Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-thh2z Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-18T11:05:20.800Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Alternative Kinetic Models for the Interpretation of Amino Acid Enantiomeric ratios in Pleistocene Mollusks: Examples from California, Washington, and Florida

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John F. Wehmiller  and
Daniel F. Belknap
John F. Wehmiller
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19711
Daniel F. Belknap
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19711
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Alternative kinetic models for amino acid racemization in Pleistocene molluscan samples are compared by examination of results for samples from marine Pleistocene deposits in California, Washington, and Florida. Linear kinetic models previously have been applied to the Florida samples [ Mitterer, R.M. (1975). Earth and Planetary Science Letters 28 , 275–282.] because these kinetics were observed in laboratory pyrolysis experiments with the particular genus involved (Mercenaria). Nonlinear kinetic models, extrapolated from deep-sea foraminifera racemization kinetics, are applied to samples of Protothaca and Saxidomus from California and Washington and seem more consistent with their local chronologic and stratigraphic control. Average or effective diagenetic temperatures can be estimated by each of these models if reliably dated samples are available. Linear models applied to such samples from California and Florida suggest average diagenetic temperatures that are cooler (by as much as 10°C) than would be inferred from available paleoclimatic records. Nonlinear kinetic models yield estimates of average diagenetic temperatures that are more consistent with these records: full-glacial (i.e., approximately 18,000 yr BP) temperature reductions of between 2 and 6°C are inferred for coastal California and southern Florida. The nonlinear kinetic model is used to expand (by a factor of 2.5 to 3.0) the time scale proposed by Mitterer (1975) for five marine Pleistocene units of Florida.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , May 1978 , pp. 330 - 348
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bada, J.L., 1971. Kinetics of non-biological decomposition and racemization of amino acids in natural waters. American Chemical Society Advances in Chemistry Series. 106, 309 331.Google Scholar
Bada, J.L., Luyendyk, B.P., Maynard, J.B., 1970. Marine sediments: Dating by the racemization of amino acids. Science. 170, 730 732.Google Scholar
Bada, J.L., Schroeder, R.A., 1972. Racemization of isoleucine in calcareous marine sediments: Kinetics and mechanism. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 15, 1 11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bada, J.L., Schroeder, R.A., 1975. Amino acid racemization reactions and their geochemical implications. Naturwissenschaften. 62, 71 79.Google Scholar
Bender, M.L., 1973. Helium-uranium dating of corals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 37, 1229 1247.Google Scholar
Bloom, A.L., Broecker, W.S., Chappell, J.M.A., Matthews, R.K., Mesolella, K.J., 1974. Quaternary sea level fluctuations on a tectonic coast: New Th230/U234 dates from the Huon Peninsula, New Guinea. Quaternary Research. 4, 185 205.Google Scholar
1976. CLIMAP . The surface of the ice-age earth. Science. 191, 1131 1137.Google Scholar
DuBar, J.R., 1974. Summary of the Neogene stratigraphy of southern Florida. Oaks, R.Q., DuBar, J.R., Post-Miocene Stratigraphy, Central and Southern Atlantic Coastal Plain. Utah State Univ. Press, Logan, Utah, 206 231.Google Scholar
Dungworth, G., 1976. Optical configuration and the racemization of amino acids in sediments and fossils—A review. Chemical Geology. 17, 135 153.Google Scholar
Easterbrook, D.J., 1969. Pleistocene chronology of the Puget lowland and San Juan Islands, Washington. Geological Society of American Bulletin. 80, 2273 2286.Google Scholar
Gates, W.L., 1976. Modelling the ice-age climate. Science. 191, 1138 1144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hare, P.E., 1971. The effect of hydrolysis on racemization rate. Carnegie Institute of Washington Yearbook. 70, 256 258.Google Scholar
Hare, P.E., Hoering, T.C., 1973. Separation of amino acid optical isomers by gas chromatography. Carnegie Institute of Washington Yearbook. 72, 1138 1144.Google Scholar
Kennedy, G.L., 1975. Paleontologic record of areas adjacent to the Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbors, Los Angeles County, Calif. Soule, D.F., Oguri, M., Marine Studies of San Pedro Bay, California. Univ. of Southern California Sea Grant Publication USC-SG-4-75. part 9.Google Scholar
