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 Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
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 Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
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 Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Large, D. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Journal of the Geological Society; 2007; v. 164; issue.6; p. 1233-1240;
DOI: 10.1144/0016-76492006-148
© 2007 Geological Society of London

Original Article

A 1.16 Ma record of carbon accumulation in western European peatland during the Oligocene from the Ballymoney lignite, Northern Ireland

David J. Large

School of Chemical Environmental and Mining Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK (e-mail: david.large{at}nottingham.ac.uk)

The Oligocene Ballymoney lignite in Northern Ireland is one of the thickest lignites in Europe and provides the potential for comparing Holocene and pre-Holocene peatland evolution and its response to long-term climate change on time scales much greater than 10 ka. Samples were collected from 50 m of lignite and analysed for {delta}13C. Spectral analysis of the {delta}13C record reveals that the record contains significant frequencies at 0.21 m–1 and 1.12 m–1. These cycles are interpreted as the c. 100 ka eccentricity and 20 ka precession cycles, respectively. These cycles were then tuned and the duration was determined as 1.16 Ma with a carbon accumulation rate of 27 g C m–2 a–1. If long-term changes in lignite {delta}13C are related to changes in the {delta}13C of the exogenic carbon reservoir, and if the lignite Chattian age is accepted, then the lignite probably formed between 24.6 and 25.8 Ma. Comparison of the estimated carbon accumulation rate with other Cenozoic peatland carbon accumulation rates indicates that this rate appears to be insensitive to changes in the concentration of atmospheric CO2.