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SOIL EROSION CAUSED THE INCREASING HOLOCENE RADIOCARBON RESERVOIR EFFECT OF LAKE KANAS IN THE ALTAI MOUNTAINS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2023

Huihui Cao Open the ORCID record for Huihui Cao [Opens in a new window] ,
Xiaozhong Huang  and
Lixiong Xiang
Huihui Cao
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental System (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Xiaozhong Huang*
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental System (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Lixiong Xiang
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental System (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
*
*Corresponding author. Email: xzhuang@lzu.edu.cn
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Abstract

Radiocarbon (14C) dating of the total organic carbon (TOC) content of lacustrine sediments is always affected by a 14C reservoir effect and the 14C dates are often systematically older than the true ages. However, there are few studies of the temporal changes of the 14C reservoir effect, with reference to the specific influencing factors. We collected TOC samples from the Holocene sediments of Lake Kanas, in the southern Altai Mountains, for AMS 14C dating and compared the results with AMS 14C ages based on terrestrial plant macrofossils from the same depths. The results show that the reservoir ages progressively increased from ∼0 to ∼2800 yr between ∼9700 cal BP and ∼530 cal BP. As the lake catchment was glaciated prior to the Holocene, and Holocene soils and peats are the main sources of the TOC in the lake sediments, we argue that soil erosion is the major factor contributing to the progressive increase in the reservoir age. Based on previously reported evidence for increasing moisture in central Asia and glacier advances in the mid-to-late Holocene, we suggest that the intensified soil erosion on the hillslopes was caused by increased precipitation during the mid-to-late Holocene and by anthropogenic forest clearance after 1500 cal BP.

Keywords

14C reservoir effectKanas Lakelacustrine sedimentsradiocarbon datingsoil erosion
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 65 , Issue 2 , April 2023 , pp. 343 - 356
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press for the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

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