Evidence of strong storm events possibly related to the little Ice Age in sediments on the southerncoast of Brazil F.M. Oliveira a , K.D. Macario a, ⁎, J.C. Simonassi b , P.R.S. Gomes a , R.M. Anjos a , C. Carvalho c , R. Linares a , E.Q. Alves a , M.D. Castro a,d , R.C.C.L. Souza e , A.N. Marques Jr. e a Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Av. Gal. Milton Tavares de Souza, S/N, Niterói, 24210-346, RJ, Brazil b Núcleo de Estudos do Mar, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, 88040-900, SC, Brazil c Departamento de Ciências da Natureza, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Santa Alexandrina, 288, Rio de Janeiro, 20261-232, RJ, Brazil d Instituto Superior de Tecnologías y Ciencias Aplicadas, InSTEC, Quinta de los Molinos, Ave. Salvador Allende y Luaces, Plaza de la Revolución, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba e Departamento de Biologia Marinha, Instituto de Biologia Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, RJ, Brazil abstract article info Article history: Received 22 May 2013 Received in revised form 22 February 2014 Accepted 6 March 2014 Available online xxxx Keywords: Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotopes Little Ice Age (LIA) Radiocarbon Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Southern Brazilian Coast Marine shells Marine sediments Late Holocene environmental changes on the southeastern Brazilian coast were assessed using a high-resolution paleoproductivity proxy record from a sediment core collected at 14 m water depth in the Pântano do Sul Inlet. Mollusk shells from the core were AMS dated, and sediment grain size, concentrations of organic carbon and total nitrogen, and δ 13 C and δ 15 N values were determined to investigate changes in paleoceanographic and paleocli- matic conditions over the depositional period. Most of the parameters showed strong fluctuations in the depth interval corresponding to the Little Ice Age, between 1560 and 1700 AD, that were marked by first an increase and then a decrease of input of terrigenous sediments to the inlet. Proxies also indicate that sedimentary condi- tions were more stable, before and after this period. The strong sedimentary changes observed in the Pântano do Sul Inlet may be related to climatic changes reported elsewhere in South America during 1550 and 1800 AD and to severe storm events associated with the enhanced cold fronts that occurred in the southern littoral region dur- ing this period. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. The existence of late Holocene rapid climate shifts has become pro- gressively better documented during the last decade. During the Little Ice Age (LIA) (1400–1800 AD), extratropical Northern Hemisphere con- tinents experienced significant cooling. Both El Niño and the North Atlantic Oscillation–Arctic Oscillation were affected, leading to a strong latitudinal gradient of temperature between the cooled North hemi- sphere and the heated tropics (Mann et al., 2009). The trade winds trengthened, the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) shifted south- ward, and low latitude continental areas became more arid (Goni et al., 2009; Gutierrez et al., 2009). In such conditions, both the El- Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Monsoon systems were affected. Eastern Africa and Chile experienced wetter conditions, Benguela Current sea surface temperatures (SSTs) were cooler, and Southern Africa experienced a cool and dry episode (Mayewski et al., 2004). Knowledge about the effects of these climate shifts on the Atlantic coast of South America remains limited, although several studies sug- gest that significant changes occurred in the coastal dynamics during the LIA. Arid conditions in low latitudes induced a low frequency of in- undation on the Amazonian coast, which also experienced a sea-level regression (Cohen et al., 2005). The Antarctic Peninsula became cool and windy, the Patagonia Ice field increased (Davies and Glasser, 2012; Aniya, 2013), and the Pacific upwelling weakened during the LIA (Gutierrez et al., 2009). In contrast, Souto et al. (2009) report in- creases in foraminiferal fluxes that suggest a gradual increase of upwell- ing in the southeastern Brazilian continental shelf from 1500 to 1830 that appears to have been linked to regional atmospheric factors. Simi- larly, Mahiques et al. (2005), using SST reconstruction by alkenones, document an increase of the Cabo Frio upwelling in the last 700 years, likely due to intensification of atmospheric systems. The present study was carried out in the Pântano do Sul Inlet, which is on Santa Catarina Island on the southern Brazilian coast (Fig. 1). The purpose of the study was to investigate late Holocene environmental changes on the southern Brazilian coast as recorded in a high-resolution sedimentary sequence. Paleoproductivity proxies (organic carbon and nitrogen concentrations and isotopic compositions) together with grain-size variations were used to evaluate temporal climate changes that affected sedimentation patterns during the last millennium. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology xxx (2014) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 2126295892. E-mail address: kita@mail.if.uff.br (K.D. Macario). PALAEO-06799; No of Pages 7 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.03.018 0031-0182/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/palaeo Please cite this article as: Oliveira, F.M., et al., Evidence of strong storm events possibly related to the little Ice Age in sediments on the southerncoast of Brazil, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.03.018