Lyell Collection
Journal of the Geological Society
Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help

Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by BEERLING, D. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Journal of the Geological Society; 1997; v. 154; issue.2; p. 303-309;
DOI: 10.1144/gsjgs.154.2.0303
© 1997 Geological Society of London

Article

Interpreting environmental and biological signals from the stable carbon isotope composition of fossilized organic and inorganic carbon

D. J. BEERLING

Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK

Stable carbon isotope studies on marine and terrestrial organic and inorganic carbon provide a means for detecting global climate change and for reconstructing past concentrations of atmospheric CO2. Comparison between the CO2 estimates reconstructed from carbon isotope studies for the past 150Ma show good agreement with the predictions of a long-term carbon-cycle model based on mass-balance studies. Further, the CO2 estimates from these sources over the entire Phanerozoic show agreement with the fossil record of leaf stomatal density change—a feature inversely related to the concentration of atmospheric CO2. Isotopic studies on temporal sequences of fossilized terrestrial organic matter have contributed to palaeoecological studies on shifts in the dominance of plants with the C4 photosynthetic pathway in ecosystems and historical changes in the metabolic processes of leaves of individual species. The long-term perspective offered by these studies provides critical information for assessing the responses of biological systems to future global environmental change.


Keywords: stable isotopes, carbon, carbon dioxide, photosynthesis, palaeosols.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 The HoloceneHome page
M. Rundgren, N. J. Loader, and D. J. Beerling
Variations in the carbon isotope composition of late-Holocene plant macrofossils: a comparison of whole-leaf and cellulose trends
The Holocene, 2000; 10: 149 - 154.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Journal of the Geological SocietyHome page
D. J. BEERLING and D. W. JOLLEY
Fossil plants record an atmospheric 12CO2 and temperature spike across the Palaeocene-Eocene transition in NW Europe
Journal of the Geological Society, 1998; 155: 591 - 594.
[Abstract] [PDF]