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Science 29 April 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5722, pp. 678 - 681
DOI: 10.1126/science.1107075
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Reports

Early Local Last Glacial Maximum in the Tropical Andes

Jacqueline A. Smith,1* Geoffrey O. Seltzer,1{dagger} Daniel L. Farber,2 Donald T. Rodbell,3 Robert C. Finkel4

The local last glacial maximum in the tropical Andes was earlier and less extensive than previously thought, based on 106 cosmogenic ages (from beryllium-10 dating) from moraines in Peru and Bolivia. Glaciers reached their greatest extent in the last glacial cycle ~34,000 years before the present and were retreating by ~21,000 years before the present, implying that tropical controls on ice volumes were asynchronous with those in the Northern Hemisphere. Our estimates of snowline depression reflect about half the temperature change indicated by previous widely cited figures, which helps resolve the discrepancy between estimates of terrestrial and marine temperature depression during the last glacial cycle.

1 204 Heroy Geology Laboratory, Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244–1070, USA.
2 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Post Office Box 808, L-201, Livermore, CA 94551, USA.
3 Department of Geology, Olin Building, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308, USA.
4 Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, MS L-397, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, CA 94550–9234, USA.

{dagger} Deceased.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jasmit10{at}syr.edu

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