Capitulo de libro
LATE QUATERNARY HISTORY OF THE ATACAMA DESERT
Fecha
2005Registro en:
1876944 30 7
978-1876944308
3030062
Institución
Resumen
Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama. Of the major subtropical deserts found in the Southern Hemisphere, the
Atacama Desert is the driest. Throughout the Quaternary, the most pervasive
climatic infl uence on the desert has been millennial-scale changes in the
frequency and seasonality of the scant rainfall, and associated shifts in plant
and animal distributions with elevation along the eastern margin of the desert.
Over the past six years, we have mapped modern vegetation gradients and
developed a number of palaeoenvironmental records, including vegetation
histories from fossil rodent middens, groundwater levels from wetland (spring)
deposits, and lake levels from shoreline evidence, along a 1200-kilometre
transect (16–26°S) in the Atacama Desert. A strength of this palaeoclimate
transect has been the ability to apply the same methodologies across broad
elevational, latitudinal, climatic, vegetation and hydrological gradients. We are
using this transect to reconstruct the histories of key components of the South
American tropical (summer) and extratropical (winter) rainfall belts, precisely
at those elevations where average annual rainfall wanes to zero. The focus has
been on the transition from sparse, shrubby vegetation (known as the prepuna)
into absolute desert, an expansive hyperarid terrain that extends from just above
the coastal fog zone (approximately 800 metres) to more than 3500 metres in
the most arid sectors in the southern Atacama.