Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T14:26:49.277Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Subdivision of Glacial Deposits in Southeastern Peru Based on Pedogenic Development and Radiometric Ages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Adam Y. Goodman
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, 13244
Donald T. Rodbell
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Union College, Schenectady, New York, 12308
Geoffrey O. Seltzer
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, 13244
Bryan G. Mark
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, 13244

Abstract

The Cordillera Vilcanota and Quelccaya Ice Cap region of southern Peru (13°30′–14°00′S; 70°40′–71°25′W) contains a detailed record of late Quaternary glaciation in the tropical Andes. Quantification of soil development on 19 moraine crests and radiocarbon ages are used to reconstruct the glacial history. Secondary iron and clay increase linearly in Quelccaya soils and clay accumulates at a linear rate in Vilcanota soils, which may reflect the semicontinuous addition of eolian dust enriched in secondary iron to all soils. In contrast, logarithmic rates of iron buildup in soils in the Cordillera Vilcanota reflect chemical weathering; high concentrations of secondary iron in Vilcanota tills may mask the role of eolian input to these soils. Soil-age estimates from extrapolation of field and laboratory data suggest that the most extensive late Quaternary glaciation occurred >70,000 yr B.P. This provides one of the first semiquantitative age estimates for maximum ice extent in southern Peru and is supported by a minimum-limiting age of ∼41,520 14C yr B.P. A late glacial readvance culminated ∼16,650 cal yr B.P. in the Cordillera Vilcanota. Following rapid deglaciation of unknown extent, an advance of the Quelccaya Ice Cap occurred between ∼13,090 and 12,800 cal yr B.P., which coincides approximately with the onset of the Younger Dryas cooling in the North Atlantic region. Moraines deposited <394 cal yr B.P. in the Cordillera Vilcanota and <300 cal yr B.P. on the west side of the Quelccaya Ice Cap correlate with Little Ice Age moraines of other regions.

