Past vegetation reconstruction maps and paleoclimatic variability inferred by pollen records in southern Patagonia Argentina since the Late Glacial-Holocene transition

A New Record of Paleoenvironmental Conditions From the Northeastern San Martín Lake Basin (Patagonia, Argentina): Vegetation Reconstruction From Pollen and Carbon Isotopes Since 10,200 Cal. Years Bp

“…Despite the lack of pa-leoenvironmental information for the early Holocene and part of the middle Holocene for the northeast of the basin (see fig. 7 in Echeverría et al, 2022), the available information was of great value to interpret the variations in the vegetation communities associated with climatic changes conditions at a regional scale. In this sense, MÑ provided information that complemented the previously available one, and helped generate a framework of paleoenvironmental variations since the beginning of the Holocene for the basin area.…”

“…Hubber, 2010; Sottile et al, 2012;Echeverría et al, 2018Echeverría et al, , 2022Vilanova et al, 2019;Marcos et al, 2022a), as well as the climatic patterns and the dynamics of the glaciers (e.g., Glasser et al, 2004Glasser et al, , 2011Villa-Martínez & Moreno, 2007;Moreno et al, 2012;Flantua et al, 2016;Lüning et al, 2018;Horta et al, 2019) were analyzed.…”

“…Southern westerly winds (SWW) are a component of zonal flow in the global atmospheric system that influences the precipitation patterns (Garreaud et al, 2013), making it a susceptible area for the registration of paleoenvironmental changes through the Holocene (Fletcher & Moreno, 2012;Villa Martínez et al, 2012;Moreno et al, 2019). The knowledge of the modern pollen and vegetation relationships allowed us to interpret the vegetation communities' variations by changes in climatic conditions and topographic characteristics (Mancini, 2002;Bamonte et al, 2015;Mancini et al, 2018;Echeverría et al, 2022) in Patagonia since the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. The paleoenvironmental and paleoecological investigations by pollen, charcoal, and macro-fossil analysis in southern Patagonia, provided vital information about vegetation distribution at different scales (e.g., Huber & Markgraf, 2003;Markgraf et al, 2003;Bamonte & Mancini, 2011;Sottile et al, 2012;Echeverría et al, 2018Echeverría et al, , 2022Mancini et al, 2018;Mosquera & Mancini, 2021;Marcos et al, 2022a).…”

“…The knowledge of the modern pollen and vegetation relationships allowed us to interpret the vegetation communities' variations by changes in climatic conditions and topographic characteristics (Mancini, 2002;Bamonte et al, 2015;Mancini et al, 2018;Echeverría et al, 2022) in Patagonia since the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. The paleoenvironmental and paleoecological investigations by pollen, charcoal, and macro-fossil analysis in southern Patagonia, provided vital information about vegetation distribution at different scales (e.g., Huber & Markgraf, 2003;Markgraf et al, 2003;Bamonte & Mancini, 2011;Sottile et al, 2012;Echeverría et al, 2018Echeverría et al, , 2022Mancini et al, 2018;Mosquera & Mancini, 2021;Marcos et al, 2022a). The arid conditions before the beginning of the Holocene were inferred by an expansion of more arid steppes toward the west.…”

“…Intensification of the westerlies for the mid Holocene favored forest development in the Andean areas. Moisture conditions variations were reflected in the vegetation heterogeneity at smaller scale, mainly by the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) and Little Ice Age (LIA) events that characterized the late Holocene (Echeverría et al, 2022). Different areas for Patagonia presented evidence for anthropic impact since the 19th century (Flantua et al, 2016).…”