBA) from a sediment core in Blood Pond, Massachusetts. The abrupt climate events observed in Blood Pond records show remarkable similarity with Greenland ice core delta18O records during the Pleistocene. During the early Holocene, the northeastern North America deltaDBA record was more variable than Greenland, possibly due to the close proximity of the Laurentide ice sheet, and impact of freshwater outbursts as the ice sheet rapidly retreated.In Chapter 5, I present decadal-scale temperature records from Blood Pond, Massachusetts during the early Holocene which revealed two abrupt climate reversals. The isotopic records infer a cooling of 3&sim4°C between 9.3 and 9.1 ka against the millennial scale climate background, mainly induced by changes in precipitation seasonality. In comparison, the 8.2 ka event displays smaller amplitude of temperature cooling of 1&sim2°C at our southern New England site. The observed climatic reversal at &sim 9.2 ka as representing increased proportion of winter precipitation in conjunction with a drier and cooler summer, triggered by slowdown in thermohaline circulation as a result of freshwater release from the proglacial lakes. The results suggest that the seasonality of the precipitation at the southern New England was highly sensitive to meltwater releases, especially prior to the final collapse of the LIS.In Chapter 6, I present decadal to centennial resolution temperature records from two lakes in the northeastern North America to investigate the relationship between solar activity and temperature changes during the late Pleistocene to early Holocene. The temperature reconstructions from the two lakes of 100 km apart in New England are highly consistent with each other and agree well with established general climatic scenarios. More importantly, our records contain centennial-scale cyclicities related to the solar cycles (88 and 232 yr), indicating strong links between the pronounced 1 to 2°C temperature oscillations and solar activity during the late Pleistocene. The results strongly support the presence of an internal amplification mechanism for the solar forcing that is capable of causing disproportionally large climatic responses with relative small changes in the incoming solar radiation. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...