Authors
Ryan Sincavage, Elizabeth L Chamberlain, Tony Reimann, Frederick B Chambers, Jonathan Warner Burton, James Young
Publication date
2019/12
Journal
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
Volume
2019
Pages
EP34B-06
Description
The Northern Patagonian Ice Field (NPI) and associated alpine basins are highly susceptible to climate perturbations due to relatively low latitudes and altitudes. We explore environmental and climate signals across a range of spatial and temporal scales in Cachet Basin, which formerly contained a glacially dammed lake formed by the adjacent Colonia Glacier, an outlet glacier of the NPI. Downcutting associated with a recent 10-year glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) cycle has exposed a rich archive of Holocene stratigraphy that appears to record oscillations between lacustrine and fluvial conditions in the basin associated with growth and retreat of the glacier. The presence of exposed trees and paleosols (previously radiocarbon dated to~ 1.0 ka) is a clear indication that the ice dam is not perennially capable of impounding water, suggesting that climate change is the primary control on variations in depositional …