Sediment Cores from White Pond, South Carolina, contain a Platinum Anomaly, Pyrogenic Carbon Peak, and Coprophilous Spore Decline at 12.8 ka

Christopher R Moore; Mark J Brooks; Albert C Goodyear; Terry A Ferguson; Angelina G Perrotti; Siddhartha Mitra; Ashlyn M Listecki; Bailey C King; David J Mallinson; Chad S Lane; Joshua D Kapp; Allen West; David L Carlson; Wendy S Wolbach; Theodore R Them 2nd; M Scott Harris; Sean Pyne-O'Donnell

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-51552-8

Sediment Cores from White Pond, South Carolina, contain a Platinum Anomaly, Pyrogenic Carbon Peak, and Coprophilous Spore Decline at 12.8 ka

Sci Rep. 2019 Oct 22;9(1):15121. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-51552-8.

Authors

Christopher R Moore¹, Mark J Brooks², Albert C Goodyear³, Terry A Ferguson⁴, Angelina G Perrotti⁵, Siddhartha Mitra⁶, Ashlyn M Listecki^{7

8}, Bailey C King^{7

8}, David J Mallinson⁶, Chad S Lane⁹, Joshua D Kapp¹⁰, Allen West¹¹, David L Carlson¹², Wendy S Wolbach¹³, Theodore R Them 2nd¹⁴, M Scott Harris¹⁴, Sean Pyne-O'Donnell¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ Savannah River Archaeological Research Program, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, P.O. Box 400, New Ellenton, SC, 29809, USA. MOORECR@mailbox.sc.edu.
² Savannah River Archaeological Research Program, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, P.O. Box 400, New Ellenton, SC, 29809, USA.
³ South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA.
⁴ Department of Environmental Studies, Wofford College, 429N Church Street, Spartanburg, SC, 29303-3663, USA.
⁵ University of Wisconsin, Geography Department, 550N Park Street, Madison, WI, 53707-1404, USA.
⁶ Department of Geological Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858-4353, USA.
⁷ Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858-4353, USA.
⁸ Department of Chemistry, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858-4353, USA.
⁹ Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, 28411, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA.
¹¹ Comet Research Group, Prescott, AZ, USA.
¹² Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-4352, USA.
¹³ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, 60614, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Geology and Environmental Sciences, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, 29424, USA.
¹⁵ Earth Observatory of Singapore and Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.

Abstract

A widespread platinum (Pt) anomaly was recently documented in Greenland ice and 11 North American sedimentary sequences at the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) event (~12,800 cal yr BP), consistent with the YD Impact Hypothesis. We report high-resolution analyses of a 1-meter section of a lake core from White Pond, South Carolina, USA. After developing a Bayesian age-depth model that brackets the late Pleistocene through early Holocene, we analyzed and quantified the following: (1) Pt and palladium (Pd) abundance, (2) geochemistry of 58 elements, (3) coprophilous spores, (4) sedimentary organic matter (OC and sedaDNA), (5) stable isotopes of C (δ¹³C) and N (δ¹⁵N), (6) soot, (7) aciniform carbon, (8) cryptotephra, (9) mercury (Hg), and (10) magnetic susceptibility. We identified large Pt and Pt/Pd anomalies within a 2-cm section dated to the YD onset (12,785 ± 58 cal yr BP). These anomalies precede a decline in coprophilous spores and correlate with an abrupt peak in soot and C/OC ratios, indicative of large-scale regional biomass burning. We also observed a relatively large excursion in δ¹⁵N values, indicating rapid climatic and environmental/hydrological changes at the YD onset. Our results are consistent with the YD Impact Hypothesis and impact-related environmental and ecological changes.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.