CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE MAYAN COLLAPSE: HIGH RESOLUTION PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION FROM SPELEOTHEM RECORDS IN BELIZE

Climate change during the Mayan Collapse was examined using two speleothems from Belize. Variations of carbon and oxygen isotopes and strontium concentration of well-dated speleothems were used to reconstruct paleoclimate changes for the Classic and Postclassic Mayan Periods. Speleothems, CH-3 and CH-4, were gathered from the Chapat Cave, western Belize. Stable isotope data were obtained using a Gasbench-II coupled with a ThermoFinnigan DeltaPlus XP IRMS. The age of CH-3 ranges from 1420 ± 58 yr BP to -12 ± 9 yr BP. The age of CH-4 ranges from 790 ± 22 yr BP to 247 ± 20 yr BP. The amount of strontium present in CH-4 and CH-3 fluctuates throughout the sample, which may indicate drought and wet oscillations. Prolonged droughts may have had a significant impact on the Mayan civilization.