Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Re-evaluation of Climate Change in Lowland Central America During the Last Glacial Maximum Using New Sediment Cores from Lake Petén Itzá, Guatemala

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Past Climate Variability in South America and Surrounding Regions

Part of the book series: Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research ((DPER,volume 14))

Abstract

Glaciological data derived from moraines, and multiproxy data from lake sediment cores (e.g. fossil pollen, diatoms, and isotope data) indicate cooling in the Central American tropics during the last ice age. Contrary to prior inferences, however, new lake core data from Lake Petén Itzá, lowland Guatemala, indicate that climate was not particularly dry on the Yucatan Peninsula during the last glacial maximum (LGM) chronozone, around 23,000–19,000 cal. yr BP. We present pollen and lithologic data from Lake Petén Itzá and an improved chronology for climate changes in lowland Central America over the last 25,000 years. The driest period of the last glaciation was not the LGM, but rather the deglacial period (∼18,000–11,000 cal. yr BP). Causes of climate shifts during the last glaciation are ascribed to precessional changes in insolation, the position of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, and southward penetration of polar air masses.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Anselmetti FS, Ariztegui D, Hodell DA et al (2006) Late Quaternary climate-induced lake level variations in Lake Petén Itzá, Guatemala, inferred from seismic stratigraphic analysis. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 230:52–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ballantyne AP, Lavine M, Crowley TJ, Baker PA (2005) Meta-analysis of tropical surface temperatures during the Last Glacial Maximum. Geophys Res Lett 32:L05712 (05714)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berger A (1978) Long-term variations of daily insolation and Quaternary climatic change. J Atmos Sci 35:2362–2367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berger A (1992) Astronomical theory of paleoclimates and the last glacial-interglacial cycle. Quat Sci Rev 11:571–581

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berger A, Loutre MF, Mélice JL (2006) Equatorial insolation: from precession harmonics to eccentricity frequencies. Clim Past 2:131–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradbury JP (1997) Sources of glacial moisture in Mesoamerica. Quat Int 43–44:97–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush MB (2000) Deriving response matrices from Central American modern pollen rain. Quat Res 54:132–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush MB (2002) On the interpretation of fossil Poaceae pollen in the humid lowland neotropics. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 177:5–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush MB, Colinvaux PA (1990) A long record of climatic and vegetation change in lowland Panama. J Veg Sci 1:105–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush MB, Miller MC, de Oliveira PE, Colinvaux PA (2002) Orbital forcing signal in sediments of two Amazonian lakes. J Paleolimnol 27:341–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bush MB, Piperno DR, Colinvaux PA (1992) A 14,300 year paleoecological profile of a lowland tropical lake in Panama. Ecol Monographs 62:251–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiang JCH, Bitz M (2005) Influence of high latitude ice cover on the marine Intertropical Convergence Zone. Climate Dyn. doi: 10.1007/s00382-00005-00040-00385

    Google Scholar 

  • Clement AC, Hall A, Broccoli AJ (2004) The importance of precessional signals in the tropical climate. Clim Dyn 22:327–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • COHMAP (1988) Climate changes of the last 18,000 years: observations and model simulations. Science 241:1043–1052

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cruz FW Jr, Burns SJ, Karmann I (2005) Insolation-driven changes in atmospheric circulation over the past 116,000 years in subtropical Brazil. Nature 434:63–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deevey ES, Brenner M, Binford MW (1983) Paleolimnology of the Peten Lake District, Guatemala. Hydrobiologia 103:211–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dillehay TD, Ramirez C, Pino M et al (2008). Monte Verde: seaweed, food, medicine, and the peopling of South America. Science 320:784–786

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fairbanks RG, Richard RA, Mortlock A et al (2005) Marine radiocarbon calibration curve spanning 0 to 50,000 years B.P. based on paired 230Th/234U/238U and 14C dates on pristine corals. Quat Sci Rev 24:1781–1796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fule PZ, Covington WW (1997) Fire regimes and forest structure in the Sierra Madre Occidental, Durango, Mexico. Acta Botánica Mexicana 41:43–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Ganopolski A, Rahmstorf S, Petoukhov V, Claussen M (1998) Simulation of modern and glacial climates with a coupled global model of intermediate complexity. Nature 391:351–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grootes PM, Stuiver M, White JWC et al (1993) Comparison of oxygen isotope records from the GISP2 and GRIP Greenland ice cores. Nature 366:552–554

