A 60,000-year record of hydrologic variability in the Central Andes from the hydrogen isotopic composition of leaf waxes in Lake Titicaca sediments

A record of the hydrogen isotopic composition of terrestrial leaf waxes (delta D-wax) in sediment cores from Lake Titicaca provides new insight into the precipitation history of the Central Andes and controls of South American Summer Monsoon (SASM) variability since the last glacial period. Comparison of the delta D-wax record with a 19-kyr delta D record from the nearby Illimani ice core supports the interpretation that precipitation delta D is the primary control on delta D-wax with a lesser but significant role for local evapotranspiration and other secondary influences on delta D-wax. The Titicaca delta D-wax record confirms overall wetter conditions in the Central Andes during the last glacial period relative to a drier Holocene. During the last deglaciation, abrupt delta D-wax shifts correspond to millennial-scale events observed in the high-latitude North Atlantic, with dry conditions corresponding to the Bolling-Allerod and early Holocene periods and wetter conditions during late glacial and Younger Dryas intervals. We observe a trend of increasing monsoonal precipitation from the early to the late Holocene, consistent with summer insolation forcing of the SASM, but similar hydrologic variability on precessional timescales is not apparent during the last glacial period. Overall, this study demonstrates the relative importance of high-latitude versus tropical forcing as a dominant control on glacial SASM precipitation variability. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.