Phytolith analysis of the Potrok Aike Lake Drilling Project: Preliminary results and current studies

A. F. ZUCOL; BREA M.; E. PASSEGGI; M. G. FERNANDEZ PEPI; M. M. COLOBIG; PATTERER N.I.

Buenos Aires

Workshop; 1ª Reunión Internodos del Proyecto Interdisciplinario Patagonia Austral y 1er Workshop Argentino del Proyecto Potrok Aike Maar Lake Sediment Archive Drilling Project; 2010

Universidad Maimónides / Fundación de Historia Natural Felix de Azara

The preliminary phytolith studies from the Potrok Aike Lake sedimentary sequence were made with SALSA core samples (Zolitschka and Schábitz, 2007), which included 9 samples from across this drilling section (Table 1). These samples were sent for analysis by Dr. Nora Maidana (Pl of the PASADO project) for the purpose of verifying the presence of siliceous microremains and particularly phytoliths, in order to evalúate the potential information that might be obtained using this approach in the analysis of the Potrok Aike Lake sedimentary sequence. In these preliminary analyses, the phytoliths became the main emphasis and therefore the study of other types of microremains (Maidana et al., 2005; Wille et al., 2007) was not included. The samples had been processed previously in the Laboratorio de Diatomeas Continentales (FCEyN, UBA), according the diatom protocol (Schábitz and Wille, unpublished) of this research group, with warm hydrogen peroxide treatment followed by washes with distilled water. No separation of the components or concentration of any type took place (Maidana com. pers.), and because of this these samples contained both microremains and clastic materials.