Figure 1
From: “Climatic fluctuations in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert during the past 215 ka”
(A) Colour shaded digital elevation model (derived from SRTM-data, created using ArcGIS 10.5.1) with isohyets1 after Ritter, et al.31. Dashed white line indicates the border between winter-rain dominated areas in the SW and summer-rain dominated areas in the1. Sites from the literature are: rodent midden sites23,64, earliest archaeological sites65, stable isotope studies66, sedimentological studies14,25,67,68, cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages and erosion rates determined with cosmogenic nuclides9,10,11,12,68,69,70,71,72,73,74. The stippled yellow outline for Miocene relict surfaces is derived from studies yielding Miocene exposure ages (M) for sediment surfaces11,12,70,71 and sedimentological studies67. Studies yielding Pliocene ages for the onset of aridity are marked with P. The study area is marked with a black rectangle and drainage catchment of the sediment record is encircled with a black line. (B) Overview map of South America with positions of reference studies marked with coloured circles and the location of the Atacama Desert marked with a red rectangle. (C) Hillshade image based on Aster GDEM data (30 m resolution, produced using ArcGIS 10.5.1). Red lines indicate major tectonic fault systems (AFS = Atacama Fault System). The coring site (orange circle) is located in the mud pan in the northern part of an endorheic basin, whose drainage catchment is indicated with the black line. (D) View from the North onto the mud pan with the drilling location indicated by a star (Photo made by V. Wennrich).
