Carbon isotope stratigraphy: Principles and applications

Gröcke, Darren R.

Abstract

Even after all this time, our understanding of the modern and ancient carbon cycle is still incomplete. Stable carbon isotopes are an extremely useful tool from which to monitor and trace the carbon cycle. In this manner, carbon isotope stratigraphy can be developed from many organic and inorganic proxies in geologic time. Carbon isotope stratigraphy is a very powerful tool that works on timescales of < 10 kyr, and therefore, can be used to correlate and constrain sedimentary sequences on Milankovitch timescales. Although the technique has been applied across many geological time intervals from many carbon proxies there are still a lot of improvements and information that can be extracted. This review on carbon isotope stratigraphy will identify, through my somewhat biased viewpoint, what requires consideration and improvement to make the technique even more powerful. These include proxy selection, stratigraphic resolution, uncertainty and reproducibility, and ultimately stratigraphic correlation. Overall, the future for carbon isotope stratigraphy is very exciting.

Citation

Gröcke, D. R. (2020). Carbon isotope stratigraphy: Principles and applications. In M. Montenari (Ed.), Stratigraphy & Timescales (1-40). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.sats.2020.08.002

• Online Publication Date: Oct 20, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020
• Deposit Date: Jun 6, 2023
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Pages: 1-40
• Series Title: Carbon Isotope Stratigraphy
• Series ISSN: 2468-5178
• Book Title: Stratigraphy & Timescales
• Chapter Number: 1
• ISBN: 978-0-12-820991-2
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.sats.2020.08.002