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guilderson TP, Fairbanks RG, Rubenstone JL (1994) Tropical temperature variations since 20,000 years ago: modulating interhemispheric climate change. Science 263:663–665

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hillesheim MB, Hodell DA, Leyden BW (2005) Lowland neotropical climate change during the late deglacial and early Holocene. J Quat Sci 20:363–376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodell DA, Curtis JH, Jones GA et al (1991) Reconstruction of Caribbean climate change over the past 10,500 years. Nature 352:790–793

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodell DA, Brenner M, Curtis JH (2000) Climate change in the northern American tropics since the last ice age: implications for environment and culture. In: Lentz DL (ed) Imperfect balance: landscape transformations in the Precolumbian Americas. Columbia University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodell DA, Anselmetti F, Ariztegui D et al (2008) An 85-ka record of climate change in Lowland Central America. Quat Sci Rev 27:1152–1165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodell DA, Anselmetti FS, Brenner M et al (2006) The Lake Petén Itzá scientific drilling project. Sci Drill 3:25–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Hooghiemstra H, Melice JL, Berger A, Shackleton NJ (1993) Frequency spectra and paleoclimatic variability of the high-resolution 30–1450 ka Funza I pollen record (Eastern Cordillera, Colombia). Quat Sci Rev 12:141–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horn SP (1990) Timing of deglaciation in the Cordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica. Clim Res 1:81–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang Y, Street-Perrott FA, Metcalfe SE et al (2001) Climate change as the dominant control on glacial-interglacial variations in C3 and C4 plant abundance. Science 293:1647–1651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jose Gonzalez M, Quigley HB, Taylor CI (1998) Habitat use and reproductive ecology of ocellated turkey in Tikal National Park, Guatemala. The Wilson Bulletin 110:505–510.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koutavas A, Lynch-Stieglitz J (2004) Variability of the Marine ITCZ over the Eastern Pacific during the Past 30,000 years: regional perspective and global context. In: Diaz HF, Bradley RS (eds) The hadley circulation: present, past, and future. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Germany

    Google Scholar 

  • Lachniet MS (2004) Late Quaternary glaciation of Costa Rica and Guatemala. In: Ehlers J, Gibbard PL (eds) Quaternary glaciations—extent and chronology, Part III: South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica. Elsevier, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Lachniet MS, Vazquez-Selem L (2005) Last Glacial Maximum equilibrium line altitudes in the circum-Caribbean (Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Venezuela). Quat Int 138–139:129–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lachniet MS (2007) Glacial Geology and Geomorphology. In: Bundschuh J, Alvarado G (eds) Central America: geology, resources, and hazards. Taylor & Francis, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ledbetter MT (1984) Tephrochronology of marine tephra adjacent to Central America. Geol Soc Amer Bull 96:77–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leyden BW (1984) Guatemalan forest synthesis after Pleistocene aridity. Proc Nat Acad Sci 81:4856–4859

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leyden BW, Brenner M, Hodell DA, Curtis JA (1993) Late Pleistocene climate in the Central American lowlands. In: Swart PK, Lohmann KC, McKenzie J, Savin S (eds) Climate change in continental records. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Leyden BW, Brenner M, Hodell DA, Curtis JA (1994) Orbital and internal forcing of climate on the Yucatan Peninsula for the past ca. 36 ka. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 109:193–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Livingstone DA (1967) Postglacial vegetation of the Ruwenzori Mountains in equatorial Africa. Ecol Monographs 37:25–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Livingstone DA (1975) Late Quaternary climate change in Africa. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 6:249–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marengo JA, Rogers JC (2001) Polar air outbreaks in the Americas: Assessments and impacts during modern and past climates. In: Markgraf V (ed) Interhemispheric climate linkages. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin PS (1964) Paleoclimatology and a tropical pollen profile. In: Report of the VIth International Congress on the Quaternary. Paleoclimatological section, Lodz., Warsaw

    Google Scholar 

  • Martinson DGN, Pisias G, Hays JD et al (1987) Age dating and the orbital theory of the ice ages; development of a high-resolution 0 to 300,000-year chronostratigraphy. Quat Res 27:1–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Metcalfe SES, Davies J, Braisby JD et al (2007) Long and short-term change in the Patzcuaro Basin, central Mexico. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 247:272–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mix A, Bard E, Schneider R (2001) Environmental processes of the Ice Age: land, oceans, glaciers (EPILOG). Quat Sci Rev 20:627–657

