WorldWideScience

Sample records for northern andes evidence

  1. High altitude C4 grasslands in the northern Andes: relicts from glacial conditions?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boom, A.; Mora, G.; Cleef, A.M.; Hooghiemstra, H.

    2001-01-01

    The altitudinal vegetation distribution in the northern Andes during glacial time differed from the present-day conditions as a result of temperature and precipitation change. New evidence indicate that as a response to a reduced atmospheric partial CO2 pressure (pCO2), the competitive balance

  2. An elusive new species of Marsupial Frog (Anura: Hemiphractidae: Gastrotheca from the Andes of northern Peru

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William E. Duellman

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available A new species of marsupial frog, genus Gastrotheca, is described from high-elevation grasslands in the Andes in Región Amazonas in northernPeru, where even calling males are well hidden in deep moss. The new species is distinguished from all congeners by its unique color pattern that includes a narrow, blackbordered, yellow middorsal stripe. The species apparently belongs to the Gastrotheca plumbea Group, which ranges in the Andes from northern Colombia to northern Peru.

  3. Angiosperm flora and biogeography of the páramo region of Colombia, northern Andes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Londoño, C.; Cleef, A.; Madriñan, S.

    2014-01-01

    Páramo is the neotropical high elevation ecosystem in the northern Andes and Central America consisting of multiple dissected open areas above 3000 m a.s.l. Complex evolutionary processes that occurred within these ecosystems gave rise to a unique tropical Andean flora. Previous phytogeographical

  4. New GPS velocity field in the northern Andes (Peru - Ecuador - Colombia): heterogeneous locking along the subduction, northeastwards motion of the Northern Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nocquet, J.; Mothes, P. A.; Villegas Lanza, J.; Chlieh, M.; Jarrin, P.; Vallée, M.; Tavera, H.; Ruiz, G.; Regnier, M.; Rolandone, F.

    2010-12-01

    Rapid subduction of the Nazca plate beneath the northen Andes margin (~6 cm/yr) results in two different processes: (1) elastic stress is accumulating along the Nazca/South American plate interface which is responsible for one of the largest megathrust earthquake sequences during the last century. The 500-km-long rupture zone of the 1906 (Mw= 8.8) event was partially reactivated by three events from the 1942 (Mw = 7.8), 1958 (Mw = 7.7), to the 1979 (Mw = 8.2). However, south of latitude 1°S, no M>8 earthquake has been reported in the last three centuries, suggesting that this area is slipping aseismically (2) permanent deformation causes opening of the Gulf of Guayaquil, with northeastwards motion of the Northern Andean Block (NAB). We present a new GPS velocity field covering the northern Andes from south of the Gulf of Guayaquil to the Caribbean plate. Our velocity field includes new continuously-recording GPS stations installed along the Ecuadorian coast, together with campaign sites observed since 1994 in the CASA project (Kellogg et al., 1989). We first estimate the long-term kinematics of the NAB in a joint inversion including GPS data, earthquake slip vectors, and quaternary slip rates on major faults. The inversion provides an Euler pole located at long. -107.8°E, lat. 36.2°N, 0.091°/Ma and indicates little internal deformation of the NAB (wrms=1.2 mm/yr). As a consequence, 30% of the obliquity of the Nazca/South America motion is accommodated by transcurrent to transpressive motion along the eastern boundary of the NAB. Residual velocities with respect to the NAB are then modeled in terms Models indicate a patchwork of highly coupled asperities encompassed by aseismic patches over the area of rupture of the M~8.8 1906 earthquake. Very low coupling is found along the southern Ecuadorian and northern Peru subduction.

  5. Glaciation in the Andes during the Lateglacial and Holocene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodbell, Donald T.; Smith, Jacqueline A.; Mark, Bryan G.

    2009-10-01

    This review updates the chronology of Andean glaciation during the Lateglacial and the Holocene from the numerous articles and reviews published over the past three decades. The Andes, which include some of the world's wettest and driest mountainous regions, offer an unparalleled opportunity to elucidate spatial and temporal patterns of glaciation along a continuous 68-degree meridional transect. The geographic and altitudinal extent of modern glaciers and the sensitivity of both modern and former glaciers to respond to changes in specific climatic variables reflect broad-scale atmospheric circulation and consequent regional moisture patterns. Glaciers in the tropical Andes and in the mid-latitude Andes are likely to have been far more sensitive to changes in temperature than glaciers in the dry subtropical Andes. Broad-scale temporal and spatial patterns of glaciation during the Lateglacial are apparent. In the southernmost Andes, the Lateglacial chronology appears to have a strong Antarctic signature with the best-dated moraines correlating closely with the Antarctic Cold Reversal. The southernmost Andes do not appear to have experienced a significant ice advance coeval with the Younger Dryas (YD) climatic reversal. At the other end of the Andes, from ˜0 to 9°N, a stronger YD connection may exist, but critical stratigraphic and geochronologic work is required before a YD ice advance can be fully demonstrated. In the central Andes of Peru, well-dated moraines record a significant ice readvance at the onset of the YD, but ice was retreating during much of the remaining YD interval. The spatial-temporal pattern of Holocene glaciation exhibits tantalizing but incomplete evidence for an Early to Mid-Holocene ice advance(s) in many regions, but not in the arid subtropical Andes, where moraines deposited during or slightly prior to the Little Ice Age (LIA) record the most extensive advance of the Holocene. In many regions, there is strong evidence for Neoglacial

  6. Air temperature change in the northern and southern tropical Andes linked to North-Atlantic stadials and Greenland interstadials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urrego, Dunia H.; Hooghiemstra, Henry

    2016-04-01

    We use eight pollen records reflecting climatic and environmental change from northern and southern sites in the tropical Andes. Our analysis focuses on the signature of millennial-scale climate variability during the last 30,000 years, in particular the Younger Dryas (YD), Heinrich stadials (HS) and Greenland interstadials (GI). We identify rapid responses of the vegetation to millennial-scale climate variability in the tropical Andes. The signature of HS and the YD are generally recorded as downslope migrations of the upper forest line (UFL), and are likely linked to air temperature cooling. The GI1 signal is overall comparable between northern and southern records and indicates upslope UFL migrations and warming in the tropical Andes. Our marker for lake level changes indicates a north to south difference that could be related to moisture availability. The direction of air temperature change recorded by the Andean vegetation is consistent with millennial-scale cryosphere and sea surface temperature records from the American tropics, but suggests a potential difference between the magnitude of temperature change in the ocean and the atmosphere.

  7. Late Pleistocene glaciations of the arid subtropical Andes and new results from the Chajnantor Plateau, northern Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ward, Dylan J.; Cesta, Jason M.; Galewsky, Joseph; Sagredo, Esteban

    2015-11-01

    The spatiotemporal pattern of glaciation along the Andes Mountains is an important proxy record reflecting the varying influence of global and regional circulation features on South American climate. However, the timing and extent of glaciation in key parts of the orogen, particularly the deglaciated arid Andes, are poorly constrained. We present new cosmogenic 10Be and 36Cl exposure ages for glacial features on and near the Chajnantor Plateau (23 °S). The new dates, although scattered due to cosmogenic inheritance, imply that the most recent extensive glacial occupation ended before or during the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). We discuss this new record in the context of published glacial chronologies from glacial features in Peru, Bolivia, and northern Chile rescaled using the latest cosmogenic 10Be production rate calibration for the tropical Andes. The results imply regionally synchronous moraine stabilization ca. 25-40 ka, 15-17 ka, and 12-14 ka, with the youngest of these moraines absent in records south of ∼20 °S, including in our new Chajnantor area chronology. This spatial pattern implicates easterly moisture in generating sufficient snowfall to glaciate the driest parts of the Andes, while allowing a role for westerly moisture, possibly modulated by the migration of the Southern Westerly Wind belt, in the regions near and south of the Atacama Desert.

  8. Oroclinal Bending and Mountain Uplift in the Central Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mpodozis, C.; Arriagada, C.; Roperch, P.

    2007-05-01

    The large paleomagnetic database now available for the Central Andes permits a good understanding of the overall spatial and temporal variations of rotations. Mesozoic to Early Paleogene rocks along the forearc of northern Chile (23°-28°S) record significant clockwise rotations (>25°) [Arriagada et al., 2006, Tectonics, doi:10.1029/2005TC001923]. Along the forearc of southern Peru, counterclockwise rotations recorded within flat lying red-beds (Moquegua Formation) increase from about -30° at 17.5°S to - 45° at15.5°S and decrease through time from the late Eocene to the late Oligocene-early Miocene [Roperch et al., 2006, Tectonics, doi:10.1029/2005TC001882]. Recently published thermo-chronological studies show evidence for strong exhumation within Bolivian Eastern Cordillera and the Puna plateau starting in the Eocene while structural studies indicate that the majority of crustal shortening in the Eastern Cordillera occurred during the Eocene-Oligocene, although the final stages of deformation may have continued through the Early Miocene. Rotations in the Peruvian and north Chilean forearc thus occurred at the same time than deformation and exhumation/uplift within the Eastern Cordillera. In contrast Neogene forearc rocks in southern Peru and northern Chile do not show evidences of rotation but low magnitude (10°) counterclockwise rotations are usually found in mid to late Miocene rocks from the northern Altiplano. These Neogene rotations are concomitant with shortening in the Sub-Andean zone and sinistral strike-slip faulting along the eastern edge of the northern Altiplano. We interpret the rotation pattern along the southern Peru and north Chile forearc as a result of strong late Eocene- late Oligocene oroclinal bending of the Central Andes associated with shortening gradients along the Eastern Cordillera associated both with the Abancay deflection and the Arica bend. The amount and spatial distribution of pre-Neogene shortening needed to account for

  9. Calcite Twin Analysis in the Central Andes of Northern Argentina and Southern Bolivia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hardesty, E.; Hindle, D.

    2005-12-01

    The use of calcite twinning to infer compression directions and strain axes patterns has been applied widely in both fold and thrust belts, and continental interiors. Calcite twinning is noted to be one of the most precise methods for determining the internal strain of deformed rocks. Until now, such data from the deformed plate boundary of the Central Andes were lacking. This study has examined twinning orientations along the deformed Andean foreland (southern Bolivia and northern Argentina) from -25 to -20 latitude. In the Central Andes, we find an abundance of calcite twins in intervals of the Cretaceous age Yacorite limestone. Twin samples were collected, measured for orientation and type (I and II can be best used for strain analysis), and processed using the Groshong method, to give resultant strain tensors. The orientations of the twin short axes trend mostly NE-SW, which is close to the plate convergence direction. However, in a limited number of samples from the north, adjacent to the southern culmination of the active Subandean fold thrust belt, they trend NW-SE. This difference may be related to the more active, or more recent, shortening of the southern portion of the Eastern Cordillera, south of the culmination of the Subandean belt. This implies that twin short axes vary consistently with respect to geographic location and local tectonic regime. NW-SE trends in the northern region match well with fault kinematic studies in rocks pre-dating the San Juan del Oro unconformity (9-10 Ma). NE-SW trends in the south could correspond to much younger (~1-3 Ma) fault kinematic trends. In the Eastern Cordillera, where there is present day tectonic activity, the plunges of the twin short axes are found to be almost horizontal. This suggests that the twins were formed after folding occurred.

  10. Calculated WIMP signals at the ANDES laboratory: comparison with northern and southern located dark matter detectors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Civitarese, O.; Fushimi, K. J.; Mosquera, M. E.

    2016-12-01

    Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are possible components of the Universe’s dark matter (DM). The detection of WIMPs is signaled by the recoil of the atomic nuclei which form a detector. CoGeNT at the Soudan Underground Laboratory (SUL) and DAMA at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) have reported data on annual modulation of signals attributed to WIMPs. Both experiments are located in laboratories in the Northern Hemisphere. DM detectors are planned to operate (or already operate) in laboratories in the Southern Hemisphere, including SABRE at Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) in Australia, and DM-ICE in Antarctica. In this work we have analyzed the dependence of diurnal and annual modulation of signals, pertaining to the detection of WIMP, on the coordinates of the laboratory, for experiments which may be performed in the planned new Agua Negra Deep Experimental Site (ANDES) underground facility, to be built in San Juan, Argentina. We made predictions for NaI and Ge-type detectors placed in ANDES, to compare with DAMA, CoGeNT, SABRE and DM-ICE arrays, and found that the diurnal modulation of the signals, at the ANDES site, is amplified at its maximum value, both for NaI (Ge)-type detectors, while the annual modulation remains unaffected by the change in coordinates from north to south.

  11. Calculated WIMP signals at the ANDES laboratory: comparison with northern and southern located dark matter detectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Civitarese, O; Mosquera, M E; Fushimi, K J

    2016-01-01

    Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) are possible components of the Universe’s dark matter (DM). The detection of WIMPs is signaled by the recoil of the atomic nuclei which form a detector. CoGeNT at the Soudan Underground Laboratory (SUL) and DAMA at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) have reported data on annual modulation of signals attributed to WIMPs. Both experiments are located in laboratories in the Northern Hemisphere. DM detectors are planned to operate (or already operate) in laboratories in the Southern Hemisphere, including SABRE at Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) in Australia, and DM-ICE in Antarctica. In this work we have analyzed the dependence of diurnal and annual modulation of signals, pertaining to the detection of WIMP, on the coordinates of the laboratory, for experiments which may be performed in the planned new Agua Negra Deep Experimental Site (ANDES) underground facility, to be built in San Juan, Argentina. We made predictions for NaI and Ge-type detectors placed in ANDES, to compare with DAMA, CoGeNT, SABRE and DM-ICE arrays, and found that the diurnal modulation of the signals, at the ANDES site, is amplified at its maximum value, both for NaI (Ge)-type detectors, while the annual modulation remains unaffected by the change in coordinates from north to south. (paper)

  12. Steady-state exhumation pattern in the central Andes SE Peru

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ruiz, G.M.H.; Carlotto, V.; van Heiningen, P.S.; Andriessen, P.A.M.

    2009-01-01

    The Western Cordillera of SE Peru is part of the Central Andes and is situated to the west of the Eastern Andes from which it is separated by the northern termination of the Altiplano - the Inter-Andean Valley. It is a volcanic-volcano-detrital chain that developed in the Palaeogene, and is

  13. (Plio-)Pleistocene alluvial-lacustrine basin infill evolution in a strike-slip active zone (Northern Andes, Western-Central Cordilleras, Colombia)

    OpenAIRE

    SUTER, F.; NEUWERTH, R.; GORIN, G.; GUZMÁN, C.

    2009-01-01

    The (Plio)-Pleistocene Zarzal Formation was deposited in the Cauca Depression and Quindío-Risaralda Basin between the Western and Central Cordilleras (Northern Andes). This area is structurally located on the transcurrent Romeral Fault System (RFS). Because of the interaction between the Nazca plate and the Chocó-Panamá block (an active indenter), the RFS strike-slip component changes direction around the study zone (dextral in the south, senestral in the north). Zarzal sediments are the olde...

  14. Black carbon and other light-absorbing impurities in the Andes of Northern Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowe, P. M.; Cordero, R.; Warren, S. G.; Pankow, A.; Jorquera, J.; Schrempf, M.; Doherty, S. J.; Cabellero, M.; Carrasco, J. F.; Neshyba, S.

    2015-12-01

    Black carbon (BC) and other light-absorbing impurities in snow absorb solar radiation and thus have the potential to accelerate glacial retreat and snowmelt. In Chile, glaciers and seasonal snow are important sources of water for irrigation and domestic uses. In July 2015 (Austral winter) we sampled snow in the western Andes in a north-south transect of Chile from 18 S to 34 S. Most of the sampled snow had fallen during a single synoptic event, during 11-13 July. The snow was melted and passed through 0.4 micrometer nuclepore filters. Preliminary estimates indicate that (1) the ratio of BC to dust in snow increases going south from Northern to Central Chile, and (2) in snow sampled during the two weeks following the snowstorm, the impurities were concentrated in the upper 5 cm of snow, indicating that the surface layer became polluted over time by dry deposition.

  15. Rock Glacier Response to Climate Change in the Argentinian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drewes, J.; Korup, O.; Moreiras, S.

    2017-12-01

    Rock glaciers are bodies of frozen debris and ice that move under the influence of gravity in permafrost areas. Rock glaciers may store a large amount of sediments and play an important role as prime movers of debris in the Andean sediment cascade. However, little is known about how much sediment and water rock glaciers may store at the mountain-belt scale, and the few existing estimates vary considerably. We address this question for the Argentinian Andes, for which a new glacial inventory containing more than 6500 rock glaciers gives us the opportunity to analyse their relevance within the sediment cascade. We examine the inventory for catchments in five sub-regions, i.e. the Desert Andes (22°-31°S); the Central Andes (31°-36°S); the Northern Andes of Patagonia (36°-45°S); the Southern Andes of Patagonia (45°-52°S); and Tierra del Fuego (52°-55°S), together with climate variables of the WorldClim datasets, and digital topographic data, to estimate how rock-glacier extents may change under different past and future climate scenarios. We observe for the northern Desert Andes that rock glacier toes are at 4000 to 5000 m a.s.l. and a mean annual temperature range of 3° and 8°C, though most rock glaciers are in areas with mean annual temperatures between -5 and 5°C, marking a distinct thermal niche. Rock glaciers are traditionally viewed as diagnostic of sporadic alpine permafrost and their toes are often near the annual mean 0°C isotherm. However, we find that only rock glaciers in the southern Desert Andes and Central Andes are located where annual mean temperature is -2°C. Future scenarios project an increase of > four degrees in these areas, which may further degrade ground ice and potentially change the rates at which rock glaciers advance. Where active rock glaciers become inactive their coarse material, which was formerly bound by ice, may be released into the sediment cascade, whereas accelerating or rapidly downwasting rock glaciers may either

  16. Is tourism damaging ecosystems in the Andes? Current knowledge and an agenda for future research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barros, Agustina; Monz, Christopher; Pickering, Catherine

    2015-03-01

    Despite the popularity of tourism and recreation in the Andes in South America and the regions conservation value, there is limited research on the ecological impacts of these types of anthropogenic use. Using a systematic quantitative literature review method, we found 47 recreation ecology studies from the Andes, 25 of which used an experimental design. Most of these were from the Southern Andes in Argentina (13 studies) or Chile (eight studies) with only four studies from the Northern Andes. These studies documented a range of impacts on vegetation, birds and mammals; including changes in plant species richness, composition and vegetation cover and the tolerance of wildlife of visitor use. There was little research on the impacts of visitors on soils and aquatic systems and for some ecoregions in the Andes. We identify research priorities across the region that will enhance management strategies to minimise visitor impacts in Andean ecosystems.

  17. Constraints on sediment transfer from the Andes to the coast of northern Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Binnie, Steven; Liermann, Ariane; Dunai, Tibor; Dewald, Alfred; Heinze, Stefan

    2013-04-01

    While rates of denudation have been suggested as having the potential to link tectonic processes with climate in many settings, the roles that sediment transport must also play have been largely neglected. It is the transport, or not, of eroded material, not necessarily the rate at which that material is produced which is the critical factor in many models of tectonic-climatic interactions. The notable lack of sediment in sections of the Peru-Chile trench has been implicated as a key control of subduction zone processes and consequently Andean mountain building, but little empirical data on sediment transport in the region exists. Here, we present the initial results of a study aiming to constrain the westward transfer of sediment from the Andes Mountains to the Pacific Coast of northern Chile by using in situ-produced cosmogenic nuclides. Fluvial sediments were collected at the mouths of several large catchments between 19° S and 26° S, where they drain into the Pacific, and also from upstream locations within each catchment. Sample sites were selected in order to investigate the cosmogenic nuclide derived basin-averaged denudation rates of the western flank of the Andes, and to compare this with the cosmogenic nuclide concentrations of fluvial sediments further downstream where the catchments exit to the coast. A simplistic interpretation of the cosmogenic 10Be concentrations as denudation rates gives results varying between ~10 and 300 m/Myr. We would expect the most rapid erosion to occur on the steeper, wetter western Andean flank and for slower erosion to be recorded from the more gentle sloping, hyperarid/arid regions between the foothills of the Andes and the Pacific coast. This pattern is observed in some basins but in others the nuclide concentrations imply the opposite, with several-fold higher erosion rates measured for the large catchments sampled at the coast in comparison to their mountainous Andean headwaters. One explanation for this unusual

  18. Andes: An intelligent homework helper

    Science.gov (United States)

    van de Sande, Brett; Vanlehn, Kurt; Treacy, Don; Shelby, Bob; Wintersgill, Mary

    2007-03-01

    Andes (www.andes.pitt.edu) is an intelligent tutor homework system designed for use as the homework portion of an introductory physics course. It encourages students to use good problem solving techniques and provides immediate feedback on each step of a problem solution along with hints on request. I will discuss how Andes works, from a student perspective, and present research demonstrating its effectiveness as a pedagogical tool. Then, I will discuss using Andes as a tool for conducting education research, briefly reviewing several studies conducted using Andes. Finally, I will show how logs of student solutions to Andes problems can be used to develop cognitive models of student learning.

  19. Detrital Zircon Provenance Record of Pre-Andean to Modern Tectonics in the Northern Andes: Examples from Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia

    Science.gov (United States)

    George, S. W. M.; Jackson, L. J.; Horton, B. K.

    2015-12-01

    Detrital zircon U-Pb age distributions from modern rivers and Mesozoic-Cenozoic basin fill in the northern Andes provide insights into pre-Andean, Andean, and active uplift and exhumation of distinctive sediment source regions. Diagnostic age signatures enable straightforward discrimination of competing sediment sources within the Andean magmatic arc (Western Cordillera-Central Cordillera), retroarc fold-thrust belt (Eastern Cordillera-Subandean Zone), and Amazonian craton (composed of several basement provinces). More complex, however, are the mid/late Cenozoic provenance records generated by recycling of basin fill originally deposited during early/mid Mesozoic extension, late Mesozoic thermal subsidence, and early Cenozoic shortening. Although subject to time-transgressive trends, regionally significant provenance patterns in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia reveal: (1) Triassic-Jurassic growth of extensional subbasins fed by local block uplifts (with commonly unimodal 300­-150 Ma age peaks); (2) Cretaceous deposition in an extensive postrift setting fed by principally cratonic sources (with common 1800-900 Ma ages); and (3) Cenozoic growth of a broad flexural basin fed initially fed by magmatic-arc rocks (100-0 Ma), then later dominance by thrust-belt sedimentary rocks with progressively greater degrees of basin recycling (yielding diverse and variable age populations from the aforementioned source regions). U-Pb results from modern rivers and smaller subbasins prove useful in evaluating source-to-sink relationships, downstream mixing relationships, hinterland-foreland basin connectivity, paleodrainage integration, and tectonic/paleotopographic reconstructions. Most but not all of the elevated intermontane basins in the modern hinterland of the northern Andes contain provenance records consistent with genesis in a broader foreland basin developed at low elevation. Downstream variations within modern axial rivers and Cenozoic axial basins inform predictive models of

  20. Millennial-scale vegetation changes in the tropical Andes using ecological grouping and ordination methods

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Urrego, D.H.; Hooghiemstra, H.; Rama-Corredor, O.; Martrat, B.; Grimalt, J.O.; Thompson, L.; Bush, M.B.; González-Carranza, Z.; Hanselman, J.; Valencia, B.; Velásquez-Ruiz, C.

    2016-01-01

    We compare eight pollen records reflecting climatic and environmental change from northern and southern sites in the tropical Andes. Our analysis focuses on the last 30 000 years, with particular emphasis on the Pleistocene to Holocene transition. We explore ecological grouping and downcore

  1. Sr and Nd isotopic and trace element compositions of Quaternary volcanic centers of the Southern Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Futa, K.; Stern, C.R.

    1988-01-01

    Isotopic compositions of samples from six Quaternary volcanoes located in the northern and southern extremities of the Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ, 33-46??S) of the Andes and from four centers in the Austral Volcanic Zone (AVZ, 49-54??S) range for 87Sr 86Sr from 0.70280 to 0.70591 and for 143Nd 144Nd from 0.51314 to 0.51255. The ranges are significantly greater than previously reported from the southern Andes but are different from the isotopic compositions of volcanoes in the central and northern Andes. Basalts and basaltic andesites from three centers just north of the Chile Rise-Trench triple junction have 87Sr 86Sr, 143Nd 144Nd, La Yb, Ba La, and Hf Lu that lie within the relatively restricted ranges of the basic magmas erupted from the volcanic centers as far north as 35??S in the SVZ of the Andes. The trace element and Sr and Nd isotopic characteristics of these magmas may be explained by source region contamination of subarc asthenosphere, with contaminants derived from subducted pelagic sediments and seawater-altered basalts by dehydration of subducted oceanic lithosphere. In the northern extremity of the SVZ between 33?? and 34??S, basaltic andesites and andesites have higher 87Sr 86Sr, Rb Cs, and Hf Lu, and lower 143Nd 144Nd than basalts and basaltic andesites erupted farther south in the SVZ, which suggests involvement of components derived from the continental crust. In the AVZ, the most primitive sample, high-Mg andesite from the southernmost volcanic center in the Andes (54??S) has Sr and Nd isotopic compositions and K Rb and Ba La similar to MORB. The high La Yb of this sample suggests formation by small degrees of partial melting of subducted MORB with garnet as a residue. Samples from centers farther north in the AVZ show a regionally regular northward increase in SiO2, K2O, Rb, Ba, Ba La, and 87Sr 86Sr and decrease in MgO, Sr, K Rb, Rb Cs, and 143Nd 144Nd, suggesting increasingly greater degrees of fractional crystallization and associated intra

  2. A millennium of metallurgy recorded by lake sediments from Morococha, Peruvian Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooke, Colin A; Abbott, Mark B; Wolfe, Alexander P; Kittleson, John L

    2007-05-15

    To date, information concerning pre-Colonial metallurgy in South America has largely been limited to the archaeological record of artifacts. Here, we reconstruct a millennium of smelting activity in the Peruvian Andes using the lake-sediment stratigraphy of atmospherically derived metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Ag, Sb, Bi, and Ti) and lead isotopic ratios (206Pb/ 207Pb) associated with smelting from the Morococha mining region in the central Peruvian Andes. The earliest evidence for metallurgy occurs ca. 1000 A.D., coinciding with the fall of the Wari Empire and decentralization of local populations. Smelting during this interval appears to have been aimed at copper and copper alloys, because of large increases in Zn and Cu relative to Pb. A subsequent switch to silver metallurgy under Inca control (ca. 1450 to conquest, 1533 A.D.) is indicated by increases in Pb, Sb, and Bi, a conclusion supported by further increases of these metals during Colonial mining, which targeted silver extraction. Rapid development of the central Andes during the 20th century raised metal burdens by an order of magnitude above previous levels. Our results represent the first evidence for pre-Colonial smelting in the central Peruvian Andes, and corroborate the sensitivity of lake sediments to pre-Colonial metallurgical activity suggested by earlier findings from Bolivia.

  3. Andes: An Intelligent Homework System for Introductory Physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    van de Sande, Brett; VanLehn, K.; Hausmann, R.; Treacy, D.; Shelby, R.

    2006-12-01

    We know that students benefit from solving homework problems under the guidance of an expert (human) tutor. The Andes system (http://www.andes.pitt.edu) is designed for students to solve homework problems under the guidance of an expert computer tutor. Andes encourages students to use sound problem solving techniques and provides immediate right/wrong feedback on each step of a solution. On request, Andes also provides hints based on previous student actions. I will discuss how Andes works, from a student's perspective, and summarize research that demonstrates its effectiveness as a pedagogical tool. I will also discuss how Andes can function as a tool for conducting educational research, presenting an investigation of students' hint usage as an example.

  4. A Million-Year Record of Glaciation in the Tropical Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, J. A.; Seltzer, G. O.; Rodbell, D. T.; Farber, D. L.; Finkel, R. C.

    2004-12-01

    We present a longterm record of glaciation in the tropical Andes based on cosmogenic dating (10Be) of boulders on moraines. Well-preserved moraines in deglaciated valleys bordering the Junin Plain in central Peru ( ˜11° S, 76° W, 4000 m) were deposited during several glacial cycles extending back more than one million years before present (1 Myr BP). The presence of boulders with zero-erosion 10Be exposure ages >1 Myr constrains boulder erosion rates to relatively low values. For boulders at high altitudes, however, even low boulder erosion rates (0.3 to 0.5 m/Myr) make calculated old exposure ages markedly older [e.g., ˜20% older for a zero-erosion age of 400,000 10Be years (400 10Be kyr)]. Exposure ages recalculated with boulder erosion rates of 0.3 m/Myr straddle interglacial marine isotope stage (MIS) 11 ( ˜430-390 kyr BP), fall within glacial MIS 12 ( ˜480-430 kyr BP), but skip over glacial MIS 16 ( ˜670-630 kyr BP), perhaps the largest ice volume of the past 2 Myr. Increasing the erosion rate used in the calculations to 0.5 m/Myr moves ages into both MIS 11 and MIS 16. If we assume that the older Andean glaciations were indeed synchronous with global ice volume, our data suggest that boulder preservation cannot be treated as a simple linear process. Conversely, the data may be suggesting correctly that glaciation of the tropical Andes was not synchronous with the global glaciations as inferred from the marine isotope record. Our chronology for the last glacial maximum (LGM) in the region supports the idea of asynchrony between the global ice volume record and the terrestrial record of glaciation in the tropical Andes. The LGM in the Junin region of Peru and in the Cordillera Real of Bolivia (16° S 68° W) occurred ˜34 to 22 10Be kyr BP and was less extensive than older glaciations. Asynchrony between the LGM in the Northern Hemisphere ( ˜21 kyr BP) and the tropical Andes suggests that previous glaciations in the tropical Andes may have been

  5. Phytogeography of the vascular páramo flora of Ramal de Guaramacal (Andes, Venezuela) and its ties to other páramo floras

    OpenAIRE

    Cuello, N.L.; Cleef, A.M.; Aymard, G.

    2010-01-01

    Ramal de Guaramacal is an outlier and lower elevation mountain range located at the northeastern end of the Venezuelan Andes. Phytogeographical patterns and affinities of the low altitude and wet vascular páramo flora of Ramal de Guaramacal, have been studied with emphasis in to the analysis of the floristic connections of the Guaramacal páramo flora with the neighboring dry páramos of the Sierra Nevada de Mérida and other páramo floras of the northern Andes and Central America. A total of 25...

  6. Holocene soft-sediment deformation of the Santa Fe-Sopetrán Basin, northern Colombian Andes: Evidence for pre-Hispanic seismic activity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suter, F.; Martínez, J. I.; Vélez, M. I.

    2011-04-01

    The detailed study of four deformed intervals from the Holocene fluvio-lacustrine deposits of the Santa Fe-Sopetrán Basin in northern Colombia shows 17 types of soft-sediment deformation (SSD) structures. Evidence indicates that seismic activity was responsible for the SSD structures, a conclusion reached after considering the environmental conditions at the time of sediment deposition and shortly after, and the detailed analysis of the driving force systems. Other triggers (i.e. overloading and rapid sedimentation), however, are not discarded. Intervals showing SSD structures occurred at centennial frequencies and apparently resulted from Mw 6-7 earthquakes. The Holocene age of these major shaking events should be seriously considered when evaluating the seismic hazard and risk for the middle Cauca Valley and the nearby city of Medellín with 3 million inhabitants.

  7. Subvolcanic contact metasomatism at El Laco Volcanic Complex, Central Andes Metasomatismo de contacto subvolcánico en el Complejo Volcánico El Laco, Andes centrales

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José A Naranjo

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Studies of drill cores from the Pasos Blancos area at El Laco in the central Andes, northern Chile, give evidence of an intense and extensive subvolcanic contact-metasomatic process. This process resulted from shallow-level emplacement of very volatile-rich iron-oxide magma, with discharge of volatiles that resulted in extensive fracturing of overlying volcanic rocks. The brecciated rocks were altered (mainly extensive scapolitization and formation of pyroxene by hot magmatic fluids emitted from the cooling intrusion , and accompanied by magnetite deposition. With time and decreasing temperature, the metasomatic fluids evolved to fluids of hydrothermal character, and a final recent geothermal event took place that deposited superficial gypsum over a large part of the El Laco Volcanic Complex.Estudios realizados en testigos de sondajes en el area de Pasos Blancos en El Laco, en los Andes Centrales del norte de Chile, dan evidencias de un intenso y extenso proceso subvolcánico de metasomatismo de contacto. Este proceso es el resultado de un emplazamiento a poca profundidad de un magma de óxido de fierro muy rico en volátiles y cuya descarga de gases produjo un intenso fracturamiento de las rocas sobrepuestas. Las rocas brechizadas fueron alteradas (principalmente una extensa escapolitización y formación de piroxeno, junto con la depositación de magnetita, por los fluidos magmáticos calientes emitidos por la intrusión durante su enfriamiento. Los fluidos metasomáticos evolucionaron en el tiempo y con la disminución de temperatura, a fluidos de carácter hidrotermal y finalmente tuvo lugar un evento geotérmico reciente, el cual depositó yeso superficial en gran parte del Complejo Volcánico El Laco.

  8. Quantitative Temperature Reconstructions from Holocene and Late Glacial Lake Sediments in the Tropical Andes using Chironomidae (non-biting midges)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matthews-Bird, F.; Gosling, W. D.; Brooks, S. J.; Montoya, E.; Coe, A. L.

    2014-12-01

    Chironomidae (non-biting midges) is a family of two-winged aquatic insects of the order Diptera. They are globally distributed and one of the most diverse families within aquatic ecosystems. The insects are stenotopic, and the rapid turnover of species and their ability to colonise quickly favourable habitats means chironomids are extremely sensitive to environmental change, notably temperature. Through the development of quantitative temperature inference models chironomids have become important palaeoecological tools. Proxies capable of generating independent estimates of past climate are crucial to disentangling climate signals and ecosystem response in the palaeoecological record. This project has developed the first modern environmental calibration data set in order to use chironomids from the Tropical Andes as quantitative climate proxies. Using surface sediments from c. 60 lakes from Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador we have developed an inference model capable of reconstructing temperatures, with a prediction error of 1-2°C, from fossil assemblages. Here we present the first Lateglacial and Holocene chironomid-inferred temperature reconstructions from two sites in the tropical Andes. The first record, from a high elevation (4153 m asl) lake in the Bolivian Andes, shows persistently cool temperatures for the past 15 kyr, punctuated by warm episodes in the early Holocene (9-10 kyr BP). The chironomid-inferred Holocene temperature trends from a lake sediment record on the eastern Andean flank of Ecuador (1248 m asl) spanning the last 5 millennia are synchronous with temperature changes in the NGRIP ice core record. The temperature estimates suggest along the eastern flank of the Andes, at lower latitudes (~1°S), climate closely resemble the well-established fluctuations of the Northern Hemisphere for this time period. Late-glacial climate fluctuations across South America are still disputed with some palaeoecological records suggesting evidence for Younger Dryas

  9. Geomorphological evidence of warm-humid and cold-dry glaciations in the dry western Cordillera of the tropical Peruvian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mächtle, B.; Hein, A. S.; Dunai, T.; Eitel, B.

    2012-04-01

    The western Cordillera of the Andes (14°30'S, 74°W) is characterized by high altitudes, strong radiation and semi-arid conditions. Therefore, glacial processes and resulting landforms differ markedly from these of the outer-tropics. However, under sub-arctic conditions similar glacial landforms occur. This congruence can be explained by comparable environmental conditions, which determine the dynamics of ice flow, glacial erosion, debris production as well as moraine deposition. Outside the higher latitudes, typical sub-arctic glacial landforms as controlled moraines and trimline moraines (Evans 2009, Ó Cofaigh et al. 2005) remained undescribed until now. These landforms result from polythermal or cold-basal ice flow, respectively, which is typical for polar conditions. Beside this, we also found steep lateral moraines, which give evidence of increased ice thickness, debris production and deposition and warm-basal ice flow, which is conceivable only for alpine-type valley glaciers. Striations of the bedrock give evidence of accompanied basal erosion. Coexisting trimline moraines and steep lateral moraines rule out the influence of topography on ice thickness and the resulting thermal regime. Therefore, we match the different moraine types to changes in ice thickness, which was controlled by considerable precipitation changes during the last glaciation. An erroneous classification of the observed boulder associations as trimline moraine due to selective erosion after deposition can be excluded due to general arid conditions, slow weathering and the chronological proximity of only a few millennia between both landforms, determined from cosmogenic nuclides. Therefore, the occurrence of different thermal regimes gives evidence of considerable changes in precipitation during the last glaciation - but furthermore requires an associated change in the thermal conditions to explain the very close spatial position of both ice margins. Changes in ice volume must have

  10. Low-pressure evolution of arc magmas in thickened crust: The San Pedro-Linzor volcanic chain, Central Andes, Northern Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godoy, Benigno; Wörner, Gerhard; Kojima, Shoji; Aguilera, Felipe; Simon, Klaus; Hartmann, Gerald

    2014-07-01

    Magmatism at Andean Central Volcanic Zone (CVZ), or Central Andes, is strongly influenced by differentiation and assimilation at high pressures that occurred at lower levels of the thick continental crust. This is typically shown by high light to heavy rare earth element ratios (LREE/HREE) of the erupted lavas at this volcanic zone. Increase of these ratios with time is interpreted as a change to magma evolution in the presence of garnet during evolution of Central Andes. Such geochemical signals could be introduced into the magmas be high-pressure fractionation with garnet on the liquidus and/or assimilation from crustal rocks with a garnet-bearing residue. However, lavas erupted at San Pedro-Linzor volcanic chain show no evidence of garnet fractionation in their trace element patterns. This volcanic chain is located in the active volcanic arc, between 22°00‧S and 22°30‧S, over a continental crust ˜70 km thick. Sampled lavas show Sr/Y and Sm/Yb ratios Chile. We relate our geochemical observations to shallow crustal evolution of primitive magmas involving a high degree of assimilation of upper continental crust. We emphasize that low pressure AFC- (Assimilation Fractional Crystallization) type evolution of the San Pedro-Linzor volcanic chain reflects storage, fractionation, and contamination of mantle-derived magmas at the upper felsic crust (<40 km depth). The ascent of mantle-derived magmas to mid-crustal levels is related with the extensional regime that has existed in this zone of arc-front offset since Late-Miocene age, and the relatively thin portion of mafic lower crust observed below the volcanic chain.

  11. Ice-core evidence of earliest extensive copper metallurgy in the Andes 2700 years ago

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eichler, A.; Gramlich, G.; Kellerhals, T.; Tobler, L.; Rehren, Th.; Schwikowski, M.

    2017-01-01

    The importance of metallurgy for social and economic development is indisputable. Although copper (Cu) was essential for the wealth of pre- and post-colonial societies in the Andes, the onset of extensive Cu metallurgy in South America is still debated. Comprehensive archaeological findings point to first sophisticated Cu metallurgy during the Moche culture ~200-800 AD, whereas peat-bog records from southern South America suggest earliest pollution potentially from Cu smelting as far back as ~2000 BC. Here we present a 6500-years Cu emission history for the Andean Altiplano, based on ice-core records from Illimani glacier in Bolivia, providing the first complete history of large-scale Cu smelting activities in South America. We find earliest anthropogenic Cu pollution during the Early Horizon period ~700-50 BC, and attribute the onset of intensified Cu smelting in South America to the activities of the central Andean Chiripa and Chavin cultures ~2700 years ago. This study provides for the first time substantial evidence for extensive Cu metallurgy already during these early cultures.

  12. Ice-core evidence of earliest extensive copper metallurgy in the Andes 2700 years ago.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eichler, A; Gramlich, G; Kellerhals, T; Tobler, L; Rehren, Th; Schwikowski, M

    2017-01-31

    The importance of metallurgy for social and economic development is indisputable. Although copper (Cu) was essential for the wealth of pre- and post-colonial societies in the Andes, the onset of extensive Cu metallurgy in South America is still debated. Comprehensive archaeological findings point to first sophisticated Cu metallurgy during the Moche culture ~200-800 AD, whereas peat-bog records from southern South America suggest earliest pollution potentially from Cu smelting as far back as ~2000 BC. Here we present a 6500-years Cu emission history for the Andean Altiplano, based on ice-core records from Illimani glacier in Bolivia, providing the first complete history of large-scale Cu smelting activities in South America. We find earliest anthropogenic Cu pollution during the Early Horizon period ~700-50 BC, and attribute the onset of intensified Cu smelting in South America to the activities of the central Andean Chiripa and Chavin cultures ~2700 years ago. This study provides for the first time substantial evidence for extensive Cu metallurgy already during these early cultures.

  13. Changing Student Attitudes using Andes, An Intelligent Homework System

    Science.gov (United States)

    van de Sande, Brett; Vanlehn, Kurt; Treacy, Don; Shelby, Bob; Wintersgill, Mary

    2007-03-01

    The size of introductory physics lectures often inhibits personal homework assistance and timely corrective feedback. Andes, an intelligent homework help system designed for two semesters of introductory physics, can fill this need by encouraging students to use sound problem solving techniques and providing immediate feedback on each step of a solution. On request, Andes provides principles-based hints based on previous student actions. A multi-year study at the U.S. Naval Academy demonstrates that students using Andes perform better than students working the same problems as graded pencil and paper homeworks. In addition, student attitude surveys show that Andes is preferred over other homework systems. These findings have implications for student attitudes toward, and mastery of, physics. See http://www.andes.pitt.edu for more information.

  14. Bofedales: high altitude peatlands of the central Andes Bofedales: turberas de alta montaña de los Andes centrales

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FRANCISCO A SQUEO

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available There is an exceptional group of alpine peatlands in the world situated in the arid grasslands of the central Andes. The peatlands in northern Chile occur in the most arid part of their range. Members of the Juncaceae are the primary peat-forming plant species. Fresh and mildly saline groundwaters originate from glaciers, snowmelt and rain are the water sources for the northern Chile peatlands. Paleoecological investigations suggest that some peatlands are recent features of the landscape having developed within the last three thousand years or less. These peatlands are unique, extremely fragile water features sensitive to climate changes and human disturbances such as regional mining activity. Much more work is required to develop scientifically based sound management and conservation programs for the rare plants and animals that live in them and to ensure the future livelihoods of the indigenous peoples who depend on themExiste un grupo excepcional de turberas (bofedales de alta montaña en el mundo situados en la estepa árida de los Andes centrales. Los bofedales en el norte de Chile están presentes en la parte más árida de su rango. Las principales especies de plantas responsables de la formación de turba corresponden a miembros de Juncaceae. El agua fresca y medianamente salina de los bofedales proviene de agua subterránea asociada a riachuelos proveniente de glaciares, derretimiento de nieve y lluvia. Investigaciones paleoecológicas sugieren que algunos bofedales son integrantes recientes del paisaje, habiéndose desarrollado durante los últimos tres mil años o menos. Estos bofedales son entidades únicas, extremadamente frágiles por su dependencia del agua, sensibles a los cambios climáticos y vulnerables a la alteración humana tal como la actividad minera en la región. Se requiere mucho más trabajo para desarrollar programas de manejo y conservación, con sólidas bases científicas, de las plantas y animales que viven en

  15. Seismicity, fault plane solutions, depth of faulting, and active tectonics of the Andes of Peru, Ecuador, and southern Colombia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suarez, G.; Molnar, P.; Burchfiel, B. C.

    1983-01-01

    The long-period P waveforms observed for 17 earthquakes in the Peruvian Andes during 1963-1976 are compared with synthetic waveforms to obtain fault-plane solutions and focal depths. The morphological units of the Peruvian Andes are characterized: coastal plains, Cordillera Occidental, altiplano and central high plateau, Cordillera Oriental, and sub-Andes. The data base and analysis methodology are discussed, and the results are presented in tables, diagrams, graphs, maps, and photographs illustrating typical formations. Most of the earthquakes are shown to occur in the transition zone from the sub-Andes to the Cordillera Oriental under formations of about 1 km elevation at focal depths of 10-38 km. It is suggested that the sub-Andean earthquakes reflect hinterland deformation of a detached fold and thrust belt, perhaps like that which occurred in parts of the Canadian Rockies. From the total crustal shortening evident in Andean morphology and the shortening rate of the recent earthquakes it is estimated that the topography and crustal root of the Andes have been formed during the last 90-135 Myr.

  16. A glacial record of the last termination in the southern tropical Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bromley, G. R.; Schaefer, J. M.; Winckler, G.; Hall, B. L.; Todd, C. E.; Rademaker, K.

    2012-12-01

    The last glacial termination represents the highest-magnitude climate change of the last hundred thousand years. Accurate resolution of events during the termination is vital to our understanding of how - and why - the global climate system transitions from a full glacial to interglacial state, as well as the causes of abrupt climate change during the late-glacial period. Palaeoclimate data from low latitudes, though relatively sparse, are particularly valuable, since the tropical ocean and atmosphere likely play a crucial role in Quaternary climate variability on all timescales. We present a detailed glacier record from the Andes of southern Peru (15°S), resolved with 3He surface-exposure dating and spanning the last glacial maximum and termination. Our dataset reveals that glaciers in this part of the Southern Hemisphere maintained their Late Pleistocene maxima for several millennia and that the onset of the termination may have occurred relatively late. Deglaciation was punctuated by two major advances during the late-glacial period. Following the glacial-interglacial transition, our preliminary chronologic and morphologic data suggest that, in contrast to the Northern Hemisphere, glaciers in the southern tropical Andes have experienced overall shrinkage during the Holocene.

  17. Kinematics, Exhumation, and Sedimentation of the North Central Andes (Bolivia): An Integrated Thermochronometer and Thermokinematic Modeling Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rak, Adam J.; McQuarrie, Nadine; Ehlers, Todd A.

    2017-11-01

    Quantifying mountain building processes in convergent orogens requires determination of the timing and rate of deformation in the overriding plate. In the central Andes, large discrepancies in both timing and rate of deformation prevent evaluating the shortening history in light of internal or external forcing factors. Geologic map patterns, age and location of reset thermochronometer systems, and synorogenic sediment distribution are all a function of the geometry, kinematics, and rate of deformation in a fold-thrust-belt-foreland basin (FTB-FB) system. To determine the timing and rate of deformation in the northern Bolivian Andes, we link thermokinematic modeling to a sequentially forward modeled, balanced cross section isostatically accounting for thrust loads and erosion. Displacement vectors, in 10 km increments, are assigned variable ages to create velocity fields in a thermokinematic model for predicting thermochronometer ages. We match both the pattern of predicted cooling ages with the across strike pattern of measured zircon fission track, apatite fission track, and apatite (U-Th)/He cooling ages as well as the modeled age of FB formations to published sedimentary sections. Results indicate that northern Bolivian FTB deformation started at 50 Ma and may have begun as early as 55 Ma. Acceptable rates of shortening permit either a constant rate of shortening ( 4-5 mm/yr) or varying shortening rates with faster rates (7-10 mm/yr) at 45-50 Ma and 12-8 Ma, significantly slower rates (2-4 mm/yr) from 35 to 15 Ma and indicate the northern Bolivian Subandes started deforming between 19 and 14 Ma.

  18. High-resolution paleoclimate records of Holocene hydroclimatic variability in the Eastern Colombian Andes from Lago de Tota

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmed, M. N.; Bird, B. W.; Escobar, J.; Polissar, P. J.

    2017-12-01

    The Northern Hemisphere (NH) South American Monsoon (SAM) is a significant source of precipitation for the North Andes (north of 0˚) and has major control over regional hydroclimate variability. Holocene-length histories of NH SAM variability are few compared to the Southern Hemisphere (SH), limiting understanding of how these systems are connected on orbital and shorter timescales. Here, we present multi-proxy lake-sediment-based paleoclimate and paleohydrologic reconstructions from Lago de Tota, Colombia, using sedimentological, geochemical and leaf-wax hydrogen isotopic indicators from radiometically dated cores. The results indicate periods of wet and dry climate phases during the past 9000 BP with an average Holocene sedimentation rate 33cm/kyr. An increase in total organic matter (TOM) content and finer grain-size distributions was observed from 8000 to 3200 BP, suggesting a period of high lake level. This was followed by lower TOM and coarser grain sizes, suggesting lower lake levels from 3200 BP to the present. Although Tota's lake level pattern is antiphased with other lake level reconstructions from the NH and SH Andes, it is consistent with hypothesized changes in atmospheric convection over the Andes during the Holocene and the way in which they would be modified by the so-called dry island effect in the Colombian Andes. This suggests that a common forcing mechanism can be invoked to explain differing millennial-scale Andean hydroclimate changes, namely atmospheric convection. Orbital and Pacific atmosphere-forcing are therefore likely to have played a significant role in driving pan-Andean hydroclimate variability based on their inter-hemispheric influence on Andean convection.

  19. Glacial lakes of the Central and Patagonian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Ryan; Glasser, Neil F.; Reynolds, John M.; Harrison, Stephan; Anacona, Pablo Iribarren; Schaefer, Marius; Shannon, Sarah

    2018-03-01

    The prevalence and increased frequency of high-magnitude Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) in the Chilean and Argentinean Andes suggests this region will be prone to similar events in the future as glaciers continue to retreat and thin under a warming climate. Despite this situation, monitoring of glacial lake development in this region has been limited, with past investigations only covering relatively small regions of Patagonia. This study presents new glacial lake inventories for 1986, 2000 and 2016, covering the Central Andes, Northern Patagonia and Southern Patagonia. Our aim was to characterise the physical attributes, spatial distribution and temporal development of glacial lakes in these three sub-regions using Landsat satellite imagery and image datasets available in Google Earth and Bing Maps. Glacial lake water volume was also estimated using an empirical area-volume scaling approach. Results reveal that glacial lakes across the study area have increased in number (43%) and areal extent (7%) between 1986 and 2016. Such changes equate to a glacial lake water volume increase of 65 km3 during the 30-year observation period. However, glacial lake growth and emergence was shown to vary sub-regionally according to localised topography, meteorology, climate change, rate of glacier change and the availability of low gradient ice areas. These and other factors are likely to influence the occurrence of GLOFs in the future. This analysis represents the first large-scale census of glacial lakes in Chile and Argentina and will allow for a better understanding of lake development in this region, as well as, providing a basis for future GLOF risk assessments.

  20. Cenozoic basin thermal history reconstruction and petroleum systems in the eastern Colombian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parra, Mauricio; Mora, Andres; Ketcham, Richard A.; Stockli, Daniel F.; Almendral, Ariel

    2017-04-01

    Late Mesozoic-Cenozoic retro-arc foreland basins along the eastern margin of the Andes in South America host the world's best detrital record for the study of subduction orogenesis. There, the world's most prolific petroleum system occur in the northernmost of these foreland basin systems, in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, yet over 90% of the discovered hydrocarbons there occur in one single province in norteastern Venezuela. A successful industry-academy collaboration applied a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the north Andes with the aim of investigating both, the driving mechanisms of orogenesis, and its impact on hydrocarbon accumulation in eastern Colombia. The Eastern Cordillera is an inversion orogen located at the leading edge of the northern Andes. Syn-rift subsidence favored the accumulation of km-thick organic matter rich shales in a back-arc basin in the early Cretaceous. Subsequent late Cretaceous thermal subsidence prompted the accumulation of shallow marine sandstones and shales, the latter including the Turonian-Cenomanian main hydrocarbon source-rock. Early Andean uplift since the Paleocene led to development of a flexural basin, filled with mainly non-marine strata. We have studied the Meso-Cenozoic thermal evolution of these basins through modeling of a large thermochronometric database including hundreds of apatite and zircon fission-track and (U-Th)/He data, as well as paleothermometric information based on vitrinite reflectance and present-day temperatures measured in boreholes. The detrital record of Andean construction was also investigated through detrital zircon U-Pb geochronometry in outcrop and borehole samples. A comprehensive burial/exhumation history has been accomplished through three main modeling strategies. First, one-dimensional subsidence was used to invert the pre-extensional lithospheric thicknesses, the magnitude of stretching, and the resulting heat flow associated to extension. The amount of eroded section and

  1. The Neogene rise of the tropical Andes facilitated diversification of wax palms (Ceroxylon: Arecaceae) through geographical colonization and climatic niche separation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sanín, María José; Kissling, W. Daniel; Bacon, Christine D.

    2016-01-01

    The tropical Andes are a biodiversity hotspot, partly due to their rich and complex floristic composition. A fundamental question regarding this outstanding biodiversity is what role the Andean orogeny has played in species diversification. Ceroxylon is a genus of endemic Andean palms that stands...... gradients. Ancestral areas were reconstructed under a model allowing for founder-event speciation and climatic niches were inferred from climatic variables at present-day occurrences of all species. Niche evolution in a phylogenetic framework was evaluated by testing differences between the climatic niches...... of clades. Our analyses identified four main clades, with a general pattern of diversification through geographical colonization from south to north after the Pliocene uplift of the northern Andes. Adaptation to low temperatures was conserved at the generic level, with climatic niche differentiation among...

  2. Observational evidences on the modulation of the South American Low Level Jet east of the Andes according the ENSO variability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. A. M. Silva

    2009-02-01

    Full Text Available The differences on the phase and wavelength of the quasi-stationary waves over the South America generated by El Niño (EN and La Niña (LN events seem to affect the daily evolution of the South American Low Level Jet east of the Andes (SALLJ. For the austral summer period of 1977–2004 the SALLJ episodes detected according to Bonner criterion 1 show normal to above-normal frequency in EN years, and in LN years the episodes show normal to below-normal frequency.

    During EN and LN years the SALLJ episodes were associated with positive rainfall anomalies over the La Plata Basin, but more intense during LN years. During EN years the increase in the SALLJ cases were associated to intensification of the Subtropical Jet (SJ around 30° S and positive Sea Level Pressure (SLP anomalies over the western equatorial Atlantic and tropical South America, particularly over central Brazil. This favored the intensification of the northeasterly trade winds over the northern continent and it channeled by the Andes mountain to the La Plata Basin region where negative SLP are found. The SALLJ cases identified during the LN events were weaker and less frequent when compared to those for EN years. In this case the SJ was weaker than in EN years and the negative SLP anomalies over the tropical continent contributed to the inversion of the northeasterly trade winds. Also a southerly flow anomaly was generated by the geostrophic balance due to the anomalous blocking over southeast Pacific and the intense cyclonic transient over the southern tip of South America. As result the warm tropical air brought by the SALLJ encounters the cold extratropical air from the southerly winds over the La Plata basin. This configuration can increase the conditional instability over the La Plata basin and may explain the more intense positive rainfall anomalies in SALLJ cases during LN years than in EN years.

  3. Mammalian carnivore occupancy is inversely related to presence of domestic dogs in the high Andes of Ecuador.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zapata-Ríos, Galo; Branch, Lyn C

    2018-01-01

    Although the Andes have long been occupied by people, habitat loss, fragmentation through deforestation, and other human activities such as introduction of invasive species have increased drastically during the past century. The Ecuadorian Andes are considered a biodiversity hotspot. However, the fauna and threats to the region are poorly studied, and understanding of factors that shape the distribution of species in habitats disturbed by human activities is needed to identify and mitigate region-wide threats to wildlife. We evaluated factors associated with patterns of occurrence of Andean carnivores in landscapes of the northern Ecuadorian Andes, particularly habitat loss, fragmentation, and occupancy of domestic dogs, and determined whether thresholds occurred for these factors beyond which carnivore occurrence declined markedly. Five study areas (each 20 x 20 km) were surveyed with a total effort of 2,800 camera trap nights. Occupancies of four of the eight carnivores known from the region were best predicted by occupancy of domestic dogs rather than measures of habitat loss and fragmentation [Andean fox (Pseudalopex culpaeus), puma (Puma concolor), striped hog-nosed skunk (Conepatus semistriatus), and Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus)]. The two largest carnivores, puma and Andean bear, demonstrated significant threshold responses to the presence of domestic dogs at two sites. Four smaller carnivores were recorded too infrequently to model occupancy, and at least two of these species appear to be in decline. The magnitude of domestic dog impacts on native species in tropical areas like the Ecuadorian Andes currently are not recognized. Results of our study indicate that small and large carnivores are in urgent need of conservation and clearly point to dogs as a significant threat to a broad range of native species.

  4. The Amazon-Laurentian connection as viewed from the Middle Proterozoic rocks in the central Andes, western Bolivia and northern Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tosdal, R.M.

    1996-01-01

    Middle Proterozoic rocks underlying the Andes in western Bolivia, western Argentina, and northern Chile and Early Proterozoic rocks of the Arequipa massif in southern Peru?? from the Arequipa-Antofalla craton. These rocks are discontinuously exposed beneath Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks, but abundant crystalline clasts in Tertiary sedimentary rocks in the western altiplano allow indirect samples of the craton. Near Berenguela, western Bolivia, the Oligocene and Miocene Mauri Formation contains boulders of granodiorite augen gneiss (1171??20 Ma and 1158??12 Ma; U-Pb zircon), quartzose gneiss and granofels that are inferred to have arkosic protoliths (1100 Ma source region; U-Pb zircon), quartzofeldspathic and mafic orthogneisses that have amphibolite- and granulite-facies metamorphic mineral assemblages (???1080 Ma metamorphism; U-Pb zircon), and undeformed granitic rocks of Phanerozoic(?) age. The Middle Proterozoic crystalline rocks from Berenguela and elsewhere in western Bolivia and from the Middle Proterozoic Bele??n Schist in northern Chile generally have present-day low 206Pb/204Pb ( 15.57), and elevated 208Pb/204Pb (37.2 to 50.7) indicative of high time-averaged Th/U values. The Middle Proterozoic rocks in general have higher presentday 206Pb/204Pb values than those of the Early Proterozoic rocks of the Arequipa massif (206Pb/204Pb between 16.1 and 17.1) but lower than rocks of the southern Arequipa-Antofalla craton (206Pb/204Pb> 18.5), a difference inferred to reflect Grenvillian granulite metamorphism. The Pb isotopic compositions for the various Proterozoic rocks lie on common Pb isotopic growth curves, implying that Pb incorporated in rocks composing the Arequipa-Antofalla craton was extracted from a similar evolving Pb isotopic reservoir. Evidently, the craton has been a coherent terrane since the Middle Proterozoic. Moreover, the Pb isotopic compositions for the Arequipa-Antofalla craton overlap those of the Amazon craton, thereby supporting a link

  5. Andes 1997 Gravity Data

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Central Andes gravity data (6,151 records) were compiled by Professor Gotze and the MIGRA Group. This data base was received in April, 1997. Principal gravity...

  6. ANDES: An Underground Laboratory in South America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dib, Claudio O.

    ANDES (Agua Negra Deep Experiment Site) is an underground laboratory, proposed to be built inside the Agua Negra road tunnel that will connect Chile (IV Region) with Argentina (San Juan Province) under the Andes Mountains. The Laboratory will be 1750 meters under the rock, becoming the 3rd deepest underground laboratory of this kind in the world, and the first in the Southern Hemisphere. ANDES will be an international Laboratory, managed by a Latin American consortium. The laboratory will host experiments in Particle and Astroparticle Physics, such as Neutrino and Dark Matter searches, Seismology, Geology, Geophysics and Biology. It will also be used for the development of low background instrumentation and related services. Here we present the general features of the proposed laboratory, the current status of the proposal and some of its opportunities for science.

  7. Mammalian carnivore occupancy is inversely related to presence of domestic dogs in the high Andes of Ecuador.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Galo Zapata-Ríos

    Full Text Available Although the Andes have long been occupied by people, habitat loss, fragmentation through deforestation, and other human activities such as introduction of invasive species have increased drastically during the past century. The Ecuadorian Andes are considered a biodiversity hotspot. However, the fauna and threats to the region are poorly studied, and understanding of factors that shape the distribution of species in habitats disturbed by human activities is needed to identify and mitigate region-wide threats to wildlife. We evaluated factors associated with patterns of occurrence of Andean carnivores in landscapes of the northern Ecuadorian Andes, particularly habitat loss, fragmentation, and occupancy of domestic dogs, and determined whether thresholds occurred for these factors beyond which carnivore occurrence declined markedly. Five study areas (each 20 x 20 km were surveyed with a total effort of 2,800 camera trap nights. Occupancies of four of the eight carnivores known from the region were best predicted by occupancy of domestic dogs rather than measures of habitat loss and fragmentation [Andean fox (Pseudalopex culpaeus, puma (Puma concolor, striped hog-nosed skunk (Conepatus semistriatus, and Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus]. The two largest carnivores, puma and Andean bear, demonstrated significant threshold responses to the presence of domestic dogs at two sites. Four smaller carnivores were recorded too infrequently to model occupancy, and at least two of these species appear to be in decline. The magnitude of domestic dog impacts on native species in tropical areas like the Ecuadorian Andes currently are not recognized. Results of our study indicate that small and large carnivores are in urgent need of conservation and clearly point to dogs as a significant threat to a broad range of native species.

  8. Holocene compression in the Acequión valley (Andes Precordillera, San Juan province, Argentina): Geomorphic, tectonic, and paleoseismic evidence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Audemard, M.; Franck, A.; Perucca, L.; Laura, P.; Pantano, Ana; Avila, Carlos R.; Onorato, M. Romina; Vargas, Horacio N.; Alvarado, Patricia; Viete, Hewart

    2016-04-01

    The Matagusanos-Maradona-Acequión Valley sits within the Andes Precordillera fold-thrust belt of western Argentina. It is an elongated topographic depression bounded by the roughly N-S trending Precordillera Central and Oriental in the San Juan Province. Moreover, it is not a piggy-back basin as we could have expected between two ranges belonging to a fold-thrust belt, but a very active tectonic corridor coinciding with a thick-skinned triangular zone, squeezed between two different tectonic domains. The two domains converge, where the Precordillera Oriental has been incorporated to the Sierras Pampeanas province, becoming the western leading edge of the west-verging broken foreland Sierras Pampeanas domain. This latter province has been in turn incorporated into the active deformation framework of the Andes back-arc at these latitudes as a result of enhanced coupling between the converging plates due to the subduction of the Juan Fernández ridge that flattens the Nazca slab under the South American continent. This study focuses on the neotectonics of the southern tip of this N-S elongated depression, known as Acequión (from the homonym river that crosses the area), between the Del Agua and Los Pozos rivers. This depression dies out against the transversely oriented Precordillera Sur, which exhibits a similar tectonic style as Precordillera Occidental and Central (east-verging fold-thrust belt). This contribution brings supporting evidence of the ongoing deformation during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene of the triangular zone bounded between the two leading and converging edges of Precordillera Central and Oriental thrust fronts, recorded in a multi-episodic lake sequence of the Acequión and Nikes rivers. The herein gathered evidence comprise Late Pleistocene-Holocene landforms of active thrusting, fault kinematics (micro-tectonic) data and outcrop-scale (meso-tectonic) faulting and folding of recent lake and alluvial sequences. In addition, seismically

  9. Spatial coincidence and similar geochemistry of Late Triassic and Eocene-Oligocene magmatism in the Andes of northern Chile: evidence from the MMH porphyry type Cu-Mo deposit, Chuquicamata District

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zentilli, Marcos; Maksaev, Victor; Boric, Ricardo; Wilson, Jessica

    2018-04-01

    The MMH porphyry type copper-molybdenum deposit in northern Chile is the newest mine in the Chuquicamata District, one of largest copper concentrations on Earth. Mineralized Eocene-Oligocene porphyry intrusions are hosted by essentially barren Triassic granodiorites. Despite a century of exploitation, geologists still have problems in the mine distinguishing the Triassic granodiorite from the most important ore-carrying Eocene porphyries in the district. To resolve the problem, internally consistent high-quality geochemical analyses of the Triassic and Tertiary intrusives were carried out: explaining the confusion, they show that the rock units in question are nearly identical in composition and thus respond equally to hydrothermal alteration. In detail, the only difference in terms of chemical composition is that the main Eocene-Oligocene porphyries carry relatively less Fe and Ni. Unexpectedly, the mineralized Eocene-Oligocene porphyries have consistently less U and Th than other Tertiary intrusions in the district, a characteristic that may be valuable in exploration. The supergiant copper-molybdenum deposits in the Central Andes were formed within a narrow interval between 45 and 31 Ma, close to 7% of the 200 My duration of "Andean" magmatism, which resulted from subduction of oceanic lithosphere under South America since the Jurassic. Although recent work has shown that subduction was active on the margin since Paleozoic times, pre-Andean (pre-Jurassic) "Gondwanan" magmatism is often described as being very different, having involved crustal melting and the generation of massive peraluminous rhyolites and granites. This study shows that the indistinguishable Late Triassic and Eocene-Oligocene intrusions occupy the same narrow NS geographic belt in northern Chile. If it is accepted that magma character may determine the potential to generate economic Cu-Mo deposits, then Late Triassic volcano-plutonic centres in the same location in the South American margin

  10. Population dynamics of the rat Microryzomys minutus (Rodentia: Muridae in the Venezuelan Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel R Cabello

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available The population dynamics of the small forest rice rat Microryzomys minutus, a murid rodent that occurs in the high altitudes of the northern and central Andes, was studied in disturbed and primary environments in a cloud forest of the Venezuelan Andes (Juan Pablo Peñaloza National Park, 8º11’N, 71º49’W. We collected 121 animals (66♀♀ and 55♂♂ between 1995 and 1998, using pitfall traps with formalin. Adult males were heavier than adult females. Relative abundance was much greater in the disturbed environments (over 10 individuals in some periods than in the primary cloud forest: 4-8 individuals. In the disturbed environments, the rats were extremely abundant in the first sampling period, and less frequent afterwards. In the cropland, abundance showed some fluctuations during the study and displayed two small abundance peaks in March-June 1997 and 1998. In the mined area, the rats had irregular fluctuations until March-June 1997 and were not recorded in July-October 1997. The occurrence of this rat in both disturbed and natural habitats confirms the wide ecological tolerance of this species. Rev. Biol. Trop. 54(2: 651-. Epub 2006 Jun 01.Se analizó la dinámica poblacional de las pequeñas ratas silvestres del arroz Microryzomys minutus en ambientes alterados y primarios, en un bosque nublado de los Andes venezolanos. El estudio fue basado en 121 animales (66♀♀ y 55♂♂ recolectados entre 1995 y 1998, usando trampas que contenían formalina. Esta especie está presente en ambos hábitats lo que confirma su amplia tolerancia ecológica. La abundancia poblacional fue mayor en ambientes alterados que en los no alterados. M. minutus presenta dimorfismo sexual en el peso: los machos son más pesados que las hembras.

  11. Pedological and mineralogical investigations on a soil-paleosoil sequence within Andosols in the Western Cordillera of the Peruvian Andes (region Laramate, 14.5S)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leceta Gobitz, Fernando; Mächtle, Bertil; Schukraft, Gerd; Meyer, Hans-Peter; Eitel, Bernhard

    2016-04-01

    An integrated research project of environmental sciences focuses on a group of four Andosol profiles in Western flank of the Peruvian southern Andes. Aim of this study is to contribute to the reconstruction of the paleo environmental conditions in the Western Cordillera of the Peruvian Andes. Standard pedological and sedimentological analysis has been conducted in order to identify morphological and geochemical features generated by climatic variations during the middle and late Holocene. Though a provenance analysis of sediments, all potential lithological sources around the town of Laramate are being examined under the scanning electron microscope, in order to find significant mineralogical associations downward the soil-profile. Preliminary results reveal two edaphic cycles within a soil-paleo soil-sequence: a relative poor developed "Ah" topsoil, mostly composed by fine grain sediments, is underlain by a well preserved "2Ah" paleo soil; a "2Bwt" subsoil exhibits signs of alteration and clay translocation; parent material in slight weathered statement at "2C" culminates the sequence. Mineralogical analytical data supports the premise, that materials in the uppermost horizons are relatable to distal geological units of the Western and Eastern Cordillera, therefore also related to other described aeolian archives from the region: "Desert Margin Loess" at the Andean foot-zone and "Mixed Loess" in the Puna grassland. The amphibole varieties Actinolite, Mg-Hornblende and Edenite could be only distinguished within the soil sediments. The fluvial transport to its current position is excluded, insofar mentioned varieties stem from the granodiorites of Coastal Batholite (downstream the study area), and the vulcanites of the Anta und Andahuaylas Formation (eastward the continental divide). References: Eitel, B., et al. (2005). "Geoarchaeological evidence from desert loess in the Nazca-Palpa region, southern Peru : Palaeoenvironmental changes and their impact on Pre

  12. Amalgamation and small-scale gold mining in the ancient Andes

    OpenAIRE

    Brooks, William E.; Schwörbel, Gabriela; Castillo, Luis Enrique

    2013-01-01

    In 1532, the volume of gold provided by Atahualpa, the Inka king, as ransom for his release from the Spanish was hard evidence for the efficient small-scale gold mining that took place before European contact and the number of gold occurrences in the Andes. At Huancavelica, Perú, mercury occurs as a native metal and as cinnabar [HgS], which was used for pigments, funeral preparations, and retorted to obtain mercury. Using Inductively Coupled Plasma analysis (ICP), an average of 15 ppm (parts...

  13. A new species of iguanid lizard, genus Stenocercus (Squamata, Iguania), from the Central Andes in Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venegas, Pablo J; Echevarría, Lourdes Y; García-Burneo, Karla; Koch, Claudia

    2016-12-04

    We describe a new species of Stenocercus from the montane forest of the right margin of the Marañón river in the northern portion of the Central Andes in northern Peru (Amazonas and La Libertad departments), at elevations ranging from 2300 to 3035 m. Stenocercus omari sp. nov. differs from other Stenocercus species, with the exception of S. amydrorhytus, S. chrysopygus, S. cupreus, S. johaberfellneri, S. latebrosus, S. melanopygus, S. modestus, S. ornatissimus, S. orientalis, and S. stigmosus, by having granular scales on the posterior surfaces of thighs, a conspicuous antehumeral fold and by lacking a vertebral crest. However, Stenocercus omari sp. nov. is easily distinguished from the aforementioned species, except S. orientalis, by the presence of prominently keeled dorsal head scales. The new species differs from S. orientalis by lacking a prominent oblique neck fold and by having a distinct deep postfemoral mite pocket.

  14. Water and sediment quality of the Lake Andes and Choteau Creek basins, South Dakota, 1983-2000

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sando, Steven Kent; Neitzert, Kathleen M.

    2003-01-01

    The Bureau of Reclamation has proposed construction of the Lake Andes/Wagner Irrigation Demonstration Project to investigate environmental effects of irrigation of glacial till soils substantially derived from marine shales. During 1983-2000, the U.S. Geological Survey collected hydrologic, water-quality, and sediment data in the Lake Andes and Choteau Creek Basins, and on the Missouri River upstream and downstream from Choteau Creek, to provide baseline information in support of the proposed demonstration project. Lake Andes has a drainage area of about 230 mi2 (square miles). Tributaries to Lake Andes are ephemeral. Water-level fluctuations in Lake Andes can be large, and the lake has been completely dry on several occasions. The outlet aqueduct from Lake Andes feeds into Garden Creek, which enters Lake Francis Case just upstream from Fort Randall Dam on the Missouri River. For Lake Andes tributary stations, calcium, magnesium, and sodium are approximately codominant among the cations, and sulfate is the dominant anion. Dissolved-solids concentrations typically range from about 1,000 mg/L (milligrams per liter) to about 1,700 mg/L. Major-ion concentrations for Lake Andes tend to be higher than the tributaries and generally increase downstream in Lake Andes. Proportions of major ions are similar among the different lake units (with the exception of Owens Bay), with calcium, magnesium, and sodium being approximately codominant among cations, and sulfate being the dominant anion. Owens Bay is characterized by a calcium sulfate water type. Dissolved-solids concentrations for Lake Andes typically range from about 1,400 to 2,000 mg/L. Whole-water nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations are similar among the Lake Andes tributaries, with median whole-water nitrogen concentrations ranging from about 1.6 to 2.4 mg/L, and median whole-water phosphorus concentrations ranging from about 0.5 to 0.7 mg/L. Whole-water nitrogen concentrations in Lake Andes are similar among the

  15. Preliminary Results From the CAUGHT Experiment: Investigation of the North Central Andes Subsurface Using Receiver Functions and Ambient Noise Tomography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, J. C.; Ward, K. M.; Porter, R. C.; Beck, S. L.; Zandt, G.; Wagner, L. S.; Minaya, E.; Tavera, H.

    2011-12-01

    Altiplano and portions of the Eastern Cordillera, and at approximately 40 under the sub-Andes and westernmost edge of the Beni basin. Unlike previous studies farther south, we do not see an increased crustal thickness beneath the Eastern Cordillera. The CAUGHT station coverage is also ideal for Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT) to investigate the seismic shear wave velocities in the upper crust (<30 km depth). ANT will be used to estimate the depth of basins in the northern Altiplano, and aid in constraining the upper crustal shear wave velocities for improved migration of receiver functions to depth. McQuarrie, N., Barnes, J., and Ehlers, T.A., 2008, Geometric, kinematic and erosional history of the central Andean Plateau (15-17°S), northern Bolivia: Tectonics, v. 27, TC3007, doi:10.1029/2006TC002054.

  16. Soil charcoal analysis as a climato-stratigraphical tool: The key case of Cordillera Real, northern Andes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Di Pasquale, G. [Dipartimento di Arboricoltura Botanica e Patologia Vegetale, Universita di Napoli Federico II, Via Universita 100, 80055 Portici (Italy); Impagliazzo, S., E-mail: stefania.impagliazzo@unina.i [Dipartimento di Arboricoltura Botanica e Patologia Vegetale, Universita di Napoli Federico II, Via Universita 100, 80055 Portici (Italy); Lubritto, C. [CIRCE, Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, II Universita di Napoli, and INNOVA, via Vivaldi, 43, 81100 Caserta (Italy); Marziano, M. [Dipartimento di Arboricoltura Botanica e Patologia Vegetale, Universita di Napoli Federico II, Via Universita 100, 80055 Portici (Italy); Passariello, I. [CIRCE, Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, II Universita di Napoli, and INNOVA, via Vivaldi, 43, 81100 Caserta (Italy); Ermolli, E. Russo [Dipartimento di Arboricoltura Botanica e Patologia Vegetale, Universita di Napoli Federico II, Via Universita 100, 80055 Portici (Italy)

    2010-04-15

    The present study represents the first attempt of reconstructing fire history through soil charcoal dating. The investigated area is located in the Guandera Biological Reserve (western Cordillera Real, northern Ecuador). Six AMS radiocarbon dating, performed at the base of five soil profiles allowed a fire phase to be identified during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. A strong correspondence was highlighted between the age of the Guandera fires and the El Abra stadial, which is considered the Younger Dryas equivalent in South America. This local evidence of fires contributes to define the geographic area in which the El Abra stadial was recorded and suggests a wider use of the soil charcoal analysis.

  17. Soil charcoal analysis as a climato-stratigraphical tool: The key case of Cordillera Real, northern Andes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Pasquale, G.; Impagliazzo, S.; Lubritto, C.; Marziano, M.; Passariello, I.; Ermolli, E. Russo

    2010-01-01

    The present study represents the first attempt of reconstructing fire history through soil charcoal dating. The investigated area is located in the Guandera Biological Reserve (western Cordillera Real, northern Ecuador). Six AMS radiocarbon dating, performed at the base of five soil profiles allowed a fire phase to be identified during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. A strong correspondence was highlighted between the age of the Guandera fires and the El Abra stadial, which is considered the Younger Dryas equivalent in South America. This local evidence of fires contributes to define the geographic area in which the El Abra stadial was recorded and suggests a wider use of the soil charcoal analysis.

  18. The atypical Caribbean-Colombia oceanic plateau and its role in the deformation of the Northern Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferrari, L.; Lopez-Martinez, M.; Petrone, C. M.; Serrano, L.

    2013-05-01

    The Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary tectono-magmatic evolution of the Northern Andes has been strongly influenced by the dextral oblique interaction of the Caribbean-Colombian oceanic plateau (CCOP) with northwestern South America. This complex interaction has resulted in several pulses of transpressional deformation and crustal accretion to the South America plate but also in a widespread deformation in the plateau itself. In this peculiar type of orogeny one of the factors controlling the deformation is the crustal structure and thus the rheological profiles of the two lithospheric sections that interact. The genesis of the CCOP has been traditionally associated to the melting of the Galapagos plume head when it impacted the Farallon plate, which is supposed to have built an unsubductable and thick crustal section. This interpretation was based on the apparent clustering of ages at ~91-89 Ma for several obducted fragments of the CCOP in northwestern South America and in the Caribbean islands. However, seismic profiles show that magmatism added a very variable amount but no more than 10 km of igneous material to the original crust of the Farallon plate, making the CCOP much more irregular than other oceanic plateaus. Recent studies of key areas of the obducted part of the CCOP contradict the notion that the plateau formed by melting of a plume head at ~ 90 Ma. Particularly, new geochronologic data and petrologic modeling from the small Gorgona Island document a magmatic activity spanning the whole Late Cretaceous (98.7±7.7 to 64.4±5 Ma) and a progressive increase in the degree of melting and melt extraction with time. Multiple magmatic pulses over several tens of Ma in small areas like Gorgona, are also recognized in other areas of the CCOP, documenting a long period of igneous activity with peaks at 74-76, 80-82, and 88-90 Ma in decreasing order of importance. Even older, Early Cretaceous ages, have been reported for fragments in Costa Rica and Curaçao. A

  19. Paleozoic evolution of active margin basins in the southern Central Andes (northwestern Argentina and northern Chile)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bahlburg, H.; Breitkreuz, C.

    The geodynamic evolution of the Paleozoic continental margin of Gondwana in the region of the southern Central Andes is characterized by the westward progression of orogenic basin formation through time. The Ordovician basin in the northwest Argentinian Cordillera Oriental and Puna originated as an Early Ordovician back-arc basin. The contemporaneous magmatic arc of an east-dipping subduction zone was presumably located in northern Chile. In the back-arc basin, a ca. 3500 meter, fining-up volcaniclastic apron connected to the arc formed during the Arenigian. Increased subsidence in the late Arenigian allowed for the accomodation of large volumes of volcaniclastic turbidites during the Middle Ordovician. Subsidence and sedimentation were caused by the onset of collision between the para-autochthonous Arequipa Massif Terrane (AMT) and the South American margin at the Arenigian-Llanvirnian transition. This led to eastward thrusting of the arc complex over its back-arc basin and, consequently, to its transformation into a marine foreland basin. As a result of thrusting in the west, a flexural bulge formed in the east, leading to uplift and emergence of the Cordillera Oriental shelf during the Guandacol Event at the Arenigian-Llanvirnian transition. The basin fill was folded during the terminal collision of the AMT during the Oclóyic Orogeny (Ashgillian). The folded strata were intruded post-tectonically by the presumably Silurian granitoids of the "Faja Eruptiva de la Puna Oriental." The orogeny led to the formation of the positive area of the Arco Puneño. West of the Arco Puneño, a further marine basin developed during the Early Devonian, the eastern shelf of which occupied the area of the Cordillera Occidental, Depresión Preandina, and Precordillera. The corresponding deep marine turbidite basin was located in the region of the Cordillera de la Costa. Deposition continued until the basin fill was folded in the early Late Carboniferous Toco Orogeny. The basin

  20. Prediction of extreme floods in the Central Andes by means of Complex Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boers, Niklas; Bookhagen, Bodo; Barbosa, Henrique; Marwan, Norbert; Kurths, Jürgen; Marengo, Jose

    2014-05-01

    Based on a non-linear synchronisation measure and complex network theory, we present a novel framework for the prediction of extreme events of spatially embedded, interrelated time series. This method is general in the sense that it can be applied to any type of spatially sampled time series with significant interrelations, ranging from climate observables to biological or stock market data. In this presentation, we apply our method to extreme rainfall in South America and show how this leads to the prediction of more than 60% (90% during El Niño conditions) of extreme rainfall events in the eastern Central Andes of Bolivia and northern Argentina, with only 1% false alarms. From paleoclimatic to decadal time scales, the Central Andes continue to be subject to pronounced changes in climatic conditions. In particular, our and past work shows that frequency as well as magnitudes of extreme rainfall events have increased significantly during past decades, calling for a better understanding of the involved climatic mechanisms. Due to their large spatial extend and occurrence at high elevations, these extreme events often lead to severe floods and landslides with disastrous socioeconomic impacts. They regularly affect tens of thousands of people and produce estimated costs of the order of several hundred million USD. Alongside with the societal value of predicting natural hazards, our study provides insights into the responsible climatic features and suggests interactions between Rossby waves in polar regions and large scale (sub-)tropical moisture transport as a driver of subseasonal variability of the South American monsoon system. Predictable extreme events result from the propagation of extreme rainfall from the region of Buenos Aires towards the Central Andes given characteristic atmospheric conditions. Our results indicate that the role of frontal systems originating from Rossby waves in polar latitudes is much more dominant for controlling extreme rainfall in

  1. Validating numerical simulations of snow avalanches using dendrochronology: the Cerro Ventana event in Northern Patagonia, Argentina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Casteller

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available The damage caused by snow avalanches to property and human lives is underestimated in many regions around the world, especially where this natural hazard remains poorly documented. One such region is the Argentinean Andes, where numerous settlements are threatened almost every winter by large snow avalanches. On 1 September 2002, the largest tragedy in the history of Argentinean mountaineering took place at Cerro Ventana, Northern Patagonia: nine persons were killed and seven others injured by a snow avalanche. In this paper, we combine both numerical modeling and dendrochronological investigations to reconstruct this event. Using information released by local governmental authorities and compiled in the field, the avalanche event was numerically simulated using the avalanche dynamics programs AVAL-1D and RAMMS. Avalanche characteristics, such as extent and date were determined using dendrochronological techniques. Model simulation results were compared with documentary and tree-ring evidences for the 2002 event. Our results show a good agreement between the simulated projection of the avalanche and its reconstructed extent using tree-ring records. Differences between the observed and the simulated avalanche, principally related to the snow height deposition in the run-out zone, are mostly attributed to the low resolution of the digital elevation model used to represent the valley topography. The main contributions of this study are (1 to provide the first calibration of numerical avalanche models for the Patagonian Andes and (2 to highlight the potential of Nothofagus pumilio tree-ring records to reconstruct past snow-avalanche events in time and space. Future research should focus on testing this combined approach in other forested regions of the Andes.

