Plant wax composition of sediment core ROT21 from the Rotsee, Switzerland

DOI

This dataset contains compound-specific hydrogen (δ2H) and carbon (δ13C) isotope compositions and concentrations of long-chain n-alkanes and fatty acids (n-alkanoic acids) from the ROT21 sediment record of Rotsee, Central Switzerland (47°04′10″N, 8°18′48″E, 419 m a.s.l.). Sediment cores were retrieved in October 2021 using a UWITEC gravity corer, and the dataset spans the past ~13,000 years based on 19 radiocarbon dates (terrestrial and aquatic macrofossils) integrated with 210Pb and 137Cs profiles (see De Jonge et al., 2025). Laboratory analyses were conducted between February 2023 and November 2024 at the University of Basel.Sediment samples (~2–5 g) were sub-sampled, freeze-dried, spiked with internal standards (n-C19-alkanoic acid, n-C36-alkane, 2-octadecanone, and n-C21-alkanol), and extracted with dichloromethane/methanol (9:1, v/v) using an Accelerated Solvent Extractor (Dionex ASE 350, Thermo Fisher Scientific). Following saponification, neutral fractions were separated via silica gel chromatography, and fatty acids were converted to fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs). Both n-alkanes and FAMEs were further purified to isolate saturated compounds using AgNO3-impregnated silica gel columns, then analyzed and quantified by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID). Peak areas were normalized to recovery standards to account for potential losses during sample handling, and compounds were identified by comparison with external standards.Compound-specific δ2H and δ13C values were determined by gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS) and normalized to the VSMOW-SLAP (δ2H) and VPDB (δ13C) scales. Analytical precision was ±3-5 ‰ for δ2H and ±0.2–0.3 ‰ for δ13C.The dataset was generated to reconstruct past hydroclimate and vegetation dynamics in Central Europe using plant wax δ2H records. Full methodological details are provided in the study: Central Europe hydroclimate since the Younger Dryas inferred from vegetation-corrected sedimentary plant wax δ2H values (Santos et al., 2026).

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.987812
Related Identifier References https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-025-00361-3
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.987812
Provenance
Creator Santos, Ricardo N ORCID logo; Nelson, Daniel B ORCID logo; Klatt, Antonia; Schubert, Carsten J ORCID logo; Dubois, Nathalie ORCID logo; De Jonge, Cindy ORCID logo; Ladd, S N ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2026
Funding Reference University of Basel https://ror.org/02s6k3f65 ROR PCEFP2 194211 https://duw.unibas.ch/en/forschungsgruppen/organic-geochemistry/adapt/ ADAPT: Algal Dynamics And Productivity through
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Resource Type Dataset
Format text/tab-separated-values
Size 6953 data points
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (9.313 LON, 48.069 LAT);  Rotsee, Switzerland
Temporal Coverage Begin 2021-10-03T00:00:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 2021-10-05T00:00:00Z