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A 2500 years deglacial record of paleo-vegetation over a cave of southern India as inferred from carbon isotopes of stalagmite

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Abstract

Carbon isotopes of stalagmites are influenced by various factors operating in a cave, like evaporation, vegetation, drip rate and changes in partial pressure of carbon-di-oxide (pCO2) inside and around a cave system. Consequently, interpretation of δ13C record becomes a bit complicated. However, the vegetation changes at a given cave location are generally considered as the dominating factor influencing δ13C values of a stalagmite. The δ13C records can provide useful information regarding changes in the class of vegetation over a cave due to dissimilar pathways of photosynthesis linking C3 and C4 vegetation. Here we present a high-resolution δ13C record from a 180 mm long VSPM1 stalagmite collected from the Valmiki cave in Kurnool district of southern India. This study is mainly based on high-resolution δ13C measurements of 263 subsamples. The data has been used to infer vegetation and climatic variations for the last deglacial period starting from 15,607 to 13,161 years BP. The StalAge modelling was employed on eight U–Th dates to reconstruct the age model of the stalagmite sample. The stalagmite grew at the rate of 0.07 mm per year with varying growth rate from around 0.03 to 0.8 mm per year. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals absolute aragonite mineralogy of the sample. The record exhibits a weak positive relationship between δ13C and δ18O values. The main factors influencing δ13C values were associated with local hydroclimate. The δ13C record suggests vital evidence of rapid alterations in vegetation changes from ~15,607 to 13,161 yr BP. A major shift in vegetation activity occurred from 15,607 to 15,105 yr BP with an episode of highly poor vegetation cover around 15,460 yr BP, followed by a gradual decline in vegetation conditions between 15,105 and 14,722 yr BP.

Research highlights

  • This study reveals importance of stable carbon isotopes in stalagmites to understand regional hydroclimate and paleo-vegetation changes.

  • The δ13C record from a stalagmite sample of Valmiki cave located in South India indicates rapid vegetational changes controlled mainly by ISM variability during the last deglacial period.

  • Three major phases have been observed; first a wet period from 15,607 to 15,105 yr BP, followed by a dry period between 15,105 and 14,722 yr BP and finally another wet event from 14,722 to 13,161 yr BP.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to Director, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad. The first author is thankful to colleagues at Geochronology and Isotope Studies group, CSIR-NGRI for their support. We are also grateful to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for providing analytical facilities. The first author is also obliged to High-Precision Mass Spectrometry and Environment Change Laboratory (HISPEC), Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University for providing U–Th dates of VSPM1 stalagmite sample.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad, 500 007, India

    Waseem Raza, Drona Srinivasa Sarma & E V S S K Babu

  2. Inter-University Accelerator Centre, Aruna Asif Ali Marg, New Delhi, 110 067, India

    Syed Masood Ahmad

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  1. Waseem Raza
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  2. Syed Masood Ahmad
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  3. Drona Srinivasa Sarma
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  4. E V S S K Babu
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Contributions

Waseem Raza: Carried out the field work, isotopic analysis, interpretation of data and initial draft preparation. Syed Masood Ahmad: Designed the study, guided the analytical work, contributed in the write-up of final version of the manuscript and overall supervision of the work. D Srinivasa Sarma: Contributed in field study, data interpretation and write-up of initial and final version. E V S S K Babu: Contributed in data collection.

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Correspondence to Syed Masood Ahmad.

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Communicated by Rajneesh Bhutani

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Raza, W., Ahmad, S.M., Sarma, D.S. et al. A 2500 years deglacial record of paleo-vegetation over a cave of southern India as inferred from carbon isotopes of stalagmite. J Earth Syst Sci 130, 113 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-021-01617-y

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