  2. Molecular phylogeography of the Andean alpine plant, Gunnera magellanica

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimizu, M.; Fujii, N.; Ito, M.; Asakawa, T.; Nishida, H.; Suyama, C.; Ueda, K.

    2015-12-01

    To clarify the evolutionary history of Gunnera magellanica (Gunneraceae), an alpine plant of the Andes mountains, we performed molecular phylogeographic analyses based on the sequences of an internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA and four non-coding regions (trnH-psbA, trnL-trnF, atpB-rbcL, rpl16 intron) of chloroplast DNA. We investigated 3, 4, 4 and 11 populations in, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile, respectively, and detected six ITS genotypes (Types A-F) in G. magellanica. Five genotypes (Types A-E) were observed in the northern Andes population (Ecuador and Bolivia); only one ITS genotype (Type F) was observed in the southern Andes population (Chile and Argentina). Phylogenetic analyses showed that the ITS genotypes of the northern and southern Andes populations form different clades with high bootstrap probability. Furthermore, network analysis, analysis of molecular variance, and spatial analysis of molecular variance showed that there were two major clusters (the northern and southern Andes populations) in this species. Furthermore, in chloroplast DNA analysis, three major clades (northern Andes, Chillan, and southern Andes) were inferred from phylogenetic analyses using four non-coding regions, a finding that was supported by the above three types of analysis. The Chillan clade is the northernmost population in the southern Andes populations. With the exception of the Chillan clade (Chillan population), results of nuclear DNA and chloroplast DNA analyses were consistent. Both markers showed that the northern and southern Andes populations of G. magellanica were genetically different from each other. This type of clear phylogeographical structure was supported by PERMUT analysis according to Pons & Petit (1995, 1996). Moreover, based on our preliminary estimation that is based on the ITS sequences, the northern and southern Andes clades diverged ~0.63-3 million years ago, during a period of upheaval in the Andes. This suggests

  3. Diversification of clearwing butterflies with the rise of the Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De-Silva, Donna Lisa; Elias, Marianne; Willmott, Keith; Mallet, James; Day, Julia J

    2016-01-01

    Despite the greatest butterfly diversity on Earth occurring in the Neotropical Andes and Amazonia, there is still keen debate about the origins of this exceptional biota. A densely sampled calibrated phylogeny for a widespread butterfly subtribe, Oleriina (Nymphalidae: Ithomiini) was used to estimate the origin, colonization history and diversification of this species-rich group. Neotropics. Ancestral elevation and biogeographical ranges were reconstructed using data generated from detailed range maps and applying the dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis model using stratified palaeogeographical time slice matrices. The pattern of diversification through time was examined by comparing constant and variable rate models. We also tested the hypothesis that a change in elevation is associated with speciation. The Oleriina likely originated in the Andes in the Early to Middle Miocene and rapidly diversified to include four genera all of which also originated in the Andes. These clades, together with four species groups, experienced varying spatial and temporal patterns of diversification. An overall early burst and decreasing diversification rate is identified, and this pattern is reflected for most subclades. Changes in the palaeogeological landscape, particularly the prolonged uplift of the Andes, had a profound impact on the diversification of the subtribe. The Oleriina mostly remained within the Andes and vicariant speciation resulted in some instances. Dynamic dispersal occurred with the disappearance of geological barriers such as the Acre System and the subtribe exploited newly available habitats. Our results confirm the role of the Andean uplift in the evolution of Neotropical biodiversity.

  4. On geographic barriers and Pleistocene glaciations: Tracing the diversification of the Russet-crowned Warbler (Myiothlypis coronata) along the Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-01-01

    We studied the phylogeography and plumage variation of the Russet-crowned Warbler (Myiothlypis coronata), from Venezuela to Bolivia, with focus on populations from Ecuador and northern Peru. We analyzed sequences of mitochondrial and nuclear genes, geographic distributions, as well as photographs of specimens deposited at museum collections. Phylogenetic analyses identified three major lineages formed by populations from: Venezuela and Colombia (M. c. regulus), Ecuador and northern Peru (M. elata, M. castaneiceps, M. orientalis, M. c. chapmani), and central Peru and Bolivia (M. c. coronata). We found further population structure within M. c. regulus and M. c. coronata, and population structure and complexity of plumage variation within the Ecuador-northern Peru lineage. Time-calibrated trees estimated that most intraspecific variation originated during the Pleistocene; however, this pattern may not be attributed to an increase in diversification rate during that period. We discuss these results in the context of the importance of geographic-ecological barriers in promoting lineage diversification along the Andes and put forward a preliminary taxonomic proposal for major lineages identified in this study. PMID:29522515

  5. On geographic barriers and Pleistocene glaciations: Tracing the diversification of the Russet-crowned Warbler (Myiothlypis coronata) along the Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prieto-Torres, David A; Cuervo, Andrés M; Bonaccorso, Elisa

    2018-01-01

    We studied the phylogeography and plumage variation of the Russet-crowned Warbler (Myiothlypis coronata), from Venezuela to Bolivia, with focus on populations from Ecuador and northern Peru. We analyzed sequences of mitochondrial and nuclear genes, geographic distributions, as well as photographs of specimens deposited at museum collections. Phylogenetic analyses identified three major lineages formed by populations from: Venezuela and Colombia (M. c. regulus), Ecuador and northern Peru (M. elata, M. castaneiceps, M. orientalis, M. c. chapmani), and central Peru and Bolivia (M. c. coronata). We found further population structure within M. c. regulus and M. c. coronata, and population structure and complexity of plumage variation within the Ecuador-northern Peru lineage. Time-calibrated trees estimated that most intraspecific variation originated during the Pleistocene; however, this pattern may not be attributed to an increase in diversification rate during that period. We discuss these results in the context of the importance of geographic-ecological barriers in promoting lineage diversification along the Andes and put forward a preliminary taxonomic proposal for major lineages identified in this study.

  6. Complex brittle deformation pattern along the Southern Patagonian Andes (Argentina)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barberón, Vanesa; Sue, Christian; Ronda, Gonzalo; Ghiglione, Matías

    2016-04-01

    The Southern Patagonian Andes is located in the southern extreme of the Pacific subduction zone, where the Antartic oceanic plate sinks underneath South America. The history of the area begins with compression during Paleozoic, Jurassic extension associated to the rift and opening of the South Atlantic Ocean, then a sag stage in the Lower Cretaceous followed by a foreland phase as a result of plate tectonics (Ghiglione et al., 2016). The kinematic study is concentrated in the Argentinean foothills, between 46°40' and 48° SL. We measured around 800 fault planes and their striaes with the sense of movement in order to characterize the stress field. The software used to make the stress inversion were Tensor (Delvaux, 2011) and Multiple Inverse Method MIM (Yamaji et al., 2011). The stress field map was built with the results of the MIM. We present new data from 48 sites located in the northern sector of the Southern Patagonian Andes. The measurements were made in several rocks from Paleozoic to Lower Cretaceous, even though most were taken in pyroclastic jurassic rocks from El Quemado Complex. Paleostress tensors obtained are mostly strike-slip, although a 25% is normal and there are a few compresional. The pattern of faults found is complex. In some sites the tensor can be locally linked to satellite images and observations from the field or be related to a major thrust front. There is no clear correlation between the age and/or lithology with the tensor since the youngest rocks measured are Lower Cretaceous. Probably there are several generations of family faults connected to different and recent tectonic phases then the paleostress tensors might correspond to the latest tectonic events.

  7. Stopping the Traffick? The problem of evidence and legislating for the ‘Swedish model’ in Northern Ireland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susann Huschke

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available In 2015, after two years of controversy, the so-called ‘Swedish model’—the criminalisation of paying for sex—became law in Northern Ireland as an anti-trafficking measure. Evidence from the ground in Northern Ireland, however, questions the enforceability and appropriateness of a sex purchase ban to significantly reduce or eradicate trafficking in the sex industry. First, it is unclear that criminalisation will change the behaviour of male purchasers, many of whom thought that their actions were already illegal; second, sex workers do not support the law; and third, there are significant difficulties in law enforcement in the context of Northern Ireland, including a lack of police resources. This article examines mitigating evidence drawn from two sources: findings from a mixed methods study commissioned by the Department of Justice of Northern Ireland—in which we were amongst several co-authors—to support the reform process; and contributions to the consultation held within it. We argue that the sex purchase ban in Northern Ireland is essentially meant to send a moral message about the unacceptability of commercial sex rather than effectively reduce trafficking. With this conclusion, we aim to contribute to an open and honest debate about the moral foundations of anti-trafficking measures, the role of research evidence in the policy process, and the gap between stated intentions and likely effects of neo-abolitionist measures such as the sex purchase ban in both Northern Ireland and more generally.

  8. Genetic diversity of Phytophthora infestans in the Northern Andean region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cárdenas, Martha; Grajales, Alejandro; Sierra, Roberto; Rojas, Alejandro; González-Almario, Adriana; Vargas, Angela; Marín, Mauricio; Fermín, Gustavo; Lagos, Luz E; Grünwald, Niklaus J; Bernal, Adriana; Salazar, Camilo; Restrepo, Silvia

    2011-02-09

    Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary, the causal agent of potato late blight, is responsible for tremendous crop losses worldwide. Countries in the northern part of the Andes dedicate a large proportion of the highlands to the production of potato, and more recently, solanaceous fruits such as cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana) and tree tomato (Solanum betaceum), all of which are hosts of this oomycete. In the Andean region, P. infestans populations have been well characterized in Ecuador and Peru, but are poorly understood in Colombia and Venezuela. To understand the P. infestans population structure in the Northern part of the Andes, four nuclear regions (ITS, Ras, β-tubulin and Avr3a) and one mitochondrial (Cox1) region were analyzed in isolates of P. infestans sampled from different hosts in Colombia and Venezuela. Low genetic diversity was found within this sample of P. infestans isolates from crops within several regions of Colombia and Venezuela, revealing the presence of clonal populations of the pathogen in this region. We detected low frequency heterozygotes, and their distribution patterns might be a consequence of a high migration rate among populations with poor effective gene flow. Consistent genetic differentiation exists among isolates from different regions. The results here suggest that in the Northern Andean region P. infestans is a clonal population with some within-clone variation. P. infestans populations in Venezuela reflect historic isolation that is being reinforced by a recent self-sufficiency of potato seeds. In summary, the P. infestans population is mainly shaped by migration and probably by the appearance of variants of key effectors such as Avr3a.

  9. Genetic diversity of Phytophthora infestans in the Northern Andean region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grünwald Niklaus J

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Phytophthora infestans (Mont. de Bary, the causal agent of potato late blight, is responsible for tremendous crop losses worldwide. Countries in the northern part of the Andes dedicate a large proportion of the highlands to the production of potato, and more recently, solanaceous fruits such as cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana and tree tomato (Solanum betaceum, all of which are hosts of this oomycete. In the Andean region, P. infestans populations have been well characterized in Ecuador and Peru, but are poorly understood in Colombia and Venezuela. To understand the P. infestans population structure in the Northern part of the Andes, four nuclear regions (ITS, Ras, β-tubulin and Avr3a and one mitochondrial (Cox1 region were analyzed in isolates of P. infestans sampled from different hosts in Colombia and Venezuela. Results Low genetic diversity was found within this sample of P. infestans isolates from crops within several regions of Colombia and Venezuela, revealing the presence of clonal populations of the pathogen in this region. We detected low frequency heterozygotes, and their distribution patterns might be a consequence of a high migration rate among populations with poor effective gene flow. Consistent genetic differentiation exists among isolates from different regions. Conclusions The results here suggest that in the Northern Andean region P. infestans is a clonal population with some within-clone variation. P. infestans populations in Venezuela reflect historic isolation that is being reinforced by a recent self-sufficiency of potato seeds. In summary, the P. infestans population is mainly shaped by migration and probably by the appearance of variants of key effectors such as Avr3a.

  10. Provenance of Miocene Hinterland Basins in Ecuador: Implications for the Growth of Topographic Barriers in the Northern Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    George, S. W. M.; Horton, B. K.; Vallejo, C.; Nogales, V.

    2017-12-01

    Establishment of the Eastern Cordillera of Ecuador as an Andean topographic barrier caused significant drainage reorganization, perhaps even as dramatic as the reversal of the Amazon River. Cenozoic growth of this barrier coincided with substantial increases in speciation rates in Andean and Amazonian environments. Situated in the Interandean Depression between the Eastern Cordillera and Western Cordillera of Ecuador, a series of well-preserved Miocene intermontane basins offer a unique opportunity to constrain the along-strike development of the flanking north-trending cordilleras as drainage divides in the Northern Andes. Here were provide detrital zircon U-Pb geochronological results for 17 samples from Ecuadorian hinterland basins (Cuenca, Giron-Santa Isabel, Nabón, Loja, and Vilcabamba), supplemented with measured sections in the Cuenca Basin, to provide insights on orogenic development of the cordilleras of Ecuador during the Miocene. In addition, we characterize the age distributions of basement units to more precisely determine sediment routing patterns through time. Detrital zircon geochronological data yields regional upsection trends throughout Miocene stratigraphic sections marked by: (1) middle Miocene deposits containing a strong syndepositional age peak, with a complementary Eocene-Oligocene peak in varying abundances, and subsidiary low-intensity Paleozoic-Proterozoic age peaks; and (2a) upper Miocene deposits maintaining similar trends to that of the middle Miocene, or (2b) upper Miocene deposits showing a dramatic shutoff of most Cenozoic populations and a switch to Paleozoic-Proterozoic sources, as seen in the Nabón and Loja basins. Syndepositional signatures reflect derivation from the magmatic arc, while varying inputs of Eocene-Oligocene zircons were derived from the Eocene-Oligocene volcanic rocks that comprise the effective basement of much of the Interandean Depression. The late Miocene shift to Paleozoic-Proterozoic sources observed in

  11. SRTM Perspective of Colored Height and Shaded Relief Laguna Mellquina, Andes Mountains, Argentina

    Science.gov (United States)

    2001-01-01

    This depiction of an area south of San Martin de Los Andes, Argentina, is the first Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM)view of the Andes Mountains, the tallest mountain chain in the western hemisphere. This particular site does not include the higher Andes peaks, but it does include steep-sided valleys and other distinctive landforms carved by Pleistocene glaciers. Elevations here range from about 700 to 2,440 meters (2,300 to 8,000 feet). This region is very active tectonically and volcanically, and the landforms provide a record of the changes that have occurred over many thousands of years. Large lakes fill the broad mountain valleys, and the spectacular scenery here makes this area a popular resort destination for Argentinians.Three visualization methods were combined to produce this image: shading, color coding of topographic height and a perspective view. The shade image was derived by computing topographic slope in the north-south direction. Northern slopes appear bright and southern slopes appear dark, as would be the case at noon at this latitude in the southern hemisphere. Color coding is directly related to topographic height, with green at the lower elevations, rising through yellow, red, and magenta, to white at the highest elevations. The perspective is toward the west, 20 degrees off horizontal with 2X vertical exaggeration. The back (west) edge of the data set forms a false skyline within the Andes Range.Elevation data used in this image was acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on February 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect three-dimensional measurements of Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter-long (200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved

  12. Litterfall production under pine plantations in the southern Andes region of Ecuador

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pablo Quichimbo

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Litterfall research is an interesting aspect in environmental studies due to its significance in nutrient cycling specially in regions like the Andes where the interactions between biomass production and its decomposition is poorly understood. This study is focusing in the litterfall biomass production under pine plantations in southern Ecuador. The litterfall production was studied for five months at two-week intervals in three pine forest sites located in the southern Andes region of Ecuador. Monthly litterfall production ranged between 1067-1907 kg ha-1, in comparison with other coniferous stands around the world, this study revealed a higher litterfall production for tropical areas and particularly the highest production under pine plantations in the Andes region. This high litterfall production highlights the upmost importance of this forest component as a potential nutrient reservoir involved in the global nutrient cycling under landscapes dominated by this exotic forest specie in the tropical Andes.

  13. Charles Darwin in the Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bizzo, Nelio; Bizzo, Luis Eduardo Maestrelli

    2006-01-01

    Considering geological time as an important epistemological obstacle to the construction of ideas on biological evolution, a study was carried out on the so-called "Darwin Papers". The conclusion was that Charles Darwin's excursion in the Andes during March-April 1835 was a crucial step in this regard. An expedition was carried out in…

  14. Crustal Structure of the Andean Foreland in Northern Argentina: Results From Data-Integrative Three-Dimensional Density Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meeßen, C.; Sippel, J.; Scheck-Wenderoth, M.; Heine, C.; Strecker, M. R.

    2018-02-01

    Previous thermomechanical modeling studies indicated that variations in the temperature and strength of the crystalline crust might be responsible for the juxtaposition of domains with thin-skinned and thick-skinned crustal deformation along strike the foreland of the central Andes. However, there is no evidence supporting this hypothesis from data-integrative models. We aim to derive the density structure of the lithosphere by means of integrated 3-D density modeling, in order to provide a new basis for discussions of compositional variations within the crust and for future thermal and rheological modeling studies. Therefore, we utilize available geological and geophysical data to obtain a structural and density model of the uppermost 200 km of the Earth. The derived model is consistent with the observed Bouguer gravity field. Our results indicate that the crystalline crust in northern Argentina can be represented by a lighter upper crust (2,800 kg/m3) and a denser lower crust (3,100 kg/m3). We find new evidence for high bulk crustal densities >3,000 kg/m3 in the northern Pampia terrane. These could originate from subducted Puncoviscana wackes or pelites that ponded to the base of the crystalline crust in the late Proterozoic or indicate increasing bulk content of mafic material. The precise composition of the northern foreland crust, whether mafic or felsic, has significant implications for further thermomechanical models and the rheological behavior of the lithosphere. A detailed sensitivity analysis of the input parameters indicates that the model results are robust with respect to the given uncertainties of the input data.

  15. SRTM Colored Height and Shaded Relief: Laguna Mellquina, Andes Mountains, Argentina

    Science.gov (United States)

    2001-01-01

    This depiction of an area south of San Martin de Los Andes, Argentina, is the first Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) view of the Andes Mountains, the tallest mountain chain in the western hemisphere. This particular site does not include the higher Andes peaks, but it does include steep-sided valleys and other distinctive landforms carved by Pleistocene glaciers. Elevations here range from about 700 to 2,440 meters(2,300 to 8,000 feet). This region is very active tectonically and volcanically, and the landforms provide a record of the changes that have occurred over many thousands of years. Large lakes fill the broad mountain valleys, and the spectacular scenery here makes this area a popular resort destination for Argentinians.Two visualization methods were combined to produce this image: shading and color coding of topographic height. The shade image was derived by computing topographic slope in the north-south direction. Northern slopes appear bright and southern slopes appear dark, as would be the case at noon at this latitude in the southern hemisphere. Color coding is directly related to topographic height, with green at the lower elevations, rising through yellow, red, and magenta, to white at the highest elevations.Elevation data used in this image was acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on February 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR)that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect three-dimensional measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter-long (200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U

  16. Evolutionary persistence in Gunnera and the contribution of southern plant groups to the tropical Andes biodiversity hotspot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christine D. Bacon

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Several studies have demonstrated the contribution of northern immigrants to the flora of the tropical Andes—the world’s richest and most diverse biodiversity hotspot. However, much less is known about the biogeographic history and diversification of Andean groups with southern origins, although it has been suggested that northern and southern groups have contributed roughly equally to the high Andean (i.e., páramo flora. Here we infer the evolutionary history of the southern hemisphere plant genus Gunnera, a lineage with a rich fossil history and an important ecological role as an early colonising species characteristic of wet, montane environments. Our results show striking contrasts in species diversification, where some species may have persisted for some 90 million years, and whereas others date to less than 2 Ma since origination. The outstanding longevity of the group is likely linked to a high degree of niche conservatism across its highly disjunct range, whereby Gunnera tracks damp and boggy soils in cool habitats. Colonisation of the northern Andes is related to Quaternary climate change, with subsequent rapid diversification appearing to be driven by their ability to take advantage of environmental opportunities. This study demonstrates the composite origin of a mega-diverse biota.

  17. The Sabethines of Northern Andean Coffee-Growing Regions of Colombia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suaza-Vasco, Juan; López-Rubio, Andrés; Galeano, Juan; Uribe, Sandra; Vélez, Iván; Porter, Charles

    2015-06-01

    Sampling for sabethine mosquitoes occurred intermittently from September 2007 to April 2013 in 17 municipalities, located in 5 departments (divisions) in the northern Andean coffee-growing regions of Colombia. Of the 9 genera within the Sabethini tribe known to occur in the Neotropical region, 6 were encountered including 15 species: Jonhbelkinia ulopus, Limatus durhamii, Sabethes ignotus, Sa. luxodens, Sa. undosus, Shannoniana fluviatilis, Trichoprosopon compressum, Tr. digitatum, Tr. evansae, Tr. pallidiventer s.l., Tr. pallidiventer s.s., Wyeomyia arthrostigma, Wy. oblita, Wy. ulocoma, and Wy. undulata. The species Sa. luxodens and Wy. undulata constitute new records for Colombia. These records broaden the knowledge of this important group that includes some important species related to the arbovirus transmission. Records are from the northern Colombian Andes, a region noted for coffee cultivation and ecotourism.

  18. A measurement of the cosmic microwave background from the high Chilean Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Amber Dawn

    A measurement of the angular spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) between l = 50 and l = 400 is described. Data were obtained using HEMT radiometers at 30 and 40 GHz with angular resolutions of ≈1 deg and ≈0.7 deg respectively and with SIS based receivers at 144 GHz with angular resolution of ≈0.2 deg. Observations were made from Cerro Toco in the Chilean altiplano at an altitude of 17,000 feet in the Northern Chilean Andes. We find that the angular spectrum rises from l = 50 to a peak at l ≈ 200 and falls off at higher angular scales. A peak in the angular spectrum with amplitude, deltaTl ≈ 85muK is thus located for the first time with a single instrument at l ≈ 200. In addition, we find that the detected anisotropy has the spectrum of the CMB. Cosmological implications of this result are discussed.

  19. A large and unusually colored new snake species of the genus Tantilla (Squamata; Colubridae) from the Peruvian Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koch, Claudia; Venegas, Pablo J

    2016-01-01

    A new colubrid species of the genus Tantilla from the dry forest of the northern Peruvian Andes is described on the basis of two specimens, which exhibit a conspicuous sexual dimorphism. Tantilla tjiasmantoi sp. nov. represents the third species of the genus in Peru. The new species is easily distinguished from its congeners by the combination of scalation characteristics and the unusual transversely-banded color pattern on the dorsum. A detailed description of the skull morphology of the new species is given based on micro-computed tomography images. The habitat of this new species is gravely threatened due to human interventions. Conservation efforts are urgently needed in the inter-Andean valley of the Maranon River.

  20. Weathering as the limiting factor of denudation in the Western escarpment of the Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbühl, L. M.; Schlunegger, F.; Kracht, O.; Ramseyer, K.; Rieke-Zapp, D.; Aldahan, A.; von Blanckenburg, F.

    2009-04-01

    A crucial issue in process geomorphology is the search for the scale and the extent to which precipitation, and climate in general, influences the nature and the rates of sediment transfer (weathering, erosion, sediment transport and deposition). We present an analysis of the possible interplay between precipitation, weathering and denudation rates for the western Andean slope between the Cordillera and the Pacific coast. It is based on morphometric studies and quantitative 10Be denudation rate estimates of three transverse river systems (Piura at 5°S, Pisco at 13°S, and Lluta at 18°S) draining the Western escarpment of the Peruvian and North Chilean Andes. The systems originate at elevations >3000 m above sea level, cover an area between 3000 and 10'000 km2 and discharge into the Pacific Ocean. The precipitation rate pattern implies a hyperarid climate at the coast, and semi-arid to semi-humid conditions in the Cordillera where the streams rise. There, climatic conditions are generally controlled by the easterlies that deliver moisture from the Atlantic Ocean via the low level Andean jet. The precipitation rate pattern of the Cordillera shows a North-South decreasing trend, from ca. 1000 mm/yr in Northern Peru to 150 mm/yr in Northern Chile. In these higher regions of the drainage basins, hillslopes are convex with nearly constant curvatures and are mantled by a >1 m thick regolith cover. In addition, hillslope erosion is limited to the regolith-bedrock interface. We interpret these geomorphic features to indicate weathering-controlled sediment discharge. In the lower river segments, beyond tectonic knickzones, regular precipitation is almost absent. For the case of the Piura river in Northern Peru, precipitation in this segment occurs in relation to highly episodic El Niño events related to the westerlies. This results in a supply-limited sediment discharge, leading to predominance of channelized processes on the hillslopes, a spare regolith cover and an

  1. Glacier monitoring and glacier-climate interactions in the tropical Andes: A review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veettil, Bijeesh Kozhikkodan; Wang, Shanshan; Florêncio de Souza, Sergio; Bremer, Ulisses Franz; Simões, Jefferson Cardia

    2017-08-01

    In this review, we summarized the evolution of glacier monitoring in the tropical Andes during the last few decades, particularly after the development of remote sensing and photogrammetry. Advantages and limitations of glacier mapping, applied so far, in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia are discussed in detail. Glacier parameters such as the equilibrium line altitude, snowline and mass balance were given special attention in understanding the complex cryosphere-climate interactions, particularly using remote sensing techniques. Glaciers in the inner and the outer tropics were considered separately based on the precipitation and temperature conditions within a new framework. The applicability of various methods to use glacier records to understand and reconstruct the tropical Andean climate between the Last Glacial Maximum (11,700 years ago) and the present is also explored in this paper. Results from various studies published recently were analyzed and we tried to understand the differences in the magnitudes of glacier responses towards the climatic perturbations in the inner tropics and the outer tropics. Inner tropical glaciers, particularly those in Venezuela and Colombia near the January Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), are more vulnerable to increase in temperature. Surface energy balance experiments show that outer tropical glaciers respond to precipitation variability very rapidly in comparison with the temperature variability, particularly when moving towards the subtropics. We also analyzed the gradients in glacier response to climate change from the Pacific coast towards the Amazon Basin as well as with the elevation. Based on the current trends synthesised from recent studies, it is hypothesized that the glaciers in the inner tropics and the southern wet outer tropics will disappear first as a response to global warming whereas glaciers in the northern wet outer tropics and dry outer tropics show resistance to warming trends due to

  2. Exploring pain in the Andes--learning from the Quichua (Inca) people experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Incayawar, Mario; Saucier, Jean-François

    2015-05-01

    There is a mounting recognition that culture profoundly shapes human pain experience. The 28 million indigenous people of the Andes in South America, mainly the Quichua (Inca) people, share a distinctive culture. However, little is known about their pain experience and suffering. The aim of the present study was to explore how Quichua adults perceive, describe, and cope with the pain. An exploratory qualitative/descriptive study was conducted with a convenience sample of 40 Quichua adults, including 15 women and 25 men, in the Northern Highlands of Ecuador. Data were collected through structured interviews of approximately 3 h, using a Quichua questionnaire called "The Nature of Pain" [Nanay Jahua Tapuicuna]. The interviews covered the notions of causation of pain, vulnerability to pain, responses to pain, aggravating factors, frequent locations of pain, types of pain, duration, characteristics of pain, control of pain, pathways to care, and preventive measures of pain. Basic descriptive analyses were performed. The Quichuas' pain experience is complex and their strategies to cope with it are sophisticated. According to the Quichuas, emotions, life events, co-morbid conditions, and spirits, among others factors play an important role in the origin, diagnosis, and treatment of pain. They strongly embrace biomedicine and physicians as well as Quichua traditional medicine and traditional healers. Family members and neighbors are also valuable sources of health care and pain control. The pathway to pain care that the Quichua people prefer is inclusive and pluralistic. The knowledge of the Quichua ethnographic "emic" details of their belief system and coping strategies to control pain are clinically useful not only for the health professional working in the Andes, some Quichua cultural characteristics related to pain could be useful to the culturally competent health practitioner who is making efforts to provide high-quality medical care in rural and multicultural

  3. Trophic polymorphism, habitat and diet segregation in Percichthys trucha (Pisces : Percichthyidae) in the Andes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ruzzante, D.E.; Walde, S.J.; Cussac, V.E.

    1998-01-01

    Divergent natural selection affecting specific trait combinations that lead to greater efficiency in resource exploitation is believed to be a major mechanism leading to trophic polymorphism and adaptive radiation. We present evidence of trophic polymorphism involving two benthic morphs within...... Percichthys trucha, a fish endemic to temperate South America. In a series of lakes located in the southern Andes, we found two morphs of P. trucha that could be distinguished on the basis of gill raker length and five other morphological measures, most of which are likely associated with the use of food...

  4. New ICT in the Peruvian Andes: Theoretical Foundation and Bibliographical Balance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mario Sánchez-Dávila

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available On the one hand, this paper explains the theoretical foundations on which this proposal for digital anthropology in the Peruvian Andes is based (on the origins of digital anthropology, discussions on oral and written technology, and theories of digital technology as social practice. And, on the other hand, this paper presents a bibliographical balance of the studies on the new ICT in the Peruvian Andes (on identity expression, productive development and formal education in the Andean world.

  5. Evidence of Teleconnections between the Peruvian central Andes and Northeast Brazil during extreme rainfall events

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sulca, J. C.; Vuille, M. F.; Silva, F. Y.; Takahashi, K.

    2013-12-01

    Knowledge about changes in regional circulation and physical processes associated with extreme rainfall events in South America is limited. Here we investigate such events over the Mantaro basin (MB) located at (10°S-13°S; 73°W-76°W) in the central Peruvian Andes and Northeastern Brazil (NEB), located at (9°S-15°S; 39°W-46°W). Occasional dry and wet spells can be observed in both areas during the austral summer season. The main goal of this study is to investigate potential teleconnections between extreme rainfall events in MB and NEB during austral summer. We define wet (dry) spells as periods that last for at least 3 (5) consecutive days with rainfall above (below) the 70 (30) percentile. To identify the dates of ocurrence of these events, we used daily accumulated rainfall data from 14 climate stations located in the Mantaro basin for the period 1965 to 2002. In NEB we defined a rainfall index which is based on average daily gridded rainfall data within the region for the same period. Dry (wet spells) in the MB are associated with positive (negative) OLR anomalies which extend over much of the tropical Andes, indicating the large-scale nature of these events. At 200 hPa anomalous easterly (westerly) zonal winds aloft accompany wet (dry) spells. Composite anomalies of dry spells in MB reveal significant contemporaneous precipitation anomalies of the opposite sign over NEB, which suggest that intraseasonal precipitation variability over the two regions may be dynamically linked. Indeed upper-tropospheric circulation anomalies over the central Andes extend across South America and appear to be tied to an adjustment in the Bolivian High-Nordeste Low system. Dry (wet) spells in NEB are equally associated with a large-scale pattern of positive (negative) OLR anomalies; however, there are no related significant OLR anomalies over the MB during these events. Dry (wet) spells are associated with robust patterns of anomalous wind fields at both low and upper

  6. Unraveling the diversification history of grasshoppers belonging to the “Trimerotropis pallidipennis” (Oedipodinae: Acrididae species group: a hotspot of biodiversity in the Central Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noelia Verónica Guzmán

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The Andean Mountain range has been recognized as one of the biodiversity hotspots of the world. The proposed mechanisms for such species diversification, among others, are due to the elevation processes occurring during the Miocene and the intensive glacial action during the Pleistocene. In this study we investigated the diversification history of the grasshopper Trimerotropis pallidipennis species complex which shows a particularly wide latitudinal and altitudinal distribution range across the northern, central and southern Andes in South America. Many genetic lineages of this complex have been so far discovered, making it an excellent model to investigate the role of the central Andes Mountains together with climatic fluctuations as drivers of speciation. Phylogenetics, biogeographic and molecular clock analyses using a multi-locus dataset revealed that in Peru there are at least two, and possibly four genetic lineages. Two different stocks originated from a common ancestor from North/Central America—would have dispersed toward southern latitudes favored by the closure of the Panama Isthmus giving rise to two lineages, the coastal and mountain lineages, which still coexist in Peru (i.e., T. pallidipennis and T. andeana. Subsequent vicariant and dispersal events continued the differentiation process, giving rise to three to six genetic lineages (i.e., clades detected in this study, which were geographically restricted to locations dispersed over the central Andes Mountains in South America. Our results provide another interesting example of “island diversification” motored by the topography plus unstable climatic conditions during the Pleistocene, pointing out the presence of a hotspot of diversification in the Andean region of Peru.

  7. Glacier shrinkage and water resources in the Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francou, Bernard; Coudrain, Anne

    For more than a century glaciers around the world have been melting as air temperatures rise due to a combination of natural processes and human activity. The disappearance of these glaciers can have wide-ranging effects, such as the creation of new natural hazards or changes in stream flow that could threaten water suppliesSome of the most dramatic melting has occurred in the Andes mountain range in South America. To highlight the climatic and glacial change in the Andes and to encourage the scientific community to strengthen the glacier observation network that stretches from Colombia to the Patagonian ice fields, the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturales (INRENA), Perú, and the Institute of Research and Development (IRD), France, recently organized the second Symposium on Mass Balance of Andean Glaciers in Huaráz,Perú.

  8. Reasons for an outstanding plant diversity in the tropical Andes of Southern Ecuador

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Richter

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Long-term field studies in the scope of a multidisciplinary project in southern Ecuador revealed extraordinary high species numbers of many organismic groups. This article discusses reasons for the outstanding vascular plant diversity using a hierarchical scale-oriented top-down approach (Grüninger 2005, from the global scale to the local microscale. The global scale explains general (paleo- ecological factors valid for most parts of the humid tropics, addressing various hypotheses and theories, such as the “greater effective evolutionary time”, constant input of “accidentals”, the “seasonal variability hypothesis”, the “intermediate disturbance hypothesis”, and the impact of soil fertility. The macroscale focuses on the Andes in northwestern South America. The tropical Andes are characterised by many taxa of restricted range which is particularly true for the Amotape-Huancabamba region, i.e. the so called Andean Depression, which is effective as discrete phytogeographic transition as well as barrier zone. Interdigitation of northern and southern flora elements, habitat fragmentation, geological and landscape history, and a high speciation rate due to rapid genetic radiation of some taxa contribute to a high degree of diversification. The mesoscale deals with the special environmental features of the eastern mountain range, the Cordillera Real and surrounding areas in southern Ecuador. Various climatic characteristics, the orographic heterogeneity, the geologic and edaphic conditions as well as human impact are the most prominent factors augmenting plant species diversity. On microscale, prevailing regimes of disturbance and environmental stresses, the orographic basement, as well as the general role on the various mountain chains are considered. Here, micro-habitats e.g. niches for epiphytes, effects of micro-relief patterns, and successions after small-sized disturbance events are screened. Direct effects of human impact are

  9. Palabras y silencios: la retórica del poder en los Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1997-01-01

    Full Text Available PAROLES ET SILENCES : LA RETHORIQUE DU POUVOIR DANS LES ANDES. La parole condense différents arguments et formes de pouvoir dans les sociétés andines. Le domaine social et le cadre cérémoniel appartiennent à ceux qui articulent bien les mots. La différenciation entre la valeur octroyée à la parole et celle correspondant aux silences implique diverses modalités de prestige de reconnaissance sociale et de pouvoir rituel dans les Andes. Les personnes, les vivants et les savants exercent une maîtrise subtile de la parole face aux étrangers, aux défunts et aux sots, qui demeurent socialement “muets”, silencieux. La palabra condensa diferentes argumentos y formas de poder en las sociedades andinas. El dominio social y el ámbito ceremonial pertenecen a los buenos articuladores de palabras. La diferenciación entre el valor otorgado a la palabra y el que corresponde a los silencios implica diferentes modalidades de prestigio, reconocimiento social y poder ritual en los Andes. Las personas, los vivos y los sabios ejercen un dominio exquisito de la palabra frente a los extraños, los difuntos y los “necios” que permanecen socialmente “mudos”, callados. WORDS AND SILENCES: THE RHETORIC OF POWER IN THE ANDES. Words have different meanings and means to exercise power in Andean societies. Social power and ceremonial environments belong people who are fluent in language. The difference between the value ascribed to the spoken word and that ascribed to silence implies several kinds of prestige, social recognition and ritual power in the Andes. “Ordinary”, alive and wise people exert an exquisite authority with words as compared with strange, dead and “stupid people” who remain socially 'dumb', silent.

  10. Un réseau d'observation des glaciers dans les Andes tropicales

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1995-01-01

    Full Text Available Par leur grande sensibilité au changement climatique, les glaciers tropicaux sont d’excellents indicateurs de l’évolution du climat et, en même temps, des objets hydrologiques susceptibles d’évoluer rapidement dans le futur. On montre que l’actuel recul accéléré des glaciers dans les Andes centrales et les conséquences qu’il peut avoir en matière hydrologique et de risques naturels rendent nécessaire un programme de surveillance de ces glaciers au niveau de toute la chaîne, ce que l’ORSTOM contribue à faire depuis 1991. UNA RED DE OBSERVACIÓN DE LOS GLACIARES EN LOS ANDES TROPICALES. Por su gran sensibilidad al cambio climático, los glaciares tropicales son excelentes indicadores de la evolución del clima, así como objectos hidrológicos susceptibles de una evolución rápida en el futuro. Considerando el actual retroceso acelerado de los glaciares en los Andes centrales y las consecuencias que puede tener a nivel hidrológico así como en el campo de los riesgos naturales, es necesario un programa de monitoreo de los glaciares a nivel de toda la cordillera, que es lo que ORSTOM contribuye a hacer desde 1991. A GLACIER MONITORING NETWORK IN THE TROPICAL ANDES. The high sensibility of Tropical glaciers to climatic forcing make it possible to use them as reliable indicators of climate evolution, as well as hydrological systems which could change rapidly in the future. Considering the present increase in glacier retreat in central Andes and the consequences induced by this evolution on water resources and natural hazards, a monitoring program at a large scale appears to be highly desirable. This has been the objective of ORSTOM since 1991.

  11. Cosmogenic 10Be Dating of Early and Latest Holocene Moraines on Nevado Salcantay in the Southern Peruvian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Licciardi, J. M.; Schaefer, J. M.; Lund, D. C.

    2007-12-01

    A two-fold sequence of nested lateral and end moraines was mapped in a glacial trough emanating from the southwest flank of Nevado Salcantay (6271 m; ~13°S latitude), the highest peak in the Cordillera Vilcabamba of southern Peru. The field area is situated 25 km due south of the archaeological site of Machu Picchu. Outer and inner moraines in the sequence were deposited by valley glaciers that terminated ~5 km and ~3 km, respectively, from their headwall on the Salcantay summit massif. Cosmogenic 10Be surface exposure dating of granitic boulders sampled on the Salcantay moraines is underway and has provided the first numerical ages for these deposits. Initial results indicate ages of 8.1 ± 0.1 10Be ka for the outer moraine and 200 ± 20 10Be years for the sharp-crested inner moraine. These ages are derived using the CRONUS-Earth 10Be exposure age calculator (version 2.0) and expressed with respect to the Lal- Stone production rate scaling scheme using the standard atmosphere. The outer and inner moraine ages correspond to glacial events during the early and latest Holocene, respectively. Further 10Be dating of the mapped moraines and similar deposits observed in adjacent drainages on Nevado Salcantay is anticipated to yield a high-resolution chronology of valley glaciation in this segment of the southern Peruvian Andes. The new results bridge an important gap between existing Andean glacier records to the north and south, and complement available ice core and lacustrine paleoclimate records in the vicinity, thereby expanding spatial and temporal coverage for identifying patterns of Holocene climate change in the tropical Andes. Notably, the inner moraine age correlates with the timing of the Little Ice Age as defined in northern mid- and high latitude glacier records, and suggests considerable expansion of valley glaciers in the southern Peruvian Andes during this climatic minimum. Apart from their paleoclimatic significance, the initial results also demonstrate

  12. Natural gas across the Andes : a case study of an international business venture

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Figueroa, E.B.; Smith, B.

    2002-07-01

    This book describes the challenges and complexities of constructing the GasAndes pipeline from Argentinian gas fields across the Andes to Santiago in Chile. The project was a joint international effort between Canada's NOVA Corporation, Chile's Gasco and Gener, and Argentina's Compania General de Combustibles and Techint Compania Tecnica Internacional. The book relates how NOVA Gas International, together with its partners, accomplished the task of constructing the first major natural gas pipeline across the Andes mountains despite significant challenges such as steep mountain slopes, many river crossings, high altitude, high winds and bitter cold. It describes how the partnership developed and how political and socio-economic issues were dealt with. It demonstrates how business practices were modified to deal with local conditions and to ensure that the fragile environment of the Andean meadows was protected. It also describes how the builders of the pipeline addressed the concerns of communities along the pipeline route. The pipeline was constructed at a time when democracy was returning and market economies were shifting from a reduced role of government in the energy sector. The 463 km GasAndes pipeline has been in operation since August 7, 1997. refs., tabs., figs.

  13. The effect of drainage on organic matter accumulation and plant communities of high-altitude peatlands in the Colombian tropical Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J.C. Benavides

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The tropical Andes store and regulate water outflow that serves nearly 60 million people. Most of the water is for un-managed agricultural irrigation. In this work I report how the drainage of peatlands has adversely affected the development of plant communities and recent carbon accumulation in a páramo massif at 2500 to 3800 m altitude in the northern Andes. I surveyed vegetation and water chemistry in 26 peatlands with differing intensities of drainage. Peat cores to 50 cm from two sites with contrasting drainage histories were dated using 210Pb, and used to compare historical vegetation changes and carbon accumulation rates. (A Species composition was much affected by drainage, which resulted in a reduction in cover of Sphagnum and other peat-forming species, and the encroachment of sedges and Juncus effusus. The ability of peat to store water and carbon was also reduced in drained peatlands. Vegetation records show a shift towards sedge-Juncus communities around 50 years ago when agricultural use of water increased. (B Peat and carbon accumulation rates were lower in drained sites, indicating either greater decomposition rates of the upper peat column or lower production by the changed plant communities. The ecological services offered by peatlands to agrarian communities downstream are important. Measures to prevent peatland destruction are needed urgently.

  14. Tectonics, hydrothermal zoning, and uranium in the central Andes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gabelman, J W

    1961-01-01

    The geological features of the Peruvian Andes are discussed in some detail. The geologic history of the Andrean tectonics was found to be virtually the same as that represented in both North and South American Cordillera. The study indicated that Andrean hydrothermal mineralization occurred intermittently but in close time relation with accompanying deformations from the late Cretaceous or early Tertiary up to the present. The mineralization cycle is discussed as it relates to several metals, particularly uranium. Uranium is believed to occupy the same several temperature--environmental positions in the Andes that it does throughout the rest of the western hemisphere Cordillera. Even though uranium is present in minor quantities in several high-to-moderate-temperature environments, the bulk of uranium present in the cycle is believed to precipitate in the subepithermal environment.

  15. Gastrointestinal parasites of Lamas in the Bolivian Andes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nissen, Anne Malene; Nees, Ellinor Spörndly; Monrad, Jesper

    A cross sectional study was conducted to determine prevalences and intensities of gastrointestinal (GIT) parasites in lamas in the Bolivian Andes. A quantitative and qualitative necro-copro-parasitlogical study was performed on 33 lamas between October and December 2007. At the time of necropsy t...

  16. Isotopic composition and origin of the precipitation in Northern Chile

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aravena, R.; Pena, H.; Grilli, A.; Pollastri, A.; Fuenzalida, H.

    1997-01-01

    Full text: A three years isotope data on precipitation collected in northern Chile show a very distinct pattern, with depleted δ 18 and -150/00 observed at high altitude stations, compared to δ 18 0 values ranging between - 10 and -6/00 measured at the lower altitude areas. The depleted δ 0 values observed in the high altitude area, the Altiplano, are related to different processes that affect the air masses as moved from the Atlantic, crossed the Amazon Basin (continental effect), ascend the Andes (altitude effect) and precipitated (convective effect) in the Altiplano. It is postulated that a second source of moisture, associated to air masses from the Pacific, explained the enriched isotopic values observed in the lower altitude areas. Similar isotopic pattern, documented in springs and groundwater, indicates that the rain data presented in this paper is an accurate representation of the long term behavior of the isotopic composition of the rain in northern Chile

  17. Migmatization and low-pressure overprinting metamorphism as record of two pre-Cretaceous tectonic episodes in the Santander Massif of the Andean basement in northern Colombia (NW South America)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zuluaga, C. A.; Amaya, S.; Urueña, C.; Bernet, M.

    2017-03-01

    The core of the Santander Massif in the northern Andes of Colombia is dominated by migmatitic gneisses with a 7.5 kbar. Lithologies are overprinted by low-pressure metamorphism, related to extensive Jurassic intrusions and linked with growth of cordierite and equilibration of low-pressure mineral assemblages, recorded metamorphic conditions are Pangaea.

  18. Reflections on Andes' Goal-Free User Interface

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanLehn, Kurt

    2016-01-01

    Although the Andes project produced many results over its 18 years of activity, this commentary focuses on its contributions to understanding how a goal-free user interface impacts the overall design and performance of a step-based tutoring system. Whereas a goal-aligned user interface displays relevant goals as blank boxes or empty locations that…

  19. Between Andes and Amazon: the genetic profile of the Arawak-speaking Yanesha.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbieri, Chiara; Heggarty, Paul; Yang Yao, Daniele; Ferri, Gianmarco; De Fanti, Sara; Sarno, Stefania; Ciani, Graziella; Boattini, Alessio; Luiselli, Donata; Pettener, Davide

    2014-12-01

    The Yanesha are a Peruvian population who inhabit an environment transitional between the Andes and Amazonia. They present cultural traits characteristic of both regions, including in the language they speak: Yanesha belongs to the Arawak language family (which very likely originated in the Amazon/Orinoco lowlands), but has been strongly influenced by Quechua, the most widespread language family of the Andes. Given their location and cultural make-up, the Yanesha make for an ideal case study for investigating language and population dynamics across the Andes-Amazonia divide. In this study, we analyze data from high and mid-altitude Yanesha villages, both Y chromosome (17 STRs and 16 SNPs diagnostic for assigning haplogroups) and mtDNA data (control region sequences and 3 SNPs and one INDEL diagnostic for assigning haplogroups). We uncover sex-biased genetic trends that probably arose in different stages: first, a male-biased gene flow from Andean regions, genetically consistent with highland Quechua-speakers and probably dating back to Inca expansion; and second, traces of European contact consistent with Y chromosome lineages from Italy and Tyrol, in line with historically documented migrations. Most research in the history, archaeology and linguistics of South America has long been characterized by perceptions of a sharp divide between the Andes and Amazonia; our results serve as a clear case-study confirming demographic flows across that 'divide'. © 2014 The Authors. American journal of physical Anthropology published by Wiley Periodocals, Inc.

  20. Association of vectors and environmental conditions during the emergence of Peruvian horse sickness orbivirus and Yunnan orbivirus in northern Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Méndez-López, María R; Attoui, Houssam; Florin, David; Calisher, Charles H; Florian-Carrillo, J Christian; Montero, Stephanie

    2015-12-01

    Since 1983, cases of diseased donkeys and horses with symptoms similar to those produced by alphaviruses were identified in two departments in northern Peru; however serological testing ruled out the presence of those viruses and attempts to isolate an agent were also unproductive. In 1997, also in northern Peru, two new orbiviruses were discovered, each recognized as a causative agent of neurological diseases in livestock and domestic animals and, at the same time, mosquitoes were found to be infected with these viruses. Peruvian horse sickness virus (PHSV) was isolated from pools of culicid mosquitoes, Aedes serratus and Psorophora ferox, and Yunnan virus (YUOV) was isolated from Aedes scapularis in the subtropical jungle (upper jungle) located on the slope between the east side of the Andes and the Amazonian basin in the Department of San Martín. Both viruses later were recovered from mosquitoes collected above the slope between the west side of the Andes and the coast (Department of Piura) in humid subtropical areas associated with the Piura River basin. In this region, PHSV was isolated from Anopheles albimanus and YUOV was isolated from Ae. scapularis. We discuss the ecology of vector mosquitoes during the outbreaks in the areas where these mosquitoes were found. © 2015 The Society for Vector Ecology.

  1. Craniofacial chronological microdifferentiation of human prehistoric populations of the Azapa valley, northern Chile Microdiferenciación cronológica craneofacial de poblaciones humanas prehistóricas del Valle de Azapa, norte de Chile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FRANCISCO ROTHHAMMER

    2002-03-01

    Full Text Available Archeological evidence suggest that the cultural developments occurred in the highlands around lake Titicaca in the Central Andes, exerted influence on the cultural elaborations of the human groups that peopled the valley of Azapa, close to the city of Arica, and the Pacific coast of northern Chile. In this communication we show by means of a distance analysis, that a craniofacial differentiation accompanied the process of cultural evolution in the valley. The biological influence of Tiwanaku is partially reflected in craniofacial morphology, providing preliminary evidence that cultural changes were associated to intermittent gene flow from the highlands, specially during the Alto Ramírez and San Miguel phasesLos desarrollos culturales ocurridos en el altiplano en el área circumtiticaca en los Andes centrales, ejercieron influencia sobre las elaboraciones culturales de los grupos humanos que poblaban el Valle de Azapa cercano a la ciudad de Arica y la costa del norte de Chile. En esta comunicación presentamos un análisis de distancias que demostró que una diferenciación craniofacial acompaño en el valle el proceso de evolución cultural. La influencia biológica de Tiwanaku se refleja parcialmente en la morfología craniofacial, proporcionando evidencia preliminar de que los cambios culturales en el valle se realizaron acompañados de flujo génico intermitente desde el altiplano, especialmente durante las fases Alto Ramírez y San Miguel

  2. Total arsenic, lead, cadmium, copper, and zinc in some salt rivers in the northern Andes of Antofagasta, Chile.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Queirolo, F; Stegen, S; Mondaca, J; Cortés, R; Rojas, R; Contreras, C; Munoz, L; Schwuger, M J; Ostapczuk, P

    2000-06-08

    The pre-Andes water in the region of Antofagasta is the main drinking and irrigation water source for approximately 3000 Atacameña (indigenous) people. The concentration for soluble elements (filtration in field through a 0.45-microm filter) was: Cd < 0.1 ng/ml; Pb < 0.5 ng/ml; and Zn and Cu between 1 and 10 ng/ml. In particulate material the concentrations were: for Cd < 0.1 ng/ml; for Pb < 0.3 ng/ml; and for Zn and Cu less than 1 ng/ml. The total content of these elements is far below the international recommendations (WHO) and the national standards (N. Ch. 1333 mod. 1987 and 409-1 of 1984). On the other hand, in some rivers a very high arsenic concentration was found (up to 3000 ng/ml) which exceed more than 50 times the national standard. In order to verify the analytical results, inter-laboratory and comparison with different determination methods have been done.

  3. Glacier loss and hydro-social risks in the Peruvian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mark, Bryan G.; French, Adam; Baraer, Michel; Carey, Mark; Bury, Jeffrey; Young, Kenneth R.; Polk, Molly H.; Wigmore, Oliver; Lagos, Pablo; Crumley, Ryan; McKenzie, Jeffrey M.; Lautz, Laura

    2017-12-01

    Accelerating glacier recession in tropical highlands and in the Peruvian Andes specifically is a manifestation of global climate change that is influencing the hydrologic cycle and impacting water resources across a range of socio-environmental systems. Despite predictions regarding the negative effects of long-term glacier decline on water availability, many uncertainties remain regarding the timing and variability of hydrologic changes and their impacts. To improve context-specific understandings of the effects of climate change and glacial melt on water resources in the tropical Andes, this article synthesizes results from long-term transdisciplinary research with new findings from two glacierized Peruvian watersheds to develop and apply a multi-level conceptual framework focused on the coupled biophysical and social determinants of water access and hydro-social risks in these settings. The framework identifies several interacting variables-hydrologic transformation, land cover change, perceptions of water availability, water use and infrastructure in local and regional economies, and water rights and governance-to broadly assess how glacier change is embedded with social risks and vulnerability across diverse water uses and sectors. The primary focus is on the Santa River watershed draining the Cordillera Blanca to the Pacific. Additional analysis of hydrologic change and water access in the geographically distinct Shullcas River watershed draining the Huaytapallana massif towards the city of Huancayo further illuminates the heterogeneous character of hydrologic risk and vulnerability in the Andes.

  4. How typical are the last 20,000 years of climatic and vegetation change in the tropical Andes?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gosling, W. D.; Urrego, D. H.; Hanselman, J. A.; Valencia, B.; Bush, M. B.; Silman, M. R.

    2006-12-01

    A consensus of global circulation models highlights the southern tropical Andes as the biodiversity hotspot most likely to experience biome shift in the next century. The pace of the ongoing change finds its nearest parallel in that of the Younger Dryas at high latitudes. However, in the tropical Andes of Peru and Bolivia we find that there was no such rapid temperature change within the last 40,000 years. Rates of temperature change across the deglacial interval (which may begin as early as c. 22,000 cal. yr BP) are one to two orders of magnitude slower than those forecasted for the next century, and differed little from those of the full glacial. Indeed, the fastest rates of vegetation change are responses to Holocene drought and human activity, not Pleistocene/Holocene warming. Sedimentary data from long records on the Altiplano provide records of earlier interglacials (MIS 5e, 7 and 9), but do not have the chronological control to provide assessments of rate of change. Nevertheless, those records do provide evidence of marked similarities in the development of each interglacial, with some divergence seen at full interglacial conditions.

  5. Estimation of slip scenarios of mega-thrust earthquakes and strong motion simulations for Central Andes, Peru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulido, N.; Tavera, H.; Aguilar, Z.; Chlieh, M.; Calderon, D.; Sekiguchi, T.; Nakai, S.; Yamazaki, F.

    2012-12-01

    all scenario slips for central Andes, and for an average soil condition, exhibit similar amplitudes and attenuation characteristics with distance as the PGA and PGV values observed during the 2010 Maule (Mw 8.8), and 2011 Tohoku-oki (Mw 9.0) earthquakes. Our results clearly indicate that the simulated ground motions for scenarios with deep rupture nucleations (~40 km) are consistently smaller than the ground motions obtained for shallower rupture nucleations. We also performed strong ground motion simulations in metropolitan Lima by using the aforementioned slip scenarios, and incorporating site amplifications obtained from several microtremors array surveys conducted at representative geotechnical zones in this city. Our simulated PGA and PGV in Lima reach values of 1000 cm/s^2 and 80 cm/s. Our results show that the largest values of PGA (at Puente Piedra district, Northern Lima) are related with short period site effects, whereas the largest values of PGV are related with large site amplifications for periods from 1s to 1.5s (at Callao, Villa el Salvador and La Molina districts). Our results also indicate that the simulated PGA and PGV in central Lima (Parque de la Reserva) are in average 2~3 times larger than the values recorded by a strong motion instrument installed at this location, during the 1974 (Mw8.0) and 1966 (Mw8.0) earthquakes off-shore Lima.

  6. Dynamics of a Puelche foehn event in the Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lea Beusch

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In this numerical modelling study, we investigate a Puelche foehn event (25–26 March 2014 in the southern Andes – a region with sparse observations. The synoptic environment as well as the mesoscale structure and the dynamics of the easterly wind are examined with European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF analyses and a simulation with the mesoscale non-hydrostatic limited-area weather prediction model COSMO with a grid spacing of 2.2 km.The large-scale synoptic situation leading to this Puelche event is characterized by a mid-tropospheric cut-off low above the mountain range, the formation of a coastal surface low, as well as high pressure extending over the southern Andes. Easterly winds extend throughout the entire troposphere, indicative of a deep foehn flow. In the free troposphere, the easterlies are geostrophically balanced and develop in association with increasing pressure to the south. In contrast, within the planetary boundary layer, the easterly winds occur predominantly due to an increasing cross-range large-scale pressure gradient with only a weak geostrophic component. Kinematic trajectories indicate that a significant part of the Puelche air mass originates from above an inversion on the upstream side of the Andes. Some air parcels, however, ascend on the upstream side to crest height as the boundary layer deepens during daytime and/or flow through gaps across the mountain range. Hence, this Puelche event shares characteristics of both a blocked and a non-blocked foehn type.

  7. Does External Funding Help Adaptation? Evidence from Community-Based Water Management in the Colombian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murtinho, Felipe; Eakin, Hallie; López-Carr, David; Hayes, Tanya M.

    2013-11-01

    Despite debate regarding whether, and in what form, communities need external support for adaptation to environmental change, few studies have examined how external funding impacts adaptation decisions in rural resource-dependent communities. In this article, we use quantitative and qualitative methods to assess how different funding sources influence the initiative to adapt to water scarcity in the Colombian Andes. We compare efforts to adapt to water scarcity in 111 rural Andean communities with varied dependence on external funding for water management activities. Findings suggest that despite efforts to use their own internal resources, communities often need external support to finance adaptation strategies. However, not all external financial support positively impacts a community’s abilities to adapt. Results show the importance of community-driven requests for external support. In cases where external support was unsolicited, the results show a decline, or “crowding-out,” in community efforts to adapt. In contrast, in cases where communities initiated the request for external support to fund their own projects, findings show that external intervention is more likely to enhance or “crowds-in” community-driven adaptation.

  8. Primer registro del frutero pechinegro Pipreola lubomirskii (Aves, Cotingidae en la vertiente occidental de los Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Letty Salinas

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available El frutero pechinegro, Pipreola lubomirskii, es un cotíngido registrado como raro y de distribución local en los Andes del Norte. Antes del presente registro sólo había sido reportado para la vertiente oriental del Perú y Ecuador, así como los Andes del sur de Colombia. El presente registro amplia su distribución a los bosques montañosos de la vertiente occidental de los Andes peruanos, habiéndose encontrado en los bosques nublados del valle del río Zaña, en el departamento de Cajamarca (6º50’-6º52’ latitud S, 79º10’-79º07’ longitud O.

  9. Rapid Diversification and Time Explain Amphibian Richness at Different Scales in the Tropical Andes, Earth's Most Biodiverse Hotspot.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutter, Carl R; Lambert, Shea M; Wiens, John J

    2017-12-01

    The Tropical Andes make up Earth's most species-rich biodiversity hotspot for both animals and plants. Nevertheless, the ecological and evolutionary processes underlying this extraordinary richness remain uncertain. Here, we examine the processes that generate high richness in the Tropical Andes relative to other regions in South America and across different elevations within the Andes, using frogs as a model system. We combine distributional data, a newly generated time-calibrated phylogeny for 2,318 frog species, and phylogenetic comparative methods to test the relative importance of diversification rates and colonization times for explaining Andean diversity at different scales. At larger scales (among regions and families), we find that faster diversification rates in Andean clades most likely explain high Andean richness. In contrast, at smaller temporal and spatial scales (within family-level clades within the Andes), diversification rates rarely explain richness patterns. Instead, we show that colonization times are important for shaping elevational richness patterns within the Andes, with more species found in habitats colonized earlier. We suggest that these scale-dependent patterns might apply to many other richness gradients. Recognition of this scale dependence may help to reconcile conflicting results among studies of richness patterns across habitats, regions, and organisms.

  10. AREAS OF ENDEMISM IN THE SOUTHERN CENTRAL ANDES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lone Aagesen

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Este trabajo analiza la distribución de especies de plantas vasculares endémicas de la porción sur de los Andes centrales (sudoeste de Bolivia y noroeste de Argentina. En el análisis se incluyeron 540 especies endémicas de la región estudiada (aproximadamente 720.600 km2. La mayoría de las especies endémicas se halla en ambientes semiáridos, entre 1500-3500 m s.m., encontrándose principalmente en valles, laderas y mesetas del topográficamente complejo sur de los Andes centrales. Las áreas de endemismos aquí halladas se presentan consecuentemente en ambientes áridos y no en ambientes húmedos subtropicales de las Yungas tucumano-bolivianas, a pesar de que en esta última región la diversidad de plantas vasculares es mayor. Se identificaron un total de 17 patrones de distribución bien definidos, y parcialmente solapados. El patrón de distribución más amplio define un área general de endemismos para los Andes centrales. Esta área se extiende a lo largo de casi toda la región y está delimitada por especies que se distribuyen en ambientes desérticos a sub-húmedos en laderas, valles o regiones altoandinas. Casi todas las restantes áreas de endemismo se encuentran anidadas dentro del patrón de distribución amplio antes citado, superponiéndose en el sentido norte-sur a lo largo de pendientes y valles de los Andes y de las Sierras Pampeanas. A pesar del sesgo observado en la distribución hacia ambientes áridos, aproximadamente la mitad de las especies endémicas están restringidas a unas pocas áreas de alto endemismo, las que se encuentran en yuxtaposición con las zonas más lluviosas de la región. Estas áreas de alto endemismo incluyen los rangos de hábitat más amplios de la región en términos de altitud y precipitación, siendo las especies endémicas igualmente variables en sus requerimientos de humedad y elevación. Las unidades fitogeográficas previamente definidas por diversos autores no fueron encontradas

  11. Isotopic composition and origin of the precipitation in Northern Chile

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aravena, R.; Suzuki, O.; Pena, H.; Pollastri, A.; Fuenzalida, H.; Grilli, A.

    1999-01-01

    A 3 a data set of isotopes in precipitation from northern Chile show a very distinct pattern, with δ 18 O values ranging between -18 and -15per thousand at high altitude stations, compared to δ 18 O values between -10 and -6per thousand at the lower altitude areas. The 18 O-depleted values observed in the high altitude area, the Altiplano, are related to processes that affect the air masses that originated over the Atlantic, cross the Amazon Basin (continental effect), ascend the Andes (altitude effect) and precipitated (convective effect) in the Altiplano. It is postulated that a second source of moisture, associated with air masses from the Pacific, may contribute to the 18 O-enriched values observed in the lower altitude areas. Similar isotopic patterns are documented in springs and groundwater indicating that the data presented in this paper are an accurate representation of the long term behavior isotopic composition of rain in northern Chile. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

  12. Isotopic composition and origin of the precipitation in Northern Chile

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aravena, R. [Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo (Canada); Suzuki, O. [Exploracion y Desarrollo de Recursos Hidricos, Santiago (Chile); Pena, H. [Direccion General de Aguas, Ministerio de Obras Publicas, Santiago (Chile); Pollastri, A. [Comision Chilena de Energia Nuclear, Santiago (Chile); Fuenzalida, H. [Departamento de Geofisica, Universidad of Chile, Santiago (Chile); Grilli, A. [Empresa Metropolitana de Obras Sanitarias, Santiago (Chile)

    1999-06-01

    A 3 a data set of isotopes in precipitation from northern Chile show a very distinct pattern, with {delta}{sup 18}O values ranging between -18 and -15per thousand at high altitude stations, compared to {delta}{sup 18}O values between -10 and -6per thousand at the lower altitude areas. The {sup 18}O-depleted values observed in the high altitude area, the Altiplano, are related to processes that affect the air masses that originated over the Atlantic, cross the Amazon Basin (continental effect), ascend the Andes (altitude effect) and precipitated (convective effect) in the Altiplano. It is postulated that a second source of moisture, associated with air masses from the Pacific, may contribute to the {sup 18}O-enriched values observed in the lower altitude areas. Similar isotopic patterns are documented in springs and groundwater indicating that the data presented in this paper are an accurate representation of the long term behavior isotopic composition of rain in northern Chile. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

  13. Glacial recession in the Tropical Andes from the Little Ice Age: the case of Ampato Volcanic Complex (Southern Peru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alcalá, J.; Palacios, D.; Zamorano, J. J.

    2010-03-01

    Data published over the last decade reveal substantial glacial recession in the tropical Andes since the Little Ice Age (LIA), (Ramirez, et al., 2001; Rabatel, et al., 2005; Rabatel, et al., 2008; Vuille, et al., 2008; Hastenrath, 2009; Jomelli, et al., 2009), and a growing rate of recession since the 1980’s caused by global warming (Ramirez, et al., 2001; Vuille, et al., 2008). Today there is great interest in the evolution of these ice masses due to heightened awareness of climate change and of the strategic importance that glaciers have as a hydrologic resource for communities in arid climate zones in the tropical Andes (Mark, 2008; Vuille et al., 2008). Cordillera Blanca forms part of the Andes Mountains of northern Peru, and is a chosen site for many studies on glacier evolution. Vuille et al. 2008 determined that a considerable area of ice mass was lost at Huascarán-Chopicalqui glacier (18% from 1920-1970) and Astesonraju glacier (20% from 1962-2003). Studies at Coropuna volcano, which has the most extensive glacier field in the western range of southern Peru, also report a strong melting trend that began with only minimal recession from 1955-1986 (4%), but increased to 14% from 1986-2007 (Úbeda et al., 2009). Only a few of the Andes glaciers are consistently monitored, and the most comprehensive data are for Chacaltaya and Zongo glaciers (16º S) in Bolivia. Since the maximum LIA, Chacaltaya has lost 89% of its surface area, particularly in recent years. By 1983, the totaled loss was five times the shrinkage for the period 1940-1963 (Ramirez, et al., 2001). Zongo glacier maintained equilibrium from 1956-1975, but later experienced a period dominated by continuous recession (Soruco, et al., 2009). This study expands current knowledge of glacier evolution since the LIA in the Central Volcanic Zone (CVZ; 14º - 27º S) (Stern, 2004) of the Andes. The study site was chosen in an area that had never been used for preliminary research of this type, concretely

  14. Developing services for climate impact and adaptation baseline information and methodologies for the Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huggel, C.

    2012-04-01

    Impacts of climate change are observed and projected across a range of ecosystems and economic sectors, and mountain regions thereby rank among the hotspots of climate change. The Andes are considered particularly vulnerable to climate change, not only due to fragile ecosystems but also due to the high vulnerability of the population. Natural resources such as water systems play a critical role and are observed and projected to be seriously affected. Adaptation to climate change impacts is therefore crucial to contain the negative effects on the population. Adaptation projects require information on the climate and affected socio-environmental systems. There is, however, generally a lack of methodological guidelines how to generate the necessary scientific information and how to communicate to implementing governmental and non-governmental institutions. This is particularly important in view of the international funds for adaptation such as the Green Climate Fund established and set into process at the UNFCCC Conferences of the Parties in Cancun 2010 and Durban 2011. To facilitate this process international and regional organizations (World Bank and Andean Community) and a consortium of research institutions have joined forces to develop and define comprehensive methodologies for baseline and climate change impact assessments for the Andes, with an application potential to other mountain regions (AndesPlus project). Considered are the climatological baseline of a region, and the assessment of trends based on ground meteorological stations, reanalysis data, and satellite information. A challenge is the scarcity of climate information in the Andes, and the complex climatology of the mountain terrain. A climate data platform has been developed for the southern Peruvian Andes and is a key element for climate data service and exchange. Water resources are among the key livelihood components for the Andean population, and local and national economy, in particular for

  15. ENTERRANDO HERÓIS, PATRIARCAS, SUICIDAS E TRAIDORES: SOLIDARIEDADE E OSTRACISMO NOS ANDES COLOMBIANOS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Santiago Alvarez

    2001-10-01

    Full Text Available Este artigo discute diferenças e hierarquias encontradas nos ritos fúnebres de uma comunidade camponesa na região sudeste dos andes colombianos. Nessa comunidade - afetada por diferentes expressões de violência -, os funerais emergem como formas seletivas de manifestação de solidariedade social. De fato, na população analisada foram observadas notáveis diferenças quantitativas e qualitativas na organização e evolução de tais cerimônias fúnebres. As diferenças estão relacionadas ao sexo e à posição social do morto, bem como à forma pela qual ele ou ela morreu. Em um extremo das representações e práticas sociais relacionadas à morte encontram-se os enterros de homens jovens, mortos tragicamente. Estes são objeto de um culto particular, sendo glorificados pela comunidade. No outro extremo, a comunidade expressa sua rejeição às mulheres suicidas, rejeição que se coloca em evidência, especialmente, durante a evolução dos funerais.This article discusses the differences and hierarchies found in the funeral rites of a peasant community in the southwestern region of the Colombian Andes. In this community - affected by different expressions of violence - funerals emerge as selective forms for the manifestation of social solidarity. In the population considered, marked qualitative and quantitative differences in the organization and evolution of these funeral rites were, in fact, observed. The differences are related to the sex and social position of the deceased, as well as to the way in which he or she died. At one extreme of the social practices and representations associated with death are the burials of young men killed tragically. These are the object of a particular cult, and are glorified by the community. At the other extreme, the community expresses its rejection of women who have committed suicide, an attitude which is particularly evident during the course of the funeral.

  16. Willow on Yellowstone's northern range: evidence for a trophic cascade?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beyer, Hawthorne L; Merrill, Evelyn H; Varley, Nathan; Boyce, Mark S

    2007-09-01

    Reintroduction of wolves (Canis lupus) to Yellowstone National Park in 1995-1996 has been argued to promote a trophic cascade by altering elk (Cervus elaphus) density, habitat-selection patterns, and behavior that, in turn, could lead to changes within the plant communities used by elk. We sampled two species of willow (Salix boothii and S. geyeriana) on the northern winter range to determine whether (1) there was quantitative evidence of increased willow growth following wolf reintroduction, (2) browsing by elk affected willow growth, and (3) any increase in growth observed was greater than that expected by climatic and hydrological factors alone, thereby indicating a trophic cascade caused by wolves. Using stem sectioning techniques to quantify historical growth patterns we found an approximately twofold increase in stem growth-ring area following wolf reintroduction for both species of willow. This increase could not be explained by climate and hydrological factors alone; the presence of wolves on the landscape was a significant predictor of stem growth above and beyond these abiotic factors. Growth-ring area was positively correlated with the previous year's ring area and negatively correlated with the percentage of twigs browsed from the stem during the winter preceding growth, indicating that elk browse impeded stem growth. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis of a behaviorally mediated trophic cascade on Yellowstone's northern winter range following wolf reintroduction. We suggest that the community-altering effects of wolf restoration are an endorsement of ecological-process management in Yellowstone National Park.

  17. The Quaternary calc-alkaline volcanism of the Patagonian Andes close to the Chile triple junction: geochemistry and petrogenesis of volcanic rocks from the Cay and Maca volcanoes (˜45°S, Chile)

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Orazio, M.; Innocenti, F.; Manetti, P.; Tamponi, M.; Tonarini, S.; González-Ferrán, O.; Lahsen, A.; Omarini, R.

    2003-08-01

    Major- and trace-element, Sr-Nd isotopes, and mineral chemistry data were obtained for a collection of volcanic rock samples erupted by the Cay and Maca Quaternary volcanoes, Patagonian Andes (˜45°S, Chile). Cay and Maca are two large, adjacent stratovolcanoes that rise from the Chiloe block at the southern end of the southern volcanic zone (SVZ) of the Andes. Samples from the two volcanoes are typical medium-K, calc-alkaline rocks that form two roughly continuous, largely overlapping series from subalkaline basalt to dacite. The overall geochemistry of the samples studied is very similar to that observed for most volcanoes from the southern SVZ. The narrow range of Sr-Nd isotope compositions ( 87Sr/ 86Sr=0.70389-0.70431 and 143Nd/ 144Nd=0.51277-0.51284) and the major- and trace-element distributions indicate that the Cay and Maca magmas differentiated by crystal fractionation without significant contribution by crustal contamination. This is in accordance with the thin (Maca magmas is investigated by means of the relative concentration of fluid mobile (e.g. Ba) and fluid immobile (e.g. Nb, Ta, Zr, Y) elements and other relevant trace-element ratios (e.g. Sr/Y). The results indicate that small amounts (Maca volcanoes and that, despite the very young age (Maca magma sources to the northern edge of the slab window generated by the subduction of the Chile ridge under the South American plate, we did not find any geochemical evidence for a contribution of a subslab asthenospheric mantle. However, this mantle has been used to explain the peculiar geochemical features (e.g. the mild alkalinity and relatively low ratios between large ion lithophile and high field strength elements) of the Hudson volcano, which is located even closer to the slab window than the Cay and Maca volcanoes are.

  18. Andes hantavirus variant in rodents, southern Amazon Basin, Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Razuri, Hugo; Tokarz, Rafal; Ghersi, Bruno M; Salmon-Mulanovich, Gabriela; Guezala, M Claudia; Albujar, Christian; Mendoza, A Patricia; Tinoco, Yeny O; Cruz, Christopher; Silva, Maria; Vasquez, Alicia; Pacheco, Víctor; Ströher, Ute; Guerrero, Lisa Wiggleton; Cannon, Deborah; Nichol, Stuart T; Hirschberg, David L; Lipkin, W Ian; Bausch, Daniel G; Montgomery, Joel M

    2014-02-01

    We investigated hantaviruses in rodents in the southern Amazon Basin of Peru and identified an Andes virus variant from Neacomys spinosus mice. This finding extends the known range of this virus in South America and the range of recognized hantaviruses in Peru. Further studies of the epizoology of hantaviruses in this region are warranted.

  19. Andes Hantavirus Variant in Rodents, Southern Amazon Basin, Peru

    OpenAIRE

    Razuri, Hugo; Tokarz, Rafal; Ghersi, Bruno M.; Salmon-Mulanovich, Gabriela; Guezala, M. Claudia; Albujar, Christian; Mendoza, A. Patricia; Tinoco, Yeny O.; Cruz, Christopher; Silva, Maria; Vasquez, Alicia; Pacheco, Víctor; Ströher, Ute; Guerrero, Lisa Wiggleton; Cannon, Deborah

    2014-01-01

    We investigated hantaviruses in rodents in the southern Amazon Basin of Peru and identified an Andes virus variant from Neacomys spinosus mice. This finding extends the known range of this virus in South America and the range of recognized hantaviruses in Peru. Further studies of the epizoology of hantaviruses in this region are warranted.

  20. Altitudinal gradients, midwinter melt, and wind effects on snow accumulation in semiarid midlatitude Andes under La Niña conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayala, A.; McPhee, J.; Vargas, X.

    2014-04-01

    The Andes Cordillera remains a sparsely monitored and studied snow hydrology environment in comparison to similar mountain ranges in the Northern Hemisphere. In order to uncover some of the key processes driving snow water equivalent (SWE) spatial variability, we present and analyze a distributed SWE data set, sampled at the end of accumulation season 2011. Three representative catchments across the region were monitored, obtaining measurements in an elevation range spanning 2000 to 3900 m asl and from 32.4° to 34.0°S in latitude. Climatic conditions during this season corresponded to a moderate La Niña phenomenon, which is generally correlated with lower-than normal accumulation. Collected measurements can be described at the regional and watershed extents by altitudinal gradients that imply an increase by a factor of two in snow depth between 2200 and 3000 m asl, though with significant variability at the upper sites. In these upper sites, we found north-facing, wind-sheltered slopes showing 25% less average SWE values than south-facing, wind-exposed ones. This suggests that under these conditions, solar radiation dominated wind transport effects in controlling end-of-winter variability. Nevertheless, we found clusters of snow depth measurements above 3000 m asl that can be explained by wind exposure differences. This is the first documented snow depth data set of this spatial extent for this region, and it is framed within an ongoing research effort aimed at improving understanding and modeling of snow hydrology in the extratropical Andes Cordillera.

  1. Correlation of Early Tertiary Terrestrial Deposits of the Amaga Basin, Cauca Depression, Colombian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sierra, G. M.; Sierra, G. M.; MacDonald, W. D.

    2001-05-01

    The Amaga Formation of the Amaga Basin preserves early Tertiary terrestrial deposits of many facies: channel, crevasse splay, paludal, flood plain, point bar, etc. These deposits lie between two major strike-slip fault zones, the Cauca and the Romeral in the Cauca Valley of the northern Andes of Colombia. Coal deposits characterize the lower part of the stratigraphic section; fine to medium clastic sediments otherwise dominate the sections. Within the basin, correlation between sections is difficult because various discontinuities interrupt the continuity of the strata. These include Tertiary intrusives, folding and faulting. Rapid lateral facies changes further complicate the correlations. Detailed studies on five stratigraphic sections are underway. Multiple methods of correlating sections are being used, including fluvial sequence stratigraphy in outcrops, architectural facies analysis, heavy mineral separates, grain-size and grain-ratio variations, paleocurrent directions, and magnetic property variations. Distinctive regional variations in magnetic anisotropic susceptibility indicate areas in which tectonic effects overprint sedimentary fabrics. The presence of secondary hematite and siderite is related to that overprinting. A major compositional break (identified by grain-ratio variations) has been found in the middle of the section. The integrated correlation results are summarized.

  2. APROPIACIÓN INCA EN LA CORDILLERA DE CHILLA, SUROESTE DE LOS ANDES DEL ECUADOR: EL CASO DEL SITIO GUIÑAYZHU (Inca Appropriation in the Chilla Mountain Range, Southwest of the Andes of Ecuador: the Case of the Guiñayzhu Site

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mary Jadán V.

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available En este artículo se discuten los resultados del trabajo realizado en el sitio Guiñayzhu, al suroeste de los Andes del Ecuador. Esta investigación revela que el sitio, además de presentar evidencias de poblaciones locales, tiene colcas o qullcas para el almacenaje de productos, terrazas de pirca y caminos empedrados entre otras instalaciones. Se interpreta que Guiñayzhu es uno de los sitios de la cordillera de Chilla que refleja la expansión del incario y expresa una efectiva dominación de esta región como un enclave estratégico del imperio en su avance hacia el norte. ENGLISH: In this article, the results of research carried out in Guiñayzhu, located at the southwest of the Andes of Ecuador, are discussed. This work reveals that in addition to presenting evidence of local populations, the site has colcas or qullqas for the storage of products, terraces of pirca, and roads paved with stone, among other constructions. Guiñayzhu is interpreted as one of the sites of the Chilla mountain range that reflects the expansion of the Inca and expresses an effective domination of this region, representing a strategic enclave of the empire in its advance northward.

  3. A new species of Trechisibus from Peruvian Andes (Coleoptera: Carabidae, Trechinae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro Delgado

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available In this work the new species Trechisibus (s. str. delestali sp. n., is described from the southern Peruvian Andes. The morphological differences with the geographically closest species of the subgenus are also presented and discussed.

  4. The Glaciation of the Ecuadorian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schubert, Carlos

    This pleasing book fills the gap in the knowledge about Pleistocene and recent glaciation between Colombia and Peru. A significant amount of data exists already for Colombia and Venezuela and for Peru, Bolivia, and, particularly, Chile. Hastenrath has now given us a description of glaciers and glaciation underneath the equator in the Andes.The book begins with brief summaries of the physiography and the atmospheric circulation, which give the general setting of Ecuador. Then follow detailed descriptions of the glaciers and glacial morphology of all the important mountains of the Western and Eastern Cordilleras. These are well illustrated, and a particularly useful feature is the comparison of old photographs and paintings of glaciers with modern photographs, many taken by the author. All illustrate the spectacular retreat of the glaciers in the Ecuadorian Andes during the last century and correlate quite well with observations elsewhere. This retreat is snown quantitatively in Table 4, in terms of decrease in glacier-covered area since the glacial advance of moraine stage III. The area of present-day glaciers is about 10% of the area during that stage (compared with about 1.5% in the Sierra Nevada de Mérida, Venezuela). A series of maps show the glacial morphology of the mountains (unfortunately, some of the maps have been included within the binding, thus losing some information; they could have been reduced somewhat to fit a single page or, if too large, could have been included in the pocket, together with the map of Chimborazo-Carihuairazo).