King, K., Hare, P.E., 1972. Species effects on the epimerization of isoleucine in fossil planktonic foraminifera. Carnegie Institute of Washington Yearbook. 71, 596 598.Google Scholar
King, K., Neville, C., 1977. Isoleucine epimerization for dating of marine sediments: Importance of analyzing monospecific foraminiferal samples. Science. 195, 1333 1335.Google Scholar
Ku, T.L., Kern, J.P., 1974. Uranium-series age of the Upper Pleistocene Nestor Terrace, San Diego, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 85, 1713 1716.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kvenvolden, K.A., Peterson, E., Wehmiller, J.F., Hare, P.E., 1973. Racemization of amino acids in marine sediments determined by gas chromatography. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 37, 2215 2225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masters, P.M., Bada, J.L., 1977. Racemization of isoleucine in fossil mollusks from Indian middens and interglacial terraces in southern California. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 37, 173 183.Google Scholar
Mitterer, R.M., 1974. Pleistocene stratigraphy in southern Florida based on amino acid diagenesis in fossil Mercenaria . Geology. 2, 425 428.Google Scholar
Mitterer, R.M., 1975. Ages and diagenetic temperatures of Pleistocene deposits of Florida based on isoleucine epimerization in Mercenaria . Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 28, 275 282.Google Scholar
Mitterer, R.M., 1976. Pleistocene stratigraphy, geochronology, and pelotemperatures based upon amino acid diagenesis. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs. 8, 6 1014.Google Scholar
Perkins, R.D., 1974. Discontinuity surfaces as a stratigraphic tool: The Pleistocene of south Florida. Abstracts with Programs, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting. 6, 908.Google Scholar
Schroeder, R.A., Bada, J.L., 1973. Glacial-postglacial temperature difference deduced from aspartic acid racemization in fossil bones. Science. 182, 479 482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schroeder, R.A., Bada, J.L., 1976. A review of the geochemical applications of the amino acid racemization reaction. Earth Science Reviews. 12, 347 391.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Opdyke, N.D., 1973. Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V23-238: Oxygen isotope temperatures of a 105 year and 106 year scale. Quarternary Research. 3, 39 55.Google Scholar
Szabo, B.J., Vedder, J.G., 1971. Uranium series dating of some Pleistocene marine deposits in southern California. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 11, 283 290.Google Scholar
Valentine, J.W., Lipps, J.H., 1967. Late Cenozoic history of the southern California islands. Philbrick, R.N., Proceedings of the Symposium on Biology of the California Islands. Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Santa Barbara, California, 21 35.Google Scholar
Valentine, J.W., Veeh, H.H., 1969. Radiometric ages of Pleistocene terraces from San Nicolas Island, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 80, 1415 1418.Google Scholar
Vedder, J.G., Norris, R.M., 1963 Geology of San Nicolas Island, California. 1 65 U.S. Geological Survey professional Paper 369.Google Scholar
Veeh, H.H., Valentine, J.W., 1967. Radiometric ages of Pleistocene fossils from Cayucos, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 78, 547 550.Google Scholar
Wehmiller , J. F., (in press).Amino acid analyses of shells from the Del Mar, California, midden site: Apparent rate constants, ground temperature models, and chronological implications. . Earth and Planetary Science Letters . 37, , 184–196..Google Scholar
Wehmiller, J.F., 1971. Amino acid diagenesis in fossil calcareous organisms. Ph.D. Thesis. Columbia Univ, New York, 1 329.Google Scholar
Wehmiller, J.F., Hare, P.E., 1971. Racemization of amino acids in marine sediments. Science. 173, 907 911.Google Scholar
Wehmiller, J.F., Hare, P.E., Kujala, G.A., 1976. Amino acids in fossil corals: Racemization (epimerization) reactions and their implications for diagenetic models and geochronological studies. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 40, 763 776.Google Scholar
Wehmiller, J.F., Lajoie, K.R., Kvenvolden, K.A., Peterson, E., Belknap, D.F., Kennedy, G.L., Addicott, W.O., Vedder, J.G., Wright, R.W., 1977. Correlation and chronology of Pacific coast marine terrace deposits of continental United States by fossil amino acid stereochemistry—technique evaluation, relative ages, kinetic model ages, and geologic implications. U. S. Geological Survey Open File Report No. 77-680. 1 106.Google Scholar
Woodring, W.P., Bramlette, M.N., Kew, W.S., 1946 Geology and Paleontology of the Palos Verdes Hills, California. 1 145 U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 207.Google Scholar