PLEISTOCENE AND HOLOCENE SOIL CARBONATES FROM LANZAROTE, CANARY-ISLANDS, SPAIN - PALEOCLIMATIC IMPLICATIONS

Periods of soil carbonate formation have been used to separate the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene paleoclimate of Lanzarote Island into three stages: An early semi-arid (wet) period (>26,000 yrs B.P:); a dry (arid) period until 14,000 yrs B.P.; and a return to semi-arid conditions correlated with deglaciation in northern latitudes. These three stages correlate with the paleoclimate record in northern Africa and the Near East, where two upper paleosol horizons are found (Goodfriend & Magaritz 1989) that may be correlated with the two stages of carbonization in the study area. This extends climatic correlation for this time interval from the Eastern Mediterranean to the mid-latitude Atlantic region.