INVESTIGADORES
Carina Beatriz Lange
Investigadora Asociada Línea 2
Silvio Pantoja Gutiérrez
Director COPAS Sur-AustralInvestigador Titular Línea 5
The response of the northern extension of the Atacama Desert and the Peruvian upwelling system to climate conditions during the Last Interglacial ([LIG]; ∼125kyr ago) was tracked using molecular fossils of marine and terrestrial organisms preserved in Peruvian shelf sediments. High resolution records of ODP Site 1229 (past 145 kyr) indicated that warmer and wetter conditions (rainfall and river runoff ) along the coast occurred during the LIG, when global temperatures were comparable or even higher than today. A∼3°C warming of su rface waters, enhan ced wa ter co lumn stratification, rainfall and rive r runoff were associa ted with low primary productivity and a ∼1.5°C decrease in the tem– perature gradient across the Equatorial Pacific (i.e., weak Walker circulation), suggesting a prolonged El Niño‐like response of the tropical Pacific during the LIG. In contrast,the late Holocene ([LH] last 3 kyr) was characterized by colder surface waters, higher export and primary productiv- ity, and a drier climate.
