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Late Holocene sea-surface temperature and precipitation variability in northern Patagonia, Chile (Jacaf Fjord, 44°S)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Julio Sepúlveda ,
Silvio Pantoja ,
Konrad A. Hughen ,
Sébastien Bertrand ,
Dante Figueroa ,
Tania León ,
Nicholas J. Drenzek  and
Carina Lange
Julio Sepúlveda*
Affiliation:
Center for Marine Environmental Sciences — MARUM and Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Leobener Strasse, MARUM, D-28359 Bremen, Germany
Silvio Pantoja
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography and Center for Oceanographic Research in the eastern South Pacific, University of Concepción, P.O. Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile
Konrad A. Hughen
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Sébastien Bertrand
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Dante Figueroa
Affiliation:
Department of Geophysics and Center for Oceanographic Research in the eastern South Pacific, University of Concepción, P.O. Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile
Tania León
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography and Center for Oceanographic Research in the eastern South Pacific, University of Concepción, P.O. Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile
Nicholas J. Drenzek
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Carina Lange
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography and Center for Oceanographic Research in the eastern South Pacific, University of Concepción, P.O. Box 160-C, Concepción, Chile
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: +1 617 253 8630. E-mail address:juliosep@mit.edu (J. Sepúlveda).
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Abstract

A high-resolution multi-proxy study including the elemental and isotopic composition of bulk organic matter, land plant-derived biomarkers, and alkenone-based sea-surface temperature (SST) from a marine sedimentary record obtained from the Jacaf Fjord in northern Chilean Patagonia (∼44°20′S) provided a detailed reconstruction of continental runoff, precipitation, and summer SST spanning the last 1750 yr. We observed two different regimes of climate variability in our record: a relatively dry/warm period before 900 cal yr BP (lower runoff and average SST 1°C warmer than present day) and a wet/cold period after 750 cal yr BP (higher runoff and average SST 1°C colder than present day). Relatively colder SSTs were found during 750–600 and 450–250 cal yr BP, where the latter period roughly corresponds to the interval defined for the Little Ice Age (LIA). Similar climatic swings have been observed previously in continental and marine archives of the last two millennia from central and southern Chile, suggesting a strong latitudinal sensitivity to changes in the Southern Westerly Winds, the main source of precipitation in southern Chile, and validating the regional nature of the LIA. Our results reveal the importance of the Chilean fjord system for recording climate changes of regional and global significance.

Keywords

HoloceneWesterly WindsChileNorthern PatagoniaJacaf FjordPrecipitationSea-surface temperatureLipid biomarkers
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 72 , Issue 3 , November 2009 , pp. 400 - 409
Copyright
University of Washington

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Footnotes

1 Present address: Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 45 Carleton Street, E25-623, Cambridge MA 02142, USA.
2 Present address: Alfred Wegener Institute, Am Handelshafen 12, D-27570 Bremerhaven, Germany.

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