Lago Chepelmut is a relatively small lake in size, of ellipsoidal shape, located in the outer fold-andthrust belt of the Fuegian Andes (southernmost South America). High-resolution single-channel seismic profiles, integrated with geological information in the surrounding area, have allowed to reconstruct for the first time a bathymetric map of the lake and the architecture, distribution and thickness of the sedimentary cover. Two main seismic units were identified in the seismic records: (i) a Lower Unit of glacial nature, likely associated to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and irregularly distributed through the basin, and (ii) an Upper Unit of lacustrine origin which drapes the entire basin. Submerged moraine deposits within the lake were also found from seismic data, and correlated with moraine arcs widespread distributed in the surroundings of the basin. These morphologies represent the recessional deposits left by the Ewan glacier lobe, one of the easternmost fronts of the Tierra del Fuego glaciers during the LGM. The lacustrine sedimentary record shows that the lake level was not constant through the recent history of the lake. Moreover, data analyses has shown that there is also an important structural component that has conditioned the evolution of the basin, in addition to that linked to glacial activity.
Lago Argentino hosts various calving glaciers, among them the famous Perito Moreno. Whereas the onland late Pleistocene–Holocene glacial history is rather well constrained, the submerged glacier-related features were until now undisclosed. Here we present a series of high-resolution seismic profiles revealing moraine bodies associated with the late-glacial glacier dynamics and the first bathymetric map of the Brazo Rico and Brazo Sur, the two southern arms of Lago Argentino. At the eastern termination of Brazo Rico, we identified at the lake floor the submerged expression of the Puerto Bandera 3 moraine mapped onshore, which represents the oldest event (12,660 ± 70 cal yr BP oldest minimum age) recognized in this lake arm, and seven other younger events expressed by a series of terminal and recessional moraines. Along the Brazo Sur, few moraine bodies have been imaged by seismic data. Here, the youngest temporal constraint comes from the Frías moraine (ca. 6000 cal yr BP), which closes off the southern end of the Brazo Sur. At the confluence of the two arms, the Perito Moreno and the former Frías glacier merged and flowed toward east during their late-glacial maximum advance (i.e., Puerto Bandera 1 moraine). The subaqueous evidence of moraine bodies testifies to the occurrence of previously undocumented pulses of the Perito Moreno and former Frías glaciers within the general phase of late Pleistocene–Holocene regression.
ABSTRACT. The southern foothills of the Fuegian Andes are bounded by the Beagle Channel (BC), a conspicuous E-W longitudinal basin, controlled by a large transcurrent fault system, which extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The northern shore of the Beagle Channel's central segment is characterized by several E-W oriented valleys, parallel to the main basin, which are interspersed with a series of oblique NW trending lineaments that extend across the mountain belt. A geoelectrical survey was carried out in order to investigate the shallow architecture of such sets of linear morphologies. The principal E-W lineament system was characterized by conspicuous sub-vertical resistivity contrasts, interpreted as fractured zones associated with fault strands of the main strike-slip Beagle Channel system, whereas the oblique NW-SE trending set of lineaments revealed slightly different resistivity patterns, with vertical displacements and less abrupt contrasts. These resistivity patterns, in combination with the widespread occurrence of normal faulting in the area, allowed to infer an extensional control over the oblique depressions. These morphological features were related to oblique transverse faults that segment two sub parallel E-W fault systems. The oblique faults were probably developed along inherited structural anisotropies and can be extended well beyond the BC shoreline to the NW. Both geophysical and field evidence suggest a post-glacial deformation along the area. RESUMEN. Arquitectura somera de lineamientos en los Andes Fueguinos basada en estudios de Tomografía de Resistividad Eléctrica (TER). Evidencias de fallamiento transverso extensional en el área central del canal deBeagle. La cordillera Fueguina está limitada al sur por el canal de Beagle, una gran fosa longitudinal que se extiende desde el océano Atlántico al este, hasta el Pacífico al oeste y está desarrollada sobre un sistema de fallamiento regional transcurrente. La costa norte del segmento central del Canal está caracterizada por la intersección de valles paralelos a la fosa principal con una serie de lineamientos morfológicos oblicuos de orientación NW-SE, los cuales se extienden a través del sistema montañoso. Se llevó a cabo un relevamiento de Tomografía de Resistividad Eléctrica con el objetivo de investigar la arquitectura somera de los diferentes juegos de lineamientos observados en el sector y dilucidar el control estructural que determina su geometría. Los resultados muestran que el sistema de lineamientos E-W está caracterizado por un patrón de resistividades con marcados contrastes de disposición subvertical interpretadas como
Lago Argentino hosts a series of calving glaciers originating from the Southern Patagonian Icefield, the largest temperate ice cap of the southern hemisphere. Brazo Rico and Brazo Sur are two basins located in the southern part of Lago Argentino, where a series of highresolution seismic profiles have allowed reconstruction of its depositional setting and sedimentary architecture, and to produce the following maps: top of the acoustic basement, top of the glacial sequence, and thickness of the glacio-lacustrine deposits. Data reveal the role of basement highs in the complex dynamic behavior of the two main glaciers, Perito Moreno and Frías glaciers, which fluctuated along Brazo Rico and Brazo Sur since the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Their advances and retreats are testified by the presence of several moraine fronts buried beneath a generally undisturbed, glacio-lacustrine and lacustrine sequence, which records the depositional history of the southern arms of Lago Argentino.
