Fossil plant evidence for Early and Middle Jurassic paleoenvironmental changes in Lanzhou area, Northwest China

Estimating the paleoclimate changes through CO2 levels has become a promising area of geological research. This paper focuses on analysis of fossil Ginkgo in continuous sedimentary series in northwestern China using plant anatomy and organic geochemistry approaches. The CO2 variation curve during Early and Middle Jurassic is reconstructed based on the stomatal ratio method, which is consistent with the estimated results of GEOCARB III. In comparison with the carbon isotopic composition measured from the fossil leaves of Ginkgo, we suggest that the stomata-based CO2 concentrations for the Jurassic are generally consistent with the predictions of the geochemical model, ranging from 1000 to 1600 ppmv. Measurements of carbon isotope values demonstrate that the water use efficiency of the fossil Ginkgo in a “green house” world is higher than that of the living Ginkgo. Investigations of physiological responses of plants to the increasing CO2 level at the present and in the future should help demonstrate this effect. The cause of the carbon isotopic shift at the boundary between Aalenian and Bajocian for the Yaojie Basin is unclear and therefore needs further investigation.