Valle De Santiago Research Articles

First lacustrine varve chronologies from Mexico: impact of droughts, ENSO and human activity since AD 1840 as recorded in maar sediments from Valle de Santiago

We present varve chronologies for sediments from two maar lakes in the Valle de Santiago region (Central Mexico): Hoya La Alberca (AD 1852–1973) and Hoya Rincon de Parangueo (AD 1839–1943). These are the first varve chronologies for Mexican lakes. The varved sections were anchored with tephras from Colima (1913) and Paricutin (1943/1944) and 210Pb ages. We compare the sequences using the thickness of seasonal laminae and element counts (Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ti, Mn, Fe, and Sr) determined by micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The formation of the varve sublaminae is attributed to the strongly seasonal climate regime. Limited rainfall and high evaporation rates in winter and spring induce precipitation of carbonates (high Ca, Sr) enriched in 13C and 18O, whereas rainfall in summer increases organic and clastic input (plagioclase, quartz) with high counts of lithogenic elements (K, Al, Ti, and Si). Eolian input of Ti occurs also in the dry season. Moving correlations (5-yr windows) of the Ca and Ti counts show similar development in both sequences until the 1930s. Positive correlations indicate mixing of allochthonous Ti and autochthonous Ca, while negative correlations indicate their separation in sublaminae. Negative excursions in the correlations correspond with historic and reconstructed droughts, El Nino events, and positive SST anomalies. Based on our data, droughts (3–7 year duration) were severe and centred around the following years: the early 1850s, 1865, 1880, 1895, 1905, 1915 and the late 1920s with continuation into the 1930s. The latter dry period brought both lake systems into a critical state making them susceptible to further drying. Groundwater overexploitation due to the expansion of irrigation agriculture in the region after 1940 induced the transition from calcite to aragonite precipitation in Alberca and halite infiltration in Rincon. The proxy data indicate a faster response to increased evaporation for Rincon, the lake with the larger maar dimensions, solar radiation receipt and higher conductivity, whereas the smaller, steeper Alberca maar responded rapidly to increased precipitation.

First Report of Leek yellow stripe virus in Garlic in the State of Guanajuato, Mexico.

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) can be affected by a virus complex (1) consisting of two potyviruses, Onion yellow dwarf virus (OYDV) and Leek yellow stripe virus (LYSV), and two carlaviruses, Garlic common latent virus (GCLV) and Shallot latent virus (SLV) (1). To identify the components of the virus complex that could be present in garlic plants in Guanajuato State, which is the second largest garlic producer in the country and where presumptive viral symptoms were initially observed in December 2004, a survey was carried out in six locations: San Miguel de Allende and San Luis de la Paz in northern Guanajuato; Irapuato and Villagrán in the central region; and Salamanca and Valle de Santiago in the southern part of the state. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was carried out to detect LYSV, OYDV, GCLV, and SLV in 195 garlic leaf samples collected during January 2005 from plants with leaf yellow stripe, mosaic, enation, deformation, or dwarfism symptoms. A set of primers, previously reported and specific to the coat protein cistron of LYSV (1), were synthesized and used in a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The amplified product (1,020 nucleotides) was cloned into plasmid pGEM T-Easy (Promega, Madison, WI) and sequenced (Gen-bank Accession No. DQ841554). Sequence analysis showed that the cloned DNA fragment shared 97% similarity with the coat protein cistron of LYSV isolate no. 3 from Okinawa (GenBank Accession No. AB194632). The fragment was then radioactively labelled and used as a probe in the RNA blot analysis of all samples to confirm the ELISA results of LYSV. Of the 195 samples, 64 tested positive by RNA blot analysis. Forty-one of these were also positive by ELISA for LYSV. Preliminary, positive ELISA results were also obtained for OYDV, GCLV and SLV. To our knowledge, this is the first report of LYSV in the State of Guanajuato and in Mexico. The correct identification of viruses present in garlic will help to use the appropriate strategies to reduce viral incidence in this garlic-producing region. Reference: (1) T. V. M. Fajardo et al. Fitopatol. Bras. 26:619, 2001.

Holocene Environmental Change and Human Impact in Hoya Rincon de Parangueo, Guanajuato, Mexico

This paper presents a paleoenvironmental study on Hoya Rincon do Parangueo, a maar lake in Valle de Santiago in Central Mexican Bajio. Maar lake sediments have been widely used for high-resolution reconstruction of paleoenvironment. Many different paleoenvironmental proxy data such as stable isotopes, pollen, sediment chemistry, and dung fungus spore were produced in this study. The pine-oak ratio, stable isotopes, and sediment chemistry help to reveal paleoenviromental changes throughout the whole period covered by sediment materials from this study site. The evidence I found indicates that during ca. 9,500 <TEX>$\sim$</TEX> ca. 8,300 cal yr B.P. there was dry climate; during ca. 8,300 <TEX>$\sim$</TEX> ca. 6,300 cal yr B.P. it was wetter; during ca. 6,300 <TEX>$\sim$</TEX> ca. 4,000 cal yr B.P. drier and cooler; during ca. 4,000 <TEX>$\sim$</TEX> ca. 1,100 cal yr B.P. milder and wetter. The presence of Chupicuaro culture between ca. 2,500 <TEX>$\sim$</TEX> 1,100 cal yr B.P. is implied by the high frequencies of Amaranthaceae and Zea mars. It seems that man left this lake around 1,100 cal yr B.P. due to a dry climate after 1,300 cal yr B.P. Spanish arrival around 400 cal yr B.P. is implied by the fact that fe3 mars reappears and Sporormiella spp. become significant around 120 cm, whereas Poaceae drops sharply.

