Distribution of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether lipids along an altitudinal transect on Mt. Xiangpi, NE Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China

The distribution of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) can reflect continental environmental changes. Recently, the distribution of branched GDGTs (bGDGTs) has been proposed as a novel tool for paleoelevation reconstructions. Here we report the variation in TEX86 (tetraether index of 86 carbon atoms) of isoprenoidal GDGTs (iGDGTs) and MBT (methylation of branched tetraether index) of bGDGTs along an altitudinal transect on Mt. Xiangpi, NE Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Both TEX86 and MBT values of surface soils showed significant linear decreases with altitude (TEX86: R2 = 0.65; n = 50; MBT: R2 = 0.69; n = 24). We suggest that the apparent relationships between the two indices and altitude may be related to temperature. Our preliminary investigation suggests that the TEX86 index can potentially be applied as a paleoelevation indicator in addition to the MBT index on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.