Climate Development in Southern Santa Cruz (Argentina) During the last 1600 Years Gained from Proxies of the Salsa-Project
Abstract
The DEKLIM project SALSA: "South Argentinean Lake Sediment Archives and Modelling" investigates lacustrine sediments with an integrated research strategy to understand quaternary ecosystem changes in space and time. SALSA studies are carried out in the Pali Aike Volcanic Field (PAVF; Santa Cruz province, southern Patagonia, Argentina). A few maar-like structures in the PAVF contain permanent lakes varying from 500 to 3700 m in diameter and exhibiting up to 100 m water depth. We will present results from short gravity cores of two different maars: Laguna Potrok Aike and Laguna Azul covering the last 1600-1300 years, respectively. An interpretation integrating the prominent sediment, isotopes and microfossil data from both lakes suggests the following climatic changes during the last 1.6 ka AD: Between the 5th and the 11th century relatively frequent moist/dry fluctuations were noticed. Between the 11th and the 20th century conditions were relatively moist except for a dry/warm period between the 13th and 15th century. The change from dry to moister conditions was dated to the 15th century. Since the middle of the 20th century climate is characterized by increasing drought.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2004
- Bibcode:
- 2004AGUFMGC53A..05S
- Keywords:
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- 9360 South America;
- 9604 Cenozoic;
- 3344 Paleoclimatology;
- 1620 Climate dynamics (3309)