The Late Holocene Dry Period: multiproxy evidence for an extended drought between 2800 and 1850 cal yr BP across the central Great Basin, USA

High-precision AMS 14 C chronology for Gatecliff Shelter, Nevada

“…The longest gap in the record occurred between 3315 and 2145 cal BP and marks a major shift in the use of the shelter to a family residential base after this time. We are currently investigating this extended gap in the record relative to newly available climate records for the region (Mensing et al, 2013). Differences between the old and new chronology at Gatecliff are non-trivial, and comparable chronological refinements will be required elsewhere in the Great Basin in order to address finergrained and societally significant research questions moving into the future (see Kintigh et al, 2014).…”

“…Other gaps in the record are minimized or offset in the older chronological sequence. Our next phase of work will be to compare the refined Gatecliff chronology, corrected for stratigraphic relationships (posterior distribution), to newly available climate sequences for the region (Mensing et al, 2013).…”

“…Our most immediate goal is to establish a chronology that is more comparable to the high-resolution environmental and climate-records that are becoming available for the region (Benson et al, 2002;Mensing et al, 2004Mensing et al, , 2007Mensing et al, , 2013. Archaeological excavations at Gatecliff Shelter occurred during a time when conventional radiocarbon laboratories were proliferating, but before inter-laboratory comparisons were conducted and the advent of AMS 14 C dating (meaning only the largest potentially datable charcoal chunks were saved).…”

Tropical Pacific forcing of Late-Holocene hydrologic variability in the coastal southwest United States

“…The dD wax indicate a systematic change in moisture source 200 years earlier (~2700 cal yrs BP) than the sand data. This persistent drought corresponds to a drought identified in the central Great Basin as period of aridity between 2800 and 1850 cal yrs BP and referred to as the Late-Holocene Dry Period (LHDP) by Mensing et al (2013) ( Fig. 6).…”

Fluvial tufa evidence of Late Pleistocene wet intervals from Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A.

“…Knowledge of inter-annual precipitation variability is limited by the short instrumental record: rain gauge measurements in Santa Barbara extend back to the 1860s (SBB Water Works, 2013). Proxy evidence for rainfall can extend our perspective of hydroclimate in the region and is the only way to capture evidence for multidecadal to millennial scale droughts and pluvials in the west (Cook et al, 2004;Briggs et al, 2005;Mensing et al, 2013). The sediments of Zaca Lake have yielded records of hydroclimate fluctuations over the last 3000 years including pluvials lasting decades to centuries based on leaf wax, pollen, and grain size evidence Feakins et al, 2014;Kirby et al, 2014).…”