Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97 – 113

www.elsevier.com/locate/palaeo

Variability in the mean latitude of the Atlantic Intertropical

Convergence Zone as recorded by riverine input of sediments
to the Cariaco Basin (Venezuela)
Larry C. Peterson a,*, Gerald H. Haug b
a
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, USA
b
Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam, Potsdam D-14473, Germany
Received 15 May 2004; accepted 20 October 2005

Abstract

Changes in the strength and position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) are an important component of climate
variability in the tropical Atlantic. The Cariaco Basin, located on the northern margin of Venezuela, is sensitive to tropical Atlantic
climate change and its sediments provide a record of past ITCZ behavior. Today, the Cariaco Basin experiences two distinct
seasons that reflect the annual migration of the Atlantic ITCZ. Between January and March, when the ITCZ lies south of the
equator, northeasterly trade winds sit directly over Cariaco Basin and strong coastal upwelling and dry conditions dominate.
Beginning in June–July, as the ITCZ moves north, local rainfall reaches a maximum and the upwelling diminishes or disappears.
Here we summarize new and previously published data on the river-derived terrigenous fraction of Cariaco Basin sediments, as
well as comparisons to other paleoclimate records, which together suggest a coherent climatologic response in the tropical Atlantic
triggered by a pattern of ITCZ migration that mimics the seasonal cycle. During periods of cooler North Atlantic SSTs, on time-
scales ranging from the Little Ice Age to the Younger Dryas to the cold stadials of the last glacial, decreased detrital delivery to
Cariaco Basin from local rivers suggests a southward shift in the mean latitudinal position of the ITCZ. During warm interstadials
and periods of Holocene and deglacial warmth, northward shifts in ITCZ position and its belt of convective rainfall are inferred
from increased detrital delivery to the basin. Whether the rapid shifts in ITCZ position and precipitation recorded by Cariaco Basin
sediments and other regional records reflect a response to forcing originating in the high latitude Atlantic or to forcing potentially
sourced in the tropics is a key question yet to be fully answered.
D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Cariaco Basin; Intertropical Convergence Zone; Past rainfall variability; Abrupt climate change; Paleoclimatology

1. Introduction winds and is associated with a well organized zonal

The Atlantic ITCZ marks the dynamic boundary
between the southeast and northeast Atlantic trade
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 305 421 4692; fax: +1 305 421
4632.
E-mail address: lpeterson@rsmas.miami.edu (L.C. Peterson).
0031-0182/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.10.021
band of low pressure and high precipitation that occurs
predominantly over the ocean basin and extends from
South America to the west coast of Africa. Convection
associated with the seasonal migration of the ITCZ
plays a major role in controlling the patterns of rainfall
over the adjacent continents (e.g., Hastenrath and Hell-
er, 1977; Poveda and Mesa, 1997) and the well-known
societal and economic impacts of precipitation changes
98 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113

in this region have focused attention on the ITCZ as a
yardstick of Atlantic climate variability (Chiang et al.,
2002). Unlike the tropical Pacific where the influence
of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenom-
enon dominates, the tropical Atlantic appears to re-
spond to multiple competing influences on interannual
to decadal time scales. Numerous studies of instrumen-
tal data have shown that ITCZ position over the basin
is strongly associated with a leading statistical pattern
of Atlantic variability, namely the cross-equatorial gra-
dient in tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures
which itself contributes to the distribution of sea level
pressure and winds (e.g., Hastenrath and Greischar,
1993; Nobre and Shukla, 1996; Chiang et al., 2002).
However, the tropical Atlantic has also been shown to
be influenced by changes in tropical Pacific convection
associated with ENSO and with anomalies in the
Walker circulation (Alexander and Scott, 2002; Chiang
et al., 2002).
Beyond the reach of instrumental time-series, paleo-
climate records provide the only means to reconstruct
and assess trends and long time scale modes of climate
variability. A history of past conditions that can be
related to ITCZ behavior in the northern tropical At-
lantic is recorded in sediments of the Cariaco Basin, a
modern anoxic marine basin located on the northern
continental shelf of Venezuela (Fig. 1). The Cariaco
Basin is a well-known, east–west trending pull-apart
basin (Schubert, 1982) that actually consists of two
small subbasins, each reaching depths of about 1400
m, separated by a flat central saddle that sits at a depth
of about 900 m. Along its northern margin, the basin is
separated from the open Caribbean by the shallow
Tortuga Bank, whose shallow inlet sills (b 146 m)
restrict the horizontal exchange of waters. Above sill
depth, the pycnocline that results from the change of
temperature and salinity serves to inhibit vertical ex-
change as well. Because of limited deep water renewal,
dissolved oxygen in the Cariaco Basin is not replen-
ished rapidly enough to offset the demand created by
high seasonal productivity along the coast. The result is
the present state of anoxia in the waters below a depth
of about 300 m (e.g., Richards, 1975; Scranton et al.,
1987).
In the western tropical Atlantic and Caribbean, the
linkage between surface ocean circulation and the an-

