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Chronology, stratigraphy and hydrological modelling of extensive wetlands and paleolakes in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert during the late quaternary

Journal Article · · Quaternary Science Reviews
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [12]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. de Chile, La Pintana (Chile)
  2. Pontificia Univ. Católica de Chile, Santiago (Chile); Pontificia Univ. Católica de Chile, Santiago (Chile). Centro UC del Desierto de Atacama; Inst. of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB), Santiago (Chile)
  3. Univ. de Tarapacá, Arica (Chile). Inst. de Alta Investigación
  4. Univ. de Concepción (Chile). Lab. for Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry; Center for Climate and Resilience Research (CR)2, Santiago (Chile)
  5. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Brisbane, QLD (Australia)
  6. Inst. of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB), Santiago (Chile)
  7. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago (Chile). Centro UC del Desierto de Atacama; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago (Chile)
  8. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
  9. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
  10. Denison College, Granville, OH (United States)
  11. Center for Climate and Resilience Research (CR)2, Santiago (Chile); Univ. de Magallanes, Punta Arenas (Chile)
  12. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

The halite-encrusted salt pans (salars) present at low elevations in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile are unique features of one of the driest and possibly oldest deserts on Earth. Here we show that these landscapes were shallow freshwater lakes and wetlands during the last glacial period and formed periodically between ~46.9 ka and 7.7 ka. The moisture appears to have been sourced from increased Andean runoff and most of our chronologies for these deposits were coeval with the Central Andean Pluvial Event (17.5–14.2 ka and 13.8–9.7 ka), but we also find evidence for older as well as slightly younger wet phases. We find that these environments supported a diverse hygrophytic-halophytic vegetation, as well as an array of diatoms and gastropods. Using a regional hydrological model, we estimate that recharge rates from 1.5 to 4 times present were required to activate and maintain these wetlands in the past. Activation in the late Pleistocene was part of a regional enhancement of water resources, extending from the Andes, downstream and through riparian corridors, to the lowest and most arid portions of the desert itself. This fundamentally unique environment was encountered by the earliest human explorers in the region, and most likely facilitated migration and encampments on a landscape that at present lacks macroscopic life on its surface.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); CONICYT
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1830486
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL--827247; 1041229
Journal Information:
Quaternary Science Reviews, Journal Name: Quaternary Science Reviews Vol. 197; ISSN 0277-3791
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (4)

“Climatic fluctuations in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert during the past 215 ka” journal March 2019
Circulation of Objects and Raw Material in the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile by the End of the Pleistocene journal October 2019
Rare calcium chloride–rich soil and implications for the existence of liquid water in a hyperarid environment journal January 2019
Beyond Site Detection: The Role of Satellite Remote Sensing in Analysing Archaeological Problems. A Case Study in Lithic Resource Procurement in the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile journal April 2019

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Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
Atacama desert
Hyperaridity
Late quaternary
Paleogeography
Sedimentology
South America
Wetlands