Application of compound specific stable carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios for paleoclimate study

Abstract

Biomarkers have increasingly become common tools in the reconstruction of past environmental conditions. Molecular analyses of terrestrial biomarker lipids extracted from ocean, lake and bog sediments have been used for reconstructions of paleovegetation and associated paleoclimate histories. Stable carbon and hydrogen isotopic compositions of certain biomarkers provide powerful paleoclimate information. Stable carbon isotopic composition of C_<37> alkenone, which is specific biomarker of certain haptophyte algae, have been used to reconstruct concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide in a past. Recently developed techniques for measuring compound-specific hydrogen isotope compositions of alkyl lipids has potential as a proxy of temperature, precipitation, relative humidity and hydrological cycles of the past.