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The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) glacier cover of the Aconcagua group and adjacent massifs in the Mendoza Andes (South America)

2004; Elsevier BV; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s1571-0866(04)80113-1

2212-1161

Matthias Kuhle,

Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond

This chapter discusses the glacial limit that investigates in four months glacial geological and geomorphological mapping project and fieldwork from January to May 1980. It has been carried out in three adjacent massifs of the Mendoza Andes; the Cerro Aconcagua, the Cerro Tupungato and the Cerro Juncal that reach 7021 m, c. 6800 m, and 6180 m a.s.l. Three deals with the reconstruction of glaciers— namely, the extension, the thickness of the valley glaciers, and the remainder are concerned with Pleistocene moraines formed under semi-arid conditions. The reconstructed Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) glacial limits are discussed together with the positions of erratics, striated debris, moraines, and glacial polish of the valley flanks, 12 valley- and glaciercross-profiles of the Mendoza glacier system as well as te photographs, providing evidence by the arrangement of the positions. The chapter also provides an overview on the Rio Mendoza valley in which a glacier terminus is represented by moraines with striated boulders at 1870 m a.s.1. On the eastern flank of the Cerros del Chacay, a glacier reached down to 2060 m a.s.l. Thus, in the Cerro Aconcagua and adjacent massifs, that is, the Cerro Tupungato and the Cerro Juncal, an ice stream network exist that comprised ice streams up to 112.5 km long and vertical ranges of up to 5150 m.