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Relationship Between Climate and Vegetation and the Stable Carbon Isotope Chemistry of Soils in the Eastern Mojave Desert, Nevada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Ronald G. Amundson ,
Oliver A. Chadwick ,
Janet M. Sowers  and
Harvey E. Doner
Ronald G. Amundson
Affiliation:
Department of Plant and Soil Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 USA
Oliver A. Chadwick
Affiliation:
Department of Plant and Soil Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 USA
Janet M. Sowers
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 USA
Harvey E. Doner
Affiliation:
Department of Plant and Soil Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 USA
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Abstract

The relationship between the stable C-isotope composition of the soil environment and modern climate and vegetation was determined empirically along a present-day climatic transect in the eastern Mojave Desert. The δ13C of the soil CO2 and carbonates decreased with increasing elevation and plant density, even though plant assemblages at all elevations were isotopically similar. Several factors, including differences in the ratios of pedogenic of limestone calcite and differences in past vegetation, were considered as explanations of this trend, However, it appears that in the sparsely vegetated Mojave Desert, the δ13C of pedogenic carbonate is controlled by differences in plant density and biological activity. This relationship may provide a tool for assessing past vegetational densities, as long as the vegetation is isotopically homogeneous.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , May 1988 , pp. 245 - 254
Copyright
University of Washington

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