Articles | Volume 15, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3223-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-3223-2018
Research article
 | 
31 May 2018
Research article |  | 31 May 2018

The triple oxygen isotope composition of phytoliths as a proxy of continental atmospheric humidity: insights from climate chamber and climate transect calibrations

Anne Alexandre, Amarelle Landais, Christine Vallet-Coulomb, Clément Piel, Sébastien Devidal, Sandrine Pauchet, Corinne Sonzogni, Martine Couapel, Marine Pasturel, Pauline Cornuault, Jingming Xin, Jean-Charles Mazur, Frédéric Prié, Ilhem Bentaleb, Elizabeth Webb, Françoise Chalié, and Jacques Roy

Related authors

A global compilation of diatom silica oxygen isotope records from lake sediment – trends and implications for climate reconstruction
Philip Meister, Anne Alexandre, Hannah Bailey, Philip Barker, Boris K. Biskaborn, Ellie Broadman, Rosine Cartier, Bernhard Chapligin, Martine Couapel, Jonathan R. Dean, Bernhard Diekmann, Poppy Harding, Andrew C. G. Henderson, Armand Hernandez, Ulrike Herzschuh, Svetlana S. Kostrova, Jack Lacey, Melanie J. Leng, Andreas Lücke, Anson W. Mackay, Eniko Katalin Magyari, Biljana Narancic, Cécile Porchier, Gunhild Rosqvist, Aldo Shemesh, Corinne Sonzogni, George E. A. Swann, Florence Sylvestre, and Hanno Meyer
Clim. Past, 20, 363–392, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-363-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-363-2024, 2024
Short summary
Examination of the parameters controlling the triple oxygen isotope composition of grass leaf water and phytoliths at a Mediterranean site: a model–data approach
Claudia Voigt, Anne Alexandre, Ilja M. Reiter, Jean-Philippe Orts, Christine Vallet-Coulomb, Clément Piel, Jean-Charles Mazur, Julie C. Aleman, Corinne Sonzogni, Helene Miche, and Jérôme Ogée
Biogeosciences, 20, 2161–2187, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2161-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2161-2023, 2023
Short summary
The triple oxygen isotope composition of phytoliths, a new proxy of atmospheric relative humidity: controls of soil water isotope composition, temperature, CO2 concentration and relative humidity
Clément Outrequin, Anne Alexandre, Christine Vallet-Coulomb, Clément Piel, Sébastien Devidal, Amaelle Landais, Martine Couapel, Jean-Charles Mazur, Christophe Peugeot, Monique Pierre, Frédéric Prié, Jacques Roy, Corinne Sonzogni, and Claudia Voigt
Clim. Past, 17, 1881–1902, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1881-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1881-2021, 2021
Short summary
Effects of leaf length and development stage on the triple oxygen isotope signature of grass leaf water and phytoliths: insights for a proxy of continental atmospheric humidity
Anne Alexandre, Elizabeth Webb, Amaelle Landais, Clément Piel, Sébastien Devidal, Corinne Sonzogni, Martine Couapel, Jean-Charles Mazur, Monique Pierre, Frédéric Prié, Christine Vallet-Coulomb, Clément Outrequin, and Jacques Roy
Biogeosciences, 16, 4613–4625, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4613-2019,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4613-2019, 2019
Short summary
Diatom-oxygen isotope record from high-altitude Lake Petit (2200 m a.s.l.) in the Mediterranean Alps: shedding light on a climatic pulse at 4.2 ka
Rosine Cartier, Florence Sylvestre, Christine Paillès, Corinne Sonzogni, Martine Couapel, Anne Alexandre, Jean-Charles Mazur, Elodie Brisset, Cécile Miramont, and Frédéric Guiter
Clim. Past, 15, 253–263, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-253-2019,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-253-2019, 2019
Short summary

Related subject area

Biogeochemistry: Stable Isotopes & Other Tracers
Climatic controls on leaf wax hydrogen isotope ratios in terrestrial and marine sediments along a hyperarid-to-humid gradient
Nestor Gaviria-Lugo, Charlotte Läuchli, Hella Wittmann, Anne Bernhardt, Patrick Frings, Mahyar Mohtadi, Oliver Rach, and Dirk Sachse
Biogeosciences, 20, 4433–4453, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4433-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4433-2023, 2023
Short summary
Fractionation of stable carbon isotopes during microbial propionate consumption in anoxic rice paddy soils
Ralf Conrad and Peter Claus
Biogeosciences, 20, 3625–3635, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3625-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3625-2023, 2023
Short summary
Sources and sinks of carbonyl sulfide inferred from tower and mobile atmospheric observations in the Netherlands
Alessandro Zanchetta, Linda M. J. Kooijmans, Steven van Heuven, Andrea Scifo, Hubertus A. Scheeren, Ivan Mammarella, Ute Karstens, Jin Ma, Maarten Krol, and Huilin Chen
Biogeosciences, 20, 3539–3553, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3539-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3539-2023, 2023
Short summary
Downpour dynamics: outsized impacts of storm events on unprocessed atmospheric nitrate export in an urban watershed
Joel T. Bostic, David M. Nelson, and Keith N. Eshleman
Biogeosciences, 20, 2485–2498, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2485-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2485-2023, 2023
Short summary
The hidden role of dissolved organic carbon in the biogeochemical cycle of carbon in modern redox-stratified lakes
Robin Havas, Christophe Thomazo, Miguel Iniesto, Didier Jézéquel, David Moreira, Rosaluz Tavera, Jeanne Caumartin, Elodie Muller, Purificación López-García, and Karim Benzerara
Biogeosciences, 20, 2405–2424, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2405-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-2405-2023, 2023
Short summary

Cited articles

Affolter, S., Häuselmann, A. D., Fleitmann, D., Häuselmann, P., and Leuenberger, M.: Triple isotope (δD, δ17O, δ18O) study on precipitation, drip water and speleothem fluid inclusions for a Western Central European cave (NW Switzerland), Quat. Sci. Rev., 127, 73–89, 2015. 
Aleman, J., Leys, B., Apema, R., Bentaleb, I., Dubois, M. A., Lamba, B., Lebamba, J., Martin, C., Ngomanda, A., Truc, L., et al.: Reconstructing savanna tree cover from pollen, phytoliths and stable carbon isotopes, J. Veg. Sci., 23, 187–197, 2012. 
Alexandre, A. and Brémond, L.: Comment on the paper in Quaternary International: “Methodological concerns for analysis of phytolith assemblages: Does count size matter?” (C.A.E. Strömberg), Quat. Int., 193, 141–142, 2009. 
Alexandre, A., Meunier, J.-D., Colin, F., and Koud, J.-M.: Plant impact on the biogeochemical cycle of silicon and related weathering processes, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 61, 677–682, 1997. 
Alexandre, A., Crespin, J., Sylvestre, F., Sonzogni, C., and Hilbert, D. W.: The oxygen isotopic composition of phytolith assemblages from tropical rainforest soil tops (Queensland, Australia): validation of a new paleoenvironmental tool, Clim. Past, 8, 307–324, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-307-2012, 2012. 
Download
Short summary
There is a lack of proxies suitable for reconstructing, in a quantitative way, past changes in continental atmospheric humidity, which is a key climate parameter. Here, we demonstrate through climate chamber and climate transect calibrations that the triple oxygen isotope composition of phytoliths offers a potential for reconstructing changes in relative humidity.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint