Reconstruction of variations in paleovegetation during the Quaternary by analysis of plant-derived organic molecule in the deep sea drilling sediment cores from the Atlantic Ocean and Japan Sea

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26287130
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Stratigraphy/Paleontology
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Sawada Ken 北海道大学, 理学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (20333594)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 入野 智久 北海道大学, 地球環境科学研究科(研究院), 助教 (70332476)
• Research Collaborator: IGARASHI Yaeko 北方圏古環境研究室, 主幹
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 古植生解析 / 植物バイオマーカー / 花粉分析 / 深海掘削コア / 古気候 / 陸源物質輸送 / 日本海北海道沖 / 北東大西洋イベリア半島沖

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The objective of this study is to reconstruct variations in paleovegetation and terrestrial paleoenvironment by analyses of terrestrial plant-derived biomarkers and pollen/spore in sediment cores from northeastern Atlantic Ocean off the Iberian Peninsula (U1385) and the Japan Sea off the southwestern coast of Hokkaido (U1423) collected by the International Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). We reconstructed the paleovegetation variations during 4.3 million years and centurial-scale variations during the marine isotope stages (MIS) 12 - 10 in U1423 and U1385 sites, respectively. In particular, the paleovegetation variations reconstructed by the indicators for diterpenoids derived from Taxodiaceae/Cupressaceae and Pinaceae are synchronous to the global climatic variations such as warm/cool conditions with glacial/interglacial or centurial scales, confirming high applicability of the terpenoid proxy for reconstructing paleovegetation from deep sea sediment.

Free Research Field

生物地球化学、有機地球化学、古気候学、堆積地質科学、古生物化学