Lake Nicaragua: A Possible High Resolution Record of Tropical Climate

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Abstract ATM-9711788 Moore, Theodore University of Michigan Title: Lake Nicaragua: A Possible High Resolution Record of Tropical Climate This SGER award supports a study designed to establish the paleoclimate potential of Lake Nicaragua. Located at approximately 12oN in the heart of the northeast trade wind belt, Lake Nicaragua appears to offer a very promising target for paleoclimate studies. It is the largest single lake in the Americas between Lake Titicaca at about 16oS and the Great Salt Lake at about 41oN. Rainfall in the area is highly seasonal and the climate of the area is strongly affected by the ENSO cycle. The location and size of the lake is ideal for recording regional variations in climate driven by changes in the ENSO tropical cycle in temperature and rainfall. Paleoclimate records from this lake could form an important tie point along the PEP I transect (The Americas) proposed by PAGES (the international Past Global Changes Program, a core project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program). Little work has been done on the sediments from Lake Nicaragua and it is possible that the stratigraphic record may be disturbed by tectonic activity or strongly reworked and mixed in the shallower areas by storms. However, the high organic content of the surface sediments and the presence of at least some deeps reaching 40 m offer substantial hope that a very useful paleoclimate record can be recovered.