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Science 31 May 2002:
Vol. 296. no. 5573, pp. 1685 - 1686
DOI: 10.1126/science.1070136
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Reports

Early Warming of Tropical South America at the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition

G. O. Seltzer,1* D. T. Rodbell,2 P. A. Baker,3 S. C. Fritz,4 P. M. Tapia,4 H. D. Rowe,5 R. B. Dunbar5

Glaciation in the humid tropical Andes is a sensitive indicator of mean annual temperature. Here, we present sedimentological data from lakes beyond the glacial limit in the tropical Andes indicating that deglaciation from the Last Glacial Maximum led substantial warming at high northern latitudes. Deglaciation from glacial maximum positions at Lake Titicaca, Peru/Bolivia (16°S), and Lake Junin, Peru (11°S), occurred 22,000 to 19,500 calendar years before the present, several thousand years before the Bølling-Allerød warming of the Northern Hemisphere and deglaciation of the Sierra Nevada, United States (36.5° to 38°N). The tropical Andes deglaciated while climatic conditions remained regionally wet, which reflects the dominant control of mean annual temperature on tropical glaciation.

1 Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, 204 Heroy Geology Laboratory, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA.
2 Department of Geology, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308, USA.
3 Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
4 Department of Geosciences and School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.
5 Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: goseltze{at}syr.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Early Local Last Glacial Maximum in the Tropical Andes.
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Climatic Influence on Sedimentology and Geomorphology of the Rio Ramis Valley, Peru.
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Early Deglaciation in the Tropical Andes.
P. U. Clark, G. O. Seltzer, D. T. Rodbell, P. A. Baker, S. C. Fritz, P. M. Tapia, H. D. Rowe, and R. B. Dunbar (2002)
Science 298, 7a-7
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