Dendroclimatic potential of stable carbon isotopes in tree-ring cellulose of Pinus sylvestris L. in Yaroslavl and Kostroma regions; European Russia

Stable carbon isotopes in tree rings may serve as an important proxy of past climatic and environmental changes. However, the climatic signal that is expressed in this proxy vary across regions and species. European Russia is still an understudied region, where a few studies on climatic signal in isotopic composition of wood were undertaken. Here we provide the first results of such study for living Scots pines in the city of Yaroslavl. We measured the ratio of stable carbon isotopes (δC13) in wood cellulose of individual tree rings extracted from five trees, and calculated correlation coefficients of δC13 with meteorological parameters. The period analyzed is 2010–2020. We showed that δC13 in wood cellulose has a significant relationship with May-September temperature (r = 0.63, p = 0.037), May-September precipitation (r = –0.77, p = 0.0051), and May-September Palmer Drought Severity Index (r = –0.65, p = 0.032). These results are the first direct evidence that δC13 in wood cellulose of Scots pine in Yaroslavl may serve as a proxy for the warm period moisture variations. Additional measurements are required to make conclusions about the stability of climatic signal in this proxy throughout the 20th century. We also describe two new tree-ring chronologies based on archaeological and architectural materials from the Yaroslavl (AD 1438–2019) and Kostroma (AD 1283–2012) regions. According to the obtained results on the climatic sensitivity of δC13 in wood cellulose, these chronologies may serve as a material base for annually resolved moisture reconstructions in the region.

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