High-resolution variability of the South American summer monsoon over the last seven millennia: insights from a speleothem record from the central Peruvian Andes

Stable oxygen isotope (delta O-18) measurements of two speleothems, collected from Huagapo Cave in the central Peruvian Andes and with overlapping age from 1.1 to 1.4 ka, characterize tropical South American climate variability over the last 7150 years. In the study region, precipitation delta O-18 (delta O-18(p)) is inversely correlated to rainfall amount upstream in the Amazon Basin and the intensity of convection associated with the South American summer monsoon (SASM). Speleothem long-axis profiles yield an average age resolution of five years and permit investigation of climate over orbital to decadal timescales. Variations in the isotopic composition of Huagapo Cave calcite (delta O-18(c)) are in good agreement with several precipitation proxy records from ice cores, speleothems, and lake sediments from the central Peruvian Andes. From the mid-Holocene to today, delta O-18(c), a proxy for delta O-18(p), tracks changes in local insolation and exhibits a similar to 2 parts per thousand decrease. In the Late Holocene, Huagapo Cave delta O-18(c) is characterized by two periods of significant decline in SASM intensity (up to 1.5 parts per thousand increase in delta O-18(c)) even when insolation is reaching a local maximum and the SASM would be expected to intensify. These millennial-scale reductions in SASM intensity could in part be influenced by a reduction in the zonal SST gradient of the Pacific Ocean, favoring El Nino-like development. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.