A NEW RECORD OF PALEOENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS FROM THE NORTHEASTERN SAN MARTÍN LAKE BASIN (PATAGONIA, ARGENTINA): VEGETATION RECONSTRUCTION FROM POLLEN AND CARBON ISOTOPES SINCE 10,200 CAL. YEARS BP

Authors

  • Florencia Paula Bamonte Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMYC). Laboratorio de Paleoecología y Palinología. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata-CONICET. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9618-7022
  • María Alejandra Marcos Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMYC). Laboratorio de Paleoecología y Palinología. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata-CONICET.
  • Marcos Emanuel Echeverría Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMYC). Laboratorio de Paleoecología y Palinología. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata-CONICET.
  • Gonzalo David Sottille Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMYC). Laboratorio de Paleoecología y Palinología. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata-CONICET. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2447-3470
  • Héctor Osvaldo Panarello CONICET - Instituto de Geocronología y Geología Isotópica (INGEIS), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5000-3694
  • María Virginia Mancini Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMYC). Laboratorio de Paleoecología y Palinología. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata-CONICET. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3226-6770

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5710/PEAPA.05.01.2023.449

Keywords:

Vegetation communities, Holocene, Pollen analisys, Carbon isotopes, Patagonia, Wetland, Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction

Abstract

In this research, we reconstruct the paleoenvironmental conditions from a sedimentary record of a wetland (mallín) located in the Patagonian steppe near to the Subantarctic forest on the northeastern shore of the San Martín Lake basin (SW Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina). The Mallín Ñire (49° 00’ 23.5” S; 72° 13’ 34.5” W) presents a basal age of 10,200 cal. years BP and its pollen content, carbon isotopes, and stratigraphy were analyzed. The relationship with modern pollen assemblages from surface sediment samples allows us to interpret changes in the fossil record. Between 10,200 and 9,000 cal. years BP, we can infer a grass-shrub steppe with dwarf-shrubs under arid conditions and between 9,000 and 6,500 cal. years BP, a grass steppe dominated under an increase of moisture availability. Conditions became drier until 4,000 cal. years BP; later, a grass-shrub steppe developed, which suggests an environmental transition like the modern ones. The last 1,400 cal. years BP present high paleoenvironmental variability. The integration with other sequences allowed us to interpret the regional changes during the Holocene related to moisture availability by precipitation changes related to the westerly variations.

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Published

2023-02-15

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