Lago Roca/Acigami is a “fjord‐type” lake located in the southernmost part of South America, in the proximity of the Beagle Channel. A high‐resolution seismic survey was carried out to analyse the seismic stratigraphy of the lake and to shed some light on the post‐Last Glacial Maximum history of the area. Six seismic units were recognised, and their nature and depositional context were interpreted using seismic stratigraphy and acoustic facies analysis. A buried large ridge was identified within the glacial unit (SU1), interpreted as a frontal moraine that indicates a stabilisation phase. After retreat of the glacier from the basin, the trough was flooded by meltwater and a lake developed (SU2). The seismic facies, from bottom to top, depict a transition from ice‐contact (SU2; SU3) to ice‐distal proglacial conditions (SU4). A thick draping unit (SU5) marks a marine transgressive event and the instauration of a fjord environment in the basin. The marine transgression was a rapid event preceded by a fall in the lake level that caused an erosional unconformity. During the fjord phase the sedimentation remained controlled by meltwater discharge. Sea level fall, and subsequent disconnection from the Beagle Channel was accompanied by a progradation of the glaciofluvial deltaic sediments and the occurrence of several mass‐wasting deposits (SU6). © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Perito Moreno is the most famous calving glacier of the South Patagonia Icefield, the largest temperate glacier system of the Southern Hemisphere. Unlike most of the glaciers in the region that have strongly retreated in recent decades, the position of Perito Moreno glacier front remained relatively unchanged in the last century. However, earliest photographic documents show that, at the end of the nineteenth century, the front was ca. 800 m behind the current position. There is no reliable information about the positions of the Perito Moreno front in earlier times. Here we show evidence of two subaqueous moraine systems both in the Canal de Los Témpanos and in the Brazo Rico, the two arms of Lago Argentino along which Perito Moreno glacier has flowed over time. These moraines, identified for the first time in the Canal de Los Témpanos from bathymetric and high-resolution seismic profiles, mark the position of the largest glacier advance, tentatively correlated with the moraines of the “Herminita advance” identified and dated onland. We interpret these bedforms as the evidence of the most pronounced advance of Perito Moreno glacier during the mid-Holocene cooling event that characterized this sector of the Southern Hemisphere. This study highlights the importance of subaqueous glacial bedforms, representing decisive records of the glacial history and palaeoclimate, which could help unveiling the origin of the different behavior of glaciers like Perito Moreno that in a warming climate are relatively stable.
Lago Yehuin, a WNW-ESE elongated basin located in the outer fold-and-thrust belt of the Fuegian Andes, occupies a compartmented structural depression originated along a segment of the left-lateral Lago Deseado fault system. This paper describes the first geophysical survey performed within the lake. New acquired high-resolution single-channel seismic data, integrated with geological information in the surroundings of the Lago Yehuin, allowed to: (i) produce a complete bathymetric map of the lake, (ii) reconstruct the basement surface of the lake, and (iii) analyze the geometry, distribution, and thickness of the sedimentary infill. Two sub-basins were recognized within Lago Yehuin: A western sub-basin, 7.5 km long, with a maximum depth of 118 m; an eastern sub-basin, 7.2 km long with a maximum depth of 80 m. Both sub-basins are limited by a set of normal faults which overprint NE-verging thrusts. Three seismo-stratigraphic units have been identified in the seismic records: (1) a lower unit with wedged geometry interpreted as a mass flow deposits; (2) a thick (up to 120 m) intermediate unit of glacio-lacustrine nature and irregularly distributed in the Yehuin basin; (3) a thin (generally
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