Inca Huasi was a paleolake in the Andes. It was named by a research team in 2006.[1]
It existed about 46,000 years ago in the Salar de Uyuni basin.[2] Water levels during this episode rose by about 10 metres (33 ft). Overall, this lake cycle was short and not deep,[1] with water levels reaching a height of 3,670 metres (12,040 ft). The lake would have had a surface of 21,000 square kilometres (8,100 sq mi).[3] Most water was contributed to it by the Uyuni-Coipasa drainage basin, with only minimal contributions from Lake Titicaca.[4] Changes in the South American monsoon may have triggered its formation.[5]
Radiocarbon dates on tufa which formed in Lake Inca Huasi were dated at 45,760 ± 440 years ago.[2]Uranium-thorium dating has yielded ages between 45,760 and 47,160 years.[6] Overall the lake existed between 46,000 and 47,000 years ago.[7] The Inca Huasi cycle coincides with the marine isotope stage 3,[8] the formation of a deep lake in the Laguna Pozuelos basin and the expansion of glaciers in several parts of South America[9][10] including the Puna.[11]
This lake cycle took part during a glacial epoch, along with the Sajsi lake cycles.[12] A more humid climate in northeastern Argentina and elsewhere in subtropical South America has been linked to the Inca Huasi phase.[9][5] However, rainfall might not have increased by much on the Altiplano during the Inca Huasi cycle.[7]
Other paleolakes are Coipasa, Ouki, Minchin, Sajsi, Salinas and Tauca.[2] Research made in 2006 attributed the "Lake Minchin" to this lake phase.[5]
^Zech, Michael; Glaser, Bruno (30 January 2008). "Improved compound-specificδ13C analysis of n-alkanes for application in palaeoenvironmental studies". Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry. 22 (2): 135–42. doi:10.1002/rcm.3342. PMID18059042.
^ abGuerra, Lucía; Martini, Mateo A.; Vogel, Hendrik; Piovano, Eduardo L.; Hajdas, Irka; Astini, Ricardo; De Haller, Antoine; Moscariello, Andrea; Loizeau, Jean‐Luc; Ariztegui, Daniel (October 2022). "Microstratigraphy and palaeoenvironmental implications of a Late Quaternary high‐altitude lacustrine record in the subtropical Andes". Sedimentology. 69 (6): 2585–2614. doi:10.1111/sed.13004. hdl:20.500.11850/572803.
Zech, Michael; Zech, Roland; Morrás, Héctor; Moretti, Lucas; Glaser, Bruno; Zech, Wolfgang (March 2009). "Late Quaternary environmental changes in Misiones, subtropical NE Argentina, deduced from multi-proxy geochemical analyses in a palaeosol-sediment sequence". Quaternary International. 196 (1–2): 121–136. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2008.06.006.
Placzek, C.; Quade, J.; Patchett, P. J. (8 May 2006). "Geochronology and stratigraphy of late Pleistocene lake cycles on the southern Bolivian Altiplano: Implications for causes of tropical climate change". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 118 (5–6): 515–532. doi:10.1130/B25770.1.