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Carbon and oxygen stable isotope compositions of late Pleistocene mammal teeth from dolines of Ajoie (Northwestern Switzerland)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Laureline Scherler ,
Thomas Tütken  and
Damien Becker
Laureline Scherler*
Affiliation:
Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, Place Eugène Bataillon, Université de Montpellier 2, F-34095 Montpellier, France Paléontologie A16, Office de la Culture, République et Canton du Jura, Hôtel des Halles, CH-2900 Porrentruy, Switzerland
Thomas Tütken
Affiliation:
Institut für Geowissenschaften, AG für Angewandte und Analytische Paläontologie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, J.-J.-Becher-Weg 21, D-55099 Mainz, Germany
Damien Becker
Affiliation:
JURASSICA Muséum, Route de Fontenais 21, CH-2900 Porrentruy, Switzerland
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:laureline.scherler@net2000.ch (L. Scherler), tuetken@uni-mainz.de (T. Tütken), damien.becker@jura.ch(D. Becker).
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Abstract

Fossils of megaherbivores from eight late Pleistocene 14C- and OSL-dated doline infillings of Ajoie (NW Switzerland) were discovered along the Transjurane highway in the Swiss Jura. Carbon and oxygen analyses of enamel were performed on forty-six teeth of large mammals (Equus germanicus, Mammuthus primigenius, Coelodonta antiquitatis, and Bison priscus), coming from one doline in Boncourt (~ 80 ka, marine oxygen isotope stage MIS5a) and seven in Courtedoux (51–27 ka, late MIS3), in order to reconstruct the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental conditions of the region. Similar enamel δ13C values for both periods, ranging from − 14.5 to − 9.2‰, indicate that the megaherbivores lived in a C3 plant-dominated environment. Enamel δ18OPO4 values range from 10.9 to 16.3‰ with a mean of 13.5 ± 1.0‰ (n = 46). Mean air temperatures (MATs) were inferred using species-specific δ18OPO4–δ18OH2O-calibrations for modern mammals and a present-day precipitation δ18OH2O-MAT relation for Switzerland. Similar average MATs of 6.6 ± 3.6°C for the deposits dated to ~ 80 ka and 6.5 ± 3.3°C for those dated to the interval 51–27 ka were estimated. This suggests that these mammals in the Ajoie area lived in mild periods of the late Pleistocene with MATs only about 2.5°C lower than modern-day temperatures.

Keywords

MegaherbivoresTooth enamelEarly GlacialMiddle PleniglacialPaleoenvironmentPaleoclimatePaleodiet
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 82 , Issue 2 , September 2014 , pp. 378 - 387
Copyright
University of Washington

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