Fig. 1. Bathymetry of Cariaco Basin showing locations of Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1002, piston core PL07-39PC, and sediment trap
array from which data are discussed. Local rivers that drain directly into Cariaco Basin are indicated as follows: T=Tuy River, U=Unare River,
N=Neveri River, M=Manzanares River. The hachured pattern identifies water depths less than 100-m and reveals the deeper sills at the western and
northern margins that connect Cariaco Basin to the open Caribbean Sea. During maximum glacial lowstands of sea level, areas shallower than 100
m would have been largely emergent.
 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113
nual migration of the ITCZ is reasonably well under-
stood (e.g., Wüst, 1964; Hastenrath, 1978; Katz, 1987).
Surface circulation in the Caribbean Sea as a whole is
dominated by the general east-to-west flow of the Ca-
ribbean Current which carries equatorial Atlantic water
into the Gulf of Mexico and ultimately to the North
Atlantic as part of the ocean’s meridional overturning
circulation. Due to the seasonal march of the ITCZ,
however, the patterns of circulation, coastal upwelling,
and precipitation that influence the southern Caribbean
region are markedly altered. Between January and
March, when the ITCZ is south of the equator, strong
trade winds in the tropical North Atlantic induce a slow
Ekman drift to the west and northwest. This drift helps
maintain the North Brazil and Guyana Current systems
that direct flow northwestward toward the Caribbean.
At the same time, the trade winds blowing along the
northern coast of Venezuela result in Ekman drift-in-
duced upwelling of cool nutrient-rich waters (Richards,
1975; Muller-Karger and Aparicio-Castro, 1994; Astor
et al., 2003) that sustains high biological productivity in
the near-surface waters. Regionally, the upwelling sea-
son over Cariaco Basin corresponds to the dry season
since the ITCZ and its associated low pressure and
rainfall lie well south of the basin.
Beginning about June or July, as the ITCZ moves
north to a mean position nearly over the Venezuelan
coast, the trade winds diminish and the upwelling
weakens or stops. Sea surface temperatures typically
warm to 27–28 8C and productivity falls (Muller-Kar-
ger and Aparicio-Castro, 1994). The dry season ends as
northward migration of the ITCZ triggers the regional
rainy season and increases the fluvial discharge from
rivers that directly affect Cariaco Basin and the south-
ern Caribbean (Hastenrath, 1990; Muller-Karger et al.,
1988; Nobre and Shukla, 1996).
2. Terrigenous input as a proxy for rainfall and
Atlantic ITCZ position
The two most direct consequences of seasonal ITCZ
motion for Cariaco Basin and its sediments are the
pronounced alternation between the upwelling that
occurs in the winter–spring and the increased river
runoff that takes place in the summer–fall. This season-
al contrast, coupled with the lack of bioturbation during
anoxic phases of deposition in the basin, has produced a
high deposition rate (~30 to N150 cm/kyrs) sediment
sequence in most portions consisting of millimeter-
scale, annually paired plankton-rich biogenic laminae
and terrigenous detrital-rich laminae (Peterson et al.,
1991; Hughen et al., 1996a). The built-in seasonal
99
clock that results from ITCZ movement has allowed
development of annually resolved chronologies over
intervals where laminae are distinct enough to reliably
count (e.g., Hughen et al., 1998; Black et al., 1999,
2004; Haug et al., 2003), yielding nearly unparalleled
temporal resolution for a marine sequence.
Numerous studies to date of Cariaco sediments have
focused on proxies that yield information on past con-
ditions of upwelling, biological productivity and marine
ecosystem structure (e.g., Peterson et al., 1991,
2000a,b; Hughen et al., 1996b, 2000; Lin et al., 1997;
Haug et al., 1998; Black et al., 1999; Dean et al., 1999;
Werne et al., 2000; Lea et al., 2003; Tedesco and
Thunell, 2003). Fewer have specifically targeted the
terrestrially derived fractions as a potential index of
climatic and hydrologic conditions over the adjacent
South American continent (Clayton et al., 1999; Peter-
son et al., 2000a; Yarincik et al., 2000; Haug et al.,
2001, 2003). One can argue, however, that a record of
the riverine delivery of terrigenous materials to the
basin is perhaps a more diagnostic history of the
ITCZ and its past movement than proxy time-series
of past upwelling since the convection and rainfall
that characterizes the ITCZ is directly linked to the
low pressure associated with the confluence of the
trade wind systems. Fertility of the surface waters
over Cariaco Basin, on the other hand, is potentially
complicated by factors other than changes in Ekman-
induced upwelling intensity, including changes in the
nutrient content of the subsurface waters, changes in the
delivery of terrestrially sourced nutrients from the rivers
themselves, or both.
Rivers that drain directly into the Cariaco Basin
include the Tuy, Unare, Neveri, and Manzanares (Fig.
1). Milliman and Syvitski (1992) estimate a contribu-
tion of 12  106 tons/year for the River Tuy, which
discharges into the western end of the Cariaco Basin,
and a combined yield of ~0.5  106 tons/year from the
other three rivers. With the exception of the Manza-
nares River, which enters the basin at its eastern end
where the shelf is narrow and irregular, the other local
rivers are located today some 50 km or more from the
basin and discharge directly onto a broad shallow (b 50
m) shelf, the Unare Platform. Sediments presently ac-
cumulating on this shelf have been described as fine
silty-clays of terrigenous origin (Morelock et al., 1972),
though few data are available regarding their specific
mineralogy or chemical composition. Mesozoic meta-
morphic and igneous rocks form the Araya Peninsula
(to the east) and the Coastal Range at Cabo Codera (to
the west), while mountains directly south of the basin
(the Serrania del Interior) are folded and faulted sedi-
100 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113
mentary rocks of Cretaceous and Tertiary age (Biju-
Duval et al., 1982).
Though the sources are more distant, the eastern Ca-
ribbean as a whole also receives a substantial input of
fine-grained detritus from the Amazon-Orinoco Plume
(Bowles and Fleischer, 1985; Parra et al., 1986). Varia-
tions in this sediment source are a potential indicator of
changes in the climatic and hydrologic regime over a
much larger region of tropical South America. Howev-
er, as discussed below, transport of fine-grained sedi-
ment from these rivers to the Cariaco Basin depends
upon the effects of ocean circulation and sea level on
the entrance of coastal currents into the shallow-silled
basin, and upon the strength and position of the Guiana
Current which imports large quantities of detrital mate-
rial into the region.
3. Records of riverine delivery from bulk titanium
and iron
A modern connection between ITCZ position, rain-
fall patterns, and the resulting detrital input to Cariaco
Basin from local rivers can be argued from a number of
linked observations. Fig. 2 summarizes seasonal rainfall
data for a number of meteorological stations in northern
Venezuela and compares these to a record of measured
discharge from the Orinoco River (Muller-Karger,
1993). Rainfall over northern South America peaks
during the 3-month period of June to August when
the ITCZ is at its northernmost position near the Vene-
zuelan coast. Orinoco River discharge exhibits a similar
seasonal signal, with the peak measured outflow typi-
cally occurring in August. While discharge data are
unavailable for the smaller local rivers that drain direct-
ly onto the shelf near Cariaco Basin, the timing of
maximum seasonal outflow of these should follow the
Orinoco pattern since all of the drainage regions poten-
tially affecting the basin are dominated by the same
ITCZ/rainfall signal.
A moored sediment trap array has been located in
the eastern subbasin of Cariaco since November
1996 as part of the CARIACO Time-Series Program
(Muller-Karger et al., 2000). Bi-weekly measure-
ments from 1997 to 2000 of the sinking terrigenous
component captured in a trap at 475-m water depth
are shown in Fig. 2C (http://cyclops.marine.usf.edu/
cariaco/sdmt.html) for comparison to the seasonal
record of rainfall and riverine discharge. While year
to year variations exist, the relative contribution of
terrigenous materials to the total annual flux of
sinking particles exhibits a recognizable seasonal
cycle, with terrigenous inputs generally enhanced in
the summer and fall following the rainy season.
These observations support the posited link between
seasonal variations in rainfall, river discharge, and
bulk terrigenous delivery to Cariaco Basin.
In a series of recent papers (Peterson et al., 2000a;
Haug et al., 2001, 2003), we have utilized measure-
ments of sedimentary Ti and Fe contents as proxies for
the total terrigenous fraction of Cariaco Basin sedi-
ments. Downcore variations in Ti and Fe have been
adopted as indices of past regional hydrologic change,
with higher values interpreted to reflect increased rain-
fall, river discharge, and terrigenous sediment delivery
to the basin. Support for the use of these elements as
proxies for the terrigenous signal comes directly from
the laminated nature of the modern anoxic sediment
sequence. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) measure-
ments using a scanning electron microscope (SEM)
clearly show that Fe is preferentially concentrated in
the dark, silt and clay-rich laminae that comprise the
rainy season portion of each paired annual couplet (see
Fig. 1 of Haug et al., 2001). While Ti abundance is
generally too low to be measured by the same EDX
technique, downcore profiles of Ti and Fe are virtually
identical in all Cariaco sequences where paired data are
available, supporting a similar behavior and interpreta-
tion. Studies from other locations have also used Ti and
Fe contents as proxies for terrigenous inputs to coastal
and near-margin locations (e.g., Arz et al., 1998; Lamy
et al., 2001).
Bulk Ti and Fe concentrations (Fig. 3) in sediment
recovered from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Hole
1002C were measured at a 2-mm spacing (Haug et al.,
2001) using a profiling X-ray fluorescence scanner
(Röhl and Abrams, 2000) located at the University of
Bremen. These published data, spanning the last 14,000
years, are plotted using the calendar age model dis-
cussed in Haug et al. (2001). For comparison, Ti and Fe
values measured by conventional ICP methods (Piper
and Dean, 2002) at a 5-cm sample spacing for the
comparable time interval of piston core PL07-39 PC
are also shown (Fig. 3), as is the bterrigenous contentQ
of this same core obtained by subtracting the measured
contributions of biogenic carbonate, opal, and organic
carbon. All records show a nearly identical long-term
pattern, with low Ti and Fe concentrations in sediments
deposited during the Younger Dryas cold period be-
tween 12,600 and 11,500 years ago, highest concentra-
tions in the early to middle Holocene from about
10,500 to 6000 years ago, and a subsequent, gradual
decrease to the present. Though the measurement inter-
val differs substantially between the two cores (e.g., the
2-mm sampling in Hole 1002C reflects a temporal
 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113 101

