South American dust signature in geological archives of the Southern Hemisphere

In present-day southern South America (SSA) the major dust source areas are located in a continuous N-S band of arid and semi-arid terrains extending from the coastal regions of Peru to Patagonia. three main persistent source areas stand out: Patagonia, centralWestern Argentina (cWA) and the Puna/ Altiplano Plateau (Fig. 1). Multiple evidence indicates that these areas were continuously active over the last several glacial cycles. Aeolian transport from Patagonia was often employed to explain the accumulation of the Pampean loess, the geochemical composition of sediment from the Southern Ocean and dust contained in Antarctic ice. However, chemical and isotopic fingerprinting methods has led to acceptance that Patagonian sediments can explain only part but not the entire range of compositions found in those archives. Other until now less considered but nevertheless important Southern Hemisphere regions were also important suppliers of dust during glacial-interglacial cycles. current international efforts are dedicated to better characterize these non-Patagonian dust sources (e.g. De Deckker, this issue). Here, we present new geochemical data of sediments from potential source areas (PSAs) in SSA north of Patagonia.