A reference to the Medieval Warm Period in south Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Chronology and paleoclimate.

Abstract:

Geoarchaeological work done in Southernmost Patagonia and in the north of Tierra del Fuego, have revealed the recurrent presence of a paedogenesis interval represented by a soil of an A-AC-C profile, with a mollic epipedon, in the upper section of eolian and colluvial deposits of the late Holocene. This soil is today buried in the sites that have been analyzed, while it remains exposed in other areas of the landscape. Radiocarbon dates obtained on materials placed below it (maximum ages) and those obtained by OCR (Oxidizable Carbon Ratio) in the AC horizon of this soil (minimum ages), indicate the beginning of its development around the year 1000 BP. Its chronology and environmental implications suggest a relationship with the medieval climatic fluctuations called Medieval Warm Period or Medieval Optimum in Europe. This period has correlates detected in Patagonia by dendroclimatic studies.

Año de publicación:

2002

Keywords:

• Geoarchaeology
• late Holocene
• Soils
• Medieval warm period
• Southernmost Patagonia

Fuente:

scopus