Abstract
The late Quaternary evolution of central‐eastern Brazil has been under‐researched. Questions remain as to the origin of the Cerrado, a highly endangered biome, and other types of vegetation, such as the Capões – small vegetation islands of semi‐deciduous and mountain forests. We investigated the factors that influenced the expansion and contraction of the Cerrado and Capões during the late Quaternary (last ~35 ka), using a multi‐proxy approach: stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N), geochemistry, pollen and multivariate statistics derived from a peat core (Pinheiro mire, Serra do Espinhaço Meridional). Five major shifts in precipitation, temperature, vegetation and landscape stability occurred at different timescales. Our study revealed that changes in the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) seem to have been coeval with these shifts: from the Late Glacial Maximum to mid‐Holocene the SACZ remained near (~29.6 to ~16.5k cal a BP) and over (~16.5 to ~6.1 k cal a BP) the study area, providing humidity to the region. This challenges previous research which suggested that climate was drier for this time period. At present, the Capões are likely to be a remnant of a more humid climate; meanwhile, the Cerrado biome seems to have stablished in the late Holocene, after ~3.1 k cal a BP.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 664-676 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Quaternary Science |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Early online date | 19 May 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2020 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgementsThis work was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)/Brazil (grant to I.H.T. – regular doctoral scholarship FAPESP 2010/51637‐0 and research internships abroad BEPE/FAPESP 2012/00676‐1), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)/Brazil (Universal 14/2011−482815/2001‐6), Ministério de Economia y Competitividad (CGL2010‐20662) and Xunta de Galícia (10PXIB200182PR, ED431D2917/08 and ED431B2018/20). We are grateful to Noemí Silva Sánchez and Luis Rodriguez Lado (Univesidad de Santiago de Compostela), and Fabrício da Silva Terra (Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri) for their collaboration and assistance during different stages of the research.
Keywords
- Paleoclimatology
- Stable isotopes
- Pollen
- Geochemistry
- Peatlands
- CARBON ISOTOPES
- stable isotopes
- geochemistry
- pollen
- paleoclimatology
- MONSOON
- MERCURY ACCUMULATION
- POLLEN RECORD
- INSOLATION
- SOUTHERN
- TRACE-ELEMENTS
- peatlands
- FRUTA
- MINAS-GERAIS
- SERRA
Access to Document
- HorakTerra_JQS_LateQuaternaryVegetation_AAM
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Horák‐Terra, I., Cortizas, A.M., Da Luz, C.F.P., Silva, A.C., Mighall, T., De Camargo, P.B., Mendonça‐Filho, C.V., De Oliveira, P.E., Cruz, F.W. and Vidal‐Torrado, P. (2020), Late Quaternary vegetation and climate dynamics in central‐eastern Brazil: insights from a ~35k cal a bp peat record in the Cerrado biome. J. Quaternary Sci, 35: 664-676. doi:10.1002/jqs.3209, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3209. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.