World Data Center for Paleoclimatology, Boulder 
                                 and 
                    NOAA Paleoclimatology Program 

NOTE: Please cite original reference when using these data, plus the data file URL and date accessed.

NAME OF DATA SET: Juxtlahuaca Cave, Mexico 2400 Year d18O and Precipitation Reconstruction LAST UPDATE: 6/2012 (Original receipt by WDC Paleo) CONTRIBUTORS: Lachniet, M.S., J.P. Bernal, Y. Asmerom, V. Polyak, and D. Piperno. IGBP PAGES/WDCA CONTRIBUTION SERIES NUMBER: 2012-075

WDC PALEO CONTRIBUTION SERIES CITATION: Lachniet, M.S., et al. 2012. Juxtlahuaca Cave, Mexico 2400 Year d18O and Precipitation Reconstruction. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series # 2012-075. NOAA/NCDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA.

ORIGINAL REFERENCE: Lachniet, M.S., J.P. Bernal, Y. Asmerom, V. Polyak, and D. Piperno. 2012. A 2400 yr Mesoamerican rainfall reconstruction links climate and cultural change. Geology, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp259 - 262, March 2012. doi:10.1130/G32471.1

ABSTRACT: Droughts are a recurring feature of Mexican climate, but few high-resolution data are available to test for climate-change forcing of Mesoamerican civilizations. We present a quantitative 2400 yr rainfall reconstruction for the Basin of Mexico, from a precisely dated and highly resolved speleothem, that documents highly variable rainfall over the past 2400 yr. Dry conditions peaked during a 150-yr-long late Classic (ca. 600–900 CE) (Common Era) mega drought that culminated at 770 CE which followed centuries of climatic drying that spanned the fall of the city of Teotihuacán ca. 550 CE. The wettest conditions in the 1450s CE were associated with flooding in the Basin of Mexico. Our data suggest that rainfall variability was likely forced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, and impacts on spring-fed irrigation agriculture may have been a stressor on Mesoamerican civilizations.

GEOGRAPHIC REGION: Central America PERIOD OF RECORD: 2400 YrBP - present

DATA FILE URLS: ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/northamerica/mexico/juxtlahuaca2012.txt ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/speleothem/northamerica/mexico/juxtlahuaca2012.xls

DESCRIPTION: Stalagmite JX-6 oxygen isotope data (d18O) and rainfall reconstruction from Juxtlahuaca Cave, Mexico for the past 2400 years.

The rainfall reconstruction is based on the 5-yr smoothed and 1-yr interpolated d18O data, with ages adjusted 9-years older to account for drip water transit time (see Figure DR2 of Lachniet et al., 2012).

Juxtlahuaca Cave, near Colotlipa, Guerrero, Mexico: 17.4°N, 99.2°W, 934 m a.s.l.