Signature of Obliquity and Eccentricity in Soil Chronosequences

Authors

Christopher Shepard, University of KentuckyFollow
Jon D. Pelletier, University of Arizona
Marcel G. Schaap, University of Arizona
Craig Rasmussen, University of Arizona

Abstract

Periodic shifts in Earth's orbit alter incoming solar radiation and drive Quaternary climate cycles. However, unambiguous detection of these orbitally driven climatic changes in records of terrestrial sedimentation and pedogenesis remains poorly defined, limiting our understanding of climate change‐landscape feedbacks, impairing our interpretation of terrestrial paleoclimate proxies, and limiting linkages among pedogenesis, sedimentation, and paleoclimatic change. Using a meta‐analysis, we show that Quaternary soil ages preserved in the modern record have periodicities of 41 and 98 kyr, consistent with orbital cycles. Further, soil ages predominantly date to periods of low rates of climatic change following rapid climate shifts associated with glacial‐to‐interglacial transitions. Soil age appears linked to orbital cycles via climate‐modulated sediment deposition, which may largely constrain soil formation to distinct climate periods. These data demonstrate a record of widespread orbital cyclicity in sediment deposition and subsequent pedogenesis, providing a key insight into soil‐landscape evolution and terrestrial paleo‐environment changes.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-28-2018

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Geophysical Research Letters, v. 45, issue 20, p. 11147-11153.

©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

The copyright holder has granted the permission for posting the article here.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL078583

Funding Information

Support for C. S. came from the University Fellows program at the University of Arizona and the University of Arizona/NASA Space Grant Graduate Fellowship. This research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation grant EAR‐1331408 in support of the Santa Catalina‐Jemez River Basin Critical Zone Observatory.

Related Content

All data are available from the references included in Tables S1 and S2, and as cited.

Repository Citation

Shepard, Christopher; Pelletier, Jon D.; Schaap, Marcel G.; and Rasmussen, Craig, "Signature of Obliquity and Eccentricity in Soil Chronosequences" (2018). Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications. 109.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/pss_facpub/109