Fig. 2. (A) Compilation of monthly precipitation data (mm) for World Meteorological Organization stations located in northern Venezuela and close
to Cariaco Basin. The period represented by each precipitation time-series is indicated. Maximum rainfall over northern Venezuela occurs between
June and August and reflects the seasonal movement of the Atlantic ITCZ to its northernmost position over the Venezuelan coast. (B) Annual cycle
of river discharge from the Orinoco River (from Muller-Karger, 1993). Discharge from this and other rivers draining northern South America follow
the seasonal pattern of precipitation. (C) Time-series showing the fraction of sinking terrigenous component (wt.%) captured by sediment trap at a
water depth of 475-m in the eastern Cariaco subbasin (see Fig. 1 for location). Data represent biweekly averages from 1997 to 2000 (http://
cyclops.marine.usf.edu/cariaco/sdmt.html) smoothed by a 3 pt-moving average. Though year-to-year variations exist, the relative contribution of
terrigenous materials to the total annual flux of sinking particles shows a recognizable seasonal signal, with terrigenous inputs generally enhanced
during and following the regional rainy season.
102 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113

Fig. 3. Records of bulk % Fe (A) and % Ti (B) from ODP Hole 1002C sediments measured at 2-mm intervals by X-ray fluorescence scanner (data
from Haug et al., 2001). These are compared to similar records of % Fe (C) and % Ti (D) measured at 5-cm intervals from core PL07-39PC by ICP
methods (Piper and Dean, 2002). Bulk Fe and Ti can be interpreted as proxies for terrigenous input to Cariaco Basin. (E) Percentage of terrigenous
content of core PL07-39PC, calculated as the residual after subtracting the measured contributions of biogenic carbonate, opal and organic carbon to
the sediments. Major climatic events are indicated. Panel across the top indicates the presence of laminated sediments, which accumulated
continuously in Cariaco Basin throughout the time interval shown here.

