Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T09:59:15.310Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A late Quaternary paleoenvironmental record in sand dunes of the northern Atacama Desert, Chile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2018

Kari M. Finstad ,
Marco Pfeiffer ,
Gavin McNicol ,
Michael Tuite ,
Kenneth Williford  and
Ronald Amundson
Kari M. Finstad*
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA Current Address: Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA
Marco Pfeiffer
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA Departamento de Ingeniería y Suelos, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Santa Rosa 11315, La Pintana, Chile
Gavin McNicol
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA Current address: Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center, University of Alaska Southeast, Juneau, Alaska 99801, USA
Michael Tuite
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91009, USA
Kenneth Williford
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91009, USA
Ronald Amundson
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
*
*Corresponding author at: Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Ave, L-397, Livermore, CA 94550, USA. E-mail address: [email protected] (K.M. Finstad).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper reports a previously unidentified paleoenvironmental record found in sand dunes of the Atacama Desert, Chile. Long-term aeolian deflation by prevailing onshore winds has resulted in the deposition of sand on the irregular surface of a Miocene-aged anhydrite outcrop. Two deposits ~25 km apart, along the prevailing wind trajectory, were hand excavated then analyzed for vertical (and temporal) changes in physical and chemical composition. Radiocarbon ages of organic matter embedded within the deposits show that rapid accumulation of sediment began at the last glacial maximum and slowed considerably after the Pacific Ocean attained its present post-glacial level. Over this time period, grain sizes are seen to increase while accumulation rates simultaneously decrease, suggesting greater wind speeds and/or a change or decrease in sediment supply. Changes in δ34S values of sulfate in the sediment beginning ~10 ka indicate an increase in marine sources. Similarly, δ2H values from palmitic acid show a steady increase at ~10 ka, likely resulting from aridification of the region during the Holocene. Due to the extreme aridity in the region, these sand dunes retain a well-preserved chemical record that reflects changes in elevation and coastal proximity after the last glacial maximum.

Keywords

Hyperarid Atacama DesertSand dunePaleoenvironmentIsotope analysesBiological soil crust (BSC)LichenFog
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 90 , Issue 1 , July 2018 , pp. 127 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Akpokodje, E., 1984. The occurrence of bassanite in some Australina arid zone soils. Chemical Geology 47, 361–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amundson, R., Dietrich, W.E., Bellugi, D.G., Ewing, S.A., Nishiizumi, K., Chong, G.D., Owen, J., et al., 2012. Geomorphologic evidence for the late Pliocene onset of hyperaridity in the Atacama Desert. Geological Society of America Bulletin 124, 1048–1070.Google Scholar
Andersen, N., Paul, H., Bernasconi, S., McKenzie, J., Behrens, A., Schaeffer, P., Albrecht, P., 2001. Large and rapid climate variability during the Messinian salinity crisis: evidence from deuterium concentrations of individual biomarkers. Geology 29, 799–802.Google Scholar
Anderson, R.S., Anderson, S.P., 2010. Geomorphology: The Mechanics and Chemistry of Landscapes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Aravena, R., Suzuki, O., Pollastri, A, 1989. Coastal fog and its relation to groundwater in the IV region of northern Chile. Chemical Geology 79, 83–91.Google Scholar
Bao, H., Campbell, D.A., Bockheim, J.G., Thiemens, M.H., 2000. Origins of sulphate in Antarctic Dry-Valley soils as deduced from anomalous 17O compositions. Nature 407, 499–502.Google Scholar
