Comparison of elemental concentration in near-surface late Holocene sediments and precipitation regimes of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico): a preliminary study

P. D.  Roy; N. Torrescano-Valle; D.  del Socorro Escarraga-Paredes; A. A.  Vela-Pelaez; R. Lozano-Santacruz

doi:10.21701/bolgeomin.129.4.006

Authors

P. D. Roy Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
N. Torrescano-Valle El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR)
D. del Socorro Escarraga-Paredes El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR)
A. A. Vela-Pelaez El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR)
R. Lozano-Santacruz Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21701/bolgeomin.129.4.006

Keywords:

geochemistry, element ratio, paleo-precipitation proxy, calcareous provenance, Yucatán Peninsula

Abstract

Paleoclimate research in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico has mainly involved fossil pollen preserved in sedimentary archives whilst geochemistry has received limited attention. In this study, we compared concentrations of K, Ti, Fe, Ca and Sr in 35 near-surface late Holocene sediments collected from different permanent and seasonal water bodies across the peninsula with mean annual precipitation of 600-1600 mm in order to explore the relationship between concentrations of inorganic elements and precipitation. The calcareous provenance has a diluting effect and sediments have less K, Ti and Fe (associated with clastics) and more Ca and Sr (associated with carbonate and evaporite) compared to the Upper Continental Crust. Individual elements and ratios of K/Ca, Ti/Ca and Fe/Ca in samples with minimal clastics did not show any relationship with precipitation. Average values of elemental ratios in sediments with more clastics increase as the mean annual precipitation increases. However, the sampling protocol and presence of most of the sampled water bodies being in a single precipitation cluster (i.e. 1200-1400 mm/year) did not allow a complete evaluation of the potential correlation between precipitation and elemental ratios. Considering that the concentration of Ti is low in sediments of the limestone-rich Yucatán Peninsula and Fe is mobile in anoxic depositional environments, the K/Ca ratio can be used as a preliminary proxy to evaluate precipitation in sedimentary records.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Aller, R.C., Mackin, J.E. and Cox Jr, R.T. 1986. Diagenesis ofFe and S in Amazon inner shelf muds: apparent domi-nance of Fe reduction and implication for the génesis ofironstones. Continental Shelf Research,6 (1-2), 263-289. https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-4343(86)90064-6

Aragón-Moreno, A.A., Islebe, G.A. and Torrescano-Valle, N.2012. A 3800-yr, high resolution record of vegetation andclimate change on the north coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 178, 35-42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2012.04.002

Carrillo-Bastos, A., Islebe, G.A., Torrescano-Valle, N. andGonzález, N.E. 2010. Holocene vegetation and climate his-tory of central Quintana Roo, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 160, 189-196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2010.02.013

Cohen, A.S. 2003. Palaeolimnology: The History andEvolution of Lake Systems. Oxford University Press, New York, 528 pp.

Curtis, J.H., Hodell, D.A. and Brenner, M. 1996. Climate variability on the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) during thepast 3500 years, and implications for Maya cultural evolution. Quaternary Research, 46, 37-47. https://doi.org/10.1006/qres.1996.0042

Gutiérrez-Ayala, L.V., Torrescano-Valle, N. and Islebe, G.A.2012. Reconstrucción paleoambiental del HolocenoTardío de la reserva Los Petenes, Península de Yucatán, México. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas, 29, 749-763.

Haug, G.H., Guenther, D., Peterson, L.C., Sigman, D.M.,Hughen, K.A. and Aeschlimann, B. 2003. Climate and thecollapse of Maya civilization. Science, 299, 1731-1735. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1080444 PMid:12637744

Haug, G.H., Hughen, K.A., Sigman, D.M., Peterson, L.C. andRoehl, U. 2001. Southward migration of the IntertropicalConvergence Zone through the Holocene. Science, 293,1304-1308. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1059725 PMid:11509727

Hodell, D.A., Brenner, M. and Curtis, J.H. 2005. TerminalClassic drought in the northern Maya lowlands inferredfrom multiple sediment cores in Lake Chichancanab (Mexico). Quaternary Science Reviews, 24, 1413-1427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2004.10.013

INEGI 2006. Conjunto de datos vectoriales de precipitación media anual, Escala. 1:1000, 000.

Islebe, G. and Sánchez, O. 2002. History of Late Holocenevegetation at Quintana Roo, Caribbean coast of Mexico.Plant Ecology, 160, 187-192. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015865932012

Leyden, B.W., Brenner, M., Whitmore, T., Curtis, J.H.,Piperno, D.R. and Dahlin, B.H. 1996. A record of long-term and short-term climatic variation from northwestYucatán: Cenote San José Chulchacá. In: Fedick, S.L.(ed.), The managed mosaic: ancient Maya agricultureand resource use. University of Utah Press, Salt LakeCity, 30-50.

Lozano-García S., Ortega B., Roy P.D., Beramendi-Orosco L.and Caballero, M. 2015. Climatic variability in the nor-thern sector of the American tropics since the latest MIS3. Quaternary Research, 84(2), 262-271. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2015.07.002

Lozano-Santacruz, R., Verma, S.P., Girón, P., Velasco, F.,Morán-Zenteno, D., Viera, F. and Chávez, G. 1995. Calibración preeliminar de Fluorescencia de Rayos-Xpara análisis cuantitativo de elementos mayores enrocas ígneas. Actas INAGEQ, 1, 203-208.

