| Institution: | aInstitut de préhistoire et de géologie du Quaternaire, INRAP, bâtiment de géologie, avenue des Facultés, 33405 Talence, France;bINRAP, rue des Gommiers-Blancs, Parnasse, 97120 Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe, France;cLaboratoire de biologie et de physiologie végétales, facultés des sciences, BP 592, 97159 Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, France;dLaboratoire de biologie marine et des invertébrés marins, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, 55, rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France;eDépartement d'écologie et de gestion de la biodiversité, Muséum national d'histoire naturelle/CNRS, 55, rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France;fService régional de l'archéologie, Drac Guadeloupe, 22, rue Perrinon, 97100 Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, France |
| Abstract: | A 2.5-m-thick sequence of lake sediments at the Étang de Grand-Case, Saint Martin (French West Indies) is studied here. Significant hydrological budget fluctuations allows distinction of three main climatic periods: (1) an overall dry period (4200 BP–2300 BP), characterised by carbonated mud, gypsum and storm sand layers; (2) a wet phase (2300 BP–1150 BP) dominated by organic mud; and (3) a more complex phase (1150 BP to present), with detrital inputs due to human activities. Comparison with other regional high-resolution records shows that similar climate modifications typify the whole Mesoamerican and Caribbean area. The climatic phenomena that are implicated in the variations of both precipitation and hurricane frequency over the Lesser Antilles are due to the latitudinal displacement of the inter-tropical convergence zone. These data give new support to the hypothesis of the existence of a correlation between peopling phases and climate variations in the Caribbean as previously proposed by some archaeologists. To cite this article: P. Bertran et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004). |