  5. Ethnoecology of the tropical Andes avian indicators of landscape change in highland Ecuador.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarmiento, F. O.

    2005-12-01

    Full Text Available Four Andean birds offer clues to rethink the ethnoecology of neotropical cloud forests, challenging the notion of conservation based only in water resources and biodiversity. Using both archaeological and actuoecological evidence, the role of humans in shaping high Andean landscapes' location and maintenance is argued as an important factor for conservation priorities of tropical montane cloud forests, particularly in the equatorial mountains. Avian examples demonstrate intricate linkages of culture and nature in the tropical Andes. Traditional knowledge associated to ornithological clues, helps understanding the dynamics of cultural landscapes, with birds as proxy of synergisms affecting the complexities of both, nature and culture. A paradox of conservation is highlighted with avian indicators. The four selected species were cases where landscape change and biodiversity help in determining ethnoecological insights. Unlike the preservation of absolute nature reserves, landscape stewardship, conservation easements and cultural la^tdscapes are listed as options for inclusion in the repertoire of conservation scenarios for cloud forests survival, which includes sacred places and spiritual domains as intangibles worth protecting in the Tropical Andes.

    [fr] Quatre oiseaux andins nous donnent des raisons pour repenser Vethnoécologie des forêts néotropicales humides, ce qui met en question l'idée de la conservation basée sur les ressources d'eau et la biodiversité seules. En se servant des évidences archéologiques et écologiques actuelles, on soutient que les êtres humains ont un rôle dans la formation des hauts paysages andins. On soutient aussi que l'entretien est un facteur important dans la conservation des forêts tropicales humides en montagne, surtout dans les montagnes équatoriales. Les exemples aviaires démontrent les liens compliqués entre la culture et la nature dans les Andes tropicales. Les connaissances

  6. Up and down the blind alley: population divergence with scant gene flow in an endangered tropical lineage of Andean palms (Ceroxylon quindiuense clade: Ceroxyloideae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sanín, María José; Zapata, Patricia; Pintaud, Jean-Christophe; Galeano, Gloria; Bohórquez, Adriana; Tohme, Joseph; Hansen, Michael Møller

    2017-02-10

    Given the geographical complexity of the Andes, species distributions hold interesting information regarding the history of isolation and gene flow across geographic barriers and ecological gradients. Moreover, current threats to the region’s enormous plant diversity pose an additional challenge to the understanding of these patterns. We explored the geographic structure of genetic diversity within the Ceroxylon quindiuense species complex (wax palms) at a regional scale, using a model-based approach to disentangle the historical mechanisms by which these species have dispersed over a range encompassing 17° of latitude in the tropical Andes. A total of 10 microsatellite loci were cross-amplified in 8 populations of the 3 species comprising the C. quindiuense complex. Analyses performed include estimates of molecular diversity and genetic structure, testing for genetic bottlenecks and an evaluation of the colonization scenario under approximate Bayesian computation. We showed that there was a geographical diversity gradient reflecting the orogenetic pattern of the northern Andes and its end at the cordilleras facing the Caribbean Sea. A general pattern of diversity suggests that the cordilleras of Colombia have served as historical recipients of gene flow occurring only scantly along the northern Andes. We provided evidence of important isolation between the largest populations of this complex, suggesting that both historical constraints to dispersal but also current anthropogenic effects might explain the high levels of population structuring. We provide a list of advisable measures for conservation stakeholders.

  7. Synchronous fire activity in the tropical high Andes: an indication of regional climate forcing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Román-Cuesta, R M; Carmona-Moreno, C; Lizcano, G; New, M; Silman, M; Knoke, T; Malhi, Y; Oliveras, I; Asbjornsen, H; Vuille, M

    2014-06-01

    Global climate models suggest enhanced warming of the tropical mid and upper troposphere, with larger temperature rise rates at higher elevations. Changes in fire activity are amongst the most significant ecological consequences of rising temperatures and changing hydrological properties in mountainous ecosystems, and there is a global evidence of increased fire activity with elevation. Whilst fire research has become popular in the tropical lowlands, much less is known of the tropical high Andean region (>2000 masl, from Colombia to Bolivia). This study examines fire trends in the high Andes for three ecosystems, the Puna, the Paramo and the Yungas, for the period 1982-2006. We pose three questions: (i) is there an increased fire response with elevation? (ii) does the El Niño- Southern Oscillation control fire activity in this region? (iii) are the observed fire trends human driven (e.g., human practices and their effects on fuel build-up) or climate driven? We did not find evidence of increased fire activity with elevation but, instead, a quasicyclic and synchronous fire response in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, suggesting the influence of high-frequency climate forcing on fire responses on a subcontinental scale, in the high Andes. ENSO variability did not show a significant relation to fire activity for these three countries, partly because ENSO variability did not significantly relate to precipitation extremes, although it strongly did to temperature extremes. Whilst ENSO did not individually lead the observed regional fire trends, our results suggest a climate influence on fire activity, mainly through a sawtooth pattern of precipitation (increased rainfall before fire-peak seasons (t-1) followed by drought spells and unusual low temperatures (t0), which is particularly common where fire is carried by low fuel loads (e.g., grasslands and fine fuel). This climatic sawtooth appeared as the main driver of fire trends, above local human influences and fuel build

  8. Tectonostratigraphic reconstruction Cretaceous volcano-sedimentary in the northwestern Andes: from extensional tectonics to arc accretion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zapata, S.; Patino, A. M.; Cardona, A.; Mejia, D.; Leon, S.; Jaramillo, J. S.; Valencia, V.; Parra, M.; Hincapie, S.

    2014-12-01

    Active continental margins characterized by continuous convergence experienced overimposed tectonic configurations that allowed the formation of volcanic arcs, back arc basins, transtensional divergent tectonics or the accretion of exotic volcanic terranes. Such record, particularly the extensional phases, can be partially destroyed and obscure by multiple deformational events, the accretion of exotic terranes and strike slip fragmentation along the margin. The tectonic evolution of the northern Andes during the Mesozoic is the result of post Pangea extension followed by the installation of a long-lived Jurassic volcanic arc (209 - 136 ma) that apparently stops between 136 Ma and 110 Ma. The Quebradagrande Complex has been define as a single Lower Cretaceous volcano-sedimentary unit exposed in the western flank of the Central Cordillera of the Colombian Andes that growth after the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous magmatic hiatus. The origin of this unit have been related either to an oceanic volcanic arc or a marginal basin environment. The existence of such contrasting models reflect the regional perspective followed in published studies and the paucity of detail analysis of the volcano-sedimentary sequences.We integrate multiple approaches including structural mapping, stratigraphy, geochemistry, U-Pb provenance and geochronology to improve the understanding of this unit and track the earlier phases of accumulation that are mask on the overimposed tectonic history. Our preliminary results suggest the existence of different volcano-sedimentary units that accumulated between 100 Ma and 82 Ma.The older Lower Cretaceous sequences was deposited over Triassic metamorphic continental crust and include a upward basin deepening record characterized by thick fan delta conglomerates, followed by distal turbidites and a syn-sedimentary volcanic record at 100 ma. The other sequence include a 85 - 82 Ma fringing arc that was also formed close to the continental margin or

  9. Recursos hídricos en los Andes: Lago Titicaca

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1995-01-01

    Full Text Available RESSOURCES EN EAUX DANS LES ANDES : LAC TITICACA. Une analyse par régression a été menée entre les variations de niveau du Lac Titicaca et les entrées du système (apports des affluents et précipitations. Les coefficients de corrélation, quoique relativement faibles, montrent aux abords du lac un effet de persistance qui diminue lorsque les stations sont éloignées du plan d’eau. L’inertie du lac se manifeste l’année suivante pour les affluents du lac et évidemment pour le lac lui-même. Ces résultats confirment la présence d’un mécanisme de rétro alimentation (effet boomerang. Cela montre que le système du Lac Titicaca est fragile, face à une utilisation excessive de ses eaux. Las regresiones estudiadas de cambios de nivel en el lago Titicaca contra precipitaciones y aportes en su cuenca, aunque relativamente bajas, muestran un efecto de persistencia en las proximidades del lago que decrece conforme las estaciones se alejan de éste. Lo que evidencia que la inercia del lago se manifiesta en el período siguiente (lag uno en los afluentes del lago y obviamente en el propio lago, fenómeno que parece confirmar la presencia de un mecanismo de retroalimentación (efecto boomerang. Este comportamiento muestra la fragilidad del lago frente a un aprovechamiento consuntivo excesivo. WATER RESOURCES IN THE ANDES: LAKE TITICACA. The studied regressions of the level changes in the Lake Titicaca versus the rainfall and the runoff in the basin, even being relatively low, show an effect of persistence in the proximity of the lake which decreases as we go away from it. This makes evident that the lake inertia manifests itself the following period (lag one in the lake tributaries and obviously in the lake itself, phenomenon which seems to confirm the presence of a feedback mechanism (boomerang effect. This behaviour shows the fragility of the lake against the excessive consumptive uses of the waters in its basin.

  10. Analysis of La Dehesa paleo-landslide. Central Pre-Andes of Argentina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tapia Baldis, Carla; Rothis, Luis Martín; Perucca, Laura; Esper Angillieri, María; Vargas, Horacio; Ponce, David; Allis, Carlos

    2018-04-01

    The main objective of this paper is to consider the influence of Quaternary faults as likely triggering factor for rockslides occurrence in the Central Pre-Andes, a region with intense shallow seismic activity. A rockslide deposit was selected as study case, placed in the western flank of La Dehesa and Talacasto (DT) range (31°3‧37″ S and 68°46‧ 8″ W). Applied methodology includes the characterization of main discontinuities, reconstruction of the topography using a high-resolution digital elevation model, safety factor calculation along the sliding surface and, Newmark displacements estimation for three different hypothetical seismic scenarios, recreated from existing neotectonic local information. Equilibrium-limit method's results confirm that study case, La Dehesa rockslide (LDR), had a stable and safe slope's configuration under static conditions. However, a seismic horizontal coefficient between 0.2 and 0.3 decreases safety factor below the safety threshold. Newmark's displacements for different seismic reconstructed scenarios varies between 4.1 and 15.9 cm, values that agreed with a coherent failure process, likely triggered by Pleistocene to Holocene seismogenic sources in Central Pre-Andes. LDR trigger could be assigned mainly to an earthquake related to La Dehesa Quaternary fault (LDF) activity; however, similar movements produced by neighboring faults should not be discarded. LDR triggering related to climatic conditions is despised. Finally, the methodology presented in this work is easy to reproduce and may be applied to other rockslides located in the mountainous areas of the Central Pre-Andes of Argentina.

  11. Intra-arc Seismicity: Geometry and Kinematic Constraints of Active Faulting along Northern Liquiñe-Ofqui and Andean Transverse Fault Systems [38º and 40ºS, Southern Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sielfeld, G.; Lange, D.; Cembrano, J. M.

    2017-12-01

    Intra-arc crustal seismicity documents the schizosphere tectonic state along active magmatic arcs. At oblique-convergent margins, a significant portion of bulk transpressional deformation is accommodated in intra-arc regions, as a consequence of stress and strain partitioning. Simultaneously, crustal fluid migration mechanisms may be controlled by the geometry and kinematics of crustal high strain domains. In such domains shallow earthquakes have been associated with either margin-parallel strike-slip faults or to volcano-tectonic activity. However, very little is known on the nature and kinematics of Southern Andes intra-arc crustal seismicity and its relation with crustal faults. Here we present results of a passive seismicity study based on 16 months of data collected from 33 seismometers deployed along the intra-arc region of Southern Andes between 38˚S and 40˚S. This region is characterized by a long-lived interplay among margin-parallel strike-slip faults (Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault System, LOFS), second order Andean-transverse-faults (ATF), volcanism and hydrothermal activity. Seismic signals recorded by our network document small magnitude (0.2P and 2,796 S phase arrival times have been located with NonLinLoc. First arrival polarities and amplitude ratios of well-constrained events, were used for focal mechanism inversion. Local seismicity occurs at shallow levels down to depth of ca. 16 km, associated either with stratovolcanoes or to master, N10˚E, and subsidiary, NE to ENE, striking branches of the LOFS. Strike-slip focal mechanisms are consistent with the long-term kinematics documented by field structural-geology studies. Unexpected, well-defined NW-SE elongated clusters are also reported. In particular, a 72-hour-long, N60˚W-oriented seismicity swarm took place at Caburgua Lake area, describing a ca. 36x12x1km3 faulting crustal volume. Results imply a unique snapshot on shallow crustal tectonics, contributing to the understanding of faulting processes

  12. First report of the planktonic copepod Oithona davisae in the northern Wadden Sea (North Sea): Evidence for recent invasion?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cornils, Astrid; Wend-Heckmann, Britta

    2015-06-01

    In October 2010, specimens of Oithona were taken from the List Tidal Basin in the northern Wadden Sea (North Sea) for a biogeographic study on Oithona similis. These specimens could not be assigned to O. similis or any of the other Oithona species known from the North Sea genetically. These specimens were identified as Oithona davisae Ferrari and Orsi 1984, a Northwest Pacific species, known as an invasive species from the Black Sea and the northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Recent sampling provided evidence that O. davisae is still present in the northern Wadden Sea and may thus now be a permanent plankton species.

  13. Climate dynamics along the arid northern coast of Chile: The 1997-1998 Dinámica del Clima de la Región de Antofagasta (DICLIMA) experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rutllant, José A.; Fuenzalida, Humberto; Aceituno, Patricio

    2003-09-01

    The DICLIMA field experiment was designed to test and quantify the hypothesis of an afternoon enhancement of the coastal subsidence in the extremely arid northern Chile because of solar heating over the west slope of the Andes. Ten-day campaigns near Antofagasta (23°S) were carried out in January 1997, July 1997, and January 1998. Significant diurnal cycles in temperature, mixing ratio, and wind from about 1000 to 4000 m above sea level were observed. This layer was decoupled from the marine boundary layer circulation below by the subsidence inversion when its base was under the average height of the coastal mountain range. The solar heating cycle over the Andes and associated circulation resulted in a mean afternoon zonal divergence above the subsidence inversion base of about 30 × 10-6 s-1, exceeding by a factor of 5 typical subtropical west coast divergences. The corresponding early morning convergence was particularly intense during the austral winter experiment. In spite of the very strong El Niño conditions that prevailed during the July 1997 and January 1998 experiments, the overwhelming control that radiation exerts on the daily cycles of the atmospheric circulation over the west slope of the Andes seems to guarantee the general validity of the results.

  14. Holocene tephra-fall deposits of southern and austral Andes volcanic zones (33-54oS): eruption recurrence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naranjo, J.A.; Polanco, E.; Lara, L; Moreno, H; Stern, C.R

    2001-01-01

    Radiometric 14 C dating is a very useful tool to study the chronostratigraphy of pyroclastic deposits. In addition, 14 C ages are essential parameters for the estimation of the recurrence time of the explosive volcanic activity. The origin, distribution and relative age of mappable Holocene tephra-fall deposits of the Southern Andes Volcanic Zone (SVZ) and Austral Andes Volcanic Zone (AVZ) from 33 o S-54 o S, were studied and their recurrence period is analysed (au)

  15. Multiproxy Holocene paleoclimate records from the southern Peruvian Andes - what new can we learn from the stable carbon isotope composition of high altitude organic matter deposits?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skrzypek, Grzegorz; Engel, Zbyněk

    2015-04-01

    Interpretation of the Central Andean paleoclimate over the last millennia still represents a research challenge demanding deeper studies [1,2]. Several high-resolution paleoclimate proxies for the last 10,000 years have been developed for the northern hemisphere. However, similar proxies are very limited for South America, particularly for high altitudes where, for example, tree-ring chronologies are not available and instrumental records are very limited. Consequently, our knowledge of high altitude climate changes in arid regions of the Peruvian Andes mainly relies on ice-core and lake deposit studies. In our study, we used a new alternative proxy for interpretation of palaeoclimate conditions based on a peat core taken from the Carhuasanta Valley at the foot of Nevado Mismi in the southern Peruvian Andes (15° 30'S, 71° 43'W, 4809m a.s.l.). The stable carbon isotope composition (δ13C) of Distichia peat reflects mainly the relative variation of the mean air temperature during subsequent growing seasons [3], and allows reconstructions of palaeotemperature changes. In contrast, peat organic carbon concentration (C % wt) records mainly wetness in the valley, directly corresponding to the changes in runoff in the upper part of the catchment. The most prominent climate changes recorded in the peat over last 4ka occurred between 3040 and 2750 cal. yrs BP. The initial warming turned to a very rapid cooling to temperatures at least 2° C lower than the mean for the Late Holocene. Initially drier conditions within this event turned to a short wet phase after 2780 cal. yrs BP, when the temperature increased again. This event coincides with significant changes in peat and ice core records in the Central Andes that match the timing of the global climate event around 2.8 cal. ka BP. Climatic conditions in the study area became relatively dry and stable after the event for about 800 years. Highly variable temperatures and humidity prevailed during the last 2000 years, when

  16. On the extension of the analytic nodal diffusion solver ANDES to sodium fast reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ochoa, R.; Herrero, J.J.; Garcia-Herranz, N.

    2011-01-01

    Within the framework of the Collaborative Project for a European Sodium Fast Reactor, the reactor physics group at UPM is working on the extension of its in-house multi-scale advanced deterministic code COBAYA3 to Sodium Fast Reactors (SFR). COBAYA3 is a 3D multigroup neutron kinetics diffusion code that can be used either as a pin-by-pin code or as a stand-alone nodal code by using the analytic nodal diffusion solver ANDES. It is coupled with thermal-hydraulics codes such as COBRA-TF and FLICA, allowing transient analysis of LWR at both fine-mesh and coarse-mesh scales. In order to enable also 3D pin-by-pin and nodal coupled NK-TH simulations of SFR, different developments are in progress. This paper presents the first steps towards the application of COBAYA3 to this type of reactors. ANDES solver, already extended to triangular-Z geometry, has been applied to fast reactor steady-state calculations. The required cross section libraries were generated with ERANOS code for several configurations. Here some of the limitations encountered when attempting to apply the Analytical Coarse Mesh Finite Difference (ACMFD) method - implemented inside ANDES - to fast reactor calculations are discussed and the sensitivity of the method to the energy-group structure is studied. In order to reinforce some of the conclusions obtained two calculations are presented. The first one involves a 3D mini-core model in 33 groups, where the ANDES solver presents several issues. And secondly, a benchmark from the NEA for a small 3D FBR in hexagonal-Z geometry in 4 energy groups is used to verify the good convergence of the code in a few-energy-group structure. (author)

  17. The forest vegetation of Ramal de Guaramacal in the Venezuelan Andes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cuello, A.N.L.; Cleef, A.M.

    2009-01-01

    Montane forest community composition of Ranial de Guaramacal, Venezuelan Andes, was studied along the altitudinal gradient on both sides of the range with different slope expositions. Thirty five 0.1 ha plots were Surveyed, with variable intervals of 30 to 150 meters between 1350 in and 2890 in and

  18. The forest vegetation of Ramal de Guaramacal in the Venezuelan Andes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cuello A., N.L.; Cleef, A.M.

    2009-01-01

    Montane forest community composition of Ramal de Guaramacal, Venezuelan Andes, was studied along the altitudinal gradient on both sides of the range with different slope expositions. Thirty five 0.1 ha plots were surveyed, with variable intervals of 30 to 150 meters between 1350 m and 2890 m and

  19. Stable isotope and DNA evidence for ritual sequences in Inca child sacrifice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wilson, Andrew S; Taylor, Timothy; Ceruti, Maria Constanza

    2007-01-01

    Four recently discovered frozen child mummies from two of the highest peaks in the south central Andes now yield tantalizing evidence of the preparatory stages leading to Inca ritual killing as represented by the unique capacocha rite. Our interdisciplinary study examined hair from the mummies to...

  20. Tracing oxidative weathering from the Andes to the lowland Amazon Basin using dissoved rhenium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dellinger, M.; Hilton, R. G.; West, A. J.; Torres, M.; Burton, K. W.; Clark, K. E.; Baronas, J. J.

    2016-12-01

    Over long timescales (>105 yrs), the abundance of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is determined by the balance of the major carbon sources and sinks. Among the major carbon sources, the oxidation of organic carbon contained within sedimentary rocks ("petrogenic" carbon, or OCpetro) is thought to result in CO2 emission of similar magnitude to that released by volcanism. Rhenium (Re) has been proposed as a proxy for tracing OCpetro oxidation. Here we investigate the source, behavior and flux of dissolved and particulate rhenium (Re) in the Madre de Dios watershed (a major Andean tributary of the Amazon River) and the lowlands, aiming to characterize the behavior of Re in river water and quantify the flux of CO2 released by OCpetro oxidation. Measured Re concentrations in Andean rivers range from 0.07 to 1.55 ppt. In the Andes, Re concentration do not change significantly with water discharge, whereas in the lowlands, Re concentration decrease at high water discharge. Mass balance calculation show that more than 70% of the dissolved Re is sourced from the oxidation of OCpetro the Andes-floodplain system. We calculate dissolved Re flux over a hydrological year to estimate the rates of oxidative weathering, and the associated CO2 release from OCpetro. Rates are high in the Andean headwaters, consistent with estimates from other mountain rivers with similar rates of physical erosion. We find evidence that a significant amount of additional oxidation (Re flux) happens during floodplain transport. These results have important implications for improving our understanding of the source and processes controlling Re in rivers, and allowing us to quantify long-term OCpetro cycling in large river basins.

  1. Phylogeny of Neotropical Cercosaura (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) lizards.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres-Carvajal, Omar; Lobos, Simón E; Venegas, Pablo J

    2015-12-01

    Among Neotropical lizards, the geographically widespread gymnophthalmid Cercosaura as currently defined includes lowland and highland taxa from Panama to Argentina, with some species occurring in the northern Andes. In this study we analyze three mitochondrial (12S, 16S, ND4) and one nuclear (c-mos) gene using Bayesian methods to clarify the phylogenetic relationships among most species of Cercosaura based on a well-supported phylogenetic hypothesis that also includes a large sample of other taxa within Cercosaurini. The phylogenetic tree obtained in this paper shows that Cercosaura as currently defined is not monophyletic. Two species from the northern Andes (C. dicra and C. vertebralis) are nested within Pholidobolus, which has been formerly recognized as a major radiation along the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia. Therefore, Cercosaura has probably not diversified in the northern Andes, although the phylogenetic position of C. hypnoides from the Andes of Colombia remains unknown. Tree topology and genetic distances support both recognition of C. ocellata bassleri as a distinct species, C. bassleri, and recognition of C. argula and C. oshaughnessyi as two different species. In the interest of promoting clarity and precision regarding the names of clades of gymnophthalmid lizards, we propose a phylogenetic definition of Cercosaura. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Palm harvest impact in the western Amazon, Andes and Pacific lowlands

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Balslev, Henrik

    2011-01-01

    Palms are the most useful group of plants in tropical American forests and in this project we study the effect of extraction and trade of palms on forests in the western Amazon, Andes, and Pacific lowlands. We determine the size of the resource by making palm community studies in the different...

  3. The Holocene treeline in the northern Andes (Ecuador): First evidence from soil charcoal

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pasquale, Di G.; Maziano, M.; Impagliazzo, S.; Lubritto, C.; Natale, De A.; Bader, M.

    2008-01-01

    Indications for the speed and timing of past altitudinal treeline shifts are often contradictory. Partly, this may be due to interpretation difficulties of pollen records, which are generally regional rather than local proxies. We used pedoanthracology, the identification and dating of macroscopic

  4. Estrés y síntomas en personal de salud del Hospital Universitario de Los Andes.

    OpenAIRE

    Manzanilla, María D.; Molina de González Méndez, Tivizay; Caltagirone, Raimondo; Vera , Mariflor; Torres, Adrián R.

    2007-01-01

    Editorial. ¡Ya tenemos símbolo, ícono o logotipo!. Now we have symbol, icono or logo!. Salinas, Pedro José Accidentes domésticos en ancianos. Municipio Libertador. Mérida. 1993-1996. Domestics accidents in elderly people. Libertador County of Mérida State. 1993-1996. Salinas, Pedro José Rojas Márquez, Reina Estrés y síntomas en personal de salud del Hospital Universitario de Los Andes. Stress and symptoms in health staff of the Hospital Universitario de Los Andes. Méri...

  5. Tectonic control of erosion in the southern Central Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Val, Pedro; Venerdini, Agostina L.; Ouimet, William; Alvarado, Patricia; Hoke, Gregory D.

    2018-01-01

    Landscape evolution modeling and global compilations of exhumation data indicate that a wetter climate, mainly through orographic rainfall, can govern the spatial distribution of erosion rates and crustal strain across an orogenic wedge. However, detecting this link is not straightforward since these relationships can be modulated by tectonic forcing and/or obscured by heavy-tailed frequencies of catchment discharge. This study combines new and published along-strike average rates of catchment erosion constrained by 10Be and river-gauge data in the Central Andes between 28°S and 36°S. These data reveal a nearly identical latitudinal pattern in erosion rates on both sides of the range, reaching a maximum of 0.27 mm/a near 34°S. Collectively, data on topographic and fluvial relief, variability of rainfall and discharge, and crustal seismicity suggest that the along-strike pattern of erosion rates in the southern Central Andes is largely independent of climate, but closely relates to the N-S distribution of shallow crustal seismicity and diachronous surface uplift. The consistently high erosion rates on either side of the orogen near 34°S imply that climate plays a secondary role in the mass flux through an orogenic wedge where the perturbation to base level is similar on both sides.

  6. Holocene Multi-Decadal to Millennial-Scale Hydrologic Variability on the South American Altiplano

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fritz, S. C.; Baker, P. A.; Ekdahl, E.; Burns, S.

    2006-12-01

    On orbital timescales, lacustrine sediment records in the tropical central Andes show massive changes in lake level due to mechanisms related to global-scale drivers, varying at precessional timescales. Here we use stable isotopic and diatom records from two lakes in the Lake Titicaca drainage basin to reconstruct multi- decadal to millennial scale precipitation variability during the last 7000 to 8000 years. The records are tightly coupled at multi-decadal to millennial scales with each other and with lake-level fluctuations in Lake Titicaca, indicating that the lakes are recording a regional climate signal. A quantitative reconstruction of precipitation from stable isotopic data indicates that the central Andes underwent significant wet to dry alternations at multi- centennial frequencies with an amplitude of 30 to 40% of total precipitation. A strong millennial-scale component, similar in duration to periods of increased ice rafted debris flux in the North Atlantic, is observed in both lake records, suggesting that tropical North Atlantic sea-surface temperature (SST) variability may partly control regional precipitation. No clear relationship is evident between these records and the inferred ENSO history from Lago Pallcacocha in the northern tropical Andes. In the instrumental period, regional precipitation variability on inter-annual timescales is clearly influenced by Pacific modes; for example, most El Ninos produce dry and warm conditions in this part of the central Andes. However, on longer timescales, the control of tropical Pacific modes is less clear. Our reconstructions suggest that the cold intervals of the Holocene Bond events are periods of increased precipitation in the central Andes, thus indicating an anti-phasing of precipitation variation in the southern tropics of South America relative to the Northern Hemisphere monsoon region.

  7. Methane fluxes from a wet puna ecosystem in the Peruvian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Sam; Diem, Torsten; Priscila Huaraca Quispe, Lidia; Quispe Ccahuana, Adan Julian; Meir, Patrick; Arn Teh, Yit

    2014-05-01

    Discrepancies exist between top-down and bottom-up estimates of the tropical South American atmospheric methane budget. This suggests that current source-sink inventories fail to adequately characterise the landscapes of the region. This may be particularly true of Andean environments where very few field observations have been made. The high tropical Andes, between tree and permanent snow-lines, is home to diverse grass, shrub and giant rosette dominated ecosystems known variously from Venezuela to northern Chile and Argentina as paramo, jalca and puna. In humid regions these are characterised by wet, organic-rich mineral soils, peat-forming wetlands and shallow lakes. Such conditions are likely to promote methane production and potentially represent a regionally significant source to the atmosphere that should be considered. We report on methane fluxes from a bunch-grass dominated puna habitat at 3500 m above sea level in south-eastern Peru. Mean annual temperature and precipitation are 11 °C and 2500 mm, respectively. Temperature is aseasonal but experiences considerable diurnal variations with overnight frosting common-place. In contrast, rainfall is intensely episodic and has a pronounced wet season between September and March. Sampling encompassed a range of topographic features, such as grassland on freely draining, gently inclined or steep slopes and depressions containing bogs, over a 3 ha ridge to basin transition. Monthly sampling was carried out between January 2011 and June 2013 to investigate seasonal variability in methane fluxes. Intensive sampling campaigns were conducted to investigate spatial and short-term variations on a daily basis in two nine-day campaigns during wet and dry season. The site was a net source of methane to the atmosphere during the period of study. Methane fluxes were dominated by emissions from bogs, whereas, freely draining grassland exhibited weak source or marginal sink activity. Temporal variations were most notable at

  8. Identificación, caracterización y dinámica de las geoformas glaciales y periglaciales en la Cordillera de los Andes a través de sensores remotos

    OpenAIRE

    Falaschi, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    El presente trabajo de Tesis Doctoral tuvo el objetivo de estudiar los glaciares y glaciares de escombros en tres regiones montañosas a lo largo de la Cordillera de los Andes Argentina: Monte San Lorenzo (Provincia de Santa Cruz), Volcán Domuyo (Provincia de Neuquén), y Nevados de Cachi (Provincia de Salta). Cada uno de estos sitios presenta características climáticas propias, representativas de tres porciones particulares de los Andes: Andes Patagónicos Meridionales, Andes Centrales Meridion...

  9. Parasite loads and altitudinal distribution of Liolaemus lizards in the central Chilean Andes Cargas parasitarias y distribución de lagartijas Liolaemus en los Andes de Chile central

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JOHN H. CAROTHERS

    2001-09-01

    Full Text Available This study compared the distributions of ten species of Liolaemus lizards in the central Chilean Andes to the distributions of four types of parasites: malaria-causing Plasmodium, gut nematodes, ticks, and mites. We wanted to see if parasite numbers might be a factor in determining distributional limits of the lizards. We found that there was no evidence of malarial infestation of the lizards, that ticks were almost absent, that more often than not mite numbers decreased at the distributional limits of the lizards, and that gut nematodes confined to the herbivorous lizards in our sample may well be beneficial rather than detrimental. Rather than parasitism, other biotic interactions (e.g., predation or competition are more likely candidates as factors influencing lizard elevational distributions, as are abiotic characteristics such as microhabitat availabilities and thermal factorsEste estudio compara las distribuciones de diez especies de lagartijas Liolaemus en los Andes de Chile central, con las distribuciones de cuatro tipos de parásitos: Plasmodium causantes de malaria, nemátodos intestinales, garrapatas y ácaros. Quisimos verificar si los números de parásitos pudieran ser un factor determinante de los límites de distribución de las lagartijas. Encontramos que no había evidencia de infestación por malaria en las lagartijas; que las garrapatas estaban casi ausentes; que los números de ácaros más a menudo decrecían que aumentaban en los límites distribucionales de las lagartijas; y que los nemátodos intestinales confinados a las lagartijas herbívoras en nuestra muestra bien podían ser beneficiosos antes que dañinos. Más bien que parasitismo, otras interacciones bióticas (e.g., depredación o competencia son candidatos más probables como factores que influyen las distribuciones altitudinales de las lagartijas, además de características abióticas tales como la disponibilidad de microhábitats y los factores térmicos

  10. Mountain building in the central Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kono, Masaru; Fukao, Yoshio; Yamamoto, Akihiko

    1989-04-01

    The Central Andes is the middle part of the Andean chain between about 13°S and 27°S, characterized by the parallel running high mountain chains (the Western and Eastern Cordilleras) at the edges of high plateaus with a height of about 4000 m and a width of 200 to 450 km (the Altiplano-Puna). From the examination of geophysical and geological data in this area, including earthquakes, deformation, gravity anomaly, volcanism, uplift history, and plate motion, we conclude that the continued plate subduction with domination of compressive stress over the entire arc system is the main cause of the tectonic style of the Central Andes. We propose that the present cycle of mountain building has continued in the Cenozoic with the most active phase since the Miocene, and that the present subduction angle (30°) is not typical in that period but that subduction with more shallowly dipping oceanic lithosphere has prevailed at least since the Miocene, because of the young and buoyant slab involved. This situation is responsible for the production of a broad zone of partial melt in the mantle above the descending slab. Addition of volcanic materials was not restricted to the western edge (where active volcanoes of the Western Cordillera exist) but extended to the western and central portion of the Altiplano-Puna. The western half of the Central Andes is essentially isostatic because the heat transferred with the volcanic activities softened the crust there. In the eastern edge, the thermal effect is small, and the crust is strongly pushed by the westward moving South American plate. This caused the shortening of crustal blocks due to reverse faulting and folding in the Eastern Cordillera and Amazonian foreland. The magmatism and crustal accretion are dominant at the western end of the mountain system and decrease eastward, while the compression and consequent crustal shortening are strongest at the eastern end and wane toward west. These two processes are superposed between

  11. Trauma and violence in the Wari empire of the Peruvian Andes: warfare, raids, and ritual fights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tung, Tiffiny A

    2007-07-01

    This study examines bioarchaeological evidence for violence during the period of Wari imperialism in the Peruvian Andes through analysis of skeletal trauma from three populations dating to AD 650-800. The samples are from contemporaneous archaeological sites: Conchopata, a Wari heartland site in central highland Peru; Beringa, a community of commoners in the Majes valley of the southern Wari hinterland; and La Real, a high status mortuary site, also in the Majes valley. Given the expansionist nature of Wari and its military-related iconography and weaponry, it is hypothesized that Wari imperialism was concomitant with greater levels of violence relative to other prehispanic groups in the Andes. It is also hypothesized that differential articulation with the Wari empire (e.g., heartland vs. hinterland groups) affected the frequency and patterning of trauma. Results show that cranial trauma frequency of the three Wari era samples is significantly greater than several other Andean skeletal populations. This suggests that Wari rule was associated with high levels of violence, though it may not have always been related to militarism. The three adult samples show similar frequencies of cranial trauma (Conchopata = 26%; Beringa = 33%; La Real = 31%). This may suggest that differential positioning in the Wari empire had little effect on exposure to violence. Sex-based differences in cranial trauma frequencies are present only at La Real, but wound patterning differs between the sexes: females display more wounds on the posterior of the cranium, while males show more on the anterior. These data suggest that Wari rule may have contributed to violence. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  12. Hybrid Literacies: The Case of a Quechua Community in the Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    de la Piedra, Maria Teresa

    2009-01-01

    Drawing on data from an ethnographic study in a Quechua rural community in the Peruvian Andes, this article examines hybrid literacy practices among bilingual rural speakers in the context of the household and the community. I examine the coexistence of two types of textual practices that operate side by side, at times integrated in the same…

  13. CARACTERIZACIÓN FÍSIOGRÁFICA DE LA PUNA DE SAJAMA, CORDILLERA OCCIDENTAL DE LOS ANDES (BOLIVIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Javier Santa Cecilia Mateos

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Este artículo aproxima a la realidad física de la cordillera Occidental de los Andes. Un espacio geográfico donde los caracteres geológicos relacionados con el vulcanismo adquieren una relevancia especial en la configuración del paisaje andino. Los nevados y llanuras intermedias o altiplanos, son los dos elementos que constituyen la imagen de la puna andina, un territorio situado por encima de los 4.000 metros, ámbito intermedio entre los valles húmedos o yungas y las más altas cumbres de los Andes. A la singularidad volcánica habría que añadir la relacionada con el modelado glaciar, los aspectos hidrográficos y la biogeografia en esta área. El artículo toma como ejemplo de estudio la puna de Sajama en eldepartamento de Oruro, en la frontera boliviano-chilena.Abstract. This article approaches the physical reality of the Western Cordillera of the Andes. A geographical space where characters related geological volcanism are of particular importance in shaping the landscape Andean. The intermediate plains or mountains and plateaus, are the two elements that make up the image of the Andean puna, an area located above 4,000 meters, the middle ground between Yungas wet valley and the highest peaks of the Andes. A volcanic uniqueness should add that related to glacier modeling, hydrographic aspects and biogeography in this area. The article uses the example of the highlands of Sajama study in thedepartment of Oruro in Bolivian-Chilean border.

  14. ISOSTATICALLY DISTURBED TERRAIN OF NORTHWESTERN ANDES MOUNTAINS FROM SPECTRALLY CORRELATED FREE-AIR AND GRAVITY TERRAIN DATA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hernández P Orlando

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Recently revised models on global tectonics describe the convergence of the North Andes, Nazca, Caribbean and South American Plates and their seismicity, volcanism, active faulting and extreme
    topography. The current plate boundaries of the area are mainly interpreted from volcanic and seismic datasets with variable confidence levels. New insights on the isostatic state and plate boundaries of
    the northwestern Andes Mountains can be obtained from the spectral analysis of recently available gravity and topography data.
    Isostatically disturbed terrain produces free-air anomalies that are highly correlated with the gravity effects of the terrain. The terrain gravity effects (TGE and free air gravity anomalies (FAGA of the
    Andes mountains spectral correlation data confirms that these mountains are isostatically disturbed. Strong negative terrain-correlated FAGA along western South America and the Greater and Lesser Antilles are consistent with anomalously deepened mantle displaced by subducting oceanic plates.

    Inversion of the compensated terrain gravity effects (CTGE reveals plate subduction systems with alternating shallower and steeper subduction angles. The gravity modeling highlights crustal
    deformation from plate collision and subduction and other constraints on the tectonism of the plate boundary zones for the region.

  15. Climate in the Western Cordillera of the Central Andes over the last 4300 years

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engel, Zbyněk; Skrzypek, Grzegorz; Chuman, Tomáš; Šefrna, Luděk; Mihaljevič, Martin

    2014-09-01

    The Distichia peat core obtained in the Carhuasanta valley near Nevado Mismi, Cordillera Chila, provides information on climatic and environmental conditions over the last ˜4300 years. The relative changes in the stable carbon isotope composition of plant remains preserved in the core reflect major temperature fluctuations in the Western Cordillera of the southern Peruvian Andes. These temperature variations can be additionally linked with the changes in precipitation patterns by analysing C% and C/N ratio in the core. Relatively warm and moist conditions prevailed from 4280 to 3040 cal. yrs BP (BC 2330-1090) with a short colder dry episode around 3850 cal. yrs BP (BC 1900). The most prominent climate changes recorded in the peat occurred between 3040 and 2750 cal. yrs BP (BC 1090-800) when the initial warming turned to a rapid cooling to temperatures at least 2 °C lower than the mean for the Late Holocene. Initially drier conditions within this event turned to a short wet phase after 2780 cal. yrs BP (BC 830) when the temperature increased again. This event coincides with significant changes in peat and ice core records in the Central Andes matching the timing of the global climate event around 2.8 cal. ka BP. Climatic conditions in the study area became relatively dry and stable after the event for about 800 years. Highly variable temperatures and humidity prevailed during the last 2000 years when an extended warm and relatively humid period occurred between 640 and 155 cal. yrs BP (AD 1310-1795) followed by predominantly colder and drier conditions. The established δ13C peat record represents the first continuous proxy for the temperature in the southern Peruvian Andes dated by the AMS 14C. Distichia peat is wide spread in the Andes and the proposed approach can be applied elsewhere in high altitudes, where no other traditional climate proxies are available.

  16. Ausentismo laboral de causa médica en el Instituto Autónomo Hospital Universitario de Los Andes.

    OpenAIRE

    Parada de Denis, María Eugenia; Rivas Padilla, Fernando; Moreno Barrios, Reyla; Rincón, Eglis; Mejía, Zurayma; Mora, Dania Margarita

    2006-01-01

    Editorial. ¡Ya tenemos símbolo, ícono o logotipo!. Now we have symbol, icono or logo!. Salinas, Pedro José Accidentes domésticos en ancianos. Municipio Libertador. Mérida. 1993-1996. Domestics accidents in elderly people. Libertador County of Mérida State. 1993-1996. Salinas, Pedro José Rojas Márquez, Reina Estrés y síntomas en personal de salud del Hospital Universitario de Los Andes. Stress and symptoms in health staff of the Hospital Universitario de Los Andes. Méri...

  17. Millennial-scale climate variability during the Last Glacial period in the tropical Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fritz, S. C.; Baker, P. A.; Ekdahl, E.; Seltzer, G. O.; Stevens, L. R.

    2010-04-01

    Millennial-scale climate variation during the Last Glacial period is evident in many locations worldwide, but it is unclear if such variation occurred in the interior of tropical South America, and, if so, how the low-latitude variation was related to its high-latitude counterpart. A high-resolution record, derived from the deep drilling of sediments on the floor of Lake Titicaca in the southern tropical Andes, is presented that shows clear evidence of millennial-scale climate variation between ˜60 and 20 ka BP. This variation is manifested by alternations of two interbedded sedimentary units. The two units have distinctive sedimentary, geochemical, and paleobiotic properties that are controlled by the relative abundance of terrigenous or nearshore components versus pelagic components. The sediments of more terrigenous or nearshore nature likely were deposited during regionally wetter climates when river transport of water and sediment was higher, whereas the sediments of more pelagic character were deposited during somewhat drier climates regionally. The majority of the wet periods inferred from the Lake Titicaca sediment record are correlated with the cold events in the Greenland ice cores and North Atlantic sediment cores, indicating that increased intensity of the South American summer monsoon was part of near-global scale climate excursions.

  18. Genetic continuity after the collapse of the Wari empire: mitochondrial DNA profiles from Wari and post-Wari populations in the ancient Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemp, Brian M; Tung, Tiffiny A; Summar, Marshall L

    2009-09-01

    The Wari empire flourished in the central, highland Peruvian Andes from AD 600-1000, and although the events that led to its demise are unknown, archaeological evidence indicates that Wari control waned at the end of the first millennium. Here, we test the hypothesis that, despite the major shift in social and political organization at the fall of the Wari empire, the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) composition of populations from the Ayacucho Basin, the former imperial heartland of the empire, remained essentially unchanged. Results show that mtDNA haplogroup frequencies among the Wari and post-Wari groups differ, but the difference is not statistically significant (chi2 = 5.886, df = 3, P = 0.1172). This is the first study in the Andes to use haplotypic data to evaluate the observed genetic distance between two temporally distinct prehispanic populations (F(ST) = 0.029) against modeled expectations of four possible evolutionary scenarios. None of these simulations allowed the rejection of continuity. In total, at both the haplogroup and haplotype levels these data do not allow us to reject the hypothesis that post-Wari individuals sampled in this study are the maternal descendants of those sampled from the Wari era site of Conchopata. However, genetic homogeneity in the mitochondrial gene pool, as seen in the late prehispanic southern Andes, may also characterize our study region. But, prior to this research, this was unknown. If our new data show mtDNA homogeneity, then this could limit the detection of female migration if, in fact, it occurred. Nonetheless, the novel mtDNA data presented here currently do not support the hypothesis that there was an influx of genetically distinct females into the former Wari heartland after the Wari collapse. Copyright 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  19. The analytic nodal diffusion solver ANDES in multigroups for 3D rectangular geometry: Development and performance analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lozano, Juan-Andres; Garcia-Herranz, Nuria; Ahnert, Carol; Aragones, Jose-Maria

    2008-01-01

    In this work we address the development and implementation of the analytic coarse-mesh finite-difference (ACMFD) method in a nodal neutron diffusion solver called ANDES. The first version of the solver is implemented in any number of neutron energy groups, and in 3D Cartesian geometries; thus it mainly addresses PWR and BWR core simulations. The details about the generalization to multigroups and 3D, as well as the implementation of the method are given. The transverse integration procedure is the scheme chosen to extend the ACMFD formulation to multidimensional problems. The role of the transverse leakage treatment in the accuracy of the nodal solutions is analyzed in detail: the involved assumptions, the limitations of the method in terms of nodal width, the alternative approaches to implement the transverse leakage terms in nodal methods - implicit or explicit -, and the error assessment due to transverse integration. A new approach for solving the control rod 'cusping' problem, based on the direct application of the ACMFD method, is also developed and implemented in ANDES. The solver architecture turns ANDES into an user-friendly, modular and easily linkable tool, as required to be integrated into common software platforms for multi-scale and multi-physics simulations. ANDES can be used either as a stand-alone nodal code or as a solver to accelerate the convergence of whole core pin-by-pin code systems. The verification and performance of the solver are demonstrated using both proof-of-principle test cases and well-referenced international benchmarks

  20. Internal Migration Determinants: Evidence from Northern Region of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2016-05-01

    May 1, 2016 ... University for Development Studies, Department of Mathematics, Navrongo, UER ... Keywords: Internal Migration, Determinants, Migrant, Northern Region, Network. Introduction ... origin's income on rural-urban migration (Beals et al., 1976), but a positive effect of a ..... 3 In the case of economic migrants.

  1. Recent Discoveries of the Paijanense in The Upper Chicama, Moche and Virú Valleys, Northern Perú: New Perspectives on the First Hunter-Gatherers in the Andes of South America

    OpenAIRE

    Briceño, Jesús

    2014-01-01

    We present newly-registered Paiján sites in the interior and upper parts of the Chicama, Moche and Virú valleys, with strong tiesto the highland region. The research indicates that Paiján hunter-gatherers were not only a coastal group whose subsistence was basedon marine resources. They also occupied diverse ecological environments preferring springs with high mobility across the Andes and exploiting diverse resources, such as white-tail deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and raw materials for pro...

  2. Seismic studies in the southern Puna plateau and the Peruvian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calixto Mory, Frank Jimmy

    I present three studies in two regions, both within the Central Andes. In both regions it is clear that there are significant variations in the subduction geometry. I have used surface wave tomography to investigate the shear wave velocity structure beneath the southern Puna plateau and found evidence of widespread melting of the crust beneath the high elevations which correlates with a gap in intermediate depth seismicity and the recent eruptions of ignimbrite complexes. All of these observations can be explained by the delamination of the lithospheric mantle beneath it. I measured Rayleigh wave phase velocities as a function of frequency and inverted then to obtain shear wave velocities as a function of depth. The results show a high velocity body sitting above the subducting Nazca plate beneath the northern edge of the Cerro Galan ignimbrite. This high velocity body is interpreted to be the delaminated piece of lithosphere that detached and sank leading to a localized upwelling of asthenosphere that, in turn, caused widespread crustal melting leading to the eruption of the most recent ignimbrite complexes. Furthermore it is possible that this upwelling also thermally eroded the slab in this region. It is apparent that there is a significant slab gap or hole where there are very few intermediate depth earthquakes. In addition, I have used shear wave splitting analysis and shear wave splitting tomography in the southern Puna plateau to investigate the patterns of seismic anisotropy and mantle flow. The results show very complex shear wave splitting and seismic anisotropy patterns throughout the southern Puna plateau. The observations suggest that different mechanisms are driving the mantle flow from region to region. The subslab mantle outside the region where delamination took place is mostly driven by slab roll back and small degree of coupling between the subducting slab and the mantle below it. In the region apparently dominated by delamination, the subslab

  3. Temporal Analysis of Andes Virus and Sin Nombre Virus Infections of Syrian Hamsters

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-05-01

    Microbiology . All Rights Reserved. Temporal Analysis of Andes Virus and Sin Nombre Virus Infections of Syrian Hamsters Victoria Wahl-Jensen,1 Jennifer...Ye, C., J. Prescott , R. Nofchissey, D. Goade, and B. Hjelle. 2004. Neutralizing antibodies and Sin Nombre virus RNA after recovery from hantavirus

  4. Memoria de los Andes, memoria de la naturaleza

    OpenAIRE

    Usselmann, Pierre

    2013-01-01

    Hace más de 35 años, terminando su tesis (1965), OlivierDollfus destacó la importancia de los Andes, “inmenso ysuntuoso campo”, para futuras investigaciones. En ese entonces sus estudios trataban de la geomorfología; escribía que “una de sus razones de ser es justamente este vaivén constante entre la observación de los procesos actuales y el intento de explicación, es decir el análisis de las formas heredadas” (1964). Esta preocupación, esta noción de memoria de la naturaleza, complementaria ...

  5. Aridity changes in the temperate-Mediterranean transition of the Andes since ad 1346 reconstructed from tree-rings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Christie, Duncan A.; Quesne, Carlos le [Universidad Austral de Chile, Laboratorio de Dendrocronologia, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Recursos Naturales, Valdivia (Chile); Boninsegna, Jose A.; Morales, Mariano S.; Villalba, Ricardo [Instituto Argentino de Nivologia, Glaciologia y Ciencias Ambientales, IANIGLA, Departamento de Dendrocronologia e Historia Ambiental, Mendoza (Argentina); Cleaveland, Malcolm K.; Stahle, David W. [University of Arkansas Fayetteville, Tree-Ring Laboratory, Department of Geosciences, Fayetteville, AR (United States); Lara, Antonio [Universidad Austral de Chile, Laboratorio de Dendrocronologia, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Recursos Naturales, Valdivia (Chile); Universidad Austral de Chile, Forest Ecosystem Services under Climatic Fluctuations (Forecos), Valdivia (Chile); Mudelsee, Manfred [Climate Risk Analysis, Hanover (Germany); Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven (Germany)

    2011-04-15

    The Andes Cordillera acts as regional ''Water Towers'' for several countries and encompasses a wide range of ecosystems and climates. Several hydroclimatic changes have been described for portions of the Andes during recent years, including glacier retreat, negative precipitation trends, an elevation rise in the 0 isotherm, and changes in regional streamflow regimes. The Temperate-Mediterranean transition (TMT) zone of the Andes (35.5 -39.5 S) is particularly at risk to climate change because it is a biodiversity hotspot with heavy human population pressure on water resources. In this paper we utilize a new tree-ring network of Austrocedrus chilensis to reconstruct past variations in regional moisture in the TMT of the Andes by means of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). The reconstruction covers the past 657 years and captures interannual to decadal scales of variability in late spring-early summer PDSI. These changes are related to the north-south oscillations in moisture conditions between the Mediterranean and Temperate climates of the Andes as a consequence of the latitudinal position of the storm tracks forced by large-scale circulation modes. Kernel estimation of occurrence rates reveals an unprecedented increment of severe and extreme drought events during the last century in the context of the previous six centuries. Moisture conditions in our study region are linked to tropical and high-latitude ocean-atmospheric forcing, with PDSI positively related to Nino-3.4 SST during spring and strongly negatively correlated with the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) during summer. Geopotential anomaly maps at 500-hPa show that extreme dry years are tightly associated with negative height anomalies in the Ross-Amundsen Seas, in concordance with the strong negative relationship between PDSI and AAO. The twentieth century increase in extreme drought events in the TMT may not be related to ENSO but to the positive AAO trend during late-spring and

  6. Setting practical conservation priorities for birds in the Western Andes of Colombia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ocampo-Peñuela, Natalia; Pimm, Stuart L

    2014-10-01

    We aspired to set conservation priorities in ways that lead to direct conservation actions. Very large-scale strategic mapping leads to familiar conservation priorities exemplified by biodiversity hotspots. In contrast, tactical conservation actions unfold on much smaller geographical extents and they need to reflect the habitat loss and fragmentation that have sharply restricted where species now live. Our aspirations for direct, practical actions were demanding. First, we identified the global, strategic conservation priorities and then downscaled to practical local actions within the selected priorities. In doing this, we recognized the limitations of incomplete information. We started such a process in Colombia and used the results presented here to implement reforestation of degraded land to prevent the isolation of a large area of cloud forest. We used existing range maps of 171 bird species to identify priority conservation areas that would conserve the greatest number of species at risk in Colombia. By at risk species, we mean those that are endemic and have small ranges. The Western Andes had the highest concentrations of such species-100 in total-but the lowest densities of national parks. We then adjusted the priorities for this region by refining these species ranges by selecting only areas of suitable elevation and remaining habitat. The estimated ranges of these species shrank by 18-100% after accounting for habitat and suitable elevation. Setting conservation priorities on the basis of currently available range maps excluded priority areas in the Western Andes and, by extension, likely elsewhere and for other taxa. By incorporating detailed maps of remaining natural habitats, we made practical recommendations for conservation actions. One recommendation was to restore forest connections to a patch of cloud forest about to become isolated from the main Andes. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

  7. Agriculture at the Edge: Landscape Variability of Soil C Stocks and Fluxes in the Tropical Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riveros-Iregui, D. A.; Peña, C.

    2015-12-01

    Paramos, or tropical alpine grasslands occurring right above the forest tree-line (2,800 - 4,700 m), are among the most transformed landscapes in the humid tropics. In the Tropical Andes, Paramos form an archipelago-like pattern from Northern Colombia to Central Peru that effectively captures atmospheric moisture originated in the Amazon-Orinoco basins, while marking the highest altitude capable of sustaining vegetation growth (i.e., 'the edge'). This study investigates the role of land management on mediating soil carbon stocks and fluxes in Paramo ecosystems of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia. Observations were collected at a Paramo site strongly modified by land use change, including active potato plantations, pasture, tillage, and land abandonment. Results show that undisturbed Paramos soils have high total organic carbon (TOC), high soil water content (SWC), and low soil CO2 efflux (RS) rates. However, Paramo soils that experience human intervention show lower TOC, higher and more variable RS rates, and lower SWC. This study demonstrates that changes in land use in Paramos affect differentially the accumulation and exchange of soil carbon with the atmosphere and offers implications for management and protection strategies of what has been deemed the fastest evolving biodiversity ecosystem in the world.

  8. New dinosaur (Theropoda, stem-Averostra) from the earliest Jurassic of the La Quinta formation, Venezuelan Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langer, Max C; Rincón, Ascanio D; Ramezani, Jahandar; Solórzano, Andrés; Rauhut, Oliver W M

    2014-10-01

    Dinosaur skeletal remains are almost unknown from northern South America. One of the few exceptions comes from a small outcrop in the northernmost extension of the Andes, along the western border of Venezuela, where strata of the La Quinta Formation have yielded the ornithischian Laquintasaura venezuelae and other dinosaur remains. Here, we report isolated bones (ischium and tibia) of a small new theropod, Tachiraptor admirabilis gen. et sp. nov., which differs from all previously known members of the group by an unique suite of features of its tibial articulations. Comparative/phylogenetic studies place the new form as the sister taxon to Averostra, a theropod group that is known primarily from the Middle Jurassic onwards. A new U-Pb zircon date (isotope dilution thermal-ionization mass spectrometry; ID-TIMS method) from the bone bed matrix suggests an earliest Jurassic maximum age for the La Quinta Formation. A dispersal-vicariance analysis suggests that such a stratigraphic gap is more likely to be filled by new records from north and central Pangaea than from southern areas. Indeed, our data show that the sampled summer-wet equatorial belt, which yielded the new taxon, played a pivotal role in theropod evolution across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary.

  9. Early warming of tropical South America at the last glacial-interglacial transition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seltzer, G O; Rodbell, D T; Baker, P A; Fritz, S C; Tapia, P M; Rowe, H D; Dunbar, R B

    2002-05-31

    Glaciation in the humid tropical Andes is a sensitive indicator of mean annual temperature. Here, we present sedimentological data from lakes beyond the glacial limit in the tropical Andes indicating that deglaciation from the Last Glacial Maximum led substantial warming at high northern latitudes. Deglaciation from glacial maximum positions at Lake Titicaca, Peru/Bolivia (16 degrees S), and Lake Junin, Peru (11 degrees S), occurred 22,000 to 19,500 calendar years before the present, several thousand years before the Bølling-Allerød warming of the Northern Hemisphere and deglaciation of the Sierra Nevada, United States (36.5 degrees to 38 degrees N). The tropical Andes deglaciated while climatic conditions remained regionally wet, which reflects the dominant control of mean annual temperature on tropical glaciation.

  10. Facing unprecedented drying of the Central Andes? Precipitation variability over the period AD 1000–2100

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neukom, Raphael; Salzmann, Nadine; Huggel, Christian; Rohrer, Mario; Calanca, Pierluigi; Acuña, Delia; Christie, Duncan A; Morales, Mariano S

    2015-01-01

    Projected future trends in water availability are associated with large uncertainties in many regions of the globe. In mountain areas with complex topography, climate models have often limited capabilities to adequately simulate the precipitation variability on small spatial scales. Also, their validation is hampered by typically very low station density. In the Central Andes of South America, a semi-arid high-mountain region with strong seasonality, zonal wind in the upper troposphere is a good proxy for interannual precipitation variability. Here, we combine instrumental measurements, reanalysis and paleoclimate data, and a 57-member ensemble of CMIP5 model simulations to assess changes in Central Andes precipitation over the period AD 1000–2100. This new database allows us to put future projections of precipitation into a previously missing multi-centennial and pre-industrial context. Our results confirm the relationship between regional summer precipitation and 200 hPa zonal wind in the Central Andes, with stronger Westerly winds leading to decreased precipitation. The period of instrumental coverage (1965–2010) is slightly dryer compared to pre-industrial times as represented by control simulations, simulations from the past Millennium, ice core data from Quelccaya ice cap and a tree-ring based precipitation reconstruction. The model ensemble identifies a clear reduction in precipitation already in the early 21st century: the 10 year running mean model uncertainty range (ensemble 16–84% spread) is continuously above the pre-industrial mean after AD 2023 (AD 2028) until the end of the 21st century in the RCP2.6 (RCP8.5) emission scenario. Average precipitation over AD 2071–2100 is outside the range of natural pre-industrial variability in 47 of the 57 model simulations for both emission scenarios. The ensemble median fraction of dry years (defined by the 5th percentile in pre-industrial conditions) is projected to increase by a factor of 4 until 2071

  11. Evidence for an east-west regional gravity trend in northern Tunisia: Insight into the structural evolution of northern Tunisian Atlas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jallouli, Chokri; Mogren, Saad; Mickus, Kevin; Turki, Mohamed Moncef

    2013-11-01

    The Atlas orogeny in northern Algeria and Tunisia led to the destruction of Tethys oceanic lithosphere and cumulated in a collision of microplates rifted off the European margin with the North African continental margin. The location of the boundary between African plate and Kabylian microplate is expressed in northern Algeria by a crustal wedge with double vergence of thrust sheets, whereas in northern Tunisia the geologic environment is more complex and the location of the plate boundary is ambiguous. In this study, we analyzed gravity data to constrain the crustal structure along the northern margin of Tunisia. The analysis includes a separation of regional and residual gravity anomalies and the application of gradient operators to locate density contrast boundaries. The horizontal gradient magnitude and directional gradient highlight a prominent regional E-W gravity gradient in the northern Tunisian Atlas interpreted as a deep fault (active since at least the Early Mesozoic) having a variable kinematic activity depending on the tectonic regime in the region. The main E-W gravity gradient separates two blocks having different gravitational and seismic responses. The southern block has numerous gravity lineaments trending in different directions implying several density variations within the crust, whereas the northern block shows a long-wavelength negative gravity anomaly with a few lineaments. Taking into account the geologic context of the Western Mediterranean region, we consider the E-W prominent feature as the boundary between African plate and Kabylian microplate in northern Tunisia that rifted off Europe. This hypothesis fits most previous geological and geophysical studies and has an important impact on the petroleum and mineral resource prospection as these two blocks were separated by an ocean and they did not belong to the same margin.

  12. Geografía, café y prosperidad en los andes occidentales de Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Barón

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Compuesta por los departamentos de Antioquia, Caldas, Quindío, Risaralda y Valle del Cauca, los Andes Occidentales ha sido por mucho años una de las regiones más prósperas de Colombia. Esta prosperidad se ha traducido en condiciones de vida e infraestructura superiores a las del resto del país. El éxito y bienestar que presentan hoy en día los Andes Occidentales están estrechamente ligados a la concentración de la producción de café, que se dio allí durante gran parte del siglo XX. El arraigo del café en la región no sólo se dio debido a que la geografía ofrecía las condiciones ideales para el cultivo, sino también a las instituciones cafeteras creadas para organizar la industria del café. A pesar de esta prosperidad, el constante descenso del precio internacional del café después del rompimiento del pacto de cuotas de producción en 1989, sumado al estancamiento de la industria manufacturera en algunos departamentos de la región, han afectado las economías departamentales menos diversificadas. Es así como la región de los Andes Occidentales Colombianos presenta las tasas de desempleo más altas del país, tasas que se han visto afectadas aún más con la crisis financiera internacional a través del menor flujo de remesas que los trabajadores oriundos de la región, y residentes en el exterior envían a sus familias.

  13. Infection of human monocyte-derived dendritic cells by ANDES Hantavirus enhances pro-inflammatory state, the secretion of active MMP-9 and indirectly enhances endothelial permeability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lopez-Lastra Marcelo

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Andes virus (ANDV, a rodent-borne Hantavirus, is the major etiological agent of Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS in South America, which is mainly characterized by a vascular leakage with high rate of fatal outcomes for infected patients. Currently, neither specific therapy nor vaccines are available against this pathogen. ANDV infects both dendritic and epithelial cells, but in despite that the severity of the disease directly correlates with the viral RNA load, considerable evidence suggests that immune mechanisms rather than direct viral cytopathology are responsible for plasma leakage in HCPS. Here, we assessed the possible effect of soluble factors, induced in viral-activated DCs, on endothelial permeability. Activated immune cells, including DC, secrete gelatinolytic matrix metalloproteases (gMMP-2 and -9 that modulate the vascular permeability for their trafficking. Methods A clinical ANDES isolate was used to infect DC derived from primary PBMC. Maturation and pro-inflammatory phenotypes of ANDES-infected DC were assessed by studying the expression of receptors, cytokines and active gMMP-9, as well as some of their functional status. The ANDES-infected DC supernatants were assessed for their capacity to enhance a monolayer endothelial permeability using primary human vascular endothelial cells (HUVEC. Results Here, we show that in vitro primary DCs infected by a clinical isolate of ANDV shed virus RNA and proteins, suggesting a competent viral replication in these cells. Moreover, this infection induces an enhanced expression of soluble pro-inflammatory factors, including TNF-α and the active gMMP-9, as well as a decreased expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-10 and TGF-β. These viral activated cells are less sensitive to apoptosis. Moreover, supernatants from ANDV-infected DCs were able to indirectly enhance the permeability of a monolayer of primary HUVEC. Conclusions Primary human DCs

  14. Linchamientos y conflicto político en Los Andes Lynchings and Political conflict in The Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos M. Vilas

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available En 2004, los alcaldes de dos municipalidades de la región aimara de los Andes fueron linchados en la aparente culminación de agudos conflictos políticos internos y entre las respectivas comunidades y el Estado central. En este artículo se discuten ambos casos con el fin de ilustrar las transformaciones experimentadas en años recientes en la organización y la dinámica interna de las comunidades andinas, y de la articulación conflictiva de la política local en los procesos e instituciones de más amplio alcance. Precariedad social e incapacidad o renuencia del Estado para responder con eficacia a demandas básicas de determinados grupos de población configuran enmarcamientos socioeconómicos e institucionales de los linchamientos. En contraste con enfoques que enfatizan en factores culturales tradicionales o en un supuesto nacionalismo indígena, en el artículo se destaca la gravitación de fenómenos y procesos político- institucionales recientes en la transformación cultural y política de las comunidades, en el modo en que éstas procesan sus conflictos internos y con el Estado central.In 2004, two municipalitys mayors form the aimara Andes of Peru and Bolivia were subjected to mass lynchings as a result of the apparent culmination of violent political confrontations. This paper deals with these events as dramatic illustrations of the transformations the Andean communities experienced during recent decades in their internal dynamics, as well as in the articulation of local politics to processes and institutions beyond the communal limits. Structural precariousness combined with the state's inability or reluctance to come to terms with social or political demands from relevant segments of the people in the communities set the socioeconomic and institutional stage for lynchings. In contrast with approaches relating these events to an alleged indigenous cultural identity, the analysis points to the impact of the communities' political

  15. Characterising Late-Holocene glacier variability in the southern tropical Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bromley, G.; Winckler, G.; Hall, B. L.; Schaefer, J. M.

    2011-12-01

    Accurate resolution of both the timing and magnitude of Late-Holocene climate events, such as the Little Ice Age, is vital in order to test different hypotheses for the causes and propagation of such climate variability. However, in contrast to higher latitudes, well-dated records from the tropics are relatively rare and the overall climatic structure of the last millennium remains unresolved. Much of this uncertainty stems from difficulties associated with radiocarbon dating in these dry, often high-altitude environments, a situation that now is being addressed through the application and refinement of cosmogenic surface-exposure methods. We present detailed Late-Holocene moraine records, resolved with radiocarbon and surface-exposure dating, from sites across the Andes of southern Peru. Specifically, we describe glacial records from both the arid Western Cordillera, where glaciation is limited by moisture availability, and the humid Eastern Cordillera, where ablation is controlled primarily by air temperature. In both locations, the most recent advance is marked by two to three unweathered terminal moraines located several hundred metres beyond the modern ice margins. Our chronology indicates that, while the advance occurred broadly in step with the classic 'Little Ice Age', the maximum glacial extent in southern Peru was achieved relatively early on and that the 18th and 19th centuries were dominated by glacier retreat. In a broader temporal context, our data also confirm that, in contrast to northern temperate latitudes, the event in southern Peru was the most recent significant interruption in a progressive Holocene retreat. The consistency in glacier response between the different climate zones suggests (i) that this pattern of Late-Holocene climate variability was of at least regional extent and (ii) that temperature fluctuations were the primary driving mechanism.

  16. Carbon stabilization mechanisms in soils in the Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jansen, Boris; Cammeraat, Erik

    2015-04-01

    The volcanic ash soils of the Andes contain very large stocks of soil organic matter (SOM) per unit area. Consequently, they constitute significant potential sources or sinks of the greenhouse gas CO2. Climate and/or land use change potentially have a strong effect on these large SOM stocks. To clarify the role of chemical and physical stabilisation mechanisms in volcanic ash soils in the montane tropics, we investigated carbon stocks and stabilization mechanisms in the top- and subsoil along an altitudinal transect in the Ecuadorian Andes. The transect encompassed a sequence of paleosols under forest and grassland (páramo), including a site where vegetation cover changed in the last century. We applied selective extraction techniques, performed X-ray diffraction analyses of the clay fraction and estimated pore size distributions at various depths in the top- and subsoil along the transect. In addition, from several soils the molecular composition of SOM was further characterized with depth in the current soil as well as the entire first and the top of the second paleosol using GC/MS analyses of extractable lipids and Pyrolysis-GC/MS analyses of bulk organic matter. Our results show that organic carbon stocks in the mineral soil under forest a páramo vegetation were roughly twice as large as global averages for volcanic ash soils, regardless of whether the first 30cm, 100cm or 200cm were considered. We found the carbon stabilization mechanisms involved to be: i) direct stabilization of SOM in organo-metallic (Al-OM) complexes; ii) indirect protection of SOM through low soil pH and toxic levels of Al; and iii) physical protection of SOM due to a very high microporosity of the soil (Tonneijck et al., 2010; Jansen et al. 2011). When examining the organic carbon at a molecular level, interestingly we found extensive degradation of lignin in the topsoil while extractable lipids were preferentially preserved in the subsoil (Nierop and Jansen, 2009). Both vegetation

  17. Nuclear Data for Safe Operation and Waste Transmutation: ANDES (Accurate Nuclear Data for nuclear Energy Sustainability); Datos nucleares para la operacion segura y la transmutacion de residuos: Andes (Datos Nucleares Precisos para la Sostenibilidad de la Energia Nuclear)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gonzalez, E. M.

    2014-07-01

    Nuclear research within the 7th Framework Program (FP7 and FP7+2) of EURATOM has devoted a significant fraction of its efforts to the development of advanced nuclear fuel cycles and reactor concepts, mainly fast reactors, aiming to improve the long term sustainability by reduction of the final wastes, optimal use of natural resources and improvement of safety in the present and future nuclear installations. The new design need more accurate basic nuclear data for isotopes, like minor actinides, potentially playing an important role in the operation, fuel concept, safety or final wastes of those reactors and fuel cycles. Four projects, ANDES, ERINDA, EUFRAT and CHANDA, supported by EURATOM within the FP7 and FP7+2, have put together most of the European Nuclear Data community to respond efficiently and in a coordinated way to those needs. This paper summarizes the objectives, and main achievements of ANDES, the project responsible for most of the measurements and technical achievements that was coordinated by CIEMAT. Indeed, CIEMAT has coordinated the nuclear data R and D projects within EURATOM during the last 7 years (NUDATRA domain of EUROTRANS, and ANDES) and will continue this coordination in the CHANDA project till 2017. (Author)

  18. Apatite fission-track dating of erosion in the eastern Andes, Bolivia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crough, S.T.

    1983-01-01

    Three samples from a Triassic-age batholith in the eastern Andes northeast of La Paz, Bolivia yield apatitic fission-track ages of 11-13 Ma. Interpreting these young ages as due to uplift and erosion requires approximately 2.5-5.0 km of erosion in the past 12 Ma, an amount which is consistent with the known geology and which is typical of many active mountain ranges. (orig.)

  19. Caracterización morfométrica de la microcuenca de la quebrada los Andes, El Carmen de Viboral, Antioquia-Colombia Morphometrical characterization in los Andes watershed, El Carmen de Viboral, Antioquia-Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yimmy Montoya Moreno

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Se evaluaron algunas características morfométricas básicas en la microcuenca de la quebrada Los Andes en el departamento de Antioquia (Colombia. La microcuenca tiene un área pequeña (Some morphometric characteristic were evaluated in the watershed of creek Los Andes department of Antioquia (Colombia. The headwater has a small area (<20km² with main direction in the axis S-N, with an elevation range between 2.700 and 2.200 m. asl. It presents a network of drainage well structured, for which presents a time of concentration of the water over 5 hours. The watershed is of class Kc2 with a high slope and a system of drainage subdendritic. This research permitted to identify the uses of the soil, being the adequate use the one that presented greater percentage (55% and the use is recommended conservationist in general for all headwater.

  20. Spatio-Temporal Patterns of the 2010–2015 Extreme Hydrological Drought across the Central Andes, Argentina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Antonio Rivera

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available During the period 2010–2015, the semi-arid Central Andes in Argentina (CAA experienced one of the most severe and long-lasting hydrological droughts on record. Since the snowmelt is the most important source of water, the reduced snowfall over the mountains propagated the drought signal through the streamflows in the adjacent foothills east of the Andes ranges. Motivated by the widespread impacts on the socio-economic activities in the region, this study aims to characterize the recent hydrological drought in terms of streamflow deficits. Based on streamflow data from 20 basins, we used the standardized streamflow index (SSI to characterize hydrological droughts during the period 1971–2016. We found that the regional extent of the 2010–2015 hydrological drought was limited to the basins located north of 38° S, with mean duration of 67 months and maximum drought severity exhibiting a heterogeneous pattern in terms of spatial distribution and time of occurrence. The drought event reached extreme conditions in 14 of the 15 basins in the CAA, being record-breaking drought in six of the basins. This condition was likely driven by a cooling in the tropical Pacific Ocean resembling La Niña conditions, which generated a decrease in snowfall over the Andes due to suppressed frontal activity.

  1. Macroinvertebrate community response to acid mine drainage in rivers of the High Andes (Bolivia).

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Damme, P.A. van; Hamel, C.; Ayala, A.; Bervoets, L.

    2008-01-01

    Several High Andes Rivers are characterized by inorganic water pollution known as acid mine drainage (AMD). The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between metal concentrations in the sediments and the macroinvertebrate communities in two river basins affected by AMD. In general, the

  2. Investigating Crustal Scale Fault Systems Controlling Volcanic and Hydrothermal Fluid Processes in the South-Central Andes, First Results from a Magnetotelluric Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearce, R.; Mitchell, T. M.; Moorkamp, M.; Araya, J.; Cembrano, J. M.; Yanez, G. A.; Hammond, J. O. S.

    2017-12-01

    At convergent plate boundaries, volcanic orogeny is largely controlled by major thrust fault systems that act as magmatic and hydrothermal fluid conduits through the crust. In the south-central Andes, the volcanically and seismically active Tinguiririca and Planchon-Peteroa volcanoes are considered to be tectonically related to the major El Fierro thrust fault system. These large scale reverse faults are characterized by 500 - 1000m wide hydrothermally altered fault cores, which possess a distinct conductive signature relative to surrounding lithology. In order to establish the subsurface architecture of these fault systems, such conductivity contrasts can be detected using the magnetotelluric method. In this study, LEMI fluxgate-magnetometer long-period and Metronix broadband MT data were collected at 21 sites in a 40km2 survey grid that surrounds this fault system and associated volcanic complexes. Multi-remote referencing techniques is used together with robust processing to obtain reliable impedance estimates between 100 Hz and 1,000s. Our preliminary inversion results provide evidence of structures within the 10 - 20 km depth range that are attributed to this fault system. Further inversions will be conducted to determine the approximate depth extent of these features, and ultimately provide constraints for future geophysical studies aimed to deduce the role of these faults in volcanic orogeny and hydrothermal fluid migration processes in this region of the Andes.

  3. Volcanic deformation in the Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riddick, S.; Fournier, T.; Pritchard, M.

    2009-05-01

    We present the results from an InSAR survey of volcanic activity in South America. We use data from the Japanese Space Agency's ALOS L-band radar satellite from 2006-2009. The L-band instrument provides better coherence in densely vegetated regions, compared to the shorter wave length C-band data. The survey reveals volcano related deformation in regions, north, central and southern, of the Andes volcanic arc. Since observations are limited to the austral summer, comprehensive coverage of all volcanoes is not possible. Yet, our combined observations reveal volcanic/hydrothermal deformation at Lonquimay, Llaima, Laguna del Maule, and Chaitén volcanoes, extend deformation measurements at Copahue, and illustrate temporal complexity to the previously described deformation at Cerro Hudson and Cordón Caulle. No precursory deformation is apparent before the large Chaitén eruption (VEI_5) of 2 May 2008, (at least before 16 April) suggesting rapid magma movement from depth at this long dormant volcano. Subsidence at Ticsani Volcano occurred coincident with an earthquake swarm in the same region.

  4. Drunken Speech and the Construction of Meaning: Bilingual Competence in the Southern Peruvian Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvey, Penelope M.

    1991-01-01

    Examination of the language use of drunken speakers in a bilingual Southern Peruvian Andes community found that drunken speakers were less constrained in their linguistic choices by individual linguistic competence and of differential status between speaker and addressee, and they exploited the ambiguities in implicit social meanings that normally…

  5. The Southern Central Andes vertical axis tectonic rotations: relations with the deformation pattern Rotaciones tectónicas según ejes verticales en los Andes Centrales del Sur: relaciones con el patrón de deformación

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Prezzi

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Along the Central Andes a pattern of vertical axis tectonic rotations has been paleomagnetically identified. Such rotations are counterclockwise north of Arica Deflection (~19°S and clockwise to the south. Different hypothesis and models have been proposed to explain the Central Andean Rotation Pattern (CARP. However, the CARP is a subject of ongoing debate. Recently, the quantity, quality, and geographic distribution of paleomagnetic data have expanded greatly. Such expansion has been accompanied by an increase in the knowledge of the deformation periods in the Andes, allowing a more detailed analysis of the temporal and spatial distribution of the detected rotations. We compiled and analyzed the available Cenozoic paleomagnetic data for the region extending between 19° and 27.5°S. The results suggest the possible existence of different rotational domains with distinct characteristics. We propose that in the Southern Central Andes, a close correlation would exist between the style and the temporal and spatial pattern of deformation and the amount of recorded vertical axis rotations. However, in order to further investigate such relationship, new paleomagnetic studies are necessary, particularly in the Eastern Cordillera domain, in Paleogene rocks cropping out in the Altiplano-Puna and in Neogene rocks of the forearc.En los Andes Centrales se ha identificado un patrón de rotaciones tectónicas según ejes verticales a través de estudios paleomagnéticos. Dichas rotaciones son en sentido antihorario al norte del codo de Arica (~19°S y en sentido horario hacia el sur. Distintos autores han propuesto diferentes hipótesis y modelos para tratar de explicar el Patrón de Rotaciones de los Andes Centrales (PRAC. Sin embargo, el PRAC sigue siendo objeto de debate. Recientemente, la cantidad, calidad y la distribución geográfica de los datos paleomagnéticos ha aumentado de manera notable. Dicho incremento ha sido acompañado por un importante

  6. Glacialmorphological reconstruction of glacier advances and glacial lake outburst floods at the Cachapoal glacier in the Dry Central Andes of Chile (34°S)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iturrizaga, Lasafam; Charrier, Reynaldo

    2013-04-01

    Throughout the Andes Mountain range of South America a general trend of glacier shrinkage has taken place in the last century. Only a few glaciers have shown a rather non-continuous trend of glacier retreat and temporally advanced or even surged during the mid-19th to 20th century. One of the earliest assumed glacier surges has occurred in the upper Cachapoal catchment area at the homonymous glacier. In climatic respect the Cachapoal glacier is located in the transition zone from the most southern part of the Dry Central Andes of Chile to the more humid zone of the Wet Andes. The region is affected mainly by winter precipitation deriving from the Westerlies. The debris-covered, 12 km-long Cachapoal glacier represents one of the largest valley glaciers in the Central Andes. It is an avalanche-fed glacier with an almost 1500 m-high head wall in its upper catchment area flowing down from Picos del Barroso (5180 m) and terminates at an elevation of 2630 m a.s.l. with a bifurcated glacier tongue. A large moraine complex, almost 2 km in length and 500 m in width, separates the two glacier lobes. During times of advanced glacier tongue positions the Ríos Molina and Cachapoal may be have blocked independently at two distinct localities which are situated about 2300 m apart from each other. A blockage with temporal lake formation has occurred at least in the years 1848, 1955 and 1981 (cf. Plagemann 1887, Peña 1981), from which the rupture of the earliest glacier barrier has been the most devastating. This event is locally reminded as "la gran avenida en seco" in the historical record. Geomorphological evidence of the past historical and modern glacier expansions is given in the proglacial area by a fresh dead-ice hummocky topography and glacial trimlines at the valley flanks. More down valley broad outwash plains and boulder clusters indicate past high energy floods produced by glacier lake outbursts. Regarding the small size of the catchment area of the Río Molina

  7. Mio-Pliocene aridity in the south-central Andes associated with Southern Hemisphere cold periods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amidon, William H; Fisher, G Burch; Burbank, Douglas W; Ciccioli, Patricia L; Alonso, Ricardo N; Gorin, Andrew L; Silverhart, Perri H; Kylander-Clark, Andrew R C; Christoffersen, Michael S

    2017-06-20

    Although Earth's climate history is best known through marine records, the corresponding continental climatic conditions drive the evolution of terrestrial life. Continental conditions during the latest Miocene are of particular interest because global faunal turnover is roughly synchronous with a period of global glaciation from ∼6.2-5.5 Ma and with the Messinian Salinity Crisis from ∼6.0-5.3 Ma. Despite the climatic and ecological significance of this period, the continental climatic conditions associated with it remain unclear. We address this question using erosion rates of ancient watersheds to constrain Mio-Pliocene climatic conditions in the south-central Andes near 30° S. Our results show two slowdowns in erosion rate, one from ∼6.1-5.2 Ma and another from 3.6 to 3.3 Ma, which we attribute to periods of continental aridity. This view is supported by synchrony with other regional proxies for aridity and with the timing of glacial ‟cold" periods as recorded by marine proxies, such as the M2 isotope excursion. We thus conclude that aridity in the south-central Andes is associated with cold periods at high southern latitudes, perhaps due to a northward migration of the Southern Hemisphere westerlies, which disrupted the South American Low Level Jet that delivers moisture to southeastern South America. Colder glacial periods, and possibly associated reductions in atmospheric CO 2 , thus seem to be an important driver of Mio-Pliocene ecological transitions in the central Andes. Finally, this study demonstrates that paleo-erosion rates can be a powerful proxy for ancient continental climates that lie beyond the reach of most lacustrine and glacial archives.