Burgess, S.S.O., Dawson, T.E., 2004. The contribution of fog to the water relations of Sequoia smpervirens (D. Don): foliar uptake and prevention of dehydration. Plant, Cell and Environment 27, 1023–1034.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cereceda, P., Osses, P., Larrain, H., Farías, M., Lagos, M., Pinto, R., Schemenauer, R.S., 2002. Advective, orographic and radiation fog in the Tarapacá region, Chile. Atmospheric Research 64, 261–271.Google Scholar
Finstad, K., Pfeiffer, M., McNicol, G., Barnes, J., Demergasso, C., Chong, G., Amundson, R., 2016. Rates and geochemical processes of soil and salt crust formation in salars of the Atacama Desert, Chile. Geoderma 284, 57–72.Google Scholar
Flores-Aqueveque, V., Alfaro, S. C., Caquineau, S., Foret, G., Vargas, G., Rutllant, J. A., 2012. Inter-annual variability of southerly winds in a coastal area of the Atacama Desert: implications for the export of aeolian sediments to the adjacent marine environment. Sedimentology 59, 990–1000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gayo, E.M., Latorre, C., Jordan, T.E., Nester, P.L., Estay, S.A., Ojeda, K.F., Santoro, C.M., 2012. Late Quaternary hydrological and ecological changes in the hyperarid core of the northern Atacama Desert (~21°S). Earth Science Reviews 113, 120–140.Google Scholar
Gee, G., Bauder, J., 1986. Particle-size analysis. In: Klute, A. (Ed.), Methods of Soil Analysis: Part 1—Physical and Mineralogical Methods, SSSA Book Series 5.1. American Society of Agronomy, Inc. (ASA) and Soil Science Society of America, Inc. (SSSA). Madison, Wisconsin, pp. 383–411.Google Scholar
Graber, E.R., Tsechansky, L., 2010. Rapid one-step method for total fatty acids in soils and sediments. Soil Science Society of America Journal 74, 42–50.Google Scholar
Gunatilaka, A., Al-Temeemi, A., Saleh, A., Nassar, N., 1985. A new occurrence of bassanite in recent evaporitic environments, Kuwait, Arabian Gulf. Kuwait Journal of Science 12, 157–166.Google Scholar
Hartley, A., Chong, G.D., 2002. Late Pliocene age for the Atacama Desert: implications for the desertification of western South America. Geology 30, 43–46.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogg, A., Hua, Q., Blackwell, P., Niu, M., Buck, C., Guilderson, T.P., Heaton, T.H.E., et al., 2013. SHCAL13 southern hemisphere calibration, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55, 1889–1903.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houston, J., 2006. Evaporation in the Atacama Desert: an empirical study of spatio-temporal variations and their causes. Journal of Hydrology 330, 402–412.Google Scholar
Huang, Y., Shuman, B., Wang, Y., Webb, T.I., 2002. Hydrogen isotope ratios of palmitic acid in lacustrine sediments record late Quaternary climate variations. Geology 12, 1–4.Google Scholar
Hunt, C., Robinson, T., Bowles, W., Washburn, A., 1966. Hydrologic basin Death Valley California. Geological Survey Professional Paper 494-B, US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Jordan, T.E., Kirk-Lawlor, N.E., Blanco, N., Rech, J.A., Cosentino, N.J., 2014. Landscape modification in response to repeated onset of hyperarid paleoclimate states since 14 Ma, Atacama Desert, Chile. Geological Society of America Bulletin 126, 1016–1046.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambeck, K., Yokoyama, Y., Purcell, T., 2002. Into and out of the Last Glacial Maximum: sea-level change during Oxygen Isotope Stages 3 and 2. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 343–1360.Google Scholar
Latorre, C., González, A., Quade, J., Fariña, J., Pinto, R., Marqet, P., 2011. Establishment and formation of fog‐dependent Tillandsia landbeckii dunes in the Atacama Desert: evidence from radiocarbon and stable isotopes. Journal of Geophysical Research 116, G03033. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010JG001521.Google Scholar
Mees, F., De Dapper, M., 2005. Vertical variations in bassanite distribution patterns in near-surface sediments, southern Egypt. Sedimentary Geology 181, 225–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michalski, G., Bohlke, J.K., Thiemens, M.H., 2004. Long term atmospheric deposition as the source of nitrate and other salts in the Atacama Desert, Chile: new evidence from mass-independent oxygen isotopic compositions. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 68, 4023–4038.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, P.D., 1998. Life in the upper crust. Nature 393, 419–420.Google Scholar
