QUATERNARY GLACIATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN ANDES

The southern Andes comprise the southernmost portion of the Andean Cordillera, beginning at the edge of the Puna Altiplano (lat.27°S) and ending at Isla de los Estados (lat.55°S). The late Cainozoic glacial record of these mountains spans the interval from the Late Miocene to the present and is one of the most complete to be found anywhere in the world. This has arisen for several reasons: (i) the conterminous mountain ice cap extended to the piedmont zone on both flanks of the range, where the sedimentary and morphological record has been well preserved; (ii) periodic volcanism, mainly from monogenetic fissure eruptions of basalt east of the range and from central tephra-producing cones along the mountain crest, has provided opportunity for the preservation and radiometric dating of interbedded glacial deposits; (iii) a tectonically-induced interval of stream incision in the Mid Pleistocene and simultaneous uplift has preserved glacial sediments on interfluves; (iv) in the Chilean lakes region west of the mountains, Late Quaternary glaciers terminated in a well-vegetated landscape, thus creating scope for radiocarbon dating of interbedded and incorporated organic materials; consequently, the last glaciation in the Llanquihue area of Chile is one of the best dated sequences in South America; thus the 'Llanquihue' Glaciation is proposed as the South American equivalent of the 'Wisconsin' and 'Weichsel' glaciations of North America and north west Europe respectively. © 1990.