HOLOCENE PALEOHYDROLOGY OF LAKE TITICACA ESTIMATED FROM AN OSTRACOD-BASED TRANSFER-FUNCTION

Lacustrine deposits of Holocene age (8000 C-14 yr BP-Present) were stu died in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia. Ostracod assemblages were identified i n six cores taken in the three basins which today form Lake Titicaca. Factorial correspondence and multiple Linear regression analysis of th e ostracods have permitted the reconstruction of (1) lake level, (2) w ater salinity and (3) water Mg/Ca ratio variations. Palaeolake levels indicate a complex evolution of the three basins, with some major phas es. After a flooding at about 8000 yr C-14 BP, the lake level fluctuat ed around a mean position until 3900 C-14 Yr BP, when a second rise to ok place. It seems, however, that the present-day lake level was not r eached until after 680 yr C-14 BP. Some major dry events are also reco rded at about 5300 C-14 yr BP and 2300 C-14 yr BP. The Lake Titicaca d ata are consistent with other records from South America, and also see m to reflect some world-wide events. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.