Chronostratigraphy and lake-level changes of Laguna Cari-Laufquén, Río Negro, Argentina

Alyson Cartwright, Jay Quade, Scott Stine, Kenneth D. Adams, Wallace Broecker, Hai Cheng

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

Evidence from shoreline and deep-lake sediments show Laguna Cari-Laufquén, located at 41°S in central Argentina, rose and fell repeatedly during the late Quaternary. Our results show that a deep (> 38. m above modern lake level) lake persisted from no later than 28. ka to 19. ka, with the deepest lake phase from 27 to 22. ka. No evidence of highstands is found after 19. ka until the lake rose briefly in the last millennia to 12. m above the modern lake, before regressing to present levels. Laguna Cari-Laufquén broadly matches other regional records in showing last glacial maximum (LGM) highstands, but contrasts with sub-tropical lake records in South America where the hydrologic maximum occurred during deglaciation (17-10. ka). Our lake record from Cari-Laufquén mimics that of high-latitude records from the Northern Hemisphere. This points to a common cause for lake expansions, likely involving some combination of temperature depression and intensification of storminess in the westerlies belt of both hemispheres during the LGM.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)430-440
Number of pages11
JournalQuaternary Research
Volume76
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2011

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank David Dettman for help in the laboratory, and Julie Cole and Julio Betancourt for feedback on this manuscript. This work was supported by the COMER Science and Education Foundation .

Copyright:
Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Argentina
  • Carbon-14
  • Last glacial maximum
  • Paleolakes
  • Shoreline

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