  8. Influence of spatial resolution on precipitation simulations for the central Andes Mountains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trachte, Katja; Bendix, Jörg

    2013-04-01

    The climate of South America is highly influenced by the north-south oriented Andes Mountains. Their complex structure causes modifications of large-scale atmospheric circulations resulting in various mesoscale phenomena as well as a high variability in the local conditions. Due to their height and length the terrain generates distinctly climate conditions between the western and the eastern slopes. While in the tropical regions along the western flanks the conditions are cold and arid, the eastern slopes are dominated by warm-moist and rainy air coming from the Amazon basin. Below 35° S the situation reverses with rather semiarid conditions in the eastern part and temperate rainy climate along southern Chile. Generally, global circulation models (GCMs) describe the state of the global climate and its changes, but are disabled to capture regional or even local features due to their coarse resolution. This is particularly true in heterogeneous regions such as the Andes Mountains, where local driving features, e. g. local circulation systems, highly varies on small scales and thus, lead to a high variability of rainfall distributions. An appropriate technique to overcome this problem and to gain regional and local scale rainfall information is the dynamical downscaling of the global data using a regional climate model (RCM). The poster presents results of the evaluation of the performance of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model over South America with special focus on the central Andes Mountains of Ecuador. A sensitivity study regarding the cumulus parametrization, microphysics, boundary layer processes and the radiation budget is conducted. With 17 simulations consisting of 16 parametrization scheme combinations and 1 default run a suitable model set-up for climate research in this region is supposed to be evaluated. The simulations were conducted in a two-way nested mode i) to examine the best physics scheme combination for the target and ii) to

  9. Body condition and pregnancy in northern Yellowstone elk: evidence for predation risk effects?

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, P J; Garrott, Robert A; Hamlin, Kenneth L; Cook, Rachel C; Cook, John G; Cunningham, Julie A

    2011-01-01

    S. Creel et al. reported a negative correlation between fecal progesterone concentrations and elk:wolf ratios in greater Yellowstone elk (Cervus elaphus) herds and interpreted this correlation as evidence that pregnancy rates of elk decreased substantially in the presence of wolves (Canis lupus). Apparently, the hypothesized mechanism is that decreased forage intake reduces body condition and either results in elk failing to conceive during the autumn rut or elk losing the fetus during winter. We tested this hypothesis by comparing age-specific body condition (percentage ingesta-free body fat) and pregnancy rates for northern Yellowstone elk, one of the herds sampled by Creel et al., before (1962-1968) and after (2000-2006) wolf restoration using indices developed and calibrated for Rocky Mountain elk. Mean age-adjusted percentage body fat of female elk was similarly high in both periods (9.0%-0.9% pre-wolf; 8.9%-0.8% post-wolf). Estimated pregnancy rates (proportion of females that were pregnant) were 0.91 pre-wolf and 0.87 post-wolf for 4-9 year-old elk (95% CI on difference = -0.15 to 0.03, P = 0.46) and 0.64 pre-wolf and 0.78 post-wolf for elk > 9 years old (95% CI on difference = -0.01 to 0.27, P = 0.06). Thus, there was little evidence in these data to support strong effects of wolf presence on elk pregnancy. We caution that multiple lines of evidence and/or strong validation should be brought to bear before relying on indirect measures of how predators affect pregnancy rates.

  10. Estimation de l'aléa sismique dans les Andes nord équatoriennes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1996-01-01

    Full Text Available Les Andes Nord équatoriennes ont connu de nombreux séismes historiques destructeurs. Pour caractériser l’aléa sismique de la région andine, nous avons fait une révision critique de la sismicité historique et de l’ensemble des failles actives de l’Équateur. Les deux sources majeures de l’aléa sismique sont respectivement la subduction superficielle pour la région côtière et le système transpressif des hautes Andes pour la région andine. Ce système est composé de failles décrochantes dextres d’orientation N30-35°E (failles du Rio Chingual-La Sofia et Pallatanga qui limitent respectivement au Nord et au Sud des failles inverses N-S du relais compressif de la vallée interandine (failles de Quito et de Latacunga. L’étude des mécanismes au foyer superficiels des Andes équatoriennes nous a permis de calculer une vitesse de raccourcissement crustal de 4.6 mm/a selon une direction N92°E et d’estimer des temps de récurrence et des périodes de retour. Un séisme de Mw = 5 pourrait se produire tous les 0.5 an, de Mw = 6 tous les 4.5 ans, de Mw = 7 tous les 45.4 ans. De même, sur une période de temps de 33 ans, 66 séismes de Mw=5 peuvent être attendus, 7 séismes de Mw=6 et 1 séisme de Mw=7. Enfin, nous avons estimé pour l’ensemble des sources sismogènes de la région andine des magnitudes maximales probables et des temps de récurrence. Un séisme de magnitude 7 à 7.5 peut se produire sur la faille du Rio Chingual tous les 400±440 ans et de magnitude 6.7 à 7.2 tous les 380±320 ans sur la faille de Pallatanga. Dans la vallée interandine, la faille de Quito est susceptible d’engendrer un séisme de magnitude 6.6 à 7.6 tous les 930±300 ans. LA AMENAZA SÍSMICA EN LOS ANDES ECUATORIANOS. Los Andes del Norte del Ecuador son una región sismogénica mayor, donde se puede contabilizar muchos terremotos históricos destructores. A fin de determinar la amenaza sísmica sobre la región andina, se hizo la asociaci

  11. Racialization of the Bilingual Student in Higher Education: A Case from the Peruvian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zavala, Virginia

    2011-01-01

    In the Andes, a phonological transference known as "motoseo" has acquired ideological weight. People think that bilingual speakers of Quechua and Spanish "confuse" the vowels when speaking Spanish and that they are inferior to the ones who do not. In this article, I analyze the ideological agenda of the racialized verbal…

  12. Temperature variations as evidence of climate change in northern ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The paper seeks to investigate whether evolving temperature patterns over northern Nigeria agree with the projections made by global warming and climate change models. The data used are screen air temperature on a monthly time scale. These data were obtained from the database of the Nigerian Meteorological ...

  13. Seismic, gravimetric and geological interpretation of an Andean transect in Venezuela; Interpretacion sismica, gravimetrica y geologica de un perfil transandino venezolano

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jacome R, Maria Ines; Audemard, Felipe; Gratero, Victor [Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas (Venezuela)

    1995-12-31

    The combination of seismic, gravimetric and geologic data allowed the construction of a crustal model from the Venezuela Andes. This model is aiming to improve the knowledge from this problematic region. The profile is 160 Km long and it cuts perpendicularly the Andes, across the Soledad, Celoso, Bocono, Virtudes and Gavilan faults. The interpreted reflexions seismic profiles lie both flanks of the Venezuelan Andes. Bouguer anomaly lows do not occurs along the central axis but on the satellite basins located along the Northwestern and Southeastern flanks. The contours tend to group on these flanks reflecting a system related to reverse faults. It was also observed a density contrast separating the Cretaceous-Tertiary from the basement lying at depths greater than 5 Km in the northern Barinas Basin. The same contrast was detected around 10 km along the southern Lake Maracaibo area. The Venezuelan Andes is an asymmetric northern vergent Neogene structure generated under compression, transmitted along basement involved thrusts dipping Southeast. In consequence the tectonic transport is from the Southeast to the Northwest. (author). 7 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs

  14. "Nervios" and "Modern Childhood": Migration and Shifting Contexts of Child Life in the Ecuadorian Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pribilsky, Jason

    2001-01-01

    Argues that beyond explanations predicated on psychological ideas of separation and attachment, "nervios," a depression-like disorder among children in the southern Ecuadorian Andes, reflects the limits of children's abilities to accept terms of family life increasingly defined through transnational migration and new consumption…

  15. Distribución de Stenocercus guentheri (Sauria: Iguanidae en el sur de los Andes de Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Castro Herrera Fernando

    1993-12-01

    Full Text Available The morphology of a population of Stenocercus guentherifrom Colombia is described in detail and compared to information from ecuadorean specimens. The range of the species is extended northward to include the colombian departments (provinces of Nariño and Cauca along the Andes. Some field observations about bahavior, habitat, and reproduction are included.El presente trabajo describe las características de Stenocercus guentheri, en las poblaciones del sur de Colombia y hace una comparación con la información del Ecuador. Se amplía su rango de distribución geográfica hacia el norte de Suramérica, incluyendo los departamentos de Nariño y Cauca en los Andes de Colombia. Se incluyen datos de campo sobre hábitat, hábitos y reproducción.

  16. Adaptive institutions? Peasant institutions and natural models facing climatic and economic changes in the Colombian Andes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Feola, Giuseppe

    2017-01-01

    In the Colombian Andes, peasants have co-evolved with their environment for centuries, but it is uncertain whether traditional informal institutions and natural models are adapting to current and possibly unprecedented economic and climatic disturbances. This study investigated institutional

  17. Hydrological Modeling of Highly Glacierized Basins (Andes, Alps, and Central Asia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nina Omani

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT was used to simulate five glacierized river basins that are global in coverage and vary in climate. The river basins included the Narayani (Nepal, Vakhsh (Central Asia, Rhone (Switzerland, Mendoza (Central Andes, Argentina, and Central Dry Andes (Chile, with a total area of 85,000 km2. A modified SWAT snow algorithm was applied in order to consider spatial variation of associated snowmelt/accumulation by elevation band across each subbasin. In previous studies, melt rates varied as a function of elevation because of an air temperature gradient while the snow parameters were constant throughout the entire basin. A major improvement of the new snow algorithm is the separation of the glaciers from seasonal snow based on their characteristics. Two SWAT snow algorithms were evaluated in simulation of monthly runoff from the glaciered watersheds: (1 the snow parameters are lumped (constant throughout the entire basin and (2 the snow parameters are spatially variable based on elevation bands of a subbasin (modified snow algorithm. Applying the distributed SWAT snow algorithm improved the model performance in simulation of monthly runoff with snow-glacial regime, so that mean RSR decreased to 0.49 from 0.55 and NSE increased to 0.75 from 0.69. Improvement of model performance was negligible in simulations of monthly runoff from the basins with a monsoon runoff regime.

  18. Metal sources in Jurassic to miocene ore deposits of Ecuador

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chiaradia, M.; Fontbote, L

    2001-01-01

    The Ecuadorian crust is a mosaic of NNE-SSW-trending terranes representing different geotectonic domains. These terranes, composed by oceanic and continental crust, were formed during the Triassic separation of the North and South American continents and were accreted to the Amazon craton during subduction of the Farallon/Nazca plate, from Early Cretaceous to Early Tertiary (Litherland et al., 1994). In the southwestern part of Ecuador, EW-striking crustal-scale faults, related to the Huancabamba deflection, mark the transition between the Central and Northern Andes. In this study we discuss more than 200 lead isotope compositions of ores as well as magmatic and metamorphic rocks of Ecuador. The interest of carrying out a large-scale isotope survey in the Northern Andes derives from a geotectonic evolution characterized by multi-accretionary episodes which is not recognized in the Central Andes (au)

  19. PROTOPLANETARY DISK STRUCTURE WITH GRAIN EVOLUTION: THE ANDES MODEL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akimkin, V.; Wiebe, D.; Pavlyuchenkov, Ya.; Zhukovska, S.; Semenov, D.; Henning, Th.; Vasyunin, A.; Birnstiel, T.

    2013-01-01

    We present a self-consistent model of a protoplanetary disk: 'ANDES' ('AccretioN disk with Dust Evolution and Sedimentation'). ANDES is based on a flexible and extendable modular structure that includes (1) a 1+1D frequency-dependent continuum radiative transfer module, (2) a module to calculate the chemical evolution using an extended gas-grain network with UV/X-ray-driven processes and surface reactions, (3) a module to calculate the gas thermal energy balance, and (4) a 1+1D module that simulates dust grain evolution. For the first time, grain evolution and time-dependent molecular chemistry are included in a protoplanetary disk model. We find that grain growth and sedimentation of large grains onto the disk midplane lead to a dust-depleted atmosphere. Consequently, dust and gas temperatures become higher in the inner disk (R ∼ 50 AU), in comparison with the disk model with pristine dust. The response of disk chemical structure to the dust growth and sedimentation is twofold. First, due to higher transparency a partly UV-shielded molecular layer is shifted closer to the dense midplane. Second, the presence of big grains in the disk midplane delays the freeze-out of volatile gas-phase species such as CO there, while in adjacent upper layers the depletion is still effective. Molecular concentrations and thus column densities of many species are enhanced in the disk model with dust evolution, e.g., CO 2 , NH 2 CN, HNO, H 2 O, HCOOH, HCN, and CO. We also show that time-dependent chemistry is important for a proper description of gas thermal balance.

  20. Landsat satellite evidence of the decline of northern California bull kelp

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renshaw, A.; Houskeeper, H. F.; Kudela, R. M.

    2017-12-01

    Bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana), a species of canopy-forming brown macroalga dominant in the Pacific Northwest of North America, provides critical ecological services such as habitat for a diverse array of marine species, nutrient regulation, photosynthesis, and regional marine carbon cycling. Starting around 2014, annual aerial surveys of bull kelp forests along California's northern coastline conducted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) have reported a sudden 93% reduction in bull kelp canopy area. Remote sensing using satellite imagery is a robust, highly accurate tool for detecting and quantifying the abundance of the canopy-forming giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera; however, it has not been successfully applied to measuring northern bull kelp forests. One of the main difficulties associated with bull kelp detection via satellite is the small surface area of bull kelp canopies. As a result, bull kelp beds often only constitute part of a satellite pixel, making it difficult to obtain a kelp reflectance signal significantly different than water's reflectance signal. As part of the NASA Student Airborne Research Program (SARP), we test a novel method for assessing bull kelp canopy using a multiple endmember spectral mixing analysis (MESMA) applied to Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 imagery from 2003-2016. Water and kelp spectral endmembers are selected along the northern California coastline from Havens Neck cape to Point Arena. MESMA results are ground truthed with the CDFW aerial multispectral imagery data. This project will present a satellite-based time series of bull kelp canopy area and evaluate canopy change in a northern California kelp ecosystem.

  1. Surface uplift in the Central Andes driven by growth of the Altiplano Puna Magma Body.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perkins, Jonathan P; Ward, Kevin M; de Silva, Shanaka L; Zandt, George; Beck, Susan L; Finnegan, Noah J

    2016-10-25

    The Altiplano-Puna Magma Body (APMB) in the Central Andes is the largest imaged magma reservoir on Earth, and is located within the second highest orogenic plateau on Earth, the Altiplano-Puna. Although the APMB is a first-order geologic feature similar to the Sierra Nevada batholith, its role in the surface uplift history of the Central Andes remains uncertain. Here we show that a long-wavelength topographic dome overlies the seismically measured extent of the APMB, and gravity data suggest that the uplift is isostatically compensated. Isostatic modelling of the magmatic contribution to dome growth yields melt volumes comparable to those estimated from tomography, and suggests that the APMB growth rate exceeds the peak Cretaceous magmatic flare-up in the Sierran batholith. Our analysis reveals that magmatic addition may provide a contribution to surface uplift on par with lithospheric removal, and illustrates that surface topography may help constrain the magnitude of pluton-scale melt production.

  2. Crustal balance and crustal flux from shortening estimates in the Central Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hindle, David; Kley, Jonas; Oncken, Onno; Sobolev, Stephan

    2005-01-01

    The Central Andes of South America form the second largest high elevation plateau on earth. Extreme elevations have formed on a noncollisional margin with abundant associated arc magmatism. It has long been thought that the crustal thickness necessary to support Andean topography was not accounted for by known crustal shortening alone. We show that this may in part be due to a two-dimensional treatment of the problem. A three-dimensional analysis of crustal shortening and crustal thickness shows that displacement of material towards the axis of the bend in the Central Andes has added a significant volume of crust not accounted for in previous comparisons. We find that present-day crustal thickness between 12°S and 25°S is accounted for (∼-10% to ∼+3%)with the same shortening estimates, and the same assumed initial crustal thickness as had previously led to the conclusion of a ∼25-35% deficit in shortening relative to volume of crustal material. We suggest that the present-day measured crustal thickness distribution may not match that predicted due to shortening, and substantial redistribution of crust may have occurred by both erosion and deposition at the surface and lower crustal flow in regions of the thermally weakened middle and lower crust.

  3. De Los ríos profundos a Lituma en los andes: La respuesta de Mario Vargas Llosa a José María Arguedas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marie-Madeleine Gladieu

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available La novela de Mario Vargas Llosa Lituma en los Andes1 poco tiene que ver, aparentemente, con el mundo narrativo de José María Arguedas: las nuevas aventuras de un personaje ficticio bien conocido de los lectores, presente en varias obras anteriores de aquel autor, en nada se asemejan a las del niño Ernesto ni a las de otro protagonista arguediano. Los Andes sirven de decorado para los dos relatos, pero entre la naturaleza y los pueblos que se suceden en Los ríos profundos2en toda su diversidad, y los paisajes hoscos y siempre peligrosos por los que cruza Lituma, apenas reconoce el lector aquella parte del sur peruano. Algunos detalles, sin embargo, al examinar bien el texto y el contexto de Lituma en los Andes, llaman la atención.

  4. Vulnerability to climate change and community based adaptation in the Peruvian Andes, a stepwise approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lasage, R.; Muis, S.; Sardella, C.S.E.; van Drunen, M.A.; Verburg, P.H.; Aerts, J.C.J.H.

    2015-01-01

    The livelihoods of people in the Andes are expected to be affected by climate change due to their dependence on glacier water. The observed decrease in glacier volume over the last few decades is likely to accelerate during the current century, which will affect water availability in the region.

  5. Culture and landslide risk in the Central Andes of Bolivia and Peru

    OpenAIRE

    Nicholas Roberts

    2009-01-01

    Culture and its heritage play a major role in determining landslide risk in the Central Andes. Examples of some of these many possible influences are provided from natural and social science literature and from the author’s recent work in Bolivia. Landslide risk appears to have generally increased throughout the last millennium, due largely to anthropogenic modification of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and coping capacity. These changes result from both local and distant pressures and from ...

  6. Impact of Santiago de Chile urban atmospheric pollution on anthropogenic trace elements enrichment in snow precipitation at Cerro Colorado, Central Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cereceda-Balic, F.; Palomo-Marín, M. R.; Bernalte, E.; Vidal, V.; Christie, J.; Fadic, X.; Guevara, J. L.; Miro, C.; Pinilla Gil, E.

    2012-02-01

    Seasonal snow precipitation in the Andes mountain range is evaluated as an environmental indicator of the composition of atmospheric emissions in Santiago de Chile metropolitan area, by measuring a set of representative trace elements in snow samples by ICP-MS. Three late winter sampling campaigns (2003, 2008 and 2009) were conducted in three sampling areas around Cerro Colorado, a Central Andes mountain range sector NE of Santiago (36 km). Nevados de Chillán, a sector in The Andes located about 500 km south from the metropolitan area, was selected as a reference area. The experimental results at Cerro Colorado and Nevados de Chillán were compared with previously published data of fresh snow from remote and urban background sites. High snow concentrations of a range of anthropogenic marker elements were found at Cerro Colorado, probably derived from Santiago urban aerosol transport and deposition combined with the effect of mining and smelting activities in the area, whereas Nevados de Chillán levels roughly correspond to urban background areas. Enhanced concentrations in surface snow respect to deeper samples are discussed. Significant differences found between the 2003, 2008 and 2009 anthropogenic source markers profiles at Cerro Colorado sampling points were correlated with changes in emission sources at the city. The preliminary results obtained in this study, the first of this kind in the southern hemisphere, show promising use of snow precipitation in the Central Andes as a suitable matrix for receptor model studies aimed at identifying and quantifying pollution sources in Santiago de Chile.

  7. El represamiento y aluvión del río Santa Cruz, Andes Principales (31°40'S), provincia de San Juan

    OpenAIRE

    Patricio E. D'odorico; Daniel J. Pérez; Nicolás Sequeira; Luis Fauqué

    2009-01-01

    En la región de los Andes Principales sanjuaninos, existe una alta concentración de deslizamientos, cuyos depósitos han originado represamientos naturales. El colapso de estos diques generados por movimientos de ladera es el proceso evolutivo más probable de estas geoformas. El análisis de imágenes satelitales y fotos aéreas permite reconstruir las características y el origen de los deslizamientos que formaron esos diques naturales. En esta región de los Andes Principales, el rápido levantami...

  8. Intraseasonal variability of organized convective systems in the Central Andes: Relationship to Regional Dynamical Features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohr, K. I.; Slayback, D. A.; Nicholls, S.; Yager, K.

    2013-12-01

    The Andes extend from the west coast of Colombia (10N) to the southern tip of Chile (53S). In southern Peru and Bolivia, the Central Andes is split into separate eastern and western cordilleras, with a high plateau (≥ 3000 m), the Altiplano, between them. Because 90% of the Earth's tropical mountain glaciers are located in the Central Andes, our study focuses on this region, defining its zonal extent as 7S-21S and the meridional extent as the terrain 1000 m and greater. Although intense convection occurs during the wet season in the Altiplano, it is not included in the lists of regions with frequent or the most intense convection. The scarcity of in-situ observations with sufficient density and temporal resolution to resolve individual storms or even mesoscale-organized cloud systems and documented biases in microwave-based rainfall products in poorly gauged mountainous regions have impeded the development of an extensive literature on convection and convective systems in this region. With the tropical glaciers receding at unprecedented rates, leaving seasonal precipitation as an increasingly important input to the water balance in alpine valley ecosystems and streams, understanding the nature and characteristics of the seasonal precipitation becomes increasingly important for the rural economies in this region. Previous work in analyzing precipitation in the Central Andes has emphasized interannual variability with respect to ENSO, this is the first study to focus on shorter scale variability with respect to organized convection. The present study took advantage of the University of Utah's Precipitation Features database compiled from 14 years of TRMM observations (1998-2012), supplemented by field observations of rainfall and streamflow, historical gauge data, and long-term WRF-simulations, to analyze the intraseasonal variability of precipitating systems and their relationship regional dynamical features such as the Bolivian High. Through time series and

  9. Uplift sequence of the Andes at 30°S: Insights from sedimentology and U/Pb dating of synorogenic deposits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suriano, J.; Mardonez, D.; Mahoney, J. B.; Mescua, J. F.; Giambiagi, L. B.; Kimbrough, D.; Lossada, A.

    2017-04-01

    The South Central Andes at 30°S represent a key area to understand the Andes geodynamics as it is in the middle of the flat slab segment and all the morphotectonic units of the Central Andes are well developed. This work is focused in the proximal synorogenic deposits of the Western Precordillera, in the La Tranca valley, in order to unravel the uplift sequence of this belt. Nine facies associations were recognized; most of them represent piedmont facies with local provenance from Precordillera and were deposited in the wedge-top depozone, as is expected for proximal sinorogenic deposits. However there are intercalations of transference fluvial systems, which show mixed provenance indicating that Permo-Triassic igneous rocks were already exposed to the west (Frontal Cordillera). There are also lacustrine deposits which are interpreted as the result of damming by fault activity at east of the studied basin. Finally, two maximum depositional ages at ca. 11 Ma and 8 Ma of these deposits indicate that the onset of uplift of the Precordillera at 30°S is little older than 11 Ma. These data change two previous ideas about the evolution of the Precordillera: its uplift at 30° S is younger than proposed by previous works and it is nearly synchronous along strike.

  10. Genome of Plant Maca (Lepidium meyenii) Illuminates Genomic Basis for High-Altitude Adaptation in the Central Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jing; Tian, Yang; Yan, Liang; Zhang, Guanghui; Wang, Xiao; Zeng, Yan; Zhang, Jiajin; Ma, Xiao; Tan, Yuntao; Long, Ni; Wang, Yangzi; Ma, Yujin; He, Yuqi; Xue, Yu; Hao, Shumei; Yang, Shengchao; Wang, Wen; Zhang, Liangsheng; Dong, Yang; Chen, Wei; Sheng, Jun

    2016-07-06

    Maca (Lepidium meyenii Walp, 2n = 8x = 64), belonging to the Brassicaceae family, is an economic plant cultivated in the central Andes sierra in Peru (4000-4500 m). Considering that the rapid uplift of the central Andes occurred 5-10 million years ago (Ma), an evolutionary question arises regarding how plants such as maca acquire high-altitude adaptation within a short geological period. Here, we report the high-quality genome assembly of maca, in which two closely spaced maca-specific whole-genome duplications (WGDs; ∼6.7 Ma) were identified. Comparative genomic analysis between maca and closely related Brassicaceae species revealed expansions of maca genes and gene families involved in abiotic stress response, hormone signaling pathway, and secondary metabolite biosynthesis via WGDs. The retention and subsequent functional divergence of many duplicated genes may account for the morphological and physiological changes (i.e., small leaf shape and self-fertility) in maca in a high-altitude environment. In addition, some duplicated maca genes were identified with functions in morphological adaptation (i.e., LEAF CURLING RESPONSIVENESS) and abiotic stress response (i.e., GLYCINE-RICH RNA-BINDING PROTEINS and DNA-DAMAGE-REPAIR/TOLERATION 2) under positive selection. Collectively, the maca genome provides useful information to understand the important roles of WGDs in the high-altitude adaptation of plants in the Andes. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. New country records for five species of Pristimantis Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 from Ecuador

    OpenAIRE

    Yánez-Muñoz, Mario; Toral-Contreras, Eduardo; Meza-Ramos, Paúl; Reyes-Puig, Juan; Bejarano-Muñoz, E.; Mueses-Cisneros, Jonh; Paucar, Diego

    2012-01-01

    Five new species of frogs from the genus Pristimantis are reported for Ecuador, thus extending the distribution range for these species, previously described only for the southern Andes of Colombia and the northern Andes of Peru. The diversity of Pristimantis in Ecuador increases to 148 species, adding five additional species to the total of 508 anurans already described for Ecuador.

  12. Late Pleistocene glacial fluctuations in Cordillera Oriental, subtropical Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martini, Mateo A.; Kaplan, Michael R.; Strelin, Jorge A.; Astini, Ricardo A.; Schaefer, Joerg M.; Caffee, Marc W.; Schwartz, Roseanne

    2017-09-01

    The behavior of subtropical glaciers during Middle to Late Pleistocene global glacial maxima and abrupt climate change events, specifically in Earth's most arid low-latitude regions, remains an outstanding problem in paleoclimatology. The present-day climate of Cordillera Oriental, in arid northwestern Argentina, is influenced by shifts in subtropical climate systems, including the South American Summer Monsoon. To understand better past glacier-subtropical climates during the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 26.5-19 ka) and other time periods, we combined geomorphic features with forty-two precise 10Be ages on moraine boulders and reconstructed paleo-equilibrium line altitudes (ELA) at Nevado de Chañi (24°S) in the arid subtropical Andes. We found a major glacial expansion at ∼23 ± 1.6 ka, that is, during the global LGM. Additional glacial expansions are observed before the global LGM (at ∼52-39 ka), and after, at 15 ± 0.5 and 12 ± 0.6 ka. The ∼15 ka glacial event was found on both sides of Chañi and the ∼12 ka event is only recorded on the east side. Reconstructed ELAs of the former glaciers exhibit a rise from east to west that resembles the present subtropical climate trajectory from the Atlantic side of the continent; hence, we infer that this climate pattern must have been present in the past. Based on comparison with other low-latitude paleoclimate records, such as those from lakes and caves, we infer that both temperature and precipitation influenced past glacial occurrence in this sector of the arid Andes. Our findings also imply that abrupt deglacial climate events associated with the North Atlantic, specifically curtailed meridional overturning circulation and regional cooling, may have had attendant impacts on low subtropical Southern Hemisphere latitudes, including the climate systems that affect glacial activity around Nevado de Chañi.

  13. Del santuario al caserío: acerca de la neolitización en la Cordillera de los Andes Centrales

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1988-01-01

    . Piruru presenta, en el Precerámico Final (3000/2500 - 1800/1500 a.C., un largo período de construcción con fines religiosos antes de que existan, en el Formativo Inicial y Medio (1800/1500 - 800/600 a.C., estructuras de uso doméstico. Esta anterioridad de la arquitectura pública y ceremonial, observable en la escala regional, permite proponer la hipótesis que durante el Precerámico Final, los santuarios de la sierra tienen un rol catalizador, no sólo en lo que concierne al surgimiento y al desarrollo de la arquitectura, sino también en lo referente a la organización espacial de las comunidades en proceso de sedentarización. Durante la larga ocupación del Precerámico Final, más de 1000 años, las primeras fases de la secuencia de Piruru muestran la existencia de templetes que son los más antiguos que se conocen hasta hoy en los Andes Centrales. Luego, la fase más reciente del Templo P1 permite vincular Piruru a los demás santuarios conocidos y definir la tradición Mito, corriente religiosa que se manifiesta durante la segunda parte del Precerámico Final en las sierras de Ancash y Huánuco. En el Formativo Inicial, al mismo tiempo que se introduce la cerámica en el sitio arqueológico, Piruru se transforma en un pequeño hábitat agrupado, primer ejemplo conocido hoy en día en la sierra. En el transcurso de un largo proceso de más de 700 años, las transformaciones en la organización global del asentamiento indican un grado creciente de sedentarismo y muestran la transición desde un caserío utilizado de manera temporal hasta una aldea poblada de modo permanente, pues el sedentarismo parece haber sido adquirido al principio del Formativo Medio. 'From Shrine to Hamlet: About the Neolithic Process in the Central Andes Highlands'. The archaeological evidence found in Piruru opens new perspectives about sedentism and the rise of the village in the Central Andes. Piruru presents, during the Late Preceramic (3000/2500 -1800/1500 BC, a long period of

  14. Integrating river incision rates over timescales in the Ecuadorian Andes: from uplift history to current erosion rates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campforts, Benjamin; Govers, Gerard; Vanacker, Veerle; Tenorio, Gustavo

    2013-04-01

    River profile development is studied at different timescales, from the response to uplift over millions of years over steady state erosion rates over millennia to the response to a single event, such as a major landslide. At present, few attempts have been made to compare data obtained over various timescales. Therefore we do not know to what extent data and model results are compatible: do long-term river profile development models yield erosion rates that are compatible with information obtained over shorter time spans, both in terms of absolute rates and spatial patterns or not? Such comparisons could provide crucial insights into the nature of river development and allow us to assess the confidence we may have when predicting river response at different timescales (e.g. Kirchner et al., 2001). A major issue hampering such comparison is the uncertainty involved in the calibration of long-term river profile development models. Furthermore, calibration data on different timescales are rarely available for a specific region. In this research, we set up a river profile development model similar to the one used by Roberts & White (2010) and successfully calibrated it for the northern Ecuadorian Andes using detailed uplift and sedimentological data. Subsequently we used the calibrated model to simulate river profile development in the southern Ecuadorian Andes. The calibrated model allows to reconstruct the Andean uplift history in southern Ecuador, which is characterized by a very strong uplift phase during the last 5 My. Erosion rates derived from the modeled river incision rates were then compared with 10Be derived basin-wide erosion rates for a series of basins within the study area. We found that the model-inferred erosion rates for the last millennia are broadly compatible with the cosmogenic derived denudation rates, both in terms of absolute erosion rates as well as in terms of their spatial distribution. Hence, a relatively simple river profile development

  15. Contribución del programa 'Nieves y glaciares tropicales' (NGT al conocimiento de la variabilidad climática en los Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1998-01-01

    Full Text Available CONTRIBUTION DU PROGRAMME “NEIGES ET GLACIERS TROPICAUX” (NGT À LA CONNAISSANCE DE LA VARIABILITÉ CLIMATIQUE DANS LES ANDES. Les glaciers tropicaux sont d’excellents indicateurs de l’évolution du climat à cause de leur extrême sensibilité aux variations des paramètres météorologiques tels que les températures, la radiation, les précipitations etc. (Pouyaud et al., 1995. Ils ont enregistré les implications climatiques des phénomènes El Niño (ENSO et ils peuvent donner des informations précieuses sur leur fréquence et leur amplitude. Ce sont aussi des objets hydrologiques et les populations andines exploitent leurs ressources. Ils peuvent évoluer très rapidement. Le recul actuel, accéléré et généralisé des glaciers des Andes centrales a des conséquences hydrologiques et peut constituer des risques naturels. L’ORSTOM et ses partenaires scientifiques andins ont mis en route depuis 1991 un vaste programme de suivi dans l’ensemble des Andes tropicales. On évalue les résultats de ce programme jusqu’à la fin 1997. Los glaciares tropicales son excelentes indicadores de la evolución del clima por su extrema sensibilidad a las variaciones de los parámetros meteorológicos como las temperaturas, la radiación y las precipitaciones, etc. (Pouyaud et al., 1995. Bajo este concepto, han registrado las implicaciones climáticas de los fenómenos El Niño-Oscilación del Sur (ENSO y pueden proporcionar valiosas informaciones sobre su frecuencia y su magnitud. Son también objetos hidrológicos, cuyos recursos son aprovechados por las sociedades andinas, susceptibles de evoluciones futuras muy rápidas. El actual retroceso, generalizado y acelerado, de los glaciares de los Andes centrales y sus consecuencias en términos de hidrología o de riesgos naturales, condujeron al ORSTOM y sus contrapartes científicas andinas a lanzar desde 1991 un amplio programa de monitoreo de estos glaciares en el conjunto de los Andes tropicales

  16. Asynchronous Glacial Chronologies in the Central Andes (15-40°S) and Paleoclimatic Implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zech, R.; Kull, C.; Kubik, P. W.; Veit, H.

    2006-12-01

    We have established glacial chronologies along a N-S transect over the Central Andes using 10Be surface exposure dating. Our results show that maximum glacial advances occurred asynchronously and reflect the varying influence and shifts of the major atmospheric circulation systems during the Late Quaternary: the tropical circulation in the north and the westerlies in the south. In Bolivia (three research areas in the Cordillera Real and the Cordillera Cochabamba, ~15°S) glacial advances could be dated to ~20 and 12 ka BP. This is in good agreement with published exposure age data from moraines in Bolivia and Peru (provided that all ages are calculated following the same scaling system). Accordingly, the maximum glaciation there probably occurred roughly synchronous to the temperature minimum of the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the lateglacial cold reversals. Strict correlation with neither the Younger Dryas in the northern hemisphere, nor the Antarctic Cold Reversal is possible due to the current systematic exposure age uncertainties (~10%). Glacier-Climate-Modelling corroborates the sensitivity of the reconstructed glaciers to temperature changes, rather than precipitation. On the contrary, there is good evidence for the dominant role of precipitation changes on the glacial chronologies in the lee of the Cordillera Occidental, i.e. on the Altiplano and further south. The pronounced lateglacial wet phase, which is well documented in lake transgression phases as far south as 28°S (-> tropical moisture source), seems to have caused glacial advances even at ~30°S. In two research areas in Chile at that latitude, we were able to date several lateglacial moraines. Besides, the maximum datable glaciation there occurred at ~30 ka BP. That is significantly earlier than the LGM (sensu strictu) and points to favourable climate conditions for glaciation at that time (particularly increased precipitation). We conclude that the westerlies were more intensive or

  17. Tectonic geomorphology of large normal faults bounding the Cuzco rift basin within the southern Peruvian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byers, C.; Mann, P.

    2015-12-01

    The Cuzco basin forms a 80-wide, relatively flat valley within the High Andes of southern Peru. This larger basin includes the regional capital of Cuzco and the Urubamba Valley, or "Sacred Valley of the Incas" favored by the Incas for its mild climate and broader expanses of less rugged and arable land. The valley is bounded on its northern edge by a 100-km-long and 10-km-wide zone of down-to-the-south systems of normal faults that separate the lower area of the down-dropped plateau of central Peru and the more elevated area of the Eastern Cordillera foldbelt that overthrusts the Amazon lowlands to the east. Previous workers have shown that the normal faults are dipslip with up to 600 m of measured displacements, reflect north-south extension, and have Holocene displacments with some linked to destructive, historical earthquakes. We have constructed topographic and structural cross sections across the entire area to demonstrate the normal fault on a the plateau peneplain. The footwall of the Eastern Cordillera, capped by snowcapped peaks in excess of 6 km, tilts a peneplain surface northward while the hanging wall of the Cuzco basin is radially arched. Erosion is accelerated along the trend of the normal fault zone. As the normal fault zone changes its strike from east-west to more more northwest-southeast, normal displacement decreases and is replaced by a left-lateral strike-slip component.

  18. Evidence for Multiple Late Quaternary Glaciations in the Southernmost Cordillera Blanca, Peru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, J. A.; Rodbell, D. T.; Ramage, J. M.

    2007-12-01

    Surface-exposure dating with in-situ-produced cosmogenic isotopes has provided the basis for a growing framework of glacial chronologies in the tropical Andes. In the Peruvian Andes, long chronologies (>400 ka) with relatively small local last glacial maximum (LLGM) advances have been reported for the central Cordillera Blanca (ca. 9°30'S) and Junin Plain (11°00'S), whereas preliminary data suggest a shorter record (<40 ka) in the intervening Cordillera Huayhuash (10°15'S). These seemingly contradictory findings raise several questions: Was the LLGM a relatively minor event in the Peruvian Andes, far exceeded by bigger, older advances? Which combination of geographic and geomorphic factors increases the likelihood that evidence of older advances will be preserved? With these questions in mind, we sought a site with both high peaks and a high-altitude plateau. The glaciated Nevado Jeulla Rajo massif (10°00'S, 77°16'W, peaks ca. 5600 masl) marks the southern end of the Cordillera Blanca and the Callejon de Huaylas valley in the central Peruvian Andes. The Conococha Plain (ca. 4050 masl) borders the western side of the massif. Large lateral moraines extend onto the Conococha Plain from the west-facing valleys and multiple moraine loops lie upvalley, closer to active ice margins. Surface-exposure dating (10Be) indicates that the largest lateral moraines from Jeullesh Valley are compound features deposited during the LLGM (ca. 30 ka) and a late-glacial readvance (ca. 16 ka). The LLGM/late-glacial moraines cross-cut an older pair of lateral moraines (ca. 70 ka) that may provide evidence for a smaller advance during marine isotope stage 4. Although the LLGM/late-glacial moraines are impressively large (ca. 150 m high), they do not represent the maximum ice extent in the region. Fluvial outwash deposits beyond the termini of the moraines on the Conococha Plain are underlain by lodgement till that is up to 20 m thick and extends ca. 6 km across the width of the Plain

  19. New insights into the phylogenetic relationships, character evolution, and phytogeographic patterns of Calceolaria (Calceolariaceae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cosacov, Andrea; Sérsic, Alicia N; Sosa, Victoria; De-Nova, J Arturo; Nylinder, Stephan; Cocucci, Andrea A

    2009-12-01

    Biogeographical patterns and diversification processes in Andean and Patagonian flora are not yet well understood. Calceolaria is a highly diversified genus of these areas, representing one of the most specialized plant-pollinator systems because flowers produce nonvolatile oils, a very unusual floral reward. Phylogenetic analyses with molecular (ITS and matK) and morphological characters from 103 Calceolaria species were conducted to examine relationships, to understand biogeographic patterns, and to detect evolutionary patterns of floral and ecological characters. Total evidence analysis retrieved three major clades, which strongly correspond to the three previously recognized subgenera, although only subgenus Rosula was retrieved as a monophyletic group. A single historical event explains the expansion from the southern to central Andes, while different parallel evolutionary lines show a northward expansion from the central to northern Andes across the Huancabamba Deflection, an important geographical barrier in northern Peru. Polyploidy, acquisition of elaiophores, and a nototribic pollination mechanism are key aspects of the evolutionary history of Calceolaria. Pollination interactions were more frequently established with Centris than with Chalepogenus oil-collecting bee species. The repeated loss of the oil gland and shifts to pollen as the only reward suggest an evolutionary tendency from highly to moderately specialized pollination systems.

  20. LA CUEVA ALIHUÉN, NUEVOS REGISTROS DE PINTURAS RUPESTRES EN LA VEGA DE MAIPÚ (SAN MARTÍN DE LOS ANDES, PATAGONIA, ARGENTINA (The Alihuén Cave, New Records of Cave Paintings in the Maipú Valley (San Martín de los Andes, Patagonia, Argentina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alberto Enrique Pérez

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Se presenta el resultado de las nuevas investigaciones de pinturas rupestres en la vega Maipú, San Martín de los Andes, Neuquén, Argentina; donde se destaca la presencia de motivos zoomorfos, especialmente camélidos, de escasa representación hasta la fecha en el registro zooarqueológico local. El sitio Cueva Alihuén amplía la diversidad de motivos y técnicas de las pinturas rupestres de la vega Maipú, lo que nos permite plantear aspectos tanto biogeográficos respecto a la fauna como sobre la circulación de información y movilidad. Ambos aspectos nos permiten, nuevamente, aunar ambas vertientes de la cordillera de los Andes, compartiendo, integrando y complementando cada vez más características con el resto de los sitios que componen la cuenca hidrográfica de Valdivia, cuyo sector inferior constituye nuestra área de estudio. ENGLISH: New results from research on the cave paintings of the Maipú Valley, San Martín de los Andes, Neuquén, Argentina, highlight the presence of zoomorphic motifs, especially camelids which have been underrepresented in the local zooarchaeological record. The Alihuén cave site expands the range of motifs and techniques known from the cave paintings of the Maipú Valley that allows us to raise issues regarding both biogeographic wildlife, and on the flow of information and human mobility. These aspects allow us to share and integrate the increasingly complementary features on both sides of the Andes with the rest of the sites that comprise the Valdivia River basin, whose lower section composed our study area.

  1. EL ROL DEL ANTICICLÓN PACÍFICO EN LA CAÍDA DE NIEVE EN LOS ANDES ÁRIDOS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arnobio G. Poblete

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This article aims to study in depth the role the anticyclone subtropical eastern South Pacific (ASPSO on the nival precipitation in the arid Andes, its seasonal variability, fluctuations in the long and medium scale and associations with snowfall. For this reason, the incidence on the ratio of precipitation, the SST in the South Pacific Ocean, precipitable water, wind zonal, Radiation in Outgoing Long Wave and Omega were analyzed. The methodology consisted in the evaluation of the ASPSO through the definition of an index, based on Santiago de Chile (PSGO measured surface atmospheric pressure. This would allow its surveillance and the processing of its temporal behavior in the statistical analysis. The results showed significant time - space associations within the involved variables, which confirmed in all cases the negative impact of ASPSO related to snowfall in the Andes mountains. period 1909-2015.

  2. Marked spatial gradient in the topographic evolution of the Andes spanning the Chilean flat-slab transition: evidence from stable isotope paleoaltimetry and zircon double dating

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoke, G. D.; McPhillips, D. F.; Giambiagi, L.; Garzione, C. N.; Mahoney, J. B.; Strecker, M. R.

    2015-12-01

    The major changes in the subduction angle of the Nazca plate are often hypothesized to have important consequences for the tectonic evolution of the Andes. Temporal and spatial patterns of topographic growth and exhumation are indicators that should help elucidate any linkages to subduction angle. Here, we combine observations from stable isotope paleoaltimetry with detrital zircon double dating between 30 and 35°S to demonstrate a consistent increase in surface and rock uplift in the Andes south of 32°S. The stable isotope data are from Miocene pedogenic carbonates collected from seven different basin sequences spanning different tectonic and topographic positions in the range. Paleoelevations between 1 km and 1.9 km are calculated using modern local isotope-elevation gradients along with carbonate-formation temperatures determined from clumped isotope studies in modern soils. Present day, low elevation foreland localities were at their present elevations during the Miocene, while three of the intermontane basins experienced up to 2 km of surface uplift between the end of deposition during the late Miocene and present. Detrital zircon (U-Th-Sm)/He and U-Pb double dating in three modern drainage basins (Tunuyán, Arroyo Grande and Río de los Patos) reveals clear Miocene exhumation signals south of the flat slab with no recent exhumation apparent at 32°S. The exhumation pattern is consistent with paleoaltimetry results. Interestingly, the maximum inferred surface uplift is greatest where the crust is thinnest, and the timing of the observed changes in elevation and exhumation has not been linked to any documented episodes of large-magnitude crustal shortening in the eastern half of the range. The spatial pattern of surface uplift and exhumation seems to mimic the Pampean flat slab's geometry, however, it could be equally well explained by eastward migration of a crustal root via ductile deformation in the lower crust and is not related to flat-slab subduction.

  3. Coupled geohazards at Southern Andes (Copahue-Lanín volcanoes): Chile's GEO supersite proposal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lara, Luis E.; Cordova, Loreto

    2017-04-01

    Southern Andes are a young and active mountain belt where volcanism and tectonic processes (and those related to the hydrometeorological conditions controlled by this geological setting) pose a significant threat to the growing communities nearby. This proposal focus on a ca. 200 km long segment of the Southern Andes where 9 stratovolcanoes and 2 distributed volcanic fields are located, just along a tectonic corridor defined by the northern segment of the Liquiñe-Ofqui Faul System (LOFS), a long-lived active strike-slip fault running for 1200 km. Volcanoes in this area take part of the central province of the Andean Southern Volcanic Zone (37-41°S), particularly the northermost portion that is limited at the south by an Andean tranverse fault (Lanalhue Fault, which define the Villarrica-Lanin volcanic chain) and run along the horse-tail array of the LOFS to the north. Most of the stravolcanoes are atop of the LOFS main branch with only 3 exceptions (Callaqui, Tolhuaca and Lanín) 15-20 km away, but related to transverse faults. Hazards in the segment derive from the activity of some of the most active volcanoes in South America (e.g., Villarrica, Llaima), others with long-lasting weak activity (e.g., Copahue) or some volcanoes with low frequency but high magnitude eruptions in the geological record. Only since the beggining of the 20th century 80 eruptions have been recorded in this area. In addition, activity of the LOFS has been detected prior to some eruptions and coeval with some others (e.g., Lonquimay 1989). A strong two-way coupling between tectonics and volcanism has been proposed for the segment but only recently detected by geophysical techniques or numerical modelling. Tectonic triggered landslides are frequent in this region together with debris flows at erupting ice-covered volcanoes or stream headed at high altitude basins. The latter scenario seems to be worst at present because of global climate change. Ground-based monitoring networks for both

  4. Investigations on vertical crustal movements in the Venezuelan Andes by gravimetric methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drewes, H.

    1978-01-01

    A precise gravimetric network has been installed in the Venezuelan Andes to study eventual gravity changes due to vertical tectonic movements. The design and the measurements of the network are described and the accuracy is estimated. In the center of the region a local gravity network has been reobserved three times. The detected variations are discussed. In order to obtain a genuine statement as far as possible about the significance of observed gravity changes, requirements for the procedure of monitoring precise gravity networks are pointed out.

  5. Distichia acicularis sp. nov. – a new cushion forming Juncaceae from the high Andes of Ecuador

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Balslev, Henrik; Lægaard, Simon

    1986-01-01

    Distichia acicularis is described as a new species of Juncaceae. It occurs in the high Andes of Ecuador between 3200 m and 4200 m above sea level. Its closest relative is D. muscoides Nees & Meyen from which it is distinct through its narrow, linear, mucronate leafblades and its 1–3 mm long...

  6. Resilience and adaptations of rural communities and agricultural land use in the tropical Andes: Coping with environmental and socio-economic changes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stadel, Ch.

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available In spite of a long settlement history of the tropical Andes, rural farming communities have always been exposed to conditions of ecological and economic vulnerability, risks, and even disasters. This has resulted, at certain times and in some regions, to a destabilization of livelihoods and to a manifestation of various forms of marginalization, to poverty or outmigration. However, Andean communities , over a long time, have given admirable testimonies of resilience and adaptations in the face of adverse conditions or new challenges. This paper examines the potentials and different facets of resilience and adaptation strategies of the rural campesinado in the tropical Andes. It emphasizes the proven traditional concepts of verticality, complementarity, reciprocity, and mutual community support, which to date support the feasibility and sustainability of Andean farming and community survival. In spite of this recognition, it is argued that Andean rural livelihoods always had to adapt to new developments, to threats and challenges, as well as to opportunities and alternative potentials. In the face of an almost ubiquitous penetration of modernization, new technologies, and economic and cultural globalization, the fundamental question arises, whether this can be considered as a path to progress and development, or as a threat to the survival of small-scale farming and rural community living. The paper concludes by formulating, albeit in a tentative form, some general suggestions for ‘development’ approaches and for research priorities in the rural Andes.

    A pesar de una tradición muy extensa del asentamiento humano en los Andes tropicales, las comunidades campesinas siempre enfrentaron condiciones de vulnerabilidad ecológica y económica, con varios riesgos, y aun desastres. Eso ha resultado, en diversos tiempos y en algunas regiones, en una estabilización de la superviviencia humana y en varias manifestaciones de marginalización, de

  7. Cold Episodes, Their Precursors and Teleconnections in the Central Peruvian Andes (1958-2009)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sulca, J. C.; Vuille, M. F.; Trasmonte, G.; Silva, Y.; Takahashi, K.

    2014-12-01

    The Mantaro valley (MV) is located in the central Peruvian Andes. Occasionally, cold episodes are observed during the austral summer (January-March), which strongly damage crops. However, little is known about the causes and impacts of such cold episodes in the MV. The main goal of this study is thus to characterize cold episodes in the MV and assess their large-scale circulation and teleconnections over South America (SA) during austral summer. To identify cold events in the MV daily minimum temperature for the period 1958-2009 from Huayao station, located within the MV was used. We defined a cold episode as the period when daily minimum temperature drops below the 10-percentile for at least one day. Several gridded reanalysis and satellite products were used to characterize the large-scale circulation, cloud cover and rainfall over SA associated with these events for same period. Cold episodes in the MV are associated with positive OLR anomalies, which extend over much of the central Andes, indicating reduced convective cloud cover during these extremes, but also affirm the large-scale nature of these events. At the same time, northeastern Brazil (NEB) registers negative OLR anomalies, strong convective activity and enhanced cloud cover because displacement of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) toward the northeast of its climatologic position. Further, it is associated with a weakening of the Bolivian High - Nordeste Low (BH-NL) system at upper levels, but also influenced by a low-level migratory high-pressure center develops at 30°S, 50°W; propagating from mid- to low latitudes as part of an extratropical Rossby wave train. In conclusion, cold episodes in the MV appear to be caused by radiative cooling associated with reduced cloudiness, rather than cold air advection. The reduced cloud cover in turn results from a robust large-scale pattern of westerly wind anomalies over central Peruvian Andes, inhibiting moisture influx, convective activity and

  8. Las puntas y rejas prehispánicas de metal en los Andes y su continuidad hasta el presente

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Les pointes et les socs préhispaniques en métal dans les Andes et leur continuité jusqu’à aujourd’hui Résumé: Cet article tente de montrer la continuité entre les instruments à usages multiples composés de pointes et des socs en cuivre arsenical insérés sur des manches en bois qui ont été élaborés à partir de 900 d. C. par les Sicán de Batán Grande, département de Lambayeque (Pérou, et certains instruments en acier utilisés actuellement dans les Andes du nord du Pérou et du sud de l’Équateur : les barretas, barretillas, barretones et les petites pelles. Il s’agit d’indiquer, sur la base d’informations ethnographiques, la relation entre ces instruments et les allachus, kituchis et chaquitacllas dont se servent les paysans des hautes terres du centre et du sud du Pérou, ceci dans le but de contribuer à l’élaboration d’une histoire de la technologie andine. Este artículo intenta, por un lado, mostrar la continuidad entre las herramientas multiusos elaboradas a partir de 900 d.C. por los sicanes de Batán Grande, departamento de Lambayeque (Perú, compuestas por puntas y rejas de cobre arsenical insertadas en cabos de madera y algunos de los instrumentos de acero utilizados actualmente en los Andes del norte del Perú y del sur del Ecuador: barretas, barretillas, barretones y pequeñas lampas. Y por otro, indicar, en base a datos etnográficos, la relación entre estos instrumentos y los allachus, kituchis y chaquitacllas que emplean los campesinos de las tierras alto andinas del centro y el sur del Perú. Esto con la finalidad de abogar para la elaboración de una historia de la tecnología andina. Prehispanic metal points and ploughshares in the Andes and their continuity until the present Abstract: This article shows the continuity in the production of multiple use tools that where made beginning AD 900 by the Sicán people of Batán Grande, in the Department of Lambayeque, Peru. These tools are arsenical cooper

  9. Tectonic geomorphology of the Andes with SIR-A and SIR-B

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloom, Arthur L.; Fielding, Eric J.

    1986-01-01

    Data takes from SIR-A and SIR-B (Shuttle Imaging Radar) crossed all of the principal geomorphic provinces of the central Andes between 17 and 34 S latitude. In conjunction with Thematic Mapping images and photographs from hand-held cameras as well as from the Large Format Camera that was flown with SIR-B, the radar images give an excellent sampling of Andean geomorphology. In particular, the radar images show new details of volcanic rocks and landforms of late Cenozoic age in the Puna, and the exhumed surfaces of tilted blocks of Precambrian crystalline basement in the Sierras Pampeanas.

  10. Altitudinal vegetation belts in the high-Andes of central Chile (33°S Pisos altitudinales de vegetación en los Andes de Chile central (33°S

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lohengrin A. Cavieres

    2000-06-01

    Full Text Available The limits of alpine vegetation belts have been established mainly based on physiognomic criteria. However, a more objective approach for fixing limits of vegetation belts are methods based on species composition and relative abundance of each species. While these methods are more time consuming, they are more detailed and permit the detection of physical factors affecting the limits of vegetation belts. In this paper we: 1 describe the altitudinal changes of vegetation above timberline, 2 compare vegetation belts defined with physiognomy and two floristic methods (a qualitative one based on altitudinal changes in species composition, and a quantitative one based on changes in dominant species; and 3 detect some environmental factors responsible for the altitudinal distribution of alpine vegetation between 2100 and 3700 masl in the Andes of Santiago, central Chile (33°S. There was a complete agreement between the different methods in delimiting the subalpine belt. However, in the lower alpine belt (the cushion's belt floristic methods subdivided it in 2-3 sub-belts. In the floristic methods, elevations 3500-3700 that formed the higher alpine belt segregated in separate ways because they have no species in common. Physiognomic descriptions lose relevant information about species distribution, especially at higher elevations. Mean annual temperature and nitrogen content of soil are the main environmental factors affecting the altitudinal limits of vegetation belts in the central Chilean AndesLa delimitación de los pisos altitudinales de vegetación andina se ha basado principalmente en criterios fisionómicos. Sin embargo, un criterio más objetivo para la delimitación es usar métodos basados en la composición y abundancia relativa de las especies presentes. Mientras estos métodos requieren de un mayor esfuerzo de muestreo, son más detallados y permiten detectar factores físicos involucrados en la delimitación altitudinal de la vegetaci

  11. GIS as a tool in participatory natural resource management: Examples from the Peruvian Andes

    OpenAIRE

    Bussink, C.

    2003-01-01

    Metadata only record Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are often seen as incompatible with participatory processes. However, since the late 1990s, attempts have been made in numerous projects around the world to define 'best practices' for improved natural resource management projects that integrate participation and accurate spatial information, using GIS (for example, see www.iapad.org/participatory_gis.htm). This article describes a project in the Peruvian Andes where spatial informa...

  12. The Influence of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (mjo) on Extreme Rainfall Over the Central and Southern Peruvian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heidinger, H.; Jones, C.; Carvalho, L. V.

    2015-12-01

    Extreme rainfall is important for the Andean region because of the large contribution of these events to the seasonal totals and consequent impacts on water resources for agriculture, water consumption, industry and hydropower generation, as well as the occurrence of floods and landslides. Over Central and Southern Peruvian Andes (CSPA), rainfall exceeding the 90th percentile contributed between 44 to 100% to the total Nov-Mar 1979-2010 rainfall. Additionally, precipitation from a large majority of stations in the CSPA exhibits statistically significant spectral peaks on intraseasonal time-scales (20 to 70 days). The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is the most important intraseasonal mode of atmospheric circulation and moist convection in the tropics and the occurrence of extreme weather events worldwide. Mechanisms explaining the relationships between the MJO and precipitation in the Peruvian Andes have not been properly described yet. The present study examines the relationships between the activity and phases of the MJO and the occurrence of extreme rainfall over the CSPA. We found that the frequency of extreme rainfall events increase in the CSPA when the MJO is active. MJO phases 5, 6 and 7 contribute to the overall occurrence of extreme rainfall events over the CSPA. However, how the MJO phases modulate extreme rainfall depends on the location of the stations. For instance, extreme precipitation (above the 90th percentile) in stations in the Amazon basin are slightly more sensitive to phases 2, 3 and 4; the frequency of extremes in stations in the Pacific basin increases in phases 5, 6 and 7 whereas phase 2, 3 and 7 modulates extreme precipitation in stations in the Titicaca basin. Greater variability among stations is observed when using the 95th and 99th percentiles to identify extremes. Among the main mechanisms that explain the increase in extreme rainfall events in the Peruvian Andes is the intensification of the easterly moisture flux anomalies, which

  13. A high-altitude peatland record of environmental changes in the NW Argentine Andes (24 ° S) over the last 2100 years

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schittek, Karsten; Kock, Sebastian T.; Lücke, Andreas; Hense, Jonathan; Ohlendorf, Christian; Kulemeyer, Julio J.; Lupo, Liliana C.; Schäbitz, Frank

    2016-05-01

    High-altitude cushion peatlands are versatile archives for high-resolution palaeoenvironmental studies, due to their high accumulation rates, range of proxies, and sensitivity to climatic and/or human-induced changes. Especially within the Central Andes, the knowledge about climate conditions during the Holocene is limited. In this study, we present the environmental and climatic history for the last 2100 years of Cerro Tuzgle peatland (CTP), located in the dry Puna of NW Argentina, based on a multi-proxy approach. X-ray fluorescence (XRF), stable isotope and element content analyses (δ13C, δ15N, TN and TOC) were conducted to analyse the inorganic geochemistry throughout the sequence, revealing changes in the peatlands' past redox conditions. Pollen assemblages give an insight into substantial environmental changes on a regional scale. The palaeoclimate varied significantly during the last 2100 years. The results reflect prominent late Holocene climate anomalies and provide evidence that in situ moisture changes were coupled to the migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). A period of sustained dry conditions prevailed from around 150 BC to around AD 150. A more humid phase dominated between AD 200 and AD 550. Afterwards, the climate was characterised by changes between drier and wetter conditions, with droughts at around AD 650-800 and AD 1000-1100. Volcanic forcing at the beginning of the 19th century (1815 Tambora eruption) seems to have had an impact on climatic settings in the Central Andes. In the past, the peatland recovered from climatic perturbations. Today, CTP is heavily degraded by human interventions, and the peat deposit is becoming increasingly susceptible to erosion and incision.

  14. Overriding plate shortening and extension above subduction zones : A parametric study to explain formation of the Andes Mountains

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schellart, Wouter P.

    2008-01-01

    Mountain building above subduction zones, such as observed in the Andes, is enigmatic, and the key parameter controlling the underlying dynamics remains a matter of considerable debate. A global survey of subduction zones is presented here, illustrating the correlation between overriding plate

  15. ASTER Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2000-01-01

    In this image of the Andes along the Chile-Bolivia border, the visible and infrared data have been computer enhanced to exaggerate the color differences of the different materials. The scene is dominated by the Pampa Luxsar lava complex, occupying the upper right two-thirds of the scene. Lava flows are distributed around remnants of large dissected cones, the largest of which is Cerro Luxsar. On the middle left edge of the image are the Olca and Parumastrato volcanoes, which appear in blue due to a lack of vegetation (colored red in this composite). This image covers an area 60 kilometers (37 miles) wide and 60 kilometers (37 miles) long in three bands of the reflected visible and infrared wavelength region. It was acquired on April 7, 2000.The image is located at 21 degrees south latitude, 68.3 degrees west longitude. Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18, 1999, on NASA's Terra satellite. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and the data products. Dr. Anne Kahle at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, is the U.S. science team leader; Moshe Pniel of JPL is the project manager. ASTER is the only high-resolution imaging sensor on Terra. The primary goal of the ASTER mission is to obtain high-resolution image data in 14 channels over the entire land surface, as well as black and white stereo images. With revisit time of between 4 and 16 days, ASTER will provide the capability for repeat coverage of changing areas on Earth's surface.The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER will provide scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping and monitoring dynamic conditions and temporal change. Examples of applications include monitoring glacial advances and retreats

  16. Genetic divergence in populations of Lutzomyia ayacuchensis, a vector of Andean-type cutaneous leishmaniasis, in Ecuador and Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kato, Hirotomo; Cáceres, Abraham G; Gomez, Eduardo A; Mimori, Tatsuyuki; Uezato, Hiroshi; Hashiguchi, Yoshihisa

    2015-01-01

    Haplotype and gene network analyses were performed on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I and cytochrome b gene sequences of Lutzomyia (Lu.) ayacuchensis populations from Andean areas of Ecuador and southern Peru where the sand fly species transmit Leishmania (Leishmania) mexicana and Leishmania (Viannia) peruviana, respectively, and populations from the northern Peruvian Andes, for which transmission of Leishmania by Lu. ayacuchensis has not been reported. The haplotype analyses showed higher intrapopulation genetic divergence in northern Peruvian Andes populations and less divergence in the southern Peru and Ecuador populations, suggesting that a population bottleneck occurred in the latter populations, but not in former ones. Importantly, both haplotype and phylogenetic analyses showed that populations from Ecuador consisted of clearly distinct clusters from southern Peru, and the two populations were separated from those of northern Peru. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Changes in Andes snow cover from MODIS data, 2000-2016

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saavedra, Freddy A.; Kampf, Stephanie K.; Fassnacht, Steven R.; Sibold, Jason S.

    2018-03-01

    The Andes span a length of 7000 km and are important for sustaining regional water supplies. Snow variability across this region has not been studied in detail due to sparse and unevenly distributed instrumental climate data. We calculated snow persistence (SP) as the fraction of time with snow cover for each year between 2000 and 2016 from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite sensors (500 m, 8-day maximum snow cover extent). This analysis is conducted between 8 and 36° S due to high frequency of cloud (> 30 % of the time) south and north of this range. We ran Mann-Kendall and Theil-Sens analyses to identify areas with significant changes in SP and snowline (the line at lower elevation where SP = 20 %). We evaluated how these trends relate to temperature and precipitation from Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications-2 (MERRA2) and University of Delaware datasets and climate indices as El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Southern Annular Mode (SAM), and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Areas north of 29° S have limited snow cover, and few trends in snow persistence were detected. A large area (34 370 km2) with persistent snow cover between 29 and 36° S experienced a significant loss of snow cover (2-5 fewer days of snow year-1). Snow loss was more pronounced (62 % of the area with significant trends) on the east side of the Andes. We also found a significant increase in the elevation of the snowline at 10-30 m year-1 south of 29-30° S. Decreasing SP correlates with decreasing precipitation and increasing temperature, and the magnitudes of these correlations vary with latitude and elevation. ENSO climate indices better predicted SP conditions north of 31° S, whereas the SAM better predicted SP south of 31° S.

  18. [Fertility and reproductive behavior in Peru: Andes mountains and the Amazon basin].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fort, A L

    1992-01-01

    "The article attempts to discuss the historical and contemporary situations of [fertility among] populations residing in the two least studied areas of Peru: the Andes mountains and the Amazon basin. The study starts with a review of the 'demographic catastrophe' that the Spanish presence meant to the people of these areas.... The harmful effects of the 'rubber boom' and, more recently, of the 'oil boom', periods are also reviewed." Fertility trends in the two areas are analyzed, with a focus on marriage, breast-feeding, and contraceptive use. (SUMMARY IN ENG) excerpt

  19. Two new species of Leptanilloides Mann, 1823 (Formicidae: Dorylinae from the Andes of southern Ecuador

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thibaut Delsinne

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Two new species of Leptanilloides are described: L. copalinga Delsinne & Donoso sp. nov., and L. prometea Delsinne & Donoso sp. nov., based on workers collected in the leaf litter and soil of the Andes of southern Ecuador. Both species belong to the L. biconstricta species-group (formally diagnosed here. The metatibial gland, considered a synapomorphy for Dorylinae, is observed in L. prometea sp. nov. but seems absent in L. copalinga sp. nov. We provide a COI DNA barcode for both species and a revised key for the worker caste of all known species in the genus. We also describe a single male identified as a potential new Leptanilloides species on the basis of morphology. Furthermore, its mitochondrial COI gene sequence does not match any previously barcoded species. However, we refrain from giving it a specific name because of our lack of knowledge about the worker caste. So far, half of the 14 Leptanilloides species have been discovered above 1500 m in the mountain forests or páramos of the Ecuadorian Andes, confirming, if needed, the biological significance of these threatened habitats.

  20. Short report: serologic evidence of human ehrlichiosis in Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moro, Pedro L; Shah, Jyotsna; Li, Olga; Gilman, Robert H; Harris, Nick; Moro, Manuel H

    2009-02-01

    A serosurvey for human ehrlichiosis caused by Ehrlichia chaffeensis and Anaplasma phagocytophilum was performed in different regions of Peru by using indirect immunofluorescence assays (IFAs). Regions included an urban community in a shantytown in Lima (Pampas) and three rural communities located on the northern coast of Peru (Cura Mori), in the southern Peruvian Andes (Cochapata), and in the Peruvian jungle region (Santo Tomas). An overall E. chaffeensis seroprevalence of 13% (21 of 160) was found by IFA. Seroprevalences in females and males was 15% (16 of 106) and 9% (5 of 53), respectively. Seroprevalences in Cura Mori, Cochapata, Pampas, and Santo Tomas were 25% (10 of 40), 23% (9 of 40), 3% (1 of 40), and 3% (1 of 40), respectively. Seroprevalences in Cura Mori and Cochapata were significantly higher than in Santo Tomas or Pampas (P Peru. Further studies are needed to characterize Ehrlichia species in Peru, their vectors and their clinical significance.

  1. Diversification in the Andes: age and origins of South American Heliotropium lineages (Heliotropiaceae, Boraginales).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luebert, Federico; Hilger, Hartmut H; Weigend, Maximilian

    2011-10-01

    The uplift of the Andes was a major factor for plant diversification in South America and had significant effects on the climatic patterns at the continental scale. It was crucial for the formation of the arid environments in south-eastern and western South America. However, both the timing of the major stages of the Andean uplift and the onset of aridity in western South America remain controversial. In this paper we examine the hypothesis that the Andean South American groups of Heliotropium originated and diversified in response to Andean orogeny during the late Miocene and a the subsequent development of aridity. To this end, we estimate divergence times and likely biogeographical origins of the major clades in the phylogeny of Heliotropium, using both Bayesian and likelihood methods. Divergence times of all Andean clades in Heliotropium are estimated to be of late Miocene or Pliocene ages. At least three independent Andean diversification events can be recognized within Heliotropium. Timing of the diversification in the Andean lineages Heliotropium sects.Heliothamnus, Cochranea, Heliotrophytum, Hypsogenia, Plagiomeris, Platygyne clearly correspond to a rapid, late Miocene uplift of the Andes and a Pliocene development of arid environments in South America. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Transboundary protected area proposals along the Southern Andes of Chile and Argentina: Status of current efforts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peter Keller

    2007-01-01

    An evolving network of protected areas along the southern Andes of Chile and Argentina-the heart of Patagonia-are in various stages of evaluation and potential Transboundary Protected Area designations. This paper examines three such efforts. The first proposal is the North Andean-Patagonia Regional Eco-Corridor, which was the subject of a recent bilateral meeting...

  3. Pacopampa: Early evidence of violence at a ceremonial site in the northern Peruvian highlands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nagaoka, Tomohito; Uzawa, Kazuhiro; Seki, Yuji; Morales Chocano, Daniel

    2017-01-01

    Pacopampa, a ceremonial complex in Peru's northern highlands, reveals early evidence of trauma in the Middle to Late Formative Period coinciding with the emergence of social stratification in the area. We examine the prevalence of trauma in human remains found at the site and present evidence of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of individuals who lived during the early stages of Andean civilization. The materials are the remains of 104 individuals (38 non-adult and 66 adult) from the Middle to Late Formative Periods. We explored trauma macroscopically and recorded patterns based on skeletons' locations, age at death, sex, social class, and chronology. We detected trauma in remains over the Middle to Late Formative Periods. While the prevalence of trauma was minimal in the Middle Formative Period, skeletons from the subsequent era exhibit more severe disturbances. However, all the skeletons show signs of healing and affected individuals experienced a low degree of trauma. Given the archaeological context (the remains were recovered from sites of ceremonial practices), as well as the equal distribution of trauma among both sexes and a lack of defensive architecture, it is plausible that rituals, rather than organized warfare or raids, caused most of the exhibited trauma. Pacopampa was home to a complex society founded on ritual activity in a ceremonial center: this is indicated by the presence of ritual violence in a society that built impressively large, ceremonial architecture and developed social stratification without any political control of surplus agricultural goods.

  4. The Wiphala Genomics: the deployment of molecular markers in small-scale potato crop systems in the Bolivian Andes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Puente, D.

    2008-01-01

    The deployment of molecular markers in the small-scale potato systems in the Bolivian Andes takes place within two contradictory understandings of potato biodiversity. On the one hand, biodiversity is understood as raw material; farmers' varieties have no intrinsic value, value is added by breeders

  5. Kas Arnold Rüütel valetas süümevannet andes? / Anneli Ammas, Garel Püüa

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    Ammas, Anneli, 1962-

    2006-01-01

    Autorite hinnangul tekib 31. augustil Eesti Ekspressis ilmunud artikli põhjal, milles käsitleti Johannes Hindi represseerimist, küsimus, kas Arnold Rüütel on valetanud Eesti Vabariigile korduvalt süümevannet andes. TÜ professori Kalle Meruski seisukoht. Lisa: Rüütel käskis kontrolli tugevdada

  6. New Evidence for the Expansion of an Upper Pleistocene Population out of East Africa, from the Site of Station One, Northern Sudan

    OpenAIRE

    Rose, Jeffrey I.

    2004-01-01

    Evidence for a hunter-gatherer range-expansion is indicated by the site of Station One in the northern Sudan, a surface scatter of chipped stone debris systematically collected almost 40 years ago, though not studied until present. Based on technological and typological correlates in East Africa, the predominant use of quartz pebbles for raw material, and the production of small bifacial tools, the site can be classified as Middle Stone Age. While often appearing in East African assemblages, ...

  7. Religión, género y construcción de una sexualidad en los Andes (Siglos XVI y XVII. Una acercamiento provisional

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Armas Asin, Fernando

    2001-12-01

    Full Text Available This study emphasizes the conceptual changes in regard to sex, sexuality and general genre relations in the Andes, in the 16th and 17th centuries, in the context of the establishment of the colonial society. It is analyzed the way in which a new discourse on the body was developed as a consequence of the deeply represive baroque culture. This culture recreated religious values which controlled every aspect of the daily life. It also enforced a rigid legislation which ruled through society as a whole.

    El estudio busca enfatizar los cambios conceptuales que se produjeron en torno al sexo, la sexualidad, y, en términos generales, en las relaciones de género en los Andes en los siglos XVI y XVII, en un contexto de establecimiento de la sociedad colonial. Se analiza cómo se construyó un nuevo discurso sobre el cuerpo en los Andes como consecuencia de la cultura barroca, profundamente represiva. Dicha cultura recreó valores religiosos que controlaban todos los aspectos de la vida diaria, además de poner en marcha una legislación muy rígida que reguló toda la sociedad.

  8. The System Nobody Sees: Irrigated Wetland Management and Alpaca Herding in the Peruvian Andes

    OpenAIRE

    Verzijl, A.; Guerrero Quispe, S.

    2013-01-01

    Increasingly, attention in regional, national, and international water governance arenas has focused on high-altitude wetlands. However, existing local water management practices in these wetlands are often overlooked. This article looks at the irrigation activities of alpaca herders in the community of Ccarhuancho in the Central Andes of Peru. For more than two centuries, they have been constructing small-scale irrigation canals to maintain and expand the local wetlands, called bofedales. Th...

  9. Constraints on deformation of the Southern Andes since the Cretaceous from anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maffione, Marco; Hernandez-Moreno, Catalina; Ghiglione, Matias C.; Speranza, Fabio; van Hinsbergen, Douwe J. J.; Lodolo, Emanuele

    2015-12-01

    The southernmost segment of the Andean Cordillera underwent a complex deformation history characterized by alternation of contractional, extensional, and strike-slip tectonics. Key elements of southern Andean deformation that remain poorly constrained, include the origin of the orogenic bend known as the Patagonian Orocline (here renamed as Patagonian Arc), and the exhumation mechanism of an upper amphibolite facies metamorphic complex currently exposed in Cordillera Darwin. Here, we present results of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) from 22 sites in Upper Cretaceous to upper Eocene sedimentary rocks within the internal structural domain of the Magallanes fold-and-thrust belt in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina). AMS parameters from most sites reveal a weak tectonic overprint of the original magnetic fabric, which was likely acquired upon layer-parallel shortening soon after sedimentation. Magnetic lineation from 17 sites is interpreted to have formed during compressive tectonic phases associated to a continuous N-S contraction. Our data, combined with the existing AMS database from adjacent areas, show that the Early Cretaceous-late Oligocene tectonic phases in the Southern Andes yielded continuous contraction, variable from E-W in the Patagonian Andes to N-S in the Fuegian Andes, which defined a radial strain field. A direct implication is that the exhumation of the Cordillera Darwin metamorphic complex occurred under compressive, rather than extensional or strike-slip tectonics, as alternatively proposed. If we agree with recent works considering the curved Magallanes fold-and-thrust belt as a primary arc (i.e., no relative vertical-axis rotation of the limbs occurs during its formation), then other mechanisms different from oroclinal bending should be invoked to explain the documented radial strain field. We tentatively propose a kinematic model in which reactivation of variably oriented Jurassic faults at the South American continental margin controlled

  10. Modeling co-occurrence of northern spotted and barred owls: accounting for detection probability differences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, Larissa L.; Reid, Janice A.; Forsman, Eric D.; Nichols, James D.

    2009-01-01

    Barred owls (Strix varia) have recently expanded their range and now encompass the entire range of the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina). This expansion has led to two important issues of concern for management of northern spotted owls: (1) possible competitive interactions between the two species that could contribute to population declines of northern spotted owls, and (2) possible changes in vocalization behavior and detection probabilities of northern spotted owls induced by presence of barred owls. We used a two-species occupancy model to investigate whether there was evidence of competitive exclusion between the two species at study locations in Oregon, USA. We simultaneously estimated detection probabilities for both species and determined if the presence of one species influenced the detection of the other species. Model selection results and associated parameter estimates provided no evidence that barred owls excluded spotted owls from territories. We found strong evidence that detection probabilities differed for the two species, with higher probabilities for northern spotted owls that are the object of current surveys. Non-detection of barred owls is very common in surveys for northern spotted owls, and detection of both owl species was negatively influenced by the presence of the congeneric species. Our results suggest that analyses directed at hypotheses of barred owl effects on demographic or occupancy vital rates of northern spotted owls need to deal adequately with imperfect and variable detection probabilities for both species.

  11. Geomorphic Evidence for a Late Hesperian Northern Ocean and its Implications for the Planetary Inventory of Water During the Noachian.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clifford, S. M.; Costard, F.

    2017-12-01

    Lobate flow deposits, that appear to have emanated from within the Martian northern plains and propagated from lower to higher elevations along the dichotomy boundary, have recently been identified by Rodriguez et al. (2016) and Costard et al. (2017). Backwash channels are also found in association with these deposits. Such features are strikingly similar to those associated with terrestrial tsunamis - suggesting that the Martian examples may have originated from one or more large marine impacts. The distribution of these landforms is consistent with the location of Contact 2 (elevation -3760), previously identified by Parker et al. (1993) as the possible paleoshoreline of a northern ocean. The occrruence and distribution of these features provides new and compelling evidence of the presence of a northern ocean during the Late Hesperian ( 3 Ga). The volume of water necessary to fill the northern plains to the elevation of Contact 2 is 100 m GEL. However, this is only a fraction of the planetary inventory of water that must have existed at this time. For example, virtually all of the crustal porosity, lying at an elevation below that of the ocean sea level, must have been saturated with groundwater - representing a total volume of 225 ± 75 m GEL. An additional 300 ± 100 m GEL is thought to have been cold-trapped in the cryosphere as ground ice, with another 30 m GEL stored in the more extensive Late Hesparian south polar layered deposits (SPLD). This yields a total global inventory of 655 ± 175 m GEL of H2O during the Late Hesperian. The inventory of water during the Noachian was probably similar, as the amounts released by extrusive volcanism and lost by exospheric escape were comparable. However, the 33% higher geothermal heat flow during the Noachian means that 100 m GEL less water would have been stored as ground ice, making it available as a liquid, to be stored as ground- and surface water. This suggests that a Noachian northern ocean would have been at

  12. Finanzas de la Universidad de Los Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosa Aura Casal de Altuve

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available El objetivo primario de este artículo es el de fungir de base comparativa para otros estudios de países latinoamericanos que podrían estar considerando síntomas similares en el área de la investigación contable. El punto de partida lo representa un estudio de caso de los profesores del Departamento de Contabilidad y Finanzas de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales de la Universidad de los Andes. El artículo analiza la relación entre investigación y enseñanza y si el departamento está o no cumpliendo con sus objetivos. Un objetivo secundario consiste en la determinación de los posibles factores que han tenido una influencia significativa en el desempeño de la investigación y de la enseñanza por parte de los investigadores. Basándose en entrevistas y recolección directa de datos, se consideran las estrategias institucionales para fijar los objetivos de las actividades de investigación

  13. Unexpected Climatological Behavior of MLT Gravity Wave Momentum Flux in the Lee of the Southern Andes Hot Spot

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeWit, R. J.; Janches, D.; Fritts, D. C.; Stockwell, R. G.; Coy, L.

    2017-01-01

    The Southern Argentina Agile MEteor Radar (SAAMER), located at Tierra del Fuego (53.7degS, 67.7degW), has been providing near-continuous high-resolution measurements of winds and high-frequency gravity wave (GW) momentum fluxes of the mesopause region since May 2008. As SAAMER is located in the lee of the largest seasonal GW hot spot on Earth, this is a key location to study GWs and their interaction with large-scale motions. GW momentum flux climatologies are shown for the first time for this location and discussed in light of these unique dynamics. Particularly, the large eastward GW momentum fluxes during local winter are surprising, as these observations cannot be explained by the direct upward propagation of expected large-amplitude mountain waves (MWs) through the eastward stratospheric jet. Instead, these results are interpreted as secondary GWs propagating away from stratospheric sources over the Andes accompanying MW breaking over the Southern Andes.

  14. Distributional patterns of the South American species of Hyalella (Amphipoda: Hyalellidae)

    OpenAIRE

    De los Ríos-Escalante, Patricio; Morrone, Juan J; Rivera, Reinaldo

    2012-01-01

    Distributional patterns of the South American species of the freshwater amphipod genus Hyalella were analysed using a panbiogeographic approach. Five generalized tracks were found: (1) northern Andes to Lake Titicaca (H. dielaii, H. meinerti, H. dybowskii, H.jelskii, H. lubominsky, and H. pauperocavae; (2) lake Titicaca (H. armata, H. cuprea, H. latinamus, H. lucifugax, H. montforti, H. neveulemairei, H. robusta, H. tiwanaku, H. simplex simplex, and H. solida); (3) central Andes (H. fossamanc...

