| SPELEOTHEMS |
Rasmussen et al. 2006 Carlsbad Caverns/Hidden Cave Stalagmite Band Thickness Data
|
|
Rasmussen, J.B.T.,Polyak, V.J.,Asmerom, Y. 2006 Evidence for Pacific-modulated precipitation variability during the late Holocene
from the southwestern USA. Geophys. Res. Lett., Vo. 33, L08701
| Data Coverage |
North: 32.25 * South: 32.25 |
|
West: -104.75 * East: -104.75 |
|
Altitude: 1300 m |
Start Year: -1242 AD
End Year: 1964 AD
Data: Please Cite Data Contributors!
|
|
Summary: The mechanisms driving late Holocene drought cycles in the western
United States are not well known due to the general scarcity of long-
term, high-resolution, absolutely dateable proxies for precipitation
in continental interiors. Here we show that late Holocene precipitation
variability in the southwestern United States has been caused by
changes in the Pacific Ocean. We present a stalagmite-based, annually
resolved moisture record that indicates large shifts from pluvial to
drought conditions alternating with periods of dampened, near-average
precipitation over the last 3000 years. Significant spectral peaks
at decadal-scale (~20-50, 70-80 year) frequencies likely correspond
to modern frequencies of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation or a low-
frequency component of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, and are
dominant during episodes of large precipitation shifts.
Overall pluvial conditions punctuated by severe droughts may have
challenged the adaptive capacities of emerging agrarian communities
of ancestral Americans.
More Info on Speleothems |
|
|
Complete XML Record: noaa-cave-6105
(Last Revised: 2009-02-11 )
|
|
 |
DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC (National Climatic Data Center, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce )
325 Broadway, E/CC23
Boulder, CO 80305
USA
|
| http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ |
| E-mail: bruce.a.bauer@noaa.gov |
| E-mail: paleo@noaa.gov |
Phone: 303-497-6280
Fax: 303-497-6513
|
|
