HOLOCENE PALEOGLACIER HISTORY OF GLACIAR DALLA VEDOVA, CORDILLERA DARWIN, TIERRA DEL FUEGO, CHILE

Abstract:

Southernmost South America is unique in its position immediately north of the present-day Antarctic Convergence, making it ideally suited for the evaluation of Antarctic influences on terrestrial paleoclimate. Here we present a glacial geomorphic interpretation of the paleoglacial history of Glaciar Dalla Vedova in Bahía Blanca, Cordillera Darwin, Chile (53°S). This interpretation is further constrained by radiocarbon dating, cosmogenic dating, dendrochronology, and historical photogrammetry. Preliminary field work suggests that Holocene glacier fluctuations have been constrained to within 3 km of the present glacier boundary, punctuated by rapid recent glacier retreat over the past century. By comparing the observed chronology with the record contained further north in Patagonia, we will evaluate possible mechanisms of regional climate variability over the Holocene across southernmost South America.