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A 17,900-year multi-proxy lacustrine record of Lago Puyehue (Chilean Lake District): introduction

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Abstract

This paper introduces the background and main results of a research project aimed at unravelling the paleolimnological and paleoclimatological history of Lago Puyehue (40° S, Lake District, Chile) since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), based on the study of several sediment cores from the lake and on extensive fieldwork in the lake catchment. The longest record was obtained in an 11-m-long piston core. An age-depth model was established by AMS 14C dating, 210Pb and 237Cs measurements, identification of event-deposits, and varve-counting for the past 600 years. The core extends back to 17,915 cal. yr. BP, and the seismic data indicate that an open-lake sedimentary environment already existed several thousands of years before that. The core was submitted to a multi-proxy analysis, including sedimentology, mineralogy, grain-size, major geochemistry and organic geochemistry (C/N ratio, δ13C), loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility, diatom analysis and palynology. Along-core variations in sediment composition reveal that the area of Lago Puyehue was characterized since the LGM by a series of rapid climate fluctuations superimposed on a long-term warming trend. Identified climate fluctuations confirm a.o. the existence of a Late-Glacial cold reversal predating the northern-hemisphere Younger Dryas cold period by 500–1,000 years, as well as the existence of an early southern-hemisphere Holocene climatic optimum. Varve-thickness analyses over the past 600 years reveal periodicities similar to those associated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, as well as intervals with increased precipitation, related to an intensification of the El Niño impact during the southern-hemisphere equivalent of the Little Ice Age.

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Acknowledgements

This study was carried out with support from the Belgian Science Policy Office, project “A continuous Holocene record of ENSO variability in southern Chile”. Many people have been instrumental for the success of this project, by providing collaboration, field-work or technical assistance or analytical resources, and by being available for stimulating discussions and for the sharing of data and ideas. These people will be acknowledged in the individual papers in this volume. However, we wish to address a special word of thanks to our Chilean colleagues and friends, without whom this project would never have succeeded, and in particular to Mario Pino, Robert Brümmer, Maria Mardones, Roberto Urrutia, Waldo San Martin and Alejandro Peña.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Universiteit Gent, 9000, Gent, Belgium

    Marc De Batist

  2. Clays and Paleoclimate Research Unit, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    Nathalie Fagel

  3. Institut d’Astronomie et de Géophysique Georges Lemaître, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Marie-France Loutre

  4. Geological Institute, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Emmanuel Chapron

Authors
  1. Marc De Batist
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  2. Nathalie Fagel
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  3. Marie-France Loutre
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  4. Emmanuel Chapron
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marc De Batist.

Additional information

This is the first in a series of eight papers published in this special issue dedicated to the 17,900 year multi-proxy lacustrine record of Lago Puyehue, Chilean Lake District. The papers in this special issue were collected by M. De Batist, N. Fagel, M.-F. Loutre and E. Chapron.

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De Batist, M., Fagel, N., Loutre, MF. et al. A 17,900-year multi-proxy lacustrine record of Lago Puyehue (Chilean Lake District): introduction. J Paleolimnol 39, 151–161 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-007-9113-2

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