spacing of ~4–5 years while the 5-cm spacing in PL07-
39 PC approximates a sample interval of ~120-years),
the overall similarity of the trends at these two different
basin locations (Fig. 1) supports the robustness of the
geochemical proxies. Furthermore, the remarkable co-
herence between the Ti and Fe records, especially in the
densely sampled Hole 1002C, indicates that neither are
diagenetically controlled since Ti, unlike Fe, is insen-
sitive to environmental redox variations (Yarincik et al.,
2000).
The detailed Ti and Fe records from Hole 1002C
imply regionally dry conditions and reduced riverine
input during the Younger Dryas cold period. The most
straightforward explanation for this inference of extend-
ed dry conditions is a southward shift in the mean
latitude of the Atlantic ITCZ. Such a shift would
move the embedded belt of maximum rainfall south
and away from the drainage basins that directly con-
tribute terrigenous matter to Cariaco Basin (e.g., Peter-
son et al., 2000a; Haug et al., 2001). In contrast, the
high Ti and Fe concentrations that characterize sedi-
ments deposited during the Holocene bthermal max-
imumQ (Fig. 3) can be interpreted as evidence for
increased rainfall over northern South America, reflect-
ing a more northerly mean annual position for the ITCZ
relative to the Younger Dryas. This early Holocene
period of higher regional precipitation was followed
by a steady decline in rainfall to the present, implying
 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113 103

another southward shift of the ITCZ. Finally, a distinct
change in the amplitude of the Ti and Fe signals occurs
after about 4000 years ago, with the most pronounced
and extended minimum corresponding to the timing of
the Little Ice Age (Haug et al., 2001).
While there can be little argument that the Ti and
Fe found in Cariaco Basin sediments is of detrital
origin, the real question instead should be whether
these metal abundances are indeed directly related to
rainfall amount and river volume. Though attempts to
assess this are currently underway as part of ongoing
sediment trap studies, it should be noted that human
disturbances in the local drainage basins over the last
century and longer (e.g., agricultural clearing of land,
local engineering for water conservation and flood
control) are likely to have modified sediment input/
rainfall relationships in such a way that a modern
calibration may not necessarily be applicable to the
longer paleo-records we present here. Hence, we rely
more for the moment on comparisons with comple-
mentary data from other well-dated regional records in
order to bolster our interpretations.
Fortunately, support for the general scenario of
paleohydrological change (Fig. 3) comes from several
independent paleoclimate records in northern South
America and Central America. A number of regional
pollen records show a general pattern of drying during
the Younger Dryas, increased precipitation during the
early Holocene, and gradual drying towards the present
(e.g., Colombia—van der Hammen and Hoogheimstra,
1995 [see comparison in Fig. 4]; Costa Rica—Hoo-
ghiemstra et al., 1992; Islebe et al., 1995; Guate-
mala—Leyden et al., 1994; Leyden, 1995). Rapid
transitions from cold and dry to warm and wet condi-
tions at the Younger Dryas termination, followed by
gradual Holocene drying, are also seen in lake records
from Panama (Piperno et al., 1990; Bush et al., 1992)
and adjacent Venezuela (Bradbury et al., 1981; Binford,
1982; Curtis et al., 1999). One of the highest resolution
pollen records, the Laguna Fuquene record of van der
Hammen and Hoogheimstra (1995) from just north of
Bogota, Colombia, even shows a suggestion of Holo-
cene drying (Fig. 4) during the abrupt Ti and Fe minima
recorded between about 4000 and 2000 years ago in the
Cariaco record, though the pollen data have limited age
control and cannot be used for precise temporal com-
parisons. Other regional records, such as ostracod d 18O
and pollen records from Haiti (Hodell et al., 1991;
Higuera-Gundy et al., 1999) and a new d 13C record
from a northern Venezuelan stalagmite (Gomez et al.,
2003), imply similar patterns of precipitation change.
Finally, the recent sea surface salinity reconstruction of

