Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T19:00:09.980Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

23,000 yr of vegetation history of the Upper Lerma, a tropical high-altitude basin in Central Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Socorro Lozano-GarcÍa ,
Susana Sosa-Nájera ,
Yoko Sugiura  and
Margarita Caballero
Socorro Lozano-GarcÍa*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán 04510 México, D.F., Mexico
Susana Sosa-Nájera
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán 04510 México, D.F., Mexico
Yoko Sugiura
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán 04510 México, D.F., Mexico
Margarita Caballero
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Coyoacán 04510 México, D.F., Mexico
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (S. Lozano-García) [email protected] (M. Caballero).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pollen analysis on a 9.54-m sediment core from lake Chignahuapan in the upper Lerma basin, the highest intermontane basin in Central Mexico (2570 m asl), documents vegetation and limnological changes over the past ∽23,000 14C yr. The core was drilled near the archaeological site of Santa Cruz Atizapán, a site with a long history of human occupation, abandoned at the end of the Epiclassic period (ca. 900 AD). Six radiocarbon AMS dates and two well-dated volcanic events, the Upper Toluca Pumice with an age of 11,600 14C yr B.P. and the Tres Cruces Tephra of 8500 14C yr B.P., provide the chronological framework for the lacustrine sequence. From ca. 23,000 14C yr B.P. to ca. 11,600 14C yr B.P. the plant communities were woodlands and grasslands based on the pollen data. The glacial advances MII-1 and MII-2 correlate with abundant non-arboreal pollen, mainly grasses, from ca. 21,000 to 16,000 14C yr B.P., and at ca. 12,600 14C yr B.P. During the late Pleistocene, lake Chignahuapan was a shallow freshwater lake with a phase of lower level between 19,000 and 16,000 14C yr B.P. After 10,000 14C yr B.P., tree cover in the area increased, and a more variable lake level is documented. Late Holocene (ca. 3100 14C yr B.P.) deforestation was concurrent with human population expansion at the beginning of the Formative period (1500 B.C.). Agriculture and manipulation of the lacustrine environment by human lakeshore populations appear at 1200 14C yr B.P. (550 A.D.) with the appearance of Zea mays pollen and abundant charcoal particles.

Keywords

PollenLate PleistoceneHoloceneVegetation historyPaleolimnologyGlaciationsTropical mountainsArchaeologyMexico
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 64 , Issue 1 , July 2005 , pp. 70 - 82
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arce, J.L., Macías, J.L., and Vázquez-Selem, L. (2003). The 10.5 ka Plinian eruption of the Nevado de Toluca volcano, Mexico: stratigraphy and hazard implications. Geological Society of America Bulletin 115, 230–248.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaman, J.H. (1962). The timberlines of Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl, Mexico. Ecology 43, 337–385.Google Scholar
Bloomfield, K. (1975). A Late-Quaternary monogenetic volcano field in Central Mexico. Geologische Rundschau 64, 476–497.Google Scholar
Bloomfield, K., and Valastro, S. (1974). Late Pleistocene eruptive history of Nevado de Toluca volcano, Central Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin 85, 901–906.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloomfield, K., and Valastro, S. (1977). Late Quaternary Tephrachronology of the Nevado de Toluca volcano, Central Mexico. Overseas Geology and Mineral Resources 46, 1–15.Google Scholar
Bonilla-Barbosa, J.R., and Novelo-Retana, A. (1995). Manual de identificación de plantas acuáticas del parque Nacional Lagunas de Zempoala, México. Cuadernos vol. 26, Instituto de Biología UNAM, 168p.Google Scholar
