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Published April 1978 | public
Journal Article

The D/H ratio of cellulose in a New Zealand Pinus radiata; A reply to the criticism of A.T. Wilson and M.J. Grinsted

Abstract

D/H ratios of C-H hydrogen in cellulose extracted from 19 successive increments of wood from three adjacent tree rings from a Pinus radiata grown in New Zealand in 1915–1918 follow qualitatively the isotopic pattern of the D/H ratio of the precipitation of the Kailaia area in New Zealand. This relationship between the D/H ratio of the cellulose and precipitation is the opposite to that claimed by Wilson and Grinsted [Nature 257 (1975) 287–288]. Consequently their biochemical thermometer based on the relationship between the D/H ratio in cellulose of the Pinus radiata and temperature has no basis. Their arguments based on the data of Epstein and Yapp [Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 30 (1976) 252–261] to support their biochemical thermometer is also shown to be invalid.

Additional Information

© 1978 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company. Received November 3, 1977. Revised version received December 16, 1977. The strip of Pinus radiata analyzed and discussed in this paper was provided by Professor A.T. Wilson. His willingness to send us the sample which provides the basis for this paper is most cordially acknowledged. This work could not have been done without his cooperation. I wish to thank Carol Kendall and Mary Johnson for preparing and analyzing the samples. I wish also to thank Michael De Niro, Carol Kendall and Crayton Yapp for reading the manuscript and for critical discussions. This work is supported by NSF contract number ATM76-03972 A01.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 24, 2023