Holocene rainfall variability in southern Chile: a marine record of latitudinal shifts

Geochemical and clay mineral parameters of a high accumulation marine sediment core from the Chilean continental slope (41‡S) provide a 7700 yr record of rainfall variability in southern Chile related to the position of the Southern Westerlies. We especially use the iron content, measured with a time-resolution of ca. 10 yr on average, of 14C-accelerator mass spectrometry dated marine sediments as a proxy for the relative input of iron-poor Coastal Range and iron-rich Andean source rocks. Variations in this input are most likely induced by rainfall changes in the continental hinterland of the core position. Based on these interpretations, we find a pronounced rainfall variability on multi-centennial to millennial time-scales, superimposed on generally more arid conditions during the middle Holocene (7700 to 4000 cal yr B.P.) compared to the late Holocene (4000 to present). This variability and thus changes in the position of the Southern Westerlies are first compared to regional terrestrial paleoclimate data-sets from central and southern Chile. In order to derive possible wider implications and forcing mechanisms of the Holocene latitudinal shifts of the Southern Westerlies, we then compare our data to ice-core records from both tropical South America and coastal Antarctica. These records show similar bands of variability centered at ca. 900 and 1500 yr. Comparisons of band pass filters suggest a close connection of shifts of the Southern Westerlies to changes within the tropical climate system. The correlation to climate conditions in coastal Antarctica shows a more complicated picture with a phase shift at the beginning of the late Holocene coinciding with the onset of the modern state of El Nin‹o-Southern Oscillation system. The presented data provide further evidence that the well known millennial-scale climate variability during the las