Oxygen isotope values of precipitation and surface waters in northern Central America (Belize and Guatemala) are dominated by temperature and amount effects

An understanding of the climatic controls on precipitation δ18O is required to interpret isotopic records of paleoclimate and paleoaltimetry. However, variations in precipitation δ18O in time and space are only poorly known in northern Central America. To test the hypothesis that precipitation and surface water δ18O values are dominated by temporal and spatial amount effects, we analyzed δ18O in surface waters collected from Guatemala and Belize, and in precipitation from the Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation database for Veracruz, Mexico, and San Salvador, El Salvador. Herein we show that the dominant controls on δ18O values of precipitation and surface waters are fairly simple. Temporally, the dominant control on precipitation δ18O values is the amount effect, whereby there is an inverse correlation between rainfall amount and δ18O. Precipitation δ18O values decrease by 1.24‰ per 100 mm increase of monthly rainfall. Spatially, only two variables – distance from the coast and mean catchment altitude – explain 84% of the surface water δ18O variability. Surface water δ18O values show an altitude effect of − 1.9 to − 2.4‰ km− 1 and a continental effect of 0.69‰ per 100 km once corrected for altitude effects. A decrease in surface water δ18O by 3 to 4‰ from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean is evident as an isotopic rain shadow on the Pacific slope. Our data also show that river waters in this humid tropical environment are good proxies for δ18O values of precipitation in northern Central America. The Guatemala/Belize surface water line is defined as δD = 8.0 × δ18O + 8.7, which is similar to the meteoric water line at San Salvador of δD = 8.1 × δ18O + 10.9. Spatial variability in δ18O values is interpreted to reflect 1) progressive rainout of Caribbean-sourced air masses upon traverse of Central America, and 2) the temperature-dependent equilibrium fractionation between vapor and condensate related to the altitude effect. The data show that the northeast trade winds are the dominant moisture source to Central America, mixing with Pacific-derived moisture west of the cordilleran divide.