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Climatically induced lake level changes during the last two millennia as reflected in sediments of Laguna Potrok Aike, southern Patagonia (Santa Cruz, Argentina)

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Abstract

The volcanogenic lake Laguna Potrok Aike, Santa Cruz, Argentina, reveals an unprecedented continuous high resolution climatic record for the steppe regions of southern Patagonia. With the applied multi-proxy approach rapid climatic changes before the turn of the first millennium were detected followed by medieval droughts which are intersected by moist and/or cold periods of varying durations and intensities. The ‘total inorganic carbon’ content was identified as a sensitive lake level indicator. This proxy suggests that during the late Middle Ages (ca. AD 1230–1410) the lake level was rather low representing a signal of the ‘Medieval Climate Anomaly’ in southeastern Patagonia. At the beginning of the ‘Little Ice Age’ the lake level rose considerably staying on a high level during the whole period. Subsequently, the lake level lowered again in the course of the 20th century.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geomorphology and Polar Research (GEOPOLAR), Institute of Geography, University of Bremen, Celsiusstr. FVG-M, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Torsten Haberzettl, Michael Fey, Christian Ohlendorf & Bernd Zolitschka

  2. Institute of Chemistry and Dynamics of the Geosphere– ICG V: Sedimentary Systems, Research Center Jülich, 52425, Jülich, Germany

    Andreas Lücke, Christoph Mayr & Gerhard H. Schleser

  3. Department of Biodiversity and Experimental Biology, University of Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EHA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Nora Maidana

  4. Seminar for Geography and its Didactics, University of Cologne, Gronewaldstr. 2, 50931, Cologne, Germany

    Frank Schäbitz & Michael Wille

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  1. Torsten Haberzettl
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  2. Michael Fey
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  3. Andreas Lücke
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  4. Nora Maidana
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  5. Christoph Mayr
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  6. Christian Ohlendorf
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  7. Frank Schäbitz
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  8. Gerhard H. Schleser
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  9. Michael Wille
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  10. Bernd Zolitschka
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Correspondence to Torsten Haberzettl.

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Haberzettl, T., Fey, M., Lücke, A. et al. Climatically induced lake level changes during the last two millennia as reflected in sediments of Laguna Potrok Aike, southern Patagonia (Santa Cruz, Argentina). J Paleolimnol 33, 283–302 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-004-5331-z

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