Type
Research Article
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

Alley, R., Bond, G., Chapellaz, Clapperton C., Del Genio, A., Keigwin, L., and Peteet, D. (1993). Global Younger Dryas. Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 74, 587589.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Audebaud, E. (1973). Geologı́a de los cuadrángulos de Ocongate y Sicuani. Servicio Geologia y Mineria 25, 72 Google Scholar
Berry, M.E. (1987). Morphological and chemical characteristics of soil catenas on Pinedale and Bull Lake moraine slopes in the Salmon River Mountains, Idaho. Quaternary Research 28, 210225.Google Scholar
Berry, M.E. (1994). Soil-geomorphic analysis of late-Pleistocene glacial sequences in the McGee, Pine, and Bishop Creek drainages, east-central Sierra Nevada, California. Quaternary Research 41, 160175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birkeland, P.W. (1999). Soils and Geomorphology. Oxford Univ. Press, New York. p. 430 Google Scholar
Bond, G., Heinrich, H., Broecker, W., Labeyrie, L., McManus, J., Andrews, J., Huon, S., Jantschik, R., Clasen, S., Simet, C., Tedesco, K., Klas, M., Bonani, G., and Ivy, S. (1992). Evidence for massive discharges of icebeurgs into the North Atlantic ocean during the last glacial period. Nature 360, 245249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clapperton, C.M. (1972). The Pleistocene moraine stages of west-central Peru. Journal of Glaciology 11, 255263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clapperton, C.M. (1983). The glaciation of the Andes. Quaternary Science Reviews 2, 83155.Google Scholar
Clapperton, C.M. (1990). Quaternary glaciations in the Southern Hemisphere: An overview. Quaternary Science Reviews 9, 299304.Google Scholar
Clapperton, C.M., Hall, M., Mothes, P., Hole, M.J., Still, J.W., Helmens, K.F., Kuhry, P., and Gemmell, A.M.D. (1997). A Younger Dryas icecap in the Ecuadorian Andes. Quaternary Research 47, 1328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Science 241, 10431052.Google Scholar
Colman, S.M. (1981). Rock-weathering rates as functions of time. Quaternary Research 15, 250264.Google Scholar
Conyers, M.K., and Davey, B.G. (1988). Observations on some routine methods for soil pH determination. Soil Science 145, 2936.Google Scholar
Denton, G.H., and Hendy, C.H. (1996). The age of the Waiho Loop glacial event. Science 271, 668670.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, A.Y. (1999). Subdivision of Glacial Deposits in Southeastern Perú Based on Pedogenic Development and Radiometric Ages. Syracuse University, New York.Google Scholar
Grove, J.M. (1988). The Little Ice Age. Methuen, New York.Google Scholar
Harden, J.W. (1982). A quantitative index of soil development from field descriptions: Examples from a chronosequence in central California. Geoderma 28, 128.Google Scholar
Harden, J.W., and Taylor, E.M. (1983). A quantitative comparison of soil development in four climatic regimes. Quaternary Research 28, 342359.Google Scholar
Hastenrath, S. (1995). Climate Dynamics of the Tropics. Kluwer Academic Publishers, London. p. 488 Google Scholar
Jackson, M.L. (1979). Soil Chemical Analysis—Advanced Course. Madison, Google Scholar
Kaser, G., Ames, A., and Zamora, M. (1990). Glacier fluctuations and climate in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. Annals of Glaciology 14, 136140.Google Scholar
Klein, A.G., Seltzer, G.O., and Isacks, B.L. (1999). Modern and last local glacial maximum snowlines in the central Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and Northern Chile. Quaternary Science Reviews 18, 6384.Google Scholar
Lowell, T.V., Heusser, C.J., Anderson, B.G., Moreno, P.I., Hauser, A., Heusser, L.E., Schlüchter, C., Marchant, D.R., and Denton, G.H. (1995). Interhemispheric correlation of Late Pleistocene glacial events. Science 269, 15411549.Google Scholar
Maher, B.A., and Taylor, R.M. (1988). Formation of ultrafine-grained magnetite in soils. Nature 336, 368370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercer, J.H. (1993). Late Cainozoic Paleoclimates of the Southern Hemisphere South of the Equator. Vogel, J.C. (1984). Late Cenozoic Paleoclimates of the Southern Hemisphere. Balkema, Rotterdam. 4558.Google Scholar
Mercer, J.H., and Palacios, O. (1977). Radiocarbon dating of the last glaciation in Peru. Geology 5, 600604.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, D.M., and Reynolds, R.C. (1997). X-Ray Diffraction and the Identification and Analysis of Clay Minerals. Oxford University Press, New York. p. 378 Google Scholar
Nesje, A., and Kvamme, M. (1991). Holocene glacier and climate variations in western Norway: Evidence for early Holocene glacier demise and multiple Neoglacial events. Geology 19, 610612.Google Scholar
Reheis, M.C., Harden, J.W., McFadden, L.D., and Shroba, R.R. (1989). Development rates of late Quaternary soils, Silver Lake Playa, California. Soil Science Society of America Journal 53, 11271140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rind, D., and Peteet, D. (1985). Terrestrial conditions at the last glacial maximum and CLIMAP sea-surface temperature estimates: Are they consistent?. Quaternary Research 24, 124.Google Scholar
Rodbell, D.T. (1990). Soil-age relationships on late Quaternary moraines, Arrowsmith Range, Southern Alps, New Zealand. Arctic and Alpine Research 22, 355365.Google Scholar
Rodbell, D.T. (1993). Subdivision of late Pleistocene moraines in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, based on rock-weathering features, soils, and radiocarbon dates. Quaternary Research 39, 133143.Google Scholar
Rodbell, D.T. (1993). The timing of the last deglaciation in Cordillera Oriental, northern Peru, based on glacial geology and lake sedimentology. Geological Society of America Bulletin 105, 923934.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodbell, D.T., and Seltzer, G.O. (2001). Rapid ice margin fluctuations during the Younger Dryas in the tropical Andes. Quaternary Research 54, 328388.Google Scholar
Röthlisberger, F. (1987). 10,000 Jahre Gletschergeschichte der Erde. Verlag Sauerländer, Aarau. p. 348 Google Scholar
Seltzer, G.O. (1990). Recent glacial history and paleoclimate of the Peruvian–Bolivian Andes. Quaternary Science Reviews 9, 137152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seltzer, G.O. (1992). Late Quaternary glaciation of the Cordillera Real, Bolivia. Journal of Quaternary Science 7, 8798.Google Scholar
Singer, M.J., and Janitsky, P. (1986). Field and laboratory procedures used in a soil chonosequence study. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1648, 49 Google Scholar
Singer, M.J., Fine, P., Verosub, K.L., and Chadwick, O.A. (1992). Time dependence of magnetic susceptibility of soil chronosequences on the California Coast. Quaternary Research 37, 323332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soil Survey Manual. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural handbook 436. Washington, p. 754 Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P.J. (1993). Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, 215230.Google Scholar
Swanson, D.K. (1985). Soil catenas on Pinedale and Bull Lake Moraines, Willow Lake, Wind River Mountains, Wyoming. Catena 12, 329342.Google Scholar
Thompson, L., and McKenzie, G.D. (1979). Origin of glacier caves in the Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru. National Speleological Society Bulletin 41, 1519.Google Scholar
Thompson, L.G., Mosley-Thompson, E., Bolzan, J.F., and Koci, B.R. (1985). A 1500-year record of tropical precipitation in ice cores from the Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru. Science 229, 971973.Google Scholar
Thompson, L.G., Mosley-Thompson, E., Dansgaard, W., and Grootes, P.M. (1986). The Little Ice Age as recorded in the stratigraphy of the tropical Quelccaya Ice Cap. Science 234, 361364.Google Scholar
Thompson, L.G., and Mosley-Thompson, E. Evidence of abrupt climatic change during the last 1,500 years recorded in ice cores from the tropical Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru. Berger, W.H., and Labeyrie, L.D. (1987). Abrupt Climate Change. Reidel, Dordrecht. 99110.Google Scholar
Thompson, L.G., Mosley-Thompson, E., Davis, P.N., Lin, K.A., Henderson, J., Cole-Dai, J.F., Bolzan, K.B., and Liu, B. (1995). Late glacial stage and Holocene ice core records from Huascaran, Peru. Science 269, 4650.Google Scholar
Thompson, R., and Oldfield, F. (1986). Environmental Magnetism. Allen and Unwin Publishing, Boston. p. 227 Google Scholar
Walker, P.H., and Green, P. (1976). Soil trends in two valley fill sequences. Australian Journal of Soil Research 14, 291303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, H.E. (1983). Late-Pleistocene glaciation and climate around the Junin Plain, Central Peruvian Highlands. Geografiska Annaler 65A, 3543.Google Scholar
Wright, H.E. (1991). Coring tips. Journal of Paleolimnology 6, 3749.CrossRefGoogle Scholar