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Overview of the oxygen isotope systematics of land snails from North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2018

Yurena Yanes ,
Nasser M. Al-Qattan ,
Jason A. Rech ,
Jeffrey S. Pigati ,
Justin P. Dodd  and
Jeffrey C. Nekola
Yurena Yanes*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221, USA
Nasser M. Al-Qattan
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA
Jason A. Rech
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA
Jeffrey S. Pigati
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225, USA
Justin P. Dodd
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA
Jeffrey C. Nekola
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, 167 Castetter Hall, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221, USA. E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Yanes).
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Abstract

Continental paleoclimate proxies with near-global coverage are rare. Land snail δ18O is one of the few proxies abundant in Quaternary sediments ranging from the tropics to the high Arctic tundra. However, its application in paleoclimatology remains difficult, attributable in part to limitations in published calibration studies. Here we present shell δ18O of modern small (<10 mm) snails across North America, from Florida (30°N) to Manitoba (58°N), to examine the main climatic controls on shell δ18O at a coarse scale. This transect is augmented by published δ18O values, which expand our coverage from Jamaica (18°N) to Alaska (64°N). Results indicate that shell δ18O primarily tracks the average annual precipitation δ18O. Shell δ18O increases 0.5–0.7‰ for every 1‰ increase in precipitation δ18O, and 0.3–0.7‰ for every 1°C increase in temperature. These relationships hold true when all taxa are included regardless of body size (ranging from ~1.6 to ~58 mm), ecology (herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores), or behavior (variable seasonal active periods and mobility habits). Future isotopic investigations should include calibration studies in tropical and high-latitude settings, arid environments, and along altitudinal gradients to test if the near linear relationship between shell and meteoric precipitation δ18O observed on a continental scale remains significant.

Keywords

Oxygen stable isotopesLand snailsLatitudinal transectPrecipitation proxyNorth America
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 91 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 329 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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