Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes as environmental indicators of the Late Pleistocene inEl Arenoso, Sonora, Northwest Mexico

Authors

VICTOR ADRIAN PEREZ CRESPO
TAMARA CRUZ Y CRUZ
ALEJANDRO TERRAZAS MATA
PEDRO MORALES PUENTE
MARTHA BENAVENTE
EDITH CIENFUEGOS-ALVRADO
FRANCISCO J. OTERO

DOI

10.3906/yer-1906-9

Abstract

The paleoenvironment conditions that existed in the Late Pleistocene at the archaeological-paleontological site of El Arenoso, Sonora, NW Mexico, were inferred using the carbon and oxygen stable isotopes from one bison, one mammoth, and thirteen horses as well as the pedological characteristics and the carbon isotopes of calcium carbonates from paleosoil. The values δ13C of the bison (-1.4‰), the horses (-2.8‰), and the mammoth (-4.3‰) show that these animals fed mainly on C4 plants and carbon isotopic values from profile horizons of locality 4Bgk (-3.4‰), 3Ck (-3.4‰), and 2Bgk2 (-5.7‰) indicated the presence of C3/C4 vegetation mixed in El Arenoso. The oxygen isotopic ratios of the bison (-4.3‰), the horses (-2.6‰), and the mammoth (-5.1‰) show that these animals inhabited an arid environment, consistent with the results from the analyses of paleosols.

Keywords

Megafauna, paleosoils, stable isotopes, Sonora, environment

First Page

406

Last Page

417

Recommended Citation

CRESPO, VICTOR ADRIAN PEREZ; CRUZ, TAMARA CRUZ Y; MATA, ALEJANDRO TERRAZAS; PUENTE, PEDRO MORALES; BENAVENTE, MARTHA; CIENFUEGOS-ALVRADO, EDITH; and OTERO, FRANCISCO J. (2020) "Stable carbon and oxygen isotopes as environmental indicators of the Late Pleistocene inEl Arenoso, Sonora, Northwest Mexico," Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences: Vol. 29: No. 3, Article 2. https://doi.org/10.3906/yer-1906-9
Available at: https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/earth/vol29/iss3/2