Search

Stream, floodplain, and wetland restorations enhance water quality and ecological function; however, soil health is prioritized infrequently in restoration planning and monitoring. Buried, historic, hydric soils—common across U.S. mid‐Atlantic valley bottoms beneath legacy sediments—are not included in most floodplain restoration designs, though they may retain favorable biogeochemical characteristics and host legacy microbial communities that could support ecosystem recovery if exhumed and preserved. To assess the efficacy of including historic hydric soils in floodplain restoration for nitrogen (N) removal, we characterized pre‐Euro‐American settlement wetland soils buried below legacy sediments and now exposed along incised streambanks across the mid‐Atlantic. We compared carbon (C) and N contents; C:N ratios; nitrate‐N and ammonium‐N concentrations; denitrification rates; functional genes for denitrification (nosZ) and nitrification (amoA for ammonia oxidizing archaea [AoA] + ammonia oxidizing bacteria [AoB]); and phospholipid fatty acid biomasses of historic wetland soils with contemporary wetland soils before and after an 1‐year incubation in a recently restored floodplain. Compared to modern wetland soils, historic hydric soils buried by legacy sediment are less nutrient‐rich, have fewer functional genes for and lower rates of denitrification, and possess significantly less microbial biomass. Following the 1‐year incubation, many of these concentrations, rates, and gene counts increased in historic soils, though not substantially. Ultimately, our results suggest that while inclusion of historic, hydric soils and their legacy microbiomes is valuable for N‐removal in floodplain restoration, the recovery of historic, hydric soils is predictably slow, and attainment of restoration goals, such as increased denitrification, may require multiple years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Narrative accounts and floristics suggest a broader historical distribution of Piedmont upland savannas and woodlands with a prairie-affinity flora than today, although dates of emergence, spatiotemporal extent, and historical dynamics remain unclear. To help address the question whether remnant prairie-affinity patches in the state represent at least historical, if not ancient, grasslands, we analyzed stable carbon isotopes from soil organic matter from two well-known localities hosting prairie-affinity heliophytes, both within the boundaries of historically mapped "Grande Savane". Soil cores for d13Corg analysis and radiocarbon dating were collected from five sites, hosting different present-day plant communities and spanning three soil orders. Recovered d13Corg values suggest historical grasslands, likely savanna-type with some fluctuations in cover, were present at both localities essentially continuously over the past 2000 years until the more recent canopy closure over the past century. These findings are consistent with historical narrative accounts, although significant additional sampling is needed to determine its spatiotemporal extent. While the general trend at our localities transitions from open to closed systems, pronounced fluctuations are apparent in all profiles, particularly between 1254-1468 CE. Precipitation does not appear predominantly responsible, but available climatic reconstructions are from an adjacent basin. The timing of the pronounced vegetation class fluctuations is intriguingly coincidental to the timing of Siouan occupancy and intertribal movements, suggesting a need for more vigorous interdisciplinary investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C4 grasslands are a major global ecosystem with an important role as the primary source of food resources and agricultural land for the planet. Despite this, the causes and timeline of their expansion are still not fully known and appear to be variable in different parts of the world. By combining phytolith and stable isotope methods, we produce robust estimates of late Miocene C4 vegetation composition and compile a regional vegetation record through time from the late Miocene through present in southwestern Montana (USA). These estimates indicate the fairly rapid rise of C4 grasses to peak levels during the late Miocene (Hemphillian) and subsequent decline to moderate levels from the Pliocene through Present. This temporal pattern indicates significant interplay between climatic and tectonic drivers, with the late Miocene rise of C4 grasses triggered by regional aridification, and the return to lower (modern) abundances due to ecosystem restrictions linked to recent regional uplift driven by mantle buoyancy associated with the Yellowstone hotspot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon, oxygen and clumped isotope (Δ47) values were measured from lacustrine and tufa (spring)‐mound carbonate deposits in the Lower Jurassic Navajo Sandstone of southern Utah and northern Arizona in order to understand the palaeohydrology. These carbonate deposits