  15. East of the Andes: The genetic profile of the Peruvian Amazon populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Corcia, T; Sanchez Mellado, C; Davila Francia, T J; Ferri, G; Sarno, S; Luiselli, D; Rickards, O

    2017-06-01

    Assuming that the differences between the Andes and the Amazon rainforest at environmental and historical levels have influenced the distribution patterns of genes, languages, and cultures, the maternal and paternal genetic reconstruction of the Peruvian Amazon populations was used to test the relationships within and between these two extreme environments. We analyzed four Peruvian Amazon communities (Ashaninka, Huambisa, Cashibo, and Shipibo) for both Y chromosome (17 STRs and 8 SNPs) and mtDNA data (control region sequences, two diagnostic sites of the coding region, and one INDEL), and we studied their variability against the rest of South America. We detected a high degree of genetic diversity in the Peruvian Amazon people, both for mtDNA than for Y chromosome, excepting for Cashibo people, who seem to have had no exchanges with their neighbors, in contrast with the others communities. The genetic structure follows the divide between the Andes and the Amazon, but we found a certain degree of gene flow between these two environments, as particularly emerged with the Y chromosome descent cluster's (DCs) analysis. The Peruvian Amazon is home to an array of populations with differential rates of genetic exchanges with their neighbors and with the Andean people, depending on their peculiar demographic histories. We highlighted some successful Y chromosome lineages expansions originated in Peru during the pre-Columbian history which involved both Andeans and Amazon Arawak people, showing that at least a part of the Amazon rainforest did not remain isolated from those exchanges. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Compositional data supports decentralized model of production and circulation of artifacts in the pre-Columbian south-central Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lazzari, Marisa; Pereyra Domingorena, Lucas; Stoner, Wesley D; Scattolin, María Cristina; Korstanje, María Alejandra; Glascock, Michael D

    2017-05-16

    The circulation and exchange of goods and resources at various scales have long been considered central to the understanding of complex societies, and the Andes have provided a fertile ground for investigating this process. However, long-standing archaeological emphasis on typological analysis, although helpful to hypothesize the direction of contacts, has left important aspects of ancient exchange open to speculation. To improve understanding of ancient exchange practices and their potential role in structuring alliances, we examine material exchanges in northwest Argentina (part of the south-central Andes) during 400 BC to AD 1000 (part of the regional Formative Period), with a multianalytical approach (petrography, instrumental neutron activation analysis, laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) to artifacts previously studied separately. We assess the standard centralized model of interaction vs. a decentralized model through the largest provenance database available to date in the region. The results show: ( i ) intervalley heterogeneity of clays and fabrics for ordinary wares; ( ii ) intervalley homogeneity of clays and fabrics for a wide range of decorated wares (e.g., painted Ciénaga); ( iii ) selective circulation of two distinct polychrome wares (Vaquerías and Condorhuasi); ( iv ) generalized access to obsidian from one major source and various minor sources; and ( v ) selective circulation of volcanic rock tools from a single source. These trends reflect the multiple and conflicting demands experienced by people in small-scale societies, which may be difficult to capitalize by aspiring elites. The study undermines centralized narratives of exchange for this period, offering a new platform for understanding ancient exchange based on actual material transfers, both in the Andes and beyond.

  17. Culture and landslide risk in the Central Andes of Bolivia and Peru

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholas Roberts

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Culture and its heritage play a major role in determining landslide risk in the Central Andes. Examples of some of these many possible influences are provided from natural and social science literature and from the author’s recent work in Bolivia. Landslide risk appears to have generally increased throughout the last millennium, due largely to anthropogenic modification of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and coping capacity. These changes result from both local and distant pressures and from contemporaneous and pervious cultural factors. Consequently, holistic examination of landslide risk necessitates consideration of culture and its heritage.

  18. Recent trends in human migrations: the case of the Venezuelan Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suarez, M M; Torrealba, R

    1982-01-01

    studies identified that use demographic, economic, or phychosocial approaches have provided partial explanations of the current status of Andean migrations. The explanations they offer, by not transcending the current reality of the migrants, overlook the historical traits of internal migration. Migratory flows do not spring up suddenly. They result from specific socio-political circumstances which, when closely linked to demographic evidence, serve as a basis for understanding the process. Review of studies on internal migration in the Northern Andes, as presented here, reveals a series of distinguishing characteristics: there are 5 migratory patterns--rural to rural, rural to urban, urban to urban, seasonal worker migration, and return migration, and the predominant pattern has been rural to urban; the demographic data show the importance of rural migrants to urban growth in the region and a complementary loss of population in the rural areas; depopulation of the countryside has been selective; and there is a marked disparity in employment remuneration between rural and urban areas.

  19. Permafrost distribution map of San Juan Dry Andes (Argentina) based on rock glacier sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Esper Angillieri, María Yanina

    2017-01-01

    Rock glaciers are frozen water reservoirs in mountainous areas. Water resources are important for the local populations and economies. The presence of rock glaciers is commonly used as a direct indicator of mountain permafrost conditions. Over 500 active rock glaciers have been identified, showing that elevations between 3500 and 4500 m asl., a south-facing or east-facing aspect, areas with relatively low solar radiation and low mean annual air temperature (-4 to 0 °C) favour the existence of rock glaciers in this region. The permafrost probability model, for Dry Andes of San Juan Province between latitudes 28º30‧S and 32°30‧S, have been analyzed by logistic regression models based on the active rock glaciers occurrence in relation to some topoclimatic variables such as altitude, aspect, mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation and solar radiation, using optical remote sensing techniques in a GIS environment. The predictive performances of the model have been estimated by known rock glaciers locations and by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). This regional permafrost map can be applied by the Argentinean Government for their recent initiatives which include creating inventories, monitoring and studying ice masses along the Argentinean Andes. Further, this generated map provides valuable input data for permafrost scenarios and contributes to a better understanding of our geosystem.

  20. Evidence for Cenozoic extensional basin development and tectonic inversion south of the flat-slab segment, southern Central Andes, Chile (33° 36°S.L.)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charrier, R.; Baeza, O.; Elgueta, S.; Flynn, J. J.; Gans, P.; Kay, S. M.; Muñoz, N.; Wyss, A. R.; Zurita, E.

    2002-04-01

    The mainly volcanic Cenozoic deposits that make up much of the western part of the Principal Cordillera in Central Chile are generally subdivided into two major units: an older Abanico or Coya-Machalí Formation and a younger Farellones Formation. Difficulty in differentiating these units has led to considerable debate. On the basis of the wide distribution, great thickness, and presence of sedimentary intercalations, it has been postulated that these arc volcanics were deposited in an intermontane basin; more recently, it has been proposed that this basin developed under extensional conditions and underwent subsequent tectonic inversion. We present field, geochronologic, geochemical, and thermal maturity data that support the latter interpretation. Collectively, this new information clarifies the stratigraphic, tectonic, and paleogeographic evolution of these deposits. The vast geographic extent of the Abanico Formation and lateral equivalents, which reach from at least 32°30' to 44°S along the Principal Cordillera, its great thickness, and the presence of repeated thick fluvial and lacustrine intercalations all indicate deposition in a large, strongly subsident, and probably north-south oriented basin, developed between middle to late Eocene and Oligocene. The unconformable contact with underlying Mesozoic units observed at several localities indicates that deposition followed a substantial erosional episode during late Cretaceous and/or early Cenozoic time. Basal deposits of the Abanico Formation near Termas del Flaco increase rapidly in thickness to the west. Still further to the west, a thick Abanico section contains, in its upper part, mammal fossils older than those found in the basal deposits near Termas. This evidence indicates a major space of deposition west of this locality, which had been filled before deposition took place at Termas. The east-vergent, high-angle El Fierro thrust fault on the east side of the westward-growing deposits is interpreted

  1. Tectogénesis, orogénesis y volcanismo en los Andes del Sur del Perú

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1975-01-01

    Full Text Available Dans le Sud du Pérou, les plissements andins (tectogenèse n'ont pas été générateurs de reliefs importants, alors que les mouvements épéirogéniques ont véritablement créé le relief des Andes (orogenèse et ont donné lieu à un volcanisme d'une puissance considérable. Du point de vue géomorphologique, les structures mises en place par les mouvements tangentiels andins ont cessé de s'exprimer topographiquement vers le milieu du Miocène par suite de l'aplanissement général de la région (surface de la Puna. De même, les reliefs importants créés par les mouvements épéirogéniques et les accumulations volcaniques qui les accompagnaient (Volcanisme Toquepala de l'Eocène et Volcanisme Tacaza de l'Oligo-Miocène, ont été complètement arasés. Dans ces conditions, l'essentiel du volume actuel des Andes fut l’œuvre de l'orogenèse et du volcanisme des 15 derniers millions d'années. La mise en place s'est effectuée en deux étapes. La première a commencé par des accumulations ignimbritiques (Formation Huaylillas qui ont fossilisé la surface d'aplanissement dans tout le Sud du Pérou. Ce volcanisme fissural correspondait au début d'une période de distension qui se traduisit par le soulèvement des Andes à la fin du Miocène. Apres une courte interruption (pendant laquelle il faut placer une phase de compression au cours du Pliocène, la deuxième étape a été marquée par le soulèvement de toute la région, zone côtière comprise. Le début de cette nouvelle phase de distension a donné lieu à des émissions ignimbritiques et pyroclastiques (Formation Maure, Sillar, Formations Sencca et Capillune dont les produits ont comblé les bassins d'érosion résultant du rajeunissement de la surface de la Puna. Par la suite, à mesure que le soulèvement a pris de l'ampleur (Pléistocène, le volcanisme a changé de caractère, et, sur la couverture d'ignimbrites et de pyroclastites, la construction de grands strato

  2. Seasonal and high-resolution variability in hydrochemistry of the Andes-Amazon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burt, E.; West, A. J.

    2017-12-01

    Stream hydrochemistry acts as a record of integrated catchment processes such as the amount of time it takes precipitation to flow through the subsurface and become streamflow (water transit times), water-rock interaction and biogeochemical cycling. Although it is understood that sampling interval affects observed patterns in hydrochemistry, most studies collect samples on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly schedule due to lack of resources or the difficulty of maintaining automated sampling devices. Here, we attempt to combine information from two sampling time scales, comparing a year-long hydrochemical time series to data from a recent sub-daily sampling campaign. Starting in April 2016, river, soil and rain waters have been collected every two weeks at five small catchments spanning the tropical Andes and Amazon - a natural laboratory for its gradients in topography, erosion rates, precipitation, temperature and flora. Between January and March, 2017, we conducted high frequency sampling for approximately one week at each catchment, sampling at least every four hours including overnight. We will constrain young water fractions (Kirchner, 2016) and storm water fluxes for the experimental catchments using stable isotopes of water as conservative tracers. Major element data will provide the opportunity to make initial constraints on geochemical and hydrologic coupling. Preliminary results suggest that in the Amazon, hydrochemistry patterns are dependent on sampling frequency: the seasonal cycle in stable isotopes of water is highly damped, while the high resolution sampling displays large variability. This suggests that a two-week sampling interval is not frequent enough to capture rapid transport of water, perhaps through preferential flow networks. In the Andes, stable isotopes of water are highly damped in both the seasonal and high resolution cycle, suggesting that the catchment behaves as a "well-mixed" system.

  3. Evolution of the Chos Malal and Agrio fold and thrust belts, Andes of Neuquén: Insights from structural analysis and apatite fission track dating

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rojas Vera, E. A.; Mescua, J.; Folguera, A.; Becker, T. P.; Sagripanti, L.; Fennell, L.; Orts, D.; Ramos, V. A.

    2015-12-01

    The Chos Malal and Agrio fold and thrust belts are located in the western part of the Neuquén basin, an Andean retroarc basin of central-western Argentina. Both belts show evidence of tectonic inversion at the western part during Late Cretaceous times. The eastern part is dominated by late Miocene deformation which also partially reactivated the western structures. This work focuses on the study of the regional structure and the deformational event that shaped the relief of this part of the Andes. Based on new field work and structural data and previously published works a detailed map of the central part of the Neuquén basin is presented. Three regional structural cross sections were surveyed and balanced using the 2d Move™ software. In order to define a more accurate uplift history, new apatite fission track analyses were carried on selected structures. These data was used for new thermal history modeling of the inner part of the Agrio and Chos Malal fold and thrust belts. The results of the fission track analyses improve the knowledge of how these fold and thrust belts have grown trough time. Two main deformational events are defined in Late Cretaceous to Paleocene and Late Miocene times. Based on this regional structural analysis and the fission track data the precise location of the orogenic front for the Late Cretaceous-Paleocene times is reconstructed and it is proposed a structural evolution of this segment of the Andes. This new exhumation data show how the Late Cretaceous to Paleocene event was a continuous and uninterrupted deformational event.

  4. La implantación de la viruela en los Andes, la historia de un holocausto

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Uriel García Cáceres

    2003-03-01

    Full Text Available La historia de las epidemias de viruela en los Andes tiene el carácter tétrico del relato de un holocausto. Esta presentación está destinada a resaltar las etapas más importantes del proceso de la implantación de la viruela en las poblaciones andinas en general y, en particular, en el Perú, desde principio del siglo XVI hasta nuestros días.

  5. Timing of Early Aptian demise of northern Tethyan carbonate platforms - chemostratigraphic versus biostratigraphic evidence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huck, Stefan; Immenhauser, Adrian; Heimhofer, Ulrich; Rameil, Niels

    2010-05-01

    A lively controversy still exists between different authors dealing with the timing of northern Tethyan platform drowning and the Early Aptian oceanic anoxic event (OAE 1a). To the present day, there is no consensus if the OAE 1a black shales must be attributed to the Deshayesites weissi or the Deshayesites deshayesi zone (see discussion in Moreno-Bedmar et al., 2009). OAE 1a black shale deposition has been traditionally attributed to the Deshayesites weissi zone (Gradstein et al., 2004). Despite this disagreement about the biostratigraphic timing, several authors postulate a relation between biotic perturbations and environmental changes linked to OAE 1a, e. g. the disappearance of coral-rudist reefs related with the demise of the northern Tethyan Urgonian platforms in the Helvetic Alps (Weissert et al., 1998; Föllmi et al., 2008). In the central and southern Tethyan realm (Istria, Oman), OAE 1a is likely expressed as the transient mass occurrence of microencrusters (Lithocodium-Bacinella) and the coeval demise of the characteristic mid-Cretaceous framework-builders (rudists, corals). Chemostratigraphic data indicate that these microbial blooms coincide with the Deshayesites weissi zone (Huck et al., 2010, Rameil et al, 2010). These observations raise the question whether northern Tethyan platform drowning is coeval to microbial bloom periods in the central and southern Tethys? The analysis of all available literature and unpublished evidence demonstrates that well constrained age data are surprisingly scarce and controversial. The goal of the present research project is to compile a chemostratigraphic framework for the northern Tethyan platform drowning (Haute-Savoie, SE France) in order to shed light on the temporal constraints of platform drowning versus pelagic black shale deposition versus microbial blooms. Two Barremian to Aptian shoalwater sections (Cluses section, Grande Forclaz section) in the Subalpine Chains were investigated applying chemostratigraphy

  6. Floristic relationships among vegetation types of new zealand and the southern andes: similarities and biogeographic implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ezcurra, Cecilia; Baccalá, Nora; Wardle, Peter

    2008-06-01

    Similarities between the floras of geographically comparable regions of New Zealand (NZ) and the southern Andes (SA) have interested biologists for over 150 years. The present work selects vegetation types that are physiognomically similar between the two regions, compares their floristic composition, assesses the environmental factors that characterize these matching vegetation types, and determines whether phylogenetic groups of ancestral versus modern origin are represented in different proportions in their floras, in the context of their biogeographic history. Floristic relationships based on 369 genera of ten vegetation types present in both regions were investigated with correspondence analysis (CA) and ascending hierarchical clustering (AHC). The resulting ordination and classification were related to the environmental characteristics of the different vegetation types. The proportions of different phylogenetic groups between the regions (NZ, SA) were also compared, and between forest and non-forest communities. Floristic similarities between NZ and SA tend to increase from forest to non-forest vegetation, and are highest in coastal vegetation and bog. The floras of NZ and SA also differ in their phylogenetic origin, NZ being characterized by an 'excess' of genera of basal origin, especially in forests. The relatively low similarities between forests of SA and NZ are related to the former being largely of in situ South American and Gondwanan origin, whereas the latter have been mostly reconstituted though transoceanic dispersal of propagules since the Oligocene. The greater similarities among non-forest plant communities of the two regions result from varied dispersal routes, including relatively recent transoceanic dispersal for coastal vegetation, possible dispersal via a still-vegetated Antarctica especially for bog plants, and independent immigration from Northern Hemisphere sources for many genera of alpine vegetation and grassland.

  7. Seasonally asymmetric enhancement of northern vegetation productivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, T.; Myneni, R.

    2017-12-01

    Multiple evidences of widespread greening and increasing terrestrial carbon uptake have been documented. In particular, enhanced gross productivity of northern vegetation has been a critical role leading to observed carbon uptake trend. However, seasonal photosynthetic activity and its contribution to observed annual carbon uptake trend and interannual variability are not well understood. Here, we introduce a multiple-source of datasets including ground, atmospheric and satellite observations, and multiple process-based global vegetation models to understand how seasonal variation of land surface vegetation controls a large-scale carbon exchange. Our analysis clearly shows a seasonally asymmetric enhancement of northern vegetation productivity in growing season during last decades. Particularly, increasing gross productivity in late spring and early summer is obvious and dominant driver explaining observed trend and variability. We observe more asymmetric productivity enhancement in warmer region and this spatially varying asymmetricity in northern vegetation are likely explained by canopy development rate, thermal and light availability. These results imply that continued warming may facilitate amplifying asymmetric vegetation activity and cause these trends to become more pervasive, in turn warming induced regime shift in northern land.

  8. The Effect of Biogas Production on Farmland Rental Prices: Empirical Evidences from Northern Italy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eugenio Demartini

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In the last decade, increased environmental awareness has prompted the adoption of incentives for exploiting renewable energy sources. Among these, biogas production has received a certain attention in developed countries. Nonetheless, the subsidies provided have posed the problem of an activity (the production of bioenergy that engages in direct competition with food and feed production for limited resources, like agricultural land. Even if this competition may be softened by allocating marginal land and/or using dedicated non-agricultural crops, empirical evidence shows that biogas plants have been developed in highly-productive agricultural areas, using increasing amounts of maize silage as feedstock. Thus, studies aimed at measuring the effect of biogas production on agricultural activities are needed in order to avoid this socially undesirable outcome. The paper presents an econometric estimation of the impact of biogas plants on farmland rental values of a Northern Italian rural area. Results show that biogas has a non-linear effect on rental prices, suggesting that incentive schemes specifically accounting for plants’ dimensions and technologies would improve the social sustainability of the bioenergy sector and its coexistence with agricultural activity.

  9. Ordenar para controlar. Ordenamiento espacial y control político en las Llanuras del Caribe y en los Andes Centrales Neogranadinos. siglo XVIII

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Beatriz Patiño Millán

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Marta Herrera Ángel. Ordenar para Controlar. Ordenamiento espacial y control político en las Llanuras del Caribe y en los Andes Centrales Neogranadinos. Siglo XVIII. Bogotá: Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia - Academia Colombiana de Historia, 2002, pp. 343. En este libro Marta Herrera estudia la estructuración del ordenamiento espacial y político durante el siglo XVIII de las llanuras del Caribe, nombre con el cual denomina el ámbito espacial correspondiente a las gobernaciones de Cartagena y Santa Marta,  y los Andes Centrales, apelativo que utiliza para referirse a los territorios de la provincia de Santafé y la jurisdicción de la ciudad de Tunja.

  10. Mallas y flujos : acción colectiva, cambio social, quinua y desarrollo regional indígena en los Andes Bolivianos

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Laguna, P.

    2011-01-01

    This thesis studies collective action and social change in indigenous rural organisations (IRO) in the Bolivian Andes. I focus on the effects and importance that these organisations have in the historical process of regional development as social spaces that encapsulate different projects of

  11. Grenvillean sutures zones in the northern portion of the Cuyania terrane, Republica Argentina. geophysical evidence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chernicoff, C.; Vujovich, G.

    2004-01-01

    In the northern portion of the Cuyania terrane there is geophysical evidence for the ocurrence of two ancient WNW suture zones, corresponding to the Guandacol and Vinchina lineaments. The location of these sutures is consistent with analogous structures in Laurentia, in the Ouachita embayment region, where the Grenvillean orogen trends WNW. It is argued that the WNW transform faults pertaining to the Ouachita rift would have developed as a result of a reactivation of compressional structures of identical orientation associated to the accretion of Grenvillean terranes. The Guandacol and Vinchina lineaments would have been in physical continuity with analogous megastructures in the Ouachita embayment region, and they both would have originated as compressional structures, later reactivated as transcurrent fault zones during the late Proterozoic early Paleozoic. The interpretation of the Guandacol and Vinchina lineaments as Grenvillean suture zones would add more complexity to the Cuyania terrane, with respect to what has been described up to now; they could precede the amalgamation of the Pie de Palo and Precordillera terranes (constituents of the Cuyania composite terrane) [es

  12. Low temperature resistance in saplings and ramets of Polylepis sericea in the Venezuelan Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rada, Fermín; García-Núñez, Carlos; Rangel, Sairo

    2009-09-01

    The frequent occurrence of all year-round below zero temperatures in tropical high mountains constitutes a most stressful climatic factor that plants have to confront. Polylepis forests are found well above the continuous forest line and are distributed throughout the Andean range. These trees require particular traits to overcome functional limitations imposed on them at such altitudes. Considering seedling and sapling stages as filter phases in stressful environments, some functional aspects of the regeneration of Polylepis sericea, a species associated to rock outcrops in the Venezuelan Andes, were studied. We characterized microclimatic conditions within a forest, in a forest gap and surrounding open páramo and determined low temperature resistance mechanisms in seedlings, saplings and ramets. Conditions in the forest understory were more stable compared to the forest gaps and open surrounding páramo. Minimum temperatures close to the ground were 3.6 °C lower in the open páramo compared to the forest understory. Maximum temperatures were 9.0 °C higher in the open páramo. Ice nucleation and injury temperatures occurred between -6 and -8 °C for both ramets and saplings, an evidence of frost avoidance to low nighttime temperatures. In this particular forest, this resistance ability is determinant in their island-like distribution in very specific less severe temperature habitats.

  13. Long-Term Single-Dose Efficacy of a Vesicular Stomatitis Virus-Based Andes Virus Vaccine in Syrian Hamsters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joseph Prescott

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Andes virus (ANDV is highly pathogenic in humans and is the primary etiologic agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS in South America. Case-fatality rates are as high as 50% and there are no approved vaccines or specific therapies for infection. Our laboratory has recently developed a replication-competent recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV-based vaccine that expressed the glycoproteins of Andes virus in place of the native VSV glycoprotein (G. This vaccine is highly efficacious in the Syrian hamster model of HCPS when given 28 days before challenge with ANDV, or when given around the time of challenge (peri-exposure, and even protects when administered post-exposure. Herein, we sought to test the durability of the immune response to a single dose of this vaccine in Syrian hamsters. This vaccine was efficacious in hamsters challenged intranasally with ANDV 6 months after vaccination (p = 0.025, but animals were not significantly protected following 1 year of vaccination (p = 0.090. The decrease in protection correlated with a reduction of measurable neutralizing antibody responses, and suggests that a more robust vaccination schedule might be required to provide long-term immunity.

  14. Within plate seismicity analysis in the segment between the high Cordillera and the Precordillera of northern Mendoza (Southern Central Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julián Olivar

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Crustal seismicity in northwestern Mendoza Province in Argentina, corresponding to the transition zone between the Chilean-Pampean flat subduction zone (26.5–33.5°S and the Southern Central Andes normal subduction zone to the south, is studied in order to i identify its relationship with the mapped structure, ii determine deformational mechanisms and iii constrain the geometry of the fold and thrust belt in the lower crust. Through this, we aim to determine which are the structures that contribute to Andean construction, east of the Frontal Cordillera in Argentina and at the western Principal Cordillera in Chile. Data from a temporary local seismic network are reprocessed in order to achieve a precise location of hypocenters and, whenever possible, to build focal mechanisms. Results are interpreted and compared with previous seismic studies and structural models. Analyzed seismicity is grouped around the eastern front of Frontal Cordillera, with hypocenters mainly at depths of 25–40 km. Contrastingly, earthquakes in the Principal Cordillera to the west are located at the axial Andean sector and Chilean slope, with depths shallower than 15 km. Obtained focal mechanisms indicate mainly strike-slip displacements, left lateral at Frontal Cordillera and right lateral at Principal Cordillera. Based on these observations, new possible structural models are proposed, where seismogenic sources could be either associated with inherited basement structures from the Cuyania-Chilenia suture; or correspond to deep-blind thrusts linked with a deeper-than-previously-assumed decollement that could be shared between Frontal Cordillera and western Precordillera. This deeper decollement would coincide in turn with the one determined from receiver function analysis for the eastern Sierras Pampeanas in previous works, potentially implying a common decollement all through the fold and thrust belt configuration. Apart from this, a new interpretation of

  15. Preliminary Depositional and Provenance Records of Mesozoic Basin Evolution and Cenozoic Shortening in the High Andes, La Ramada Fold-Thrust Belt, Southern-Central Andes (32-33°S)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackaman-Lofland, C.; Horton, B. K.; Fuentes, F.; Constenius, K. N.; McKenzie, R.; Alvarado, P. M.

    2015-12-01

    The Argentinian Andes define key examples of retroarc shortening and basin evolution above a zone of active subduction. The La Ramada fold-thrust belt (RFTB) in the High Andes provides insights into the relative influence and temporal records of diverse convergent margin processes (e.g. flat-slab subduction, convergent wedge dynamics, structural inversion). The RFTB contains Mesozoic extensional basin strata deformed by later Andean shortening. New detrital zircon U-Pb analyses of Mesozoic rift sediments reveal: (1) a dominant Permo-Triassic age signature (220-280 Ma) associated with proximal sources of effective basement (Choiyoi Group) during Triassic synrift deposition; (2) upsection younging of maximum depositional ages from Late Triassic through Early Cretaceous (230 to 100 Ma) with the increasing influence of western Andean arc sources; and (3) a significant Late Cretaceous influx of Paleozoic (~350-550 Ma) and Proterozoic (~650-1300 Ma) populations during the earliest shift from back-arc post-extensional subsidence to upper-plate shortening. The Cenozoic detrital record of the Manantiales foreland basin (between the Frontal Cordillera and Precordillera) records RFTB deformation prior to flat-slab subduction. A Permo-Triassic Choiyoi age signature dominates the Miocene succession, consistent with sources in the proximal Espinacito range. Subordinate Mesozoic (~80-250 Ma) to Proterozoic (~850-1800 Ma) U-Pb populations record exhumation of the Andean magmatic arc and recycling of different structural levels in the RFTB during thrusting/inversion of Mesozoic rift basin strata and subjacent Paleozoic units. Whereas maximum depositional ages of sampled Manantiales units cluster at 18-20 Ma, the Estancia Uspallata basin (~50 km to the south) shows consistent upsection younging of Cenozoic populations attributed to proximal volcanic centers. Ongoing work will apply low-temperature thermochronology to pinpoint basin accumulation histories and thrust timing.

  16. Mesozoic–Cenozoic Evolution of the Western Margin of South America: Case Study of the Peruvian Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura Gonzalez

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Based on the structural style and physiographic criteria, the Central Andes of Peru can be divided into segments running parallel to the Pacific coast. The westernmost segment, the Coastal Belt, consists of a Late Jurassic–Cretaceous volcanic arc sequence that was accreted to the South American craton in Cretaceous times. The Mesozoic strata of the adjacent Western Cordillera represent an ENE-vergent fold-and-thrust belt that formed in Eocene times. Tight upright folds developed above a shallow detachment horizon in the West, while more open folds formed above a deeper detachment horizon towards the East and in the neighboring Central Highlands. A completely different style with steeply dipping reverse faults and open folds affecting the Neoproterozoic crystalline basement is typical for the Eastern Cordillera. The Subandean Zone is characterized by mainly NE-vergent imbricate thrusting which occurred in Neogene times. A quantitative estimate of the shortening of the orogen obtained from balanced cross-sections indicates a total shortening of 120–150 km (24%–27%. This shortening was coevel with the Neogene westward drift of South America, occurred at rates between 3 and 4.7 mm/year and was responsible for the high elevation of the Peruvian Andes.

  17. Bare Rocks and Fallen Angels: Environmental Change, Climate Perceptions and Ritual Practice in the Peruvian Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karsten Paerregaard

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available One of the many dimensions of globalization is climate change that in recent years has caused much concern in the developed world. The aim of this article is to explore how people living on the margins of the global world conceive climate change. Drawing on ethnographic field data from the 1980s and today it examines how the ritual practice and the religious belief of a rural community in the Peruvian Andes has changed during the last 27 years and how the villagers perceive this change. It argues that the villagers traditionally conceive the environment as co-habited by humans and non-humans but that recent environmental change in the Andes has caused a shift in this world-view. Today, many villagers have adopted the global vocabulary on climate change and are concerned with their own impact in the environment. However, the villagers reject the idea that it is human activities in other parts of the world that cause environmental problems in their community and claim that these must be addressed locally. It suggests that even though the villagers’ reluctance to subscribe to the global discourse of climate change makes them look like the companions of climate skeptics in the developed world, their reasons are very different.

  18. Fault-controlled development of shallow hydrothermal systems: Structural and mineralogical insights from the Southern Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roquer, T.; Arancibia, G.; Rowland, J. V.; Iturrieta, P. C.; Morata, D.; Cembrano, J. M.

    2017-12-01

    Paleofluid-transporting systems can be recognized as meshes of fracture-filled veins in eroded zones of extinct hydrothermal systems. Here we conducted meso-microstructural analysis and mechanical modeling from two exhumed exposures of the faults governing regional tectonics of the Southern Andes: the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault System (LOFS) and the Andean Transverse Faults (ATF). A total of 107 fractures in both exposures were analyzed. The ATF specific segment shows two tectonic solutions that can be modeled as Andersonian and non-Andersonian tectonic regimes: (1) shear (mode II/III) failure occurs at differential stresses > 28 MPa and fluid pressures 85-98% lithostatic in the non-Andersonian regime. Additionally, the LOFS exposure cyclically fails in extension (mode I) or extension + shear (modes I + II/III) in the Andersonian regime, at differential stresses 40-80% lithostatic. In areas of spatial interaction between ATF and LOFS, these conditions might favor: (1) the storage of overpressured fluids in hydrothermal systems associated with the ATF faults, and (2) continuous fluid flow through vertical conduits in the LOFS faults. These observations suggest that such intersections are highly probable locations for concentrated hydrothermal activity, which must be taken into consideration for further geothermal exploration. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. PhD CONICYT grants, Centro de Excelencia en Geotermia de los Andes (CEGA-FONDAP/CONICYT Project #15090013), FONDECYT Project #1130030 and Project CONICYT REDES #140036.

  19. Long-term carbon accumulation in Andes peatlands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huaman, Yizet; Moreira-turq, Patricia; Willems, Bram; Espinoza, Raul; Turq, Bruno; Apaéstegui, James; Llanos, Romina

    2017-04-01

    High-altitude peatlands of the Andes still remain relatively unexplored since most of the studies on carbon capture in tropical soils have focused on peatlands in low altitude areas, leaving aside the importance of the study of high mountain wetlands, currently called "bofedales" located between 3000 and 5000 masl, covering most of the Andes mountains in South America. These peatlands in turn may also represent important paleoclimatic records. In this study, we investigated three peatland cores (APA-01, APA2-01, and APA2-02) at different altitudes (4210 m, 4420 m and 4432 m, respectively) in high Andean Peatlands of southern Peru. The peatland studied is located at the headwater basin Cachi River, in the town of Ayacucho, Peru. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role played by past climatic changes on the peatlands carbon accumulation. Each core was sectioned centimeter by centimeter and sub samples (n = 31) were collected for radiocarbon dating by AMS (acceleration mass spectrometer) and were used to create a sedimentological model based on the program Clam2.2R. The concentrations of carbon and nitrogen were determined from a C / H / N elemental analyzer and the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes (δ13C and δ15N) were also analyzed. The bulk density was determined based on the volume occupied by the sediment (g /cm3). Finally, the carbon accumulation rate (gC m-2año-1) was determined. The three cores were characterized by two sedimentary units, the results present in the first sedimentary unit of APA01 an average long-term carbon accumulation rate of 59 gC m-2año-1, APA2-01 with 32 gC m-2año-1 and finally APA2-02 with 24 gC m-2año-1; for the second sedimentary unit we have: APA01 on average 17 gC m-2año-1, APA2-01 with 33 gC m-2año-1 and finally APA2-02 with 49 gC m-2año-1. In conclusion, we can say that the carbon accumulation rate for the first sedimentary unit of the three cores decreases as the altitude increases; on the other hand, we have the

  20. Selection of astrophysical/astronomical/solar sites at the Argentina East Andes range taking into account atmospheric components

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Piacentini, R.D.; García, B.; Micheletti, M.I.; Salum, G.; Freire, M.; Maya, J.; Mancilla, A.; Crinó, E.; Mandát, Dušan; Pech, M.; Bulik, T.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 57, č. 12 (2016), s. 2559-2574 ISSN 0273-1177 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 7AMB14AR005; GA MŠk LE13012; GA MŠk LG14019; GA MŠk LM2015046 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : astrophysical * astronomical * solar: sites * Argentina -Andes: atmospheric components Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 1.401, year: 2016

  1. Diversity of the genus Polylepis (Rosaceae, Sanguisorbeae in the Peruvian Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wilfredo Mendoza

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available This study provides information on the diversity of Peruvian species of Polylepis. Nineteen (19 species are reported here (more than 70% of the 27 species registered for the whole Andean region. As a result, Peru could be considered as the country with the largest diversity of Polylepis species, in comparison with Bolivia (13, Ecuador (7, Argentina (4, Colombia (3, Chile (2, and Venezuela (1. The species occur in 19 departments of Peru, with the majority of them in Cusco (10 and Ayacucho (8. Species diversity is mostly concentrated in the Peruvian southern Andes (15 species, with the region becoming the potential center of diversification of the genus Polylepis. Regarding their altitudinal distribution, the greatest diversity (18 is found between 3000 and 4000 m.

  2. Fragmentation of Andes-to-Amazon connectivity by hydropower dams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Elizabeth P; Jenkins, Clinton N; Heilpern, Sebastian; Maldonado-Ocampo, Javier A; Carvajal-Vallejos, Fernando M; Encalada, Andrea C; Rivadeneira, Juan Francisco; Hidalgo, Max; Cañas, Carlos M; Ortega, Hernan; Salcedo, Norma; Maldonado, Mabel; Tedesco, Pablo A

    2018-01-01

    Andes-to-Amazon river connectivity controls numerous natural and human systems in the greater Amazon. However, it is being rapidly altered by a wave of new hydropower development, the impacts of which have been previously underestimated. We document 142 dams existing or under construction and 160 proposed dams for rivers draining the Andean headwaters of the Amazon. Existing dams have fragmented the tributary networks of six of eight major Andean Amazon river basins. Proposed dams could result in significant losses in river connectivity in river mainstems of five of eight major systems-the Napo, Marañón, Ucayali, Beni, and Mamoré. With a newly reported 671 freshwater fish species inhabiting the Andean headwaters of the Amazon (>500 m), dams threaten previously unrecognized biodiversity, particularly among endemic and migratory species. Because Andean rivers contribute most of the sediment in the mainstem Amazon, losses in river connectivity translate to drastic alteration of river channel and floodplain geomorphology and associated ecosystem services.

  3. Evidence for internal hydraulic control in the northern Øresund

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Morten Holtegaard

    2001-01-01

    are a contraction in the northern Oslashresund and the shallow Drogden sill at the entrance to the Baltic. The observations show that the two-layer flows through the contraction are often hydraulically controlled. The observations also reveal details of the transition from subcritical to supercritical flow...... to the strong influence of the Earth's rotation and the curvature of the streamlines. In the present study it is not attempted to explain these conditions, but the probable effects of rotation and curvature on the controlled flow rate are discussed briefly. Also, the possible effects of hydraulic control...

  4. Extreme hydrometeorological events in the Peruvian Central Andes during austral summer and their relationship with the large-scale circulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sulca, Juan C.

    In this Master's dissertation, atmospheric circulation patterns associated with extreme hydrometeorological events in the Mantaro Basin, Peruvian Central Andes, and their teleconnections during the austral summer (December-January-February-March) are addressed. Extreme rainfall events in the Mantaro basin are related to variations of the large-scale circulation as indicated by the changing strength of the Bolivian High-Nordeste Low (BH-NL) system. Dry (wet) spells are associated with a weakening (strengthening) of the BH-NL system and reduced (enhanced) influx of moist air from the lowlands to the east due to strengthened westerly (easterly) wind anomalies at mid- and upper-tropospheric levels. At the same time extreme rainfall events of the opposite sign occur over northeastern Brazil (NEB) due to enhanced (inhibited) convective activity in conjunction with a strengthened (weakened) Nordeste Low. Cold episodes in the Mantaro Basin are grouped in three types: weak, strong and extraordinary cold episodes. Weak and strong cold episodes in the MB are mainly associated with a weakening of the BH-NL system due to tropical-extratropical interactions. Both types of cold episodes are associated with westerly wind anomalies at mid- and upper-tropospheric levels aloft the Peruvian Central Andes, which inhibit the influx of humid air masses from the lowlands to the east and hence limit the potential for development of convective cloud cover. The resulting clear sky conditions cause nighttime temperatures to drop, leading to cold extremes below the 10-percentile. Extraordinary cold episodes in the MB are associated with cold and dry polar air advection at all tropospheric levels toward the central Peruvian Andes. Therefore, weak and strong cold episodes in the MB appear to be caused by radiative cooling associated with reduced cloudiness, rather than cold air advection, while the latter plays an important role for extraordinary cold episodes only.

  5. Paleo-tsunami history along the northern Japan Trench: evidence from Noda Village, northern Sanriku coast, Japan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inoue, Taiga; Goto, Kazuhisa; Nishimura, Yuichi; Watanabe, Masashi; Iijima, Yasutaka; Sugawara, Daisuke

    2017-12-01

    Throughout history, large tsunamis have frequently affected the Sanriku area of the Pacific coast of the Tohoku region, Japan, which faces the Japan Trench. Although a few studies have examined paleo-tsunami deposits along the Sanriku coast, additional studies of paleo-earthquakes and tsunamis are needed to improve our knowledge of the timing, recurrence interval, and size of historical and pre-historic tsunamis. At Noda Village, in Iwate Prefecture on the northern Sanriku coast, we found at least four distinct gravelly sand layers based on correlation and chronological data. Sedimentary features such as grain size and thickness suggest that extreme waves from the sea formed these layers. Numerical modeling of storm waves further confirmed that even extremely large storm waves cannot account for the distribution of the gravelly sand layers, suggesting that these deposits are highly likely to have formed by tsunami waves. The numerical method of storm waves can be useful to identify sand layers as tsunami deposits if the deposits are observed far inland or at high elevations. The depositional age of the youngest tsunami deposit is consistent with the AD 869 Jogan earthquake tsunami, a possible predecessor of the AD 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami. If this is the case, then the study site currently defines the possible northern extent of the AD 869 Jogan tsunami deposit, which is an important step in improving the tsunami source model of the AD 869 Jogan tsunami. Our results suggest that four large tsunamis struck the Noda site between 1100 and 2700 cal BP. The local tsunami sizes are comparable to the AD 2011 and AD 1896 Meiji Sanriku tsunamis, considering the landward extent of each tsunami deposit.

  6. Influence of inherited structures on the growth of basement-cored ranges, basin inversion and foreland basin development in the Central Andes, from apatite fission-track and apatite Helium thermochronology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zapata, S.; Sobel, E. R.; Del Papa, C.; Jelinek, A. R.; Muruaga, C.

    2017-12-01

    The Central Andes in NW of Argentina is part of a long-lived subduction zone, active since the Paleozoic. This region experienced several tectonic cycles; each of which created an unique set of structures and may have reactivated preexisting structures. These inherited structures may exert a first-order control over the different foreland deformational styles observed along the strike in the Central Andes. Our study area is located between 26°S and 28°S on the transition between the broken foreland (Santa Barbara system), which expresses a combination of thin-skin and thick-skin styles, and the Sierras Pampeanas, which is deform in a thick-skin style. The Cumbres Calchaquies range and the associated Choromoro Basin are located in the northern part of the study area, and are the southern expression of the Santa Barbara system. Published thermochronology data suggest that the rocks from the basement experienced Late Cretaceous and Late Miocene exhumation; the associated sedimentary rocks within the Choromoro basin experienced Paleogene and Late Miocene deformational phases. In contrast, the Sierra Aconquija range, located immediately south on the transition to the Sierras Pampeanas (thick skin) foreland basin, exhibit larger amounts of Miocene exhumation and lack of Cretaceous exhumation; the associated sedimentary rocks from the Tucuman basin have not been deformed since the Cretaceous. Our goal is to understand the evolution of the structural blocks and the structures responsible for the along strike changes in foreland basin deformational styles and their relation with inherited structures from previous tectonic cycles. We are obtaining new apatite U-Th/He and fission track data to reconstruct the thermal history of the basement, accompanied by U-Pb geochronology and stratigraphy to constrain the evolution of the associated sedimentary basins. Preliminary results combined with published data suggest that inherited structures within the study area have evolved

  7. Les Andes Centrales Tropicales vues par deux géographes: Isaiah Bowman et Carl Troll

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1978-01-01

    Full Text Available Deux visions des Andes vues par deux géographes, Isaiah BOWMAN et Carl TROLL, au caractère et au milieu intellectuel différents. L'auteur étudie dans l'un et l'autre cas la méthode d'analyse de l'espace géographique et les conclusions tirées par chacun d'eux. I. BOWMAN, Américain, convaincu qu'une économie mercantiliste fondée sur l'exportation permettra aux Etats andins d'accéder à un modèle de développement, décrit les vastes contrées amazoniennes comme un futur El Dorado entre les mains de colons. L'aménagement des basses plaines selon des schémas nord-américains est le pilier de l'économie alors que les Andes abritant les communautés indigènes constituent un frein au développement. De ce fait il laisse de côté l'étude des paysanneries andines. Toute différente est la démarche de Carl TROLL dont la formation à la fois en sciences humaines et naturelles, lui permet de cerner l'espace géographique comme cadre de vie des sociétés. L'utilisation des étages écologiques, le développement de l'Empire Inca fondé sur l'étage des 'punas', la démarche historique des analyses minutieuses de Carl TROLL donne un éclairage nouveau aux relations des sociétés andines et des milieux naturels avec lesquels elles composent. Dos puntos de vista de los Andes por dos geógrafos, Isaiah BOWMAN y Carl TROLL con carácter y medio intelectual distintos. El autor estudia en ambos casos el método de análisis del espacio geográfico y las conclusiones sacadas por cada uno de ellos. I. BOWMAN, americano, convencido que una economía mercantil fundada sobre la exportación permitirá a los estados andinos acceder a un modelo de desarrollo, describe las extensas llanuras amazónicas como un El Dorado futuro entre las manos de los colonos. El desarrollo de las llanuras bajas según esquemas norteamericanos constituye el pilar de la economía mientras los Andes abrigando las comunidades indígenas se comportan como un freno al

  8. The Neogene rise of the tropical Andes facilitated diversification of wax palms (Ceroxylon: Arecaceae) through geographic colonization and climatic niche separation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sanín, M.J.; Kissling, W.D.; Bacon, C.D.; Borchsenius, F.; Galeano, G.; Svenning, J.-C.; Olivera, J.; Ramírez, R.; Trénel, P.; Pintaud, J.-C.

    2016-01-01

    The tropical Andes are a biodiversity hotspot, partly due to their rich and complex floristic composition. A fundamental question regarding this outstanding biodiversity is what role the Andean orogeny has played in species diversification. Ceroxylon is a genus of endemic Andean palms that stands

  9. Novel Strain of Andes Virus Associated with Fatal Human Infection, Central Bolivia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cruz, Cristhopher D.; Vallejo, Efrain; Agudo, Roberto; Vargas, Jorge; Blazes, David L.; Guevara, Carolina; Laguna-Torres, V. Alberto; Halsey, Eric S.; Kochel, Tadeusz J.

    2012-01-01

    To better describe the genetic diversity of hantaviruses associated with human illness in South America, we screened blood samples from febrile patients in Chapare Province in central Bolivia during 2008–2009 for recent hantavirus infection. Hantavirus RNA was detected in 3 patients, including 1 who died. Partial RNA sequences of small and medium segments from the 3 patients were most closely related to Andes virus lineages but distinct (1 hantaviruses; the highest prevalence was among agricultural workers. Because of the high level of human exposure to hantavirus strains and the severity of resulting disease, additional studies are warranted to determine the reservoirs, ecologic range, and public health effect of this novel strain of hantavirus. PMID:22515983

  10. Politics as Usual? Theatre, the Northern Irish Assembly, and the Romanticization of Normality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eleanor Owicki

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available This article explores the treatment of Northern Irish electoral politics in two plays featuring Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs as major characters. Between 2007 and 2016, many viewed the stability of the Northern Irish Assembly as evidence of the continued success of the peace process. Although the principle of mandatory coalition at the system’s heart bears witness to the lasting nature of divisions within the state, the collaboration between once-bitter enemies demonstrates a real shift in Northern Irish politics. Until the institution’s (perhaps temporary collapse in 2017, many commentators and politicians suggested that its success proved that the state was progressing in the nebulous but desirable direction of ‘normality’. Colin Bell’s 'God’s Country' (2010 and Rosemary Jenkinson’s 'Planet Belfast' (2013 suggest, however, that a valorization of normality obscures the dangers posed to Northern Ireland by problems that occur on more global levels. 'God’s Country' explores the dangerous impact of homophobia in the North, and particularly within unionist politics, while 'Planet Belfast' depicts the combined threat of environmental destruction and corporate interference. Both plays depict Northern Irish politics functioning smoothly, with minimal evidence of sectarian divisions deeper than the partisanship present in most democracies. In spite of this, however, they caution against treating normality as an end goal or as evidence that the state is safe. Instead, they suggest that the state faces a wide array of problems that have been obscured by the focus on sectarianism and the legacy of the Troubles.

  11. Les flux de matières dissoutes et particulaires des Andes de Bolivie vers le rio Madeira en Amazonie brésilienne

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1995-01-01

    Full Text Available Le Rio Madeira est le principal affluent méridional de l’Amazone et le deuxième tributaire andin du bassin. L’utilisation des données obtenues en Bolivie par le PHICAB (1, et au Brésil sur le réseau du DNAEE (2, a permis de suivre l’évolution des flux de matières dissoutes et particulaires, depuis les Andes jusqu’à l’Amazone. Les flux de matières en solution [36 106 t an-1 à Villabella (3] augmentent progressivement d’amont en aval avec les débits. Les flux de matières en suspension diminuent du piedmont andin jusqu’à Villabella (258 106 t an-1 du fait d’une forte sédimentation. Ensuite, les différences notables observées au Brésil posent clairement le problème des modes d’échantillonnage et de calcul des flux sédimentaires. LOS FLUJOS DE MATERIA DISUELTA Y PARTICULAR DESDE LOS ANDES DE BOLIVIA HASTA EL RÍO MADEIRA EN EL AMAZONAS DE BRASIL. El río Madeira es el principal afluente meridional del Amazonas, y el segundo tributario andino de la cuenca. La utilización de los datos obtenidos en Bolivia por el PHICAB (1, y en el Brasil sobre la red del DNAEE (2 permite conocer la evolución de los flujos de materia disuelta y particular, desde los Andes hasta el Amazonas. Los aportes en materia disuelta [36 106 t año-1 en Villabella (3] aumentan progresivamente de aguas arriba para aguas abajo, con el caudal. Los flujos de materias en suspensión disminuyen desde el Piedemonte hasta Villabella (258 106 t año-1 por causa de una fuerte sedimentación. Después, las diferencias notables observadas en el Brasil colocan claramente el problema de los tipos de muestreo y de cálculo de los flujos de sedimentos. THE DISSOLVED AND SEDIMENT YIELDS FROM THE ANDES OF BOLIVIA TO THE MADEIRA RIVER IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON. The Madeira river is the main Southern tributary of the Amazon, and the second Andean tributary of the drainage basin. The use of Bolivian data from the PHICAB (1, and Brazilian data from the DNAEE (2, allow to

  12. Una nueva especie de Calyptranthes Sw. (Myrtaceae de Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parra Osorio Carlos Alberto

    2001-12-01

    Full Text Available Se describe e ilustra una nueva especie de Calyptranthes (Myrtaceae de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta de Colombia. Se discuten las afinidades taxonómicas de la nueva especie y su distribución en los Andes del norte de Suramérica.A new species of Calyptranthes (Myrtaceae from Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in Colombia, is described and illustrated. The taxonomic affinities and the distribution of the new species in the Andes of the northern part of Southamerica are discussed.

  13. A glassy lava flow from Toconce volcano and its relation with the Altiplano-Puna Magma Body in Central Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Godoy, B.; Rodriguez, I.; Aguilera, F.

    2012-12-01

    Toconce is a composite stratovolcano located at the San Pedro - Linzor volcanic chain (SPLVC). This volcanic chain distributes within the Altiplano-Puna region (Central Andes) which is characterized by extensive rhyodacitic-to-rhyolitic ignimbritic fields, and voluminous domes of dacitic-to-rhyolitic composition (de Silva, 1989). The felsic melts that gave origin to ignimbrites and domes at this area were generated by mixing of mantle-derived magmas and anatectic melts assimilated during their ascent through the thick crust. Thus, partially molten layers exist in the upper crust below the APVC (de Silva et al., 2006). Evidence of large volumes of such melts has been also proposed by geophysical methods (i.e. the Altiplano-Puna Magma Body; Chmielowsky et al., 1999) In this work, petrography and whole rock, mineralogical and melt inclusions geochemistry of a glassy lava flow of Toconce volcano are presented. Petrographically, this lava flow shows a porphyric texture, with euhdral to subhedral plagioclase, ortho- and clino-pyroxene phenocrysts immersed in a glassy groundmass. Geochemically, the lava flow has 64.7% wt. SiO2. The glassy groundmass (~70% wt. SiO2) is more felsic than all the lavas in the volcanic chain (47-68% wt., Godoy et al., 2011). Analyzed orthopyroxene-hosted melt inclusions show an even higher SiO2 content (72-75% wt.), and a decreasing on Al2O3, Na2O, and CaO content with differentiation. Crystallization pressures of this lava flow, obtained using Putirka's two-pyroxene and clinopyroxene-liquid models (Putirka, 2008), range between 6 and 9 kbar. According to crystallization pressures, and major element composition, a felsic source located at shallow crustal pressures - where plagioclase is a stable mineralogical phase - originated the inclusions. This could be related to the presence of the Altiplano-Puna Magma Body (APMB) located below SPLVC. On the other hand, glassy groundmass, and disequilibrium textures in minerals of this lava flow could

  14. The ethno-politics of water security: contestations of ethnicity and gender in strategies to control water in the Andes of Peru

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vera-Delgado, J.

    2011-01-01

    This thesis is the result of a multidisciplinary research which tries to explain water injustices and the threats to water rights access and control experienced by indigenous peasants of the Peruvian Andes. It attempts to contribute to the analysis of the interactions between ethnicity and

  15. Regionalisation of Hydrological Indices to Assess Land-Use Change Impacts in the Tropical Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buytaert, W.; Ochoa Tocachi, B. F.

    2014-12-01

    Andean ecosystems are major water sources for cities and communities located in the Tropical Andes; however, there is a considerable lack of knowledge about their hydrology. Two problems are especially important: (i) the lack of monitoring to assess the impacts of historical land-use and cover change and degradation (LUCCD) at catchment scale, and (ii) the high variability in climatic and hydrological conditions that complicate the evaluation of land management practices. This study analyses how a reliable LUCCD impacts assessment can be performed in an environment of high variability combined with data-scarcity and low-quality records. We use data from participatory hydrological monitoring activities in 20 catchments distributed along the tropical Andes. A set of 46 hydrological indices is calculated and regionalized by relating them to 42 physical catchment properties. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is performed to maximise available data while minimising redundancy in the sets of variables. Hydrological model parameters are constrained by estimated indices, and different behavioural predictions are assembled to provide a generalised response on which we assess LUCCD impacts. Results from this methodology show that the attributed effects of LUCCD in pair-wise catchment comparisons may be overstated or hidden by different sources of uncertainty, including measurement inaccuracies and model structural errors. We propose extrapolation and evaluation in ungauged catchments as a way to regionalize LUCCD predictions and to provide statistically significant conclusions in the Andean region. These estimations may deliver reliable knowledge to evaluate the hydrological impact of different watershed management practices.

  16. Diagnostic of annual cycle and effects of the ENSO about the maximum intensity of duration rains between 1 and 24 hours at the Andes of Colombia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poveda, German; Mesa, Oscar; Toro, Vladimir; Agudelo, Paula; Alvarez, Juan F; Arias, Paola; Moreno, Hernan; Salazar, Luis; Vieira, Sara

    2002-01-01

    We study the distribution of maximum rainfall events during the annual cycle, for storms ranging from 1 to 24-hour in duration; by using information over 51 rain gauges locate at the Colombian Andes. Also, the effects of both phases of ENSO (El Nino and La Nina) are quantified. We found that maximum rainfall intensity events occur during the rainy periods of march-may and September-November. There is a strong similarity between the annual cycle of mean total rainfall and that of the maximum intensities of rainfall over the tropical Andes. This result is quite consistent throughout the three ranges of the Colombian Andes. At inter annual timescales, we found that both phases of ENSO are associated with disturbances of maximum rainfall events; since during La Nina there are more intense precipitation events than during El Nino, overall, for durations longer than 3 hours, rainfall intensity gets reduced by one order of magnitude with respect to shorter durations (1-3 hours). The most extreme recorded rainfall events are apparently not associated with the annual and inter annual large scales forcing and appear to be randomly generated by the important role of the land surface atmosphere in the genesis and dynamics of intense storm over central Colombia

  17. A new species of Telmatobius (Amphibia, Anura, Telmatobiidae from the Pacific slopes of the Andes, Peru

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessandro Catenazzi

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available We describe a new species of Telmatobius from the Pacific slopes of the Andes in central Peru. Specimens were collected at 3900 m elevation near Huaytará, Huancavelica, in the upper drainage of the Pisco river. The new species has a snout–vent length of 52.5 ± 1.1 mm (49.3–55.7 mm, n = 6 in adult females, and 48.5 mm in the single adult male. The new species has bright yellow and orange coloration ventrally and is readily distinguished from all other central Peruvian Andean species of Telmatobius but T. intermedius by having vomerine teeth but lacking premaxillary and maxillary teeth, and by its slender body shape and long legs. The new species differs from T. intermedius by its larger size, flatter head, and the absence of cutaneous keratinized spicules (present even in immature females of T. intermedius, and in males by the presence of minute, densely packed nuptial spines on dorsal and medial surfaces of thumbs (large, sparsely packed nuptial spines in T. intermedius. The hyper-arid coastal valleys of Peru generally support low species richness, particularly for groups such as aquatic breeding amphibians. The discovery of a new species in this environment, and along a major highway crossing the Andes, shows that much remains to be done to document amphibian diversity in Peru.

  18. Les effets de l’émigration paysanne dans les Andes équatoriennes : une lecture photographique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nasser Rebaï

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Dans les Andes équatoriennes, les effets de l’émigration paysanne sont partout visibles. Si dans la province de l’Azuay, on assiste à la diminution des superficies cultivées et à la réorganisation des tâches agricoles, on observe par ailleurs l’émergence d’une agriculture commerciale orientée vers le marché urbain régional. En procédant à la description de photographies prises à la campagne comme à la ville, nous chercherons à expliquer l’ensemble de ces mutations, avant de nous interroger plus largement sur l’avenir des exploitations familiales dans cette région.En los Andes ecuatorianos, los efectos de la migración campesina son visibles por todas partes. Si en la provincia del Azuay, se asiste a la disminución de las superficies cultivadas y a la reorganización de las tareas agrícolas, observamos por otro lado la emergencia de una agricultura comercial orientada hacia el mercado urbano regional. Procediendo a la descripción de fotografías tomadas en la campo como en la ciudad, procuraremos explicar el conjunto de estas mutaciones, antes de preguntarnos más ampliamente sobre el futuro de las explotaciones familiares en esta región.

  19. Elevational Shifts in the Topographic Position of Polylepis Forest Stands in the Andes of Southern Peru

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Johanna M. Toivonen

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The patchy distribution of high-Andean treeline forests has provoked discussion about the relative importance of anthropogenic and climatic causes of this pattern, both of which vary with topography. We aimed to understand the topographic controls on the distribution of Polylepis subsericans treeline forests in the Andes of southern Peru, and the changes in these controls along an elevational gradient. We mapped Polylepis forests in the Cordillera Urubamba, Cusco, using high-resolution aerial images and related forest cover to topographic variables extracted from a digital terrain model (30-m resolution. The variables were selected based on their expected biological relevance for tree growth at high elevations. We constructed logistic regression models of forest cover, separately for each of five 100-m elevational belts. To deal with spatial autocorrelation, models were based on randomized 10% subsampling of the data with 1000 repetitions. The results suggest a consistent shift in topographic preference with elevation, with forests at lower elevations showing a preference for topographically protected sites near rivers and forests at higher elevations being increasingly restricted to north-facing and well-drained sites. Our study offers the first indication of the ability of Andean treeline forests to benefit from the topographic heterogeneity of the high-Andes. Providing that dispersal and establishment are possible, local relocation between microsites could help these forests to persist regionally in spite of changing climatic conditions.

  20. Restoration of badlands through applying bio-engineering techniques in active gully systems: Evidence from the Ecuadorian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borja, P.; Vanacker, V.; Alvarado, D.; Govers, G.

    2012-04-01

    A better insight in the processes controlling sediment generation, transport and deposition in badlands is necessary to enhance restoration of degraded soils through eco-engineering techniques. In this study, we evaluate the effect of different bio-engineering measures on soil and slope stability. Five micro-catchments (of 0.2 to 5 ha) were selected within a 3 km2 area in the lower part of the Loreto catchment (Southern Ecuadorian Andes). The micro-catchments differ only by land cover and degree of implementation of soil and water conservation measures. Bio-engineering techniques were used to construct dikes made of fascines of wooden sticks and earth-filled tires in active gully beds, where they are most efficient to reduce water and sediment transport. The experimental design consists of three micro-catchments within highly degraded lands: (DI) micro-catchment with bio-engineering measures concentrated in the active gully beds, (DF) with reforestation of Eucalyptus trees, and (DT) reference situation without any conservation measures. Two micro-catchments were monitored in agricultural lands with (AI) and without (AT) bio-engineering measures in the active gully beds. All catchments were equipped with San Dimas flumes to measure water flow, and sediment traps to monitor sediment export. In the (active) gully beds, various parameters related to gully stability (soil water content, bed elevation, vegetation cover, sedimentation/erosion) were monitored at weekly intervals. First results show that bio-engineering techniques are efficient to stabilize active gully beds through a reduction of the rapid concentration of excess rainfall and the sediment production and transfer. Fascines made of wooden sticks are far more efficient than earth-filled tires. Sediment deposition behind dikes is strongly dependent on precedent rainfall events, and the slope and vegetation cover of the gully floor. The sediment deposited facilitates colonization of the gully floor by native

  1. The Real of Community, the Desire for Development and the Performance of Egalitarianism in the Peruvian Andes: A Materialist–Utopian Account

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vries, de P.A.

    2015-01-01

    The paper proposes a materialist–utopian perspective for explaining the persistence of community in the Andes by drawing upon Lacanian theory and the thought of the Peruvian Marxist José Carlos Mariátegui. What characterizes the Andean comunidad are not notions of belonging and identity, but the

  2. Holocene evolution of Lake Shkodra: Multidisciplinary evidence for diachronic landscape change in northern Albania

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazzini, Ilaria; Gliozzi, Elsa; Galaty, Michael; Bejko, Lorenc; Sadori, Laura; Soulié-Märsche, Ingeborg; Koçi, Rexhep; Van Welden, Aurelien; Bushati, Salvatore

    2016-03-01

    A multidisciplinary micro-paleontological study of a sediment core (SK19) drilled in the coastal area of Lake Shkodra, northern Albania, integrated with archaeological data from the Projekti Arkeologjikë i Shkodrës (PASH), provides compelling evidence for a long-term relationship between Shkodra's natural environment and its inhabitants. Charophyte and ostracod data recovered from SK19 combined with those already studied from the distal core SK13 (Mazzini et al., 2015), reveal important information concerning the changing characteristics of the water body through time. In particular, the ostracod fauna display a truly Balkanic character with eight taxa endemic to the area. Palaeoenvironmental analysis of the two cores indicates that a wide marshland extended towards the present eastern coast of the lake, fed discontinuously both by surface- and ground-water, beginning sometime before 12,140 cal yrs BP. For about 7000 years ostracods do not record any significant changes, whereas the Characeae record in the proximal zone displays important variations. Those variations do not match any of the climatic oscillations revealed in previous studies by δ18O or pollen data, thereby implicating human activities. Ostracods and charophytes indicate that permanent shallow waters occurred in the Shkodra basin only around 5800 cal yrs BP. Historical sources of the Roman Empire indicate a swamp (the Palus labeatis), crossed by the River Morača, which flowed into the River Buna. Evidence for local fires, whether natural or anthropogenic, is recorded in SK13, scattered between 4400 and 1200 yrs BP. From 4400 to 2000 yrs BP, during the Bronze and Iron Age, hill forts ringed the marsh and burial mounds marked its edges. But around 2000 cal yrs BP, a dramatic change in the water body occurred: the disappearance of Characeae. Possibly fires were used for the elimination of natural vegetation and the subsequent cultivation of olive and walnut trees, causing an increase on organic

  3. The high Andes, gene flow and a stable hybrid zone shape the genetic structure of a wide-ranging South American parrot

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Schaefer H Martin

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background While the gene flow in some organisms is strongly affected by physical barriers and geographical distance, other highly mobile species are able to overcome such constraints. In southern South America, the Andes (here up to 6,900 m may constitute a formidable barrier to dispersal. In addition, this region was affected by cycles of intercalating arid/moist periods during the Upper/Late Pleistocene and Holocene. These factors may have been crucial in driving the phylogeographic structure of the vertebrate fauna of the region. Here we test these hypotheses in the burrowing parrot Cyanoliseus patagonus (Aves, Psittaciformes across its wide distributional range in Chile and Argentina. Results Our data show a Chilean origin for this species, with a single migration event across the Andes during the Upper/Late Pleistocene, which gave rise to all extant Argentinean mitochondrial lineages. Analyses suggest a complex population structure for burrowing parrots in Argentina, which includes a hybrid zone that has remained stable for several thousand years. Within this zone, introgression by expanding haplotypes has resulted in the evolution of an intermediate phenotype. Multivariate regressions show that present day climatic variables have a strong influence on the distribution of genetic heterogeneity, accounting for almost half of the variation in the data. Conclusions Here we show how huge barriers like the Andes and the regional environmental conditions imposed constraints on the ability of a parrot species to colonise new habitats, affecting the way in which populations diverged and thus, genetic structure. When contact between divergent populations was re-established, a stable hybrid zone was formed, functioning as a channel for genetic exchange between populations.

  4. An Ancestral Language to Speak with the "Other": Closing down Ideological Spaces of a Language Policy in the Peruvian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zavala, Virginia

    2014-01-01

    Using a multilayered, ethnographic and critical approach to language policy and planning, this article examines a language policy favoring Quechua in Apurímac in the Southern Peruvian Andes, which is being imagined as an integrated community unified by the local language. This study presents a case in which top-down policies open up ideological…

  5. Cronología, identidad, urbanismo y estado en los Andes Centrales y surcentrales entre los siglos V a X D.C.: algunas reflexiones finales

    OpenAIRE

    Kaulicke, Peter

    2012-01-01

    Chronology, Identity, Urbanism and State in the Central and South Central Andes between V and X Centuries AD: Some Final ConclusionsThe article doesn´t have an abstract El artículo no presenta resumen

  6. Changes of glaciers in the Andes of Chile and priorities for future work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pellicciotti, F; Ragettli, S; Carenzo, M; McPhee, J

    2014-09-15

    Glaciers in the Andes of Chile seem to be shrinking and possibly loosing mass, but the number and types of studies conducted, constrained mainly by data availability, are not sufficient to provide a synopsis of glacier changes for the past or future or explain in an explicit way causes of the observed changes. In this paper, we provide a systematic review of changes in glaciers for the entire country, followed by a discussion of the studies that have provided evidence of such changes. We identify a missing type of work in distributed, physically-oriented modelling studies that are needed to bridge the gap between the numerous remote sensing studies and the specific, point scale works focused on process understanding. We use an advanced mass balance model applied to one of the best monitored glaciers in the region to investigate four main research issues that should be addressed in modelling studies for a sound assessment of glacier changes: 1) the use of physically-based models of glacier ablation (energy balance models) versus more empirical models (enhanced temperature index approaches); 2) the importance of the correct extrapolation of air temperature forcing on glaciers and in high elevation areas and the large uncertainty in model outputs associated with it; 3) the role played by snow gravitational redistribution; and 4) the uncertainty associated with future climate scenarios. We quantify differences in model outputs associated with each of these choices, and conclude with suggestions for future work directions. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Treerunners, cryptic lizards of the Plica plica group (Squamata, Sauria, Tropiduridae) of northern South America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, John C.; Jowers, Michael J.

    2013-01-01

    Abstract The arboreal, Neotropical lizard Plica plica (Linnaeus, 1758) has been long considered a widespread species with a distribution east of the Andes. A preliminary examination of 101 specimens from about 28 locations mostly north of the Amazon suggests that Plica plica is a cryptic species complex with taxa that can be distinguished on the basis of the number of scale rows at mid-body; the arrangement, shape and ornamentation of scales on the snout; the number of lamellae on the fourth toe; the number of subocular plates; as well as other commonly used external morphological traits. The allopatric species discussed here are concordant with northern South American geography. Plica plica (Linnaeus, 1758) is associated with the Guiana Shield (Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela). A second species, P. caribeana sp. n. is associated with the Caribbean Coastal Range of Venezuela including Trinidad and Tobago. A third, distinctive species, P. rayi sp. n. is associated with the middle Orinoco at the eastern edge of the Guiana Shield. Two other species, P. kathleenae sp. n. and P. medemi sp. n., each based upon a single specimen, one from the Sierra Acarai Mountains of Guyana, and the other from southern Meta, Colombia are described. In addition to morphological analyses, we sequenced 12S and 16S rDNA gene fragments from one Plica plica from Trinidad to assess its relationship and taxonomy to other mainland Plica cf. plica. The results suggest Plica caribeana sp. n. likely diverged prior to the separation of Trinidad from northern Venezuela. Isolation in the Caribbean Coastal Range during its rapid uplift in the late Miocene, combined with a marine incursion into northern Venezuela may have contributed to their genetic divergence from other populations. PMID:24363569

  8. Use of high-resolution satellite images for detection of geological structures related to Central Andes geothermal field, Chile.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benavides-Rivas, C. L.; Soto-Pinto, C. A.; Arellano-Baeza, A. A.

    2014-12-01

    Central valley and the border with Argentina in the center, and in the fault system Liquiñe-Ofqui in the South of the country. High resolution images from the LANDSAT 8 satellite have been used to delineate the geological structures related to the potential geothermal reservoirs located at the northern end of the Southern Volcanic Zone of Chile. It was done by applying the lineament extraction technique, using the ADALGEO software, developed by [Soto et al., 2013]. These structures have been compared with the distribution of main geological structures obtained in the field. It was found that the lineament density increases in the areas of the major heat flux indicating that the lineament analysis could be a power tool for the detection of faults and joint zones associated to the geothermal fields. A lineament is generally defined as a straight or slightly curved feature in the landscape visible satellite image as an aligned sequence of pixel intensity contrast compared to the background. The system features extracted from satellite images is not identical to the geological lineaments that are generally determined by ground surveys, however, generally reflects the structure of faults and fractures in the crust. A temporal sequence of eight Landsat multispectral images of Central Andes geothermal field, located in VI region de Chile, was used to study changes in the configuration of the lineaments during 2011. The presence of minerals with silicification, epidotization, and albitization, which are typical for geothrmal reservoirs, was also identified, using their spectral characteristics, and subsequently corroborated in the field. Both lineament analysis and spectral analysis gave similar location of the reservoir, which increases reliability of the results.

  9. Pathogenesis and host response in Syrian hamsters following intranasal infection with Andes virus.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Safronetz

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS, also referred to as hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS, is a rare but frequently fatal disease caused by New World hantaviruses. In humans HPS is associated with severe pulmonary edema and cardiogenic shock; however, the pathogenesis of this disease remains unclear largely due to a lack of suitable animal models for the study of disease progression. In this study we monitored clinical, virological, pathophysiological parameters and host immunological responses to decipher pathological factors and events in the lethal Syrian hamster model of HPS following intranasal inoculation of Andes virus. Transcriptional profiling of the host gene responses demonstrated a suppression of innate immune responses in most organs analyzed during the early stage of infection, except for in the lung which had low level activation of several pro-inflammatory genes. During this phase Andes virus established a systemic infection in hamsters, with viral antigen readily detectable in the endothelium of the majority of tissues analyzed by 7-8 days post-inoculation. Despite wide-spread infection, histological analysis confirmed pathological abnormalities were almost exclusively found in the lungs. Immediately preceding clinical signs of disease, intense activation of pro-inflammatory and Th1/Th2 responses were observed in the lungs as well as the heart, but not in peripheral organs, suggesting that localized immune-modulations by infection is paramount to pathogenesis. Throughout the course of infection a strong suppression of regulatory T-cell responses was noted and is hypothesized to be the basis of the aberrant immune activations. The unique and comprehensive monitoring of host immune responses to hantavirus infection increases our understanding of the immuno-pathogenesis of HPS and will facilitate the development of treatment strategies targeting deleterious host immunological responses.

  10. Cold episodes in the Peruvian Central Andes: Composites, Types, and their Impacts over South America (1958-2014)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sulca, J. C.; Vuille, M. F.; Roundy, P. E.; Trasmonte, G.; Silva, Y.; Takahashi, K.

    2015-12-01

    The Mantaro basin (MB) is located in the central Peruvian Andes. Occasionally, cold episodes are observed during austral summer (January-March), that strongly damage crops. However, little is known about the causes and impacts of such cold episodes. The main goal of this study is thus to characterize cold episodes in the MB and assess their large-scale circulation and teleconnections over South America (SA) during austral summer. To identify cold events in the MB daily minimum temperature (Tmin) for the period 1958-2014 from Huayao station, located within the MB was used. A cold episode is defined when daily minimum temperature drops below its 10-percentile for at least one day. Additionally, to study the sensitivity between physical mechanisms associated with cold episodes and temperature, cold episodes are classified in three groups: Weak cold episodes (7.5 ≤ Tmin ≤ 10 percentile), strong cold episodes (Tmin ≤ 2.5 percentile), but excluding the 9 coldest events (Tmin ≤ 0 ͦ C), henceforth referred to as extraordinary cold episodes. Several gridded reanalysis were used to characterize the large-scale circulation, cloud cover and rainfall over SA associated with these events. Weak and strong cold episodes in the MB are mainly associated with a weakening of the Bolivian High-Nordeste Low system by tropical-extratropical interactions. Both types of cold episodes are associated with westerly wind anomalies at mid- and upper-tropospheric levels aloft the Peruvian Central Andes, which inhibit the influx of humid air masses from the lowlands to the east and hence limit the development of cloud cover (e.g., positive OLR anomalies over MB). The resulting clear sky conditions cause nighttime temperatures to drop, leading to cold extremes below 10-percentile. Simultaneously, northeastern Brazil (NEB) registers negative OLR anomalies, strong convection and enhanced cloud cover because displacement of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) toward the northeast of

  11. Meteorological Conditions of Floods In The Chilean Andes Mountains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vergara, J.

    Catastrophic floods occurred on mountains River during 2000 and 2001. The meteo- rological conditions of flood during the last five years have analyzed. For example, the flood of June 29 of 2000 occurred after one of extremely wettest June of the last 40 years were snowfall was 991cm in the Aconcagua Valley. Infrequently storms activ- ity generated a huge snowfall and rainfall over the Andes mountains on June of 2000 (1525mm in El Maule Valley) and the end of the unusually period, the flood was trig- gered by rising temperatures on the mountains and heavy rain (199mm in 24 hours) fall over the fresh snow on the morning of June 29 and floods wave developed and moved down along of the all river located on Central part of Chile, the foods peak was 2970.5m3/s on the El Maule basin in the morning of June 29. The regional meteoro- logical models with the hydrological forecasting was used for alert of the floods.

  12. Effects of Climate Change on Cultural Resources in the Northern Rockies Region [Chapter 12

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carl M. Davis

    2018-01-01

    People have inhabited the Northern Rocky Mountains of the United States since the close of the last Pleistocene glacial period, some 14,000 years B.P. (Fagan 1990; Meltzer 2009). Evidence of this ancient and more recent human occupation is found throughout the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USFS) Northern Region and the Greater Yellowstone Area,...

  13. The role of biomass in a pilot town of Venezuelan Andes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Padilla, A.; Sanchez, R.; Briceno, L.; Urbina, E. [Universidad de los Andes, Lab. de Bioenergia, Merida (Venezuela)

    1999-01-01

    This work analyses some factors of the energy crisis in a town of Venezuelan Andes (Llano del Hato, 3500 m.a.s.l.). The socioeconomics and climatic conditions in this region make the use of firewood as fuel mandatory. There are extensive desertified areas due to the extraction of plant species for firewood. It has been determined that there are diverse species in the area whose energy potential is superior to that reported in the literature, however, they are incorrectly used and are in danger of extinction. The absence of firewood drives peasants to use manure as a source of fuel. Parallel to the laboratory testing of different raw materials, a program of environmental education and optimisation of biomass to obtain energy is under way. It is hoped that pilot plans like this will expand to all of the Andean region. (Author)

  14. Stable isotope and DNA evidence for ritual sequences in Inca child sacrifice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Andrew S.; Taylor, Timothy; Ceruti, Maria Constanza; Chavez, Jose Antonio; Reinhard, Johan; Grimes, Vaughan; Meier-Augenstein, Wolfram; Cartmell, Larry; Stern, Ben; Richards, Michael P.; Worobey, Michael; Barnes, Ian; Gilbert, M. Thomas P.

    2007-01-01

    Four recently discovered frozen child mummies from two of the highest peaks in the south central Andes now yield tantalizing evidence of the preparatory stages leading to Inca ritual killing as represented by the unique capacocha rite. Our interdisciplinary study examined hair from the mummies to obtain detailed genetic and diachronic isotopic information. This approach has allowed us to reconstruct aspects of individual identity and diet, make inferences concerning social background, and gain insight on the hitherto unknown processes by which victims were selected, elevated in social status, prepared for a high-altitude pilgrimage, and killed. Such direct information amplifies, yet also partly contrasts with, Spanish historical accounts. PMID:17923675

  15. Geodynamic control of the chemical composition of Tertiary continental arc magmas of Ecuador?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chiaradia, M.; Fontbote, L

    2001-01-01

    Whereas an abundant literature has been produced on the Tertiary magmatism of the Central Andes, no comparable studies exist for the Tertiary continental magmatism of the Northern Andes in general and of Ecuador in particular. In this contribution we present the first extensive data on lead and strontium isotopes of Paleocene to Pliocene magmatic rocks of Ecuador together with their major, trace and rare earth element geochemistry. The main interest of carrying out a geochemical and isotopic investigation on the magmatism of Ecuador is that, different from the Central Andes, Ecuador consists of several accreted terranes both of continental and oceanic affinity. The fragmented nature of the recently assembled crust of Ecuador, composed of lithologies such as Paleozoic schists, Triassic anatexites, and Jurassic metabasalts, could have variably affected the chemistry of the Ecuadorian magmas (au)

  16. Contenidos de uranio de lavas recientes en el sector sur de los Andes centrales

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guerra, N.

    1984-12-01

    Full Text Available We have studied the distribution of U in modern lava -flows of the southern part from the Central Andes (16°-28° S. For a given SiO2, content of the rocks, U abundance increases from west to east in a transects to the Andean Belt, while the depth of the subduction zone increases and the thickness of the continental curst decreases. Besides, U content tends to inerease steadly with the latitude, while the thick of the continental crust and the depth of the seismic zone decreases southward. Thus, on the basis of the available data, we are in a position to suggest that the U behavior in the studied lavas depends on the alkalanity and magmatic history of each volcanic center.

    Se presenta un estudio de distribución de U en lavas modernas del sector sur de los Andes centrales (16°-28° S. Para rocas de contenidos similares en SiO2 la abundancia de U crece de oeste a este en un perfil transversal al cordón andino, mientras que aumenta la profundidad de subducción, y disminuye la potencia de la corteza continental. Además, mientras la potencia de la corteza continental y la profundidad de la zona sísmica de Benioff disminuyen hacia el sur, U tiende a aumentar con la latitud. Así, y basado en los datos disponibles, estamos en posición de sugerir que el comportamiento de U en las rocas estudiadas, depende de la alcalinidad y de la historia magmática de cada centro volcánico.

  17. Geochronologic evidence of a large magmatic province in northern Patagonia encompassing the Permian-Triassic boundary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luppo, Tomás; López de Luchi, Mónica G.; Rapalini, Augusto E.; Martínez Dopico, Carmen I.; Fanning, Christopher M.

    2018-03-01

    The Los Menucos Complex (northern Patagonia) consists of ∼6 km thick succession of acidic and intermediate volcanic and pyroclastic products, which has been traditionally assigned to the Middle/Late Triassic. New U/Pb (SHRIMP) zircon crystallization ages of 257 ± 2 Ma at the base, 252 ± 2 Ma at an intermediate level and 248 ± 2 Ma near the top of the sequence, indicate that this volcanic event took place in about 10 Ma around the Permian-Triassic boundary. This volcanism can now be considered as the effusive terms of the neighboring and coeval La Esperanza Plutono-Volcanic Complex. This indicates that the climax of activity of a large magmatic province in northern Patagonia was coetaneous with the end-Permian mass extinctions. Likely correlation of La Esperanza- Los Menucos magmatic province with similar volcanic and plutonic rocks across other areas of northern Patagonia suggest a much larger extension than previously envisaged for this event. Its age, large volume and explosive nature suggest that the previously ignored potential role that this volcanism might have played in climatic deterioration around the Permian-Triassic boundary should be investigated.

  18. Variaciones de un glaciar de montaña en los Andes de Chile central en las últimas dos décadas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1995-01-01

    Full Text Available VARIATIONS D’UN GLACIER DE MONTAGNE DANS LES ANDES DU CHILI CENTRAL AU COURS DES DEUX DERNIÈRES DÉCENNIES. Les résultats du bilan de masse du glacier Echaurren Norte sont présentés. Il s’agit d’un glacier de montagne de 0,4 km2 situé dans les Andes du Chili central, à 50 km à l’est de Santiago, à une altitude moyenne de 3 750 m. Ce programme de la Direction Générale d’Eaux du Chili a permis de recueillir régulièrement une information sur les bilans de masse pendant 18 ans, entre les années 1975 et 1993. C’est le seul registre de bilan de masse d’un glacier au Chili. L’ablation pendant la période de fonte a été de 252 cm d’eau en moyenne annuelle, avec une accumulation hivernale moyenne de 280 cm d’eau. Le bilan net est positif pour la période, mais on observe une grande variation interannuelle. Le bilan positif du glacier Echaurren Norte contraste avec le recul généralisé des autres glaciers du Chili central. Se presentan resultados del balance de masa del glaciar Echaurren Norte, un glaciar de montaña de 0,4 km2 ubicado a una altitud media de 3 750 m.s.n.m., en los Andes de Chile central, 50 km al este de Santiago. Los datos, recolectados como parte de un programa regular de la Dirección General de Aguas, Chile, cubren un período de 18 años, desde 1975 a 1993 y constituyen el único registro de balance de masa de un glaciar en Chile. La ablación durante el período de deshielo fue de 252 cm eq. en agua anuales en promedio, con una acumulación invernal promedio de 280 cm eq. en agua. El balance neto para el período es positivo, pero existe una gran variación interanual. El balance positivo del glaciar Echaurren Norte contrasta con el retroceso generalizado en otros glaciares de Chile central. VARIATIONS OF A MOUNTAIN GLACIER IN THE CENTRAL CHILEAN ANDES DURING THE LAST TWENTY YEARS. Mass balance results for Echaurren Norte Glacier are presented. This mountain glacier, with an area of 0,4 km2, is located at

  19. DNA from herbarium specimens settles a controversy about origins of the European potato.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ames, Mercedes; Spooner, David M

    2008-02-01

    Landrace potato cultivars are native to two areas in South America: the high Andes from eastern Venezuela to northern Argentina and the lowlands of south-central Chile. Potato first appeared outside of South America in Europe in 1567 and rapidly diffused worldwide. Two competing hypotheses suggested the origin of the "European" potato from the Andes or from lowland Chile, but the Andean origin has been widely accepted over the last 60 years. All modern potato cultivars predominantly have Chilean germplasm, explained as originating from breeding with Chilean landraces subsequent to the late blight epidemics beginning in 1845 in the UK. The Andean origin has been questioned recently through examination of landraces in India and the Canary Islands, but this evidence is inferential. Through a plastid DNA deletion marker from historical herbarium specimens, we report that the Andean potato predominated in the 1700s, but the Chilean potato was introduced into Europe as early as 1811 and became predominant long before the late blight epidemics in the UK. Our results provide the first direct evidence of these events and change the history of introduction of the European potato. They shed new light on the value of past breeding efforts to recreate the European potato from Andean forms and highlight the value of herbarium specimens in investigating origins of crop plants.