Mächtle, B., Unkel, I., Eitel, B., Kromer, B., Schiegl, S., 2010. Molluscs as evidence for a late Pleistocene and early Holocene humid period in the southern coastal desert of Peru (14.5°S). Quaternary Research 73, 39–47.Google Scholar
Nester, P.L., Gayo, E.M., Latorre, C., Jordan, T.E., Blanco, N., 2007. Perennial stream discharge in the hyperarid Atacama Desert of northern Chile during the latest Pleistocene. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104, 19724–19729.Google Scholar
Pueyo, J.J., Chong, G.D., Jensen, A., 2001. Neogene evaporites in desert volcanic environments: Atacama Desert, northern Chile. Sedimentology 48, 1411–1431.Google Scholar
Quade, J., Rech, J.A., Betancourt, J.L., Latorre, C., Quade, B., Rylander, K.A., Fisher, T., 2008. Paleowetlands and regional climate change in the central Atacama Desert, northern Chile. Quaternary Research 69, 343–360.Google Scholar
Rech, J.A., Quade, J., Betancourt, J.L., 2002. Late Quaternary paleohydrology of the central Atacama Desert (lat 22-24 S), Chile. Geological Society of America Bulletin 114, 334–348.Google Scholar
Rech, J.A., Quade, J., Hart, W.S., 2003. Isotopic evidence for the source of Ca and S in soil gypsum, anhydrite and calcite in the Atacama Desert, Chile. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 67, 575–586.Google Scholar
Sachse, D., Radke, J., Gleixner, G., 2004. Hydrogen isotope ratios of recent lacustrine sedimentary n-alkanes record modern climate variability. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 68, 4877–4889.Google Scholar
Sáez, A., Cabrera, L., Jensen, A., Chong, G., 1999. Late Neogene lacustrine record and palaeogeography in the Quillagua-Llamara basin, Central Andean fore-arc (northern Chile). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 151, 5–37.Google Scholar
Sauer, P., Eglinton, T.I., Hayes, J.M., Schimmelmann, A., Sessions, A.L., 2001. Compound-specific D/H ratios of lipid biomarkers from sediments as a proxy for environmental and climatic conditions. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 65, 213–222.Google Scholar
Sessions, A.L., Burgoyne, T., Schimmelmann, A., Hayes, J.M., 1999. Fractionation of hydrogen isotopes in lipid biosynthesis. Organic Geochemistry 30, 1193–1200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soil Survey Staff, 1999. Soil Taxonomy: A Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys. 2nd ed. United States Department of Agriculture Handbook 436. Natural Resources Conservation Service.Google Scholar
Tsoar, H., Pye, K., 1987. Dust transport and the question of desert loess formation. Sedimentology 34, 139–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turk, J.K., Graham, R.C., 2011. Distribution and properties of vesicular horizons in the western United States. Soil Science Society of America Journal 75, 1449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vogel, J.S., Southon, J., Nelson, D.E., Brown, T.A., 1984. Performance of catalytically condensed carbon for use in accelerator mass spectrometry. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, 289–293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, R.M.E., Chuang, F.C., Berman, D.C., 2017. Multiple surface wetting events in the greater Meridiani Planum region, Mars: evidence from valley networks within ancient cratered highlands. Geophysical Research Letters 44. http://dx.doi.org10.1002/2016GL072259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yen, A.S., Ming, D.W., Vaniman, D.T., Gellert, R., Blake, D.F., Morris, R.V., Morrison, S.M., et al., 2017. Multiple stages of aqueous alteration along fractures in mudstone and sandstone strata in Gale Crater, Mars. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 471, 186–198.Google Scholar
Yokoyama, Y., Lambeck, K., De Deckker, P., Johnston, P., Fifield, L.K., 2000. Timing of the Last Glacial Maximum from observed sea-level minima. Nature 406, 713–716.Google Scholar