Transient carbon isotope changes in complex systems: Finding the global signal, embracing the local signal

Global, transient carbon isotope excursions (CIEs) in the geological record are increasingly invoked as evidence of short-lived changes in carbon fluxes to/from the ocean-atmosphere-biosphere (exogenic) system. Reconstructing the dynamics of carbon cycle perturbation and response during such events requires that the global extent, magnitude, and temporal pattern of carbon isotope change are well understood. Unfortunately, no simple, globally integrated measure of exogenic δ13C change exists in the geological record: during major global perturbations even the best-case candidates such as deep-ocean carbonate δ13C values likely respond to a complex of factors including ocean carbonate chemistry and circulation. Here we consider the utility of organic carbon isotope records from two complex depositional systems common in the geological record, fossil soils and continental margin sediments, which are of interest in terms of their relationship to organic carbon cycling and records of past ecological change. Within both systems changes in ecology, climate, carbon source, residence time, and molecular composition have clear potential to modulate the preserved record of global exogenic δ13C change, compromising 1st-order interpretations of bulk or compound-specific isotopic records. Process-explicit eco- geochemical models, ideally combined with multi-substrate data, provide one approach to the isolation of global δ13C change and identification of local or regional processes reflected in such records. Examples from both systems drawn from ongoing work on the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum illustrate the potential pitfalls, as well as opportunities, afforded by coupled data/model assessment of transient δ13C changes in complex systems.