The relationship of plant leaf 613Cn-alkanes and salinity in coastal ecosystems applied to palaeobotany: Case study from the Cenomanian of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin, Czechia

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F24%3A10492181" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/24:10492181 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=d_8k-nABqU" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=d_8k-nABqU</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112052" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112052</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

The relationship of plant leaf 613Cn-alkanes and salinity in coastal ecosystems applied to palaeobotany: Case study from the Cenomanian of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin, Czechia

Original language description

Stable carbon isotopes in fossil leaf cuticles (n-alkanes, 613Cn-alkanes) extracted from the sediment are widely used for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. This approach relies on a series of assumptions (such as the plantgroup -specific isotopic range, or the atmospheric CO2 being the major factor for the isotopic values) and leaves out the complexity of the carbon isotope fractionation within the plant through time, space, and different environments. The leaf cuticle is a unique archive of local environmental conditions, which has the potential to constrain individual plant habitat. To explore the applicability of the information gained from the 613Cn-alkanes from fossil plants, a fossil coastal environment was studied. During the Cenomanian (100.5-93.9 Ma), the basal part of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin, including locality Pecfnov (Czechia), was formed as a result of sea transgression to the Palaeozoic Bohemian Massif triggered by the Alpine orogenesis. Coastal halophytic vegetation growing in this zone of prograding sea has no extant equivalent, and there are uncertainties associated with vegetation distribution or individual taxa habitat. Therefore, we examine the relationship between 613Cn-alkanes extracted from individual leaves of coastal C3 plants (fossil and modern) and osmotic stress (salinity and drought) to reconstruct the individual plant habitat, thus, vegetation distribution in the coastal zone. We investigated modern mangrove and salt marsh vegetation in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, respectively, as well as transition zones (mangrove invading original salt marshes) for 613C, soil moisture and salinity to build a calibration of the relationship, which is then applied to the Cenomanian fossil leaves from the locality of Pecfnov. We found a positive correlation between water stress (caused by salinity or drought) and the 613C values of n -C25, n -C27, n -C29 and n -C31 alkanes when combining all species from all modern localities. However, the absence of a strong correlation within individual species suggests a combination of several factors controlling the carbon isotopic composition. Nevertheless, the general response of 613C to osmotic stress can be applied to compare the habitat of modern and fossil coastal plants. Thus, by using this relationship, we reconstructed the relative salinity and water stress of individual species of the Cenomanian plants by relating them to modern species -specific ranges of n -C29 isotopic signatures. We showed that the 613Cn-alkanes of fossil plant cuticles/leaves can be a valuable tool in the reconstruction of plant habitat and help us understand evolution of fossil environments in time and space. Additionally, our data further confirm that the 613C acquired from plants should be used with caution when reconstructing global atmospheric CO2 because the osmotic stress can shift the 613C in plants growing in terrestrial environments, particularly in coastal sea -influenced ecosystems.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10505 - Geology

Project

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Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach<br>I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

ISSN

0031-0182

e-ISSN

1872-616X

Volume of the periodical

638

Issue of the periodical within the volume

March 2025

Country of publishing house

NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS

Number of pages

15

Pages from-to

112052

UT code for WoS article

001178527300001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85183628149