Dataset Information

Cosmogenic in situ ¹⁴C-¹⁰Be reveals abrupt Late Holocene soil loss in the Andean Altiplano.

ABSTRACT: Soil sustainability is reflected in a long-term balance between soil production and erosion for a given climate and geology. Here we evaluate soil sustainability in the Andean Altiplano where accelerated erosion has been linked to wetter climate from 4.5 ka and the rise of Neolithic agropastoralism in the millennium that followed. We measure in situ cosmogenic ¹⁴C directly on cultivated hilltops to quantify late Holocene soil loss, which we compare with background soil production rates determined from cosmogenic ²⁶Al and ¹⁰Be. Our Monte Carlo-based inversion method identifies two scenarios to account for our data: an increase in erosion rate by 1-2 orders of magnitude between ~2.6 and 1.1 ka, or a discrete event stripping ~1-2 m of soil between ~1.9 and 1.1 ka. Coupled environmental and cultural factors in the Late Holocene signaled the onset of the pervasive human imprint in the Andean Altiplano seen today.

SUBMITTER: Hippe K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8099901 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Cosmogenic in situ 14C-10Be reveals abrupt Late Holocene soil loss in the Andean Altiplano.

Hippe Kristina K Jansen John D JD Skov Daniel Søndergaard DS Lupker Maarten M Ivy-Ochs Susan S Kober Florian F Zeilinger Gerold G Capriles José Mariano JM Christl Marcus M Maden Colin C Vockenhuber Christof C Egholm David Lundbek DL

Nature communications 20210505 1

Soil sustainability is reflected in a long-term balance between soil production and erosion for a given climate and geology. Here we evaluate soil sustainability in the Andean Altiplano where accelerated erosion has been linked to wetter climate from 4.5 ka and the rise of Neolithic agropastoralism in the millennium that followed. We measure in situ cosmogenic 14C directly on cultivated hilltops to quantify late Holocene soil loss, which we compare with background soil production rate ...[more]

PMID: 33953195

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Project description:The hydroclimate of South America is characterized by the South American summer monsoon (SASM), a tropical atmospheric circulation that induces a summer precipitation regime, and the Southern Hemisphere Westerlies (SHW), an extratropical atmospheric circulation that induces a winter precipitation regime. Stretched between these two systems is a NW-SE-oriented region dominated by descending air masses, resulting in the South American subtropical dry zone (SASDZ), also known as the arid diagonal. We investigated the Cerro Tuzgle cushion peatland (CTP) located on the Argentine Altiplano, north of the present-day SASDZ. Previous work revealed that the CTP was consistently in the SASM regime during the last 2900 cal yr BP. Here, we extend the CTP record to the middle Holocene covering the last 7200 cal yr BP to gain further knowledge of the Holocene development of the SASM and potential modulations of the SASDZ. The prominent feature of the entire record is a distinct and lasting transition centred around 3100 cal yr BP characterized by declining minerogenic content, increasing organic carbon content, rising stable carbon isotope values of organic matter and cellulose, and increasing stable oxygen isotope values of cellulose. We interpret this specific proxy pattern as a hydroclimatic transition towards less arid conditions at the CTP after 3100 cal yr BP. The transition corresponds with the end of the continuous Holocene strengthening of the SASM between 3500 cal yr BP and 3000 cal yr BP indicated by proxy records from north and east of the CTP. The CTP does not reflect this strengthening of the SASM and rather exhibits a threshold response indicating the effective establishment of the SASM summer precipitation regime at 24°S. This suggests that moisture supply during a more arid middle Holocene was provided by isotopically depleted precipitation, while moisture supply after the transition originated from isotopically enriched SASM summer precipitation. Concurrent hydroclimatic changes in the SHW winter precipitation regime south of the SASDZ are documented in a distinct lake level rise of Laguna Aculeo (33°50´S) around 3200 cal yr BP. These coinciding hydrological changes of the SASM and the SHW precipitation regimes indicate larger scale reorganisations of atmospheric circulation components, potentially connected to major modulations of the SASDZ. Thus, our CTP record sheds light on the middle to late Holocene development of the SASM at its southern limit and corroborates connections between the tropical and extratropical hydroclimate of South America.

Dataset Information

Cosmogenic in situ ¹⁴C-¹⁰Be reveals abrupt Late Holocene soil loss in the Andean Altiplano.

Publications

Cosmogenic in situ <sup>14</sup>C-<sup>10</sup>Be reveals abrupt Late Holocene soil loss in the Andean Altiplano.

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