1. δ13 C of fluvial mollusk shells (Rhône River): A proxy for dissolved inorganic carbon?
- Author
-
Anne-Marie Aucour, Régine Savoye, and Simon M.F. Sheppard
- Subjects
geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,biology ,Aragonite ,Aquatic Science ,engineering.material ,010502 geochemistry & geophysics ,Oceanography ,biology.organism_classification ,01 natural sciences ,Dreissena ,Bithynia tentaculata ,Viviparus viviparus ,Tributary ,Dissolved organic carbon ,engineering ,Theodoxus fluviatilis ,Corbicula fluminea ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
The relationship between the δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and modern mollusk aragonite from rivers was calibrated for the purpose of reconstructing DIC paleochemistry from the shell record. The δ13C values of aragonitic bivalves (Dreissena polymorpha, Corbicula fluminea), prosobranch gastropods (Bithynia tentaculata, Theodoxus fluviatilis, Viviparus viviparus), and an air-breathing pulmonate gastropod (Limnea auricularia) were analyzed from several locations on the Rhone River (—13.7‰ to —6.0‰) and its major tributary, the Saone River (—11.4‰ to —10.2‰). The δ13CDIC varied from —11.5‰ to —7.5‰, and the δ13C of particulate inorganic matter (POM) varied from —31.7‰ to —25.4‰. At a given site, the δ13C of all species except the pulmonate were within 1‰ of each other. Whole-shell δ13C correlated positively with δ13CDIC, with a slope close to unity. Bioaragonite—DIC fractionations were 0–1.5‰ for bivalves and 0–2.7‰ for gastropods (excluding the pulmonates). Applying these fractionations, bivalves that live in open water are a reliable proxy, monitoring the average δ13CDIC value to within its natural ~2‰ temporal variation within the growth period. For the suspension feeders (bivalves) using POM as a food source, the δ13C of whole shells and bulk POM indicated that the incorporation of carbon derived from respiratory sources lay in the range 10–30%. Fine-scale analyses of growth increments of C. fluminea could not be related simply to δ13CDIC because metabolic and seasonal variations in δ13CDIC produced similar isotopic fluctuations (≤2.5‰).
- Published
- 2003