New palaeoclimatic insights on the Late Cretaceous environments of Mongolia based on the isotope data (δ^13C,δ^18O) of dinosaur eggshells and pedogenic carbonates from Bayn Dzak section

Isotopic data obtained from the dinosaur eggshells and pedogenic nodules(pedonodules)are interpreted in terms of palaeoclimatology.The material studied originated from the Bayn Dzak locality,Southern Gobi Aimak,Mongolia,having Late Cretaceous(Campanian)age.Stratigraphically the Bayn Dzak locality belongs to the Djadokhta Formation.All the present data(lithology,type of paleosols,FPS-profiles,geochemistry),and the isotopic characteristics of the selected samples show unequivocally that the environments of the Bayn Dzak area in Late Cretaceous(Campanian)time were warm to summer-hot,seasonally dry.Wet seasons(most probably,which took place in the winter time)were not longer than two months with not more than 400 mm precipitation per year.The distribution of isotope data in the dinosaur eggshells show the main relation,which is the dependence ofδ^13C andδ^18O values,i.e.specimens with heavy carbon isotope ratios are characterized by lighter oxygen isotope composition and conversely.Thus,theδ^13C andδ^18O values of the dinosaur eggshells display a clear positive correlation.It may be consequent both with the difference of the isotope composition of diet of the egg-lying animals modified by physicochemical isotope fractionation due to metabolism and changes in the isotope environment,and/or diagenetic alteration of the eggshell carbonate.Obtained isotopic data on the studied dinosaur eggshell fragments and the soil carbonates lend support to our assumption that diagenesis did not play significant role in changing the isotopic values.The distribution ofδ^13C andδ^18O values in eggshells and in pedogenic carbonates shows the visible opposite dependencies.