Younger Dryas - early Holocene transition in the south-eastern Iberian Peninsula: insights from land snail shell middens

ABSTRACT The land snail Sphincterochila candidissima from archeological records in Villena (SE Spain) was studied isotopically to estimate the Younger Dryas (YD)–early Holocene transition in the western Mediterranean. Live‐collected individuals exhibited body (−21.8 ± 1.6‰) and shell (−5.8 ± 1.4‰) δ...

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Published in:Journal of quaternary science Vol. 28; no. 8; pp. 777 - 788
Main Authors: YANES, YURENA, GÓMEZ-PUCHE, MAGDALENA, ESQUEMBRE-BEBIA, MARCO A., FERNÁNDEZ-LÓPEZ-DE-PABLO, JAVIER
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Chichester Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-11-2013
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
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Summary:ABSTRACT The land snail Sphincterochila candidissima from archeological records in Villena (SE Spain) was studied isotopically to estimate the Younger Dryas (YD)–early Holocene transition in the western Mediterranean. Live‐collected individuals exhibited body (−21.8 ± 1.6‰) and shell (−5.8 ± 1.4‰) δ13C values typical of a C3 plant diet, probably combined with carbonate ingestion. Calculations of a carbon flux balance‐mixing model suggest that living specimens experienced similar metabolic rates, with comparable ratio of input and output fluxes of bicarbonate from the snail hemolymph. All fossil shells showed comparable δ13C values among each other, but values were ∼2‰ higher than living specimens. This may be explained by higher water stress at the YD–Holocene transition or by the Suess effect. Shell δ18O values averaged +1.3 ± 0.8‰ for living individuals, −0.5 ± 0.8‰ for Holocene (8.4–10.2 cal ka BP) specimens and +0.4 ± 0.6‰ for YD (12.0–12.4 cal ka BP) snails. An oxygen flux balance‐mixing model suggests that YD shells precipitated during relative humidity (RH) values of ∼79–82%, after which RH increased gradually reaching maximum values of ∼87–88% at ∼8.4–8.6 cal ka BP and, from there, RH eventually declined to present values of ∼82%. Comparisons with other snail data suggest that the xerophilous Sphincterochila records different environmental signatures fro other contemporaneous taxa.
Bibliography:ArticleID:JQS2673
The Mineco - No. RYC-2011-09363; No. CGL2009-12703-C03-02; No. CGL2012-38434-C03-03
istex:6BADB5F288341CD2B6969F5E6EA8C780E8AF5DD6
ark:/67375/WNG-BP5FFDVJ-B
The Spanish Ministry of Economía y Competitividad (Mineco) - No. CGL2011-29898/BTE
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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content type line 23
ISSN:0267-8179
1099-1417
DOI:10.1002/jqs.2673