  20. Distribución y conservación de especies amenazadas en Mesoamérica, Chocó y Andes tropicales Distribution and conservation of endangered species in Mesoamerica, Chocó and Tropical Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Cecilia Londoño-Murcia

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available En este estudio se modeló el nicho ecológico proyectado como distribución potencial de 313 especies amenazadas en Mesoamérica, Chocó y los Andes tropicales, según las listas de la UICN. De estas especies, 285 fueron plantas y 28 fueron vertebrados terrestres. La superposición de las distribuciones de las especies amenazadas cubrió prácticamente toda la región. Ecuador mostró cerca del 30% de su área con 50 especies. Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua y Panamá mostraron > 50, aunque en 50% de su área. El Salvador y Honduras, de 11 a 20 en > 50% de su área y México de 1 a 5 especies en > 50% de su área. La distribución de estas especies en áreas transformadas (agricultura y áreas urbanas varió del 11al 30%; El Salvador, Panamá y Guatemala mostraron > 50% de la distribución; Colombia, Honduras y México This study modeled ecological niches projected as potential distributions for 313 endangered species listed in the IUCN for Mesoamerica, Chocó and Tropical Andes, of which 285 were plants, and 28 terrestrial vertebrates. Overlapping of endangered species distributions covered most of the region. Ecuador showed close to 30% of its area with 50 endangered species. Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua y Panama showed more than 50 endangered species in 50% of its area with endangered species (21 to 50 species were Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Panama. El Salvador and Honduras showed > 50% of its area with 11 to 20 endangered species; Mexico showed 50% of endangered species in transformed areas; Colombia, Honduras and Mexico showed < 40%, and Belize and Ecuador showed < 25% of endangered species in transformed areas, respectively. El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua and Mexico showed a high proportion of endangered species in transformed areas for the Classes Amphibia, Liliopsida, Polipodiopsida, and the Orders Asterales, Fabales, Laurales, Myrtales, Scrophulariales and Rubiales. Less than 35% of endangered

  1. Changes in Andes snow cover from MODIS data, 2000–2016

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F. A. Saavedra

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The Andes span a length of 7000 km and are important for sustaining regional water supplies. Snow variability across this region has not been studied in detail due to sparse and unevenly distributed instrumental climate data. We calculated snow persistence (SP as the fraction of time with snow cover for each year between 2000 and 2016 from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS satellite sensors (500 m, 8-day maximum snow cover extent. This analysis is conducted between 8 and 36° S due to high frequency of cloud (>  30 % of the time south and north of this range. We ran Mann–Kendall and Theil–Sens analyses to identify areas with significant changes in SP and snowline (the line at lower elevation where SP  =  20 %. We evaluated how these trends relate to temperature and precipitation from Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications-2 (MERRA2 and University of Delaware datasets and climate indices as El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO, Southern Annular Mode (SAM, and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO. Areas north of 29° S have limited snow cover, and few trends in snow persistence were detected. A large area (34 370 km2 with persistent snow cover between 29 and 36° S experienced a significant loss of snow cover (2–5 fewer days of snow year−1. Snow loss was more pronounced (62 % of the area with significant trends on the east side of the Andes. We also found a significant increase in the elevation of the snowline at 10–30 m year−1 south of 29–30° S. Decreasing SP correlates with decreasing precipitation and increasing temperature, and the magnitudes of these correlations vary with latitude and elevation. ENSO climate indices better predicted SP conditions north of 31° S, whereas the SAM better predicted SP south of 31° S.

  2. Genetic and linguistic coevolution in Northern Island Melanesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunley, Keith; Dunn, Michael; Lindström, Eva; Reesink, Ger; Terrill, Angela; Healy, Meghan E; Koki, George; Friedlaender, Françoise R; Friedlaender, Jonathan S

    2008-10-01

    Recent studies have detailed a remarkable degree of genetic and linguistic diversity in Northern Island Melanesia. Here we utilize that diversity to examine two models of genetic and linguistic coevolution. The first model predicts that genetic and linguistic correspondences formed following population splits and isolation at the time of early range expansions into the region. The second is analogous to the genetic model of isolation by distance, and it predicts that genetic and linguistic correspondences formed through continuing genetic and linguistic exchange between neighboring populations. We tested the predictions of the two models by comparing observed and simulated patterns of genetic variation, genetic and linguistic trees, and matrices of genetic, linguistic, and geographic distances. The data consist of 751 autosomal microsatellites and 108 structural linguistic features collected from 33 Northern Island Melanesian populations. The results of the tests indicate that linguistic and genetic exchange have erased any evidence of a splitting and isolation process that might have occurred early in the settlement history of the region. The correlation patterns are also inconsistent with the predictions of the isolation by distance coevolutionary process in the larger Northern Island Melanesian region, but there is strong evidence for the process in the rugged interior of the largest island in the region (New Britain). There we found some of the strongest recorded correlations between genetic, linguistic, and geographic distances. We also found that, throughout the region, linguistic features have generally been less likely to diffuse across population boundaries than genes. The results from our study, based on exceptionally fine-grained data, show that local genetic and linguistic exchange are likely to obscure evidence of the early history of a region, and that language barriers do not particularly hinder genetic exchange. In contrast, global patterns may

  3. Genetic and linguistic coevolution in Northern Island Melanesia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Keith Hunley

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available Recent studies have detailed a remarkable degree of genetic and linguistic diversity in Northern Island Melanesia. Here we utilize that diversity to examine two models of genetic and linguistic coevolution. The first model predicts that genetic and linguistic correspondences formed following population splits and isolation at the time of early range expansions into the region. The second is analogous to the genetic model of isolation by distance, and it predicts that genetic and linguistic correspondences formed through continuing genetic and linguistic exchange between neighboring populations. We tested the predictions of the two models by comparing observed and simulated patterns of genetic variation, genetic and linguistic trees, and matrices of genetic, linguistic, and geographic distances. The data consist of 751 autosomal microsatellites and 108 structural linguistic features collected from 33 Northern Island Melanesian populations. The results of the tests indicate that linguistic and genetic exchange have erased any evidence of a splitting and isolation process that might have occurred early in the settlement history of the region. The correlation patterns are also inconsistent with the predictions of the isolation by distance coevolutionary process in the larger Northern Island Melanesian region, but there is strong evidence for the process in the rugged interior of the largest island in the region (New Britain. There we found some of the strongest recorded correlations between genetic, linguistic, and geographic distances. We also found that, throughout the region, linguistic features have generally been less likely to diffuse across population boundaries than genes. The results from our study, based on exceptionally fine-grained data, show that local genetic and linguistic exchange are likely to obscure evidence of the early history of a region, and that language barriers do not particularly hinder genetic exchange. In contrast

  4. Contrasting patterns of Andean diversification among three diverse clades of Neotropical clearwing butterflies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chazot, Nicolas; De-Silva, Donna Lisa; Willmott, Keith R; Freitas, André V L; Lamas, Gerardo; Mallet, James; Giraldo, Carlos E; Uribe, Sandra; Elias, Marianne

    2018-04-01

    The Neotropical region is the most biodiverse on Earth, in a large part due to the highly diverse tropical Andean biota. The Andes are a potentially important driver of diversification within the mountains and for neighboring regions. We compared the role of the Andes in diversification among three subtribes of Ithomiini butterflies endemic to the Neotropics, Dircennina, Oleriina, and Godyridina. The diversification patterns of Godyridina have been studied previously. Here, we generate the first time-calibrated phylogeny for the largest ithomiine subtribe, Dircennina, and we reanalyze a published phylogeny of Oleriina to test different biogeographic scenarios involving the Andes within an identical framework. We found common diversification patterns across the three subtribes, as well as major differences. In Dircennina and Oleriina, our results reveal a congruent pattern of diversification related to the Andes with an Andean origin, which contrasts with the Amazonian origin and multiple Andean colonizations of Godyridina. In each of the three subtribes, a clade diversified in the Northern Andes at a faster rate. Diversification within Amazonia occurred in Oleriina and Godyridina, while virtually no speciation occurred in Dircennina in this region. Dircennina was therefore characterized by higher diversification rates within the Andes compared to non-Andean regions, while in Oleriina and Godyridina, we found no difference between these regions. Our results and discussion highlight the importance of comparative approaches in biogeographic studies.

  5. Natural Environmental Hazards Reflected in High-Altitude Patagonian Lake Sediments (lake Caviahue, Argentina)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müller, Anne; Scharf, Burkhard; von Tümpling, Wolf; Pirrung, Michael

    2009-03-01

    Two 6-m long sediment cores drilled in the two basins of Lake Caviahue give new evidence of the impact of natural hazards such as ash fallouts linked to nearby volcanic eruptions in the ecologically sensitive environment of the high-altitude region of the Argentinan Patagonian Andes. The two cores show distinct signals of changes in autochthonous productivity and terrigenous input into the lake from ash fallout as well as from river load and shore erosion. Multiproxy records of the sediments indicate whether these changes can be related to volcanic activity. High values of magnetic susceptibility in the cores reflect periods of basaltic ash fallouts during eruptions of the nearby Copahue Volcano. The southern basin is located in the prevalent direction of ash fallouts and has been affected by these volcanic inputs more intensely than the northern basin of the lake. In contrast, sedimentation and authochthonous productivity in the northern basin are strongly affected by fluvial inputs such as suspended river load and acidic stream waters.

  6. A survey of volcano deformation in the central Andes using InSAR: Evidence for deep, slow inflation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pritchard, M. E.; Simons, M.

    2001-12-01

    We use interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) to survey about 50 volcanos of the central Andes (15-27o S) for deformation during the 1992-2000 time interval. Because of the remote location of these volcanos, the activity of most are poorly constrained. Using the ERS-1/2 C-band radars (5.6 cm), we observe good interferometric correlation south of about 21o S, but poor correlation north of that latitude, especially in southern Peru. This variation is presumably related to regional climate variations. Our survey reveals broad (10's of km), roughly axisymmetric deformation at 2 volcanic centers with no previously documented deformation. At Uturuncu volcano, in southwestern Bolivia, the deformation rate can be constrained with radar data from several satellite tracks and is about 1 cm/year between 1992 and 2000. We find a second source of volcanic deformation located between Lastarria and Cordon del Azufre volcanos near the Chile/Argentina border. There is less radar data to constrain the deformation in this area, but the rate is also about 1 cm/yr between 1996 and 2000. While the spatial character of the deformation field appears to be affected by atmosphere at both locations, we do not think that the entire signal is atmospheric, because the signal is observed in several interferograms and nearby edifices do not show similar patterns. The deformation signal appears to be time-variable, although it is difficult to determine whether this is due to real variations in the deformation source or atmospheric effects. We model the deformation with both a uniform point-source source of inflation, and a tri-axial point-source ellipsoid, and compare both elastic half-space and layered-space models. We also explore the effects of local topography upon the deformation field using the method of Williams and Wadge (1998). We invert for source parameters using the global search Neighborhood Algorithm of Sambridge (1998). Preliminary results indicate that the sources at both

  7. Seismic triggering of landslides, Part A: Field evidence from the Northern Tien Shan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Havenith, H.-B.; Strom, A.; Jongmans, D.; Abdrakhmatov, A.; Delvaux, D.; Tréfois, P.

    Landslides triggered by strong earthquakes often caused most of the global damage and most of all casualties related to the events, such as shown by the M = 7.7 Peru earthquake in 1970, by the M = 7.6 El Salvador earthquake in 2001 or by the M = 7.4 Khait (Tajikistan) earthquake in 1949. The obvious impact of a landslide on the population is directly related to its movement. Yet, prediction of future failure potential and hence future risk to population is necessary in order to avoid further catastrophes and involves the analyses of the origin of seismic instability. The seismic landslide potential is mainly determined by the interaction between the regional seismic hazard and local geological conditions. At a local scale, seismic factors interfering with geological conditions can produce site-specific ground motions. The influence of such Site Effects on instability is the principal topic of this paper, which is divided into two parts, A and B. The present Part A is concerned with the correlation of field data with observed instability phenomena. Field data were obtained on mainly three landslide sites in the Northern Tien Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia. Geophysical prospecting, earthquake recordings, geological observation, trenching and geotechnical tests were the main investigation tools. The collected information gives an insight in the geological background of the slope failure and allows us to roughly infer failure mechanisms from field evidence. A detailed analysis of the susceptibility of a mechanism to specific geological conditions will be shown in Part B.

  8. Seismic triggering of landslides, Part A: Field evidence from the Northern Tien Shan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    H.-B. Havenith

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Landslides triggered by strong earthquakes often caused most of the global damage and most of all casualties related to the events, such as shown by the M = 7.7 Peru earthquake in 1970, by the M = 7.6 El Salvador earthquake in 2001 or by the M = 7.4 Khait (Tajikistan earthquake in 1949. The obvious impact of a landslide on the population is directly related to its movement. Yet, prediction of future failure potential and hence future risk to population is necessary in order to avoid further catastrophes and involves the analyses of the origin of seismic instability. The seismic landslide potential is mainly determined by the interaction between the regional seismic hazard and local geological conditions. At a local scale, seismic factors interfering with geological conditions can produce site-specific ground motions. The influence of such Site Effects on instability is the principal topic of this paper, which is divided into two parts, A and B. The present Part A is concerned with the correlation of field data with observed instability phenomena. Field data were obtained on mainly three landslide sites in the Northern Tien Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia. Geophysical prospecting, earthquake recordings, geological observation, trenching and geotechnical tests were the main investigation tools. The collected information gives an insight in the geological background of the slope failure and allows us to roughly infer failure mechanisms from field evidence. A detailed analysis of the susceptibility of a mechanism to specific geological conditions will be shown in Part B.

  9. The 2012-2014 eruptive cycle of Copahue Volcano, Southern Andes. Magmatic-Hydrothermal system interaction and manifestations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morales, Sergio; Alarcón, Alex; Basualto, Daniel; Bengoa, Cintia; Bertín, Daniel; Cardona, Carlos; Córdova, Maria; Franco, Luis; Gil, Fernando; Hernandez, Erasmo; Lara, Luis; Lazo, Jonathan; Mardones, Cristian; Medina, Roxana; Peña, Paola; Quijada, Jonathan; San Martín, Juan; Valderrama, Oscar

    2015-04-01

    Copahue Volcano (COPV), in Southern Andes of Chile, is an andesitic-basaltic stratovolcano, which is located on the western margin of Caviahue Caldera. The COPV have a NE-trending fissure with 9 aligned vents, being El Agrio the main currently active vent, with ca. 400 m in diameter. The COPV is placed into an extensive hydrothermal system which has modulated its recent 2012-2014 eruptive activity, with small phreatic to phreatomagmatic eruptions and isolated weak strombolian episodes and formation of crater lakes inside the main crater. Since 2012, the Southern Andes Volcano Observatory (OVDAS) carried out the real-time monitoring with seismic broadband stations, GPS, infrasound sensors and webcams. In this work, we report pre, sin, and post-eruptive seismic activity of the last two main eruptions (Dec, 2012 and Oct, 2014) both with different seismic precursors and superficial activity, showing the second one a particularly appearance of seismic quiescence episodes preceding explosive activity, as an indicator of interaction between magmatic-hydrothermal systems. The first episode, in late 2012, was characterized by a low frequency (0.3-0.4 Hz and 1.0-1.5 Hz) continuous tremor which increased gradually from background noise level amplitude to values of reduced displacement (DR), close to 50 cm2 at the peak of the eruption, reaching an eruptive column of ~1.5 km height. After few months of recording low energy seismicity, a sequence of low frequency, repetitive and low energy seismic events arose, with a frequency of occurrence up to 300 events/hour. Also, the VLP earthquakes were added to the record probably associated with magma intrusion into a deep magmatic chamber during all stages of eruptive process, joined to the record of VT seismicity during the same period, which is located throughout the Caviahue Caldera area. Both kind of seismic patterns were again recorded in October 2014, being the precursor of the new eruptive cycle at this time as well as the

  10. Adapting online learning for Canada's Northern public health workforce

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marnie Bell

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Background . Canada's North is a diverse, sparsely populated land, where inequalities and public health issues are evident, particularly for Aboriginal people. The Northern public health workforce is a unique mix of professional and paraprofessional workers. Few have formal public health education. From 2009 to 2012, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC collaborated with a Northern Advisory Group to develop and implement a strategy to strengthen public health capacity in Canada's 3 northern territories. Access to relevant, effective continuing education was identified as a key issue. Challenges include diverse educational and cultural backgrounds of public health workers, geographical isolation and variable technological infrastructure across the north. Methods . PHAC's Skills Online program offers Internet-based continuing education modules for public health professionals. In partnership with the Northern Advisory Group, PHAC conducted 3 pilots between 2008 and 2012 to assess the appropriateness of the Skills Online program for Northern/Aboriginal public health workers. Module content and delivery modalities were adapted for the pilots. Adaptations included adding Inuit and Northern public health examples and using video and teleconference discussions to augment the online self-study component. Results . Findings from the pilots were informative and similar to those from previous Skills Online pilots with learners in developing countries. Online learning is effective in bridging the geographical barriers in remote locations. Incorporating content on Northern and Aboriginal health issues facilitates engagement in learning. Employer support facilitates the recruitment and retention of learners in an online program. Facilitator assets included experience as a public health professional from the north, and flexibility to use modified approaches to support and measure knowledge acquisition and application, especially for First Nations, Inuit and

  11. Adapting online learning for Canada's Northern public health workforce.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, Marnie; MacDougall, Karen

    2013-01-01

    Canada's North is a diverse, sparsely populated land, where inequalities and public health issues are evident, particularly for Aboriginal people. The Northern public health workforce is a unique mix of professional and paraprofessional workers. Few have formal public health education. From 2009 to 2012, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) collaborated with a Northern Advisory Group to develop and implement a strategy to strengthen public health capacity in Canada's 3 northern territories. Access to relevant, effective continuing education was identified as a key issue. Challenges include diverse educational and cultural backgrounds of public health workers, geographical isolation and variable technological infrastructure across the north. PHAC's Skills Online program offers Internet-based continuing education modules for public health professionals. In partnership with the Northern Advisory Group, PHAC conducted 3 pilots between 2008 and 2012 to assess the appropriateness of the Skills Online program for Northern/Aboriginal public health workers. Module content and delivery modalities were adapted for the pilots. Adaptations included adding Inuit and Northern public health examples and using video and teleconference discussions to augment the online self-study component. Findings from the pilots were informative and similar to those from previous Skills Online pilots with learners in developing countries. Online learning is effective in bridging the geographical barriers in remote locations. Incorporating content on Northern and Aboriginal health issues facilitates engagement in learning. Employer support facilitates the recruitment and retention of learners in an online program. Facilitator assets included experience as a public health professional from the north, and flexibility to use modified approaches to support and measure knowledge acquisition and application, especially for First Nations, Inuit and Metis learners. Results demonstrate that

  12. Holocene vegetation history from fossil rodent middens near Arequipa, Peru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmgren, C.A.; Betancourt, J.L.; Rylander, K.A.; Roque, J.; Tovar, O.; Zeballos, H.; Linares, E.; Quade, Jay

    2001-01-01

    Rodent (Abrocoma, Lagidium, Phyllotis) middens collected from 2350 to 2750 m elevation near Arequipa, Peru (16??S), provide an ???9600-yr vegetation history of the northern Atacama Desert, based on identification of >50 species of plant macrofossils. These midden floras show considerable stability throughout the Holocene, with slightly more mesophytic plant assemblages in the middle Holocene. Unlike the southwestern United States, rodent middens of mid-Holocene age are common. In the Arequipa area, the midden record does not reflect any effects of a mid-Holocene mega drought proposed from the extreme lowstand (100 m below modern levels, >6000 to 3500 yr B.P.) of Lake Titicaca, only 200 km east of Arequipa. This is perhaps not surprising, given other evidence for wetter summers on the Pacific slope of the Andes during the middle Holocene as well as the poor correlation of summer rainfall among modern weather stations in the central AndesAtacama Desert. The apparent difference in paleoclimatic reconstructions suggests that it is premature to relate changes observed during the Holocene to changes in El Nin??o Southern Oscillation modes. ?? 2001 University of Washington.

  13. A promising location in Patagonia for paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstructions revealed by shallow firn core from Monte San Valentin (Northern patagonia Icefield, Chile)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vimeux, F.; de Angelis, M.; Ginot, P.

    2008-01-01

    temperature is -11.9°C at 10-m depth allowing to expect well preserved both chemical and isotopic signals, unperturbed by water percolation. The dating of the core, on the basis of a multi-proxy approach combining annual layer counting and radionuclide measurements, shows that past environment and climate can......The study of past climate variability from ice core investigations has been largely developed both in polar areas over the past decades and, more recently, in tropical regions, specifically along the South American Andes between 0° and 20°S. However a large gap still remains at mid......-latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere. In this framework, a 15.3-m long shallow firn core has been extracted in March 2005 from the summit plateau of Monte San Valentín (3747 m, 46°35'S, 73°19'W) in the Northern Patagonia Icefield to test its potential for paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. The firn...

  14. Mixed memory, (non) Hurst effect, and maximum entropy of rainfall in the tropical Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poveda, Germán

    2011-02-01

    Diverse linear and nonlinear statistical parameters of rainfall under aggregation in time and the kind of temporal memory are investigated. Data sets from the Andes of Colombia at different resolutions (15 min and 1-h), and record lengths (21 months and 8-40 years) are used. A mixture of two timescales is found in the autocorrelation and autoinformation functions, with short-term memory holding for time lags less than 15-30 min, and long-term memory onwards. Consistently, rainfall variance exhibits different temporal scaling regimes separated at 15-30 min and 24 h. Tests for the Hurst effect evidence the frailty of the R/ S approach in discerning the kind of memory in high resolution rainfall, whereas rigorous statistical tests for short-memory processes do reject the existence of the Hurst effect. Rainfall information entropy grows as a power law of aggregation time, S( T) ˜ Tβ with = 0.51, up to a timescale, TMaxEnt (70-202 h), at which entropy saturates, with β = 0 onwards. Maximum entropy is reached through a dynamic Generalized Pareto distribution, consistently with the maximum information-entropy principle for heavy-tailed random variables, and with its asymptotically infinitely divisible property. The dynamics towards the limit distribution is quantified. Tsallis q-entropies also exhibit power laws with T, such that Sq( T) ˜ Tβ( q) , with β( q) ⩽ 0 for q ⩽ 0, and β( q) ≃ 0.5 for q ⩾ 1. No clear patterns are found in the geographic distribution within and among the statistical parameters studied, confirming the strong variability of tropical Andean rainfall.

  15. De la complementariedad a la voluntad de Aplanar los Andes: representaciones de la naturaleza y pensamiento económico y político en el Perú del siglo XX

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available DE LA COMPLÉMENTARITÉ À LA VOLONTÉ D’APLANIR LES ANDES : REPRÉSENTATIONS DE LA NATURE ET PENSÉE ÉCONOMIQUE ET POLITIQUE AU PÉROU AU COURS DU XXÈME SIÈCLE. La représentation la plus courante du territoire péruvien à l’échelle nationale est celle qui le divise en trois régions dites “naturelles”, la costa, la sierra et la selva. Mais cette division et chacun de ses éléments peuvent prendre différents sens et ont orienté la réflexion politique tantôt vers l’idée d’une complémentarité entre ces trois ensembles et entre les “étages écologiques” qui les composent, tantôt vers celle d’une opposition insurmontable entre les Andes et leur piémont côtier - le piémont amazonien n’étant que plus rarement au centre des débats -. Cette seconde “traduction” de la nature semble aujourd’hui la plus influente et la représentation “négative” de la montagne comme espace de pauvreté et d’isolement tend dans le contexte du néolibéralisme à l’emporter sur celle, plus positive et tout aussi construite, qui présente les Andes comme un territoire ayant permis la conservation d’une culture indigène authentique. La representación más común del territorio peruano a nivel nacional es la división en tres regiones consideradas como “naturales”, la costa, la sierra y la selva. Pero esa división y cada uno de sus elementos pueden tener diversos significados, de tal forma que guiaron la reflexión política en ocasiones hacia la idea de una complementariedad entre las tres partes y entre los pisos ecológicos que las componen, y otras veces hacia la de una oposición insalvable entre los Andes y su piedemonte costeño (mientras el amazónico suscitaba menos interés. La segunda de estas “traducciones” de la naturaleza parece ser hoy en día la más influyente: la representación “negativa” de la sierra como espacio de pobreza y de aislamiento tiende, dentro del contexto del neoliberalismo, a prevalecer sobre aqu

  16. Paludification and forest retreat in northern oceanic environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crawford, R M M; Jeffree, C E; Rees, W G

    2003-01-01

    Examination of temperature variations over the past century for Europe and the Arctic from northern Norway to Siberia suggests that variations in the North Atlantic Oscillation are associated with an increase in oceanicity in certain maritime regions. A southward depression of the tree line in favour of wet heaths, bogs and wetland tundra communities is also observed in northern oceanic environments. The physiological basis for this change in ecological succession from forest to bog is discussed in relation to the long-term effects of flooding on tree survival. The heightened values currently detected in the North Atlantic Oscillation Index, together with rising winter temperatures, and increased rainfall in many areas in northern Europe, presents an increasing risk of paludification with adverse consequences for forest regeneration, particularly in areas with oceanic climates. Climatic warming in oceanic areas may increase the area covered by bogs and, contrary to general expectations, lead to a retreat rather than an advance in the northern limit of the boreal forest. High water-table levels are not automatically detrimental to forest survival as can be seen in swamp, bottom land and mangrove forests. Consequently, the inhibitory effects of flooding on tree survival and regeneration in northern regions should not be uncritically accepted as merely due to high water levels. Evidence is discussed which suggests that physiological and ecological factors may interact to inhibit forest regeneration in habitats where there is a risk of prolonged winter-flooding combined with warmer winters and cool moist summers.

  17. Pucarilla-Cerro Tipillas volcanic complex: the oldest recognized caldera in the southeastern portion of central volcanic zone of Central Andes?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guzman, Silvina; Petrinovic, Ivan [CONICET -IBIGEO. Museo de Cs. Naturales, Universidad de Salta, Mendoza 2 (4400), Salta (Argentina)], E-mail: guzmansilvina@gmail.com

    2008-10-01

    We recognize the most eastern and oldest collapse caldera structure in the southern portion of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes. A description of Middle-Upper Miocene successions related to explosive- effusive events is presented. The location of this centre close to Cerro Galn Caldera attests a recurrence in the volcanism between 12 and 2 Ma in this portion of the Altiplano - Puna Plateau.

  18. Proliferation of hydroelectric dams in the Andean Amazon and implications for Andes-Amazon connectivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finer, Matt; Jenkins, Clinton N

    2012-01-01

    Due to rising energy demands and abundant untapped potential, hydropower projects are rapidly increasing in the Neotropics. This is especially true in the wet and rugged Andean Amazon, where regional governments are prioritizing new hydroelectric dams as the centerpiece of long-term energy plans. However, the current planning for hydropower lacks adequate regional and basin-scale assessment of potential ecological impacts. This lack of strategic planning is particularly problematic given the intimate link between the Andes and Amazonian flood plain, together one of the most species rich zones on Earth. We examined the potential ecological impacts, in terms of river connectivity and forest loss, of the planned proliferation of hydroelectric dams across all Andean tributaries of the Amazon River. Considering data on the full portfolios of existing and planned dams, along with data on roads and transmission line systems, we developed a new conceptual framework to estimate the relative impacts of all planned dams. There are plans for 151 new dams greater than 2 MW over the next 20 years, more than a 300% increase. These dams would include five of the six major Andean tributaries of the Amazon. Our ecological impact analysis classified 47% of the potential new dams as high impact and just 19% as low impact. Sixty percent of the dams would cause the first major break in connectivity between protected Andean headwaters and the lowland Amazon. More than 80% would drive deforestation due to new roads, transmission lines, or inundation. We conclude with a discussion of three major policy implications of these findings. 1) There is a critical need for further strategic regional and basin scale evaluation of dams. 2) There is an urgent need for a strategic plan to maintain Andes-Amazon connectivity. 3) Reconsideration of hydropower as a low-impact energy source in the Neotropics.

  19. Proliferation of hydroelectric dams in the Andean Amazon and implications for Andes-Amazon connectivity.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matt Finer

    Full Text Available Due to rising energy demands and abundant untapped potential, hydropower projects are rapidly increasing in the Neotropics. This is especially true in the wet and rugged Andean Amazon, where regional governments are prioritizing new hydroelectric dams as the centerpiece of long-term energy plans. However, the current planning for hydropower lacks adequate regional and basin-scale assessment of potential ecological impacts. This lack of strategic planning is particularly problematic given the intimate link between the Andes and Amazonian flood plain, together one of the most species rich zones on Earth. We examined the potential ecological impacts, in terms of river connectivity and forest loss, of the planned proliferation of hydroelectric dams across all Andean tributaries of the Amazon River. Considering data on the full portfolios of existing and planned dams, along with data on roads and transmission line systems, we developed a new conceptual framework to estimate the relative impacts of all planned dams. There are plans for 151 new dams greater than 2 MW over the next 20 years, more than a 300% increase. These dams would include five of the six major Andean tributaries of the Amazon. Our ecological impact analysis classified 47% of the potential new dams as high impact and just 19% as low impact. Sixty percent of the dams would cause the first major break in connectivity between protected Andean headwaters and the lowland Amazon. More than 80% would drive deforestation due to new roads, transmission lines, or inundation. We conclude with a discussion of three major policy implications of these findings. 1 There is a critical need for further strategic regional and basin scale evaluation of dams. 2 There is an urgent need for a strategic plan to maintain Andes-Amazon connectivity. 3 Reconsideration of hydropower as a low-impact energy source in the Neotropics.

  20. Landslide susceptibility near highways is increased by 1 order of magnitude in the Andes of southern Ecuador, Loja province

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brenning, A.; Schwinn, M.; Ruiz-Páez, A. P.; Muenchow, J.

    2015-01-01

    Mountain roads in developing countries are known to increase landslide occurrence due to often inadequate drainage systems and mechanical destabilization of hillslopes by undercutting and overloading. This study empirically investigates landslide initiation frequency along two paved interurban highways in the tropical Andes of southern Ecuador across different climatic regimes. Generalized additive models (GAM) and generalized linear models (GLM) were used to analyze the relationship between mapped landslide initiation points and distance to highway while accounting for topographic, climatic, and geological predictors as possible confounders. A spatial block bootstrap was used to obtain nonparametric confidence intervals for the odds ratio of landslide occurrence near the highways (25 m distance) compared to a 200 m distance. The estimated odds ratio was 18-21, with lower 95% confidence bounds >13 in all analyses. Spatial bootstrap estimation using the GAM supports the higher odds ratio estimate of 21.2 (95% confidence interval: 15.5-25.3). The highway-related effects were observed to fade at about 150 m distance. Road effects appear to be enhanced in geological units characterized by Holocene gravels and Laramide andesite/basalt. Overall, landslide susceptibility was found to be more than 1 order of magnitude higher in close proximity to paved interurban highways in the Andes of southern Ecuador.

  1. Landslide susceptibility near highways is increased by one order of magnitude in the Andes of southern Ecuador, Loja province

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brenning, A.; Schwinn, M.; Ruiz-Páez, A. P.; Muenchow, J.

    2014-03-01

    Mountain roads in developing countries are known to increase landslide occurrence due to often inadequate drainage systems and mechanical destabilization of hillslopes by undercutting and overloading. This study empirically investigates landslide initiation frequency along two paved interurban highways in the tropical Andes of southern Ecuador across different climatic regimes. Generalized additive models (GAM) and generalized linear models (GLM) were used to analyze the relationship between mapped landslide initiation points and distance to highway while accounting for topographic, climatic and geological predictors as possible confounders. A spatial block bootstrap was used to obtain non-parametric confidence intervals for the odds ratio of landslide occurrence near the highways (25 m distance) compared to a 200 m distance. The estimated odds ratio was 18-21 with lower 95% confidence bounds > 13 in all analyses. Spatial bootstrap estimation using the GAM supports the higher odds ratio estimate of 21.2 (95% confidence interval: 15.5-25.3). The highway-related effects were observed to fade at about 150 m distance. Road effects appear to be enhanced in geological units characterized by Holocene gravels and Laramide andesite/basalt. Overall, landslide susceptibility was found to be more than one order of magnitude higher in close proximity to paved interurban highways in the Andes of southern Ecuador.

  2. Diversity of bacteria producing pigmented colonies in aerosol, snow and soil samples from remote glacial areas (Antarctica, Alps and Andes)

    Science.gov (United States)

    González-Toril, E.; Amils, R.; Delmas, R. J.; Petit, J.-R.; Komárek, J.; Elster, J.

    2008-04-01

    Four different communities and one culture of pigmented microbial assemblages were obtained by incubation in mineral medium of samples collected from high elevation snow in the Alps (Mt. Blanc area) and the Andes (Nevado Illimani summit, Bolivia), from Antarctic aerosol (French station Dumont d'Urville) and a maritime Antarctic soil (King George Island, South Shetlands, Uruguay Station Artigas). Molecular analysis of more than 200 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that all cultured cells belong to the Bacteria domain. The phylogenetic comparison with the currently available rDNA database allowed the identification of sequences belonging to Proteobacteria (Alpha-, Beta- and Gamma-proteobacteria), Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes phyla. The Andes snow culture was the richest in bacterial diversity (eight microorganisms identified) and the maritime Antarctic soil the poorest (only one). Snow samples from Col du midi (Alps) and the Andes shared the highest number of identified microorganisms (Agrobacterium, Limnobacter, Aquiflexus and two uncultured Alphaproteobacteria clones). These two sampling sites also shared four sequences with the Antarctic aerosol sample (Limnobacter, Pseudonocardia and an uncultured Alphaproteobacteria clone). The only microorganism identified in the maritime Antarctica soil (Brevundimonas sp.) was also detected in the Antarctic aerosol. The two snow samples from the Alps only shared one common microorganism. Most of the identified microorganisms have been detected previously in cold environments (Dietzia kujamenisi, Pseudonocardia Antarctica, Hydrogenophaga palleronii and Brebundimonas sp.), marine sediments (Aquiflexus balticus, Pseudomonas pseudoalkaligenes, Pseudomonas sp. and one uncultured Alphaproteobacteria), and soils and rocks (Pseudonocardia sp., Agrobactrium sp., Limnobacter sp. and two uncultured Alphaproteobacetria clones). Air current dispersal is the best model to explain the presence of very specific microorganisms, like those

  3. Demographic response of northern spotted owls to barred owl removal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diller, V. Lowell; Hamm, Keith A; Early, Desiree A; Lamphear, David W; Dugger, Katie M.; Yackulic, Charles B.; Schwarz, Carl J.; Carlson, Peter C.; McDonald, Trent L.

    2016-01-01

    Federally listed as threatened in 1990 primarily because of habitat loss, the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) has continued to decline despite conservation efforts resulting in forested habitat being reserved throughout its range. Recently, there is growing evidence the congeneric invasive barred owl (Strix varia) may be responsible for the continued decline primarily by excluding spotted owls from their preferred habitat. We used a long-term demographic study for spotted owls in coastal northern California as the basis for a pilot barred owl removal experiment. Our demography study used capture–recapture, reproductive output, and territory occupancy data collected from 1990 to 2013 to evaluate trends in vital rates and populations. We used a classic before-after-control-impact (BACI) experimental design to investigate the demographic response of northern spotted owls to the lethal removal of barred owls. According to the best 2-species dynamic occupancy model, there was no evidence of differences in barred or northern spotted owl occupancy prior to the initiation of the treatment (barred owl removal). After treatment, barred owl occupancy was lower in the treated relative to the untreated areas and spotted owl occupancy was higher relative to the untreated areas. Barred owl removal decreased spotted owl territory extinction rates but did not affect territory colonization rates. As a result, spotted owl occupancy increased in the treated area and continued to decline in the untreated areas. Prior to and after barred owl removal, there was no evidence that average fecundity differed on the 2 study areas. However, the greater number of occupied spotted owl sites on the treated areas resulted in greater productivity in the treated areas based on empirical counts of fledged young. Prior to removal, survival was declining at a rate of approximately 0.2% per year for treated and untreated areas. Following treatment, estimated survival was 0.859 for

  4. Evidence That Loss-of-Function Filaggrin Gene Mutations Evolved in Northern Europeans to Favor Intracutaneous Vitamin D3 Production

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thyssen, Jacob P; Bikle, Daniel D; Elias, Peter M

    2014-01-01

    Skin pigmentation lightened progressively to a variable extent, as modern humans emigrated out of Africa, but extreme lightening occurred only in northern Europeans. Yet, loss of pigmentation alone cannot suffice to sustain cutaneous vitamin D3 (VD3) formation at the high latitudes of northern...

  5. Phytogeography of the vascular páramo flora of Ramal de Guaramacal (Andes, Venezuela) and its ties to other páramo floras

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cuello, N.L.; Cleef, A.M.; Aymard, G.

    2010-01-01

    Ramal de Guaramacal is an outlier and lower elevation mountain range located at the northeastern end of the Venezuelan Andes. Phytogeographical patterns and affinities of the low altitude and wet vascular páramo flora of Ramal de Guaramacal, have been studied with emphasis in to the analysis of the

  6. Studies on Colombian cryptogams XVIII. The genus Stereocaulon (Schreber) Hoffmann (Lichenès)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boekhout, T.

    1982-01-01

    Nineteen species of Stereocaulon are treated from the northern Andes, mainly from Colombia. Descriptions and keys are given, with notes on the north-Andean distribution and ecology. Seven species are new for the Colombian flora, viz. St. atlanticum, St. claviceps, St. corticatulum (chem. strain with

  7. Astronomical tuning of long pollen records reveals the dynamic history of montane biomes and lake levels in the tropical high Andes during the Quaternary

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Torres, V.; Hooghiemstra, H.; Lourens, L.; Tzedakis, P.C.

    2013-01-01

    Long pollen records from two sediment cores of the basin of Bogotá (Colombia) are presented, reflecting the dynamic history of environmental and vegetation changes in the tropical high Andes during the Quaternary. An astronomically tuned age model has been developed by using the visual correlation

  8. Accumulation rate in a tropical Andean glacier as a proxy for northern Amazon precipitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Rocha Ribeiro, Rafael; Simões, Jefferson Cardia; Ramirez, Edson; Taupin, Jean-Denis; Assayag, Elias; Dani, Norberto

    2018-04-01

    Andean tropical glaciers have shown a clear shrinkage throughout the last few decades. However, it is unclear how this general retreat is associated with variations in rainfall patterns in the Amazon basin. To investigate this question, we compared the annual net accumulation variations in the Bolivian Cordillera Real (Andes), which is derived from an ice core from the Nevado Illimani (16° 37' S, 67° 46' W), covering the period 1960-1999 using the Amazonian Rainfall Index, Northern Atlantic Index (TNA), Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI), and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). The accumulation rate at the Nevado Illimani ice core decreased by almost 25% after 1980, from 1.02 w.eq. a-1 (water equivalent per year) in the 1961-1981 period to 0.76 w.eq. a-1 in the 1981-1999 period. The Northern Amazonian Rainfall (NAR) index best reflects changes in accumulation rates in the Bolivian ice core. Our proposal is based on two observations: (1) This area shows reduced rainfall associated with a more frequent and intense El Niño (during the positive phase of the MEI). The opposite (more rain) is true during La Niña phases. (2) Comparisons of the ice core record and NAR, PDO, and MEI indexes showed similar trends for the early 1980s, represented by a decrease in the accumulation rates and its standard deviations, probably indicating the same causality. The general changes observed by early 1980s coincided with the beginning of a PDO warm phase. This was followed by an increase in the Amazonian and tropical Andean precipitation from 1999, coinciding with a new PDO phase. However, this increase did not result in an expansion of the Zongo Glacier area.

  9. Intraplate Crustal Deformation Within the Northern Sinai Microplate: Evidence from Paleomagnetic Directions and Mechanical Modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dembo, N.; Granot, R.; Hamiel, Y.

    2017-12-01

    The intraplate crustal deformation found in the northern part of the Sinai Microplate, located near the northern Dead Sea Fault plate boundary, is examined. Previous studies have suggested that distributed deformation in Lebanon is accommodated by regional uniform counterclockwise rigid block rotations. However, remanent magnetization directions observed near the Lebanese restraining bend are not entirely homogeneous suggesting that an unexplained and complex internal deformation pattern exists. In order to explain the variations in the amount of vertical-axis rotations we construct a mechanical model of the major active faults in the region that simulates the rotational deformation induced by motion along these faults. The rotational pattern calculated by the mechanical modeling predicts heterogeneous distribution of rotations around the faults. The combined rotation field that considers both the fault induced rotations and the already suggested regional block rotations stands in general agreement with the observed magnetization directions. Overall, the modeling results provide a more detailed and complete picture of the deformation pattern in this region and show that rotations induced by motion along the Dead Sea Fault act in parallel to rigid block rotations. Finally, the new modeling results unravel important insights as to the fashion in which crustal deformation is distributed within the northern part of the Sinai Microplate and propose an improved deformational mechanism that might be appropriate for other plate margins as well.

  10. Latest Quaternary paleoseismology and evidence of distributed dextral shear along the Mohawk Valley fault zone, northern Walker Lane, California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gold, Ryan D.; Briggs, Richard; Personius, Stephen; Crone, Anthony J.; Mahan, Shannon; Angster, Stephen

    2014-01-01

    The dextral-slip Mohawk Valley fault zone (MVFZ) strikes northwestward along the eastern margin of the Sierra Nevada in the northern Walker Lane. Geodetic block modeling indicates that the MVFZ may accommodate ~3 mm/yr of regional dextral strain, implying that it is the highest slip-rate strike-slip fault in the region; however, only limited geologic data are available to constrain the system’s slip rate and earthquake history. We mapped the MVFZ using airborne lidar data and field observations and identified a site near Sulphur Creek for paleoseismic investigation. At this site, oblique dextral-normal faulting on the steep valley margin has created a closed depression that floods annually during spring snowmelt to form an ephemeral pond. We excavated three fault-perpendicular trenches at the site and exposed pond sediment that interfingers with multiple colluvial packages eroded from the scarp that bounds the eastern side of the pond. We documented evidence for four surface-rupturing earthquakes on this strand of the MVFZ. OxCal modeling of radiocarbon and luminescence ages indicates that these earthquakes occurred at 14.0 ka, 12.8 ka, 5.7 ka, and 1.9 ka. The mean ~4 kyr recurrence interval is inconsistent with slip rates of ~3 mm/yr; these rates imply surface ruptures of more than 10 m per event, which is geologically implausible for the subdued geomorphic expression and 60 km length of the MVFZ. We propose that unidentified structures not yet incorporated into geodetic models may accommodate significant dextral shear across the northern Walker Lane, highlighting the role of distributed deformation in this region.

  11. Northern employment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zavitz, J.

    1997-01-01

    Hiring practices and policies and employment opportunities that were available in the Beaufort Sea and MacKenzie Delta project for local residents and for people from southern Canada were dealt with in this chapter. Depending on the source, Northern hiring was a mere token, or a genuine and successful effort on the part of the companies to involve the native population and to share with them the benefits of the project. The fact remains that opening up job opportunities for Northerners was not easily attained, and would never have been realized without the involvement of government and community organizations. Government also played a major role in developing policies and training regimes. By the end of exploration operations, the hiring of Northern residents in the oil and gas industry had become a requirement of drilling applications. Training programs were also created to ensure that Northern residents received the means necessary to take advantage of Northern employment opportunities

  12. Latest Miocene-Pliocene Tiliviche Paleolake, Atacama Desert, Northern Chile 19.5°S: Paleoclimatic and Paleohydrologic Implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kirk-Lawlor, N. E.; Jordan, T. E.; Rech, J.; Lehmann, S.

    2010-12-01

    Endorheic paleolake deposits of diatomite, mudstone, sandstone, and evaporites are exposed in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. This study focuses on a major latest Miocene-Pliocene paleolake system centered at 19.5°S, near Tiliviche. A diatiomite unit, up to 35m thick, composed of 0.2-1.5m thick beds of massive, white diatiomite, free of plant matter and root traces, is interpreted have formed from lacustrine diatom blooms. At its maximum extent, the lake would have had a surface area of roughly 200 km2, based on the extent of the diatomite unit, and might have been 50-100 m deep, as inferred by the relationship between the diatomite unit and modern topography. The Tiliviche paleolake initially formed before 6.4 Ma, and much of its sedimentary record formed under a wetter climatic and hydrologic regime than the present. Prior to 3.5 Ma, the lake had evolved into a groundwater-fed saltpan. Polygonally fractured efflorescent halite evaporite and bedded gypsum and gypsarenite evaporite deposits that overlie the diatomite unit are evidence of this saltpan environment. The modern Atacama Desert is hyperarid, with an average precipitation of 2 mm/yr in the driest areas. The paleosol record demonstrates that hyperarid conditions dominated this region since the middle Miocene, albeit with multiple fluctuations to less arid conditions of short to moderately long duration. This hyperaridity is due to the desert’s latitude, ocean currents and the rainshadow created by the Andes. There is no evidence that the rainshadow effect has diminished since the late Miocene, hence global climate changes affecting ocean temperatures and atmospheric patterns likely caused the wetter periods in the Atacama. In particular, prior workers noted wetter conditions in the region ~6-5 Ma, followed by a return to hyper-arid conditions. The regional Pliocene return to hyperaridity coincided with the desiccation of the Tiliviche endorheic lake system. During the late Miocene (~6-5 Ma) wetter

  13. Factores de riesgo ambientales y alimentarios para la fluorosis dental, Andes, Antioquia, 2015

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gustavo A. Posada-Jaramillo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Objetivo: determinar los factores ambientales y alimentarios asociados a la fluorosis dental en la población de 12 a 15 años del municipio de Andes en el año 2015, para generar propuestas de intervención en salud bucal. Metodología: estudio de casos y controles, con un control por caso. Con una población de 206 adolescentes de 12 a 15 años. Criterios de selección: adolescentes con diagnóstico de fluorosis dental entre 2012 y 2014, reportados al Sistema de Vigilancia Epidemiológica; se excluyeron aquellas personas que no tuvieran dientes erupcionados en más de un 50%, restauraciones amplias o caries extensas, dientes fracturados y edentulos totales. Los casos fueron seleccionados por muestreo aleatorio simple, los controles a conveniencia. Se realizó examen clínico para clasificar según el Índice de Dean la presencia y nivel de fluorosis dental, se aplicó encuesta a los padres para indagar sobre hábitos de autocuidado, e identificar posibles fuentes de exposición a flúor. Se analizaron variables sociodemográficas, alimentarias y comportamentales, ambientales y clínicas, se utilizaron Chi2 de Pearson – or con intervalos de confianza del 95%. Se efectúo análisis de contenido de concentración de flúor en muestras de agroquímicos, alimentos, agua de consumo humano, sal, cremas dentales y suelos. Resultados: mediante regresión logística binaria usando el método stepwise los resultados mostraron una asociación entre manipulación de agroquímicos y fluorosis dental (or = 2,093; 95% 1,017 y 4,307. Conclusión: la manipulación de agroquímicos es un factor de riesgo para la aparición de la fluorosis dental en los adolescentes del municipio de Andes.

  14. Cult sites in northern Sweden

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stefan Brink

    1990-01-01

    Full Text Available The pagan cult in northern Sweden, i.e, Norrland, has for some decades been a neglected chapter in our history, a situation which unfortunately applies to Sweden as a whole, at least where onomastics are concerned. The aim is thus to deliver an overview of the evidence that we have of pre-Christian religious activities in these northern parts — in this aspect, onomastic material is nearly almost all we have got — and some general remarks about the conversion to the new Christian religion. The area of investigation is what in the (Swedish medieval period was known as Norrland. In other words, the part of Sweden considered here is modern Central Norrland. With our state of knowledge of today it is not so easy to pick out the place-names that have denoted some kind of pagan cult activity. The place-name material can be divided into: 1. Theoforic place-names 2. place-names denoting the site of a pagan cult, which do not however contain theoforic elements 3. place-names with a possible pagan cultic element.

  15. Pablo Palacio: Corporal Violence on Impossible Identities in the Zone of the Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Falconí Travez, Diego Fernando

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Pablo Palacio was an Ecuadorian writer who, in the 1920’s, built within his narrative a catalog of rare bodies with ambiguous and disturbing sexualities, characterizations that are quite different from ones portrayed in the Andean tradition to which Palacio belongs. Nonetheless one of the most issues striking facts of these characters is that their bodies are disciplined by certain discourses of power in a violent way. This paper explores trough literary theory such abuse and violence on women and homosexual identities in two of his stories. The aim of the paper is to investigate issues such as violence, economy of representation, its relationship with the literary text and vulnerability, as a sine qua non norm of abuse, in certain bodies in the area of the Andes.

  16. Population genetics of Phaedranassa cuencana Minga, C. Ulloa & Oleas (Amaryllidaceae), an endemic species of Southern Ecuador

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phaedranassa is a genus of Amaryllidaceae mostly endemic to the Northern Andes. Six out of the eight species described in Ecuador are endangered or vulnerable to extinction. Phaedranassa cuencana was first described in 2015. This species is restricted to the southern part of Ecuador, around the city...

  17. Teaching Citizenship in the Faith School: Qualitative Evidence from Separate Schools in Northern Ireland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donnelly, Caitlin; Burns, Stephanie

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to examine how teachers teach and students learn about citizenship education in two faith-based schools in Northern Ireland. The data show that participants in the Catholic school were confident in their own identity; teachers encouraged active engagement with contentious, conflict-related debates and students…

  18. Near-surface temperature lapse rates in a mountainous catchment in the Chilean Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayala; Schauwecker, S.; Pellicciotti, F.; McPhee, J. P.

    2011-12-01

    In mountainous areas, and in the Chilean Andes in particular, the irregular and sparse distribution of recording stations resolves insufficiently the variability of climatic factors such as precipitation, temperature and relative humidity. Assumptions about air temperature variability in space and time have a strong effect on the performance of hydrologic models that represent snow processes such as accumulation and ablation. These processes have large diurnal variations, and assumptions that average over longer time periods (days, weeks or months) may reduce the predictive capacity of these models under different climatic conditions from those for which they were calibrated. They also introduce large uncertainties when such models are used to predict processes with strong subdiurnal variability such as snowmelt dynamics. In many applications and modeling exercises, temperature is assumed to decrease linearly with elevation, using the free-air moist adiabatic lapse rate (MALR: 0.0065°C/m). Little evidence is provided for this assumption, however, and recent studies have shown that use of lapse rates that are uniform in space and constant in time is not appropriate. To explore the validity of this approach, near-surface (2 m) lapse rates were calculated and analyzed at different temporal resolution, based on a new data set of spatially distributed temperature sensors setup in a high elevation catchment of the dry Andes of Central Chile (approx. 33°S). Five minutes temperature data were collected between January 2011 and April 2011 in the Ojos de Agua catchment, using two Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs) and 13 T-loggers (Hobo H8 Pro Temp with external data logger), ranging in altitude from 2230 to 3590 m.s.l.. The entire catchment was snow free during our experiment. We use this unique data set to understand the main controls over temperature variability in time and space, and test whether lapse rates can be used to describe the spatial variations of air

  19. Aproximaciones Biológicas y Fisicoquímicas en el tratamiento de contaminantes: un resumen del aporte de la Universidad de los Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jenny Dussan Garzón

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available Este resumen pretende dar una visión global de los aportes de la Universidad de los Andes en el tratamiento de aguas y suelos con la presencia de compuestos de difícil degradación o tiempo de vida media prolongado, tales como fármacos (Ciclofosfamida, lodos aceitosos y derivados de la industria del petróleo (Tolueno, Xileno, Fenol derivados de la industria textil, química y pesticidas (Bisphenol A, AMBI, Glifosato, Isoproturon y Metobromuron, usando tecnologías ya sea basadas en procesos biológicos (biorremediación y bioadsorción o de oxidación avanzada (foto-Fenton. /This summary intends to give a global view of the Universidad de los Andes contributions related to the water and soil treatment in the presence of recalcitrant or long half-life aquatic pollutants such as drugs (Cyclophosphamide, oil sludge and petroleum (Toluene, Xylene and Phenol, textile, chemical (Bisphenol A, AMBI and pesticides (Glyphosate, Isoproturon, and Metobromuron industry derived products based on biological (bioremediation and bioadsortion and advanced oxidation (Photo-Fenton approaches.

  20. Las ignimbritas del complejo volcánico Coranzuli (Puna Argentina-Andes Centrales

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martí, J.

    1987-12-01

    Full Text Available The Coranzulí is a large Upper Miocene volcanic complex located on a NE-SW and NW-SE regional faults intersection, at 66º 15' W 23º S, in the Northwest of Argentina in Jujuy province. It corresponds to one of four large volcanic complexes which represent the end of Transversal Volcanic Chaines in La Puna Argentina in the Central Andes. The volcanic activity was characterized by at least four separate ignimbrite eruptions which produced four different ignimbrite sheets. These are well welded, very crystal-rich, lithie poor ignimbrites and have a moderate to high pumice content. The total volume of the Coranzuli ignimbrites exeededs 650 Km3. Preliminary data indicate that the eruption oeeurred from a homogeneous magmatic chamber without zoning. The emplacement characteristics of the ignimbrites and the lack of basal or interbedded plinian fall deposits suggest that the eruptions developed quickly to massive proportions.El Coranzuli es uno de los grandes complejos volcánicos que representan el remate final de las Cadenas Volcánicas Transversales de la Puna Argentina, en los Andes Centrales. Se trata de un complejo volcánico del Mioceno superior situado a los 66º 15' W 23º S en el NW de Argentina en la provincia de Jujuy, en la intersección entre dos fallas regionales de dirección NE-SW y NW-SE, respectivamente. La actividad eruptiva se caracterizó por la existencia de, al menos, cuatro erupciones ignimbríticas que produjeron cuatro diferentes mantos ignimbríticos. Se trata de ignimbritas bien soldadas, muy ricas en cristales, pobre en fragmentos líticos y que presentan un contenido en fragmentos pumíticos de moderado a alto. El volumen total que representan estas ignimbritas supera los 650 km3. Los datos preliminares indican que el magma juvenil deriva de una cámara magmática homogénea no zonada. Las características de emplazamiento de estas ignimbritas, así como la falta de depósitos plinianos de caída en la base o

  1. Evidence of Early Emergence of the Primary Dentition in a Northern Plains American Indian Population.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawson, D V; Blanchette, D R; Douglass, J M; Tinanoff, N; Kramer, K W O; Warren, J J; Phipps, K R; Starr, D E; Marshall, T A; Mabry, T R; Pagan-Rivera, K; Banas, J A; Drake, D R

    2018-04-01

    The purposes of this study were to describe primary tooth emergence in an American Indian (AI) population during the first 36 mo of life to compare 1) patterns of emergence between male and female children and 2) tooth emergence between these AI children and other U.S. ethnic groups. Data were derived from a birth cohort of 239 AI children from a Northern Plains tribe participating in a longitudinal study of early childhood caries, with examination data at target ages of 8, 12, 16, 22, 28, and 36 mo of age (±1 mo). Patterns of emergence in AI children were characterized and sex comparisons accomplished with interval-censored survival methodology. Numbers of erupted teeth in AI children at each age were compared via Kruskal-Wallis tests against those in children of the same age, as drawn from a cross-sectional study of dental caries patterns in Arizona; these comparisons were based on the dental examinations of 547 White non-Hispanic and 677 Hispanic children. Characterization of time to achievement of various milestones-including emergence of the anterior teeth, the first molars, and the complete primary dentition-provided no evidence of sex differences among AI children. AI children had significantly more teeth present at 8 mo (median, 3) than either White non-Hispanic ( P 0.05). These results provide evidence of earlier tooth emergence in AI children than in the other 2 ethnicities. Although the underlying etiology of the severity of early childhood caries in AI children is likely to be multifactorial, earlier tooth emergence may be a contributing factor. Knowledge Transfer Statement: The findings of this study have practical implications for practitioners providing childhood oral health care to ethnic groups with early tooth emergence. It may be important to provide parents with information on toothbrushing, dentist visits, and other practices supportive of good oral health as early as possible to protect their children's primary dentition.

  2. Late Pleistocene and Holocene Hydroclimate Variability in the Tropical Andes from Alpine Lake Sediments, Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuela

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larsen, D. J.; Abbott, M. B.; Polissar, P. J.

    2014-12-01

    The tropics play a major role in the global hydrologic cycle and changes to tropical rainfall patterns have critical implications for water resources and ecosystem dynamics over large geographic scales. In tropical South America, late Pleistocene and Holocene precipitation variability has been documented in geologic records and associated with numerous external and internal variables, including changes in summer insolation, South American summer monsoon strength, Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures, continental moisture recycling, and other climate processes. However, there are few records from the northern hemisphere tropical Americas, a key region for understanding interhemispheric linkages and the drivers of tropical hydroclimate variability. Here, we present a ~13 ka record of coupled hydroclimate and environmental changes from Laguna Brava, a small (~0.07 km2), hydrologically closed lake basin situated at 2400 m asl in the Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuela. Sediment cores collected from varying water depths and proximity to shore are placed in a chronologic framework using radiocarbon ages from terrestrial macrofossils, and analyzed for a suite of physical, bulk geochemical, and stable isotopic parameters. Compound specific hydrogen isotope (D/H) measurements of terrestrial plant waxes (long-chain n-alkanes) show a sharp increase in the late Pleistocene, followed by a long-term trend toward more negative values that suggest a ~20‰ decrease in the D/H ratios of South American tropical precipitation during the Holocene. This pattern is consistent in sign and magnitude to other South American precipitation reconstructions from both hemispheres, indicating interhemispheric similarities in tropical hydroclimate variability. Superimposed on this continent-scale trend are changes in moisture balance and environmental conditions in the Venezuelan Andes. We reconstruct these parameters at Laguna Brava at multidecadal and centennial resolution and evaluate this

  3. Patrones de diversidad alfa en tres fragmentos de bosques montanos en la región norte de los Andes, Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wilson López

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available En el presente trabajo se analizaron los patrones de diversidad alfa en tres áreas protegidas de bosque con base en información florística proveniente de seis parcelas permanentes de 1ha -dos en cada área protegida-. Las regiones de estudio están localizadas a lo largo de un gradiente altitudinal, en la parte norte de la cordillera central de los Andes, Colombia. Para los análisis, se generaron dos categorías de acuerdo al tamaño de los árboles: dosel (diámetro a la altura del pecho mayor o igual a 10cm y sotobosque (diámetro a la altura del pecho mayor o igual a un cm y menor a 10cm. Las curvas especies-área mostraron diferencias en riqueza para las dos categorías de tamaño en las tres regiones. Las curvas especies-individuos, en cambio, fueron independientes con respecto al tamaño de los individuos, excepto en la región de Belmira. La diversidad, medida con el índice alfa de Fisher, mostró una fuerte tendencia a la estabilización en muestras mayores a 1 000 individuos. Ni las curvas de especies-área ni las de especies-individuos fueron asintóticas; sin embargo, la tasa de acumulación de especies (z en Belmira alcanzó valores muy bajos (0.05 en comparación con Anorí y Angelópolis (0.25 en cada caso. El índice alfa de Fisher permitió además entender la magnitud de las diferencias relativas en diversidad entre regiones o tipos de bosque en gradientes altitudinales, aun cuando el tamaño de la muestra fue relativamente pequeño. Los resultados de este estudio soportan la limitación en dispersión como el principal mecanismo en estructurar las comunidades de especies a escalas muy finas, y un incremento continuo de procesos denso-dependientes en determinar la estructura de la comunidad en escalas espaciales más grandes. Igualmente, los resultados de este estudio proponen que la denso-dependencia tiende a aumentar positivamente con la altitud.Alpha diversity patterns in three fragmented forests of Northern Andes

  4. Triassic volcanic units in coastal region of Antofagasta, northern Chile

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Basso, M.; Cortes, J.A.; Marinovic, N

    2001-01-01

    U-Pb geochronological evidence of a Middle to Late Triassic volcanic event was found in the coastal region of Antofagasta, northern Chile (23 o -23 o 30 ). Two new ages were obtained from rhyolitic tuffs and an associated dome, which have classically been attributed to the Jurassic La Negra Formation (au)

  5. Effect of Moxidectin Treatment at Peripartum on Gastrointestinal Parasite Infections in Ewes Raised under Tropical Andes High Altitude Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vargas-Duarte, J. J.; Lozano-Márquez, H.; Grajales-Lombana, H. A.; Manrique-Perdomo, C.; Martínez-Bello, D. A.; Saegerman, C.; Raes, M.; Kirschvink, N.

    2015-01-01

    This study tested the impact of moxidectin at peripartum on nematode fecal egg count (FEC) and clinical parameters on ewes in the high altitude tropical Andes of Colombia. FEC and clinical evaluations were performed on 9 occasions in 43 naturally infected ewes before and during gestation and after lambing. Moxidectin (Mox, 200 µg kg−1) was applied at late pregnancy (T 1, n = 15) or 48 hours after parturition (T 2, n = 14). 14 untreated ewes served as controls (C). Suckling lambs (n = 58) remained untreated and underwent four clinical and parasitological evaluations until 8 weeks after birth. Mox efficacy equaled 99.3% (T 1) and 96.9% (T 2). Highest mean FEC value reflecting periparturient nematode egg rise (PPER) was recorded in C ewes at 4–6 weeks after lambing. Significant FEC reductions were found in T 1 (94.8%) and T 2 (96.7%) ewes (p ewes-group independent increase in FEC before weaning (p < 0.05). Clinical parameters (anemia and diarrhea) showed time- and treatment-related differences (p < 0.05). Monitoring of FEC and clinical parameters linked to gastrointestinal parasite infections allowed demonstrating that postpartum or preweaning are two critical periods to nematode infection for sheep raised under tropical Andes high altitude conditions. Use of Mox as anthelmintic treatment prevented PPER. PMID:26078913

  6. Ensayos metodologicos para la investigacion de reservorios de Leishmania spp en los Andes venezolanos Methodological assay for research of reservoirs of Leishmania spp. in the Venezuelan Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Lugo Yarbuh

    1982-12-01

    Full Text Available Se describen dos técnicas, presuntiva y confirmativa, para la investigación de mamíferos que pudieran ser reservorios de Leishmania que parasitan al hombre. Se investigan los cambios en los títulos de inmovilización y aglutinación de promastigotos de cultivo por los sueros de animales normales y expuestos una o varias veces a la inoculación intradérmica de pequeñas dosis de promastigotos vivos. Se registra una caída de los títulos de aglutinación en los sueros de hamsteres, de Holochilus venezuelae y de Didelphis marsupialis después de la inoculación con L. mexicana mexicana de Panamá y de L. gamhami de la región de los Andes venezolanos. Se discute la natureza de estos fenómenos. Se han hecho xenodiagnósticos con Lutzomyia townsendi en Holochilus venezuelae y Sigmodon hispidus infectados experimentalmente com L. mexicana mexicana, L. mexicana amazonensis, L. braziliensis y L. garnhami. Las pruebas fueron leidas mediante el examen microscópico de las gotitas de heces excretadas entre las 108 y 132 horas después de la ingesta infectante, tras colorearlas con Giemsa. Se obtuvieron resultados positivos en 23% de los experimentos usando mamíferos con lesiones localizadas, dejando a los flebótomos ingurgitarse libremente sobre animales anestesiados que poseian una hasta varias lesiones localizadas.Presumptive and confirmative techniques for searching mammals which could be reservoirs for Leishmania parasites from man are described. The changes of immobilising and agglutinating titers for promastigotes from culture by sera from normal and exposed mammals after single or repeated intradermal inoculation of promastigotes are described. A fall in titers of agglunation is observed in sera from hamsters, Holochilus venezuelae and Didelphis marsupialis after inoculation with L. mexicana mexicana from Panama and L. garnhami from the Venezuelan Andes region. The nature of this phenomenon is discussed. Xenodiagnoses were made with

  7. Paleohidrología de los últimos 25000 años en los Andes bolivianos

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1995-01-01

    Full Text Available PALÉOHYDROLOGIE DES DERNIÈRES 25 000 ANNÉES DANS LES ANDES BOLIVIENNES. Nous présentons une reconstruction climatique de haute résolution de l’Altiplano bolivien (Andes Centrales basée sur des données géomorphologiques, sédimentologiques, palynologiques et provenant de l’analyse des faunes d’ostracodes. Nous avons déterminé (1, de manière semi-quantitative, la température ainsi que (2 de façon quantitative, les variations des niveaux lacustres depuis la fin du Pléistocène (25 000 ans BP. Les principaux résultats obtenus sont les suivants: de 25 000 à 18 000 ans BP, les températures atmosphériques sont basses ainsi que les niveaux des lacs entre 18 000 et 15 000/14 000 ans BP, la présence d’une lacune de sédimentation est indicatrice d’une phase climatique sèche pendant le Tardi-Glaciaire (15 000/14 000 - 10 500, les lacs (phase Tauca et les glaciers se sont étendus de 10 500 à 8000 ans BP, les lacs et les glaciers reculent très rapidement pendant que la température globale moyenne augmente à l’Holocène moyen (8 000-3 900 ans BP, le climat régional est globalement de type sec autour de 3900 ans BP, le niveau du lac Titicaca monte fortement des conditions relativement humides s’installent alors et se maintiennent par la suite pendant le Petit âge de la Glace (16ème-19ème siècles, des conditions froides et humides prévalent. En base a datos geomorfológicos, sedimentológicos, palinológicos y el análisis de fauna de ostrácodos, se ha determinado (1, de manera semicuantitativa, la temperatura así como (2 los cambios cuantificados de las variaciones de los niveles lacustres desde el final del Pleistoceno (25 000 años BP. Los principales resultados obtenidos son los siguientes: de 25 000 a 18 000 años BP, las temperaturas atmosféricas son bajas así como los niveles de los lagos entre 18 000 y 15 000/14 000 años BP, una fase climática seca es definida por la presencia de una laguna de sedimentaci

  8. Esthetic evaluation of timber harvesting in the Northern Rockies - a progressive report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dennis L. Schweitzer; James R. Ullrich; Robert E. Benson

    1976-01-01

    Panels of judges have been evaluating the esthetic dimension of harvested areas in the Northern Rockies. Studies conducted in Wyoming and Montana agree with intuition in that forest scenes are generally liked less as the evidence of man's activities increases.

  9. Sensitivity of glaciation in the arid subtropical Andes to changes in temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vargo, L. J.; Galewsky, J.; Rupper, S.; Ward, D. J.

    2018-04-01

    The subtropical Andes (18.5-27 °S) have been glaciated in the past, but are presently glacier-free. We use idealized model experiments to quantify glacier sensitivity to changes in climate in order to investigate the climatic drivers of past glaciations. We quantify the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) sensitivity (the change in ELA per change in climate) to temperature, precipitation, and shortwave radiation for three distinct climatic regions in the subtropical Andes. We find that in the western cordillera, where conditions are hyper-arid with the highest solar radiation on Earth, ELA sensitivity is as high as 34 m per % increase in precipitation, and 70 m per % decrease in shortwave radiation. This is compared with the eastern cordillera, where precipitation is the highest of the three regions, and ELA sensitivity is only 10 m per % increase in precipitation, and 25 m per % decrease in shortwave radiation. The high ELA sensitivity to shortwave radiation highlights the influence of radiation on mass balance of high elevation and low-latitude glaciers. We also consider these quantified ELA sensitivities in context of previously dated glacial deposits from the regions. Our results suggest that glaciation of the humid eastern cordillera was driven primarily by lower temperatures, while glaciations of the arid Altiplano and western cordillera were also influenced by increases in precipitation and decreases in shortwave radiation. Using paleoclimate records from the timing of glaciation, we find that glaciation of the hyper-arid western cordillera can be explained by precipitation increases of 90-160% (1.9-2.6× higher than modern), in conjunction with associated decreases in shortwave radiation of 7-12% and in temperature of 3.5 °C.

  10. The Andes hantavirus NSs protein is expressed from the viral small mRNA by a leaky scanning mechanism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vera-Otarola, Jorge; Solis, Loretto; Soto-Rifo, Ricardo; Ricci, Emiliano P; Pino, Karla; Tischler, Nicole D; Ohlmann, Théophile; Darlix, Jean-Luc; López-Lastra, Marcelo

    2012-02-01

    The small mRNA (SmRNA) of all Bunyaviridae encodes the nucleocapsid (N) protein. In 4 out of 5 genera in the Bunyaviridae, the smRNA encodes an additional nonstructural protein denominated NSs. In this study, we show that Andes hantavirus (ANDV) SmRNA encodes an NSs protein. Data show that the NSs protein is expressed in the context of an ANDV infection. Additionally, our results suggest that translation initiation from the NSs initiation codon is mediated by ribosomal subunits that have bypassed the upstream N protein initiation codon through a leaky scanning mechanism.

  11. Molecular evidence of Rickettsia felis infection in dogs from northern territory, Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rees Robert L

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The prevalence of spotted fever group rickettsial infection in dogs from a remote indigenous community in the Northern Territory (NT was determined using molecular tools. Blood samples collected from 130 dogs in the community of Maningrida were subjected to a spotted fever group (SFG-specific PCR targeting the ompB gene followed by a Rickettsia felis-specific PCR targeting the gltA gene of R. felis. Rickettsia felis ompB and gltA genes were amplified from the blood of 3 dogs. This study is the first report of R. felis infection in indigenous community dogs in NT.

  12. Attenuation tomography in the western central Andes: A detailed insight into the structure of a magmatic arc

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haberland, Christian; Rietbrock, Andreas

    2001-06-01

    High-quality data from 1498 local earthquakes recorded by the PISCO '94 (Proyecto de Investigatión Sismológica de la Cordillera Occidental, 1994) and ANCORP '96 (Andean Continental Research Project, 1996) temporary seismological networks allowed the detailed determination of the three-dimensional (3-D) attenuation structure (Qp-1) beneath the recent magmatic arc in the western central Andes (20° to 24°S). Assuming a frequency-independent Qp-1 in a frequency band between 1 and 30 Hz, whole path attenuation (t*) was estimated from the amplitude spectra of the P waves using spectral ratios and a spectral inversion technique. The damped least squares inversion (tomography) of the data reveals a complex attenuation structure. Crust and mantle of the forearc and subducting slab are generally characterized by low attenuation (Qp > 1000). Crust and mantle beneath the magmatic arc show elevated attenuation. The strongest anomaly of extremely low Qp is found in the crust between 22° and 23°S beneath the recent volcanic arc (Qp < 100). N-S variations can be observed: The western flank of the crustal attenuation anomaly follows the curved course of the volcanic front. North of 21°S the attenuation is less developed. In the northern part of the study area the low-Qp zone penetrates in the forearc mantle down to the subducting slab. In the south a deeper zone of high attenuation is resolved between 23° and 24°S directly above the subducting slab. Low Qp in the mantle correlates with earthquake clusters. The strong crustal attenuation is confined to the distribution of young ignimbrites and silicic volcanism and is interpreted as a thermally weakened zone with partial melts. The attenuation pattern in the upper mantle might reflect the variable extent of the asthenosphere and maps variations of subduction-related hydration processes in the mantle wedge from slab-derived fluids.

  13. First web-based database on total phenolics and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) of fruits produced and consumed within the south Andes region of South America.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Speisky, Hernan; López-Alarcón, Camilo; Gómez, Maritza; Fuentes, Jocelyn; Sandoval-Acuña, Cristian

    2012-09-12

    This paper reports the first database on antioxidants contained in fruits produced and consumed within the south Andes region of South America. The database ( www.portalantioxidantes.com ) contains over 500 total phenolics (TP) and ORAC values for more than 120 species/varieties of fruits. All analyses were conducted by a single ISO/IEC 17025-certified laboratory. The characterization comprised native berries such as maqui ( Aristotelia chilensis ), murtilla ( Ugni molinae ), and calafate ( Barberis microphylla ), which largely outscored all other studied fruits. Major differences in TP and ORAC were observed as a function of the fruit variety in berries, avocado, cherries, and apples. In fruits such as pears, apples, apricots, and peaches, a significant part of the TP and ORAC was accounted for by the antioxidants present in the peel. These data should be useful to estimate the fruit-based intake of TP and, through the ORAC data, their antioxidant-related contribution to the diet of south Andes populations.

  14. Diversity of bacteria producing pigmented colonies in aerosol, snow and soil samples from remote glacial areas (Antarctica, Alps and Andes)

    OpenAIRE

    González-Toril , E.; Amils , R.; Delmas , R. J.; Petit , J.-R.; Komárek , J.; Elster , J.

    2008-01-01

    Four different communities and one culture of pigmented microbial assemblages were obtained by incubation in mineral medium of samples collected from high elevation snow in the Alps (Mt. Blanc area) and the Andes (Nevado Illimani summit, Bolivia), from Antarctic aerosol (French station Dumont d'Urville) and a maritime Antarctic soil (King George Island, South Shetlands, Uruguay Station Artigas). Molecular analysis of more than 200 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that all cultured cells be...

  15. Influences of the ENSO, oscillation Madden-Julian, waves of the east, hurricanes and moon phases on the diurnal cycle of precipitation at the tropical Andes of Colombia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poveda, German; Mesa, Oscar; Agudelo, Paula; Alvarez, Juan; Arias, Paola; Moreno, Hernan; Salazar, Luis; Toro, Vladimir; Vieira, Sara

    2002-01-01

    We study the effects of large-scale ocean-atmospheric, astronomic phenomena on the diurnal cycle of precipitation at the tropical Andes of Colombia. Such phenomena include both phases of El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), namely El Nino and La Nina, the intra seasonal Madden-Julian oscillation, tropical easterly waves (4-8 days), moon phases and hurricanes over the Atlantic and eastern pacific oceans. We found a clear-cut effect of both ENSO phases: El Nino is associated with a diminished rainfall diurnal cycle, and La Nina intensifies it. Thus, ENSO modulates precipitation in Colombia at timescales ranging from hours to decades. We identified a close association with different phases of the Madden-Julian oscillation, as the diurnal cycle is intensified (larger amplitude) during its westerly phase, but it gets decreased during its easterly phase. For both ENSO and the Madden-Julian oscillation we identified a clear-cut influence on the amplitude of the diurnal cycle, yet the phase is conserved for the most part. Tropical easterly waves appear to affect the diurnal cycle, but no clear overall signal is pervasive throughout the region. We al so found a significant statistical association with hurricanes occurring over the northeastern pacific ocean with the diurnal cycle of precipitation at rain gages located over the eastern slope of the eastern range of the Colombian Andes. Rainfall at all the remaining slopes of the Andes is statistically associated with hurricanes occurring at the tropical north Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea. Moon phases are not statistically associated with the diurnal cycle and daily total rainfall

  16. Volcanic impediments in the progressive development of pre-Columbian civilizations in the Ecuadorian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Minard L.; Mothes, Patricia A.

    2008-10-01

    Archaeological investigations in Ecuador have proposed that there appear to be hiatus or anomalous jumps in the progressive development of pre-Columbian indigenous cultures, based upon the fact that their ceramics and tools demonstrate abrupt advances in their sophistication at several horizons in the soil profile. Because some of these horizons are clearly associated with volcanic ash layers, archaeologists have sought a causal relation with volcanism, that is, the eruptive events or their products severely interfered with the early inhabitants, resulting in their abandonment of certain areas. Geological studies of the young volcanoes in the Ecuadorian Andes carried out during the past two decades now allow us to make a more thorough evaluation of the role of volcanism during the Holocene. This contribution briefly describes the principal Holocene volcanic events and the distribution of the corresponding eruptive products found along the InterAndean Valley, from southern Colombia to central Ecuador. Only those events that were sufficiently large that they could have had a detrimental effect on the valley's early residents are discussed. Dacitic and rhyolitic ash flows, as well as numerous debris flows (lahars) have occurred frequently and their deposits cover many valleys and floodplains, where early inhabitants probably settled. The enormous Chillos Valley lahar, associated with the 4500 yBP eruption of Cotopaxi volcano, buried soils containing ceramics of the early Formative Period. However, the greatest impact upon mankind was probably not these short-lived violent events, but rather the burying of settlements and agricultural fields by ash fallout, the effect of which may have lasted hundreds of years. Ash fall layers are observed in pre-Columbian cultural horizons in the soil profile, occurring in the InterAndean Valley, the lower flanks of the Andes, and along Ecuador's Pacific coast, the oldest corresponding to the 5800 yBP eruption of Cotopaxi. This brief

  17. Hydrological response in catchments whit debris covered glaciers in the semi-arid Andes, Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caro, A.; McPhee, J.; MacDonell, S.; Pellicciotti, F.; Ayala, A.

    2016-12-01

    Glaciers in the semi-arid Andes Cordillera in Chile have shrank rapidly during the 20th century. Negative mass balance contributes to increase the surface area of debris-covered glaciers. Recent research in Chile suggests that contributions from glaciers to summer season river flow in dry years is very important, however hydrological processes determining the glacier contribution are still poorly understood in the region. This work seeks to determine appropriate parameters for the simulation of melt volume in two watersheds dominated by debris-covered glaciers, in order to understand its variability in time and space, in the area with the largest population in Chile. The hydrological simulation is performed for the Tapado (30°S) and Pirámide (33ºS) glaciers, which can be defined as cold and temperate respectively. To simulate the hydrological behaviour we adopt the physically-based TOPographic Kinematic wave APproximation model (TOPKAPI-ETH). The hydrometeorological records necessary model runs have been collected through fieldwork from 2013 to 2015. Regarding the calibration of the model parameters melting ETI, its observed that the value for TF in Pirámide is a third of the value for Tapado glacier, while SRF is half in Tapado regarding to Pirámide. The runoff in the glaciers, the constant snow and ice storage are higher in Tapado regarding Pirámide. Results show a contribution of glacial outflow to runoff during 2015 of 55% in Tapado and 77% in Pirámide, with maximum contributions between January and March in Tapado and Pirámide between November and March, presenting the relevance of the permanence of snow cover during spring and shelter that provides debris-covered in reducing the melting glacier. The results have allowed to know the relevance of the glacier contribution to mountain streams, allowing to know the calibration parameters most relevant in the hydrology balance of glacier basins in the Andes.

  18. Modeling Soil Organic Carbon Variation Along Climatic and Topographic Trajectories in the Central Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gavilan, C.; Grunwald, S.; Quiroz, R.; Zhu, L.

    2015-12-01

    The Andes represent the largest and highest mountain range in the tropics. Geological and climatic differentiation favored landscape and soil diversity, resulting in ecosystems adapted to very different climatic patterns. Although several studies support the fact that the Andes are a vast sink of soil organic carbon (SOC) only few have quantified this variable in situ. Estimating the spatial distribution of SOC stocks in data-poor and/or poorly accessible areas, like the Andean region, is challenging due to the lack of recent soil data at high spatial resolution and the wide range of coexistent ecosystems. Thus, the sampling strategy is vital in order to ensure the whole range of environmental covariates (EC) controlling SOC dynamics is represented. This approach allows grasping the variability of the area, which leads to more efficient statistical estimates and improves the modeling process. The objectives of this study were to i) characterize and model the spatial distribution of SOC stocks in the Central Andean region using soil-landscape modeling techniques, and to ii) validate and evaluate the model for predicting SOC content in the area. For that purpose, three representative study areas were identified and a suite of variables including elevation, mean annual temperature, annual precipitation and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), among others, was selected as EC. A stratified random sampling (namely conditioned Latin Hypercube) was implemented and a total of 400 sampling locations were identified. At all sites, four composite topsoil samples (0-30 cm) were collected within a 2 m radius. SOC content was measured using dry combustion and SOC stocks were estimated using bulk density measurements. Regression Kriging was used to map the spatial variation of SOC stocks. The accuracy, fit and bias of SOC models was assessed using a rigorous validation assessment. This study produced the first comprehensive, geospatial SOC stock assessment in this

  19. The major cellular sterol regulatory pathway is required for Andes virus infection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josiah Petersen

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available The Bunyaviridae comprise a large family of RNA viruses with worldwide distribution and includes the pathogenic New World hantavirus, Andes virus (ANDV. Host factors needed for hantavirus entry remain largely enigmatic and therapeutics are unavailable. To identify cellular requirements for ANDV infection, we performed two parallel genetic screens. Analysis of a large library of insertionally mutagenized human haploid cells and a siRNA genomic screen converged on components (SREBP-2, SCAP, S1P and S2P of the sterol regulatory pathway as critically important for infection by ANDV. The significance of this pathway was confirmed using functionally deficient cells, TALEN-mediated gene disruption, RNA interference and pharmacologic inhibition. Disruption of sterol regulatory complex function impaired ANDV internalization without affecting virus binding. Pharmacologic manipulation of cholesterol levels demonstrated that ANDV entry is sensitive to changes in cellular cholesterol and raises the possibility that clinically approved regulators of sterol synthesis may prove useful for combating ANDV infection.