Fig. 4. Percentage of Ti proxy for terrigenous input to ODP Hole 1002C compared to the pollen record of Laguna (Lake) Fuquene from near
Bogota, Colombia (reproduced from van der Hammen and Hoogheimstra, 1995). The position of radiocarbon dates in the Fuquene II core are
indicated and help identify the Younger Dryas cold event (YD), the Bølling/Allerod warm interval (B/A, and the last glacial (GL). The percentage of
Ti and pollen records show good general agreement in their respective interpretations of changing precipitation patterns (wet/dry) over this time
interval.
104 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113
Schmidt et al. (2004) using coupled foraminiferal Mg/
Ca and d 18O in Colombia Basin cores identified off-
shore salinity changes consistent with the inferred riv-
erine discharge scenario.
How does the Cariaco Basin record compare to
climate records to the south that provide a Southern
Hemisphere complement to our Northern Hemisphere
perspective? Indeed, our premise that ITCZ migration is
the dominant driver behind the Cariaco metal records
predicts an out-of-phase response for inland localities
south of the equator affected by the South American
monsoon (Zhou and Lau, 1998). Today, when the ITCZ
is at its most southerly location, a strong center of
convection develops over the Amazon Basin, drawing
in moist air from the warm Atlantic and leading to
increased regional precipitation. Hence, when the
northern tropical portions of South America, including
Cariaco Basin, are seasonally dry, the southern tropical
regions of South America are wet, and vice versa.
For at least the time-scales represented in Figs. 3 and
4, there is general support for the prediction of an
opposite phasing of precipitation. Sediment records
from Lake Titicaca and Salar de Uyuni on the Bolivian
Altiplano, for example, show evidence of a wet Youn-
ger Dryas and a dry early–middle Holocene, a pattern
opposite to that inferred for northern tropical South
America and interpreted by Baker et al. (2001a,b) as
a response to changing equatorial sea surface tempera-
tures and their effect on water vapor transport via the
South American monsoon. This was followed by a
steady increase in precipitation and lake level between
Fig. 5. Comparison between the d 18O record of ice from the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru (Thompson and Mosley-Thompson, 1989) and the Ti content
of sediments from ODP Hole 1002C, Cariaco Basin, for the last 1100 years. The interval of the Little Ice Age is indicated.
4000 and 2400 years ago, a trend again anti-correlated
with the Cariaco record. To the east of Lake Titicaca,
pollen records from the southern margin of Amazonia
show that the humid evergreen forests of eastern Boli-
via have been expanding southward over the past 3000
years (Mayle et al., 2000), a finding similarly linked by
those authors to the increased southward seasonal pen-
etration of the ITCZ.
4. Cariaco comparisons on other time-scales
4.1. The Little Ice Age
The most significant climate event evident in mea-
sured ice core parameters in tropical South America
over the last millennium is the Little Ice Age (LIA;
Thompson and Mosley-Thompson, 1989). A compari-
son of the Ti record from Cariaco Basin with the d 18O
of ice from the high-elevation Quelccaya ice core of
Peru (Thompson et al., 1986; Thompson and Mosley-
Thompson, 1989) shows a striking resemblance over
the last 1100 years for the two regions (Fig. 5). The age
models here are independent so one can expect offsets
that fall within the combined errors of the ice core age
model (based on counting of annual d 18O and micro-
particle variations to about 500 years BP and of dust
layers visible in the field before that) and the 14C
calibrated age model used for the Cariaco data. In the
Cariaco Basin region, drier conditions are indicated for
the LIA by generally decreased Ti contents, with the
record of this interval punctuated by at least three
 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113 105

notable inferred precipitation minima. In the ice of
Quelccaya, the LIA is marked by generally lighter
d 18O values, with a fine structure that bears remarkable
resemblance to the Ti variations. While there is ongoing
debate as to whether high-elevation d 18O records in the
vicinity of Quelccaya reflect mostly changes in air
temperature (e.g., Thompson et al., 1995) or the local
humidity/run-off balance (e.g., Pierrehumbert, 1999;
Baker et al., 2001b), the close correlation shown in
Fig. 5 clearly indicates a tight linkage between the
two regions. More negative d 18O values at Quelccaya
have been interpreted to represent cooler temperatures
or wetter mean conditions. The latter explanation would
be consistent with the previously noted out-of-phase
pattern north and south of the equator; i.e., the region
bordering Cariaco Basin was dry during the LIA so
locations farther south, such as Quelccaya, might be
expected to have been wet. Such an interpretation is
consistent with recent inferences obtained from Lake
Titicaca sediments (Baker et al., 2003) and with earlier
lake level estimates for Titicaca presented by Abbott et
al. (1997).
Across the Atlantic, the LIA is recorded in sediments
from Lake Malawi in East Africa (Johnson et al., 2001,
2002), at a latitude (108S) comparable to that of Lake
Titicaca and Quelccaya (~15–178 S). In Lake Malawi
(Fig. 6), increases in both the percent and mass accu-
mulation rate of biogenic silica are observed in varved
sediments deposited during the LIA. Despite their in-
dependent chronologies, covariation between the Lake
Malawi silica and Cariaco Ti records is apparent. Not-
ing that the Malawi sediment record suggests a strong
tie to cold conditions in the Northern Hemisphere,
Johnson et al. (2002) hypothesized that relatively cold
periods at higher latitudes resulted in dry and windy
conditions over the northern Malawi basin as a conse-
quence of southward excursions of the ITCZ over this
part of the African continent.
One of the most sensitive records of late Holocene
climate change comes from glacio-chemical time-series
generated from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project (GISP)
II ice core (O’Brien et al., 1995). For example, sea salt
and terrestrial dust concentrations generally increased
but varied dramatically during the LIA (Fig. 7). This
increase, as well as similar increases earlier in the
Holocene, has been interpreted to indicate intensified
meridional air flow (dincreased storminessT) during
periods when air temperatures in the mid to high north-
ern latitudes were relatively cold. When compared to
the Cariaco Basin metal record, a reasonably good

