The last ten years in South American Geocryology

DARIO TROMBOTTO

Valdivia

Congreso; International Glaciological Coonference VICC 2010 "Ice and Climate Change": A View from the South; 2010

Abstract   Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru have been described (Trombotto, 2000) as the most important countries in South America regarding the presence of mountain permafrost (Andean permafrost). Cryo­genic surfaces however still lack precise calculation. It is true that geocryological studies and research have begun very early with pio­neer publications such as that of Luciano Catalano (1926) concer­ning rock glaciers of the Argentine Puna region, the identification of geoforms and periglacial processes in the Andes carried out by the German scientists Karsten Garleff (1977) and Helmut Stingl (Stin­gl & Garleff, 1983), or comparative studies made by Arturo Corte between Greenland and Mendoza since the 1950s explaining laws of horizontal and vertical sorting in ground with freezing and ice formation, laws which are applied worldwide today. Corte (1976) emphasized the hydrological importance of the rock glaciers in the Central Andes. But it is only in recent years of this millennium that geocryology advances at a faster pace, particularly because of the discussions about ecological changes in cryogenic environments in the Andes and thanks to private enterprise and human cons­tructions expressing a cultural and socio-economic change on the subcontinent. In this presentation a short review of geocryological scenarios is given through their respective monitoring sites, their cryogenic or periglacial indicators, and recent research and results which contribute to the advances of geocryology in South Ameri­can countries with permafrost occurrence during the last ten years.