Sediment magnetism constraints on the age and paleoclimate implications of a Holocene lacustrine record from the headwater region of the Rio Claro, Elqui Valley, Regíon de Coquimbo, Chile

Abstract:

Magnetostratigraphy and paleolimnological proxies are reported for a Holocene lake sediment record from the headwater region of the Rio Claro of the Elqui Valley in Northern Chile. Laguna Cerritos Blancos (LCB), the lake cored, is located at approximately 30° S latitude and 3844 m asl. This lake is fed by a stream that cut through a terminal moraine and is damned by an older moraine/rock glacier complex. This site sits at the boundary between important circulation features of the southern hemisphere, including the Southeast Pacific Subtropical Anticyclone and the Westerly winds. Any major movements of these circulation features should be reflected in the climate record of the study area (Garreaud, 2009). The Natural Remanent Magnetization (NRM) recorded in the sediments exhibits demagnetization behavior dominated by a single component of magnetization and shows a paleomagnetic secular variation (PSV) signal similar to that of a marine core (ODP Leg 202, Site 1233) from offshore Valparaíso (Lund et al., 2006) suggesting that the 1.5 m of lake record represents the past ~5,000 years. The continuous nature of the PSV record and a lack of sedimentary features, indicating a lack of unconformities, suggests that the current low lake levels are anomalous for the late Holocene. However, gradually decreasing clay percent up section shows a coarsening upward trend suggesting gradual shallowing of the lake over the past ~5,000 yrs. Over this time period LCB has been characterized by stable conditions and gradual shallowing with few disruptions to this trend. These initial paleoclimate hypotheses are currently being tested with the acquisition of additional paleoclimate proxies on these core sediments including C/N ratios, total inorganic carbon, palynology, and additional measurements of sediment magnetism.