Middle Pleistocene palaeoenvironmental reconstruction using stable isotope analysis of macropod teeth and sediment geochemistry from Victoria Fossil Cave, Naracoorte
| dc.contributor.author | Stokes, L. I. | |
| dc.contributor.school | School of Physical Sciences | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2023 | |
| dc.description | This item is only available electronically. Whole thesis (as available). | |
| dc.description.abstract | Understanding how species have responded to long-term climate cycles is important for understanding the impacts of modern, human-driven climate change. The Naracoorte Caves World Heritage Area preserves >500 ka of evidence of past climatic and environmental change in south-eastern South Australia, including sediments and vertebrate fossils. The Fossil Chamber within Victoria Fossil Cave is a highly significant pitfall deposit that spans multiple glacial and interglacial cycles between Marine Isotope Stages 12 to 9 in the Middle Pleistocene (~500 to 220 ka). This study examines local climate and environmental variables, including relative humidity, diet, and weathering, across five depositional units within the Fossil Chamber deposit (Units 8 to 4). Oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) stable isotope signatures from grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus and M. fuliginosus) (n = 24) and Red-Necked Wallaby (Notamacropus rufogriseus) (n = 31) tooth enamel are analysed. X-Ray Fluorescence and X-Ray Diffraction sediment geochemistry analyses are used to better understand depositional processes linked to climate, such as weathering and erosion. Our results indicate that application of these proxies is useful for elucidating habitat and environmental variables across the Middle Pleistocene, providing insight into past climate and environments and their influences on faunal community turnover. | |
| dc.description.dissertation | Thesis (B.Sc.(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Physical Sciences, YEAR | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2440/146733 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.provenance | This electronic version is made publicly available by the University of Adelaide in accordance with its open access policy for student theses. Copyright in this thesis remains with the author. This thesis may incorporate third party material which has been used by the author pursuant to Fair Dealing exceptions. If you are the author of this thesis and do not wish it to be made publicly available, or you are the owner of any included third party copyright material you wish to be removed from this electronic version, please complete the take down form located at: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/legals | en |
| dc.subject | Honours | |
| dc.subject | Geology | |
| dc.subject | Mid-Pleistocene | |
| dc.subject | stable isotopes | |
| dc.subject | sediment geochemistry | |
| dc.subject | macropods | |
| dc.subject | climate | |
| dc.subject | palaeoenvironment | |
| dc.subject | Naracoorte Caves | |
| dc.title | Middle Pleistocene palaeoenvironmental reconstruction using stable isotope analysis of macropod teeth and sediment geochemistry from Victoria Fossil Cave, Naracoorte | |
| dc.type | Thesis |
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