Geological Society of America

28 High-Resolution Records of Holocene Climate Change

Tuesday, 22 March 2016
8:00 AM - 9:50 AM
Meeting Room 1

A LATE HOLOCENE PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION FROM PUERTO RICO BASED ON A CAVE SPELEOTHEM

Paper number: 28-5
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 9:05 AM – 9:25 AM

Authors

Heather Roman-Stork Presenting Author
Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Jeremy D. Shakun
Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Stephen J. Burns
Univ of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA
Hai Cheng
Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi'an
R. Lawrence Edwards
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Abstract

We developed a late Holocene record of Caribbean paleoclimate based on a 47 cm long speleothem from Cueva Juan Nieves in Puerto Rico. Four uranium/thorium ages and visual examination suggest uninterrupted deposition from ~5000 to 500 years BP. 468 stable oxygen isotope measurements along the speleothem growth axis yield a decadal resolution record, which we interpret primarily as a proxy for rainfall amount. Combined with a previously published Puerto Rican speleothem record spanning the last 800 years (Winter et al., 2011), the data suggest no long-term trend in precipitation during the mid-to-late Holocene. There is considerable centennial-scale variance, however, which may reflect Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation-like variability. The most remarkable feature in the record is a long period of drought from 1400 years BP to 1000 years BP, which may correspond with dry conditions seen in speleothem records from Cuba and Mexico. Overall, there is a notable lack of correlation between this record and other regional proxy records from the Caribbean, suggesting either considerable spatial variability in paleorainfall or additional drivers of δ¹⁸O overprinting the precipitation signal.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 48, No. 1

doi: 10.1130/abs/2016NE-272433

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