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A re-evaluation of the average chain length of lacustrine sedimentary n-alkanes as a paleoproxy on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

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Abstract

Long-chain n-alkanes are one of the most common organic compounds in terrestrial plants and they are well-preserved in various geological archives. nalkanes are relatively resistant to degradation and thus they can provide high-fidelity records of past vegetation and climate changes. Nevertheless, previous studies have shown that the interpretation of n-alkane proxies, such as the average chain length (ACL), is often ambiguous since this proxy depends on more than one variable. Both vegetation and climate could exert controls on the n-alkane ACL, and hence its interpretation requires careful consideration, especially in regions like the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) where topography, biome type and moisture source are highly variable. To further evaluate the influences of vegetation and climate on the ACL in highelevation lakes, we examined the n-alkane distributions of the surface sediments of 55 lakes across the QTP. Our results show that the ACL across a climatic gradient is significantly affected by precipitation, rather than by temperature. The positive correlation between ACL and precipitation may be because of the effect of microbial degradation during deposition. Finally, we suggest that more caution is needed in the interpretation of ACL data in different regions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mr. Mohammad Ali Salik from the Biomarkers for Environmental and Climate Science (BECS) research group at the University of Glasgow for assistance with laboratory techniques and equipment, Dr. Feng Qin for discussion of the vegetation information extraction, Dr. Yan Yan for discussion of n-alkanes, and Dr. Jan Bloemendal for English language improvement. We are especially grateful to Prof. Xianyu Huang and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful suggestions and advice for improving the manuscript. This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42171159) and the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP) (No. 2019QZKK0601). Financial support to Mingda Wang for a one-year visit to the University of Glasgow from the Chinese Academy of Sciences is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China

    Mingda Wang & Qin Li

  2. Alpine Paleoecology and Human Adaptation (ALPHA) Group, State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Mingda Wang & Juzhi Hou

  3. School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK

    Mingda Wang, Jaime Toney & David Henderson

  4. CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Juzhi Hou

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  1. Mingda Wang
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  2. Qin Li
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Correspondence to Mingda Wang or Qin Li.

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Wang, M., Li, Q., Toney, J. et al. A re-evaluation of the average chain length of lacustrine sedimentary n-alkanes as a paleoproxy on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Front. Earth Sci. 17, 905–919 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-022-1084-0

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