Southward migration of the intertropical convergence zone through the Holocene

Titanium and iron concentration data from the anoxic Cariaco Basin, off the Venezuelan coast, can be used to infer variations in the hydrological cycl e over northern South America during the past 14,000 years with subdecadal resolution. Following a dry Younger Dryas, a period of increased precipitat ion and riverine discharge occurred during the Holocene "thermal maximum." Since similar to 5400 years ago, a trend toward drier conditions is evident from the data, with high-amplitude fluctuations and precipitation minima d uring the time interval 3800 to 2800 years ago and during the "Little Ice A ge." These regional changes in precipitation are best explained by shifts i n the mean latitude of the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), potentially driven by Pacific-based climate variability. The Cariaco Basin record exhibits,strong correlations with climate records from distant regio ns, including the high-latitude Northern Hemisphere, providing evidence for global teleconnections among regional climates.