Reconstruction of the Amazon Basin effective moisture availability over the past 14,000 years

• Main Authors: Maslin, MA, Burns, SJ
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE 2000
• Subjects: TROPICAL SOUTH-AMERICA; LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM; NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL; ISOTOPE RECORDS; CLIMATE-CHANGE; ICE; HOLOCENE; FOREST; MODEL; TIME; Planktonic foraminifera
• Online Access: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/139311/

Quantifying the moisture history of the Amazon Basin is essential for understanding the cause of rain forest diversity and its potential as a methane source. We reconstructed the Amazon River outflow history for the past 14,000 years to provide a moisture budget for the river drainage basin. The oxygen isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera recovered from a marine sediment core in a region of Amazon River discharge shows that the Amazon Basin was extremely dry during the Younger Dryas, with the discharge reduced by at least 40% as compared with that of today. After the Younger Dryas, a meltwater-driven discharge event was followed by a steady increase in the Amazon Basin effective moisture throughout the Holocene.