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Major hydrological regime change along the semiarid western coast of South America during the early Holocene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2012

Cristina Ortega ,
Gabriel Vargas ,
José A. Rutllant ,
Donald Jackson  and
César Méndez
Cristina Ortega*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Chile, Plaza Ercilla 803, Santiago, Chile
Gabriel Vargas
Affiliation:
Departamento de Geología, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Chile, Plaza Ercilla 803, Santiago, Chile
José A. Rutllant
Affiliation:
Departamento de Geofísica, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas, Universidad de Chile, Blanco Encalada 2002, Santiago, Chile Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas, Raúl Bitrán s/n, Colina El Pino, La Serena, Chile
Donald Jackson
Affiliation:
Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile, Ignacio Carrera Pinto 1045, Santiago, Chile
César Méndez
Affiliation:
Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile, Ignacio Carrera Pinto 1045, Santiago, Chile
*
⁎Corresponding author. Email Address:crortega@ing.uchile.cl
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Abstract

Water availability in the semiarid western coast of Chile (30–32°S) is conditioned by high interannual precipitation variability, reflecting the transition between arid subtropical and moist mid-latitude climates in the Southeastern Pacific Ocean. A paleoclimate reconstruction based on the latest Pleistocene–Holocene geological record from the Quebrada Santa Julia archeological site in Chile (31°50′S) and on modern meteorological mechanisms producing alluvial episodes in this region indicates a major change in the rainfall regime shortly after 8600 cal yr BP. This, together with other paleoclimate proxies along the west coast of South America (34°–14°S), suggests La Niña-like conditions 13,000–8600 cal yr BP. Based on sedimentological and geomorphologic evidence, we hypothesized that the absence of heavy rainfall events in northern Chile and the new hydrological regime that prevailed ca. 8600–5700 cal yr BP in north-central Chile resulted from an increase in the large-scale westerly flow over central Chile, as expected in near-neutral ENSO conditions. This atmospheric circulation anomaly is compatible with an equatorward shift of the influence of the Southeast Pacific Subtropical Anticyclone relative to the early Holocene, prior to the onset of modern ENSO variability.

Keywords

PaleoclimateEarly HoloceneAlluvial flowHeavy rainfallCoastal fogEl Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)Western South AmericaPaleohydrologyPacific Ocean
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 78 , Issue 3 , November 2012 , pp. 513 - 527
Copyright
University of Washington

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