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Do ice-dam rupture events leave a distinctive signature in proglacial lake sediments?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2024

Guido Brignone Open the ORCID record for Guido Brignone [Opens in a new window] ,
Matias Romero Open the ORCID record for Matias Romero [Opens in a new window] ,
Maximillian Van Wyk de Vries Open the ORCID record for Maximillian Van Wyk de Vries [Opens in a new window] ,
Emi Ito Open the ORCID record for Emi Ito [Opens in a new window] ,
Mark Shapley Open the ORCID record for Mark Shapley [Opens in a new window]  and
Eduardo Luis Piovano Open the ORCID record for Eduardo Luis Piovano [Opens in a new window]
Guido Brignone*
Affiliation:
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (FCEFyN), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, X5016GCA, Argentina
Matias Romero
Affiliation:
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (FCEFyN), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, X5016GCA, Argentina Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra (CICTERRA), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Córdoba, X5016GCA, Argentina Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
Maximillian Van Wyk de Vries
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
Emi Ito
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA Continental Scientific Drilling Facility, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
Mark Shapley
Affiliation:
Continental Scientific Drilling Facility, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
Eduardo Luis Piovano
Affiliation:
Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (FCEFyN), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, X5016GCA, Argentina Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra (CICTERRA), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Córdoba, X5016GCA, Argentina
*
Corresponding author: Guido Brignone; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Lake sediment provides a valuable record of past environmental change. However, the controls on sedimentation in proglacial lakes and their relation to glacier retreat remain poorly understood. In this study we analyze glaciolacustrine sediment production and deposition in Canal de los Témpanos, Lago Argentino, Argentine Patagonia. We associate temporal changes in the sedimentologic and geochemical characteristics analyzed from Lago Argentino cores with Late Holocene fluctuations of the Perito Moreno and Ameghino glaciers. We show that the dominant sediment source at our study site switched from Ameghino to Perito Moreno Glacier after the recession of Ameghino Glacier and the formation of the marginal ice-contact lake into which it currently calves. Spectacular ice-dam rupture events generated by Perito Moreno Glacier redistribute large volumes of water through the lake system but do not leave a significant sedimentary signature. Our results demonstrate that a detailed analysis of sedimentologic, petrophysical, and geochemical changes in lake cores can provide insight into regional glacial dynamics and sedimentary processes even in complex systems with multiple competing glacial sources and that changing glacier geometries during retreat can provide insights into the provenience of the sediments.

Keywords

Proglacial lakesglaciersCanal de los Témpanoslaminated sedimentssandy bandsLittle Ice Ageice-damoutburst events
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 123 , January 2025 , pp. 70 - 82
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Quaternary Research Center

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References

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