Bradbury, J.P. (1971). Paleolimnology of Lake Texcoco, Mexico. Evidence from diatoms. Limnology and Oceanography 16, 180–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradbury, J.P. (1989). Late Quaternary lacustrine paleoenvironments in the Cuenca de Mexico. Quaternary Science Reviews 8, 75–100.Google Scholar
Bradbury, J.P. (1997). Source of full and glacial moisture in Mesoamerica. Quaternary International 43/44, 97–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradbury, J.P. (2000). Limnologic history of Lago de Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico for the past 48,000 years: impacts of climate and man. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 163, 65–95.Google Scholar
M.M., Caballero (1995). Late Quaternary Paleolimnology of Lake Chalco, The Basin of Mexico: new evidence for paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic change in Central Mexico during the last 45,000 years.Unpublished PhD dissertation,University of Hull, UK.Google Scholar
Caballero, M.M. (1997). The last glacial maximum in the basin of Mexico: the diatom record between 34,000 and 15,000 years BP from Lake Chalco. Quaternary International 43/44, 125–136.Google Scholar
Caballero, M.M., and Ortega-Guerrero, B. (1998). Lake levels since 40,000 ago at Chalco Lake, near Mexico City. Quaternary Research 50, 90–106.Google Scholar
Caballero, M.M., Macías, J.L., Lozano-García, M.S., Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J., and Castañeda, B.R. (2001). Late Pleistocene–Holocene volcanic stratigraphy and paleoenvironments of the upper Lerma basin, Mexico. Special Publication of the International Association of Sedimentologists 30, 247–261.Google Scholar
Caballero, M.M., Ortega, B., Valadéz, F., Metcalfe, S., Macías, J.L., and Sugiura, Y. (2002). Sta. Cruz Atizapán: a 22-ka lake level record and climatic implications for the late Holocene human occupation in the upper Lerma basin, Central Mexico. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 186, 217–235.Google Scholar
Cantagrell, J.M., Robin, C., and Vincent, P. (1981). Les grandes étapes d'évolution d'un volcan andesitique composite: example du Nevado de Toluca. Bulletin Vulcanology 44, 188 Google Scholar
Capra, L., and Macías, J.L. (2000). Pleistocene cohesive debris flows at Nevado de Toluca volcano, Central Mexico. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 102, 149–168.Google Scholar
Emiliani, C., Gartner, S., Lidz, B., Eldrige, K., Evely, D., Chang Huang, , Stipp, J., and Swanson, M. (1975). Paleoclimatological analysis of late Quaternary cores from northeasten Gulf of Mexico. Science 189, 1083–1088.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García-Palomo, A., Macías, J.L., and Garduño, V.H. (2000). Miocene to recent structural evolution of the Nevado de Toluca volcano region, Central Mexico. Tectonophysics 318, 281–302.Google Scholar
García-Palomo, A., Macías, J.L., Arce, J.L., Capra, L., and Garduño, V.M. (2002). Geology of the Nevado de Toluca volcano and surrounding areas, Central Mexico. Geological Society of America Map Series 1–48.Google Scholar
González-Quintero, L. ("lez-Quintero, 1986). )Análisis polínicos de los sedimentos.Lorenzo, J.L., Mirambell, L. Tlapacoya: 35,000 Años de Historia del Lago de Chalco Colección Científica, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 157–166.Google Scholar
González-Quintero, , and Fuentes-Mata, M. ("lez-Quintero and Fuentes-Mata, 1980). )El Holoceno de la porción central de la Cuenca de México.Sánchez, F. Memorias del III Colóquio sobre Paleobotánica y Palinología Colección Científica, Serie Prehistoria, Instituto de Antropología e Historia, 113–132.Google Scholar
Grimm, E.C. (1987). CONISS: A FORTRAN program for stratigraphically constrained cluster analysis by the method of incremental sum of squares. Computer and Geosciences 13, 13–35.Google Scholar
E.C., Grimm (1992). TILIA 2 software. Springfield: Illinois State Museum.Google Scholar
Guilderson, T.P., Fairbanks, R.G., and Rubenstone, J.L. (1994). Tropical temperatures variations since 20,000 years ago: modulating interhemispheric climate change. Science 263, 663–665.Google Scholar
