TY - JOUR A1 - Lechleitner, Franziska A. A1 - Baldini, James U. L. A1 - Breitenbach, Sebastian Franz Martin A1 - Fohlmeister, Jens Bernd A1 - McIntyre, Cameron A1 - Goswami, Bedartha A1 - Jamieson, Robert A. A1 - van der Voort, Tessa S. A1 - Prufer, Keith A1 - Marwan, Norbert A1 - Culleton, Brendan J. A1 - Kennett, Douglas J. A1 - Asmerom, Yemane A1 - Polyak, Victor A1 - Eglinton, Timothy I. T1 - Hydrological and climatological controls on radiocarbon concentrations in a tropical stalagmite JF - Geochimica et cosmochimica acta : journal of the Geochemical Society and the Meteoritical Society N2 - Precisely-dated stalagmites are increasingly important archives for the reconstruction of terrestrial paleoclimate at very high temporal resolution. In-depth understanding of local conditions at the cave site and of the processes driving stalagmite deposition is of paramount importance for interpreting proxy signals incorporated in stalagmite carbonate. Here we present a sub-decadally resolved dead carbon fraction (DCF) record for a stalagmite from Yok Balum Cave (southern Belize). The record is coupled to parallel stable carbon isotope (delta C-13) and U/Ca measurements, as well as radiocarbon (C-14) measurements from soils overlying the cave system. Using a karst carbon cycle model we disentangle the importance of soil and karst processes on stalagmite DCF incorporation, revealing a dominant host rock dissolution control on total DCF. Covariation between DCF, delta C-13, and U/Ca indicates that karst processes are a common driver of all three parameters, suggesting possible use of delta C-13 and trace element ratios to independently quantify DCF variability. A statistically significant multi-decadal lag of variable length exists between DCF and reconstructed solar activity, suggesting that solar activity influenced regional precipitation in Mesoamerica over the past 1500 years, but that the relationship was non-static. Although the precise nature of the observed lag is unclear, solar-induced changes in North Atlantic oceanic and atmospheric dynamics may play a role. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. KW - Stalagmite KW - Tropics KW - Radiocarbon KW - Trace elements KW - Hydroclimate Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2016.08.039 SN - 0016-7037 SN - 1872-9533 VL - 194 SP - 233 EP - 252 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - McCool, Weston C. A1 - Codding, Brian F. A1 - Vernon, Kenneth B. A1 - Wilson, Kurt M. A1 - Yaworsky, Peter M. A1 - Marwan, Norbert A1 - Kennett, Douglas J. T1 - Climate change-induced population pressure drives high rates of lethal violence in the Prehispanic central Andes JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America : PNAS N2 - Understanding the influence of climate change and population pressure on human conflict remains a critically important topic in the social sciences. Long-term records that evaluate these dynamics across multiple centuries and outside the range of modern climatic variation are especially capable of elucidating the relative effect of-and the interaction between-climate and demography. This is crucial given that climate change may structure population growth and carrying capacity, while both climate and population influence per capita resource availability. This study couples paleoclimatic and demographic data with osteological evaluations of lethal trauma from 149 directly accelerator mass spectrometry C-14-dated individuals from the Nasca highland region of Peru. Multiple local and supraregional precipitation proxies are combined with a summed probability distribution of 149 C-14 dates to estimate population dynamics during a 700-y study window. Counter to previous findings, our analysis reveals a precipitous increase in violent deaths associated with a period of productive and stable climate, but volatile population dynamics. We conclude that favorable local climate conditions fostered population growth that put pressure on the marginal and highly circumscribed resource base, resulting in violent resource competition that manifested in over 450 y of internecine warfare. These findings help support a general theory of intergroup violence, indicating that relative resource scarcity-whether driven by reduced resource abundance or increased competition-can lead to violence in subsistence societies when the outcome is lower per capita resource availability. KW - climate change KW - population pressure KW - warfare KW - lethal violence KW - Andes Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117556119 SN - 0027-8424 SN - 1091-6490 VL - 119 IS - 17 PB - National Acad. of Sciences CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lechleitner, Franziska A. A1 - Breitenbach, Sebastian Franz Martin A1 - Rehfeld, Kira A1 - Ridley, Harriet E. A1 - Asmerom, Yemane A1 - Prufer, Keith M. A1 - Marwan, Norbert A1 - Goswami, Bedartha A1 - Kennett, Douglas J. A1 - Aquino, Valorie V. A1 - Polyak, Victor A1 - Haug, Gerald H. A1 - Eglinton, Timothy I. A1 - Baldini, James U. L. T1 - Tropical rainfall over the last two millennia: evidence for a low-latitude hydrologic seesaw JF - Scientific reports N2 - The presence of a low-to mid-latitude interhemispheric hydrologic seesaw is apparent over orbital and glacial-interglacial timescales, but its existence over the most recent past remains unclear. Here we investigate, based on climate proxy reconstructions from both hemispheres, the inter-hemispherical phasing of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the low-to mid-latitude teleconnections in the Northern Hemisphere over the past 2000 years. A clear feature is a persistent southward shift of the ITCZ during the Little Ice Age until the beginning of the 19th Century. Strong covariation between our new composite ITCZ-stack and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) records reveals a tight coupling between these two synoptic weather and climate phenomena over decadal-to-centennial timescales. This relationship becomes most apparent when comparing two precisely dated, high-resolution paleorainfall records from Belize and Scotland, indicating that the low-to mid-latitude teleconnection was also active over annual-decadal timescales. It is likely a combination of external forcing, i.e., solar and volcanic, and internal feedbacks, that drives the synchronous ITCZ and NAO shifts via energy flux perturbations in the tropics. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/srep45809 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 7 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER -