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Late-glacial and Holocene climate dynamics at the steppe/forest ecotone in southernmost Patagonia, Argentina: the pollen record from a fen near Brazo Sur, Lago Argentino

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Abstract

We present a pollen record from a fen at the eastern shore of Brazo Sur south of Lago Argentino, Argentina (core BRS 1/06, 50°34′54″S, 72°54′52″W, 198 m a.s.l.). The coring site is located in the transition zone from humid grass steppe to Andean Nothofagus forest. With the exception of a mid-Holocene sand layer, the record covers the interval between 13,350 and 1,700 cal b.p., indicating that there could have been no recurrence of Late-glacial conditions in Brazo Sur, as has been suggested in the literature as having been contemporary with the Younger Dryas interval in the northern hemisphere. The Late-glacial and early Holocene periods at Brazo Sur are characterized by fluctuations between humid grass-dominated steppe associations and drier ones dominated by Asteraceae and Ericaceae. At the start of the Holocene, the pollen influx increased. Nothofagus dominance began by 7,700 cal b.p. probably due to increasing moisture. Present-day closed Nothofagus forest developed around 2,500 cal b.p., related to a further increase in moisture.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Claudio E. Chehébar of the Administración de Parques Nacionales, San Carlos de Bariloche who gave the coring permission for the Parque Nacional los Glaciares and several guards in the different field stations of the national park for their friendly support. Flavia Quintana, Mar del Plata, Daniela Echazu and Hugo Corbella, Buenos Aires are thanked for their support during field work and Stephanie Janssen, René Kabacinski, Sara Geishecker and Stephanie Reusch for processing the samples in the pollen laboratory of the University of Cologne. Vera Markgraf and Sonia Fontana are thanked for their reviews of this paper. This study was funded by the DFG, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, grant no. WI 3168/1-1.

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  1. University of Cologne, Seminar for Geography and Education, Gronewaldstr. 2, 50931, Köln, Germany

    Michael Wille & Frank Schäbitz

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  1. Michael Wille
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  2. Frank Schäbitz
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Correspondence to Michael Wille.

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Communicated by F. Bittmann.

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Wille, M., Schäbitz, F. Late-glacial and Holocene climate dynamics at the steppe/forest ecotone in southernmost Patagonia, Argentina: the pollen record from a fen near Brazo Sur, Lago Argentino. Veget Hist Archaeobot 18, 225–234 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-008-0194-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-008-0194-2

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