Abstract
ABSTRACTThis paper presents a glacial geomorphological map relating to two rapidly receding glaciers in the Cordillera Darwin Icefield. The Marinelli marine-terminating glacier and Pigafetta freshwater-terminating glacier are selected to represent different glacial regimes producing different geomorphological records under similar climatic conditions. We combine mapping from satellite and aerial imagery with fieldwork, updating limited previous mapping. The map reveals two principal glacial landform assemblages: (1) a marine-terminating system, dominated by the formation of a large arcuate terminal morainic complex, glaciolacustrine landforms (shorelines) and extended ice-contact topography in the Fiordo Marinelli area; and (2) an assemblage of sequential frontal moraine ridges and outwash plains that formed when the former land-terminating Pigafetta glacier retreated from the Bahía Ainsworth area. Finally, the map is designed as a basis for future chronological campaigns and to enable a refined reconstruction of the glacial history of these two glaciers in a climatologically significant part of the world.
Highlights
Patagonia contains some of the longest and bestpreserved glacial records in the world (Clapperton, 1993)
This paper presents a new glacial geomorphological map for two glaciers in the remote Cordillera Darwin Icefield (CDI) at a level of detail greater than previous glacial geomorphological mapping in the study area
Our mapping highlights two principal glacial landform groups: (1) An assemblage of marine-terminating landforms in the Fiordo Marinelli area dominated by a large arcuate terminal morainic complex, glaciolacustrine landforms and extended ice-contact topography
Summary
Patagonia contains some of the longest and bestpreserved glacial records in the world (Clapperton, 1993). The southern reaches of Patagonia extend closer to Antarctica than any other continent and so researchers have targeted the region to understand interhemispheric glacial (a) synchroneity at the end of the last glacial termination, 18,000 years ago (Denton et al, 2010; García et al, 2012; Moreno, Jacobson, Lowell, & Denton, 2001; Severinghaus, 2009; Sugden et al, 2005). Several studies have reconstructed recession of the former Patagonian Ice Sheet into the Cordillera Darwin mountain range during the last glacial termination (Boyd, Anderson, Wellner, & Fernández, 2008; Fernández, Anderson, Wellner, & Hallet, 2011; Hall, Porter, Denton, Lowell, & Bromley, 2013, Hall, Denton, Lowell, Bromley, & Putnam, 2017; McCulloch et al, 2000, McCulloch, Bentley, et al, 2005; Sugden et al, 2005). A climatologically significant part of the world and can be used as the basis for future chronological campaigns
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