Heine, K. (1976a). )Auf der Spuren der Eiszeit in Mexiko. Natur und Museum 106, 289–298.Google Scholar
Heine, K. (1976b). )Blockgeltscher-und Blockzungen Generationem am Nevado de Toluca, México. Die Erde 107, 330–352.Google Scholar
Heine, K. (1988). Late quaternary glacial chronology of the Mexican volcanoes. Die Geowissenschaften 7, 197–205.Google Scholar
Heine, K. (1994). The late-glacial moraine sequences in Mexico: is there evidence for the Younger Dryas event?. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 112, 113–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lauer, W. (1978). Timberline studies in Central Mexico. Artic and Alpine Research 102, 383–396.Google Scholar
Lauer, W., and Klaus, D. (1975). Geoecological investigations on the timberline of Pico de Orizaba. Artic and Alpine Research 74, 315–330.Google Scholar
Ledig, F.T., Jacob-Cervantes, P.H., Hodgskiss, P.D., and Eguiluz-Pierda, T. (1997). Recent evolution and divergence among populations of a rare Mexican endemic, Chihuahua spruce, following Holocene climate warming. Evolution 51, 1815–1827.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ledig, F.T., Mápula-Larreta, M., Bermejo-Velázquez, B., Reyes-Hernández, V., Flores-López, C., and Capó-Arteaga, M. (2000). Locations of Endangered Spruce Populations in Mexico and Demography of Picea chihuahuana . Madroño 47, 71–88.Google Scholar
Lozano-García, M.S. (1996). La vegetación del Cuaternario tardío en el centro de México: registros palinológicos e implicaciones paleoclimáticas. Boletín de la Sociedad Botánica de México 58, 113–128.Google Scholar
Lozano-García, M.S., and Ortega-Guerrero, B. (1994). Palynological and magnetic susceptibility records of Chalco Lake, Central Mexico. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 109, 177–191.Google Scholar
Lozano-García, M.S., and Ortega-Guerrero, B. (1998). Late Quaternary environmental changes of the central part of the Basin of Mexico. Correlation between Texcoco and Chalco basins. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 99, 77–93.Google Scholar
M.S., Lozano-García, L., Vázquez-Selem in press. A high elevation Holocene pollen record from Iztaccíhuatl volcano, Central Mexico.The Holocene 15, (3).Google Scholar
Lozano-García, M.S., Ortega-Guerrero, B., Caballero, M., and Urrutia-Fucugauchi, J. (1993). Late Pleistocene and Holocene paleoenvironments of Chalco Lake. Quaternary Research 40, 332–342.Google Scholar
Macías, J.L., Arce, J.L., García, P.A., Siebe, C., Espíndola, J.M., Komoroski, J.C., and Scout, K. (1997). Late Pleistocene–Holocene cataclysm eruptions at Nevado de Toluca and Jocotitlán volcanoes, Central Mexico.Link, K.P., Kowallis, B.J. Guidebook of Geological Excursions for the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America, Salt Lake City, Book 1 BYU Press, Utah.1–28.Google Scholar
Martínez, M., and Matuda, E. (1979). Flora del estado de México. Biblioteca Enciclopédica del estado de México Tomos I, II, III Gobierno del Estado de México, Google Scholar
Metcalfe, S.E., Street-Perrott, F.A., Perrot, R.A., and Harkness, D.D. (1991). Paleolimnology of the Upper Lerma Basin, Central Mexico: a record of climatic change and anthropogenic disturbance since 11,600 yr BP. Journal of Paleolimnology 5, 197–218.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, S.E., O'Hara, S.L., Caballero, M., and Davies, S.J. (2000). Records of Late Pleistocene–Holocene in Mexico–A review. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, 699–721.Google Scholar
Mosiño, P., and García, E. ("o and García, 1974). )The climate of Mexico.Bryson, R.A., Hare, F.K. Climates of North America Elsevier, 345–404.Google Scholar
Newton, A., and Metcalfe, S.E. (1999). Tephrochronology of the Toluca Basin, Central Mexico. Quaternary Science Reviews 18, 1039–1059.Google Scholar
Ohngemach, D. (1977). Pollen sequence of the Tlaloqua crater (La Malinche volcano, Tlaxcala, Mexico). Boletín de la Sociedad Botánica de México 36, 33–40.Google Scholar
