Abstract
δD and δ13C analyses of cellulose nitrate from two modern Irish oak trees that form part of the 7400 year long chronology were carried out, covering a period of 123 years (1861–1983 A.D.) with a 5 year resolution so as to assess the potential of this long chronology for retrieval of palaeoenvironmental data. One of the trees (Q5293) showed significant correlations of δD, δ13 C and ring width with mean annual temperatures as recorded at the Armagh weather station nearby and the mean fall temperatures of Central England. The other tree (Q5296) did not exhibit any significant climatic correlations either because it grew utilizing a nearby permanent source of ground water or because the intra-ring isotopic variations in Irish oak are significant enough to mask the climatic signal. Whilst our results have given a positive indication of the usefulness of these trees for palaeoenvironmental information, more trees need to be analysed to confirm our findings.
Even though one of the trees did not exhibit climatic correlations, both trees show a significant positive correlation of δ13C and a negative correlation of δD with ring width variations. Furthermore, two tree samples that grew during the 1620s B.C., when a volcano is thought to have erupted on the Aegean island of Santorini, show increased δD and decreased δ13C for one to two decades following the eruption, though the magnitudes of change seem to vary with site and trees. We have proposed a possible mechanism based on tree phenology to explain both the above effects.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baillie M G L 1973 A recently published Irish tree ring chronology;Tree Ring Bulletin 33 15–28
Baillie M G L and Brown D M 1988 An overview of oak chronologies; In:Science and Archaeology Glasgow 1987 (ed) E A Slater and J O Tate (Oxford) BAR British Series196 543-548
Baillie M G L and Munro M A R 1988 Irish tree rings, Santorini and Volcanic dust veils;Nature 332 344–346
Becker B and Schmidt B 1989 Extension of the European oak chronology to the past 9224 years;PACT 29 1–10
Bhattacharyya A and Yadav R R 1990 Growth and climate relationship inCedrus deodara from Joshimath Uttar Pradesh; In:Proceedings of the Symposium Vistas in Indian Palaeobotany, Paleobotanist 38 411–414
Borgaonkar H P, Pant G B and Rupakumar K R 1996 Ringwidth variations inCedrus deodara and its climatic response over the western Himalaya;Int. J. Clim. 16 1409–1422
Cook E R, Bird T, Peterson M, Barbetti M, Buckley B, D’Arrigo R and Francey R 1992 Climate change over the last millennium in Tasmania reconstructed from tree rings;The Holocene 2 205–217
Dansgaard W 1964 Stable isotopes in precipitation;Tellus 16 436–468
DeNiro M J 1981 The effects of different methods of preparing cellulose nitrate on the determination of the D/H ratios of non-exchangeable hydrogen of cellulose;Earth and Planet. Sci. Lett. 54 177–185
Duplessy J C 1978 Isotope studies; In:Climate Change (ed) J Gribbin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) pp. 46–67
Epstein S and Krishnamurthy R V 1990 Environmental information in the isotopic record in trees;Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London 330A 427–439
Epstein S and Yapp C J 1976 Climatic implications of the D/H ratio of hydrogen in C-H groups in tree cellulose;Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 30 252–261
Feng X and Epstein S 1994 Climatic implications of an 8000-year hydrogen isotope time series from bristlecone pine trees;Science 265 1079–1081
Ferguson C W and Graybill D A 1983 Dendrochronology of bristlecone pine: a progress report;Radiocarbon 25 287–288
Francey R J and Farquhar G D 1982 An explanation of13C/{12C} variations in tree rings;Nature 297 28–31
Fritts H C 1976Tree Rings and Climate (New York: Academic Press)
Gray J and Song S J 1984 Climatic implications of the natural variations of D/H ratios in tree ring cellulose;Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 70 129–138
