Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Extended megadroughts in the southwestern United States during Pleistocene interglacials

An Erratum to this article was published on 27 April 2011

Abstract

The potential for increased drought frequency and severity linked to anthropogenic climate change in the semi-arid regions of the southwestern United States (US) is a serious concern1. Multi-year droughts during the instrumental period2 and decadal-length droughts of the past two millennia1,3 were shorter and climatically different from the future permanent, ‘dust-bowl-like’ megadrought conditions, lasting decades to a century, that are predicted as a consequence of warming4. So far, it has been unclear whether or not such megadroughts occurred in the southwestern US, and, if so, with what regularity and intensity. Here we show that periods of aridity lasting centuries to millennia occurred in the southwestern US during mid-Pleistocene interglacials. Using molecular palaeotemperature proxies5 to reconstruct the mean annual temperature (MAT) in mid-Pleistocene lacustrine sediment from the Valles Caldera, New Mexico, we found that the driest conditions occurred during the warmest phases of interglacials, when the MAT was comparable to or higher than the modern MAT. A collapse of drought-tolerant C4 plant communities during these warm, dry intervals indicates a significant reduction in summer precipitation, possibly in response to a poleward migration of the subtropical dry zone. Three MAT cycles 2 °C in amplitude occurred within Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 and seem to correspond to the muted precessional cycles within this interglacial. In comparison with MIS 11, MIS 13 experienced higher precessional-cycle amplitudes, larger variations in MAT (4–6 °C) and a longer period of extended warmth, suggesting that local insolation variations were important to interglacial climatic variability in the southwestern US. Comparison of the early MIS 11 climate record with the Holocene record shows many similarities and implies that, in the absence of anthropogenic forcing, the region should be entering a cooler and wetter phase.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Location map of the Valles Caldera.
Figure 2: Multi-proxy profiles of VC-3 plotted versus calendar age.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Woodhouse, C. A. et al. A 1,200-year perspective of 21st century drought in southwestern North America. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 21283–21288 (2010)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. McCabe, G. J., Palecki, M. A. & Betancourt, J. L. Pacific and Atlantic Ocean influences on multidecadal drought frequency in the United States. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 101, 4136–4141 (2004)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Cook, E. R., Seager, R., Cane, M. A. & Stahle, D. W. North American drought: reconstructions, causes and consequences. Earth Sci. Rev. 81, 93–134 (2007)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Seager, R. et al. Model projections of an imminent transition to a more arid climate in southwestern North America. Science 316, 1181–1184 (2007)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Weijers, J. W. H., Schouten, S., van den Donker, J. C., Hopmans, E. C. & Sinninghe Damsté, J. S. Environmental controls on bacterial tetraether membrane lipid distribution in soils. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 71, 703–713 (2007)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Berger, A. & Loutre, M. F. Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years. Quat. Sci. Rev. 10, 297–317 (1991)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Loutre, M. F. & Berger, A. Marine Isotope Stage 11 as an analog for the present interglacial. Global Planet. Change 36, 209–217 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Weijers, J. W. H., Schefuß, E., Schouten, S. & Sinninghe Damsté, J. S. Coupled thermal and hydrological evolution of tropical Africa over the last deglaciation. Science 315, 1701–1704 (2007)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. McManus, J. F., Oppo, D. W. & Cullen, J. L. A 0.5-million-year record of millennial-scale climate variability in the North Atlantic. Science 283, 971–975 (1999)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Kutzbach, J. E. et al. Climate and biome simulation for the past 21000 years. Quat. Sci. Rev. 17, 473–509 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Prokopenko, A. A., Williams, D. F., Karabanov, E. B. & Khursevich, G. K. Response of Lake Baikal ecosystem to climate forcing and pCO2 change over the Last Glacial/Interglacial transition. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 172, 239–253 (1999)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Prokopenko, A. A. et al. Muted climate variations in continental Siberia during the mid-Pleistocene epoch. Nature 418, 65–68 (2002)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. de Vernal, A. & Hillaire-Marcel, C. Natural variability of Greenland climate, vegetation, and ice volume during the past million years. Science 320, 1622–1625 (2008)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Guo, Z. T., Berger, A., Yin, Q. Z. & Qin, L. Strong asymmetry of hemispheric climates during MIS-13 inferred from correlating China loess and Antarctic ice records. Clim. Past 5, 21–31 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Rossignol-Strick, M., Paterne, M., Bassinot, F. C., Emeis, K. C. & De Lange, G. J. An unusual mid-Pleistocene monsoon period over Africa and Asia. Nature 392, 269–272 (1998)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Jouzel, J. et al. Orbital and millennial Antarctic climate variability over the past 800,000 years. Science 317, 793–796 (2007)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Loulergue, L. et al. Orbital and millennial-scale features of atmospheric CH4 over the past 800,000 years. Nature 453, 383–386 (2008)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Johnson, D. W., Hanson, P. J., Todd, D. E., Susfalk, R. B. & Trettin, C. F. Precipitation change and soil leaching: field results and simulations from Walker Branch Watershed, Tennessee. Wat. Air Soil Pollut. 105, 251–262 (1998)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Meyers, P. A. Applications of organic geochemistry to paleolimnological reconstructions: a summary of examples from the Laurentian Great Lakes. Org. Geochem. 34, 261–289 (2003)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Ehleringer, J. R., Cerling, T. E. & Helliker, B. R. C4 photosynthesis, atmospheric CO2 and climate. Oecologia 112, 285–299 (1997)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Huang, Y. et al. Climate change as the dominant control on glacial-interglacial variations in C3 and C4 plant abundance. Science 293, 1647–1651 (2001)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Douglas, M. W., Maddox, R. A., Howard, K. & Reyes, S. The Mexican monsoon. J. Clim. 6, 1665–1677 (1993)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Schubert, S. D., Suarez, M. J., Pegion, P. J., Koster, R. D. & Bacmeister, J. T. On the cause of the 1930s dust bowl. Science 303, 1855–1859 (2004)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Anderson, R. S. et al. Development of the mixed conifer forest in northern New Mexico and its relationship to Holocene environmental change. Quat. Res. 69, 263–275 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Jiménez-Moreno, G., Fawcett, P. J. & Anderson, R. S. Millennial- and centennial-scale vegetation and climate changes during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene from northern New Mexico (USA). Quat. Sci. Rev. 27, 1448–1452 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Poore, R. Z., Pavich, M. J. & Grissino-Mayer, H. D. Record of the North American southwest monsoon from Gulf of Mexico sediment cores. Geology 33, 209–212 (2005)

