Paleoclimate reconstruction of recent Holocene based in stalagmites of central state of Bahia

Author(s)

Valdir Felipe Novello

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Geociências (IG/BT)
• Defense date: 2012-04-12

Examining board members

Ivo Karmann; Heitor Evangelista da Silva; Ilana Elazari Klein Coaracy Wainer

• Advisor: Ivo Karmann

Abstract

We present the first high resolution (\'DA ORDEM DE\' 4 years) precipitation record from central portion of Bahia state, covering the last \'DA ORDEM DE\' 3000 yrs from \'ANTPOT. 230 Th-dated\' stalagmites oxygen isotope records. Our record shows abrupt fluctuations in rainfall tied to variations in the intensity of the South American summer monsoon (SASM), including the periods corresponding to the Little Ice Age (LIA), the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and a period around 2800 yr B.P. Unlike other monsoon records in southern South America, dry conditions prevailed during the LIA in the Nordeste. Spectral, wavelet and cross-wavelet analyses of our record detected several periodicities from multidecadal to centennial time scales, particularly centered on 65 and 210 years, which have been linked to Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) variations and solar variability, respectively. Here we show that changes in SASM activity in the region are mainly associated with variations of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and to a lesser degree caused by fluctuations in tropical Pacific SST. Comparisons between TR5 \'delta ANTPOT. 18 O\' stalagmite record (\'DA ORDEM DE\' 6 mouths resolution) with local meteorological station showed that variations in \'delta ANTPOT. 18 O\' speleothem composition are in agreement with variations in the amount of rainfall over central Bahia. The same correlation was also identified in computing simulations based on IAEA-GNIP monitoring stations data. The \'delta ANTPOT. 18 O\' speleothem record shows a clearly trend toward dry conditions in central Bahia since the last 3 thousand years in agreement with solar insolation curve. In addition, the \'delta ANTPOT. 18 O\' record od DV2 sample shows several sequence of wet event at centennial time-scale. Among these events we call attention to the event occurred at \' DA ORDEM DE\' 822-642 D.C., coincident with an abrupt cold event recorded in Europe and with a minimum of solar irradiance. In other hand during the MCA and the LIA the record shows dry conditions, close to current values. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 09/12887-4 - Reconstruction paleoclimate of Holocene across of isotopic rezones of oxygen and carbon in speleothems of Bahia and São Paulo.
• Grantee: Valdir Felipe Novello
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master