Water use (and abuse) and its effects on the crater‐lakes of Valle de Santiago, Mexico

AbstractMost Mexicans live in the arid and semiarid regions that represent two‐thirds of the Mexican territory, where water is scarce. Natural, as well as human, causes are favouring the degradation of Mexican lakes. There is a clear need to develop and implement sustainable water‐use programmes at a catchment scale. However, the accelerated degradation rate of the Mexican lakes means that there will not be enough time to perform whole‐basin evaluations to establish sustainable water‐use programmes before the lakes dry up. The case of the Valle de Santiago crater‐lakes clearly illustrates the declining trend that Mexican inland aquatic resources follow. Vegetation clearance, overgrazing, abatement of phreatic waters and salinization have induced severe erosion and overall desertification (land degradation) in the basin for what, it seems, a long time (i.e. prehispanic times). In this way, human activities could be provoking at least the following negative consequences: a hotter and drier local climate, water scarcity, dust storms and soil salinization. The aquatic (surface and groundwater) resources of the Valle de Santiago basin have been seriously threatened. Two of the four crater‐lakes have already dried up and phreatic mantle abatement reaches up to 2.5 m per year. In spite of these facts, no sustainable water‐use programme has been established yet. The future scenery of this Mexican basin looks alarmingly like many other basins in the central and northern Mexican territories.

Lower-Crustal Xenoliths from the Valle de Santiago Maar Field, Michoacan-Guanajuato Volcanic Field, Central Mexico

We report on a recent finding of granulitic and gabbroic xenoliths in the Rincon de Parangueo and La Cintura maars, within the Valle de Santiago volcanic field. The field is formed by several maars, cinder cones, and shield volcanoes and is located at the northern sector of the extensive Michoacan-Guanajuato volcanic field, characterized by abundant Neogene cinder cones and medium-sized shield volcanoes. The maars are distributed along a belt elongated NW-SE, apparently related to a regional fault system that has been documented in the west-central sector of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt (TMVB). Two types of xenoliths have been distinguished—i.e., hypersthene-diopside granulites and gabbroic xenoliths—which are present in the Rincon de Parangueo and La Cintura maars, respectively. The silica content in the granulites has a narrow range between 46.9 and 50.9 wt%, plagioclase crystals are fractured and display reaction borders, and crystals appear to have grown slowly and show no compositional zoning. Silica in the gabbroic xenoliths ranges from 45.7 to 47.5 wt%. Chemical composition is similar to mafic and intermediate orthogneiss xenoliths from the San Luis Potosi maars of the Central Mexican Altiplano. An Sm/Nd model age for the granulitic xenoliths from Rincon de Parangueo maar of 1.5 Ga supports the presence of a Precambrian lower crust. This finding challenges current models of crustal structure in central and western Mexico. The Valle de Santiago field represents the westernmost lower-crustal xenolith locality reported thus far. It lies within the Guerrero terrane that has been considered as a collage of island arcs built on oceanic lithosphere and accreted to the North American plate during late Mesozoic time. Our results support a composite nature for the Guerrero terrane and extend the limit of possible granulitic lower continental crust farther to the west of the Central Altiplano province, beneath the TMVB, than currently considered (i.e., to the east of the Guerrero terrane).

Paleomagnetic study of the Valle de Santiago volcanics, Michoacán-Guanajuato volcanic field, Mexico

La región de Valle de Santiago del campo volcánico de Michoacán-Guanajuato está caracterizada por un lineamiento NNW-SSE de 20 maars en una zona de 50 km x 7 km, con 13 de ellos en una subzona de 14 km x 6 km. Este lineamiento parece estar asociado a una zona de debilidad cortical o fractura, orientada oblicua al patrón estructural de la Faja Volcánica Trans-Mexicana (TMVB). Ciento veintiuna muestras fueron colectadas de 13 diferentes unidades volcánicas correspondientes a andesitas pliocénicas y basaltos y andesitas cuaternarias en maars, conos cineríticos y volcanes compuestos. La polaridad magnética, excepto en una unidad, es normal. La edad de K-Ar más antigua asociada a la actividad de los maars es 1.2 Ma. Las polaridades magnéticas normales sugieren que la actividad volcánica se desarrolló predominantemente durante el crón de Brunhes, lo que indica edades más jóvenes a 0.78 Ma. La dirección media y polo paleomagnético estimada de 10 sitios son: Dec = 353.7°, Inc = 39.2°, k=42, α95 = 7.6° y PLAT = 78.4° N y PLOG = 180.0° E. El lineamiento de Valle de Santiago forma parte de un conjunto regional en el sector norte de la TMVB que incluye a la zona de falla de Querétaro-Taxco (QTFZ). Estos lineamientos NNW-SSE intersectan los patrones estructurales más jóvenes ENE-WSW representados por la falla Chapala-Tula. Datos paleomagnéticos para el sector este de la cuenca de Chapala indican rotaciones de bloques en sentido antihorario. Datos para el graben de Acambay en la zona de intersección con la QTFZ sugieren rotaciones en sentido horario y antihorario. Los datos para Valle de Santiago tienen una diferencia dentro de la negativa 6.3° + 6.1° con respecto a la dirección esperada. La diferencia está dentro de la incertidumbre; sin embargo, sugiere la posible ocurrencia de rotación antihoraria, similar a la deformación regional en este sector de la TMVB.