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Late Quaternary glaciation history of isla de los Estados, southeasternmost South America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Per Möller ,
Christian Hjort ,
Svante Björck ,
Jorge Rabassa  and
Juan Federico Ponce
Per Möller*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Division of Geology/Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden
Christian Hjort
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Division of Geology/Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden
Svante Björck
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Division of Geology/Quaternary Sciences, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden
Jorge Rabassa
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Geología del Cuaternario, CADIC-CONICET, Bernardo Houssay 200, 9410 Ushuaia, Argentina Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia-San Juan Bosco at Ushuaia, Argentina
Juan Federico Ponce
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Geología del Cuaternario, CADIC-CONICET, Bernardo Houssay 200, 9410 Ushuaia, Argentina
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: +46 46 2224419.E-mail address:per.moller@geol.lu.se (P. Móller).
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Abstract

Isla de los Estados is a mountainous island southeast of Tierra del Fuego, in southernmost South America. Its central and eastern parts have an alpine topography, transected by U-shaped valleys, small, partly over-deepened fjords, and a multitude of abandoned cirques, all associated with extensive former local glaciations. Traces of glacial erosion generally reach 400–450 m a.s.l., and above that trimline a distinct sharp-edged nunatak derived landscape is present. The westernmost part of the island has a lower, more subdued topography, reflecting its "softer" geology but possibly also over-running and erosion by mainland-derived ice streams. The present study concentrated on glacigenic sediment sequences exposed along coastal erosional cliffs. A combination of OSL and 14C datings show that these sediments mostly date from the latest (Wisconsinan/Weichselian) glacial cycle, i.e. from the last ca. 100 ka with the oldest (glaciolacustrine) deposits possibly as old as 90–80 ka. The upper parts of overlying tills, with associated lateral and terminal moraines from glaciers that expanded onto an eustatically exposed dry shelf north of the island, date from the last global glacial maximum (LGM). Radiocarbon ages of peat and lake sediments indicate that deglaciation began 17–16 cal ka BP.

Keywords

Isla de los EstadosTierra del FuegoSouth AmericaGlacial geologyQuaternary historyGlacial chronologyGlacial sedimentology
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 73 , Issue 3 , May 2010 , pp. 521 - 534
Copyright
University of Washington

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