Quantifying early 17th century changes in Chesapeake Bay estuarine carbon dynamics from James River, VA oyster geochemistry

The first successful European colonization of North America occurred in 1607 following the arrival of English settlers at Jamestown, Virginia. Within a few decades, land use changes and clear-cutting farming practices dramatically altered the terrestrial landscape and removed the overlying canopy and stabilizing root network of the previously-dominant hardwood forests. The Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, has inhabited the Chesapeake Bay since the end of the last deglaciation. During the start of the Jamestown Colony, an extensive drought (1606-1612) shifted James River salinity zones upriver, expanding the available oyster habitat to the vicinity of Jamestown. This allowed the colonists to collect and eat oysters from areas near the colony down to the river's entry into the bay, and later discard the shells in wells and trash pits that have recently been excavated. The oysters' calcium carbonate shells discovered in these deposits act as multi-year stationary recorders preserving the local environmental chemistry throughout their life until collection. Here we present δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O, and radiocarbon data from historical oyster shell hinge transects that encompass the time period between ~1609 and the early 1700s. Samples include shells from the 1609 Jamestown freshwater well and five additional sites, as well as modern shells collected in 2006. Because shell δ¹³C and radiocarbon (¹⁴C) reflect James River δ¹³C_DIC, it is possible to document carbon source changes during this period of land use change. Our preliminary data suggest a decrease in ambient δ¹³C_DIC of approximately 2‰ between just prior to 1609 conditions and the modern estuary. This is most likely due to an increase in isotopically light organic carbon loading into the river as water moves more rapidly through the terrestrial system. Radiocarbon reservoir ages will also be presented to better constrain carbon flow through the system during this period of disturbance. δ¹⁸O measurements from the same shells provide seasonal signals and also show an offset from modern that is consistent with drought conditions during the early 17th century. These high fidelity records allow for a direct, high-resolution comparison of the residence time of carbon in the environment immediately prior to European colonization and during the first century of land use change in mid-Atlantic North America.