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Climate influences on water and sediment properties of Genovesa Crater Lake, Galápagos

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Abstract

Genovesa Crater Lake is a remote, hypersaline lake in the northern Galápagos archipelago that contains a finely laminated sediment record. This sediment record has the potential to provide a high-resolution history of past climate variability in the eastern tropical Pacific. Here we present modern climate, lake, and sediment observations from 2009 to 2012 to explore how local climate variability influences Genovesa Crater Lake and its sediments. Surface lake temperature is strongly linked to air temperature and is highly seasonal. Temperature stratification is strongest during the warm season, whereas temperature becomes more uniform through the water column in the cool season. Deeper and earlier mixing occurred during the 2010 La Niña, which subsequently delayed 2011 cool season mixing and maximum warm season surface temperatures in 2011 and 2012. Lake salinity changes are influenced by precipitation, evaporation and persistent seawater influx. The largest declines in subsurface salinity follow months after the rainy season, when temperatures cool and fresher surface water from the previous warm/wet season mixes into the subsurface. Between 2009 and 2012, more calcium carbonate precipitated during a period of higher salinity. The period of highest calcium carbonate abundance measured in sediment records that span the late nineteenth to twentieth century coincides with the failure of two consecutive rainy seasons in 1988 and 1989 as well as the coldest monthly sea surface temperature measured at Puerto Ayora in 1989. More calcium carbonate-rich laminae from AD 1550 ± 70 to 1675 ± 90 may indicate a greater frequency of prolonged droughts or cooler temperatures, although enhanced productivity may also modulate carbonate precipitation. More Ca-rich laminae in Genovesa coincide with dry conditions inferred from other Galápagos sediment proxies, as well as prolonged dry and cool conditions inferred from reconstructions of the Southern Oscillation Index and NINO3 sea surface temperatures.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for field assistance from T. Damassa, H. Barnett, S. Truebe, M. Miller, N. d’Ozouville, R. Pepolas, D. Ruiz, A. Tudhope, M. Wilson, C. Chilcot, and M. Parrales. We also thank P. Colinvaux and M. Steinitz-Kannan for helpful comments and useful advice. This research was supported by NSF-RAPID-1256970 to JTO, NOAA NA07OAR4310058 to MBB, and NSF-0957881 to JEC. We thank the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galápagos National Park for logistical support, the captains and crews of the vessels La Pirata and Queen Mabel, and The University of Arizona Department of Geosciences and AMS Facility for additional funding and radiocarbon measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Jessica L. Conroy

  2. Department of Geology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Jessica L. Conroy

  3. Department of Geosciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Diane M. Thompson, Jonathan T. Overpeck & Julia E. Cole

  4. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA

    Diane M. Thompson

  5. Department of Biology, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL, USA

    Aaron Collins & Mark B. Bush

  6. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Jonathan T. Overpeck & Julia E. Cole

  7. Institute of the Environment, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Jonathan T. Overpeck

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  1. Jessica L. Conroy
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  2. Diane M. Thompson
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Correspondence to Jessica L. Conroy.

Electronic supplementary material

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Supplementary material 1 (DOC 62 kb)

10933_2014_9797_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

Electronic Supplementary Material Fig. 1 A) Photos of Genovesa cores used in this study, with key tie points noted. B) Scatterplot and equations for cores versus core GU-6. C) Graphical depiction of light, Ca-rich layer in four surface cores where it was found (other cores lost the uppermost sediment during coring). D) Correlation for uppermost, extruded sediments of cores GU-6 and GU-4 using Si and Sr/Ca ratios (PDF 14876 kb)

10933_2014_9797_MOESM3_ESM.pdf

Electronic Supplementary Material Fig. 2 A-C) Genovesa sediment traps containing sediment from 28 November 2009 to 5 June 2010. A) 3 m sediment trap, B) 7 m sediment trap, and C) 25 m sediment trap. D-F) Genovesa sediment traps containing sediment from 6 June 2010 to 29 September 2012. D) 3 m sediment trap, E) 7 m sediment trap, and F) 25 m sediment trap (PDF 236 kb)

10933_2014_9797_MOESM4_ESM.pdf

Electronic Supplementary Material Fig. 3 Transmitted-light thin-section photograph of Genovesa sediment and associated XRF maps of elemental intensities plotted in colorized grayscale. Lighter colors indicate higher abundance of the elements. Maps are grouped by elements that covary (Ca and Sr, S and K) (PDF 13589 kb)

10933_2014_9797_MOESM5_ESM.pdf

Electronic Supplementary Material Fig. 4 A) Plot of daily precipitation amount (mm/day) from Genovesa (red), Puerto Ayora (black, Charles Darwin Foundation), and TRMM 3B42 product (green, Kummerow et al. 1998) for the 0.25° x 0.25° grid cell containing Genovesa. B) Monthly precipitation from Genovesa, Puerto Ayora, Puerto Ayora and TRMM, 2009-2012 C) precipitation measurements from Genovesa and Puerto Ayora, January to May 1978-1988 (Grant and Grant 1989). D) Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz monthly rainfall (black, mm/day), E) calculated evaporation (red, mm/day), F) SST (blue,  °C), and G) Global Ocean Data Assimilation (Behringer and Xue 2004) sea surface height anomalies (orange, m). Gray bar highlights persistent dry period from 1987-1990 (PDF 471 kb)

10933_2014_9797_MOESM6_ESM.pdf

Electronic Supplementary Material Fig. 5 Climate and lake variables. A) scatterplot of daily air temperature and daily surface temperature in Genovesa. B) Relationship between near-surface salinity and precipitation (axis flipped for comparison with salinity) (PDF 193 kb)

10933_2014_9797_MOESM7_ESM.pdf

Electronic Supplementary Material Fig. 6 Probability density function of Ca abundance, 7-m salinity, and NINO1 + 2 values during the two sediment trap time periods (30 November 2009-5 June 2010, black, and 5 June 2010-29 September 2012, gray): Histograms of A) Ca (cps) in sediment traps from 3, 7, and 25 m. B) 7 m salinity (ppt) C) NINO1 + 2 values (°C) (PDF 259 kb)

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Conroy, J.L., Thompson, D.M., Collins, A. et al. Climate influences on water and sediment properties of Genovesa Crater Lake, Galápagos. J Paleolimnol 52, 331–347 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-014-9797-z

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