  20. Producing adornment: Evidence of different levels of expertise in the production of obsidian items of adornment at two late Neolithic communities in northern Mesopotamia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elizabeth Healey

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available In the Near East obsidian is of particular interest to archaeologists because it is an exotic material and best known for is use in tool manufacture, but it is also occasionally used to make items of personal adornment. Some of these items are very highly finished, while others appear much more rudimentary though it is by no means obvious why this should be. Here we will review such artefacts at two contemporary late Neolithic communities, Domuztepe in SE Anatolia and Tell Arpachiyah in northern Iraq. Both have seemingly unusually high numbers of such objects as well as evidence for obsidian tool production on site. At Domuztepe some objects are highly finished while others appear much more ad hoc. At Arpachiyah on the other hand, the objects appear very similar to each other so as to seem standardised or at least the product of a single workshop. Our main aim in this paper is to try to unravel the evidence needed to determine whether they were produced on site, or whether they were acquired as finished objects (or both.

  1. Postglacial sedimentary regime around northern Sylt, South-eastern North Sea, based on shallow seismic evidence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Boldreel, Lars Ole; Kuijpers, Antoon; Madsen, Emil B

    2010-01-01

    , in the outer delta, a dune field suggesting westerly-directed sediment transport is identified. The two dune fields appear to be separated by minor indefinite bed forms. The northern part of the Lister Tief is characterised by the presence of a channel with a depth of 20-30 mbsf (meter below sea level) (30......-40 msec TWT (Two Way Traveltime)) and displaying erosion towards the north. At the western termination of the channel the sediment transport pathway appears to be divided into two directions; one towards the outer delta, and one towards the sediment depocenter SW of Rømø. The Lister Ley is characterized......During the past 5 years the coastal zone offshore the northern part of the island of Sylt, has been investigated by sparker seismics and high-resolution subbottom profiling. The North Sea sector of the area is characterized by northward-directed sediment bypass as a result of strong long...

  2. Multi year aerosol characterization in the tropical Andes and in adjacent Amazonia using AERONET measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérez-Ramírez, Daniel; Andrade-Flores, Marcos; Eck, Thomas F.; Stein, Ariel F.; O'Neill, Norman T.; Lyamani, Hassan; Gassó, Santiago; Whiteman, David N.; Veselovskii, Igor; Velarde, Fernando; Alados-Arboledas, L.

    2017-10-01

    This work focuses on the analysis of columnar aerosol properties in the complex geophysical tropical region of South America within 10-20° South and 50-70° West. The region is quite varied and encompasses a significant part of Amazonia (lowlands) as well as high mountains in the Andes (highlands,∼4000 m a.s.l.). Several AERONET stations were included to study the aerosol optical characteristics of the lowlands (Rio Branco, Ji Parana and Cuiaba in Brazil and Santa Cruz in Bolivia) and the highlands (La Paz, Bolivia) during the 2000-2014 period. Biomass-burning is by far the most important source of aerosol in the lowlands, particularly during the dry season (August-October). Multi-annual variability was investigated and showed very strong burning activity in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010. This resulted in smoke characterized by correspondingly strong, above-average AODs (aerosol optical depths) and homogeneous single scattering albedo (SSA) across all the stations (∼0.93). For other years, however, SSA differences arise between the northern stations (Rio Branco and Ji Parana) with SSAs of ∼0.95 and the southern stations (Cuiaba and Santa Cruz) with lower SSAs of ∼0.85. Such differences are explained by the different types of vegetation burned in the two different regions. In the highlands, however, the transport of biomass burning smoke is found to be sporadic in nature. This sporadicity results in highly variable indicators of aerosol load and type (Angstrom exponent and fine mode fraction) with moderately significant increases in both. Regional dust and local pollution are the background aerosol in this highland region, whose elevation places it close to the free troposphere. Transported smoke particles were generally found to be more optical absorbing than in the lowlands: the hypothesis to explain this is the significantly higher amount of water vapor in Amazonia relative to the high mountain areas. The air-mass transport to La Paz was investigated using

  3. Killing the snake of poverty : local perceptions of poverty and well-being and people’s capabilities to improve their lives in the Southern Andes of Peru

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Miyashita, A.

    2009-01-01

    Despite the generalised image of comuneros of the Southern Andes of Peru as living in poverty, a closer examination of the daily lives of the campesinos provides a more dynamic perspective. Some households claim that their lives are improving, others that their lives are the same, while many report

  4. Chemical and isotopic investigations of runoff in a mountainous watershed, Venezuelan Andes (Rio Bocono)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cornieles, M.; Moreau, A.; Valles, V.; Travi, Y.

    1999-01-01

    The Rio Bocono watershed, located in the Western part of Venezuela on the South western side of Andes is considered by the 'Ministerio de1 Ambiente y de los Recursos Naturales Renovables' (MARN) as a priority zone for environmental management. The studies of relation between flow, dissolved elements and solid transport are essential to estimate soil degradation and sediment deposition which provokes loss of depth in the dam reservoir at the Southern margin of the basin. Because of the large surface which reach 1540 km 2 , the lack of equipment and the flash flood character of the river do not enable the flow mechanisms and transit times to be determined using usual hydrologic methods; therefore this problem has been approached by the way of chemical and isotopic investigation

  5. Does urban vegetation mitigate air pollution in northern conditions?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Setälä, Heikki; Viippola, Viljami; Rantalainen, Anna-Lea; Pennanen, Arto; Yli-Pelkonen, Vesa

    2013-01-01

    It is generally accepted that urban vegetation improves air quality and thereby enhances the well-being of citizens. However, empirical evidence on the potential of urban trees to mitigate air pollution is meager, particularly in northern climates with a short growing season. We studied the ability of urban park/forest vegetation to remove air pollutants (NO 2 , anthropogenic VOCs and particle deposition) using passive samplers in two Finnish cities. Concentrations of each pollutant in August (summer; leaf-period) and March (winter, leaf-free period) were slightly but often insignificantly lower under tree canopies than in adjacent open areas, suggesting that the role of foliage in removing air pollutants is insignificant. Furthermore, vegetation-related environmental variables (canopy closure, number and size of trees, density of understorey vegetation) did not explain the variation in pollution concentrations. Our results suggest that the ability of urban vegetation to remove air pollutants is minor in northern climates. -- Highlights: ► The ability of northern urban vegetation to remove air pollutants is minor. ► Vegetation-related environmental variables had no effect on air pollution levels. ► The ability of vegetation to clean air did not differ between summer and winter. ► Dry deposition passive samplers proved applicable in urban air pollution study. -- The ability of urban vegetation to remove air pollutants seems to be minor in northern climates

  6. The subduction erosion and mantle source region contamination model of Andean arc magmatism: Isotopic evidence from igneous rocks of central Chile

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stern, Charles R

    2001-01-01

    Continental crust may be incorporated in mantle-derived Andean magmas as these magmas rise through the crust (Hildreth and Moorbath, 1988), or alternatively, crust may be tectonically transported into the mantle by subduction of trench sediments and subduction erosion of the continental margin, and then added into the mantle source region of Andean magmas (Stern, 1991). Since the mantle has relatively low Sr, Nd, and Pb concentrations compared to continental crust, differences in the isotopic compositions of magmas erupted in different region of the Andes may be produced by relatively small differences in the amount of subducted crust added to the mantle source region of these magmas. By comparison, significantly larger amounts of crust must be assimilated by mantle-derived magmas to produce isotopic differences of similar magnitude. Therefore, constraining the process by which continental crust is incorporated in Andean magmas has important implications for understanding the chemical cycling that takes place in the Andean subduction-related magma factory. Isotopic data suggest the incorporation of a greater proportion of crust in Andean magmas erupted at the northern portion of the Southern Volcanic Zone of central Chile compared to those erupted in the southern portion of the Southern Volcanic Zone of south central Chile (SSVZ) (Stern et al., 1984; Futa and Stern, 1988; Hildreth and Moorbath, 1988). The NSVZ occurs just south of the current locus of the subduction of the Juan Fernandez Ridge. The southward migration of the locus of subduction of this ridge has resulted in decreasing subduction angle below the NSVZ, the eastward migration of the volcanic front of the Andean arc, and an increase in the crustal thickness below the arc. These factors together have caused changes, since the middle Miocene, in the isotopic composition of Andean igneous rocks of central Chile. The data indicate a close chronologic relation between the southward migrations of the locus

  7. Late cenozoic tectonic and geomorphic evolution of the Patagonian Andes between 42oS and 52oS, southern Chile assessed using fission-track thermochronology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomson, S.N; Herve, F; Stockhert, B.; Brix, M.R.; Adriasola, A

    2001-01-01

    Fission-track (FT) analysis has been applied in the Patagonian Andes of southern Chile to assess the late Cenozoic geomorphic and tectonic response of the overriding plate to subduction of the Chile rise active oceanic spreading centre (Thomson et al., 2001). The timing and nature of tectonic uplift and denudation along the southern parts of the major transpression intra-arc Liquine-Ofqui fault (LOF) system have also been investigated (Thomson, 2001, submitted). Results from 130 FT ages (72 zircon and 58 apatite ages) and 39 apatite track length measurements reveal initiation of rapid cooling and denudation at ca. 30 Ma at the western margin of southern continental South America. This was followed by a ca. 200km eastward migration of the locus of maximum denudation to the position of the present day topographic divide between ca. 30 Ma and ca. 12 to 10 Ma. East of the Andean divide less than 3 km of denudation has occurred since the Late Cretaceous. Enhanced denudation is interpreted to be the result of increased tectonic uplift driven by a large increase in convergence rates at ca. 28 to 26 Ma that triggered orographically enhanced precipitation on the west-side of the Patagonian Andes allowing increased erosion by fluvial incision and mass transport processes. The eastward migration of the locus of maximum denudation can be related to either coeval eastward migration of the retro-arc deformation front, the effects of subduction erosion in the overriding plate at the Peru-Chile trench or shallowing of the angle of subduction. Away from the influence of the LOF the process of spreading centre subduction and collision itself coincides with an overall slow-down in denudation rates in the overriding plate most likely caused by a major reduction in the main tectonic force driving tectonic uplift in the upper plate to subduction. In contrast to the Andes south of ca. 46 o S, increased cooling and denudation related to transpression induced rock uplift and erosion along

  8. Early Tertiary Exhumation, Erosion, and Sedimentation in the Central Andes, NW Argentina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carrapa, B.; Decelles, P. G.; Gerhels, G.; Mortimer, E.; Strecker, M. R.

    2006-12-01

    Timing of deformation and resulting sedimentation patterns in the Altiplano-Puna Plateau-Eastern Cordillera of the southern Central Andes are the subject of ongoing controversial debate. In the Bolivian Altiplano, sedimentation into a foreland basin system commenced during the Paleocene. Farther south in the Puna and Eastern Cordillera of NW Argentina, a lack of data has precluded a similar interpretation. Early Tertiary non-marine sedimentary rocks are preserved within the present day Puna Plateau and Eastern Cordillera of NW Argentina. The Salar de Pastos Grandes basin in the Puna Plateau contains more than 2 km of Eocene alluvial and fluvial strata in the Geste Formation, deposited in close proximity to orogenic source terrains. Sandstone and conglomerate petrographic data document Ordovician quartzites and minor phyllites and schists as the main source rocks. Detrital zircon U-Pb ages from both the Geste Formation and from underlying Ordovician quartzite cluster in the 900-1200 Ma (Grenville) and late Precambrian-Cambrian (Panafrican) ranges. Sparse late Eocene (~37-34 Ma) grains are also present; their large size, euhedral shape, and decreasing mean ages upsection suggest that these grains are volcanogenic (i.e. ash fall contamination), derived from an inferred magmatic arc to the west. The Eocene ages corroborate mammalian paleontological dates, defining the approximate begin of deposition of the Geste Formation. Alternatively, these young zircons could be of plutonic origin; however, no Eocene plutons are present in the surrounding source rocks and this interpretation is not likely. From W to E, fluvial rocks of the Quebrada de los Colorados Formation show similar sedimentological features as those observed for the Geste Formation, suggesting a genetic link between the two. Detrital zircon U-Pb data show mainly Panafrican ages, with sparse ages in the 860-935 Ma range and a few mid-Proterozoic ages. More importantly, a significant number of late Eocene

  9. Ecology, genetic diversity, and phylogeographic structure of andes virus in humans and rodents in Chile.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medina, Rafael A; Torres-Perez, Fernando; Galeno, Hector; Navarrete, Maritza; Vial, Pablo A; Palma, R Eduardo; Ferres, Marcela; Cook, Joseph A; Hjelle, Brian

    2009-03-01

    Andes virus (ANDV) is the predominant etiologic agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in southern South America. In Chile, serologically confirmed human hantavirus infections have occurred throughout a wide latitudinal distribution extending from the regions of Valparaíso (32 to 33 degrees S) to Aysén (46 degrees S) in southern Patagonia. In this study, we found seropositive rodents further north in the Coquimbo region (30 degrees S) in Chile. Rodent seroprevalence was 1.4%, with Oligoryzomys longicaudatus displaying the highest seroprevalence (5.9%), followed by Abrothrix longipilis (1.9%) and other species exhibiting Chile. Phylogenetic analyses showed two major ANDV South (ANDV Sout) clades, congruent with two major Chilean ecoregions, Mediterranean (Chilean matorral [shrubland]) and Valdivian temperate forest. Human and rodent samples grouped according to geographic location. Phylogenetic comparative analyses of portions of S and medium segments (encoding glycoproteins Gn and Gc) from a subset of rodent specimens exhibited similar topologies, corroborating two major ANDV Sout clades in Chile and suggesting that yet unknown factors influence viral gene flow and persistence throughout the two Chilean ecoregions. Genetic algorithms for recombination detection identified recombination events within the S segment. Molecular demographic analyses showed that the virus is undergoing purifying selection and demonstrated a recent exponential growth in the effective number of ANDV Sout infections in Chile that correlates with the increased number of human cases reported. Although we determined virus sequences from four rodent species, our results confirmed O. longicaudatus as the primary ANDV Sout reservoir in Chile. While evidence of geographic differentiation exists, a single cosmopolitan lineage of ANDV Sout remains the sole etiologic agent for HCPS in Chile.

  10. Disappearance of the glacier on Mama Cotacachi: ethnoecological research and climate change in the Ecuadorian Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rhoades, R.

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available A first documented case study of a disappearing glacier in the snow capped volcano Cotacahi in Ecuador is presented with the studies belonging to the social sciences in relation to climate change and its impact on the population of the Equatorial Andes. With the use of multiple source methodology, including ethnographic analyzes, visual representations, repetitive photography, critical mapping by the local communities, longitudinal surveys, even archival research, as well as interviews to social actors and utilization of spatial data in a geographical information system (GIS. It is concluded that the documented disappearance of the glacier on the Cotacahi serves as an urgent call for action to the important dearth of social research related to global change from the ethnoecological perspective, with a cultural, local approach.

    Se presenta el primer estudio documentado de la desaparición del glaciar del nevado Cotacachi en el Ecuador, con los estudios que corresponden a las ciencias sociales en relación con el cambio climático y su impacto en la población de los Andes ecuatoriales. Mediante el uso de una metodología que incluye análisis etnográficos, representaciones visuales, fotografía repetitiva, mapeo crítico por parte de las comunidades locales, encuestas longitudinales e incluso investigación de archivos, así como también entrevistas a actores sociales, y utilización de los datos espaciales en un sistema de información geográfica (SIG. Se concluye que la desaparición documentada del glaciar del Cotacachi sirve como una llamada de atención urgente a la importante falta de investigaciones sociales relacionadas con el cambio global desde el punto de vista etnoecológico, con un enfoque cultural local.

  11. Taxonomía y biogeografía de cuatro especies de Psectrascelis (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae de la Precordillera y Cordillera de los Andes en Mendoza, Argentina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gustavo E. FLORES

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available El género neotropical Psectrascelis Solier (Pimeliinae: Nycteliini comprende 75 especies que se distribuyen desde el sur de Perú hasta el sur de Argentina y Chile. En este aporte se revisan las cuatro especies de Psectrascelis que habitan en el noroeste de la provincia de Mendoza (Argentina, en los cordones montañosos de la Precordillera y Cordillera de los Andes: P. deplanata (Lacordaire, 1830, P. vestita (Lacordaire, 1830, P. mamillonea (Lacordaire, 1830 y P. semistrigosa Fairmaire, 1903. Se proveen redescripciones con nuevos caracteres morfológicos, fotografías de adultos y de los pronotos, e ilustraciones de genitalia masculinos. Se consigna la distribución geográfica y rangos altitudinales para cada especie, estableciendo las provincias biogeográficas que habitan. Se presenta una discusión acerca de los patrones de distribución de las especies de Psectrascelis y de otros artrópodos epigeos que habitan en los cordones montañosos de la Precordillera y Cordillera de los Andes.

  12. Tectonic, volcanic, and climatic geomorphology study of the Sierras Pampeanas Andes, northwestern Argentina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bloom, A. L.; Strecker, M. R.; Fielding, E. J.

    1984-01-01

    A proposed analysis of Shuttle Imaging Radar-B (SIR-B) data extends current research in the Sierras Pampeanas and the Puna of northwestern Argentina to the determination - by the digital analysis of mountain-front sinuousity - of the relative age and amount of fault movement along mountain fronts of the late-Cenozoic Sierras Pampeanas basement blocks; the determination of the age and history of the boundary across the Andes at about 27 S latitude between continuing volcanism to the north and inactive volcanism to the south; and the determination of the age and extent of Pleistocene glaciation in the High Sierras, as well as the comparative importance of climatic change and tectonic movements in shaping the landscape. The integration of these studies into other ongoing geology projects contributes to the understanding of landform development in this active tectonic environment and helps distinguish between climatic and tectonic effects on landforms.

  13. Scale of human mobility in the southern Andes (Argentina and Chile): A new framework based on strontium isotopes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barberena, Ramiro; Durán, Víctor A; Novellino, Paula; Winocur, Diego; Benítez, Anahí; Tessone, Augusto; Quiroga, María N; Marsh, Erik J; Gasco, Alejandra; Cortegoso, Valeria; Lucero, Gustavo; Llano, Carina; Knudson, Kelly J

    2017-10-01

    The goal of this article is to assess the scale of human paleomobility and ecological complementarity between the lowlands and highlands in the southern Andes during the last 2,300 years. By providing isotope results for human bone and teeth samples, we assess a hypothesis of "high residential mobility" suggested on the basis of oxygen isotopes from human remains. We develop an isotopic assessment of human mobility in a mountain landscape combining strontium and oxygen isotopes. We analyze bone and teeth samples as an approach to life-history changes in spatial residence. Human samples from the main geological units and periods within the last two millennia are selected. We present a framework for the analysis of bioavailable strontium based on the combination of the geological data with isotope results for rodent samples. The 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values from human samples indicate residential stability within geological regions along life history. When comparing strontium and oxygen values for the same human samples, we record a divergent pattern: while δ 18 O values for samples from distant regions overlap widely, there are important differences in 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values. Despite the large socio-economic changes recorded, 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values indicate a persisting scenario of low systematic mobility between the different geological regions. Our results suggest that strontium isotope values provide the most germane means to track patterns of human occupation of distinct regions in complex geological landscapes, offering a much higher spatial resolution than oxygen isotopes in the southern Andes. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 infection is frequent in rural communities of the southern Andes of Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ita, Fanny; Mayer, Erick F; Verdonck, Kristien; Gonzalez, Elsa; Clark, Daniel; Gotuzzo, Eduardo

    2014-02-01

    To evaluate the presence of human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection in isolated rural communities in the southern Andes of Peru. We conducted a cross-sectional study in five communities located in three provinces in Ayacucho, Peru. The five communities are located at >3000 meters above sea level and are mainly rural, and more than 85% of the population speaks Quechua. Volunteers aged 12 years and older were included. Clinical and epidemiological data were collected, along with a blood sample for serological testing. We included 397 participants; their median age was 41 years (interquartile range 31-57 years) and 69% were women. According to our definitions, 98% were of Quechua origin. HTLV-1 was diagnosed in 11 people: 0/164 in Cangallo, 3/154 (2%) in Vilcashuaman, and 8/79 (10%) in Parinacochas. There were no cases of HTLV-2. All the HTLV-1-positive participants were born in Ayacucho and were of Quechua origin; they ranged in age from 29 to 87 years (median 56 years) and 10/11 were women. Ten were apparently healthy, and one woman was diagnosed with HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Three out of 11 had a family member with a lower limb impairment compatible with HAM/TSP. The fact that HTLV-1 infection was present in two out of three provinces suggests that HTLV-1 could be highly endemic in the southern Andes in the Quechua population. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  15. Breeding system of Embothrium coccineum (Proteaceae in two populations on different slopes of the Andes Sistema reproductivo de Embothrium coccineum (Proteaceae en dos poblaciones ubicadas en diferentes laderas de los Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ADRIANA E ROVERE

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available Plant breeding systems are considered to reflect species' life history characteristics, selection due to biotic or abiotic factors, pollination conditions, or a combination of these. Reproductive systems may vary over ecological gradients. The breeding system of the ornithophilous Embothrium coccineum (Proteaceae from temperate South America was studied by pollination treatments: manual self-pollination, manual cross-pollination, automatic self-pollination, and natural pollination. These treatments were conducted in a coastal western and an Andean eastern population. Embothrium coccineum was found to be self-incompatible and highly dependent on the pollinating agent at both sites. However, pollen limitations were greater in the coastal population, as breeding efficiency was lower. Populations have different floral visitors whose identity differentially affects reproductive efficiency and pollen flow in E. coccineumLos sistemas de compatibilidad reproductiva en las plantas son considerados una manifestación de la historia de vida, de la selección ante factores abióticos ó bióticos, de las condiciones de polinización o una de combinación de esos factores. El sistema reproductivo de una especie puede variar a lo largo de un gradiente ecológico-ambiental. El sistema reproductivo de Embothrium coccineum (Proteaceae, un árbol ornitófilo endémico de los bosques templados de sur de Sudamérica, fue estudiado mediante experimentos de polinización: autopolinización manual, polinización manual cruzada, autopolinización automática y polinización natural en flores descubiertas. Este trabajo se realizó en una población costera al oeste de la cordillera de los Andes y una población andina ubicada al este de la cordillera de los Andes. En ambas poblaciones se encontró que E. coccineum es autoimcompatible y altamente dependiente de los agentes polinizadores en ambos sitios. Sin embargo, la limitación por polen fue mayor en la poblaci

  16. Structural control on arc volcanism: The Caviahue Copahue complex, Central to Patagonian Andes transition (38°S)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melnick, Daniel; Folguera, Andrés; Ramos, Victor A.

    2006-11-01

    This paper describes the volcanostratigraphy, structure, and tectonic implications of an arc volcanic complex in an oblique subduction setting: the Caviahue caldera Copahue volcano (CAC) of the Andean margin. The CAC is located in a first-order morphotectonic transitional zone, between the low and narrow Patagonian and the high and broad Central Andes. The evolution of the CAC started at approximately 4-3 Ma with the opening of the 20 × 15 km Caviahue pull-apart caldera; Las Mellizas volcano formed inside the caldera and collapsed at approximately 2.6 Ma; and the Copahue volcano evolved in three stages: (1) 1.2-0.7 Ma formed the approximately 1 km thick andesitic edifice, (2) 0.7-0.01 Ma erupted andesitic-dacitic subglacial pillow lavas, and (3) 0.01-0 Ma erupted basaltic-andesites and pyroclastic flows from fissures, aligned cones, and summit craters. Magma ascent has occurred along planes perpendicular to the least principal horizontal stress, whereas hydrothermal activity and hot springs also occur along parallel planes. At a regional scale, Quaternary volcanism concentrates along the NE-trending, 90 km long Callaqui-Copahue-Mandolegüe lineament, the longest of the southern volcanic zone, which is here interpreted as an inherited crustal-scale transfer zone from a Miocene rift basin. At a local scale within the CAC, effusions are controlled by local structures that formed at the intersection of regional fault systems. The Central to Patagonian Andes transition occurs at the Callaqui-Copahue-Mandolegüe lineament, which decouples active deformation from the intra-arc strike-slip Liquiñe-Ofqui fault zone to the south and the backarc Copahue-Antiñir thrust system.

  17. Migraciones en la puna: su relación con el uso de los recursos naturales del departamento Los Andes Migraciones en la puna: su relación con el uso de los recursos naturales del departamento Los Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco R. Barbarán

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available From an historic and demographic perspective, as well as the use of natural resources, we analyzed the relationship between human migrations and the economic activities of Los Andes Department, West of the Salta Province, in NW Argentina. Using the residual method, we calculated migratory balances between Argentinean population censuses carried out in 1947,1960, 1970, 1980 and 2001. The migratory balances were negative for all the periods studied. When the train started to run through Ramal C-14, the workers who built it have to find jobs somewhere else. At the same time, the railway made easier for the natives, to find better economicopportunities out of the Puna. The close of mine La Casualidad by the end of the 70’s, the low creation of jobs by the remaining mining operations, focused in to hire qualified technicians no available in Los Andes and the privatization of the railway in early 90’s, were important factors of emigration. Despite of cattle rising as the main economic activity in rural areas, it is practiced without any technology of management. The overgrazing caused for that reason, has reduced almost to the half the quantity of sheep by inhabitant between 1947 and 2001. That is why the local people have to press more on the wildlife, trading illegally with vicuña (Vicugna vicugna fiber. Despite of a touristic development plan, a law promoting sheep rising and a census of vicuña population carried out by the provincial government, these recent actions should be part of a development project of regional scale, oriented to the sustainable use of the natural resources of Los Andes Department. That project would create jobs and discourage emigration.Desde una perspectiva histórica, demográfica y del uso de los recursos naturales, analizamos la relación existente entre las migraciones humanas y las actividades económicas en el departamento Los Andes, ubicado al W de la provincia de Salta, en el Noroeste Argentino. Usando el m

  18. Impact of glaciations on the long-term erosion in Southern Patagonian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon-Labric, Thibaud; Herman, Frederic; Baumgartner, Lukas; Shuster, David L.; Braun, Jean; Reiners, Pete W.; Valla, Pierre G.; Leuthold, Julien

    2014-05-01

    The Southern Patagonian Andes are an ideal setting to study the impact of Late-Cenozoic climate cooling and onset of glaciations impact on the erosional history of mountain belts. The lack of tectonic activity during the last ~12 Myr makes the denudation history mainly controlled by surface processes, not by tectonics. Moreover, the glaciations history of Patagonia shows the best-preserved records within the southern hemisphere (with the exception of Antarctica). Indeed, the dry climate on the leeward side of Patagonia and the presence of lava flows interbedded with glacial deposits has allowed an exceptional preservation of late Cenozoic moraines with precise dating using K-Ar analyses on lava flow. The chronology of moraines reveals a long history covering all the Quaternary, Pliocene, and up to the Upper Miocene. The early growth of large glaciers flowing on eastern foothills started at ~7-6 Myr, while the maximum ice-sheet extent dates from approximately 1.1 Myr. In order to quantify the erosion history of the Southern Patagonian Andes and compare it to the glaciations sediment record, we collected samples along an age-elevation profile for low-temperature thermochronology in the eastern side of the mountain belt (Torres del Paine massif). The (U-Th)/He age-elevation relationship shows a clear convex shape providing an apparent long-term exhumation rate of ~0.2 km/Myr followed by an exhumation rate increase at ~6 Myr. Preliminary results of 4He/3He thermochronometry for a subset of samples complete the erosion history for the Plio-Pleistocene epoch. We used inverse procedure predicting 4He distributions within an apatite grain using a radiation-damage and annealing model to quantify He-diffusion kinetics in apatite. The model also allows quantifying the impact of potential U-Th zonation throughout each apatite crystal. Inversion results reveal a denudation history composed by a pulse of denudation at ~6 Ma, as suggested by the age-elevation relationship

  19. Holocene environmental changes in the highlands of the southern Peruvian Andes (14° S) and their impact on pre-Columbian cultures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schittek, K.; Forbriger, M.; Mächtle, B.; Schäbitz, F.; Wennrich, V.; Reindel, M.; Eitel, B.

    2015-01-01

    High-altitude peatlands of the Andes still remain relatively unexploited although they offer an excellent opportunity for well-dated palaeoenvironmental records. To improve knowledge about climatic and environmental changes in the western Andes of southern Peru, we present a high-resolution record of the Cerro Llamoca peatland for the last 8600 years. The 10.5 m long core consists of peat and intercalated sediment layers and was examined for all kinds of microfossils. We chose homogeneous peat sections for pollen analysis at decadal to centennial resolution. The inorganic geochemistry was analysed in 2 mm resolution (corresponding >2 years) using an ITRAX X-ray fluorescence core scanner. We interpret phases of relatively high abundances of Poaceae pollen in our record as an expansion of Andean grasslands during humid phases. Drier conditions are indicated by a significant decrease of Poaceae pollen and higher abundances of Asteraceae pollen. The results are substantiated by changes in arsenic contents and manganese/iron ratios, which turned out to be applicable proxies for in situ palaeoredox conditions. The mid-Holocene period of 8.6-5.6 ka is characterised by a series of episodic dry spells alternating with spells that are more humid. After a pronounced dry period at 4.6-4.2 ka, conditions generally shifted towards a more humid climate. We stress a humid/relatively stable interval between 1.8 and 1.2 ka, which coincides with the florescence of the Nasca culture in the Andean foothills. An abrupt turn to a sustained dry period occurs at 1.2 ka, which is contemporaneous with the demise of the Nasca/Wari society in the Palpa lowlands. Markedly drier conditions prevail until 0.75 ka, providing evidence of the presence of a Medieval Climate Anomaly. Moister but hydrologically highly variable conditions prevailed again after 0.75 ka, which allowed re-expansion of tussock grasses in the highlands, increased discharge into the Andean foreland and resettling of the

  20. Mass Balance of Cenozoic Andes-Amazon Source to Sink System—Marañón Basin, Peru

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gérôme Calvès

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the mass balance of the Cenozoic Andes-Amazon source to sink system using rock uplift proxies and solid sedimentation of the Marañón Basin in Peru. The evolution of sedimentation rates is calibrated with regional structural restored cross-section. The quantification of eroded sediments from reliefs to sedimentary basin is achieved with ×10 Myr resolution and compared to present day proxies from the HYBAM (HYdrologie et Biogéochimie du Bassin Amazonien Critical Zone Observatory. Erosion of the early Andean landforms started during the Upper Mesozoic period, but sediment rates significantly increase during the Neogene. This is in agreement with the calibrated increase of rock uplift in the Andean orogenic belt.

  1. Evidence of Two Cocirculating Canine Distemper Virus Strains in Mesocarnivores from Northern Colorado.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wostenberg, Darren J; Walker, Nikki; Fox, Karen A; Spraker, Terry R; Piaggio, Antoinette J; Gilbert, Amy

    2018-03-02

    Canine distemper virus (CDV) is a highly contagious pathogen that principally infects wildlife and domestic carnivores. Peridomestic species such as raccoons ( Procyon lotor) experience outbreaks with high mortality. Clinical signs of infection include anorexia, fever, respiratory infection, and neurologic complications. Although not zoonotic, CDV poses a high risk to unvaccinated domestic animals and the conservation of endangered species. During 2013-2016, we opportunistically collected wild and domestic carnivore specimens through a rabies surveillance program in northern Colorado. Brainstem and cerebellar tissue samples were independently tested for rabies and CDV by fluorescent antibody test. We tested a total of 478 animals for CDV, comprised of 10 wild and domestic carnivore species. A total of 24% (71/300) raccoons and 4% (1/26) coyotes ( Canis latrans) tested positive for CDV, but coinfection with rabies virus was not observed among CDV-positive animals. We extracted RNA from positive tissues, and a reverse-transcription PCR was used to create complementary DNA. We amplified and sequenced the hemagglutinin gene from 60 CDV-positive tissues, and a median joining network and maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree revealed two major lineages among samples. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that our sequences were most similar to: 1) the America-2 ( n=55) and 2) the America-3 ( n=5) CDV lineages circulating in North America. Our results indicated two distinct and distantly related clades of CDV overlapping geographically and temporally among raccoon populations in northern Colorado.

  2. International Uranium Resources Evaluation Project (IUREP) national favourability studies: Bolivia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1977-08-01

    Bolivia has an area of 1,098,580 square kilometers. Its capital is La Paz. The western part of the country is dominated by two ranges of the Andes Mountains, the Cordillera Occidental on the vest flank of the high plateau (Altiplano) and the Cordillera Real (or Oriental) on the east flank. The northern Andes average 5,486 meters in elevation; the southern Andes are not as lofty. The Altiplano is 3,658 to A,267 meters high and 129 km. in average width; it is the largest basin of inland drainage in South America and contains the renowned Lake Titicaca on the Peruvian-Bolivian border. The eastern tropical lowlands or pampas (Oriente) comprise about two-thirds of the country, with rain forest in the northern portion. An intermediate zone of valleys and basins lies between the eastern Andes and Oriente. Bolivia differs from other Andean countries, like Chile, Peru and Ecuador, in having large areas of Preeambrian schists, gneisses, migmatites and granites. These crop out in the eastern part of the country. Parts of these rocks contain banded iron formations (i.e., in the Muttin region) and are probably early Precambrian in age. Little systematic exploration for uranium was undertaken in Bolivia until the late 1960's. In 1967, 1968 and 1969 technical assistance was requested from, and provided by, the IAEA. This work led to evaluation of radioactive anomalies in veins of northeast Bolivia and in sandstones in the extreme southern part of the country. Although no uranium reserves are now credited to Bolivia, the geologic possibilities for several kinds of uranium deposits coupled with the relatively limited work done to date suggest that uranium orebodies will be discovered. It is estimated that the potential resources of Bolivia are in the range of 10,000 to 100,000 tonnes uranium

  3. Detection of Northern Hemisphere transient eddies at Gale Crater Mars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haberle, Robert M.; Juárez, Manuel de la Torre; Kahre, Melinda A.; Kass, David M.; Barnes, Jeffrey R.; Hollingsworth, Jeffery L.; Harri, Ari-Matti; Kahanpää, Henrik

    2018-06-01

    The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) on the Curiosity Rover is operating in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars and is detecting synoptic period oscillations in the pressure data that we attribute to Northern Hemisphere transient eddies. We base this interpretation on the similarity in the periods of the eddies and their seasonal variations with those observed in northern midlatitudes by Viking Lander 2 (VL-2) 18 Mars years earlier. Further support for this interpretation comes from global circulation modeling which shows similar behavior in the transient eddies at the grid points closest to Curiosity and VL-2. These observations provide the first in situ evidence that the frontal systems often associated with "Flushing Dust Storms" do cross the equator and extend into the Southern Hemisphere.

  4. The ethno-politics of water security: contestations of ethnicity and gender in strategies to control water in the Andes of Peru

    OpenAIRE

    Vera-Delgado, J.

    2011-01-01

    This thesis is the result of a multidisciplinary research which tries to explain water injustices and the threats to water rights access and control experienced by indigenous peasants of the Peruvian Andes. It attempts to contribute to the analysis of the interactions between ethnicity and gender, and to understand how these form an intrinsic part of the contemporary ethno-politics of water. It also critically analyses the role of state interventions and international financial aid programme...

  5. Dreyfusia nordmannianae in Northern and Central Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ravn, Hans Peter; Havill, N.P.; Akbulut, S.

    2013-01-01

    The silver fir woolly adelgid, Dreyfusia nordmannianae, is the most severe pest occurring on Abies nordmanniana in Central and Northern Europe. The adelgid is particularly damaging to trees in Christmas tree plantations. Dreyfusia nordmannianae is native to the Caucasus region and alien to Europe...... were examined for phylogenetic structure. There was no evidence of differentiation, suggesting that these Dreyfusia species have recently diverged or require taxonomic revision. All existing published and unpublished reports on natural enemies of D. nordmannianae in its place of origin were reviewed...

  6. The Role of Traditional Knowledge and Crop Varieties in Adaptation to Climate Change and Food Security in SW China, Bolivian Andes and coastal Kenya

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Swiderska, Krystyna; Reid, Hannah; Song, Yiching; Li, Jingsong; Mutta, Doris; Ongugo, Paul; Pakia, Mohamed; Oros, Rolando; Barriga, Sandra

    2011-09-15

    Paper prepared for the UNU-IAS workshop on Indigenous Peoples, Marginalised Populations and Climate Change: Vulnerability, Adaptation and Traditional Knowledge, Mexico, July 2011. Indigenous peoples and local communities often live in harsh natural environments, and have had to cope with extreme weather and adapt to environmental change for centuries in order to survive. They have done this using long standing traditions and practices – or traditional knowledge (TK) – relating to adaptive ecosystem management and sustainable use of natural resources. The three case studies presented provide evidence of the crucial role of traditional crop varieties, knowledge and practices in enabling adaption to changes in climate. The question is whether the climatic changes observed in these cases are human induced climate change or just natural changes. The findings show that indigenous farmers in SW China, coastal Kenya and the Bolivian Andes are already severely impacted by changes in climate, including drought, with serious consequences for crop production and food security. The scale of the changes, and the fact that they have occurred quite recently (in the last 10 or 20 years), suggests that they may be the result of human induced climate change.

  7. Ecología y ocupación del espacio en los Andes Tropicales durante los últimos veinte milenios

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1973-01-01

    Full Text Available Les Andes tropicales sont constituées par un ensemble de facettes écologiques dont le nombre est fonction du volume montagneux, du régime thermique a la base, de la diversité des modelés, du stock floristique, des effets de façade et d'abri, des modalités d'utilisation de l'espace. L'utilisation de ces facettes par les sociétés d'abord non agricoles, ensuite agricoles, a été très différente. Dans cette zone climatique les changements du climat au cours du Quaternaire ont moins affecté le milieu qu'aux latitudes moyennes, a l'exception des cotes touchées par les variations eustatiques. Aussi, une remarque importante est la constance de l'habitat au cours des 20 derniers millénaires, variant cependant en fonction des diverses facettes écologiques dont le comportement était différent suivant les modifications climatiques. Les glaciations dans les Andes sont relativement synchrones de celles des montagnes des latitudes moyennes, au moins pour le Quaternaire récent elles seraient dues a une meilleure distribution des précipitations au cours de l'année, a une nébulosité plus constante et a un abaissement des températures compris entre 5 et 9º. Les avancées glaciaires entre 20.000 et 16.000 et 14.000 et 10.000 ans BP ont eu des conséquences diverses suivant les milieux humides ou secs et les effets de dominance (en général glace au dessus de 4.000 m mais, jusque vers 2.900 m en Colombie et seulement 4.800 m dans les Andes sèches. Des processus périglaciaires se développent sur 1.000-1.500 m en contrebas dans les Andes sèches alors qu'ils n'affectent qu'une marge très étroite dans les Andes humides (500 m. L'englacement n'a jamais constitué une coupure dans la circulation N-S dans les Andes. Si la haute montagne entre 5 et 10º S était difficilement franchissable, les vallées et bassins intra andins situés entre 1.500 et 3.400 m étaient tièdes, avec une humidité mieux répartie durant l'année, moins secs qu

  8. Over three millennia of mercury pollution in the Peruvian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cooke, Colin A.; Balcom, Prentiss H.; Biester, Harald; Wolfe, Alexander P.

    2009-01-01

    We present unambiguous records of preindustrial atmospheric mercury (Hg) pollution, derived from lake-sediment cores collected near Huancavelica, Peru, the largest Hg deposit in the New World. Intensive Hg mining first began ca. 1400 BC, predating the emergence of complex Andean societies, and signifying that the region served as a locus for early Hg extraction. The earliest mining targeted cinnabar (HgS) for the production of vermillion. Pre-Colonial Hg burdens peak ca. 500 BC and ca. 1450 AD, corresponding to the heights of the Chavín and Inca states, respectively. During the Inca, Colonial, and industrial intervals, Hg pollution became regional, as evidenced by a third lake record ≈225 km distant from Huancavelica. Measurements of sediment-Hg speciation reveal that cinnabar dust was initially the dominant Hg species deposited, and significant increases in deposition were limited to the local environment. After conquest by the Inca (ca. 1450 AD), smelting was adopted at the mine and Hg pollution became more widely circulated, with the deposition of matrix-bound phases of Hg predominating over cinnabar dust. Our results demonstrate the existence of a major Hg mining industry at Huancavelica spanning the past 3,500 years, and place recent Hg enrichment in the Andes in a broader historical context. PMID:19451629

  9. A 22,000-Year Record of Monsoonal Precipitation from Northern Chile's Atacama Desert.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Betancourt; Latorre; Rech; Quade; Rylander

    2000-09-01

    Fossil rodent middens and wetland deposits from the central Atacama Desert (22 degrees to 24 degrees S) indicate increasing summer precipitation, grass cover, and groundwater levels from 16.2 to 10.5 calendar kiloyears before present (ky B.P.). Higher elevation shrubs and summer-flowering grasses expanded downslope across what is now the edge of Absolute Desert, a broad expanse now largely devoid of rainfall and vegetation. Paradoxically, this pluvial period coincided with the summer insolation minimum and reduced adiabatic heating over the central Andes. Summer precipitation over the central Andes and central Atacama may depend on remote teleconnections between seasonal insolation forcing in both hemispheres, the Asian monsoon, and Pacific sea surface temperature gradients. A less pronounced episode of higher groundwater levels in the central Atacama from 8 to 3 ky B.P. conflicts with an extreme lowstand of Lake Titicaca, indicating either different climatic forcing or different response times and sensitivities to climatic change.

  10. Microfaunal analysis of late Quaternary deposits of the northern Bering Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDougall, K.

    1982-01-01

    Holocene microfaunal associations and distribution patterns define three inner-shelf (1-20m) biofacies in Norton Sound, northern Bering Sea. The Holocene facies relations are the basis for interpreting early Holocene and late Pleistocene environmental conditions in the NE Bering Sea area. Norton Sound cores provide evidence of two marine transgressions and a varying river input.-from Author

  11. A new high-altitude species of centipede from the Andes of Ecuador (Chilopoda, Geophilomorpha, Schendylidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pereira, Luis Alberto

    2018-01-18

    Pectiniunguis aequatorialis sp. nov. (Chilopoda: Geophilomorpha: Schendylidae) is described and illustrated on the basis of specimens collected in the Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve in the High Andes of Ecuador. The new species is characterized by having ventral pore-fields on the anterior region of the trunk only, a trait that is shared by a single Neotropical congener: Pectiniunguis ascendens Pereira, Minelli Barbieri, 1994 to which it is similar and is compared taxonomically. This is only the second report of a species of the genus Pectiniunguis Bollman, 1889 from mainland Ecuador. The other taxon is Pectiniunguis roigi Pereira, Foddai Minelli, 2001, so far only known from the type locality, Limoncocha (Sucumbíos Province), and herein reported for the first time from Parque Nacional Sumaco Napo-Galeras (Napo Province).

  12. Observations of the Breakdown of Mountain Waves Over the Andes Lidar Observatory at Cerro Pachon on 8/9 July 2012

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hecht, J. H.; Fritts, D. C.; Wang, L.; Gelinas, L. J.; Rudy, R. J.; Walterscheid, R. L.; Taylor, M. J.; Pautet, P. D.; Smith, S.; Franke, S. J.

    2018-01-01

    Although mountain waves (MWs) are thought to be a ubiquitous feature of the wintertime southern Andes stratosphere, it was not known whether these waves propagated up to the mesopause region until Smith et al. (2009) confirmed their presence via airglow observations. The new Andes Lidar Observatory at Cerro Pachon in Chile provided the opportunity for a further study of these waves. Since MWs have near-zero phase speed, and zero wind lines often occur in the winter upper mesosphere (80 to 100 km altitude) region due to the reversal of the zonal mean and tidal wind, MW breakdown may routinely occur at these altitudes. Here we report on very high spatial/temporal resolution observations of the initiation of MW breakdown in the mesopause region. Because the waves are nearly stationary, the breakdown process was observed over several hours; a much longer interval than has previously been observed for any gravity wave breakdown. During the breakdown process observations were made of initial horseshoe-shaped vortices, leading to successive vortex rings, as is also commonly seen in Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of idealized and multiscale gravity wave breaking. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) structures were also observed to form. Comparing the structure of observed KHI with the results of existing DNS allowed an estimate of the turbulent kinematic viscosity. This viscosity was found to be around 25 m2/s, a value larger than the nominal viscosity that is used in models.

  13. Vitamin D status is associated with underweight and stunting in children aged 6-36 months residing in the Ecuadorian Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokhtar, Rana R; Holick, Michael F; Sempértegui, Fernando; Griffiths, Jeffrey K; Estrella, Bertha; Moore, Lynn L; Fox, Matthew P; Hamer, Davidson H

    2017-11-22

    There is limited knowledge on vitamin D status of children residing in the Andes and its association with undernutrition. We evaluated the vitamin D status of children residing in a low socio-economic status (SES) setting in the Ecuadorian Andes and assessed the association between vitamin D status, stunting and underweight. We hypothesized that children who were underweight would have lower serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and lower 25(OH)D levels would be associated with a higher risk of stunting. We conducted a cross-sectional secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial, the Vitamin A, Zinc and Pneumonia study. Children had serum 25(OH)D concentrations measured. A sensitivity analysis was undertaken to determine a vitamin D cut-off specific for our endpoints. Associations between serum 25(OH)D and underweight (defined as weight-for-age Z-score≤-1) and stunting (defined as height-for-age Z-score≤-2) were assessed using multivariate logistic regression. Children residing in five low-SES peri-urban neighbourhoods near Quito, Ecuador. Children (n 516) aged 6-36 months. Mean serum 25(OH)D concentration was 58·0 (sd 17·7) nmol/l. Sensitivity analysis revealed an undernutrition-specific 25(OH)D cut-off of DDD levels were more likely to be stunted (aOR=2·8; 95 % CI 1·6, 4·7). Low serum 25(OH)D levels were more common in underweight and stunted Ecuadorian children.

  14. Mass balance and hydrological contribution of glaciers in northern and central Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacDonell, Shelley; Vivero, Sebastian; McPhee, James; Ayala, Alvaro; Pellicciotti, Francesca; Campos, Cristian; Caro, Dennys; Ponce, Rodrigo

    2016-04-01

    the course of a season than glacial ice, however there were marked differences between seasons. The modelling studies showed that in the northern (drier) site, during the lower precipitation season, glacier contribution could be as high as 20% verses only approximately 5% in 'wetter' periods. Comparatively, in central Chile, glaciers contributed approximately 15% during 'wetter' periods, and as much as 35% of total streamflow during the extremely dry year. This study suggests that the continuation of long-term glacier monitoring projects in the semi-arid Andes is necessary in order to better constrain hydrological models in these environments.

  15. High-resolution dynamic downscaling of CMIP5 output over the Tropical Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reichler, Thomas; Andrade, Marcos; Ohara, Noriaki

    2015-04-01

    Our project is targeted towards making robust predictions of future changes in climate over the tropical part of the South American Andes. This goal is challenging, since tropical lowlands, steep mountains, and snow covered subarctic surfaces meet over relatively short distances, leading to distinct climate regimes within the same domain and pronounced spatial gradients in virtually every climate quantity. We use an innovative approach to solve this problem, including several quadruple nested versions of WRF, a systematic validation strategy to find the version of WRF that best fits our study region, spatial resolutions at the kilometer scale, 20-year-long simulation periods, and bias-corrected output from various CMIP5 simulations that also include the multi-model mean of all CMIP5 models. We show that the simulated changes in climate are consistent with the results from the global climate models and also consistent with two different versions of WRF. We also discuss the expected changes in snow and ice, derived from off-line coupling the regional simulations to a carefully calibrated snow and ice model.

  16. Evaluation of TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA performance in the Central Andes region and its dependency on spatial and temporal resolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. L. M. Scheel

    2011-08-01

    Full Text Available Climate time series are of major importance for base line studies for climate change impact and adaptation projects. However, for instance, in mountain regions and in developing countries there exist significant gaps in ground based climate records in space and time. Specifically, in the Peruvian Andes spatially and temporally coherent precipitation information is a prerequisite for ongoing climate change adaptation projects in the fields of water resources, disasters and food security. The present work aims at evaluating the ability of Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA to estimate precipitation rates at daily 0.25° × 0.25° scale in the Central Andes and the dependency of the estimate performance on changing spatial and temporal resolution. Comparison of the TMPA product with gauge measurements in the regions of Cuzco, Peru and La Paz, Bolivia were carried out and analysed statistically. Large biases are identified in both investigation areas in the estimation of daily precipitation amounts. The occurrence of strong precipitation events was well assessed, but their intensities were underestimated. TMPA estimates for La Paz show high false alarm ratio.

    The dependency of the TMPA estimate quality with changing resolution was analysed by comparisons of 1-, 7-, 15- and 30-day sums for Cuzco, Peru. The correlation of TMPA estimates with ground data increases strongly and almost linearly with temporal aggregation. The spatial aggregation to 0.5°, 0.75° and 1° grid box averaged precipitation and its comparison to gauge data of the same areas revealed no significant change in correlation coefficients and estimate performance.

    In order to profit from the TMPA combination product on a daily basis, a procedure to blend it with daily precipitation gauge measurements is proposed.

    Different sources of errors and uncertainties introduced by the sensors, sensor

  17. The Mass Elevation Effect of the Central Andes and Its Implications for the Southern Hemisphere's Highest Treeline

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenhui He

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available One of the highest treelines in the world is at 4810 m above sea level on the Sajama Volcano in the central Andes. The climatological cause of that exceptionally high treeline position is still unclear. Although it has been suggested that the mass elevation effect (MEE explains the upward shift of treelines in the Altiplano region, the magnitude of MEE has not yet been quantified for that region. This paper defines MEE as the air temperature difference in summer at the same elevation between the inner mountains/plateaus (Altiplano and the free atmosphere above the adjacent lowlands of the Andean Cordillera. The Altiplano air temperature was obtained from the Global Historical Climatology Network-Monthly temperature database, and the air temperature above the adjacent lowlands was interpolated based on the National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research Reanalysis 1 data set. We analyzed the mean air temperature differences for January, July, and the warm months from October to April. The air temperature was mostly higher on the Altiplano than over the neighboring lowlands at the same altitude. The air temperature difference increased from the outer Andean east-facing slope to the interior of the Altiplano in summer, and it increased from high latitudes to low latitudes in winter. The mean air temperature in the Altiplano in summer is approximately 5 K higher than it is above the adjacent lowlands at the same mean elevation, averaging about 3700 m above sea level. This upward shift of isotherms in the inner part of the Cordillera enables the treeline to climb to 4810 m, with shrub-size trees reaching even higher. Therefore, the MEE explains the occurrence of one of the world’s highest treelines in the central Andes.

  18. Eocene extensional exhumation of basement and arc rocks along southwesternmost Peru, Central Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noury, Mélanie; Bernet, Matthias; Sempéré, Thierry

    2014-05-01

    The overthickened crust of the current Central Andes is commonly viewed as the result of tectonic shortening. However, in the present-day terrestrial forearc and arc of southwesternmost Peru, crustal thickness increases from 30 km along the coastline to >60 km below the active arc, whereas the upper crust exhibits little to no evidence of crustal shortening and, in constrast, many extensional features. How (and when) crustal overthickness was acquired in this region is thus little understood. Because crustal overthickening often results in extensional collapse and/or significant erosion, here we address this issue through a regional-scale study of exhumation using fission-track thermochronology. The limited fission-track data previously available in the area suggested that exhumation began during the Mesozoic. In this study, we present new apatite and zircon fission-track data obtained along the current terrestrial forearc of southwesternmost Peru. This relatively restricted area presents the interest of providing extensive outcrops of Precambrian to Ordovician basement and Early Jurassic to Late Cretaceous arc plutons. In order to compare the chronology of exhumation of these units, we performed extensive sampling for fission-track dating, as well as structural mapping. Our results indicate that the basement rocks and Jurassic plutons that crop out in the Arequipa region, where the crust is now >50 km-thick, experienced a rapid cooling through the 240-110°C temperature range between ~65 and ~35 Ma. This period of rapid exhumation coincided in time with the accumulation of terrestrial forearc deposits (the Lower Moquegua Group), that exhibit many syn-sedimentary extensional features and are bounded by conspicuous normal faults, specifically along the region where intense activity of the main arc between ~90 and ~60 Ma had led to voluminous magma emplacement. This close succession of (1) intense magmatic activity and (2) regional-scale exhumation associated with

  19. Socioeconomic status and chronic child malnutrition: Wealth and maternal education matter more in the Peruvian Andes than nationally.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urke, Helga B; Bull, Torill; Mittelmark, Maurice B

    2011-10-01

    This study investigated the association of parents' socioeconomic status (SES) with child stunting in the Peruvian Andes and in Peru nationally. It was hypothesized that the relationship of SES to child stunting would be weaker in the Andean compared with the national sample. This is consistent with earlier research indicating that the relationship of SES to health may be weak in poor regions. The data were from the Demographic and Health Survey 2004 to 2006. Two samples of children 3 to 60 months old were compared: a national sample (n = 1426) and an Andean sample (n = 543). Malnutrition was measured using the indicator "stunting," which is small stature for age. Socioeconomic status was measured using parental education, occupation, and household wealth index (WI). In both samples, SES was significantly related to stunting. The odds of stunting in the poorest WI quintile were significantly higher than in the richest quintile. The same pattern was observed in children of mothers having incomplete primary education compared with children of mothers having complete secondary or higher education. The odds of stunting were significantly lower in children of mothers working at home compared with mothers in professional occupations. The associations of WI and maternal education with stunting were significantly stronger in the Andean compared with the national sample; the study did not find support for the hypothesis. Even in very poor regions such as the Andes, SES may be associated with child health, suggesting the importance of public health measures to overcome the health disadvantages experienced by children living in low SES households. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Categorías conceptuales sobre la producción y gerencia del conocimiento en la Universidad de los Andes (ULA)

    OpenAIRE

    Rincón de Parra, Haydeé Cecilia; Briceño, Magally

    2008-01-01

    Esta investigación presenta como objetivo construir categorías conceptuales, a partir de lo expresado por un grupo de diez profesores-investigadores, sobre la forma en que se gerencia el proceso de producción de conocimiento en la Universidad de Los Andes. Para la recogida y análisis de los datos se consideraron algunos lineamientos de la Teoría Fundamentada. Se construyeron cinco categorías conceptuales: a) producción de conocimiento, b) filosofía del conocimiento como sustento, c) difusión ...

  1. Climate change impacts on municipal, mining, and agricultural water supplies in Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel G. Neary; Pablo Garcia-Chevesich

    2008-01-01

    Agricultural and municipal water supply interests in Chile rely heavily on streams which flow from the Andes Mountains. The highly productive Copiapo agricultural region, on the southern edge of the Atacama Desert, is a major supplier of fruit and other crops for the Northern American market during winter. This region relies entirely on snow and icemelt streams to...

  2. Ecology, Genetic Diversity, and Phylogeographic Structure of Andes Virus in Humans and Rodents in Chile▿

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medina, Rafael A.; Torres-Perez, Fernando; Galeno, Hector; Navarrete, Maritza; Vial, Pablo A.; Palma, R. Eduardo; Ferres, Marcela; Cook, Joseph A.; Hjelle, Brian

    2009-01-01

    Andes virus (ANDV) is the predominant etiologic agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in southern South America. In Chile, serologically confirmed human hantavirus infections have occurred throughout a wide latitudinal distribution extending from the regions of Valparaíso (32 to 33°S) to Aysén (46°S) in southern Patagonia. In this study, we found seropositive rodents further north in the Coquimbo region (30°S) in Chile. Rodent seroprevalence was 1.4%, with Oligoryzomys longicaudatus displaying the highest seroprevalence (5.9%), followed by Abrothrix longipilis (1.9%) and other species exhibiting ≤0.6% seropositivity. We sequenced partial ANDV small (S) segment RNA from 6 HCPS patients and 32 rodents of four different species collected throughout the known range of hantavirus infection in Chile. Phylogenetic analyses showed two major ANDV South (ANDV Sout) clades, congruent with two major Chilean ecoregions, Mediterranean (Chilean matorral [shrubland]) and Valdivian temperate forest. Human and rodent samples grouped according to geographic location. Phylogenetic comparative analyses of portions of S and medium segments (encoding glycoproteins Gn and Gc) from a subset of rodent specimens exhibited similar topologies, corroborating two major ANDV Sout clades in Chile and suggesting that yet unknown factors influence viral gene flow and persistence throughout the two Chilean ecoregions. Genetic algorithms for recombination detection identified recombination events within the S segment. Molecular demographic analyses showed that the virus is undergoing purifying selection and demonstrated a recent exponential growth in the effective number of ANDV Sout infections in Chile that correlates with the increased number of human cases reported. Although we determined virus sequences from four rodent species, our results confirmed O. longicaudatus as the primary ANDV Sout reservoir in Chile. While evidence of geographic differentiation exists, a single

  3. Privatizing Water in the Chilean Andes: The Case of Las Vegas de Chiu-Chiu

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuel Prieto

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The Chilean water model has been described as a textbook example of a free-market water system. This article contributes to the critiques of this model by showing the effect of its implementation in the Atacameño community of Chiu-Chiu, located in the Atacama Desert in the south-central Andes. In this community, the privatization of water rights ignored local water management practices that had produced a high-altitude wetland (known as a vega. This led to the inhabitants’ dispossession of crucial water rights and to wetland degradation. This process belies statements that the Chilean model relies on an unregulated market and instead highlights the state’s role in marginalizing local irrigation practices by reducing the water consumption of the indigenous population while keeping the copper mining industry (the main source of Chilean income and related growing urban populations supplied with water.

  4. Groundwater flow in a closed basin with a saline shallow lake in a volcanic area: Laguna Tuyajto, northern Chilean Altiplano of the Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herrera, Christian; Custodio, Emilio; Chong, Guillermo; Lambán, Luis Javier; Riquelme, Rodrigo; Wilke, Hans; Jódar, Jorge; Urrutia, Javier; Urqueta, Harry; Sarmiento, Alvaro; Gamboa, Carolina; Lictevout, Elisabeth

    2016-01-15

    Laguna Tuyajto is a small, shallow saline water lake in the Andean Altiplano of northern Chile. In the eastern side it is fed by springs that discharge groundwater of the nearby volcanic aquifers. The area is arid: rainfall does not exceed 200mm/year in the rainiest parts. The stable isotopic content of spring water shows that the recharge is originated mainly from winter rain, snow melt, and to a lesser extent from some short and intense sporadic rainfall events. Most of the spring water outflowing in the northern side of Laguna Tuyajto is recharged in the Tuyajto volcano. Most of the spring water in the eastern side and groundwater are recharged at higher elevations, in the rims of the nearby endorheic basins of Pampa Colorada and Pampa Las Tecas to the East. The presence of tritium in some deep wells in Pampa Colorada and Pampa Las Tecas indicates recent recharge. Gas emission in recent volcanoes increase the sulfate content of atmospheric deposition and this is reflected in local groundwater. The chemical composition and concentration of spring waters are the result of meteoric water evapo-concentration, water-rock interaction, and mainly the dissolution of old and buried evaporitic deposits. Groundwater flow is mostly shallow due to a low permeability ignimbrite layer of regional extent, which also hinders brine spreading below and around the lake. High deep temperatures near the recent Tuyajto volcano explain the high dissolved silica contents and the δ(18)O shift to heavier values found in some of the spring waters. Laguna Tuyajto is a terminal lake where salts cumulate, mostly halite, but some brine transfer to the Salar de Aguas Calientes-3 cannot be excluded. The hydrogeological behavior of Laguna Tuyajto constitutes a model to understand the functioning of many other similar basins in other areas in the Andean Altiplano. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Nature: a colour comparison between Northern South Africa and Northern Australia

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Baumbach, J

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available During 1983 DSTO in Australia measured the reflectances of grass, trees and soil in northern Australia, using a custom-build spectroradiometer. During 2002 CSIR in South Africa performed similar measurements in northern South Africa, using a...

  6. Constuccion social de comuninad y migración en Usibamba : un estudio sobre el impacto de los procesos de globalización en los Andes centrales del Perú

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gilvonio Perez, J.M.

    2009-01-01

    The research for the thesis was conducted in the village of Usibamba, located in a high-Andean area called Alto Cunas east from the Mantaro Valley in the Peruvian Central Andes. Special attention was paid to the institutional context and the everyday life conditions in which the social construction

  7. A remote sensing assessment of the impact of the 2010 Maule, Chile earthquake (Mw 8.8) on the volcanoes of the southern Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pritchard, M. E.; Welch, M.; Jay, J.; Button, N.

    2011-12-01

    There are tantalizing, but controversial, indications that great earthquakes affect arc-wide volcanic activity. For example, analysis of historic eruptions at volcanoes of the southern Andes has shown that 3-4 eruptions were likely seismically triggered by Mw > 8 earthquakes in the Chile subduction zone -- particularly the 1906 and 1960 earthquakes (e.g., Watt et al., 2009). However, the 27 February 2010 Mw 8.8 Maule, Chile earthquake that ruptured the subduction zone between the 1960 and 1906 earthquakes does not appear to have triggered 3-4 volcanic eruptions in the same area in the 12 months after the event. In an effort to understand the relation between a large earthquake and volcanic unrest, we use a variety of satellite instruments to look for more subtle (i.e., not leading to eruption), but detectable change in thermal or deformation activity at the volcanoes of the southern Andes after the Maule earthquake and its aftershocks. For all of the volcanoes in the catalog of the Smithsonian Institution (approximately 80), we use nighttime MODIS and ASTER data to assess the thermal activity and ALOS InSAR data to characterize the surface deformation before and after the earthquake. The ALOS InSAR data are not ideal for detecting changes in deformation before and after the earthquake because of the small number of acquisitions in austral summer as well as ionospheric and tropospheric artifacts. We estimate that we could detect deformation > 5 cm/year. Similarly, the ASTER and MODIS data suffer respectively from poor temporal and spatial resolution of thermal anomalies. We update previous InSAR work that identified at least 8 areas of volcanic deformation in the southern Andes related to eruptive processes, subsidence of past lava flows, or surface uplift not associated with an eruption (Fournier et al., 2010). Of greatest interest are the two volcanic areas with the largest deformation signals between 2007-2008 (both > 15 cm/yr in the radar line of sight): Laguna

  8. Aplicación de tres índices bióticos en el río San Juan, Andes, Colombia (Application of three biotic indexes in the river San Juan, Andes, Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mailedt Paola Murillo Torrentes

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Durante los meses de febrero, mayo, agosto y octubre del año 2014, se evaluó la calidad del agua del río San Juan. Para tal fin se establecieron seis puntos de muestreo donde se recolectaron muestras de agua y macroinvertebrados acuáticos para los análisis fisicoquímicos e hidrobiológicos. Se aplicaron y modificaron los índices bióticos EPT (efemerópteros, plecópteros, tricópteros, BMWP/Col (Biological Monitoring Working Party y ASPT (Average Score per Taxon basados en las comunidades de macroinvertebrados acuáticos capturados. Los resultados de las variables fisicoquímicas y los índices bióticos indican que las estaciones E1 y E2 son las que presentan menor grado de contaminación, en las demás estaciones disminuye considerablemente la calidad del agua debido a las actividades económicas desarrolladas en el sector y a su cercanías con el casco urbano del municipio de Andes. De los tres índices analizados, el ASPT modificado y adaptado al río San Juan es el que mejor se relaciona con las condiciones ambientales del río en tanto las características de los macroinvertebrados acuáticos recolectados y analizados en el trayecto objeto de estudio. (Abstract. During the months of February, May, August and October 2014, the water quality of the San Juan River was assessed. To this aim, six sampling points were established, where water samples and macroinvertebrates for physical-chemical and hydrobiological analysis were collected. Three biotic indexes were applied and one modified: EPT (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, BMWP / Col (Biological Monitoring Working Party and ASPT (Average Score per Taxon based on the captured communities of aquatic macroinvertebrates. The results of the physical-chemical variables and biotic indixes indicate that E1 and E2 stations are those with lower degree of contamination, other stations considerably decreased water quality due to economic activities around, and the short distance with the

  9. Luchas y defensas escondidas. Pluralismo legal y cultural como una práctica de resistencia creativa en la gestión local del agua en los Andes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boelens, R.A.

    2011-01-01

    En los Andes, los derechos de agua se materializan en procesos de lucha social. El artículo examina cómo la lucha por el agua de los colectivos locales no puede comprenderse sin su enraizamiento en subcorrientes dinámicas: los cimientos multicapas, a menudo ocultos, de los derechos de agua. Aquí se

  10. Monograph of the Genus Elodea (Hydrocharitaceae: Part 2. The species found in the Andes and Western South America Monograph of the Genus Elodea (Hydrocharitaceae: Part 2. The species found in the Andes and Western South America

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    St. John Harold

    1964-12-01

    Full Text Available The genus Elodea Richard in Michaux was first published in 1803 (Fl. Bor.-Am. 1: 20, 1803, based upon the single species. E. Canadensis from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Though this was stated to have perfect flowers, it is now certain that the holotype specimens and the plants in nature are dioecious. Very abundant are plants bearing pistillate flowers with three stigmas and three acicular staminodia. Staminate plants are rare, but occur throughout the natural range of the species. Their flowers have nine stamens, but no trace of a gynoecium. Two well known species are now separated and placed in the genus Egeria Planch., a group just monographed by the writer. Left in Elodea are seventeen species. These are to be found in two broad areas, the northern ones in the United States and southern Canada; the southern ones in South America. As yet there is no evidence of any indigenous species of Elodea in Central America.The genus Elodea Richard in Michaux was first published in 1803(Fl. Bor.-Am. 1: 20, 1803, based upon the single species. E. Canadensis from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Though this was stated to have perfect flowers, it is now certain that the holotype specimens and the plants in nature are dioecious. Very abundant are plants bearing pistillate flowers with three stigmas and three acicular staminodia. Staminate plants are rare, but occur throughout the natural range of the species. Their flowers have nine stamens, but no trace of a gynoecium. Two well known species are now separated and placed in the genus Egeria Planch., a group just monographed by the writer. Left in Elodeaare seventeen species. These are to be found in two broad areas, the northern ones in the United Statesand southern Canada; the southern ones in South America. As yet there is no evidence of any indigenous species of Elodea in Central America.

  11. Low palaeoelevation of the northern Lhasa terrane during late Eocene: Fossil foraminifera and stable isotope evidence from the Gerze Basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Yi; Zhang, Kexin; Garzione, Carmala N; Xu, Yadong; Song, Bowen; Ji, Junliang

    2016-06-08

    The Lhasa terrane is a key region for understanding the paleoelevation of the southern Tibetan Plateau after India-Asia collision. The Gerze Basin, located in the northern part of the Lhasa terrane, is a shortening-related basin. We discovered Lagena laevis (Bandy) fossils in upper Eocene strata of the Gerze Basin. This type of foraminifera is associated with lagoon and estuarine environments, indicating that the northern part of the Lhasa terrane was near sea level during the late Eocene. We speculate that these foraminifera were transported inland by storm surges to low elevation freshwater lakes during times of marine transgressions. This inference is consistent with the relatively positive δ(18)O values in carbonate from the same deposits that indicate low palaeoelevations close to sea level. Considering the palaeoelevation results from the nearby Oligocene basins at a similar latitude and the volcanic history of the Lhasa terrane, we infer that large-magnitude surface uplift of the northern Lhasa terrane occurred between late Eocene and late Oligocene time.

  12. Extension of the analytic nodal diffusion solver ANDES to triangular-Z geometry and coupling with COBRA-IIIc for hexagonal core analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lozano, Juan-Andres; Jimenez, Javier; Garcia-Herranz, Nuria; Aragones, Jose-Maria

    2010-01-01

    In this paper the extension of the multigroup nodal diffusion code ANDES, based on the Analytic Coarse Mesh Finite Difference (ACMFD) method, from Cartesian to hexagonal geometry is presented, as well as its coupling with the thermal-hydraulic (TH) code COBRA-IIIc for hexagonal core analysis. In extending the ACMFD method to hexagonal assemblies, triangular-Z nodes are used. In the radial plane, a direct transverse integration procedure is applied along the three directions that are orthogonal to the triangle interfaces. The triangular nodalization avoids the singularities, that appear when applying transverse integration to hexagonal nodes, and allows the advantage of the mesh subdivision capabilities implicit within that geometry. As for the thermal-hydraulics, the extension of the coupling scheme to hexagonal geometry has been performed with the capability to model the core using either assembly-wise channels (hexagonal mesh) or a higher refinement with six channels per fuel assembly (triangular mesh). Achieving this level of TH mesh refinement with COBRA-IIIc code provides a better estimation of the in-core 3D flow distribution, improving the TH core modelling. The neutronics and thermal-hydraulics coupled code, ANDES/COBRA-IIIc, previously verified in Cartesian geometry core analysis, can also be applied now to full three-dimensional VVER core problems, as well as to other thermal and fast hexagonal core designs. Verification results are provided, corresponding to the different cases of the OECD/NEA-NSC VVER-1000 Coolant Transient Benchmarks.

  13. Understanding Recent Trends in Freezing Level Height over the Tropical Andes Mountains of South America: An Investigation of Reanalysis Products and GEOSCCM Integrations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaitchik, B. F.; Russell, A.; Gnanadesikan, A.

    2015-12-01

    As the global climate warms, the height of the 0°C isotherm - aka the freezing level height (FLH) - rises, especially over mountainous regions. Over the past few decades, FLH in the tropical Andes Mountains of South America has been rising at a rate that is 2 to 3 times faster than would be expected considering the zonally-averaged upper troposphere temperature trends and the recent cooling of Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures. Rising FLH could have devastating impacts in this region where most of the dry season runoff comes from seasonal snow melt and glacial melt. Yet, is unclear why FLH is rising so rapidly in this particular area and what the quantitative implications will be for tropical Andean water resources. Reanalysis products tend to disagree on the spatial pattern and strength of FLH changes which confounds the issue by making it difficult to uncover the driving mechanisms of these local changes in FLH. Indeed, there are several possible factors that may be contributing to the unprecedented rise in FLH over the Andes (above and beyond the normally expected effects of greenhouse gases) of which the most likely actors are: changes in the state of the tropical Pacific Ocean, changes in sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, shifts in the Hadley cell, indirect effects of stratospheric ozone depletion and recent recovery, and local thermodynamic land-atmosphere feedbacks. To better understand the changes in FLH, which will ultimately contribute to the effort to predict effects on Andean water resources, we analyze FLH in several forcing-separated integrations of the Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry-Climate Model (GEOSCCM). By separating out the various forcings (greenhouse gases, sea surface temperatures, ozone depleting substances, volcanic eruptions, and solar fluctuations), we are able to develop hypotheses for mechanistic drivers of FLH changes which can be rigorously tested. These efforts will contribute to the understanding of

  14. Titan's Stratospheric Condensibles at High Northern Latitudes During Northern Winter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Carrie; Samuelson, R.; Achterberg, R.

    2012-01-01

    The Infrared Interferometer Spectrometer (IRIS) instrument on board Voyager 1 caught the first glimpse of an unidentified particulate feature in Titan's stratosphere that spectrally peaks at 221 per centimeter. Until recently, this feature that we have termed 'the haystack,' has been seen persistently at high northern latitudes with the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) instrument onboard Cassini, The strength of the haystack emission feature diminishes rapidly with season, becoming drastically reduced at high northern latitudes, as Titan transitions from northern winter into spring, In contrast to IRIS whose shortest wavenumber was 200 per centimeter, CIRS extends down to 10 per centimeter, thus revealing an entirely unexplored spectral region in which nitrile ices have numerous broad lattice vibration features, Unlike the haystack, which is only found at high northern latitudes during northern winter/early northern spring, this geometrically thin nitrile cloud pervades Titan's lower stratosphere, spectrally peaking at 160 per centimeter, and is almost global in extent spanning latitudes 85 N to 600 S, The inference of nitrile ices are consistent with the highly restricted altitude ranges over which these features are observed, and appear to be dominated by a mixture of HCN and HC3N, The narrow range in altitude over which the nitrile ices extend is unlike the haystack, whose vertical distribution is significantly broader, spanning roughly 70 kilometers in altitude in Titan's lower stratosphere, The nitrile clouds that CIRS observes are located in a dynamically stable region of Titan's atmosphere, whereas CH4 clouds, which ordinarily form in the troposphere, form in a more dynamically unstable region, where convective cloud systems tend to occur. In the unusual situation where Titan's tropopause cools significantly from the HASI 70.5K temperature minimum, CH4 should condense in Titan's lower stratosphere, just like the aforementioned nitrile clouds, although

  15. Pando Province, Northern Bolivia, Shaded Relief and Colored Height

    Science.gov (United States)

    2003-01-01

    Pando Province, Bolivia, and adjacent parts of Brazil and Peru are seen in this visualization of Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) elevation data covering part of the Amazon Basin. Most of this region is covered by tropical rainforest and is still largely unaltered by development, though new roads are providing increased access to the area, leading to changes in the landscape. SRTM data provide the first detailed three-dimensional look at the landforms of this region, and the Amazon Basin in its entirety, and will be particularly helpful in understanding the hydrologic patterns as environmental management becomes increasingly important.River drainage across this area flows generally east-northeast away from the nearby Andes Mountains. The most prominent river channels seen here are the Purus River in the northwest (upper left) and the Madre de Dios River, which crosses the south central (lower central) part of this view. The Beni and Mamore Rivers combine with the Madre de Dios in the eastern (right central) area to form the Madeira River, which flows northeast to eventually meet the Amazon River near Manaus.The Trans-Amazon Highway crosses the northern half of the scene, and subtle evidence of rainforest clear cutting, facilitated by this easy access, is apparent just north of the scene center, even at the low resolution of this display (740 m or 2428 feet). As seen here, clear cutting patterns in the rainforest typically show a pattern of parallel lines. SRTM mapped the shape of the Earths solid surface (not exclusively the ground surface), which includes to some degree land covers such as forests. Thus, SRTM data are capable of revealing deforestation patterns.For a smaller, annotated version of this image, please select Figure 1, below: [figure removed for brevity, see original site] (image size: 184k JPEG)A combination of visualization methods was used to produce this image, based on shading and color coding. A shade image was derived by computing

  16. Evaporite karst of northern lower Michigan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, T.J.

    1997-01-01

    Michigan has three main zones of evaporite karst: collapse breccia in Late Silurian deposits of the Mackinac Straits region; breccia, collapse sinks, and mega-block collapse in Middle Devonian deposits of Northern Lower Michigan, which overlaps the preceding area; and areas of soil swallows in sinks of Mississippian deposits between Turner and Alabaster in Arenac and Iosco counties, and near Grand Rapids in Kent County. The author has focused his study on evaporite karst of the Middle Devonian deposits. The Middle Devonian depos its are the Detroit River Group: a series consisting of limestone, dolomite, shale, salt, gypsum, and anhydrite. The group occurs from subcrop, near the surface, to nearly 1400 feet deep from the northern tip of the Southern Peninsula to the south edge of the "solution front" Glacial drift is from zero to 350 feet thick. Oil and gas exploration has encountered some significant lost-circulation zones throughout the area. Drilling without fluid returns, casing-seal failures, and lost holes are strong risks in some parts of the region. Lost fluid returns near the top of the group in nearby areas indicate some karst development shortly after deposition. Large and irregular lost-circulation zones, linear and patch trends of large sink holes, and 0.25 mile wide blocks of down-dropped land in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan were caused by surface- and ground-water movement along faults into the Detroit River Group. Glaciation has removed some evidence of the karst area at the surface. Sinkhole development, collapse valleys, and swallows developed since retreat of the glacier reveal an active solution front in the Detroit River Group.

  17. Variation in the structure of bird nests between northern Manitoba and southeastern Ontario.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carla A Crossman

    Full Text Available Traits that converge in appearance under similar environmental conditions among phylogenetically independent lineages are thought to represent adaptations to local environments. We tested for convergence in nest morphology and composition of birds breeding in two ecologically different locations in Canada: Churchill in northern Manitoba and Elgin in southeastern Ontario. We examined nests from four families of passerine birds (Turdidae: Turdus, Parulidae: Dendroica, Emberizidae: Passerculus and Fringillidae: Carduelis where closely related populations or species breed in both locations. Nests of American Robins, Yellow Warblers, and Carduelis finches had heavier nest masses, and tended to have thicker nest-walls, in northern Manitoba compared with conspecifics or congenerics breeding in southeastern Ontario. Together, all species showed evidence for wider internal and external nest-cup diameters in northern Manitoba, while individual species showed varying patterns for internal nest-cup and external nest depths. American Robins, Yellow Warblers, and Carduelis finches in northern Manitoba achieved heavier nest masses in different ways. American Robins increased all materials in similar proportions, and Yellow Warblers and Common Redpolls used greater amounts of select materials. While changes in nest composition vary uniquely for each species, the pattern of larger nests in northern Manitoba compared to southeastern Ontario in three of our four phylogenetically-independent comparisons suggests that birds are adapting to similar selective pressures between locations.

  18. Variation in the structure of bird nests between northern Manitoba and southeastern Ontario.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crossman, Carla A; Rohwer, Vanya G; Martin, Paul R

    2011-04-28

    Traits that converge in appearance under similar environmental conditions among phylogenetically independent lineages are thought to represent adaptations to local environments. We tested for convergence in nest morphology and composition of birds breeding in two ecologically different locations in Canada: Churchill in northern Manitoba and Elgin in southeastern Ontario. We examined nests from four families of passerine birds (Turdidae: Turdus, Parulidae: Dendroica, Emberizidae: Passerculus and Fringillidae: Carduelis) where closely related populations or species breed in both locations. Nests of American Robins, Yellow Warblers, and Carduelis finches had heavier nest masses, and tended to have thicker nest-walls, in northern Manitoba compared with conspecifics or congenerics breeding in southeastern Ontario. Together, all species showed evidence for wider internal and external nest-cup diameters in northern Manitoba, while individual species showed varying patterns for internal nest-cup and external nest depths. American Robins, Yellow Warblers, and Carduelis finches in northern Manitoba achieved heavier nest masses in different ways. American Robins increased all materials in similar proportions, and Yellow Warblers and Common Redpolls used greater amounts of select materials. While changes in nest composition vary uniquely for each species, the pattern of larger nests in northern Manitoba compared to southeastern Ontario in three of our four phylogenetically-independent comparisons suggests that birds are adapting to similar selective pressures between locations.

  19. Variation in the Structure of Bird Nests between Northern Manitoba and Southeastern Ontario

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crossman, Carla A.; Rohwer, Vanya G.; Martin, Paul R.

    2011-01-01

    Traits that converge in appearance under similar environmental conditions among phylogenetically independent lineages are thought to represent adaptations to local environments. We tested for convergence in nest morphology and composition of birds breeding in two ecologically different locations in Canada: Churchill in northern Manitoba and Elgin in southeastern Ontario. We examined nests from four families of passerine birds (Turdidae: Turdus, Parulidae: Dendroica, Emberizidae: Passerculus and Fringillidae: Carduelis) where closely related populations or species breed in both locations. Nests of American Robins, Yellow Warblers, and Carduelis finches had heavier nest masses, and tended to have thicker nest-walls, in northern Manitoba compared with conspecifics or congenerics breeding in southeastern Ontario. Together, all species showed evidence for wider internal and external nest-cup diameters in northern Manitoba, while individual species showed varying patterns for internal nest-cup and external nest depths. American Robins, Yellow Warblers, and Carduelis finches in northern Manitoba achieved heavier nest masses in different ways. American Robins increased all materials in similar proportions, and Yellow Warblers and Common Redpolls used greater amounts of select materials. While changes in nest composition vary uniquely for each species, the pattern of larger nests in northern Manitoba compared to southeastern Ontario in three of our four phylogenetically-independent comparisons suggests that birds are adapting to similar selective pressures between locations. PMID:21552515

  20. Relationships between mineralization and silicic volcanism in the central Andes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Francis, P.W.; Halls, C.; Baker, M.C.W.

