A geochemical and sedimentary record of high southern latitude Holocene climate evolution from Lago Fagnano, Tierra del Fuego

Abstract

Situated at the southern margin of the hemispheric westerly wind belt and immediately north of the Antarctic Polar Frontal zone, Tierra del Fuego is well-positioned to monitor coupled changes in the ocean–atmosphere system of the high southern latitudes. Here we describe a Holocene paleoclimate record from sediment cores obtained from Lago Fagnano, a large lake in southern Tierra del Fuego at 55°S, to investigate past changes in climate related to these two important features of the global climate system. We use an AMS radiocarbon chronology for the last 8000yr based on pollen concentrates, thereby avoiding contamination from bedrock-derived lignite. Our chronology is consistent with a tephrochronologic age date for deposits from the middle Holocene Volcán Hudson eruption. Combining bulk organic isotopic (δ13C and δ15N) and elemental (C and N) parameters with physical sediment properties allows us to better understand sediment provenance and transport mechanisms and to interpret Holocene climate and tectonic change during the last 8000yr. Co-variability and long-term trends in C/N ratio, carbon accumulation rate, and magnetic susceptibility reflect an overall Holocene increase in the delivery of terrestrial organic and lithogenic material to the deep eastern basin. We attribute this variability to westerly wind-derived precipitation. Increased wind strength and precipitation in the late Holocene drives the Nothofagus forest eastward and enhances run-off and terrigenous inputs to the lake. Superimposed on the long-term trend are a series of abrupt 9 negative departures in C/N ratio, which constrain the presence of seismically-driven mass flow events in the record. We identify an increase in bulk δ13C between 7000 and 5000calyr BP that we attribute to enhanced aquatic productivity driven by warmer summer temperatures. The Lago Fagnano δ13C record shows similarities with Holocene records of sea surface temperature from the mid-latitude Chilean continental shelf and Antarctic air temperatures from the Taylor Dome ice core record in East Antarctica. Mid-Holocene warming occurred simultaneously across the Antarctic Frontal Zone, and in particular, in locations currently influenced by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.