are enriched in both 18O and 13C across the basin from east to west; neither isotope is strongly sensitive to the carbonate facies. However, 18O is enriched in lake carbonate deposits compared to the associated spring mounds. This is consistent with evaporation of the spring waters as they exited the mounds and were retained in interdune lakes. Clumped isotopes (Δ47) exhibit minor systematic differences between lake and tufa‐mound temperatures, suggesting that the rate of carbonate formation under ambient conditions was moderate. These clumped isotope values imply palaeotemperature elevated beyond reasonable surface temperatures (54 to 86°C), which indicates limited bond reordering at estimated burial depths of ca 4 to 5 km, consistent with independent estimates of sediment thickness and burial depth gradients across the basin. Although clumped isotopes do not provide surface temperature information in this case, they still provide useful burial information and support interpretations of the evolution of groundwater locally. The findings of this study significantly extend the utility of combining stable isotope and clumped isotope methods into aeolian environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early Eocene climatic optimum was a period of major climatic and environmental change that was caused by perturbations to the global carbon cycle. Recent work from terrestrial sections in the Northern Hemisphere demonstrates that the period was characterized by different responses in the terrestrial and marine realms, suggesting that traditional causal mechanisms may not adequately explain the dynamics of the early Eocene climatic optimum. Here, we present a new high-resolution multiproxy record of terrestrial climatic and environmental conditions during the early Eocene climatic optimum from the Southern Hemisphere and compare this reconstruction to other marine and terrestrial records. Similar to Northern Hemisphere terrestrial records, there is a transient peak period of atmospheric carbon isotope enrichment as well as increased temperatures and precipitation, which indicate that terrestrial environmental responses to the early Eocene climatic optimum were broadly consistent in temperate settings worldwide. This global consistency in terrestrial records demonstrates differences in peak warming time scales and carbon isotope responses between marine and terrestrial systems, which further constrain potential causes for the early Eocene climatic optimum to multiple-system or nontraditional mechanisms and highlight the importance of paired records for understanding past climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The timing of the rise of C4 grasses and the climatic conditions driving their expansion are widely debated, with recent studies suggesting that the expansion was more complex than previously thought. Proxy reconstructions from northwestern Argentina record multiple increases and decreases in C4 abundance throughout the late Miocene to early Pliocene, as well as variations in the timing of the spread of C4 grasses into the region. Here we present a multi-proxy paleovegetation reconstruction of the proportions of C3 and C4 vegetation using organic carbon and phytoliths preserved in paleosols at Entre Ríos in the Santa María Basin of Catamarca, Argentina between 6.2 and 3.3 Ma. Both and phytolith assemblages indicate a C3 dominated ecosystem with no evidence for substantial amounts of C4 vegetation from the late Miocene through mid-Pliocene, despite their rise to dominance elsewhere during this time. These data suggest that by 6.2 Ma the Santa María basin floor was at an elevation high enough to create locally cool conditions that allowed C3 vegetation to outcompete C4 grasses. Phytolith assemblages show that later uplift of the Sierra Calchaquies and Sierra Aconquija ranges through the Pliocene increased aridity and drove the expansion of C3 grasses at the expense of palms and other forest indicators. This multi-proxy paleovegetation reconstruction demonstrates that tectonics played an important role in controlling the late Miocene expansion C4 grasses by suppressing their spread into northwest Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geological record encodes the relationship between climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) over long and short timescales, as well as potential drivers of evolutionary transitions. However, reconstructing CO 2 beyond direct measurements requires the use of paleoproxies and herein lies the challenge, as proxies differ in their assumptions, degree of understanding, and even reconstructed values. In this study, we critically evaluated, categorized, and integrated available proxies to create a high-fidelity and transparently constructed atmospheric CO 2 record spanning the past 66 million years. This newly constructed record provides clearer evidence for higher Earth system sensitivity in the past and for the role of CO 2 thresholds in biological and cryosphere evolution.