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paillard D, Labeyrie L, Yiou P (1996) Macintosh program performs time-series analysis. Eos Trans AGU 77:379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peltier WR, Fairbanks RG (2006) Global glacial ice volume and Last Glacial Maximum duration from an extended Barbados sea level record. Quat Sci Rev 25:3322–3337

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson LC, Haug GH, Hughen KA, Röhl U (2000) Rapid changes in the hydrologic cycle of the tropical Atlantic during the Last Glacial. Science 290:1947–1951

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rind D, Peteet D (1985) Terrestrial conditions at the last glacial maximum and CLIMAP sea-surface temperature estimates: are they consistent? Quat Res 24:1–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe HD, Dunbar RB, Mucciarone DA et al (2002) Insolation, moisture balance and climate change on the South American Altiplano since the Last Glacial Maximum. Clim Change 52:175–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt MW, Spero HJ, Lea DW (2004) Links between salinity variation in the Caribbean and North Atlantic thermohaline circulation. Nature 428:160–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van der Hammen T, Hooghiemstra H (2000) Neogene and Quaternary history of vegetation, climate and plant diversity in Amazonia. Quat Sci Rev 19:725–742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan HH, Deevey ES, Garrett-Jones SE (1985) Pollen stratigraphy from two cores in the Peten lake district. In: Pohl M (ed) Prehistoric lowland Maya environment and subsistence economy. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Vazquez GJA, Givnish TJ (1998) Altitudinal gradients in tropical forest composition, structure, and diversity in the Sierra de Manantlán. J Ecol 86:999–1020

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vellinga M, Wood RA (2002) Global climatic impacts of a collapse of the Atlantic Thermohaline circulation. Clim Change 54:251–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang X, Auler AS, Edwards RL et al (2004) Wet periods in northeastern Brazil over the past 210 kyr linked to distant climate anomalies. Nature 432:740–743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitmore TJ, Brenner M, Curtis JH et al (1996) Holocene climatic and human influences on lakes of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico: an interdisciplinary, palaeolimnological approach. The Holocene 6:273–287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang R (2006) How cold were the tropics and subtropics at the Last Glacial Maximum? Quat Sci Rev 25:1150–1151

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank all individuals who participated in the fieldwork of the Lake Petén Itzá Scientific Drilling Project. We thank the LacCore (National Lacustrine Core Repository), Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, for their expertise and help in sampling the Petén Itzá core. This project was funded by grants from the US National Science Foundation (ATM-0502030), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the Swiss National Science Foundation, and the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program. We are grateful to William Gosling and Sarah Metcalfe for constructive reviews.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, 150 W. University Blvd., 32901, Melbourne, FL, USA

    Mark B. Bush, Alexander Y. Correa-metrio & Catherine Burton

  2. Department of Geological Sciences and Land Use and Environmental Change Institute (LUECI), University of Florida, 32611, Gainesville, FL, USA

    David A. Hodell, Mark Brenner, Jason H. Curtis, Dustin A. Grzesik & Adrian Gilli

  3. Eawag, Ueberlandstrasse 133, 8600, P. O. Box 611, Duebendorf, Switzerland

    Flavio S. Anselmetti

  4. Section of Earth Sciences, University of Geneva, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland

    Daniel Ariztegui

  5. Geological Institute, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, 8092, Zurich, ETH, Switzerland

    Andreas D. Mueller & Adrian Gilli

Authors
  1. Mark B. Bush
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alexander Y. Correa-metrio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David A. Hodell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mark Brenner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Flavio S. Anselmetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Daniel Ariztegui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Andreas D. Mueller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Jason H. Curtis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Dustin A. Grzesik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Catherine Burton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Adrian Gilli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark B. Bush .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. IRD, CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191, France

    Francoise Vimeux

  2. L'Institut de Recherché pour le, CEREGE, Aix-en-Provence, 13545, France

    Florence Sylvestre

  3. IRD, CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191, France

    Myriam Khodri

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bush, M.B. et al. (2009). Re-evaluation of Climate Change in Lowland Central America During the Last Glacial Maximum Using New Sediment Cores from Lake Petén Itzá, Guatemala. In: Vimeux, F., Sylvestre, F., Khodri, M. (eds) Past Climate Variability in South America and Surrounding Regions. Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2672-9_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation