Nasser M. Al-Qattan
Jason A. Rech
Jeffrey S. Pigati
Justin P. Dodd
Jeffrey C. Nekola
Yurena Yanes
2019
<p><span>Continental paleoclimate proxies with near-global coverage are rare. Land snail δ</span><span class="sup">18</span><span>O 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 δ</span><span class="sup">18</span><span>O 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 δ</span><span class="sup">18</span><span>O at a coarse scale. This transect is augmented by published δ</span><span class="sup">18</span><span>O values, which expand our coverage from Jamaica (18°N) to Alaska (64°N). Results indicate that shell δ</span><span class="sup">18</span><span>O primarily tracks the average annual precipitation δ</span><span class="sup">18</span><span>O. Shell δ</span><span class="sup">18</span><span>O increases 0.5–0.7‰ for every 1‰ increase in precipitation δ</span><span class="sup">18</span><span>O, 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 δ</span><span class="sup">18</span><span>O observed on a continental scale remains significant.</span></p>
application/pdf
10.1017/qua.2018.79
en
Cambridge University Press
Overview of the oxygen isotope systematics of land snails from North America
article