Holocene changes in monsoon precipitation in the Andes of NE Peru based on δ¹⁸O speleothem records

Abstract

Two well-dated δ¹⁸O-speleothem records from Shatuca cave, situated on the northeastern flank of the Peruvian Andes (1960 m asl) were used to reconstruct high-resolution changes in precipitation during the Holocene in the South American Summer Monsoon region (SASM). The records show that precipitation increased gradually throughout the Holocene in parallel with the austral summer insolation trend modulated by the precession cycle. Additionally the Shatuca speleothem record shows several hydroclimatic changes on both longer- and shorter-term time scales, some of which have not been described in previous paleoclimatic reconstructions from the Andean region. Such climate episodes, marked by negative excursions in the Shatuca δ¹⁸O record were logged at 9.7–9.5, 9.2, 8.4, 8.1, 5.0, 4.1, 3.5, 3.0, 2.5, 2.1 and 1.5 ka b2k, and related to abrupt multi-decadal events in the SASM. Some of these events were likely associated with changes in sea surface temperatures (SST) during Bond events in the North Atlantic region. On longer time scales, the low δ¹⁸O values reported between 5.1-5.0, 3.5–3.0 and 1.5 ka b2k were contemporaneous with periods of increased sediment influx at Lake Pallcacocha in the Andes of Ecuador, suggesting that the late Holocene intensification of the monsoon recorded at Shatuca site may also have affected high altitudes of the equatorial Andes further north. Numerous episodes of low SASM intensity (dry events) were recorded by the Shatuca record during the Holocene, in particular at 10.2, 9.8, 9.3, 6.5, 5.1, 4.9, 2.5 and 2.3 ka b2k, some of them were synchronous with dry periods in previous Andean records.