Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Late Quaternary Climate And Hydrology Of Tropical South America Inferred From An Isotopic And Chemical Model Of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia And Peru, Scott L. Cross, Paul A. Baker, Geoffrey O. Seltzer, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Robert B. Dunbar

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

A simple mass balance model provides insight into the hydrologic, isotopic, and chemical responses of Lake Titicaca to past climatic changes. Latest Pleistocene climate of the Altiplano is assumed to have been 20% wetter and 5°C colder than today, based on previous modeling. Our simulation of lacustrine change since 15,000 cal yr B.P. is forced by these modeled climate changes. The latest Pleistocene Lake Titicaca was deep, fresh, and overflowing. The latest Pleistocene riverine discharge from the lake was about 8 times greater than the modern average, sufficient to allow the expansion of the great paleolake Tauca on the central …