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Tracking abrupt climate change in the Southern Hemisphere: a seismic stratigraphic study of Lago Cardiel, Argentina (49°S)
Author(s) -
Gilli Adrian,
Anselmetti Flavio S.,
Ariztegui Daniel,
Bradbury J. Platt,
Kelts Kerry R.,
Markgraf Vera,
McKenzie Judith A.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3121.2001.00377.x
Subject(s) - geology , holocene , glacial period , climate change , pleistocene , northern hemisphere , structural basin , paleontology , physical geography , climatology , oceanography , geography
Lake sediments from a closed basin in southern Patagonia (Argentina) provide a continental archive with which to reconstruct climate change and to test the interhemispheric synchroneity of abrupt events. High‐resolution sub‐bottom seismic profiles of Lago Cardiel indicate substantial lake‐level changes since the late Pleistocene, which were identified and dated in a series of long piston cores. These data allow the reconstruction of the regional water balance at 49=" PSFT − BC "202S since the late glacial. The seismic stratigraphy reveals a dry late glacial climate with a desiccation of the basin around 11 220 yr BP ( 14 C). Lake level rapidly increased by 135 m at the Holocene transition. Following the early Holocene highstand at + 55 m, lake level never dropped significantly below modern level. The palaeoclimate changes implied by the Lago Cardiel record are out‐of‐phase with those implied by records from tropical South America and demonstrate considerable latitudinal asynchroneity in the climate evolution of this continent.