noaa-cave-13519
Yok Balum Cave, Belize 2000 Year Stalagmite Stable Isotope Data
Kennett, D.J.; Breitenbach, S.F.M.; Aquino, V.V.; Asmerom, Y.; Awe, J.; Baldini, J.U.L.; Bartlein, P.J.; Culleton, B.J.; Ebert, C.; Jazwa, C.; Macri, M.J.; Marwan, N.; Polyak, V.J.; Prufer, K.M.; Ridley, H.E.; Sodemann, H.; Winterhalder, B.; Haug, G.H.
Yok Balum Cave, Belize 2000 Year Stalagmite Stable Isotope Data
2012-11-10
NCDC-Paleoclimatology
ONLINE Files
Pending
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/study/13519
Investigator
D.J.
Kennett
Investigator
S.F.M.
Breitenbach
Investigator
V.V.
Aquino
Investigator
Y.
Asmerom
Investigator
J.
Awe
Investigator
J.U.L.
Baldini
Investigator
P.J.
Bartlein
Investigator
B.J.
Culleton
Investigator
C.
Ebert
Investigator
C.
Jazwa
Investigator
M.J.
Macri
Investigator
N.
Marwan
Investigator
V.J.
Polyak
Investigator
K.M.
Prufer
Investigator
H.E.
Ridley
Investigator
H.
Sodemann
Investigator
B.
Winterhalder
Investigator
G.H.
Haug
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
depth,null,null,millimeter,null,speleothems,null,null,N,null
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
delta 18O,calcium carbonate,one standard deviation upper bound,per mil VPDB,null,speleothems,raw,isotope ratio mass spectrometry,N,null
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
delta 18O,calcium carbonate,one standard deviation,per mil VPDB,null,speleothems,raw,isotope ratio mass spectrometry,N,null
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
delta 18O,calcium carbonate,one standard deviation lower bound,per mil VPDB,null,speleothems,raw,isotope ratio mass spectrometry,N,null
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
age,null,null,calendar year before present,null,speleothems,null,null,N,null
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
delta 18O,calcium carbonate,null,per mil VPDB,null,speleothems,raw,isotope ratio mass spectrometry,N,null
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
age,null,null,year Common Era,null,speleothems,null,null,N,null
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
delta 13C,calcium carbonate,null,per mil VPDB,null,speleothems,raw,isotope ratio mass spectrometry,N,null
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
age,null,null,calendar kiloyear before present,null,speleothems,null,null,N,null
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
carbon isotopes
earth science
paleoclimate
speleothems
oxygen isotopes
geoscientificInformation
drought
40 AD
2006 AD
1910 cal yr BP
-56 cal yr BP
Complete
16.2086
16.2086
-89.0735
-89.0735
366
366
Continent
North America
Central America
Belize
Yok Balum Cave>LATITUDE 16.2086>LONGITUDE -89.0735
None
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English
DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI
National Centers for Environmental Information, NESDIS, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/paleoclimatology-data
DATA Center Contact
Bruce
Bauer
bruce.a.bauer@noaa.gov
paleo@noaa.gov
303-497-6280
303-497-6513
325 Broadway, E/NE31
Boulder
CO
80305-3328
USA
online
ASCII
Kennett, Douglas J., Sebastian F.M. Breitenbach, Valorie V. Aquino, Yemane Asmerom, Jaime Awe, James U.L. Baldini, Patrick Bartlein, Brendan J. Culleton, Claire Ebert, Christopher Jazwa, Martha J. Macri, Norbert Marwan, Victor Polyak, Keith M. Prufer, Harriet E. Ridley, Harald Sodemann, Bruce Winterhalder, Gerald H. Haug. 2012.
Development and Disintegration of Maya Political Systems in Response to Climate Change.
Science, Vol. 338, No. 6108, pp. 788-791, 9-November-2012.
DOI: 10.1126/science.1226299
The role of climate change in the development and demise of Classic Maya civilization (300 to 1000 C.E.) remains controversial because of the absence of well-dated climate and archaeological sequences. We present a precisely dated subannual climate record for the past 2000 years from Yok Balum Cave, Belize. From comparison of this record with historical events compiled from well-dated stone monuments, we propose that anomalously high rainfall favored unprecedented population expansion and the proliferation of political centers between 440 and 660 C.E. This was followed by a drying trend between 660 and 1000 C.E. that triggered the balkanization of polities, increased warfare, and the asynchronous disintegration of polities, followed by population collapse in the context of an extended drought between 1020 and 1100 C.E.
STUDY NOTES: The YOK-I stalagmite was collected in June 2006 approximately 50 m from the eastern cave entrance.
Carbonate was actively precipitating on the tip of this 606.9-mm-long stalagmite when it was harvested.
Forty 230Th dates constrain the age of incremental growth in the upper 444.3 mm of YOK-I (Table S2).
XRD analysis indicates that the carbonate in the upper 415 mm is pure aragonite and not affected by
secondary alteration. The stable isotope climate record presented here therefore comes from the upper 415 mm,
while the lower stalagmite section is less suitable for stable isotope studies and was not included
in this investigation.
Over 4,200 d18O and d13C measurements were performed on the upper 415 mm of the YOK-I stalagmite
dated between 40 BC and AD 2006. These samples were continuously milled at 0.1 mm increments and,
depending on growth rate changes in YOK-I, the temporal resolution of the isotopic data fluctuates
from 0.01 and 3.68 yrs/0.1 mm with an average resolution of 0.49 yrs/0.1 mm. The available data
indicate that fluctuations in rainfall intensity are reflected in the d18O record.
GET DATA
https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/belize/yok-balum2012s3d18o.txt
GET DATA
https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/belize/yok-balum2012s4isotopes.txt
GET DATA
https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/belize/yok-balum2012cariaco-ti.txt
USA/NOAA
DIF
Version 9.8.4
2018-12-11
2018-12-11