Palaeoenvironmental and Palaeoclimatic Reconstructions from Palynological and Palynofacies Analysis of the Late Cenozoic/Holocene, Pampean Region (Argentina)
摘要
Systemic studies of ten fossil sections in the Pampean Region (Argentina) allowed to reconstruct the palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental conditions during Late Cenozoic to the present. In the Late Cenozoic (in the Poligenetic Pampean plains) steppe communities similar to those of the modern Austral Pampean Province were recorded. During the Middle Pleistocene (<780 ka) (in the Rolling Pampa), palynofacies analysis of loessic sediments and laminar calcrete evidenced arid to semi-arid palaeoclimates with locally humid conditions. Similar conditions were inferred from fossil vertebrates in the SE Pampean Region (Bajo San José). In the Late Pleistocene (Rolling Pampa), palynofacies studies of loessic sediments showed significant eolian activity and semi-arid paleoclimatic conditions. These conditions, which were even harsher (extremely arid to arid), likely extended to the southern Pampean Region, where the pollen spectrum was dominated by ruderal species and halophytic and psammophytic herbaceous steppes. The Early Holocene, characterized across the region by palaeosoils, was identified in many sequences only by fungal spores typical of palaeosoils. In the Middle Holocene (c. 6300 BP–c. 5100 BP) (in the Interrange Pampa) local humid conditions were evidenced by hydrophytic communities of ponds and swamps. This was followed by a shift to semiarid-arid conditions associated with pond infill and the presence of pollen taxa linked to environmental disturbance. During this period (c. 6400 BP) in the coastal environments, arise in sea level was evidenced by marine dinocysts and acritarchs. In Late Holocene, various “proxy-data” reflected significant climatic variability, with the youngest pollen associations notably showing the influence of human activities through the presence of crop species.