An 1800-year oxygen-isotope record of short- and long-term hydroclimate variability in the northern neotropics from a Jamaican marl lake

• DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107930
• Publication Date: 2023-01-07T22:45:08Z
• Authors: Jonathan Holmes; Michael Burn; Luz Maria Cisnero...; Matthew Jones; Sarah Metcalfe
• Keywords: δ18O; Stalagmite; Ostracod; Chronology; Paleoclimatology; Mesoamerica; Ice core

Hydroclimate variability on multi-decadal timescales has been a prominent feature of the circum-Caribbean region over common era, with marked dry intervals noted in particular for period 800–950 CE coinciding Terminal Classic Period (the so-called Drought: TCD) Mesoamerica, and Little Ice Age from about 1500 to 1800 CE, linked complex ocean-atmosphere interactions. Previous compilations palaeoclimate reconstructions have revealed clear precipitation dipole between northern southern Mesoamerica which is consistent meteorological data modelling experiments. However, patterns elsewhere within are less well understood, although records do point spatial complexity. Here, we present ∼sub-decadal-scale lake-sediment hydroclimate reconstruction based ostracod-shell stable isotopes Wallywash Great Pond, Jamaica, covering past ∼1800 years, fills gap region. Variations δ18O values at this site proxy changes effective moisture they reveal wet phase (TCP), suggesting that may an east west component. This supported by some previous studies, additional sites required strategic localities confirm this. The interval drier than TCP, signal wider region, regional complexity characterised as well.