A 15 000 cal a paleoclimatic record from Laguna del Viento (33°S), Subtropical Andes, central Chile

Abstract

Subtropical zones are crucial for understanding climate dynamics, as they strongly control the subtropical anticyclone system and serve as a bridge between the tropical and temperate regions of the planet. Therefore, understanding the long-term dynamics of these areas is vital on a hemispheric scale. A continuous late Pleistocene climate record based on sedimentological proxies was reconstructed using a lacustrine core from the Chilean Subtropical Andes (~33°S). Since the late Pleistocene, high lake levels subjected to cold and wet conditions prevailed between ~15.4 and 14k cal a bp, followed by glacier retreat between 14 and 13.7k cal a  bp. The Pleistocene–Holocene transition is marked by increasing sedimentological parameter values and organic matter content, recording a significant shift in the environmental conditions. Decreased lake levels and high-energy events predominated until ~8.5k cal a  bp, followed by warm and arid conditions with high-energy/runoff events from 8.5 to 5.2k cal a  bp, with the driest period occurring ~6.4k cal a  bp. Turbiditic flows appear between 5.2 and 2.6k cal a  bp, and cold conditions between 2.6 and 2.3k cal a  bp. From 1720 to 960 cal a  bp, cold and wet conditions predominated. Warm and wet conditions prevailed to the present, with a brief return to cold and dry conditions at 720 cal a  bp. Important widely represented events such as the Last Glacial termination, early to mid-Holocene Transition and Little Ice Age are present in the core record.