A lake sediment stable isotope record of late-middle to late Holocene hydroclimate variability in the western Guatemala highlands
Author ORCID Identifier
Nathan Stansell:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2477-1953
Jason Coenen:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5848-5424
Publication Title
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
ISSN
0012821X
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Long-term perspectives on past hydroclimate variability provide context for evaluating the potential future impacts of changes in Northern Hemisphere temperatures and oceanic-atmospheric circulation on the timing and distribution of precipitation in Central America. Here we use the isotopic composition of fine-grained (< 63 μm), endogenic CaCO3 (δ18Ocalcite and δ13Ccalcite) from Lake Kail, located in the western highlands of Guatemala, to infer multi-decadal to multi-centennial-scale variability in the balance between precipitation and evaporation (P/E) over the last ∼6000 years. The sediment age model is based on 210Pb and 41 14C ages, with chronological uncertainty estimated using Bayesian methods. A model that couples lake hydrology and isotope mass balance is applied to characterize the isotopic responses of lake water and calcite to changes in drought-controlling climate variables such as precipitation, temperature and relative humidity. The δ18Ocalcite variations indicate intermediate-to-dry P/E conditions during the late-middle Holocene from ∼6000 to ∼4100 cal yr BP. There was then a shift to drier conditions at the start of the late Holocene until ∼3050 cal yr BP, followed by a trend to wetter conditions until ∼1500 cal yr BP. The most recent ∼1500 years is characterized by high and relatively stable P/E, with particularly wet intervals from ∼1500 to 1170 cal yr BP and from 470 to 260 cal yr BP. Comparisons of the Lake Kail δ18Ocalcite record with Central American/circum-Caribbean proxy datasets spanning the late-middle and late Holocene indicate northern tropical hydroclimate changes were highly variable across space and time and were likely driven by regional oceanic-atmospheric responses with a secondary influence by insolation forcing.
Publication Date
7-15-2020
DOI
10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116327
Keywords
Central America, insolation, northern tropics, oxygen isotopes, precipitation
Recommended Citation
Stansell, Nathan D.; Steinman, Byron A.; Lachniet, Matthew S.; Feller, Jacob; Harvey, William; Fernandez, Alejandro; Shea, Christopher J.; Price, Brittany; Coenen, Jason; Boes, Maxwell; and Perdziola, Stephen, "A lake sediment stable isotope record of late-middle to late Holocene hydroclimate variability in the western Guatemala highlands" (2020). NIU Bibliography. 322.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/niubib/322
Department
Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences
