Lagos y lagunas de la meseta Clearwater, Isla James Ross, Península Antártica

LIRIO J.M.; CORIA S.H.; LOPEZ N.; VIGNONI P.A.; KOHLER T.J.; KOPALOVÁ K.; CHAPARRO M.A.E.; LECOMTE K.L.; NÝVLT D.; MAC CORMACK W.P.

Montevideo

Congreso; VIII Congreso Latinoamericano de Ciencia Antártica; 2015

Instituto Antártico Uruguayo (IAU)

Clearwater Mesa is located at the SE side of Croft Bay, on James Ross Island, NE of the Antarctic Peninsula. There, numerous lakes and ponds develop on large ice-free areas. The mesa is ~8 km2 large and comprised of the James Ross Island Volcanic Group rocks. The mesa is formed by subaqueously deposited, steeply-dipping foreset beds of hyaloclastite breccia (Taylor Bluff Formation) overlaid by subaerial pahoehoe capping lavas (Foster Cliffs Formation), both of Pliocene age (Smellie et al. 2013). The mesa surface lies at ~ 250 m above sea level with more than 50 lakes and ponds. For a brief description of the characteristics and origin of this pristine and poorly known area, see Lirio et al. (2015). Patches of lichen are present between Rios Point and Soledad Lake, and mosses are very common around Cecilia Lake. Aeolian landforms are frequent on the rocks in the South sector.