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The Huancané II moraines deposited by the Quelccaya Ice Cap in southern Peru were selected by the CRONUS-Earth Project as a primary site for evaluating cosmogenic-nuclide scaling methods and for calibrating production rates. The CRONUS-Earth Project is an effort to improve the state of the art for applications of cosmogenic nuclides to earth-surface chronology and processes. The Huancané II moraines are situated in the southern Peruvian Andes at about 4850 m and ∼13.9°S, 70.9°W. They are favorable for cosmogenic-nuclide calibration because of their low-latitude and high-elevation setting, because their age is very well constrained to 12.3 ± 0.1 ka by 34 radiocarbon ages on peat bracketing the moraines, and because boulder coverage by snow or soil is thought to be very unlikely. However, boulder-surface erosion by granular disintegration is observed and a ∼4% correction was applied to measured concentrations to compensate. Samples from 10 boulders were analyzed for 10 Be, 26 Al, and 36 Cl. Interlaboratory bias at the ∼5% level was the largest contributor to variability of the 10 Be samples, which were prepared by three laboratories (the other two nuclides were only prepared by one laboratory). Other than this issue, variability for all three nuclides was very low, with standard deviations of the analyses only slightly larger than the analytical uncertainties. The site production rates (corrected for topographic shielding, erosion, and radionuclide decay) at the mean site elevation of 4857 m were 45.5 ± 1.6 atoms 10 Be (g quartz) −1 yr −1 , 303 ± 15 atoms 26 Al (g quartz) −1 yr −1 , and 1690 ± 100 atoms 36 Cl (g K) −1 yr −1 . The nuclide data from this site, along with data from other primary sites, were used to calibrate the production rates of these three nuclides using seven global scaling methods. The traditional Lal formulation and the new Lifton-Sato-Dunai calibrations yield average ages for the Huancané samples that are in excellent-to-good agreement with the radiocarbon age control (within 0.7% for 10 Be and 36 Cl and 6% for 26 Al). However, all of the neutron-monitor-based methods yielded ages that were too young by about 20%. The nuclide production ratios at this site are 6.74 ± 0.34 for 26 Al/ 10 Be in quartz and 37.8 ± 2.3 (atoms 36 Cl (g K) −1 ) (atom 10 Be (g SiO 2 ) −1 ) −1 for 36 Cl/ 10 Be, in sanidine and quartz, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic metal that is transported globally through the atmosphere. Emissions of Hg from mineral reservoirs and recycling between soil/biomass, oceans, and the atmosphere are fundamental to the global Hg cycle, yet past emissions from anthropogenic and natural sources are not fully constrained. We use a sediment core from Yanacocha, a headwater lake in southeastern Peru, to study the anthropogenic and natural controls on atmospheric Hg deposition during the Holocene. From 12.3 to 3.5 ka, Hg fluxes in the record are relatively constant (mean ± 1 σ: 1.4 ± 0.6 µg m−2 a−1). Past Hg deposition does not correlate with changes in regional temperature and precipitation or with most large volcanic events that occurred regionally (~300-400 km from Yanacocha) and globally. In 1450 B.C. (3.4 ka), Hg fluxes abruptly increased and reached the Holocene-maximum flux (6.7 µg m−2 a−1) in 1200 B.C., concurrent with a ~100 year peak in Fe and chalcophile metals (As, Ag, Tl) and the presence of framboidal pyrite. Continuously elevated Hg fluxes from 1200 to 500 B.C. suggest a protracted mining-dust source near Yanacocha that is identical in timing to documented pre-Incan cinnabar mining in central Peru. During Incan and Colonial time (A.D. 1450-1650), Hg deposition remains elevated relative to background levels but lower relative to other Hg records from sediment cores in central Peru, indicating a limited spatial extent of preindustrial Hg emissions. Hg fluxes from A.D. 1980 to 2011 (4.0 ± 1.0 µg m−2 a−1) are 3.0 ± 1.5 times greater than preanthropogenic fluxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last glacial-interglacial transition (ca. 18--11 ka) was interrupted by abrupt climate events that differed in each hemisphere. During the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ca. 14.5--12.9 ka), the Southern Hemisphere high and mid latitudes cooled, while the Northern Hemisphere warmed. The pattern of change then reversed during the Younger Dryas (ca. 12.9--11.7 ka), which was characterized by cold conditions in much of the Northern Hemisphere. Well-dated paleoclimate records serve to reveal the possible mechanisms for these events. Here we present a reconstruction of the late glacial fl uctuations of Quelccaya Ice Cap, located in the southern tropics, based on 38 new radiocarbon ages. Quelccaya was retreating from its Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 21 ka) extent by ca. 17.2 ka, and was located upvalley from its late glacial moraines by 13.6--12.8 ka. Quelccaya experienced a signifi cant readvance that culminated at 12.5--12.4 ka, and then receded several kilometers to near, or within, its late Holocene extent by ca. 11.6 ka. This record provides the most detailed evidence yet of glacier fl uctuations in the southern tropics during late glacial time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the late Quaternary paleoclimate record through climate interpretations of low-latitude glacier length changes advances our understanding of past climate change events and the mechanisms for past, present, and future climate change. Paleotemperature reconstructions at low-latitude glaciers are uniquely fruitful because they can provide both site-specific information and enhanced understanding of regional-scale variations due to the structure of the tropical atmosphere. We produce Little Ice Age (LIA) and Younger Dryas (YD) paleoclimate reconstructions for the Huancané outlet glacier of the Quelccaya Ice Cap (QIC) and low-latitude southern hemisphere regional sea surface temperatures (SSTs) using a coupled ice-flow and energy balance model. We also model the effects of long-term changes in the summit temperature and precipitiation rate and the effects of interannual climate variability on the Huancané glacier length. We find temperature to be the dominant climate driver of glacier length change. Also, we find that interannual climate variability cannot adequately explain glacier advances inferred from the geomorphic record, necessitating that these features were formed during past colder climates. To constrain our LIA reconstruction, we incorporate the QIC ice core record, finding a LIA air temperature cooling at the ice cap of between ∼0.7 °C and ∼1.1 °C and ∼0.4 °C and regional SSTs cooling of ∼0.6 °C. For the YD paleoclimate reconstructions, we propose two limits on the precipitation rate, since the ice core record does not extend into the Pleistocene: 1) the precipitation rate scales with the Clausius-Clapeyron relationship (upper limit on cooling) and 2) the precipitation rate increases by 40% (lower limit on cooling), which is an increase about twice as great as the regional increases realized in GCM simulations for the period. The first limit requires ∼1.6 °C cooling in ice cap air temperatures and ∼0.9 °C cooling in SSTs, and the second limit requires ∼1.0 °C cooling in ice cap air temperatures and ∼0.5 °C cooling in SSTs. Our temperature reconstructions are in good agreement with the magnitude and trend of GCM simulations that incorporate the forcing mechanisms hypothesized to have caused these climate change events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]