Fig. 6. Comparison of the percent of biogenic silica record from Lake Malawi, East Africa (Johnson et al., 2001, 2002) with percentage of Ti from
Cariaco Basin sediments for the last 800 years. Note the inverted axis for biogenic silica content. A clear Little Ice Age signal is found in both
records.
106 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113
Fig. 7. Comparison of measured potassium (K) ion concentrations in ice of the Greenland GISP II ice core (data from O’Brien et al., 1995) with
percentage of Ti content of Cariaco Basin sediments. Ion concentrations in Greenland ice reflect increases in sea salt and terrestrial dust during cold
periods of enhanced storm activity in the North Atlantic.
match between cold, dstormyT times over Greenland
and dry periods over northern South America is ob-
served. This relationship between cold temperatures at
high northern latitudes and dry conditions recorded by
Cariaco sediments has already been seen to hold true
for the Younger Dryas, and applies as well to sediments
deposited during cold stadial phases of the last glacial
as reviewed in the following section.
4.2. Terrigenous input during Dansgaard–Oeschger
cycles of the last glacial
Within marine isotope stage (MIS) 3, variations in
bulk Fe and Ti have previously been shown to have a
close relation to the well-known, millennial-scale Dans-
gaard–Oeschger (D/O) cycles recorded in Greenland ice
cores (Peterson et al., 2000a). For the period of 26,000
to 40,000 years ago, high Ti values are associated with
dark, laminated sediments deposited in Cariaco Basin
during the warm interstadials recorded in GISP II, while
lower values of Ti are consistently found in sediments
that accumulated during the intervening cold stadial
times (Fig. 8). Variations in Fe content show an identical
pattern (not shown). The large fluctuations in the con-
centration of these metals have been interpreted to indi-
cate rapid changes in the hydrologic cycle over northern
South America during MIS 3, with high Ti and Fe
during periods of warm interstadial climate the result
of higher rainfall and increased run-off from the water-
sheds of rivers that affect the basin. Conversely, cold
stadial periods were characterized by reduced riverine
input to Cariaco Basin, presumably as a result of a more
southerly mean position of the ITCZ and its convective
rainfall. The opposite hydrologic pattern has again been
observed in the complementary Salar de Uyuni sediment
record on the Bolivian Altiplano (Baker et al., 2001b),
with wet conditions found to be generally coincident
with inferred dry conditions near Cariaco Basin and cold
stadial events at high northern latitudes. Speleothems
collected from south of the present day rainforest in
Brazil also show clear evidence of pluvial phases during
Greenland stadials (Wang et al., 2004), a pattern inter-
preted by the authors to reflect abrupt southward shifts
in ITCZ position that led to periods of speleothem
growth. Commenting on the Wang et al. (2004) results,
Chiang and Koutavas (2004) noted that the out-of-phase
growth behavior of the Brazilian cave deposits when
compared to the Cariaco Basin metal record provides
confirmation that shifting of the Atlantic ITCZ may
have played an important role in linking the high lati-
tudes to the tropics.
New insights derived from the isotopic study of cave
stalagmites have shed light on paleohydrological
changes elsewhere in the tropics. In southern Oman,
oxygen isotope variations in a well-dated stalagmite
show clear evidence of a wet early Holocene followed
by a gradual decrease in monsoonal precipitation that
mimics the Cariaco drying trend in the Holocene (Fleit-
mann et al., 2003). In subtropical China, oxygen iso-
tope records from stalagmites of Hulu and Dongge
 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113 107

Fig. 8. Ti concentrations (%) in Cariaco Basin sediments deposited in ODP Hole 1002C during marine isotope stage 3 compared to measured d 18O
from ice of the Greenland GISP II ice core (data from Stuiver and Grootes, 2000). The distribution of laminated sediment intervals that reflect
deposition under anoxic conditions is shown across the top of the figure. Warm interstadials (numbered) in the GISP II record are marked by higher
Ti concentrations, indicating greater rainfall and terrigenous input to Cariaco Basin.

