Ice Age Southern Andes (eBook)

A Chronicle of Palaeoecological Events

C.J. Heusser (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2003 | 1. Auflage
256 Seiten
Elsevier Science (Verlag)
978-0-08-053438-1 (ISBN)

Infos

The Southern Andes, stretching from the subtropics to the subantarctic, are ideally located for palaeoenvironmental research. Over the broad and continuous latitudinal extent of the cordillera
(-24&ring,), vegetation is adjusted to climatic gradients and atmospheric circulation patterns.

Opposed to the prevailing Southern Westerlies, the Southern Andes are positioned to receive the brunt of the winds, while biota are set to record the shifting of incoming storm systems over time. Sequential, latitudinally-placed, sedimentary deposits containing microfossils and macroremains, as archives of past vegetation and climate, make possible the detection of equatorward and poleward displacement of plant communities and, as a consequence, changes in climatic controls. No terrestrial setting in the Southern Hemisphere is so unique for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction during and since the last ice age. Twenty radiocarbon-dated fossil pollen and spore records chosen to place emphasis on the last ice age include high-resolution, submillennial data sets that also cover the Holocene, thus providing contrast between present interglacial and past glacial ages. From a refined data base, the records constitute the foundation for interpreting factors responsible for vegetation change over >50,000 ¹⁴C years, glacial-interglacial migration and refugial patterns for a diversity of taxa, and the extent of intrahemispheric and polar hemispheric synchroneity versus asynchroneity.

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The Southern Andes, stretching from the subtropics to the subantarctic, are ideally located for palaeoenvironmental research. Over the broad and continuous latitudinal extent of the cordillera (-24˚), vegetation is adjusted to climatic gradients and atmospheric circulation patterns.Opposed to the prevailing Southern Westerlies, the Southern Andes are positioned to receive the brunt of the winds, while biota are set to record the shifting of incoming storm systems over time. Sequential, latitudinally-placed, sedimentary deposits containing microfossils and macroremains, as archives of past vegetation and climate, make possible the detection of equatorward and poleward displacement of plant communities and, as a consequence, changes in climatic controls. No terrestrial setting in the Southern Hemisphere is so unique for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction during and since the last ice age. Twenty radiocarbon-dated fossil pollen and spore records chosen to place emphasis on the last ice age include high-resolution, submillennial data sets that also cover the Holocene, thus providing contrast between present interglacial and past glacial ages. From a refined data base, the records constitute the foundation for interpreting factors responsible for vegetation change over >50,000 14C years, glacial-interglacial migration and refugial patterns for a diversity of taxa, and the extent of intrahemispheric and polar hemispheric synchroneity versus asynchroneity.

Inhalt

Front Cover 1
Ice Age Southern Andes: A Chronicle of Pleoecological Events 4
Copyright Page 5
Contents 12
Preface 8
Acknowledgments 10
List of figures and tables 14
Chapter 1. Introduction 18
Chapter 2. Backdrop of botanical exploration 20
Chapter 3. Physical setting 22
3.1 South America, Southern Ocean, and Antarctica. Their Position in the Southern Hemisphere 22
3.2 Andean Cordillera 22
3.3 Valle Central 28
3.4 Cordillera de la Costa 30
3.5 Continental Shelf 32
Chapter 4. Climate 33
4.1 General Characteristics 33
4.2 Climate Controls 35
Chapter 5. Glaciation 39
5.1 Late Tertiary–Pleistocene 39
5.2 Last Glaciation 40
5.3 Lateglacial 50
5.4 Present Interglaciation: Holocene 50
5.5 Glacier Models and Paleoclimate 54
Chapter 6. Land–sea level variations 55
Chapter 7. Volcanism 57
7.1 Fuego–Patagonia 57
7.2 Península de Taitao–Archipié1ago de los Chonos–Adjacent Andes 59
7.3 Región de los Lagos 60
7.4 Settlement Volcanic Activity 60
Chapter 8. Vegetation 61
8.1 Chilean Plant Formations 62
8.2 Argentine Plant Formations 85
8.3 Community Distribution and Dynamics 90
Chapter 9. Man, megafauna, and fire 91
Chapter 10. Research methods: approach to the problem of paleoenvironmental reconstruction 98
10.1 Field 98
10.2 Laboratory 98
10.3 Pollen and Spore Morphology 99
Chapter 11. Pollen fallout reflective of vegetation during latest centuries: presettlement and settlement 103
11.1 Presettlement 103
11.2 Settlement 118
Chapter 12. Paleoecological sites, cores, and pollen/spore diagrams 122
12.1 Northern Valle Central 122
12.2 Región de los Lagos 128
12.3 Isla Grande de Chiloé 148
12.4 Chiloé Continental 154
12.5 Southern Patagonia 159
12.6 Fuegia 171
Chapter 13. Ice age Southern Andes 191
13.1 Vegetation and Paleoclimate 191
13.2 Beetle (Coleoptera) and Pollen Evidence for Fullglacial–Lateglacial Climatic Change 195
13.3 Plant Migration 198
13.4 Relict Communities and Refugia 201
13.5 Correlative Marine–Land Stratigraphies 203
Chapter 14. Global connections 205
14.1 New Zealand–Tasmania 205
14.2 Southern Ocean–Antarctica 207
14.3 Europe–North Atlantic–North America 210
14.4 Overview 211
Chapter 15. Summary 212
References 215
Index 252

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 12.11.2003
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Geografie / Kartografie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Geologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Meteorologie / Klimatologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Mineralogie / Paläontologie
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Umwelttechnik / Biotechnologie
• ISBN-10: 0-08-053438-4 / 0080534384
• ISBN-13: 978-0-08-053438-1 / 9780080534381