The last glacial maximum (21000-17000 C-14 yr BP) in the southern tropical Andes (Boliva) based on diatom studies
Résumé
A diatom study, carried out on a core recovered in the Southern Altiplano (Coipasa salt lake 19 degrees S, 68 degrees W) currently almost completely dry, shows that during the last glacial maximum the Coipasa salar was entirely occupied by a large shallow lake. Available data for the northern Altiplano (Lake Titicaca, 16 degrees S, 69 degrees W) indicate a water level 17 m lower than today. This opposition is explained by decreased tropical precipitations whose effects registered by Lake Titicaca were obliterated in the Coipasa salar by increased winter precipitation. ((C) Academie des sciences/Elsevier, Paris.).