A 700-year record of climate and environmental change from a high Andean lake: Laguna del Maule, central Chile (36°S)

Central Chile is heavily exploited for mineral and water resources, with agriculture and large urban populations all creating intensive landscape use. Few records of past environmental and climate change are available that afford a broader context. To aid in this assessment, we present a 700-year reconstruction from Laguna del Maule (LdM) in the high Andes of central Chile based on sedimentological, geochemical, diatom and pollen analyses. The age model is based on 210Pb/137Cs and 14C dating tied into known volcanic eruptions. Sedimentology consists of organic-rich sediments and diatom oozes with several interspersed volcanic-rich facies and two tephra deposits. Sediment geochemistry exhibits increased productivity (high Br/Ti, biosilica) and more dominant oxic conditions (high Fe/Mn) from AD 1300 to 1400 and from AD 1650 to 1850, likely during periods of relatively lower lake levels and better development of littoral environments. However, during this later period, high elevation vegetation was dominant, indicative of regional cooler/wetter conditions. In contrast, sediments deposited from AD 1850 to 1930 evidence decreased productivity and increased anoxic lake bottom conditions. The ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA) in LdM is characterized by significant variations in lake dynamics and hydrology with cooler/wetter conditions (AD 1570–1700), major environmental changes in the 18th century and ending at ca. AD 1850. LdM record documents the impact of the LIA in the southern hemisphere and stresses the global nature of this climate period. Large changes in lake dynamics and diatoms assemblages during the 20th century could be related to anthropogenic impacts, but recent changes in climate patterns cannot be excluded. © The Author(s) 2015We thank A.L. Herrera for help with diatom samples, H. Orellana, F. Barreiro Lostres, F.P. Díaz and L. Torres (the “Alcalde de Mar” at Laguna del Maule) for their help and logistical support in the field; M. Soto-Herrera (SEM Lab.), N. Serrano (Dirección de Obras Hidráulicas) and P. Zavala (curator, PUC) for technical help. This work was supported by FONDECYT (Chile) [Grant No. 3120012], the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain) [Grant No. CGL2012-32501] to HOLOCHILL and the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (Chile) through [grants ICM P05-002 and PFB-23].Peer Reviewe