Ice Age Southern Andes: A Chronicle of Palaeoecological Events (Developments in Quaternary Sciences)

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 14 C years, glacial-interglacial migration and refugial patterns for a diversity of taxa, and the extent of intrahemispheric and polar hemispheric synchroneity versus asynchroneity. "The Southern Andes, stretching from the subtropics to the subantarctic, are ideally located for paleoenvironmental research. Over the broad and continuous latitudinal extent of the cordillera ( -24[degree]), 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 paleoenvironmental 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 [superscript 14]C years, glacial-interglacial migration and refugial patterns for a diversity of taxa, and the extent of intrahemispheric and polar hemispheric synchroneity versus asynchroneity."--Jacket. 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 14 C years, glacial-interglacial migration and refugial patterns for a diversity of taxa, and the extent of intrahemispheric and polar hemispheric synchroneity versus asynchroneity Content: Preface Pages vii-viii C.J. Heusser Acknowledgments Page ix List of figures and tables Pages xiii-xvi Chapter 1 Introduction Pages 1-2 Chapter 2 Backdrop of botanical exploration Original Research Article Pages 3-4 Chapter 3 Physical setting Original Research Article Pages 5-15 Chapter 4 Climate Original Research Article Pages 16-21 Chapter 5 Glaciation Original Research Article Pages 22-37 Chapter 6 Land-sea level relations Original Research Article Pages 38-39 Chapter 7 Volcanism Original Research Article Pages 40-43 Chapter 8 Vegetation Original Research Article Pages 44-73 Chapter 9 Man, megafauna, and fire Original Research Article Pages 74-80 Chapter 10 Research methods: Approach to the problem of paleoenvironmental reconstruction Original Research Article Pages 81-85 Chapter 11 Pollen fallout reflective of vegetation during latest centuries: Presettlement and settlement Original Research Article Pages 86-104 Chapter 12 Paleoecological sites, cores, and pollen diagrams Original Research Article Pages 105-173 Chapter 13 Ice age Southern Andes Original Research Article Pages 174-187 Chapter 14 Global connections Original Research Article Pages 188-194 Chapter 15 Summary Original Research Article Pages 195-197 References Pages 198-234 Index Pages 235-240 The Southern Andes, extending from the subtropics to the subantarctic and forming the commanding topographic feature of Chile-Argentina, are ideally located for reconstruction of paleoenvironments.