Inca Huasi (ancient lake)

Inca Huasi was a paleolake in the Andes. It was named by a research team in 2006.[1]

It existed about 46,000 years ago in the Salar de Uyuni basin.[2] Water levels during this episode rose by about 10 metres (33 ft). Overall, this lake cycle was short and not deep,[1] with water levels reaching a height of 3,670 metres (12,040 ft). The lake would have had a surface of 21,000 square kilometres (8,100 sq mi).[3] Most water was contributed to it by the Uyuni-Coipasa drainage basin, with only minimal contributions from Lake Titicaca.[4] Changes in the South American monsoon may have triggered its formation.[5]

Radiocarbon dates on tufa which formed in Lake Inca Huasi were dated at 45,760 ± 440 years ago.[2] Uranium-thorium dating has yielded ages between 45,760 and 47,160 years.[6] Overall the lake existed between 46,000 and 47,000 years ago.[7] The Inca Huasi cycle coincides with the marine isotope stage 3.[8]

This lake cycle took part during a glacial epoch, along with the Sajsi lake cycles.[9] A more humid climate in northeastern Argentina and elsewhere in subtropical South America has been linked to the Inca Huasi phase.[5] However, rainfall might not have increased by much on the Altiplano during the Inca Huasi cycle.[7]

Other paleolakes are Coipasa, Ouki, Minchin, Sajsi, Salinas and Tauca.[2] Research made in 2006 attributed the "Lake Minchin" to this lake phase.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Placzek, Quade & Patchett 2006, p. 524.
  2. 1 2 3 Placzek, Quade & Patchett 2006, p. 520.
  3. ↑ Placzek, Quade & Patchett 2013, p. 103.
  4. ↑ Placzek, Christa J.; Quade, Jay; Patchett, P. Jonathan (January 2011). "Isotopic tracers of paleohydrologic change in large lakes of the Bolivian Altiplano". Quaternary Research. 75 (1): 239. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2010.08.004.
  5. 1 2 3 Zech et al. 2009, p. 131.
  6. ↑ Placzek, Quade & Patchett 2006, p. 521.
  7. 1 2 Placzek, Quade & Patchett 2013, p. 104.
  8. ↑ Zech, Michael; Glaser, Bruno (30 January 2008). "Improved compound-specificδ13C analysis of n-alkanes for application in palaeoenvironmental studies". Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry. 22 (2): 136. doi:10.1002/rcm.3342.
  9. ↑ Placzek, Quade & Patchett 2006, p. 531.

Sources

  • Placzek, C.J.; Quade, J.; Patchett, P.J. (February 2013). "A 130ka reconstruction of rainfall on the Bolivian Altiplano". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 363: 97–108. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2012.12.017. 
  • Zech, Michael; Zech, Roland; Morrás, Héctor; Moretti, Lucas; Glaser, Bruno; Zech, Wolfgang (March 2009). "Late Quaternary environmental changes in Misiones, subtropical NE Argentina, deduced from multi-proxy geochemical analyses in a palaeosol-sediment sequence". Quaternary International. 196 (1-2). doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2008.06.006. 
  • Placzek, C.; Quade, J.; Patchett, P. J. (8 May 2006). "Geochronology and stratigraphy of late Pleistocene lake cycles on the southern Bolivian Altiplano: Implications for causes of tropical climate change". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 118 (5-6): 515–532. doi:10.1130/B25770.1. 

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