Quaternary of Tierra del Fuego, Southernmost South America: an updated review

JORGE RABASSA; ANDREA CORONATO; GUSTAVO BUJALESKY; MÓNICA SALEME; CLAUDIO ROIG; ANDRÉS MEGLIOLI; CALVIN HEUSSER; SANDRA GORDILLO; FIDEL A. ROIG; ANA BORROMEI; MIRTA QUATTROCCHIO

QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2000 p. 217 - 240

1040-6182

The Quaternary of Tierra del Fuego is represented by glacial, glacio#uvial, glaciolacustrine, marine and aeolian deposits. Six driftunits have been described, the oldest dating from the Late Pliocene: these are, starting from the oldest, the RmH o Grande, Sierra de losFrailes, Cabo VmH rgenes, Punta Delgada, Primera Angostura and Segunda Angostura Drifts. Neoglacial and `Little Ice Agea events arerepresented in cirques and higher mountain valleys. Marine deposits and raised beaches were formed during Middle Pleistocene, LatePleistocene and Holocene interglacial stages. After the de"nitive ice-retreat (10 ka ago) vegetation changed from tundra and coldsteppe to subantarctic forest environments. Marine deposits re#ect also colder conditions than the present ones. Aeolian processesprevailed in northern Tierra del Fuego, where semiarid conditions and the frequent westerlies favoured the retransportation of "nermaterials coming from pre-existing deposits. Before the opening of the Magellan Straits, earliest human colonization occurred innorthern Tierra del Fuego ca. 11 ka BP, in tundra-like environmental conditions. Pedestrian hunters of camelids and foxes co-existedwith Pleistocene fauna that became extinct during Late Glacial}Earliest Holocene times. The steppe area (inland and Atlantic coast)was successively occupied since then until recent times. On the other hand, the Beagle Channel coasts were occupied since 6 ka BP byhunter}gatherer groups adapted to maritime littoral conditions. Finally, the easternmost area of the island was inhabited at least since1.5 ka BP. The human settlements in these latter areas occurred under environmental conditions similar to the present ones, when theFuegian forest was de"nitively established. 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.