Proxies such as plant macrofossils, humification indices, and testate amoebae have been developed to reconstruct past hydrological variability from ombrotrophic peatlands. Reconstructions based on these approaches have resulted in records of decadal to centennial-scale moisture variability in regions of North America and elsewhere. Although the various peatland-moisture proxies generally show significant temporal covariance, multi-proxy approaches can refine our knowledge of the multivariate nature of climate change, and increase confidence in our interpretations. In this paper, we demonstrate that ratios of the abundances of n-alkanes provide a new and efficient way of reconstructing past peatland-surface moisture change. We found strong correlations among n-alkane indices, humification indices, and testate amoebae-inferred water table depths from a single sediment core. Biogeochemical proxies can be used in paleohydrological reconstructions in ombrotrophic bogs to provide a new and complimentary source of data from these underutilized paleoclimate archives.

Key Words: biomarkers, bogs, n-alkanes, paleoclimate, Sphagnum