Palacios-Chávez, R. ("vez, 1977). )Lluvia de polen moderno en diferentes hábitats del Valle de México. Boletín de la Sociedad Botánica de México 36, 45–69.Google Scholar
V.L.J., Ramos (2000). Estudio de la flora y la vegetación acuática vascular de la cuenca alta del río Lerma, en el estado de México. Unpublished MSc thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, .Google Scholar
Rzedowski, C.G., and Rzedowski, J. (2001). Flora Fanerogámica del valle de México.2nd ed.Instituto de Ecología, A.C. y CONABIO, Páztcuaro, Michoacán.Google Scholar
Sears, P.B. (1952). Palynology in southern North America: Part 1. Archaeological horizon in the Basin of Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin 63, 241–254.Google Scholar
Sears, P.B., and Clisby, K.H. (1955). Palynology in southern North America: Part 4. Pleistocene climate in Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin 66, 521–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sedov, S., Solleiro-Rebolledo, E., Morales-Puente, P., Arias-Herrerías, A., Vallejo-Gómez, E., and Jasso-Castañeda, C. (2003). Mineral and organic components of the buried paleosols of the Nevado de Toluca, Central Mexico as indicators of paleoenvironments and soil evolution. Quaternary International 106/107, 169–184.Google Scholar
S., Sosa-Nájera (2001). Registro palinológico del Pleistoceno tardío-Holoceno en el extremo meridional de la cuenca de México: Paleoambientes e inferencias paleoambientales. Unpublished MSc thesis.Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México.Google Scholar
Straka, H., and Ohngemach, D. (1989). Late Quaternary vegetation history of Mexican highland. Plant Systematics and Evolution 162, 115–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugiura, Y. (1992). El valle de Toluca después del ocaso del estado teotihuacano: El Epiclásico y el Posclásico.Sugiura, Y. Historia General del Estado de México, Tomo I: Arqueología El Colegio Mexiquense, Toluca. Edo. de México.Google Scholar
Sugiura, Y. (2000). Cultura Lacustre y sociedad del Valle de Toluca. Arqueología Mexicana 8, 32–37.Google Scholar
Sugiura, Y., Flores, A., Ludlow, B., Valadéz, F., Gold, M., and Maillol, J.M. (1994). El agua, la tierra y el hombre en el alto Lerma: un estudio multidisciplinario, Resultados preliminares. Arqueología 11/12, 29–45.Google Scholar
G.C., Tovar (1987). Lluvia de polen en el volcán Popocatépetl: un estudio a lo largo de un transecto altitudinal. Unpublished thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México. 151 p.Google Scholar
L., Vázquez-Selem (2000). Late Quaternary glacial chronology of Iztaccíhuatl volcano, Central Mexico.A record of environmental change in the border of the tropics.Unpublished PhD dissertation, Arizona State University, .Google Scholar
Vázquez-Selem, L., and Heine, K. ("zquez-Selem and Heine, 2004). )Late Quaternary glaciation of Mexico.Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L. Quaternary Glaciations–Extent and Chronology, Part III Elsevier, South America.233–242.Google Scholar
D.R., Velázquez ("zquez, 2003). )Evolución paleoambiental del lago de Cuitzeo durante el Pleistoceno tardío: Historia de la vegetación e implicaciones paleoclimáticas.Unpublished MSc thesis,Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, México.Google Scholar
Velázquez, A., Toledo, V.M., and Luna, I. ("zquez et al., 2000). )Mexican temperate vegetation.Barbour, M.G., Dwigth Billings, W. North American Terrestrial Vegetation Cambridge University Press, 573–592.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., and Bradbury, J.P. (1982). Paleoecological studies at Lake Pátzcuaro on the west-central Mexican plateau and at Chalco in the Basin of Mexico. Quaternary Research 17, 56–70.Google Scholar
Xelhuantzi-López, M.S. ("pez, 1994). )Estudio palinológico de cuatro sitios ubicados en la cuenca de Zacápu: fondo ciénaga, contacto Lomas ciénaga, pantano interno y Loma Alta. Cuadernos de Estudios Michoacanos 6, 81–93.Google Scholar