CAOG - Honours Student

Miss Erin James

Agriculture and environmental change at Qingpu, Yangtze delta region: a biomarker, stable isotope approach

In a recent study using sedimentary biomarker, stable carbon isotope and palynological analyses, early rice agriculture in the Yangtze delta, a region where rice agriculture emerged at least 7000 years ago has been investigated. 14C dating reveals the age of sedimentary section to be between ca. 6000 BP and 1800 BP. Evidence supporting rice agriculture after ca. 2400 BP has been recently provided by biomarker and stable carbon isotopes and a palynology (Atahan et al., submitted). The aims of the present study are to determine D/H of wax components derived from plants preserved in a section from the Yangtze delta to establish changes in the paleoclimate leading to the rice development.

Supervisors

Professor Kliti Grice