PALAIOS
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PALAIOS; January 2008; v. 23; no. 1; p. 24-34; DOI: 10.2110/palo.2006.p06-049r
© 2008 SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology
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CAN OXYGEN ISOTOPES FROM TURTLE BONE BE USED TO RECONSTRUCT PALEOCLIMATES?

SAMUEL D. MATSON*,1 and DAVID L. FOX1

1 University of Minnesota, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA mats0159{at}umn.edu

A substantial complication to using the oxygen isotope composition ({delta}18O) of vertebrate bioapatite in paleoclimate studies is the need to distinguish variation due to temporal changes in the {delta}18O of surface waters from that due to temperature-dependent fractionation during biomineralization. One solution is multiple-taxon comparisons using data from coexisting homeothermic and heterothermic animals. Fossil emydid turtles have been suggested to be potentially useful as functional homeotherms because (1) modern emydids employ behaviors, such as basking, to restrict skeletal growth to a narrow temperature range; (2) their aquatic habitat constrains the isotopic variability of dietary inputs; and (3) emydids have a dense fossil record. But because turtles lack teeth and therefore tooth enamel, sampling must focus on bone, which is potentially more susceptible to diagenetic alteration. This study examines the {delta}18O of carbonate ({delta}18Oc) and phosphate ({delta}18Op) in hydroxylapatite from co-occurring emydids and heterotherms (crocodilians and gars) from the Paleocene–Eocene of the Clarks Fork Basin, Wyoming. Previous isotopic studies of this area provide an extensive data set for comparison with the results of this study. Bone and enamel {delta}18Oc values measured here exhibit a greater range (16{per thousand}–32{per thousand} Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water) than previously observed, suggesting alteration, while the range of {delta}18Op values (9{per thousand}–15{per thousand}) is within that predicted by presumably unaltered mammalian tooth enamel {delta}18Oc. While high crystallinity indices (0.28–0.55) and a lack of covariation between {delta}18Oc and {delta}18Op suggest alteration of one or both of these constituents, a strong correlation between crocodilian enamel and bone {delta}18Op suggests bone phosphate may be reliable.1






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