Grinstead M J, Wilson A T and Ferguson C W 197913C/12C variations inPinus longaeva (Bristlecone pine) cellulose during the last millennium;Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 42 251–253
Grinstead M J and Wilson A T 1979 Variations of13C/12C ratio in cellulose ofAgathis australis (Kauri) and climatic change in New Zealand during the last millennium;New Zealand J. Sci. 22 230–235
Hammer C U, Clausen H B and Dansgaard W 1980 Greenland ice sheet evidence of post glacial volcanism and its climatic impact;Nature 288 230–235
Hughes M K, Kelly P M, Pilcher J R and LaMarche V C (Jr) 1982Climate from Tree Rings (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge)
Lamb H H 1977Climate: Present, Past and Future Vol. 2 (Methuen, London)
Loader N J, Switsur V R and Field E M 1995 High resolution stable isotope analysis of tree rings: implications of micro-dendroclimatology for palaeoenvironmental research;Holocene 5 (4) 457–460
Ogle N and McCormac 1994 High resolution δ13C measurements of oak show a previously unobserved spring depletion;Geophys. Res. Lett. 21({22}) 2373–2375
Pant G B, Rupakumar K and Borgaonkar H P 1988 Statistical models of climate reconstruction using tree ring data;Proc. Lndian Natl. Sci. Acad. 54 (A3) 354–364
Pilcher J R, Baillie M G L, Schmidt B and Becker B 1984 A 7272 year tree-ring chronology for western Europe;Nature 312 150–152
Ramesh R 1984Stable Isotope Systematics in Plant Cellulose: Lmplications to Past Climate PhD Thesis, University of Gujarat, India
Ramesh R, Bhattacharya S K and Gopalan K 1985 Dendroclimatological implications of isotope coherence in trees from Kashmir Valley India;Nature 317 802–804
Ramesh R, Bhattacharya S K and Gopalan K 1986a Stable isotope systematics in tree cellulose as palaeoenvironmental indicators — a review;J. Geol. Soc. India 27 154–167
Ramesh R, Bhattacharya S K and Gopalan K 1986b Climatic correlations in the stable isotope records of silver fir (Abies pindrow) trees from Kashmir India;Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 79 66–74
Ramesh R, Bhattacharya S K and Gopalan K 1988 Climatic significance of variations in the width and stable isotope ratios of tree rings; In:Science and Archaeology Glasgow 1987 (eds) E A Slater and J O Tate (BAR Oxford) BAR British Series196 591-609
Shackleton N J and Opdyke N D 1973 Oxygen isotope and palaeomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V 28–V 38: Oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 and 106 year scale;Quat. Res. 3 39–55
Straaten C M V 1981Deuterium in Organic Matter PhD Thesis, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Stuiver M and Braziunas T F 1987 Tree cellulose13C/12C isotope ratios and climatic change;Nature 328 58–60
Sweda T 1994 Dendroclimatological reconstruction for the last submillenium in Central Japan;Terrestrial Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences 5 (3) 431–442
Sweda T and Takeda S 1994 Construction of an 800 year longChamaecyparis dendrochronology for central Japan;Dendrochronologia 11 79–86
Tans P P and Mook W G 1980 Past atmospheric CO2 levels and the13C/12C ratios in tree rings;Tellus 32 268–283
Yadav R R, Park W K and Bhattacharyya A 1997 Dendroclimatic reconstruction of April May temperature fluctuations in the western Himalaya of India since AD 1698;Quat. Res. 48 187–191
Yapp C J and Epstein S 1982a A re-examination of cellulose carbon bound hydrogen δD measurements and some factors affecting plant-water D/H relationships;Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 46 955–965
Yapp C J and Epstein S 1982b Climatic significance of hydrogen isotope ratios in tree cellulose;Nature 297 636–639
Yapp C J and Epstein S 1985 Seasonal contributions to the climatic variations recorded in tree ring deuterium/hydrogen data;J. Geophys. Res. 90 3747–3752
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Baillie, M.G.L., Pilcher, J.R., Pollard, A.M. et al. Climatic significance of D/H and13C/12C ratios in Irish oak cellulose. J Earth Syst Sci 109, 117–127 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02719155
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02719155