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Isotopic Evidence of Holocene Climatic Change in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Irving Friedman ,
Paul Carrara  and
Jim Gleason
Irving Friedman
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, DFC, MS 963, Denver, Colorado 80225, USA
Paul Carrara
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, DFC, MS 913, Denver, Colorado 80225 USA
Jim Gleason
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, DFC, MS 963, Denver, Colorado 80225, USA
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Abstract

The δD of cellulose from 14C-dated wood, collected in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, decreased by about 45‰ from 9600 to 3100 yr B.P. and an additional 25‰ to the present. The wood samples are from trees that grew above present-day tree line and reflect a time of warmer average summer temperatures. These changes in δD are interpreted to indicate a major change during the Holocene in the sources of moisture, in the seasonality of precipitation, or in both.

Type
Short Paper
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , November 1988 , pp. 350 - 353
Copyright
University of Washington

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