Masson-Delmotte, V., Schulz, M., Abe-Ouchi, A., Beer, J.,Ganopolski, A., Gonzalez Rouco, J.F., Jansen, E.,Lambeck, K., Luterbacher, J., Naish, T., Osborn, T., Otto-Bliesner, B., Quinn, T., Ramesh, R., Rojas, M., Shao X.and Timmermann, A. 2013. Information from paleoclimate archives. In: Stocker, T.F., Qin, D., Plattner, G.-K.,Tignor, M., Allen, S.K., Boschung, J., Nauels, A., Xia, Y.,Bex V. and Midgley, P.M. (eds.), Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 383-464. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.013

Magaña, V., Amador, J.A. and Medina, S. 1999. The mid-summer drought over Mexico and Central America.Journal of Climate, 12, 1577-1588. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<1577:TMDOMA>2.0.CO;2

Mason, B. and Moore, C.B. 1982. Principles ofGeochemistry. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 352 pp.

Mendoza, B., Velasco, V. and Jauregui E. 2006. A study ofhistorical droughts in southeastern Mexico. Journal ofClimate, 19, 2916-2934. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3726.1

Metcalfe S., Jones M.D., Davies S.J., Noren A. andMackenzie A. 2010. Climate variability over the last twomillennia in the North American Monsoon region, recorded in laminated lake sediments from LagunaJuanacatlán México. The Holocene, 20, 1195-1206. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683610371994

Nesbitt, H.W. and Young, G.M. 1982. Early Proterozoic cli-mates and plate motions inferred from major elementchemistry of lutites. Nature, 299, 715-717. https://doi.org/10.1038/299715a0

Peterson, L.C. and Haug, G.H. 2006. Variability in the meanlatitude of the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zoneas recorded by riverine input of sediments to the Cariaco Basin (Venezuela). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 234, 97-113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.10.021

Roy, P.D., Caballero, M., Lozano, R., Ortega, B., Lozano, S.,Pi, T., Israde, I. and Morton, O. 2010. Geochemical record of Late Quaternary paleoclimate from lacustrine sedi-ments of paleo-lake San Felipe, western Sonora Desert, Mexico. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 29,586-596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2009.11.009

Roy, P.D., Chávez-Lara, C.M., Beramendi-Orosco, L.E.,Sánchez-Zavala, J.L., Muthu-Sankar, G., Lozano-Santacruz, R., Quiroz-Jimenez, J.D. and López-Balbiaux,N. 2015. Pleohydrology of the Santiaguillo Basin(Mexico) since late last glacial and climate variation insouthern part of western subtropical North America. Quaternary Research, 84, 335-347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2015.10.002

Roy, P.D., Quiroz-Jiménez, J.D., Pérez-Cruz, L.L., Lozano-García, S., Metcalfe, S.E., Lozano-Santacruz, R., López-Balbiaux, N., Sánchez-Zavala, J.L. and Romero, F.M. 2013. Late Quaternary paleohydrológical conditions in the dryland of northern Mexico: a summer precipitationproxy record of the last 80 cal ka BP. Quaternary ScienceReviews, 78, 342-354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.11.020

Roy, P.D., Rivero-Navarrete, A., Sánchez-Zavala, J.L.,Beramendi-Orosco, L.E., Muthu-Sankar, G. and Lozano-Santacruz, R. 2016. Atlantic Ocean modulated hydroclima-te of the subtropical northeastern Mexico since the LastGlacial Maximum and comparison with the sou-thern US. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 434, 141-150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2015.11.048

Servicio Geologico Mexicano 2005a. Carta GeológicoTizimín, F16-7, Escala 1:250,000, Estado de Yucatán Minera y Geoquimica Mérida, F16-10, Escala 1:250,000, Estado de Yucatán, Campeche y Quintana Roo.

Sheu, D.D. and Presley, B.J. 1986. Variations of calcium car-bonate, organic carbón and iron sulfides in anoxic sedi-ment from the Orca Basin, Gulf of Mexico. MarineGeology,70 (1-2), 103-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/0025-3227(86)90091-5

Sosa-Nájera, S., Lozano-García, S. and Roy, P.D. and Caballero, M. 2010. Registro de sequías históricas en eloccidente de México con base en el análisis elementalde sedimentos lacustres: El caso del lago de Santa Maríadel Oro. Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana,62(3), 437-451. https://doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2010v62n3a8

Suits, N.S. and Wilkin, R.T. 1998. Pyrite formation in thewater column and sediment of a merimictic lake.Geology,26 (12), 1099-1102. https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1998)026<1099:PFITWC>2.3.CO;2

Taylor, S.R. and McLennan S.M. 1985. The continental crust:its composition and evolution. Blackwell ScientificPublications, Oxford, 312 pp.

Torrescano, N. and Islebe, G.A. 2006. Tropical forest andmangrove history from southeastern Mexico: a 5000 yrpollen record and implications for sea level rise.Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 15, 191-195. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-005-0007-9

Torrescano-Valle, N. and Islebe, G.A. 2012. Mangroves ofSoutheastern Mexico: Palaeoecology and Conservation.The Open Geography Journal, 5, 6-15. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874923201205010006

Torrescano-Valle, N. and Islebe, G.A. 2015. Holocene paleo-ecology, climate history and human influence in thesouthwestern Yucatan Peninsula. Review ofPalaeobotany and Palynology, 217, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2015.03.003

Verma, S.P., Lozano-Santacruz, R., Girón-García, P. and Velasco, F. 1996. Calibración preliminar de Fluorescencia de Rayos-X para análisis cuantitativo de elementos trazaen rocas ígneas. Actas INAGEQ, 2, 237-242.

Weltje, G.J. and Tjallingii, R. 2008. Calibration of XRF corescanners for quantitative geochemical logging of sediment cores: Theory and application. Earth and PlanetaryScience Letters, 274, 423-438 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2008.07.054