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Enzel, Y., Cayan, D. R., Anderson, R. Y. & Wells, S. G. Atmospheric circulation during Holocene lake stands in the Mojave Desert: evidence of regional climate change. Nature 341, 44–47 (1989)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Namias, J. Some meteorological aspects of drought with special reference to the summers of 1952–54 over the United States. Mon. Weath. Rev. 83, 199–205 (1955)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank A. Mets for analytical support, W. McIntosh for the Ar–Ar age determination, T. Wawrzyniec and A. Ellwein for drilling help, and the Valles Caldera Trust for permission to drill in the Valle Grande. Core assistance was provided by LRC/LacCore. This work was supported by the NSF Paleoclimate and P2C2 programs, IGPP LANL and the USGS Western Mountain Initiative. Support from the Gledden Fellowship is acknowledged. This work forms contribution 2399-JW at the Centre for Water Research, The University of Western Australia and contribution 131 at the Laboratory of Paleoecology, Northern Arizona University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Writing and interpretation was done by P.J.F. with significant contributions from J.P.W., R.S.A., J.M.H. and E.T.B. MBT/CBT analyses were conducted by J.P.W., M.A.B., J.S.S.D., S.S., Y.H. and J.T. Organic carbon/nitrogen analyses were conducted by P.J.F., J.M.H., L.M.C.-D., J.F. and V.A. XRF core scanning analyses were conducted by E.T.B. Pollen analyses and palaeovegetation analyses were conducted by R.S.A., S.J.S. and C.D.A., and F.G., G.W. and P.J.F. conducted core sediment and stratigraphic analyses. L.D.-H. and J.W.G. investigated palaeomagnetic and rock magnetic core properties. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter J. Fawcett.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

The file contains Supplementary Figures 1-2 with legends, Supplementary Methods, Supplementary Table 1, a Supplementary Discussion and additional references. (PDF 829 kb)

Supplementary Data

The file contains Supplementary Raw Data. (XLS 1202 kb)

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fawcett, P., Werne, J., Anderson, R. et al. Extended megadroughts in the southwestern United States during Pleistocene interglacials. Nature 470, 518–521 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09839

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09839

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing