Stable Isotope Studies of the Water Cycle and Terrestrial Environments

This volume is devoted to Earth surface environmental reconstructions and environmental changes that may be deciphered and modelled using stable isotopes along with mineralogical/chemical, sedimentological, palaeontological/biological and climatological methodologies. The book is divided into two sections, both using stable isotopes (δD, δ18O, δ13C, d15N, δ34S, clumped isotopes Δ47) in various samples and phases as the main research tool. The first section is devoted to studies focusing on the distribution of isotopes in precipitation, groundwater, lakes, rivers, springs, tap water, mine water and their relationship with terrestrial environments at regional to continental scale. In relation to this, the second section includes case studies from a range of continental settings, investigating cave deposits (stalagmites, bat guano), animal skeletons (dinosaurs, alligators, turtles, bivalves), present and past soils (palaeosols) and limestones. The sections focus on the interaction between the surficial water cycle and underground water storage with deposits acting as archives of short- to long-term climatic and environmental changes. Examples from the Early Cretaceous to present time come from Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America.
Multiproxy approaches to investigating palaeoecology and palaeohydrology in the Upper Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation, USA
Correspondence: daigo629@gmail.com
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Published:October 28, 2021
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CiteCitation
Daigo Yamamura, Celina A. Suarez, Alan L. Titus, Hunter M. Manlove, Thea Jackson, 2021. "Multiproxy approaches to investigating palaeoecology and palaeohydrology in the Upper Cretaceous Kaiparowits Formation, USA", Stable Isotope Studies of the Water Cycle and Terrestrial Environments, A.-V. Bojar, A. Pelc, C. Lécuyer
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Abstract
The Late Campanian-aged Kaiparowits Formation (72.5–76.6 Ma) is a thick, fossiliferous fluvio-overbank–lacustrine complex deposited in south-central Utah. Host to one of the richest, most diverse Campanian terrestrial fossil records in North America, the physical environment of the Kaiparowits ecosystem, particularly the dynamics of the hydrological system, remains obscure. In 2014, an extensive bonebed was found in a conglomeratic sandstone unit of fluvial origin, known as the Rainbows and Unicorns Quarry. Isotopic compositions of serially sampled tooth enamel phosphate (δ18Op) from tyrannosaur teeth were analysed to see if they held data that could clarify the palaeohydrology of the Kaiparowits Formation. To assess a greater palaeoecological context for the tyrannosaurs, the isotopic composition of their teeth was compared to other faunal elements, including the giant alligatoroid Deinosuchus, and turtles (Baenid, Gilmoremys, Neurankylus and Trionychid) from the same quarry. The δ18Ow calculated from tyrannosaur was low, suggesting that isotopically-light, high-altitude runoff strongly influenced the local hydrology of the Kaiparowtis Formation. The seasonal change in δ18O of tyrannosaur drinking water ranged from −21.0 to −14.4‰ V-SMOW, while δ18Ow calculated from turtles and crocodiles ranged between an average of −9.3 and −10.9‰, respectively. The seasonal precipitation pattern and temperature of the Kaiparowits Formation was then compared to analogue settings, such as the monsoonal climate of Hanoi, Vietnam and Cuiaba, Brazil. While similarities exist between these sites, the unique configuration of the Sevier Mountains adjacent to the nearby Western Interior Seaway provides the unique setting for a complex palaeohydrological system that results in a wide range of δ18Ow as a result of cold seasonal precipitation at high elevation that runs off and mixes with local precipitation (−6.0 to −4.68‰) sourced from the Western Interior Seaway. This study demonstrates the importance of serial- and micro-sampling of multi-taxa comparisons for isotopic investigations of palaeohydrological systems.
- alteration
- Archosauria
- Asia
- Brazil
- C-13/C-12
- carbon
- Chordata
- Coelurosauria
- Cretaceous
- Crocodilia
- depositional environment
- diagenesis
- Diapsida
- dinosaurs
- Far East
- fossil record
- isotope ratios
- isotopes
- Kaiparowits Formation
- Mesozoic
- modern analogs
- North America
- O-18/O-16
- oxygen
- paleoecology
- paleohydrology
- paleotemperature
- Reptilia
- Saurischia
- seasonal variations
- shells
- South America
- stable isotopes
- teeth
- Tetrapoda
- Theropoda
- Tyrannosauridae
- Tyrannosaurus
- United States
- Upper Cretaceous
- Utah
- Vertebrata
- Vietnam
- Western Interior
- Western Interior Seaway
- Deinosuchus
- Hanoi Vietnam
- Cuiaba Brazil