Caves show a remarkable resemblance to the Greenland
ice core records and have been interpreted as evidence
for increased monsoonal precipitation during warm
interstadials (Wang et al., 2001; Yuan et al., 2004).
Stalagmites from Socotra Island near the Gulf of
Aden mouth (Burns et al., 2003) show similar linkages
between tropical precipitation and high latitude North
Atlantic temperatures, with higher rainfall again in-
ferred during the short warm interludes of the last
glacial. Taken together, a picture of generally wetter
conditions in the northern tropics around the globe
during interstadials relative to stadials is beginning to
emerge from data sets of this type. Such observations
have important implications for the role that the tropics
may play in generating or amplifying millennial-scale
climate variability via the greenhouse gas contributions
of water vapor and potentially methane (e.g., Brook et
al., 1999).
4.3. Effects of sea level on terrigenous input to Cariaco
basin
Comparison of the Ti content of Holocene sediments
from ODP Hole 1002C (Fig. 3) with Ti levels at the
same site from the last glacial (Fig. 8) reveals that
glacial Ti input to this location, and presumably terrig-
enous delivery, was roughly double that of the Holo-
cene. However, abundant evidence exists for an overall
increase in glacial aridity over large portions of north-
ern South America (e.g., van der Hammen, 1974;
Schubert, 1988; Markgraf et al., 2000). This apparent
discrepancy can be easily understood in terms of the
role that sea level must play in modulating the terrig-
enous supply to Cariaco Basin (Clayton et al., 1999;
Peterson et al., 2000b). As noted earlier, potential
sources of terrigenous sediment entering the basin
today include the local rivers along the adjacent coast
as well as the larger, but more distant, upstream rivers,
the Orinoco and Amazon. An additional eolian compo-
nent is certainly present as well, though its contribution
has been estimated to be no more than a few percent of
the total terrigenous budget (Yarincik et al., 2000).
During glacial sea level lowstands, the Gulf of Paria
near Trinidad was completely closed and the whole of
the Orinoco shelf, as well as the shelf between Marga-
rita Island and the Venezuelan coast, were largely
emergent. Lowered sea level would thus have greatly
reduced or eliminated potential sediment sources de-
108 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113
rived from the Orinoco or Amazon Rivers (e.g., Clay-
ton et al., 1999; Yarincik et al., 2000), while at the same
time decreasing the width of the broad shelf south of
Cariaco Basin from ~50 km to only a few kilometers at
most. Given the expected proximity of the local rivers
to the edge of the basin at these times, it is perhaps not
surprising to observe a relative doubling of the overall
volume of terrigenous sediment input during the last
glacial despite evidence for increased regional aridity.
Furthermore, the shifting of river mouths to near the
edge of the basin may have led to a locally amplified
sensitivity to D/O-scale terrigenous fluctuations driven
by rainfall-related changes in river discharge.
An obvious lesson from the above discussion is that
the effects of sea level, shelf width, and river proximity
all add a level of complication to the simple interpre-
tation of Ti or Fe contents as a hydrologic proxy. For
much of the Holocene record illustrated in Fig. 3, sea
level is not likely to have varied enough to have influ-
enced the concentrations of these metals; sea level has
been near present levels since at least 6000 years ago
and was only about 15 m lower 9000 years ago (Fair-
banks, 1989; Bard et al., 1996). Indeed, there is ample
support from other lines of cited evidence for the
patterns of precipitation change inferred from the Ti
and Fe data. Similarly, sea level is not likely to have
varied significantly during the time period shown in
Fig. 8. However, the large-scale changes in sea level
associated with major glacial–interglacial transitions
clearly play a role in modulating terrigenous supply
to Cariaco Basin and must be accounted for in inter-
preting such records. Recent success in the develop-
ment of terrestrial leaf-wax proxies in Cariaco
sediments as a tool for reconstructing paleo-vegetation
changes (Hughen et al., 2004) and ongoing pollen
studies should provide additional much-needed infor-
mation on water balances in the local drainage areas
themselves.
5. High-latitude versus tropical forcing mechanisms
In tropical South America, the evidence for broadly
synchronous, but out of phase changes in the Cariaco
Basin terrigenous record and precipitation/lake level
records from the Altiplano region of Bolivia/Peru and
Amazon basin appear best explained by changes in the
mean position of the ITCZ and/or the intensity of the
American monsoon. An important question that arises
from this opposing pattern of precipitation between the
northern and southern tropics is whether these changes
are in response to high latitude forcing perhaps origi-
nating with the Laurentide ice sheet or the temperature
history of the far North Atlantic, or instead may result
from forcing having a tropical origin. Discrimination
between these mechanisms has important implications
for the understanding of abrupt climate change (e.g.,
Broecker, 2003).
Studies of modern instrumental time-series have
shown that interannual to decadal variations in the
position of the ITCZ in the Atlantic are strongly influ-
enced by the cross-equatorial sea surface temperature
(SST) gradient (Hastenrath and Greischar, 1993: Nobre
and Shukla, 1996). When North Atlantic SSTs cool
relative to those of the South Atlantic, the changes in
meridional SST gradient and surface pressure over the
North Atlantic result in a southward shift in the position
of the ITCZ. In Cariaco Basin, sediment data summa-
rized here clearly demonstrate that dry conditions with-
in the basin’s drainage area closely coincide with
periods of cold temperatures over Greenland and the
high-latitude North Atlantic over longer time-scales
ranging from that of the LIA to the Younger Dryas to
the stadial periods of the last glacial. This pattern
resembles the modern mode of interannual to decadal
meridional variation.
At present, the favored paradigm for explaining the
large and abrupt climate shifts first observed in Green-
land ice core records (Dansgaard et al., 1993) centers on
freshwater input to the high latitude North Atlantic and
its effect on heat transport into the region via the
thermohaline overturning of the Atlantic (e.g., Bond
et al., 1993; Rahmstorf, 1995; Alley et al., 1999;
Broecker, 2003). Modeling studies which examined
the effects of a freshwater-induced collapse of the
Atlantic’s thermohaline circulation (Schiller et al.,
1997; Vellinga and Wood, 2002) indeed predict a pro-
nounced southward shift of the ITCZ and consequent
drying of the northern coast of South America contem-
poraneous with the cooling of the North Atlantic as a
result of thermohaline reorganization. More recently, a
modeling study by Chiang et al. (2003) highlighted the
sensitivity of Atlantic ITCZ position during the last
glacial to changes in both land ice and sea ice extent
(with the latter potentially controlled by variations in
ocean meridional heat transport). Taken together, these
modeling efforts are consistent with the hypothesis that
thermohaline variations, and their effect on heat trans-
port, hemispheric SST patterns, and ITCZ position, can
be invoked to explain the strong covariation observed
between Greenland and Cariaco Basin proxy records
(e.g., Hughen et al., 1996a; Black et al., 1999; Peterson
et al., 2000a). In this scenario, though driven by vari-
ability originating in the high-latitude North Atlantic,
changes in the distribution of ITCZ-related rainfall
 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113
relative to methane-producing wetlands throughout the
tropics might then serve to amplify and transmit abrupt
climate changes beyond the immediate North Atlantic
region (e.g., Lea et al., 2003).
An alternative view of abrupt climate change focus-
