Late-Holocene paleoenvironmental change at mid-elevation on the Caribbean slope of the Cordillera Central,Dominican Republic: a multi-site,multi-proxy analysis |
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Authors: | Chad S. Lane Sally P. Horn Claudia I. Mora Kenneth H. Orvis |
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Affiliation: | 1. School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M1, Canada;2. Department of Environmental Studies and Geography, Bishop''s University, 2600 College Street, Sherbrooke, Quebec J1M 1Z7, Canada;3. Coastal Systems Group, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,86 Water Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543, United States |
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Abstract: | High-resolution proxy records from the circum-Caribbean region indicate significant variation in Late Holocene climate, especially precipitation, attributed primarily to shifts in the mean annual position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The paleoenvironmental and cultural impacts of this Late-Holocene climate variability have been analyzed intensively in the western Caribbean, and to a lesser extent in the southern Caribbean. However, the occurrence and impacts of Late Holocene climate shifts in the eastern Caribbean, especially in island interiors, has not been well documented. Here we present sediment records of Late-Holocene paleoenvironmental change from two lakes located on the Caribbean slope of the Cordillera Central in the Dominican Republic that span the last ~3000 years. Sediment characteristics, pollen, charcoal, biogenic carbonate assemblages and isotopic composition, and bulk sedimentary carbon isotope values in Laguna Castilla and Laguna de Salvador indicate extreme shifts in hydrology, vegetation, and disturbance regimes in response to climate change and human activity in the lake watersheds. Close correspondence between the hydrological histories of the lakes and trace metal concentrations in sediments of the Cariaco Basin indicate that precipitation variability here responds to the same controls, and may similarly reflect shifts in the mean annual position of the ITCZ. Human occupation of the watersheds appears to be closely linked to severe dry periods and may indicate larger scale cultural responses to precipitation variability on the island of Hispaniola. Prehistoric human populations strongly affected vegetation and disturbance regimes in the lake watersheds. Impacts may have lasted several centuries and may have been more severe than impacts of modern populations. |
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