Holocene Mangrove Formations on the Santa Elena Peninsula, Ecuador: Pluvial Indicators or Ecological Response to Physiographic Changes

Resumen

Evidence indicates that several temporally distinct periods of prehistoric occupation of the now dry Santa Elena Peninsula of Ecuador coincided with periods of mangrove formation on the Peninsula. This article challenges the premise behind the hypothesis that such hydrophytic vegetation indicates greater rainfall during these periods. An alternative hypothesis is suggested, based upon the argument that known coastal uplift and probable accompanying physiographic changes first created, and later destroyed, the edaphic requirements for such a formation. The need to invoke a hypothesis of climatic shifts is thus dispensed with.