Browsing by Author "Luethgens, Christopher"

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    Resolving the paradox of conflicting glacial chronologies: Reconstructing the pattern of deglaciation of the Magellan cordilleran ice dome (53-54°S) during the last glacial - interglacial transition
    (2024) Mcculloch, Robert D.; Bentley, Michael J.; Fabel, Derek; Fernandez-Navarro, Hans; Garcia, Juan-Luis; Hein, Andrew S.; Huynh, Carla; Jamieson, Stewart S. R.; Lira, Maria-Paz; Luethgens, Christopher; Nield, Grace A.; Roman, Manuel San; Tisdall, Eileen W.
    Raised shorelines and associated lacustrine sediments in the central Estrecho de Magallanes (Strait of Magellan) have been interpreted as products of cordilleran glaciers impounding a large proglacial lake and preventing drainage to the South Pacific and Southern Ocean during the Late glacial between c. 15.0 and 12.0 cal ka BP. However, a growing body of glacial geological evidence points towards an earlier retreat of the Magellan cordilleran ice dome, insufficient to dam lakes at that time. We critically re-evaluate the extant evidence for the c. 15.0-12.0 cal ka BP lake, here named 'Lago Kawesqar', and provide further sedimentological and chronological evidence for its existence. We also provide new cosmogenic surface nuclide dating of erratic and bedrock samples collected from extensive field campaigns that confirm the rapid and widespread retreat of the Magellan ice fields to the inner fjords of the Fuegian archipelago by c. 16.0 ka. To resolve the apparent paradox between these two lines of evidence we propose that glacial isostatic adjustment led to a topographic barrier to lake drainage rather than an ice dam. We use Glacial Isostatic Adjustment modelling to demonstrate that rapid isostatic recovery following the early deglaciation after c. 17.0 cal ka BP likely led to elevation of the present shallow south-western coastal margin of the Fuegian archipelago. Final drainage of Lago Kawesqar was probably caused by neotectonic subsidence of the same margin along the boundary of the South American - Scotia tectonic plates at c. 12.0 cal ka BP.
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    Vegetation, glacier, and climate changes before the global last glacial maximum in the Isla Grande de Chiloe, southern Chile (42° S)
    (2022) Gomez, Gabriel A.; Garcia, Juan-Luis; Villagran, Carolina; Luethgens, Christopher; Abarzua, Ana M.
    Climatic and vegetation features of the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere before the global Last Glacial Maximum (gLGM) are still a matter of discussion. The signatures of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 show strong variability at the poles that has not yet been resolved at lower latitudes. This work discusses one of the first terrestrial records that reflects the vegetation, glacier, and climate conditions in southern South America during this period. The stratigraphic, palynological, and geomorphological features of the Punta Pihuio, Rio Huicha, Punta Pirquen and Punta Detico sites (41-42 degrees S) on the Isla Grande de Chiloe (southern Chile) are described and discussed. Glacially sourced sediment intercalated with peat soils constrained by single-grain feldspar (SGIR50) luminescence and radiocarbon (C-14) dating show that the Late MIS 5 and the MIS 3 were periods of high environmental variability at these locations. Pollen records from peat layers indicate an open forest with conifers, Nothofagus and thermophilic elements, such as Myrtaceae, representing interstadial conditions that were abruptly interrupted by glacial expansions during stadials. High variability between arboreal and herbaceous taxa is also interpreted as environmental instability. Moreover, we show that the Patagonian Ice Sheet (PIS) reached full glacial extent during Early to Middle MIS 3, as is also observed in other Southern Hemisphere glacier records on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Our data support that millennial-to multi-millennial-scale climate changes characterized the pre-gLGM not only at the poles, but also at the southern mid-latitudes. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.