es on the tropical ocean-atmosphere system and the
premise that tropical climate changes may play a key
role in driving global climate change over a spectrum of
time-scales. Recent papers by Cane and Clement (1999)
and Clement et al. (2001) invoke the far-reaching
impacts of ENSO as an example of how the effects of
tropical change can be transmitted near-globally. Dur-
ing warm El Niño events, the upwelling of cold sub-
surface waters in the eastern equatorial Pacific is greatly
reduced and the temperature structure of the region
becomes more symmetric about the equator. As a result,
warm El Niño events are characterized by a mean
southward shift of the ITCZ in the Pacific basin
(Fedorov and Philander, 2000). This has global effects
on temperature and precipitation patterns in the tropics
and extratropics (Cane and Clement, 1999), including a
strong teleconnection to dry conditions in northern
South America (Hastenrath and Greischar, 1993;
Poveda and Mesa, 1997; Trenberth et al., 1998).
Haug et al. (2001) argued that the general southward
shift of the ITCZ implied by decreasing Cariaco Ti and
Fe inputs after the early Holocene (Fig. 3) may have
resulted from changes in the seasonality of insolation
associated with the ~21,000 year precessional compo-
nent of Milankovitch forcing. Based on a modeling
study, Clement et al. (2000) have argued that this
same precessional control would have suppressed El
Niño during the early Holocene and increased the
prevalence of El Niño events in the late Holocene.
Indeed, the observed increase in the amplitude of Ti
fluctuations after ~4000 years ago (Fig. 3) and the
inferred tendency towards more pronounced precipita-
tion minima, including one characterizing the Little Ice
Age, is consistent with the teleconnections that might
be expected from enhanced ENSO activity. Indepen-
dent evidence for an increase in El Niño-like conditions
in the late Holocene comes from a variety of both
paleoclimatic and geoarchaeological studies (see Cane
et al., 2000, for a recent review; Tudhope et al., 2001).
For example, in their study of storm deposits in an
alpine lake in Ecuador, Rodbell et al. (1999) found
that modern ENSO periodicities were established only
after about 5000 years ago, with the highest spectral
density at El Niño frequencies occurring between
~3500 and 2600 years ago and during the last 660
years, observations that match the Cariaco record
(Fig. 3) remarkably well. In Haug et al. (2001), we
109
used these results to suggest that precessionally forced
insolation changes, in addition to directly forcing the
southward migration of the ITCZ, also increased the
prevalence of El Niño through the Holocene, further
amplifying the southward shift in the ITCZ while add-
ing a higher frequency component to its latitudinal
variations.
Further tests of the potential linkage between tropi-
cal Pacific conditions and our Cariaco Basin record can
be expected to come from similar comparisons with
other high-resolution paleoclimate records in areas of
known high sensitivity to changing ENSO conditions.
Though time-series of comparable length and resolution
are at present few in number, one such record is the
Tasmanian tree ring record of Cook et al. (2000) which
provides a warm season temperature history since 1600
BC. During modern El Niño events, South Australia
and Tasmania are known to become colder and drier
(Trenberth et al., 1998). Hence, we might expect to see
a positive correlation between cooler growing season
temperatures in Tasmania and drier conditions (i.e., low
Ti values) over northern South America. Fig. 9 shows
this comparison with no age model adjustments for the
interval between 3600 and 2800 years ago where both
records show a high amplitude signal. The visual match
is generally quite good on even subcentennial time-
scales with decreased Ti values in Cariaco sediments
corresponding to cooler Tasmanian temperatures, as an
ENSO-based hypothesis would predict.
Finally, recent work has suggested that the tropical
Pacific during the last glacial exhibited a persistent El
Niño-like salinity pattern during the cool, millennial-
scale stadials and a La Niña-like salinity pattern dur-
ing the warm interstadials (Stott et al., 2002; Kouta-
vas et al., 2002). As pointed out by Stott et al. (2002),
the observed correlation between El Niño-like (La
Niña-like) conditions in the tropical Pacific and dry
(wet) conditions bordering Cariaco Basin is again
consistent with what is known from modern ENSO
teleconnections.
While many of the comparisons we have discussed
are intriguing, nothing presented here is conclusive
with respect to the relative role that high versus low
latitude climate forcing plays in shaping the Cariaco
Basin record of paleohydrologic change. In fact, there
is solid ground, from both observations and models, on
which to base each hypothesis. It is likely that high
latitude forcing and forcing from the tropical Pacific
are both important, with the degree to which each
contributes perhaps time-scale dependent. Increased
understanding of potential forcing mechanisms will
undoubtedly come from a combination of modeling
110 L.C. Peterson, G.H. Haug / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 234 (2006) 97–113
Fig. 9. Comparison of Cariaco Basin Ti concentrations (%) from ODP Hole 1002C with warm season temperatures from Tasmania as inferred from
a tree ring record spanning the last 3600 years (Cook et al., 2000). Both regions show similar variability that can be interpreted to reflect linkages to
ENSO based on modern teleconnection patterns.
and the development of new paleoclimate records that
can be used to further evaluate the spatial patterns of
past hydrologic change in the tropics. For the moment,
however, it seems safe to conclude that the Atlantic
ITCZ has experienced significant changes in position
over the latest Quaternary and that this movement has
played an important role in shaping paleoclimatic
records from tropical South America.
6. Conclusions
The Cariaco Basin preserves a unique and important
record of past climate conditions in the western tropical
Atlantic. Variable detrital input from local rivers, as
measured by the bulk Ti and Fe contents of the sedi-
ments, can be interpreted to reflect changes in regional
precipitation triggered by shifts in the mean latitudinal
position of the Atlantic ITCZ. During periods of cooler
North Atlantic SSTs, on time-scales ranging from the
Little Ice Age to the Younger Dryas to the cold stadials
of the last glacial, decreased detrital delivery to Cariaco
Basin from local rivers suggests a southward shift in the
mean latitudinal position of the ITCZ. Conversely,
during warm interstadials and periods of Holocene
and deglacial warmth, northward shifts in ITCZ posi-
tion and its belt of convective rainfall are inferred from
increased detrital delivery to the basin. This pattern of
movement mimics the modern seasonal cycle.
Evidence for the apparent synchronization of hydro-
logic changes in northern South America and elsewhere
in the tropics with events recorded in Greenland ice and
high latitude sediment records indicate tight teleconnec-
tions throughout the hemisphere. However, despite the
suggestive correlations, it is not possible with presently
available data to determine whether the observed shifts
in ITCZ position reflect a response to forcing originat-
ing in the high latitude Atlantic or to forcing potentially
driven by ENSO-type variability emanating from the
tropical Pacific.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from the US
National Science Foundation (OCE-9709807, OCE-
0136499) and the Deutsches Forschungsgemeinschaft.
We thank P. Baker and M. Schmidt for their thoughtful
reviews, A. Clement for helpful suggestions, and H.
Spero for editorial handling. R. Thunell and F. Muller-
Karger are thanked for making sediment trap data
available from the CARIACO time-series station. Con-
tribution from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and
Atmospheric Science, University of Miami.
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