- Title Information
- Title
- Development and Application of Lacustrine
Alkenone Paleothermometry in Southwestern Greenland
- Name:
Personal
- Name Part
- D'Andrea, William J
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- creator
- Origin Information
- Copyright Date
- 2009
- Physical Description
- Extent
- xix, 208 p.
- digitalOrigin
- born digital
- Note
- Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2009)
- Name:
Personal
- Name Part
- Huang, Yongsong
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- Director
- Name:
Personal
- Name Part
- Herbert, Timothy
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- Reader
- Name:
Personal
- Name Part
- Russell, Jim
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- Reader
- Name:
Personal
- Name Part
- Saal, Alberto
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- Reader
- Name:
Personal
- Name Part
- Oppo, Delia
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- Reader
- Name:
Corporate
- Name Part
- Brown University. Geological
Sciences
- Role
- Role Term:
Text
- sponsor
- Genre (aat)
- theses
- Abstract
- Alkenones are lipids produced by certain
haptophyte algae and are excellent sensors of temperature change. This
dissertation investigates the stable isotopic and organic geochemical
aspects of alkenones from brackish Greenlandic lakes and develops their
use as a paleothermometer. Alkenones are reported from brackish lakes
near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland and their distribution and δ13C
values are examined. Results indicate that 1) the Greenland alkenones
are most similar to those from lakes in Germany and Austria, suggesting
a common producer organism and 2) alkenone producers must either
fractionate CO2 to a greater extent than other algae or access a
13C-depleted carbon source. Haptophyte-specific ribosomal DNA (rDNA)
sequences from Greenlandic lake sediment and water samples are compared
with rDNA of known haptophytes, and demonstrate that the Greenlandic
alkenone producers represent a new taxon of haptophyte algae, and that
all Greenlandic lakes of the study contain the same haptophytes. A new
liquid chromatographic procedure is reported for separating alkenones
having the same carbon number but different degrees of unsaturation for
the purpose of compound-specific hydrogen isotopic analysis. δD
measurements on individual alkenones indicate that hydrogen isotopic
composition differs according to the degree of alkenone unsaturation.
This suggests it is preferable to make δD measurements on
individual alkenones, due to possible temperature-related effects on
"pooled" δD values and because measurements on individual alkenones
provide improved precision and accuracy. Temperature variability for the
past 6,000 years in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland is reconstructed by
applying alkenone paleotherrmometry to sediment cores from two lakes in
the region. Temperature in the Kangerlussuaq region appears to have been
controlled by changes in Meridional Overturning Circulation and the
extent of the North Polar Vortex on millennial timescales, while being
driven by variability in the North Atlantic Oscillation over centennial
timescales. The timing of major changes in Paleo-Eskimo, Norse and Inuit
occupation of Southwestern Greenland coincide with episodes of abrupt
temperature change revealed by the alkenone record, indicating that
climatic and environmental changes played a fundamental role in the
patterns of human migration in Greenland over the past 4,500
years.
- Subject
- Topic
- alkenone
- Subject
- Topic
- biomarker
- Subject
- Topic
- climate
- Subject
- Topic
- holocene
- Subject
- Topic
- paleoclimate
- Subject (FAST)
(authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/831950")
- Topic
- Biochemical markers
- Subject (FAST)
(authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/980232")
- Topic
- Isotopes
- Subject (FAST)
(authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/864281")
- Topic
- Climatology
- Subject (FAST)
(authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1353233")
- Topic
- Holocene Geologic Period
- Subject (FAST)
(authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/998940")
- Topic
- Limnology
- Subject (FAST)
(authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1051364")
- Topic
- Paleoclimatology
- Subject (FAST)
(authorityURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast", valueURI="http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1205290")
- Geographic
- Greenland
- Record Information
- Record Content Source (marcorg)
- RPB
- Record Creation Date
(encoding="iso8601")
- 20110926
- Language
- Language Term:
Code (ISO639-2B)
- eng
- Language Term:
Text
- English
- Identifier:
DOI
- 10.7301/Z0765CJX
- Access Condition:
rights statement
(href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/")
- In Copyright
- Access Condition:
restriction on access
- Collection is open for research.
- Type of Resource (primo)
- dissertations