Late Holocene Climate and Cultural Changes in the Southwestern United States

Author:

Polyak Victor J.1,Asmerom Yemane1

Affiliation:

1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, 200 Yale Boulevard, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.

Abstract

Columnar stalagmites in caves of the Guadalupe Mountains during the late Holocene record a 4000-year annually resolved climate history for the southwestern United States. Annual banding, hiatuses, and high-precision uranium-series dating show a present day–like climate from 4000 to 3000 years ago, following a drier middle Holocene. A distinctly wetter and cooler period from 3000 to 800 years ago was followed by a period of present day–like conditions, with the exception of a slightly wetter interval from 440 to 290 years before the present. The stalagmite record correlates well with the archaeological record of changes in cultural activities of indigenous people. Such climate change may help to explain evidence of dwelling abandonment and population redistribution.

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Subject

Multidisciplinary

Reference36 articles.

1. The Deposition of Calcite and Aragonite in Caves

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4. At present the collection areas in Hidden Cave (two stalagmites BC2 and BC4) and Bat Cave–Carlsbad Cavern (two stalagmites 89029 and 89037) are overall dry and inactive although we monitored some growth of calcite in Hidden Cave during the 1991–1992 El Niño season. Most of these small columnar stalagmites are currently dormant and may grow only during very wet years. Precipitation in the Carlsbad region is seasonal with most rainfall coming in the summer; enhanced winter amounts occur from El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)–dominated precipitation. The growth–no growth pattern of many of these small columnar stalagmites in these less humid cave zones therefore corresponds to wetter than and drier than current climate conditions respectively.

5. Wetter and cooler late Holocene climate in the southwestern United States from mites preserved in stalagmites

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