Gutenberg Open Science: Past fire dynamics inferred from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and monosaccharide anhydrides in a stalagmite from the archaeological site of Mayapan, Mexico

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-9363

Full metadata record

DC Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Homann, Julia	-
dc.contributor.author	Karbach, Niklas	-
dc.contributor.author	Carolin, Stacy A.	-
dc.contributor.author	James, Daniel H.	-
dc.contributor.author	Hodell, David	-
dc.contributor.author	Breitenbach, Sebastian F. M.	-
dc.contributor.author	Kwiecien, Ola	-
dc.contributor.author	Brenner, Mark	-
dc.contributor.author	Lope, Carlos Peraza	-
dc.contributor.author	Hoffmann, Thorsten	-
dc.date.accessioned	2023-08-08T12:47:16Z	-
dc.date.available	2023-08-08T12:47:16Z	-
dc.date.issued	2023	-
dc.identifier.uri	https://openscience.ub.uni-mainz.de/handle/20.500.12030/9381	-
dc.description.abstract	Speleothems (cave stalagmites) contain inorganic and organic substances that can be used to infer past changes in local and regional paleoenvironmental conditions. Specific biomarkers can be employed to elucidate the history of past fires, caused by interactions among climate, regional hydrology, vegetation, humans, and fire activity. We conducted a simple solid–liquid extraction on pulverised carbonate samples to prepare them for analysis of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and three monosaccharide anhydrides (MAs). The preparation method requires only small samples (0.5–1.0 g); PAHs and MAs were measured by GC–MS and LC–HILIC–MS, respectively. Detection limits range from 0.05–2.1 ng for PAHs and 0.01–0.1 ng for MAs. We applied the method to 10 samples from a ∼ 400-year-old stalagmite from Cenote Ch'en Mul, at Mayapan (Mexico), the largest Postclassic Maya capital of the Yucatán Peninsula. We found a strong correlation (r = 0.75, p < 0.05) between the major MA (levoglucosan) and non-alkylated PAHs (Σ15). We investigated multiple diagnostic PAH and MA ratios and found that although not all were applicable as paleo-fire proxies, ratios that combine PAHs with MAs are promising tools for identifying different fire regimes and inferring the type of fuel burned. In the 1950s and 1960s, levoglucosan and Σ15 concentrations roughly doubled compared to other times in the last 400 years, suggesting greater fire activity at Mayapan during these two decades. The higher concentrations of fire markers may have been a consequence of land clearance at the site and exploration of the cave by Carnegie Institution archaeologists.	en_GB
dc.language.iso	eng	de
dc.rights	CC BY	*
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	*
dc.subject.ddc	540 Chemie	de_DE
dc.subject.ddc	540 Chemistry and allied sciences	en_GB
dc.subject.ddc	550 Geowissenschaften	de_DE
dc.subject.ddc	550 Earth sciences	en_GB
dc.subject.ddc	560 Paläontologie	de_DE
dc.subject.ddc	560 Paleontology	en_GB
dc.subject.ddc	600 Technik	de_DE
dc.subject.ddc	600 Technology (Applied sciences)	en_GB
dc.subject.ddc	620 Ingenieurwissenschaften und Maschinenbau	de_DE
dc.subject.ddc	620 Engineering and allied operations	en_GB
dc.subject.ddc	980 Geschichte Südamerikas	de_DE
dc.subject.ddc	980 General history of South America	en_GB
dc.title	Past fire dynamics inferred from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and monosaccharide anhydrides in a stalagmite from the archaeological site of Mayapan, Mexico	en_GB
dc.type	Zeitschriftenaufsatz	de
dc.identifier.doi	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-9363	-
jgu.type.contenttype	Scientific article	de
jgu.type.dinitype	article	en_GB
jgu.type.version	Published version	de
jgu.type.resource	Text	de
jgu.organisation.department	FB 09 Chemie, Pharmazie u. Geowissensch.	de
jgu.organisation.number	7950	-
jgu.organisation.name	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz	-
jgu.rights.accessrights	openAccess	-
jgu.journal.title	Biogeosciences	de
jgu.journal.volume	20	de
jgu.journal.issue	15	de
jgu.pages.start	3249	de
jgu.pages.end	3260	de
jgu.publisher.year	2023	-
jgu.publisher.name	Copernicus	de
jgu.publisher.place	Katlenburg-Lindau [u.a.]	de
jgu.publisher.issn	1726-4189	de
jgu.organisation.place	Mainz	-
jgu.subject.ddccode	540	de
jgu.subject.ddccode	550	de
jgu.subject.ddccode	560	de
jgu.subject.ddccode	600	de
jgu.subject.ddccode	620	de
jgu.subject.ddccode	980	de
jgu.publisher.doi	10.5194/bg-20-3249-2023	de
jgu.organisation.ror	https://ror.org/023b0x485	-
jgu.subject.dfg	Naturwissenschaften	de
Appears in collections:	DFG-491381577-G

Files in This Item:

	File	Description	Size	Format
	past_fire_dynamics_inferred_f-20230808144256830.pdf		6.77 MB	Adobe PDF	View/Open
	past_fire_dynamics_inferred_f-20230808144417034.pdf		1.01 MB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

Show simple item record