Glacial and Paleoclimate Record of the Southern Andes, 46 Degrees South, for the Late Pleistocene

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

This award is to support research that will develop a continuous record of glaciation over the last two to three glacial cycles in mid latitude South America that can be compared to nearby ice core records and glaciomarine sequences. Field work will be undertaken to map moraines and outwash terraces in detail. Surface exposure dating will be carried out to provide a high-resolution chronostratigraphic framework within which paleoclimate data can be placed. Soil analyses will be performed to provide soil-moisture history for the region. Other analyses that will be performed to fine-tune exposure surface dating include better estimates of boulder erosion rates, and refinement of local production rates for cosmogenic nuclides. The broader impacts of this proposed research center on the development of a continuous high resolution record of southern hemisphere glaciation. Successful development of this record holds the potential for answering fundamental questions regarding synchrony of climate change in the northern and southern hemispheres.