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Hydrologic variation during the last 170,000 years in the southern hemisphere tropics of South America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Sherilyn C. Fritz ,
Paul A. Baker ,
Tim K. Lowenstein ,
Geoffrey O. Seltzer ,
Catherine A. Rigsby ,
Gary S. Dwyer ,
Pedro M. Tapia ,
Kimberly K. Arnold ,
Teh-Lung Ku  and
Shangde Luo
Sherilyn C. Fritz*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0340, USA School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0340, USA
Paul A. Baker
Affiliation:
Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0227, USA Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0227, USA
Tim K. Lowenstein
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences and Environmental Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA
Geoffrey O. Seltzer
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
Catherine A. Rigsby
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA
Gary S. Dwyer
Affiliation:
Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0227, USA
Pedro M. Tapia
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0340, USA
Kimberly K. Arnold
Affiliation:
Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0227, USA
Teh-Lung Ku
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
Shangde Luo
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Department of Geosciences, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0340. Fax: +1-402-472-4917.E-mail address:sfritz2@unl.edu (S.C. Fritz).
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Abstract

Despite the hypothesized importance of the tropics in the global climate system, few tropical paleoclimatic records extend to periods earlier than the last glacial maximum (LGM), about 20,000 years before present. We present a well-dated 170,000-year time series of hydrologic variation from the southern hemisphere tropics of South America that extends from modern times through most of the penultimate glacial period. Alternating mud and salt units in a core from Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia reflect alternations between wet and dry periods. The most striking feature of the sequence is that the duration of paleolakes increased in the late Quaternary. This change may reflect increased precipitation, geomorphic or tectonic processes that affected basin hydrology, or some combination of both. The dominance of salt between 170,000 and 140,000 yr ago indicates that much of the penultimate glacial period was dry, in contrast to wet conditions in the LGM. Our analyses also suggest that the relative influence of insolation forcing on regional moisture budgets may have been stronger during the past 50,000 years than in earlier times.

Keywords

QuaternaryPaleohydrologyPaleoclimateDiatomsOxygen isotopesEvaporitesTropicsSouth AmericaAndesAltiplano
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 61 , Issue 1 , January 2004 , pp. 95 - 104
Copyright
University of Washington

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