    1983-10-01

    Studies of late Tertiary silicic volcanic centers in the Western and Eastern Cordilleras of the Central Andes show that three volcanic environments are appropriate sites for mineralization: (1) ring-fracture extrusions post-dating large calderas; (2) similar extrusions within ignimbrite shields; and (3) isolated, small silicic volcanoes. Subvolcanic tin mineralization in the Eastern Cordillera is located in silicic stocks and associated breccias of Miocene age. The Cerro Rico stock, Potosi, Bolivia, contains tin and silver mineralization and has an intrusion age apparently millions of years younger than that of the associated Kari Kari caldera. Similar age relationships between mineralization and caldera formation have been described from the San Juan province, Colorado. The vein deposits of Chocaya, southern Bolivia, were emplaced in the lower part of an ignimbrite shield, a type of volcanic edifice as yet unrecognized in comparable areas of silicic volcanism. The El Salvador porphyry copper deposit, Chile, is related to silicic stocks which may have been intruded along a caldera ring fracture. Existing models for the genesis of porphyry copper deposits suggest that they formed in granodioritic stocks located in the infrastructure of andesitic stratovolcanoes. The dome of La Soufriere, Guadeloupe is proposed as a modern analog for the surface expression of subvolcanic mineralization processes, the phreatic eruptions there suggesting the formation of hydrothermal breccia bodies in depth.

  1. Endemic human fasciolosis in the Bolivian Altiplano.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parkinson, M; O'Neill, S M; Dalton, J P

    2007-05-01

    Fasciolosis, caused by trematodes of the genus Fasciola, is an emerging disease of humans. One of the highest levels of human fasciolosis hepatica is found amongst the indigenous Aymaran people of the Northern Bolivian Altiplano. A meta-analysis of epidemiological surveys from 38 communities in the region demonstrates that fasciolosis has been endemic in the region since at least 1984 and is a zoonosis of rural communities. Human and bovine fasciolosis is associated with the communities lying in the plain from Lake Titicaca to La Paz, predominantly in the Los Andes province. In Los Andes incidences of up to 67% of population cohorts were found, and prevalence is age-related with the highest infection rate in children aged 8-11 years.

  2. Las sociedades anónimas cruzan los Andes: los inversores chilenos en Neuquén al comenzar el siglo XX

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Graciela Blanco

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available El territorio de Neuquén, en el norte de la Patagonia, atrajo la mirada de diversos inversores privados a partir del avance militar que realizó el Estado nacional sobre los grupos indígenas y de la conquista de las tierras del sur argentino; tierras que fueron ofrecidas a particulares en propiedad o arrendamiento en condiciones muy beneficiosas. Este trabajo analiza la conformación en Chile, en los primeros años del siglo XX, de sociedades anónimas que explicitaban como objetivo central la intención de comprar tierras a ambos lados de la Cordillera de los Andes para la explotación agroganadera y la comercialización, y estudia específicamente el origen, itinerario y organización productiva de una de esas sociedades en Neuquén.Neuquen territory, in the north of the Patagonia, attracted the look of diverse investors after from the military advance that realized the national State on the indigenous groups and of the conquest of the lands of the Argentine's south, lands that were offered to individuals in property or lease in very beneficial conditions. This work analyzes the conformation in Chile, in the first years of the 20th century, of joint-stock companies that stated explicitly as central aim the intention of buying lands on both sides of the Mountain chain of the Andes for the agricultural and livestock exploitation and the commercialization, and there studies specifically the origin, itinerary and productive organization of one of these companies in Neuquen.

  3. How well do Important Bird Areas represent species and minimize conservation conflict in the tropical Andes?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    O´Dea, Niall; Bastos Araujo, Miguel; Whittaker, Robert J.

    2006-01-01

    to develop an efficient, integrated network of sites to represent priority species. Reserve selection algorithms may serve this end by optimizing complementarity in species representation among selected sites, whether these sites are adopted independently or as a supplement to the existing reserve network....... As tools of site selection, they may be particularly useful in areas such as the tropical Andes where complex patterns of species disjunction and co-occurrence make the development of representative reserve networks particularly difficult. Furthermore, they facilitate making spatially explicit choices...... about how reserve sites are located in relation to human populations. We advocate their use not in replacement of approaches such as the IBA initiative but as an additional, complementary tool in ensuring that such reserve networks are developed as efficiently as practically possible....

  4. The Relative Impact of Climate Change on the Extinction Risk of Tree Species in the Montane Tropical Andes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tejedor Garavito, Natalia; Newton, Adrian C; Golicher, Duncan; Oldfield, Sara

    2015-01-01

    There are widespread concerns that anthropogenic climate change will become a major cause of global biodiversity loss. However, the potential impact of climate change on the extinction risk of species remains poorly understood, particularly in comparison to other current threats. The objective of this research was to examine the relative impact of climate change on extinction risk of upper montane tree species in the tropical Andes, an area of high biodiversity value that is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The extinction risk of 129 tree species endemic to the region was evaluated according to the IUCN Red List criteria, both with and without the potential impacts of climate change. Evaluations were supported by development of species distribution models, using three methods (generalized additive models, recursive partitioning, and support vector machines), all of which produced similarly high AUC values when averaged across all species evaluated (0.82, 0.86, and 0.88, respectively). Inclusion of climate change increased the risk of extinction of 18-20% of the tree species evaluated, depending on the climate scenario. The relative impact of climate change was further illustrated by calculating the Red List Index, an indicator that shows changes in the overall extinction risk of sets of species over time. A 15% decline in the Red List Index was obtained when climate change was included in this evaluation. While these results suggest that climate change represents a significant threat to tree species in the tropical Andes, they contradict previous suggestions that climate change will become the most important cause of biodiversity loss in coming decades. Conservation strategies should therefore focus on addressing the multiple threatening processes currently affecting biodiversity, rather than focusing primarily on potential climate change impacts.

  5. Macroinvertebrate community response to acid mine drainage in rivers of the High Andes (Bolivia)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Damme, Paul Andre; Hamel, Caroli; Ayala, Alfredo; Bervoets, Lieven

    2008-01-01

    Several High Andes Rivers are characterized by inorganic water pollution known as acid mine drainage (AMD). The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between metal concentrations in the sediments and the macroinvertebrate communities in two river basins affected by AMD. In general, the taxon diversity of the macroinvertebrate community at the family level was low. The concentrations of Cd, Cu, Zn, Pb and Ni at mining sites were higher than at unpolluted sites. The pH of the water was alkaline (7.0-8.5) in unpolluted sites, whereas it dropped to very low values (<3) at mining sites. Redundancy Analysis (RDA) showed that pH was the best predictor of macroinvertebrate community richness. The number of macroinvertebrate families decreased gradually with increasing acidity, both in pools and riffles, though it is suggested that riffle communities were more affected because they are in closer contact with the acid water. - Community response to AMD

  6. Experimental Andes virus infection in deer mice: characteristics of infection and clearance in a heterologous rodent host.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jessica R Spengler

    Full Text Available New World hantaviruses can cause hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome with high mortality in humans. Distinct virus species are hosted by specific rodent reservoirs, which also serve as the vectors. Although regional spillover has been documented, it is unknown whether rodent reservoirs are competent for infection by hantaviruses that are geographically separated, and known to have related, but distinct rodent reservoir hosts. We show that Andes virus (ANDV of South America, carried by the long tailed pygmy rice rat (Oligoryzomys longicaudatus, infects and replicates in vitro and in vivo in the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus, the reservoir host of Sin Nombre virus (SNV, found in North America. In experimentally infected deer mice, viral RNA was detected in the blood, lung, heart and spleen, but virus was cleared by 56 days post inoculation (dpi. All of the inoculated deer mice mounted a humoral immune response by 14 dpi, and produced measurable amounts of neutralizing antibodies by 21 dpi. An up-regulation of Ccl3, Ccl4, Ccl5, and Tgfb, a strong CD4⁺ T-cell response, and down-regulation of Il17, Il21 and Il23 occurred during infection. Infection was transient with an absence of clinical signs or histopathological changes. This is the first evidence that ANDV asymptomatically infects, and is immunogenic in deer mice, a non-natural host species of ANDV. Comparing the immune response in this model to that of the immune response in the natural hosts upon infection with their co-adapted hantaviruses may help clarify the mechanisms governing persistent infection in the natural hosts of hantaviruses.

  7. Climate change underlies global demographic, genetic, and cultural transitions in pre-Columbian southern Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fehren-Schmitz, Lars; Haak, Wolfgang; Mächtle, Bertil; Masch, Florian; Llamas, Bastien; Cagigao, Elsa Tomasto; Sossna, Volker; Schittek, Karsten; Isla Cuadrado, Johny; Eitel, Bernhard; Reindel, Markus

    2014-07-01

    Several archaeological studies in the Central Andes have pointed at the temporal coincidence of climatic fluctuations (both long- and short-term) and episodes of cultural transition and changes of socioeconomic structures throughout the pre-Columbian period. Although most scholars explain the connection between environmental and cultural changes by the impact of climatic alterations on the capacities of the ecosystems inhabited by pre-Columbian cultures, direct evidence for assumed demographic consequences is missing so far. In this study, we address directly the impact of climatic changes on the spatial population dynamics of the Central Andes. We use a large dataset of pre-Columbian mitochondrial DNA sequences from the northern Rio Grande de Nasca drainage (RGND) in southern Peru, dating from ∼840 BC to 1450 AD. Alternative demographic scenarios are tested using Bayesian serial coalescent simulations in an approximate Bayesian computational framework. Our results indicate migrations from the lower coastal valleys of southern Peru into the Andean highlands coincident with increasing climate variability at the end of the Nasca culture at ∼640 AD. We also find support for a back-migration from the highlands to the coast coincident with droughts in the southeastern Andean highlands and improvement of climatic conditions on the coast after the decline of the Wari and Tiwanaku empires (∼1200 AD), leading to a genetic homogenization in the RGND and probably southern Peru as a whole.

  8. The Under-side of the Andes: Using Receiver Functions to Map the North Central Andean Subsurface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, J. C.; Beck, S. L.; Zandt, G.; Wagner, L. S.; Minaya, E.; Tavera, H.

    2012-12-01

    The Central Andean Uplift and Geodynamics of High Topography (CAUGHT) project is an interdisciplinary project to investigate connections between lithospheric removal, crustal shortening and surface uplift in the northern Bolivia and southern Peru region of the South American Andean orogen. The central Andes are defined by six major tectonomorphic provinces; the forearc, the volcanically active Western Cordillera (WC, ~6 km elevation), the internally drained Altiplano (~4 km elevation), an inactive fold and thrust belt in the Eastern Cordillera (EC, ~6 km elevation), a lower elevation active fold and thrust belt in the Subandean (SA) zone and the Beni, a foreland basin. Forty seismic stations installed for the CAUGHT project were deployed between 13° and 18° S latitude, covering the transition zone where the Altiplano region pinches out in southern Peru, in an effort to better constrain the changing character of the crust and mantle lithosphere. Geologic studies across the northern Bolivian portion of the eastern Andean margin (15-17° S) have documented a total of 275 km of upper crustal shortening (McQuarrie et al, Tectonics, v27, 2008), which may be associated with crustal thickening and/or the removal of lithospheric material as a thickened lithosphere root becomes unstable. For this receiver function (converted wave) study, we have little coverage in the forearc and foreland, ~75 km spacing in most of the array, and a relatively dense ~20 km spaced profile along the Charaña-La Paz-Yucumo transect, the eastern portion of which is nearly coincident with the balanced cross-section of McQuarrie et al. (2008). Using the first year of available data, more than 1200 receiver functions have been calculated using an iterative deconvolution method, and stacked using the common conversion point (CCP) method, along profiles parallel to and nearly coincident to those used for the geologic shortening estimates. We identified arrivals for the Moho and generated a 3D map of

  9. Mitogenomic phylogeny, diversification, and biogeography of South American spiny rats

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Upham, Nathan S.; Emmons, Louise H.

    2017-01-01

    Echimyidae is one of the most speciose and ecologically diverse rodent families in the world, occupying a wide range of habitats in the Neotropics. However, a resolved phylogeny at the genus-level is still lacking for these 22 genera of South American spiny rats, including the coypu (Myocastorina...... Atlantic and Amazonian Forests and (2) the Northern uplift of the Andes....

  10. Seroprevalence of Scrub Typhus, Typhus, and Spotted Fever Among Rural and Urban Populations of Northern Vietnam

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Trung, N.V.; Hoi, L.T.; Thuong, N.T.H.; Toan, T.K.; Huong, T.T.K.; Hoa, T.M.; Fox, A.; Kinh, N.V.; Doorn, H.R. van; Wertheim, H.F.L.; Bryant, J.E.; Nadjm, B.

    2017-01-01

    AbstractRickettsial infections are recognized as important causes of fever throughout southeast Asia. Herein, we determined the seroprevalence to rickettsioses within rural and urban populations of northern Vietnam. Prevalence of individuals with evidence of prior rickettsial infections (IgG

  11. A new species of the Pristimantis orestes group (Amphibia: Strabomantidae) from the high Andes of Ecuador, Reserva Mazar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guayasamin, Juan M; Arteaga, Alejandro F

    2013-02-21

    We describe a new Pristimantis from La Libertad and Rumiloma, Reserva Mazar, Andes of Southeastern Ecuador, at elevations between 2895-3415 m. This species is assigned to the P. orestes group, from whose members it differs by its small body size (adult males ≤ 18.1 mm; adult females ≤ 23.7 mm), usually reticulated ventral pattern, and visible tympanum. The vocalization of the new species consists of a series of calls; each call is composed by a pulsed, non-modulated note in frequency, and with a dominant frequency of 3122-3171 Hz. A molecular phylogeny based on a fragment of the mitochondrial gene 12S shows that the new species is sister to Pristimantis simonbolivari.

  12. Genetic structure of the Mon-Khmer speaking groups and their affinity to the neighbouring Tai populations in Northern Thailand

    OpenAIRE

    Kutanan, Wibhu; Kampuansai, Jatupol; Fuselli, Silvia; Nakbunlung, Supaporn; Seielstad, Mark; Bertorelle, Giorgio; Kangwanpong, Daoroong

    2011-01-01

    Abstract Background The Mon-Khmer speaking peoples inhabited northern Thailand before the arrival of the Tai speaking people from southern China in the thirteenth century A.D. Historical and anthropological evidence suggests a close relationship between the Mon-Khmer groups and the present day majority northern Thai groups. In this study, mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal DNA polymorphisms in more than 800 volunteers from eight Mon-Khmer and ten Tai speaking populations were investigated to est...

  13. On the evidence for human use and control of fire at Schöningen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahlschmidt, Mareike C; Miller, Christopher E; Ligouis, Bertrand; Hambach, Ulrich; Goldberg, Paul; Berna, Francesco; Richter, Daniel; Urban, Brigitte; Serangeli, Jordi; Conard, Nicholas J

    2015-12-01

    When and how humans began to control fire has been a central debate in Paleolithic archaeology for decades. Fire plays an important role in technology, social organization, subsistence, and manipulation of the environment and is widely seen as a necessary adaptation for the colonization of northern latitudes. Many researchers view purported hearths, burnt wooden implements, and heated flints from Schöningen as providing the best evidence for the control of fire in the Lower Paleolithic of Northern Europe. Here we present results of a multianalytical study of the purported hearths along with a critical examination of other possible evidence of human use or control of fire at Schöningen. We conclude that the analyzed features and artifacts present no convincing evidence for human use or control of fire. Our study also shows that a multianalytical, micro-contextual approach is the best methodology for evaluating claims of early evidence of human-controlled fire. We advise caution with macroscopic, qualitative identification of combustion features, burnt flint, and burnt wood without the application of such techniques as micromorphology, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, organic petrology, luminescence, and analysis of mineral magnetic parameters. The lack of evidence for the human control of fire at Schöningen raises the possibility that fire control was not a necessary adaptation for the human settlement of northern latitudes in the Lower Paleolithic. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Endocytic Pathways Used by Andes Virus to Enter Primary Human Lung Endothelial Cells.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheng-Feng Chiang

    Full Text Available Andes virus (ANDV is the major cause of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS in South America. Despite a high fatality rate (up to 40%, no vaccines or antiviral therapies are approved to treat ANDV infection. To understand the role of endocytic pathways in ANDV infection, we used 3 complementary approaches to identify cellular factors required for ANDV entry into human lung microvascular endothelial cells. We screened an siRNA library targeting 140 genes involved in membrane trafficking, and identified 55 genes required for ANDV infection. These genes control the major endocytic pathways, endosomal transport, cell signaling, and cytoskeleton rearrangement. We then used infectious ANDV and retroviral pseudovirions to further characterize the possible involvement of 9 of these genes in the early steps of ANDV entry. In addition, we used markers of cellular endocytosis along with chemical inhibitors of known endocytic pathways to show that ANDV uses multiple routes of entry to infect target cells. These entry mechanisms are mainly clathrin-, dynamin-, and cholesterol-dependent, but can also occur via a clathrin-independent manner.

  15. Paleoclimatic reconstruction in the Bolivian Andes from oxygen isotope analysis of lake sediment cellulose

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wolfe, B.B.; Aravena, R.; Gibson, J.J.; Abbott, M.B.; Seltzer, G.O.

    2002-01-01

    Cellulose-inferred lake water δ 18 O (δ 18 O lw ) records from Lago Potosi, a seasonally-closed lake in a watershed that is not currently glaciated, and Lago Taypi Chaka Kkota, an overflowing lake in a glaciated watershed, provide the basis for late Pleistocene and Holocene paleoclimatic reconstruction in the Bolivian Andes. Deconvolution of the histories of changing evaporative isotopic enrichment from source water δ 18 O in the lake sediment records is constrained by comparison to the Sajama ice core oxygen isotope profile. At Lago Potosi, the δ 18 O lw record appears to be dominantly controlled by evaporative 18 O-enrichment, reflecting shifts in local effective moisture. Using an isotope-mass balance model, a preliminary quantitative reconstruction of summer relative humidity spanning the past 11,500 cal yr is derived from the Lago Potosi Π 18 O lw record. Results indicate that the late Pleistocene was moist with summer relative humidity values estimated at 10-20% greater than present. Increasing aridity developed in the early Holocene with maximum prolonged dryness spanning 7500 to 6000 cal yr BP at Lago Potosi, an interval characterized by summer relative humidity values that may have been 20% lower than present. Highly variable but dominantly arid conditions persist in the mid- to late Holocene, with average summer relative humidity values estimated at 15% below present, which then increase to about 10-20% greater than present by 2000 cal yr BP. Slightly more arid conditions characterize the last millennium with summer relative humidity values ranging from 5-10% lower than present. Similar long-term variations are evident in the Lago Taypi Chaka Kkota δ 18 O lw profile, except during the early Holocene when lake water evaporative 18 Oenrichment in response to low relative humidity appears to have been offset by enhanced inflow from 18 O-depleted snowmelt or groundwater from the large catchment. Close correspondence occurs between the isotope

  16. Estimates of Carbon Reservoirs in High-Altitude Wetlands in the Colombian Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enrique Javier Peña

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available The observed increase in emission of greenhouse gases, with attendant effects on global warming, have raised interests in identifying sources and sinks of carbon in the environment. Terrestrial carbon (C sequestration involves capture of atmospheric C through photosynthesis and storage in biota, soil and wetlands. Particularly, wetland systems function primarily as long-term reservoirs for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 and as sources of atmospheric methane (CH4. The objective of this study was to evaluate the patterns of carbon reservoirs in two high-altitude wetlands in the central Andean mountain of Colombia. Carbon cycle in both systems is related mainly with the plant biomass dynamics from the littoral zone. Thus, total organic carbon concentrate an average up to 329 kg of N ha-1 and 125 kg of P ha-1 every year vs only 17 kg N ha-1 and 6 kg P ha-1 in the water column of the limnetic zone in the wetland, evidencing spatial differences in carbon concentrations for these types of ecosystems. Results revealed that these systems participate in the balance and sequestration of carbon in the Colombian Andes.

  17. The Gondwana Orogeny in northern North Patagonian Massif: Evidences from the Caita Có granite, La Seña and Pangaré mylonites, Argentina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel A. Gregori

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Structural analyses in the northern part of the North Patagonia Massif, in the foliated Caita Có granite and in La Seña and Pangaré mylonites, indicate that the pluton was intruded as a sheet-like body into an opening pull-apart structure during the Gondwana Orogeny. Geochronological studies in the massif indicate a first, lower to middle Permian stage of regional deformation, related to movements during indentation tectonics, with emplacement of foliated granites in the western and central areas of the North Patagonian Massif. Between the upper Permian and lower Triassic, evidence indicates emplacement of undeformed granitic bodies in the central part of the North Patagonian Massif. A second pulse of deformation between the middle and upper Triassic is related to the emplacement of the Caita Có granite, the development of mylonitic belts, and the opening of the Los Menucos Basin. During this pulse of deformation, compression direction was from the eastern quadrant.

  18. Vitamin D deficiency among northern Native Peoples: a real or apparent problem?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Frost

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Vitamin D deficiency seems to be common among northern Native peoples, notably Inuit and Amerindians. It has usually been attributed to: (1 higher latitudes that prevent vitamin D synthesis most of the year; (2 darker skin that blocks solar UVB; and (3 fewer dietary sources of vitamin D. Although vitamin D levels are clearly lower among northern Natives, it is less clear that these lower levels indicate a deficiency. The above factors predate European contact, yet pre-Columbian skeletons show few signs of rickets—the most visible sign of vitamin D deficiency. Furthermore, because northern Natives have long inhabited high latitudes, natural selection should have progressively reduced their vitamin D requirements. There is in fact evidence that the Inuit have compensated for decreased production of vitamin D through increased conversion to its most active form and through receptors that bind more effectively. Thus, when diagnosing vitamin D deficiency in these populations, we should not use norms that were originally developed for European-descended populations who produce this vitamin more easily and have adapted accordingly.

  19. Groundwater flow in a closed basin with a saline shallow lake in a volcanic area: Laguna Tuyajto, northern Chilean Altiplano of the Andes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Herrera, Christian, E-mail: cherrera@ucn.cl [Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Católica del Norte, Casilla 1280, Antofagasta (Chile); Centro de Investigación Tecnológica del Agua en el Desierto (CEITSAZA), Universidad Católica del Norte, Casilla 1280, Antofagasta (Chile); Custodio, Emilio [Department of Geo-Engineering, Technical University of Catalonia/Barcelona Tech (UPC), Barcelona (Spain); Chong, Guillermo [Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Católica del Norte, Casilla 1280, Antofagasta (Chile); Lambán, Luis Javier [Geological Institute of Spain (IGME), Zaragoza (Spain); Riquelme, Rodrigo; Wilke, Hans [Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Católica del Norte, Casilla 1280, Antofagasta (Chile); Jódar, Jorge [Department of Geo-Engineering, Technical University of Catalonia/Barcelona Tech (UPC), Barcelona (Spain); Urrutia, Javier; Urqueta, Harry [Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Católica del Norte, Casilla 1280, Antofagasta (Chile); Centro de Investigación Tecnológica del Agua en el Desierto (CEITSAZA), Universidad Católica del Norte, Casilla 1280, Antofagasta (Chile); Sarmiento, Alvaro [Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Católica del Norte, Casilla 1280, Antofagasta (Chile); and others

    2016-01-15

    Laguna Tuyajto is a small, shallow saline water lake in the Andean Altiplano of northern Chile. In the eastern side it is fed by springs that discharge groundwater of the nearby volcanic aquifers. The area is arid: rainfall does not exceed 200 mm/year in the rainiest parts. The stable isotopic content of spring water shows that the recharge is originated mainly from winter rain, snow melt, and to a lesser extent from some short and intense sporadic rainfall events. Most of the spring water outflowing in the northern side of Laguna Tuyajto is recharged in the Tuyajto volcano. Most of the spring water in the eastern side and groundwater are recharged at higher elevations, in the rims of the nearby endorheic basins of Pampa Colorada and Pampa Las Tecas to the East. The presence of tritium in some deep wells in Pampa Colorada and Pampa Las Tecas indicates recent recharge. Gas emission in recent volcanoes increase the sulfate content of atmospheric deposition and this is reflected in local groundwater. The chemical composition and concentration of spring waters are the result of meteoric water evapo-concentration, water–rock interaction, and mainly the dissolution of old and buried evaporitic deposits. Groundwater flow is mostly shallow due to a low permeability ignimbrite layer of regional extent, which also hinders brine spreading below and around the lake. High deep temperatures near the recent Tuyajto volcano explain the high dissolved silica contents and the δ{sup 18}O shift to heavier values found in some of the spring waters. Laguna Tuyajto is a terminal lake where salts cumulate, mostly halite, but some brine transfer to the Salar de Aguas Calientes-3 cannot be excluded. The hydrogeological behavior of Laguna Tuyajto constitutes a model to understand the functioning of many other similar basins in other areas in the Andean Altiplano. - Highlights: • Recent volcanism formations play a key role in producing recharge. • Groundwater can flow across local

  20. Groundwater flow in a closed basin with a saline shallow lake in a volcanic area: Laguna Tuyajto, northern Chilean Altiplano of the Andes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Herrera, Christian; Custodio, Emilio; Chong, Guillermo; Lambán, Luis Javier; Riquelme, Rodrigo; Wilke, Hans; Jódar, Jorge; Urrutia, Javier; Urqueta, Harry; Sarmiento, Alvaro

    2016-01-01

    Laguna Tuyajto is a small, shallow saline water lake in the Andean Altiplano of northern Chile. In the eastern side it is fed by springs that discharge groundwater of the nearby volcanic aquifers. The area is arid: rainfall does not exceed 200 mm/year in the rainiest parts. The stable isotopic content of spring water shows that the recharge is originated mainly from winter rain, snow melt, and to a lesser extent from some short and intense sporadic rainfall events. Most of the spring water outflowing in the northern side of Laguna Tuyajto is recharged in the Tuyajto volcano. Most of the spring water in the eastern side and groundwater are recharged at higher elevations, in the rims of the nearby endorheic basins of Pampa Colorada and Pampa Las Tecas to the East. The presence of tritium in some deep wells in Pampa Colorada and Pampa Las Tecas indicates recent recharge. Gas emission in recent volcanoes increase the sulfate content of atmospheric deposition and this is reflected in local groundwater. The chemical composition and concentration of spring waters are the result of meteoric water evapo-concentration, water–rock interaction, and mainly the dissolution of old and buried evaporitic deposits. Groundwater flow is mostly shallow due to a low permeability ignimbrite layer of regional extent, which also hinders brine spreading below and around the lake. High deep temperatures near the recent Tuyajto volcano explain the high dissolved silica contents and the δ"1"8O shift to heavier values found in some of the spring waters. Laguna Tuyajto is a terminal lake where salts cumulate, mostly halite, but some brine transfer to the Salar de Aguas Calientes-3 cannot be excluded. The hydrogeological behavior of Laguna Tuyajto constitutes a model to understand the functioning of many other similar basins in other areas in the Andean Altiplano. - Highlights: • Recent volcanism formations play a key role in producing recharge. • Groundwater can flow across local

  1. What facilitates adaptation? An analysis of community-based adaptation to environmental change in the Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Felipe Murtinho

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available This study analyses the environmental, socio-economic andinstitutional factors that influence community-based adaptation strategies in 16municipalities in the rural Andes of Colombia. The study focuses specifically onthe factors that influence whether communities decide to take measures to managetheir water and micro-watersheds in response to water scarcity caused by climatevariability and land-use changes. The research uses quantitative and qualitativemethods incorporating data from surveys to 104 water user associations,precipitation and land-use data, municipal socio-economic information, and semistructured interviews with key informants. The results reveal 1 the links betweenenvironmental change and the type of adaptation that communities implement,and 2 how, in face of water scarcity changes, external funding facilitatesadaptation. The findings of this study contributes to the common-pool resourceand adaptation literatures by highlighting the important role that external actorsmay have in shaping collective action to adapt to environmental change.

  2. Double-difference tomography velocity structure in Northern Oklahoma: Evidence for reduced basement velocity in the Nemaha Uplift

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevens, N. T.; Keranen, K. M.; Lambert, C.

    2016-12-01

    Induced seismicity in northern Oklahoma presents risk for infrastructure, but also an opportunity to gain new insights to earthquake processes [Petersen et al., 2016]. Here we present a double-difference tomographic study using TomoDD [Zhang and Thurber, 2003] in northern Oklahoma utilizing records from a dense broadband network over a 1-year period, constituting a catalog of over 10,000 local seismic events. We image a shallow (depth 4 km). We suggest that this low velocity anomaly stems from enhanced fracturing and/or weathering of the basement in the Nemaha uplift in northern Oklahoma. This velocity anomaly is not observed in basement off the shoulders of the structure, particularly to the southeast of the Nemaha bounding fault. Enhanced fracturing, and related increases to permeability, would ease pressure migration from injection wells linked to increased seismicity in the region, and may explain the relative absence of seismicity coincident with this structure compared to it periphery. References Gay, S. Parker, J. (2003), The Nemaha Trend-A System of Compressional Thrust-Fold, Strike-Slilp Structural Features in Kansas and Oklahoma, Part 1, Shale Shak., 9-49. Petersen, M. D., C. S. Mueller, M. P. Moschetti, S. M. Hoover, A. L. Llenos, W. L. Ellsworth, A. J. Michael, J. L. Rubinstein, A. F. McGarr, and K. S. Rukstales (2016), 2016 One-Year Seismic Hazard Forecast for the Central and Eastern United States from Induced and Natural Earthquakes, Open-File Rep., doi:10.3133/OFR20161035. Zhang, H., and C. H. Thurber (2003), Double-difference tomography: The method and its application to the Hayward Fault, California, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 93(5), 1875-1889, doi:10.1785/0120020190.

  3. Morphologic evolution of the Central Andes of Peru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, Laura; Pfiffner, O. Adrian

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we analyze the morphology of the Andes of Peru and its evolution based on the geometry of river channels, their bedrock profiles, stream gradient indices and the relation between thrust faults and morphology. The rivers of the Pacific Basin incised Mesozoic sediments of the Marañon thrust belt, Cenozoic volcanics and the granitic rocks of the Coastal Batholith. They are mainly bedrock channels with convex upward shapes and show signs of active ongoing incision. The changes in lithology do not correlate with breaks in slope of the channels (or knick points) such that the high gradient indices (K) with values between 2,000-3,000 and higher than 3,000 suggest that incision is controlled by tectonic activity. Our analysis reveals that many of the ranges of the Western Cordillera were uplifted to the actual elevations where peaks reach to 6,000 m above sea level by thrusting along steeply dipping faults. We correlate this uplift with the Quechua Phase of Neogene age documented for the Subandean thrust belt. The rivers of the Amazonas Basin have steep slopes and high gradient indices of 2,000-3,000 and locally more than 3,000 in those segments where the rivers flow over the crystalline basement of the Eastern Cordillera affected by vertical faulting. Gradient indices decrease to 1,000-2,000 within the east-vergent thrust belt of the Subandean Zone. Here a correlation between breaks in river channel slopes and location of thrust faults can be established, suggesting that the young, Quechua Phase thrust faults of the Subandean thrust belt, which involve Neogene sediments, influenced the channel geometry. In the eastern lowlands, these rivers become meandering and flow parallel to anticlines that formed in the hanging wall of Quechua Phase thrust faults, suggesting that the river courses were actively displaced outward into the foreland.

  4. Geochemical composition of river loads in the Tropical Andes: first insights from the Ecuadorian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tenorio Poma, Gustavo; Govers, Gerard; Vanacker, Veerle; Bouillon, Steven; Álvarez, Lenín; Zhiminaicela, Santiago

    2015-04-01

    Processes governing the transport of total suspended material (TSM), total dissolved solids (TDS) and particulate organic carbon (POC) are currently not well known for Tropical Andean river systems. We analyzed the geochemical behavior and the budgets of the particulate and dissolved loads for several sub-catchments in the Paute River basin in the southern Ecuadorian Andes, and examined how anthropogenic activities influenced the dynamics of riverine suspended and dissolved loads. We gathered a large dataset by regularly sampling 8 rivers for their TSM, POC, and TDS. Furthermore, we determined the major elements in the dissolved load and stable isotope composition (δ13C) of both the POC, and the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). The rivers that were sampled flow through a wide range of land uses including: 3 nature conservation areas (100 - 300 Km²), an intensive grassland and arable zone (142 Km²); downstream of two cities (1611 and 443 Km²), and 2 degraded basins (286 and 2492 Km²). We described the geochemical characteristics of the river loads both qualitatively and quantitatively. Important differences in TSM, POC and TDS yields were found between rivers: the concentration of these loads increases according with human activities within the basins. For all rivers, TSM, TDS and POC concentrations were dependent on discharge. Overall, a clear relation between TSM and POC (r²=0.62) was observed in all tributaries. The C:N ratios and δ13CPOC suggest that the POC in most rivers is mainly derived from soil organic matter eroded from soils dominated by C3 vegetation (δ13CPOC < -22‰). Low Ca:Si ratios (<1)and high δ13CDIC (-9 to -4) in the Yanuncay, Tomebamba1 and Machángara, rivers suggest that weathering of silica rocks is dominant in these catchments, and that the DIC is mainly derived from the soil or atmospheric CO2. In contrast, the Ca:Si ratio was high for the Burgay and Jadán rivers (1-13), and the low δ13CDIC values (-9 to -15) suggest that

  5. Da Amazônia ao Pacífico cruzando os Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enrique Amayo Zevallos

    1993-04-01

    Full Text Available A Área Amazônica (AA é compartilhada por oito países sul-americanos independentes. Desde os tempos coloniais sentiu-se a necessidade da construção de uma via de união da AA com o Oceano Pacífico. Mas os Andes, em termos técnicos e econômicos, foram barreira insuperável até as últimas décadas do século XIX. Nos últimos anos, para o Brasil - país que tem perto de 60% da AA -, esta via vem se tornando cada vez mais importante em termos de exportação, especialmente para o mercado japonês, de grãos, madeira, polpa de madeira etc., ao mesmo tempo em que o Japão também deseja acesso direto à AA. Brasil e Peru, segundo país da AA, com a maior e mais ocidental costa no Pacífico, têm desenvolvido projetos para a construção de uma estrada, contando para isso com apoio financeiro oferecido pelo Japão em diversas oportunidades. Tais projetos tentam conciliar não apenas os interesses de Brasil e Peru, mas também os da Bolívia, país mediterrâneo que poderia finalmente ter acesso livre à costa do Pacífico. Os Estados Unidos, porém, opõem-se a construção da mencionada via e, o projeto está a espera de que o financiamento anteriormente aventado permita sua concretização. Parece que, na construção da projetada estrada, interesses estratégicos das grandes potências mundiais estão envolvidos.The Amazon Area (AA is shared by 8 independent south american countries. Since colonial times it was felt the need of a road linking the AA to the Pacific Ocean. Up to the last decades of the 19th Century the Andes were, in technical and economical terms, almost an insuperable challenge. In the last years for Brazil, the country that has about 60% of the AA, that road has become almost a need for exporting grains, timber, woodpulp etc. (mainly to Japan. And Japan also wants an acess to that area. So, Brasil, together with Peru - the second, after Brazil, AA country that has the largest and westernmost coast in the Pacific - have

  6. Classification of debris-covered glaciers and rock glaciers in the Andes of central Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janke, Jason R.; Bellisario, Antonio C.; Ferrando, Francisco A.

    2015-07-01

    In the Dry Andes of Chile (17 to 35° S), debris-covered glaciers and rock glaciers are differentiated from true glaciers based on the percentage of surface debris cover, thickness of surface debris, and ice content. Internal ice is preserved by an insulating cover of thick debris, which acts as a storage reservoir to release water during the summer and early fall. These landforms are more numerous than glaciers in the central Andes; however, the existing legislation only recognizes uncovered or semicovered glaciers as a water resource. Glaciers, debris-covered glaciers, and rock glaciers are being altered or removed by mining operations to extract valuable minerals from the mountains. In addition, agricultural expansion and population growth in this region have placed additional demands on water resources. In a warmer climate, as glaciers recede and seasonal water availability becomes condensed over the course of a snowmelt season, rock glaciers and debris-covered glaciers contribute a larger component of base flow to rivers and streams. As a result, identifying and locating these features to implement sustainable regional planning for water resources is important. The objective of this study is to develop a classification system to identify debris-covered glaciers and rock glaciers based on the interpretation of satellite imagery and aerial photographs. The classification system is linked to field observations and measurements of ice content. Debris-covered glaciers have three subclasses: surface coverage of semi (class 1) and fully covered (class 2) glaciers differentiates the first two forms, whereas debris thickness is critical for class 3 when glaciers become buried with more than 3 m of surface debris. Based on field observations, the amount of ice decreases from more than 85%, to 65-85%, to 45-65% for semi, fully, and buried debris-covered glaciers, respectively. Rock glaciers are characterized by three stages. Class 4 rock glaciers have pronounced

  7. Gold and gold working in Late Bronze Age Northern Greece

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vavelidis, M.; Andreou, S.

    2008-04-01

    Numerous objects of gold displaying an impressive variety of types and manufacturing techniques are known from the Late Bronze Age (LBA) contexts of Mycenaean Greece, but very little is known about the origin and processing of gold during the second millennium b.c. Ancient literature and recent research indicate that northern Greece is probably the richest gold-bearing region in Greece, and yet, very little evidence exists regarding the exploitation of its deposits and the production as well as use of gold in the area during prehistory. The unusual find of a group of small stone crucibles at the prehistoric settlement of Thessaloniki Toumba, one with visible traces of gold melting, proves local production and offers a rare opportunity to examine the process of on-site gold working. Furthermore, the comparison of the chemical composition of prehistoric artefacts from two settlements with those of gold deposits in their immediate areas supports the local extraction of gold and opens up the prospect for some of the Mycenaean gold to have originated in northern Greece. The scarcity of gold items in northern Greek LBA contexts may not represent the actual amount of gold produced and consumed, but could be a result of the local social attitudes towards the circulation and deposition of artefacts from precious metals.

  8. A modelling study of the seasonal snowpack energy balance at three sites along the Andes Cordillera. Regional climate and local effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McPhee, James; Mengual, Sebastian; MacDonell, Shelley

    2017-04-01

    Seasonal snowpack melt constitutes the main water source for large portions of extratropical South America, including central Chile and Western Argentina. The properties and distribution of snow in the Andes are threatened by rapid climate change, characterised by warming and drying. This study provides a first attempt at detailed description of the energy balance of the seasonal snowpack and its variability along a latitudinal gradient, which is also correlated with an elevation and precipitation gradient, in the Andes Cordillera. The Snowpack model was validated at semi-arid, Mediterranean and temperate humid sites, where meteorological and snowpack properties have been observed since year 2013. Site elevations decrease from north to south, whereas precipitation climatology increases with latitude. Results show that turbulent energy exchange becomes relatively more important in periods of low snow accumulation, with sensible heat fluxes having a greater effect in cooling the snowpack at the high-altitude, low latitude site. Likewise, daily melt-freeze cycles are important in maintaining positive cold contents throughout the accumulation season at this site, and contribute to extending the duration of snow cover despite low accumulation and high radiation loads. In contrast, the southernmost, lowest elevation site shows smaller daily temperature amplitude and a much more preponderant radiation component to the energy balance. This modelling exercise highlights the nonlinearities of snow dynamics at different geographical settings in a sparsely monitored mountain area of the world, as well as the need for further understanding in order to evaluate the sensitivity of snow-dominated watersheds to global warming and climate change.

  9. The acid and alkalinity budgets of weathering in the Andes-Amazon system: Insights into the erosional control of global biogeochemical cycles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, Mark A.; West, A. Joshua; Clark, Kathryn E.; Paris, Guillaume; Bouchez, Julien; Ponton, Camilo; Feakins, Sarah J.; Galy, Valier; Adkins, Jess F.

    2016-09-01

    The correlation between chemical weathering fluxes and denudation rates suggests that tectonic activity can force variations in atmospheric pCO2 by modulating weathering fluxes. However, the effect of weathering on pCO2 is not solely determined by the total mass flux. Instead, the effect of weathering on pCO2 also depends upon the balance between 1) alkalinity generation by carbonate and silicate mineral dissolution and 2) sulfuric acid generation by the oxidation of sulfide minerals. In this study, we explore how the balance between acid and alkalinity generation varies with tectonic uplift to better understand the links between tectonics and the long-term carbon cycle. To trace weathering reactions across the transition from the Peruvian Andes to the Amazonian foreland basin, we measured a suite of elemental concentrations (Na, K, Ca, Mg, Sr, Si, Li, SO4, and Cl) and isotopic ratios (87Sr/86Sr and δ34S) on both dissolved and solid phase samples. Using an inverse model, we quantitatively link systematic changes in solute geochemistry with elevation to downstream declines in sulfuric acid weathering as well as the proportion of cations sourced from silicates. With a new carbonate-system framework, we show that weathering in the Andes Mountains is a CO2 source whereas foreland weathering is a CO2 sink. These results are consistent with the theoretical expectation that the ratio of sulfide oxidation to silicate weathering increases with increasing erosion. Altogether, our results suggest that the effect of tectonically-enhanced weathering on atmospheric pCO2 is strongly modulated by sulfide mineral oxidation.

  10. Mapping advanced argillic alteration zones with ASTER and Hyperion data in the Andes Mountains of Peru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramos, Yuddy; Goïta, Kalifa; Péloquin, Stéphane

    2016-04-01

    This study evaluates Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and Hyperion hyperspectral sensor datasets to detect advanced argillic minerals. The spectral signatures of some alteration clay minerals, such as dickite and alunite, have similar absorption features; thus separating them using multispectral satellite images is a complex challenge. However, Hyperion with its fine spectral bands has potential for good separability of features. The Spectral Angle Mapper algorithm was used in this study to map three advanced argillic alteration minerals (alunite, kaolinite, and dickite) in a known alteration zone in the Peruvian Andes. The results from ASTER and Hyperion were analyzed, compared, and validated using a Portable Infrared Mineral Analyzer field spectrometer. The alterations corresponding to kaolinite and alunite were detected with both ASTER and Hyperion (80% to 84% accuracy). However, the dickite mineral was identified only with Hyperion (82% accuracy).

  11. Trophic ecology of largemouth bass and northern pike in allopatric and sympatric assemblages in northern boreal lakes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soupir, Craig A.; Brown, Michael L.; Kallemeyn, Larry W.

    2000-01-01

    Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and northern pike (Esox lucius) are top predators in the food chain in most aquatic environments that they occupy; however, limited information exists on species interactions in the northern reaches of largemouth bass distribution. We investigated the seasonal food habits of allopatric and sympatric assemblages of largemouth bass and northern pike in six interior lakes within Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota. Percentages of empty stomachs were variable for largemouth bass (38-54%) and northern pike (34.7-66.7%). Fishes (mainly yellow perch, Perca flavescens) comprised greater than 60% (mean percent mass, MPM) of the northern pike diet during all seasons in both allopatric and sympatric assemblages. Aquatic insects (primarily Odonata and Hemiptera) were important in the diets of largemouth bass in all communities (0.0-79.7 MPM). Although largemouth bass were observed in the diet of northern pike, largemouth bass apparently did not prey on northern pike. Seasonal differences were observed in the proportion of aquatic insects (P = 0.010) and fishes (P = 0.023) in the diets of northern pike and largemouth bass. Based on three food categories, jackknifed classifications correctly classified 77 and 92% of northern pike and largemouth bass values, respectively. Percent resource overlap values were biologically significant (greater than 60%) during at least one season in each sympatric assemblage, suggesting some diet overlap.

  12. A 60,000-year record of hydrologic variability in the Central Andes from the hydrogen isotopic composition of leaf waxes in Lake Titicaca sediments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fornace, Kyrstin L.; Hughen, Konrad A.; Shanahan, Timothy M.; Fritz, Sherilyn C.; Baker, Paul A.; Sylva, Sean P.

    2014-12-01

    A record of the hydrogen isotopic composition of terrestrial leaf waxes (δDwax) in sediment cores from Lake Titicaca provides new insight into the precipitation history of the Central Andes and controls of South American Summer Monsoon (SASM) variability since the last glacial period. Comparison of the δDwax record with a 19-kyr δD record from the nearby Illimani ice core supports the interpretation that precipitation δD is the primary control on δDwax with a lesser but significant role for local evapotranspiration and other secondary influences on δDwax. The Titicaca δDwax record confirms overall wetter conditions in the Central Andes during the last glacial period relative to a drier Holocene. During the last deglaciation, abrupt δDwax shifts correspond to millennial-scale events observed in the high-latitude North Atlantic, with dry conditions corresponding to the Bølling-Allerød and early Holocene periods and wetter conditions during late glacial and Younger Dryas intervals. We observe a trend of increasing monsoonal precipitation from the early to the late Holocene, consistent with summer insolation forcing of the SASM, but similar hydrologic variability on precessional timescales is not apparent during the last glacial period. Overall, this study demonstrates the relative importance of high-latitude versus tropical forcing as a dominant control on glacial SASM precipitation variability.

  13. Facies volcánicas del depósito de avalancha de detritos del volcán Tata Sabaya, Andes Centrales Volcanic facies of the debris avalanche deposit of Tata Sabaya Volcano, Central Andes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benigno Godoy

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Las avalanchas de detritos, asociadas a colapsos parciales de edificios volcánicos, son fenómenos comunes en la evolución de un volcán. Este tipo de flujos son por inestabilidades, que pueden deberse a factores tales como la existencia de zonas afectadas por alteración hidrotermal, cambios climáticos, terremotos, intrusión de magmas en zonas superficiales (criptodomos y/o diques y/o movimiento de fallas bajo el edificio volcánico o cercanas a él. El producto final de estos flujos -denominado depósito de avalancha de detritos (DAD- presenta morfologías típicas de cerrillos y drenajes cerrados. En los Andes Centrales se han reconocido, al menos, 14 centros volcánicos con depósitos de avalancha asociados, entre los que está el volcán Tata Sabaya (Bolivia. El colapso que ha dado origen a este depósito podría haberse generado por una combinación de actividad sísmica y magmática en el volcán. El depósito asociado al colapso parcial de este volcán se distribuye sobre la parte baja del flanco sur del volcán y sobre la parte noroccidental de la cuenca del salar de Coipasa. Cubre una superficie de más de 230 km² y tiene un volumen estimado de 6±1 km³. Sobre la base de las composiciones litológicas, se ha establecido que el depósito está constituido por 6 tipos distintos de cerrillos, los cuales son: lávicos, piroclásticos, sedimentarios mixtos, brecha piroclástica y andesítico-basálticos. Considerando el tipo predominante de cerrillos y su distribución espacial dentro del depósito, se ha definido 6 facies diferentes (Facies de Bloques Toreva, Facies de Cerrillos Volcánicos, Facies Central, Facies de Cerrillos Sedimentarios, Facies Mixta y Facies de Cerrillos de Brecha Piroclástica. Tomando en cuenta la distribución espacial de estas facies, se propone la estructura del paleovolcán previa a su colapso parcial.Debris avalanches associated with partial sector collapse of volcanic edifices are common phenomena in the

  14. MtDNA and Y-chromosomal diversity in the Chachapoya, a population from the northeast Peruvian Andes-Amazon divide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guevara, Evelyn K; Palo, Jukka U; Guillén, Sonia; Sajantila, Antti

    2016-11-01

    The ancient Chachapoya were an aggregate of several ethnic groups that shared a common language, religion, and material culture. They inhabited a territory at the juncture of the Andes and the Amazon basin. Their position between those ecozones most likely influenced their genetic composition. We attempted to better understand their population history by assessing the contemporary genetic diversity in the Chachapoya and three of their immediate neighbors (Huancas, Jivaro, and Cajamarca). We inferred signatures of demographic history and genetic affinities, and contrasted the findings with data from other populations on local and continental scales. We studied mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA; hypervariable segment [HVSI and HVSII]) and Y chromosome (23 short tandem repeats (STRs)) marker data in 382 modern individuals. We used Sanger sequencing for mtDNA and a commercially available kit for Y-chromosomal STR typing. The Chachapoya had affinities with various populations of Andean and Amazonian origin. When examining the Native American component, the Chachapoya displayed high levels of genetic diversity. Together with other parameters, for example, large Tajima's D and Fu's Fs, the data indicated no drastic reduction of the population size in the past. The high level of diversity in the Chachapoya, the lack of evidence of drift in the past, and genetic affinities with a broad range of populations in the Americas reflects an intricate population history in the region. The new genetic data from the Chachapoya indeed seems to point to a genetic complexity that is not yet resolved but beginning to be elucidated. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 28:857-867, 2016. © 2016Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. Patterns in current perioperative practice: survey of colorectal surgeons in five northern European countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lassen, K; Hannemann, P; Ljungqvist, O

    2005-01-01

    Evidence for optimal perioperative care in colorectal surgery is abundant. By avoiding fasting, intravenous fluid overload, and activation of the neuroendocrine stress response, postoperative catabolism is reduced and recovery enhanced. The specific measures that can be used routinely include...... in colorectal cancer surgery in five northern European countries: Scotland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway....

  16. Glaciers et évolution climatique dans les Andes boliviennes. Glacier de Zongo et glacier de Chacaltaya Cordillère Royale, 16°S

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1995-01-01

    Full Text Available SEDIMENTOLOGY OF THE HUANCANE FORMATION (NEOCOMIAN OF THE CUSCO REGION AND ITS RELATION TO SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS. The Huancane formation (Neocomian of the Cusco region is mainly composed of quartz sandstones which are deposited in fluvial environments. The facies recognized are organized in a vertical sequence: fluvial sheet sandstones, oxidized or eroded surface, the shale facies of alluvial plain and unusual limestone facies of possible marine origin. These vertical facies sequences show that eustatic sea level variations controlled the fluvial sedimentation. The rivers came from the NE and were fed by the erosion of the Brazilian Shield. The sedimentation developed above the boundary of the SW edge of the Eastern basin, and the Cusco-Puno Swell which had locale horst and grabens inherited from pre-neocomian relief. GLACIARES Y EVOLUCIÓN CLIMÁTICA EN LOS ANDES BOLIVIANOS GLACIAR DE ZONGO Y GLACIAR DE CHACALTAYA, CORDILLERA REAL, 16°S. Por su sensibilidad y su plazo de respuesta breve, el glaciar es de un gran interés para analizar la evolución y la variabilidad actuales del clima entre los trópicos. Se presentan los métodos de determinación del balance de masas y del balance hidrológico, con una frecuencia de mediciones mensual. Los resultados recogidos durante tres años (1991-1994 muestran una grande variabilidad. Ésta es controlada sobre todo por la extensión del periodo de precipitaciones en medio de la temporada cálida que dura más o menos 6 meses. Los eventos ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation son asociados a balances netamente negativos, lo que es demostrado por la respuesta del glaciar al episodio de 1991-1992 y por la reconstrucción de los balances efectuados en base a los datos hidrológicos durante los dos últimos decenios. El retroceso acelerado de los glaciares tropicales desde los años 1980 es vinculado a la vez a una sucesión de eventos ENSO y al recalentamiento atmosférico. GLACIERS AND CLIMATIC EVOLUTION IN

  17. Effects of loadingeunloading and wettingedrying cycles on geomechanical behaviors of mudrocks in the Colombian Andes

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Mario Camilo Torres-Suarez; Adolfo Alarcon-Guzman; Rafael Berdugo-De Moya

    2014-01-01

    The mudrocks in the Colombian Andes, particularly those exhibiting low cementation (bonding), are susceptible to degradation when the environmental conditions change, which are challenging issues for engineering works. In this paper, the changes in physico-mechanical properties of mudrocks were moni-tored in laboratory, and some influential factors on the mechanical competence of geomaterials were studied. The geotechnical characteristics and experimental designs were developed from physical, chem-ical, mechanical and compositional points of view. In the tests, the techniques such as vapor equilibrium technique (VET) were employed to apply wettingedrying cycles and to control relative humidity (suction-controlled) and loadingeunloading cycles through ultrasonic wave velocities technique. The results show that the main failure mechanisms for the laminated mudrocks start on the microscopic scale by fissures coalescence, exhibiting physico-chemical degradation as well;the global geomechanical behavior presents a state between a ductile, like rock, and a fragile, like soil. The obtained results can provide engineering values according to monitoring laboratory set, when compared with in situ conditions.

  18. PABLO PALACIO: LA VIOLENCIA CORPORAL SOBRE LAS IDENTIDADES IMPOSIBLES EN LA ZONA DE LOS ANDES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diego Falconí Travez

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Pablo Palacio, escritor ecuatoriano de la segunda década del siglo pasado, se encargó de construir en sus relatos un catálogo de cuerpos raros con sexualidades ambiguas e inquietantes que se alejan del canon andino al que él pertenece. No obstante, una de las cuestiones que más llama la atención es que varios de esos cuerpos son disciplinados por ciertos discursos de poder de un modo violento. Este trabajo explora desde la teoría literaria dichas vejaciones tomando en consideración la violencia sobre las identidades de mujeres y homosexuales en dos de sus relatos, e indaga sobre cuestiones como la economía de la representación, la  violencia, su relación con el texto literario y la vulnerabilidad, como requisito sine qua non de las vejaciones, en ciertos cuerpos en la zona de los Andes.

  19. Can Asian Dust Trigger Phytoplankton Blooms in the Oligotrophic Northern South China Sea?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Sheng Hsiang; Hsu, Nai-Yung Christina; Tsay, Si-Chee; Lin, Neng-Huei; Sayer, Andrew M.; Huang, Shih-Jen; Lau, William K. M.

    2012-01-01

    Satellite data estimate a high dust deposition flux (approximately 18 g m(exp-2 a(exp-1) into the northern South China Sea (SCS). However, observational evidence concerning any biological response to dust fertilization is sparse. In this study, we combined long-term aerosol and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) measurements from satellite sensors (MODIS and SeaWiFS) with a 16-year record of dust events from surface PM10 observations to investigate dust transport, flux, and the changes in Chl-a concentration over the northern SCS. Our result revealed that readily identifiable strong dust events over this region, although relatively rare (6 cases since 1994) and accounting for only a small proportion of the total dust deposition (approximately 0.28 g m(exp-2 a(exp-1), do occur and could significantly enhance phytoplankton blooms. Following such events, the Chl-a concentration increased up to 4-fold, and generally doubled the springtime background value (0.15 mg m(exp-3). We suggest these heavy dust events contain readily bioavailable iron and enhance the phytoplankton growth in the oligotrophic northern SCS.

  20. High relative frequency of thyroid papillary carcinoma in northern Portugal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sambade, M C; Gonçalves, V S; Dias, M; Sobrinho-Simões, M A

    1983-05-01

    Two hundred and twelve papillary and 40 follicular carcinomas were found in 3002 thyroid glands examined from 1931 to 1975 in four Laboratories of Pathology that fairly cover northern Portugal. There was a striking preponderance of women both in papillary (female:male = 6.9:1) and follicular carcinoma (5.7:1). Sex-specific frequency of malignancy was significantly greater in men (13.3%) than in women (8.8%). The overall papillary/follicular ratio was 5.3:1 and did not significantly change throughout the study period. Papillary/follicular ratio was not significantly greater in litoral (5.5:1) than in regions with a low iodine intake and a relatively high prevalence of goiter (3.5:1). It is advanced that this high relative frequency of papillary carcinoma in northern Portugal, even in goiter areas, may reflect the existence of a racial factor since there is not enough evidence to support the influence of dietary iodine, previous irradiation and concurrent thyroiditis.

  1. Traces of medieval migrations in a socially stratified population from Northern Italy. Evidence from uniparental markers and deep-rooted pedigrees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boattini, A; Sarno, S; Pedrini, P; Medoro, C; Carta, M; Tucci, S; Ferri, G; Alù, M; Luiselli, D; Pettener, D

    2015-02-01

    Social and cultural factors had a critical role in determining the genetic structure of Europe. Therefore, socially stratified populations may help to focus on specific episodes of European demographic history. In this study, we use uniparental markers to analyse the genetic structure of Partecipanza in San Giovanni in Persiceto (Northern Italy), a peculiar institution whose origins date back to the Middle Ages and whose members form the patrilineal descent of a group of founder families. From a maternal point of view (mtDNA), Partecipanza is genetically homogeneous with the rest of the population. However, we observed a significant differentiation for Y-chromosomes. In addition, by comparing 17 Y-STR profiles with deep-rooted paternal pedigrees, we estimated a Y-STR mutation rate equal to 3.90 * 10(-3) mutations per STR per generation and an average generation duration time of 33.38 years. When we used these values for tentative dating, we estimated 1300-600 years ago for the origins of the Partecipanza. These results, together with a peculiar Y-chromosomal composition and historical evidence, suggest that Germanic populations (Lombards in particular) settled in the area during the Migration Period (400-800 AD, approximately) and may have had an important role in the foundation of this community.

  2. Non-volant mammals in a protected area on the Central Andes of Colombia: new records for the Caldas department and the Chinchiná River basin

    OpenAIRE

    Ramírez-Mejía, Andrés; Sánchez, Francisco

    2015-01-01

    The Chinchiná River basin is located on the western slope of the Colombian Central Andes. This basin provides ecosystem services such as water provision for >500,000 people, but has suffered considerable ecosystem degradation, and the information on its biodiversity is limited. We inventoried the non-volant mammals in the Caldas' Central Hydroelectric (CHEC) Reserve in the Chinchiná River basin, in the Caldas department. We detected 18 species of mammals, present the first record of Puma ya...

  3. Determinants of School Performance Among Quechua Children in the Peruvian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacoby, Enrique; Cueto, Santiago; Pollitt, Ernesto

    1999-01-01

    In the rural Andes of Peru, primary school inefficiency ranks higher than in the rest of the country, with a nearly 50 per cent rate of first grade repetition. In 1993 the investigators administered a battery of four psycho-educational tests to 360 schoolchildren in the fourth and fifth grades at ten primary schools in the Andean region of Huaraz. They also recorded the children's individual characteristics, i.e. family background, nutritional status, and educational attainment, and rated the schools according to educational features such as classroom size, time devoted to learning, and student-teacher ratio. A year later, in 1994, children were re-examined in the schools using the same test battery. All subjects were small for their age, had poor diets, spoke mostly Quechua at home (Spanish in school), lived in a rural environment, and walked considerable distances to school. Regression analyses of the 1993 data indicated that the performance of Quechua children on verbal tests was heavily influenced by family background, while their mathematical competence was related to school experience. On the other hand, improvement in test scores from one year to the next appeared to be strongly related to test performance in 1993 and less clearly to the other recorded variables. Finally, the schools' promotion rates were clearly associated with test scores from the previous year but less clearly with grade repetition rates.

  4. Investigation of a possible yellow fever epidemic and serosurvey for flavivirus infections in northern Cameroon, 1984

    OpenAIRE

    Tsai, T. F.; Lazuick, J. S.; Ngah, R. W.; Mafiamba, P. C.; Quincke, G.; Monath, T. P.

    1987-01-01

    A cluster of fatal hepatitis cases in northern Cameroon in 1984 stimulated a field investigation to rule out an epidemic of yellow fever. A serosurvey of villages in the extreme north of the country, in a Sudan savanna (SS) phytogeographical zone, disclosed no evidence of recent yellow fever infection. However, further south, in a Guinea savanna (GS) phytogeographical zone, serological evidence was found of endemic yellow fever virus transmission. The results indicate a potential for epidemic...

  5. Contrasting Climate Change Impact on River Flow from Glacierised Catchments in the Himalayan and Andes Mountains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pellicciotti, F.; Ragettli, S.; Immerzeel, W. W. W.

    2016-12-01

    Glaciers and glacierised catchments in mountainous regions react to a changing climate in different manners depending on climate and glacier characteristics. Despite the key role of mountain ranges as natural water towers, their hydrological balance and future changes in glacier runoff associated with climate warming remain poorly understood because of high meteorological variability, physical inaccessibility and the complex interplay between climate, cryosphere and hydrological processes. We use a state-of-the art glacio-hydrological model informed by data from high altitude observations and the latest CMIP5 climate change scenarios to quantify the climate change impact on glaciers and runoff for two contrasting catchments vulnerable to changes in the cryosphere. The two catchments are located in the Central Andes of Chile and in the Nepalese Himalaya in close vicinity of densely populated areas. Although both sites are projected to experience a strong decrease in glacier area, they show remarkably different hydrological responses. Icemelt is on a rising limb in Langtang at least until 2041-2050 and starts to decrease afterwards, while in Juncal icemelt was already beyond its tipping point at the beginning of the 21st century. This contrasting response can be explained by differences in the elevation distribution of the glaciers in the two regions. In Juncal, many glaciers are melting up to the highest elevations already during the reference period (2000-2010) and increasing melt rates due to higher air temperatures cannot compensate the loss of glacier area. In Langtang, large sections of the glaciers at high elevations are currently not exposed to melt, but will be in the future, thus compensating for the loss of glacier area at lower elevations. As a result of these changes and projected changes in precipitation, in Juncal runoff will sharply decrease in the future and the runoff seasonality is sensitive to projected climatic changes. In Langtang, future water

  6. Monitoring rock glacier dynamics and ground temperatures in the semiarid Andes (Chile, 30°S)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brenning, Alexander; Azócar, Guillermo F.; Bodin, Xavier

    2013-04-01

    Rock glaciers and mountain permafrost are widespread in the high semiarid Andes of Chile, where they concentrate greater amounts of ice than glaciers. Rock glaciers are of particular interest because in some cases the permafrost they contain might be in a degrading in response to climatic warming. This could result in increased dynamics and even to destabilization, which has been observed on some rock glaciers in the studied area. Displacement rates and active-layer temperatures of two rock glaciers as well as ground surface temperatures of the periglacial environment in the upper Elqui valley have been monitored since summer 2009/10 with funding from the Chilean Dirección General de Aguas. Differential GPS measurements of 115 points on the surface of two rock glaciers since April 2010 showed horizontal displacements of up to 1.3 m/a on the Llano de las Liebres rock glacier and up to 1.2 m/a on the Tapado rock glacier. General velocity patterns are consistent with the morphological evidence of activity (e.g., front slopes, looseness of debris) and for the Tapado complex, a clearly distinct activity from the debris-covered glacier was observed. Temperature measurements in four boreholes indicate active-layer depths of about 2.5 m at the highest locations on the Tapado rock glacier (~4400 m a.s.l.) and about 8 m near the front of the Llano rock glacier (3786 m a.s.l.). Spatial patterns of mean ground surface temperature (MGST) were analyzed with regards to influences of elevation, potential incoming solar radiation, location on ice-debris landforms (rock and debris-covered glaciers), and snow cover duration using linear mixed-effects models. While accounting for the other variables, sites with long-lasting snow patches had ~0.4°C lower MGST, and ice-debris landforms had ~0.4-0.6°C lower MGST than general debris surfaces, highlighting important local modifications to the general topographic variation of ground thermal conditions.

  7. Influence of different tree-harvesting intensities on forest soil carbon stocks in boreal and northern temperate forest ecosystems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Clarke, Nicholas; Gundersen, Per; Jönsson-Belyazid, Ulrika

    2015-01-01

    ) stocks. This paper reviews the findings in the scientific literature concerning the effects of harvesting of different intensities on SOC stocks and fluxes in boreal and northern temperate forest ecosystems to evaluate the evidence for significant SOC losses following biomass removal. An overview...... on SOC stocks in boreal and northern temperate forest ecosystems, which is in any case species-, site- and practice-specific. Properly conducted long-term experiments are therefore necessary to enable us to clarify the relative importance of different harvesting practices on the SOC stores, the key...

  8. The intraplate Maranhão earthquake of 2017 January 3, northern Brazil: evidence for uniform regional stresses along the Brazilian equatorial margin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dias, Fábio L.; Assumpção, M.; Bianchi, Marcelo B.; Barros, Lucas V.; Carvalho, Juraci M.

    2018-04-01

    Lithospheric stresses in intraplate regions can be characterized by many different wavelengths. In some areas, stresses vary over short distances of less than ˜100 km, but in other regions uniform stresses can be recognized for more than ˜1000 km or so. However, not all intraplate regions are well sampled with stress measurements to allow a good characterization of the lithospheric stresses. On 2017 January 3, a magnitude mb 4 earthquake occurred near the equatorial coast of the Maranhão State, an aseismic area of northern Brazil. Despite the few permanent stations in northern Brazil, a well-constrained strike-slip mechanism was obtained from regional moment-tensor inversion. A detailed analysis of the backazimuths of aftershocks recorded by the closest station (˜40 km away) allowed the identification of the fault plane to be the NNW-SSE trending nodal plane. An estimate of the rupture length, about 2 km, was also possible. The strike-slip mechanism has coast-parallel P axis and coast-perpendicular T axis, in agreement with most of the focal mechanisms found further to the east. The coast parallel P axis is also similar to the SHmax orientations from breakouts measurements further along the coast. The Maranhão earthquake fills an important gap of stress indicators in northern Brazil and suggests that the intraplate stress field is uniform along the 2000 km long northern coast.

  9. A rapid method for infectivity titration of Andes hantavirus using flow cytometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barriga, Gonzalo P; Martínez-Valdebenito, Constanza; Galeno, Héctor; Ferrés, Marcela; Lozach, Pierre-Yves; Tischler, Nicole D

    2013-11-01

    The focus assay is currently the most commonly used technique for hantavirus titer determination. This method requires an incubation time of between 5 and 11 days to allow the appearance of foci after several rounds of viral infection. The following work presents a rapid Andes virus (ANDV) titration assay, based on viral nucleocapsid protein (N) detection in infected cells by flow cytometry. To this end, an anti-N monoclonal antibody was used that was developed and characterized previously. ANDV N could be detected as early as 6 h post-infection, while viral release was not observed until 24-48 h post-infection. Given that ANDV detection was performed during its first round of infection, a time reduction for titer determination was possible and provided results in only two days. The viral titer was calculated from the percentage of N positive cells and agreed with focus assay titers. Furthermore, the assay was applied to quantify the inhibition of ANDV cell entry by patient sera and by preventing endosome acidification. This novel hantavirus titration assay is a highly quantitative and sensitive tool that facilitates infectivity titration of virus stocks, rapid screening for antiviral drugs, and may be further used to detect and quantify infectious virus in human samples. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Northern Ireland gas industry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Anderson, R S [Belfast City Council Gas Dept.; Asquith, R S; Brown, J M; McKay, G

    1977-07-01

    Throughout Northern Ireland the production of town gas is derived from hydrocarbon feedstocks. In the larger undertakings in Northern Ireland the feedstock is light distillate; a light petroleum feedstock which is a crude gasoline comprised mainly of pentanes, reformed in catalytic plants. The remaining gas undertakings produce a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)/air mixture using a mixture of either butane or propane and air. The individual gas units and the type of reforming feedstock are shown. A review of the oil-dependence of town gas and electricity production in Northern Ireland has been considered and is mainly responsible for the high fuel prices experienced in the community. A detailed description of the reforming process has been described, and considerable efforts have been made to optimize the process. In spite of substantial economic savings being made on the processing unit, the gas industry is very susceptible to the changes in oil prices which have escalated rapidly in recent years. The difference in gas prices between the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland indicates that North Sea gas would offer major economic benefits to the gas industry in Northern Ireland, which is operating at a substantial loss at the moment. The industrial concerns, which are dependent on gas and therefore paying high fuel costs, suffer in competition with outside companies. The injection of a moderately cheap natural gas supply to the community may encourage industrial expansion and provide work in a high unemployment area. Although substantial costs must be incurred in distribution pipelines and burner conversions if Northern Ireland changes to natural gas, there appears to be a strong case to introduce North Sea gas in the near future.

  11. The prevalence of blinding trachoma in northern states of Sudan.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Awad Hassan

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Despite historical evidence of blinding trachoma, there have been no widespread contemporary surveys of trachoma prevalence in the northern states of Sudan. We aimed to conduct district-level surveys in this vast region in order to map the extent of the problem and estimate the need for trachoma control interventions to eliminate blinding trachoma. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Separate, population based cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 88 localities (districts in 12 northern states of Sudan between 2006 and 2010. Two-stage cluster random sampling with probability proportional to size was used to select the sample. Trachoma grading was done using the WHO simplified grading system. Key prevalence indicators were trachomatous inflammation-follicular (TF in children aged 1-9 years and trachomatous trichiasis (TT in adults aged 15 years and above. The sample comprised 1,260 clusters from which 25,624 households were surveyed. A total of 106,697 participants (81.6% response rate were examined for trachoma signs. TF prevalence was above 10% in three districts and between 5% and 9% in 11 districts. TT prevalence among adults was above 1% in 20 districts (which included the three districts with TF prevalence >10%. The overall number of people with TT in the population was estimated to be 31,072 (lower and upper bounds = 26,125-36,955. CONCLUSION: Trachoma mapping is complete in the northern states of Sudan except for the Darfur States. The survey findings will facilitate programme planning and inform deployment of resources for elimination of trachoma from the northern states of Sudan by 2015, in accordance with the Sudan Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH objectives.

  12. Radiological monitoring of northern slopes of Mogoltau

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murtazaev, Kh.; Boboev, B.D.; Bolibekov, Sh.; Akhmedov, M.Z.

    2010-01-01

    Present article is devoted to radiological monitoring of northern slopes of Mogoltau. The physicochemical properties of water of northern slopes of Mogoltau were studied. The radiation monitoring of northern slopes of Mogoltau was carried out during several years under various weather conditions. The exposure rate of human settlements of northern part of Mogoltau was defined.

  13. The cultivable autochthonous microbiota of the critically endangered Northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loncaric, Igor; Tichy, Alexander; Fritz, Johannes; Scope, Alexandra

    2018-01-01

    The critically endangered Northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) is a migratory bird that became extinct in Europe centuries ago. Since 2014, the Northern bald ibis is subject to an intensive rehabilitation and conservation regime aiming to reintroduce the bird in its original distribution range in Central Europe and concurrently to maintain bird health and increase population size. Hitherto, virtually nothing is known about the microbial communities associated with the ibis species; an information pivotal for the veterinary management of these birds. Hence, the present study was conducted to provide a baseline description of the cultivable microbiota residing in the Northern bald ibis. Samples derived from the choana, trachea, crop and cloaca were examined employing a culturomic approach in order to identify microbes at each sampling site and to compare their frequency among age classes, seasonal appearances and rearing types. In total, 94 microbial species including 14 potentially new bacterial taxa were cultivated from the Northern bald ibis with 36, 58 and 59 bacterial species isolated from the choana, crop and cloaca, respectively. The microbiota of the Northern bald ibis was dominated by members of the phylum Firmicutes, followed by Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Fusobacteria, altogether phylotypes commonly observed within avian gut environments. Differences in relative abundances of various microbial taxa were evident among sample types indicating mucosa-specific colonisation properties and tissue tropism. Besides, results of the present study indicate that the composition of microbiota was also affected by age, season (environment) and rearing type. While the prevalence of traditional pathogenic microbial species was extremely low, several opportunists including Clostridium perfringens toxotype A were frequently present in samples indicating that the Northern bald ibis may represent an important animal reservoir for these pathogens. In

  14. GIS-based maps and area estimates of Northern Hemisphere permafrost extent during the Last Glacial Maximum

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lindgren, A.; Hugelius, G.; Kuhry, P.; Christensen, T.R.; Vandenberghe, J.F.

    2016-01-01

    This study presents GIS-based estimates of permafrost extent in the northern circumpolar region during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), based on a review of previously published maps and compilations of field evidence in the form of ice-wedge pseudomorphs and relict sand wedges. We focus on field

  15. Description of Thecavermiculatus andinus n.sp. (Meloidoderidae), a Round Cystoid Nematode from the Andes Mountains of Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golden, A M; Franco, J; Jatala, P; Astogaza, E

    1983-07-01

    Thecavermiculatus andinus n.sp. is described and illustrated from Oxalis tuberosa originally collected in the vicinity of Lake Titicaca high in the Andes mountains of southern Peru. This new species differs markedly front the other two species in the genus, especially in having a much greater female vulval-anal distance and annules with lined punctation on most of the female body with a lacelike pattern restricted to the posterior portion, particularly at the vulva and anus which do not protrude. Females are essentially spherical with protruding neck, white to yellowish in color, and can easily be mistaken for potato cyst nematodes. Among the dozen or more known weed and crop host plants are potato and eggplant. In order to accommodate this new species, the genus Thecavermieulatus is emended. A key to the species of this genus is presented.

  16. Long-lasting Cadomian magmatic activity along an active northern Gondwana margin: U-Pb zircon and Sr-Nd isotopic evidence from the Brunovistulian Domain, eastern Bohemian Massif

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soejono, Igor; Janoušek, Vojtěch; Žáčková, Eliška; Sláma, Jiří; Konopásek, Jiří; Machek, Matěj; Hanžl, Pavel

    2017-09-01

    Cadomian magmatic complexes of the Brunovistulian Domain crop out at the eastern termination of the Bohemian Massif. However, the age, nature and geotectonic affinity of some of pre-Variscan (meta-)igneous rock complexes from this domain are still unknown. Geochronological and geochemical study of the granitic rocks across the Brunovistulian Domain reveals new information about the timing and nature of this magmatic activity originally situated along the northern margin of Gondwana. Zircon U-Pb data (601 ± 3 Ma, Brno Massif; 634 ± 6 Ma, paraautochtonous core of the Svratka Dome; 568 ± 3 Ma, Bíteš orthogneiss) from the allochtonous Moravicum indicate the prolonged magmatic activity within the Brunovistulian Domain during the Ediacaran. The major- and trace-element and Sr-Nd isotopic signatures show heterogeneous geochemical characteristics of the granitic rocks and suggest a magmatic-arc geotectonic setting. The two-stage Depleted Mantle Nd model ages ( c. 1.3-2.0 Ga) indicate derivation of the granitic rocks from a relatively primitive crustal source, as well as from an ancient and evolved continental crust of the Brunovistulian Domain. These results constrain the magmatic-arc activity to c. 635-570 Ma and provide a further evidence for a long-lived (at least c. 65 Myr) and likely episodic subduction-related magmatism at the northern margin of Gondwana. The presence of granitic intrusions derived from variously mature crustal sources at different times suggests heterogeneous crustal segments to having been involved in the magmatic-arc system during its multistage evolution.

  17. Drainage - Structure Correlation in tectonically active Regions: Case studies in the Bolivian and Colombian Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeilinger, Gerold; Parra, Mauricio; Kober, Florian

    2017-04-01

    It is widely accepted, that drainage patterns are often controlled by tectonics/climate and geology/rheology. Classical drainage patterns can be found 1) in fault-and-thrust belt, where rives follow the valleys parallel or cut perpendicular to strike trough the ridges, forming a trellis pattern, 2) at dome structures where the drainage form a radial pattern or 3) rectangular patterns in strongly fractured regions. In this study, we focus on fault-and-thrust belts, that undergone different phases of tectonic activity. According to classical models, the deformation is propagating into the foreland, hence being youngest at the frontal part and getting successively older towards the axis of the orogen. Drainage patterns in the more interior parts of the orogenic wedge should be then less influenced by the direction of structures, as landscape evolution is changing to a tectonic passive stage. This relationship might represent the transience and maturity of drainage pattern evolution. Here we study drainage patterns of the Bolivian and the eastern Colombian Andes by comparing the relative orientation of the drainage network with the orogen structural grain. The drainage is extracted from Digital Elevation Models (SRTM 30 m) and indexed by their Strahler Order. Order 1 channels have an upstream area of 1 km2. The direction of all segments is analyzed by linear directional mean function that results in the mean orientation of input channels with approx. 500 m average length. The orientation of structures for different structural domains is calculated using the same function on digitized faults and fold-axis. Rose diagrams show the length-weighted directional distribution of structures, of higher (>= 4) and of lower order (<= 3) channels. The structural trend in the Bolivian Andes is controlled by the orocline, where a predominant NW-SE trend turns into an N-S trend at 18°S and where the eastern orogen comprise from west to east, the Eastern Cordillera (EC), the

  18. Adaptability of black walnut, black cherry, and Northern red oak to Northern California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Philip M. McDonald

    1987-01-01

    When planted in sheltered sites in northern California, only 49% of black walnut (Juglans nigra L.) and 58% of black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.) survived for 15 years, and 20% of northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) survived for 10 years. The black walnut trees averaged 0.6 inches diameter at breast...

  19. From the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative to the Northern Eurasia Future Initiative

    Science.gov (United States)

    Streletskiy, D. A.; Groisman, P. Y.; Shugart, H. H., Jr.; Gulev, S.; Maksyutov, S. S.; Qi, J.

    2017-12-01

    Since 2004, the Northern Eurasia Earth Science Partnership Initiative (NEESPI) - an interdisciplinary program of internationally-supported Earth systems and science research - has addressed large-scale and long-term manifestations of climate and environmental changes over Northern Eurasia and their impact on the Global Earth system. With 40 books and more than 1500 peer-reviewed journal publications to its credit, NEESPI's output can now be used to directly support decision-making for societal needs. Specifically, it was decided to shift gradually the foci of regional studies in Northern Eurasia towards applications with the following major Science Question: "What dynamic and interactive change(s) will affect societal well-being, activities, and health, and what might be the mitigation and adaptation strategies that could support sustainable development and decision-making activities in Northern Eurasia?" To answer this question requires a stronger socio-economic component in the ongoing and future regional studies focused on sustainable societal development under changing climatic and environmental conditions. The NEESPI Research Team has reorganized itself into "Northern Eurasia Future Initiative" (NEFI) and developed a new Science Plan released in June 2016. The Plan underwent a 6-month-long public review and was finalized at the end of 2016. Its description was thereafter split between two review papers: Groisman et al. (2017) and Monier et al. (2017). The first paper describes the Plan rationale and a new set of topical questions. The second paper describes a major modeling approach that will be employed in addressing the "what to do" questions of the NEFI Research (cf., presentation by Monier et al. at this Session). In the current presentation, we outline the new NEFI research foci and present latest NEFI findings including international projects in the Eurasian Arctic, boreal zone, and the Dry Land Belt of Northern Eurasia (cf., also presentations at sister

  20. Different Phases of Earthquake Cycle Reflected in GPS Measured Crustal Deformations along the Andes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khazaradze, G.; Klotz, J.

    2001-12-01

    The South American Geodynamic Activities (SAGA) project was initiated in 1993 by the GeoForschungsZentrum together with host organizations in Argentina and Chile with the main objective of studying the kinematics and dynamics of present-day deformation processes along the central and southern Andes. Currently the SAGA network consists of 230 geodetic markers spanning more than 2000 km long distance from Peru/Chile border in the north to Cape Horn in the south. The majority of the observed crustal deformation field is relatively homogenous: roughly parallel to the plate convergence direction and decreasing in magnitude away from the deformation front. This pattern is characteristic for the \\textit{inter-seismic} phase of earthquake deformation cycle and can be explained by the elastic strain accumulation due to locking of the thrust interface between the subducting Nazca and the overriding South America plates. However, in addition to the dominant inter-seismic signal, close examination of the observed velocity field also reveals significant spatial and temporal variations, contrary to the commonly used assumption of constant deformation rates. This variation is especially pronounced for the measurements in the vicinity of the 1995 Mw8.0 Antofagasta earthquake (22{° }S-26{° }S). Here, after capturing up to 1 meters of \\textit{co-seismic} displacements associated with this event, the analysis of data obtained during the three following field campaigns (1996-1999), reveals highly time dependent deformation pattern. This can be explained by the decreasing importance of \\textit{post-seismic} effects of the Antofagasta event relative to the increasing dominance of the inter-seismic phase of subduction. Perhaps, even more interesting time dependent observations have been detected in the southern part the SAGA network (38{° }S-43{° }S).Here, after 35 years of the occurrence of the 1960 Mw9.5 Chile earthquake, we still see the continuing post-seismic effects of this