Lake Sediment Records of Late Holocene Proglacial Floods from the San Lorenzo Icefield (Patagonia)
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LAKE SEDIMENT RECORDS OF LATE HOLOCENE PROGLACIAL FLOODS FROM THE SAN LORENZO ICEFIELD (PATAGONIA) Stijn Albers Student number: 01402580 Promotor: Prof. Dr. Sébastien Bertrand Jury: Dr. Benjamin Amann, Prof. Dr. Alberto Araneda Master’s dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of master in geology Academic year: 2018-2019 Preface If it wasn’t for the many people that have helped and advised me during the past year, this thesis would not be what it is now. It took a lot of time and effort to create it and I would therefore like to thank all the wonderful human beings who supported me during my research, my lab work, my data processing, my countless hours of reading and writing, and above all, during the fun hours in-between. First of all, I wish to thank my promoter, Sébastien Bertrand, for introducing me to this subject and to the beautiful part of our planet that is Chilean Patagonia. Your critical advice and suggestions really helped my thesis move forward. You were always willing to help and answer any question I had, for which I am must grateful. I also want to thank my supervisor, Elke Vandekerkhove, for helping me uncountable times with my lab work and for giving feedback on my writing. Your never-ending enthusiasm was really encouraging to me. I am very thankful that you were both always there to give me a hand when I needed it or prepared to engage in some scientific discussing whenever I came to your offices. Next, I want to thank Seb and Loïc Piret for going to Patagonia and spending their time on a boat on some lakes so that someone could work on awesome sediment cores. I want you to know that I am glad to have been that someone. A special thanks goes out to Loïc, for helping me with the CT scanning, core opening and providing the bathymetry data. The next person that definitely deserves to be mentioned here is Dawei Liu. Our road trip to Stockholm was one of the highlights of my thesis research and I am glad you were my co-pilot during those endless hours of mastering the European highways. I very much appreciated that you managed the GPS, the music, and the occasional snacks. I would once more like to apologise for my driving, which wasn’t always as smooth as it should be, with the occasional detour or stressful moments. And I must also thank you for running your model on my cores. A special shout out to the Swedish border control is also in place, for letting my Chinese passenger into the country; I don’t know how I would have made it to Stockholm if you had detained him a second time. Also, Malin Kylander and the SLAM lab at Stockholm University deserve a big thanks, for welcoming us in their lab and helping us with the XRF core scanning. The figures in this thesis are the result of spending countless hours of my time on different software programmes, which would probably have taken an even longer time if it wasn’t for the help of Katleen Wils and the organised software classes taught by Katleen, Loïc, Evelien Boes, and Seb. These people therefore also deserve a special thank you. The following people deserve to be mentioned here as well: Benjamin Amann, for your know-how on flood frequency depiction and your help with the floodplain data; Alberto Araneda, for the dating of a core from Laguna Confluencia and allowing me to use that data; Maarten Van Daele, for helping me with the CT scanning of the cores; Stefanie Van Offenwert, for giving me access to the petrographic microscope; Sarah Stammen, for providing me with the floodplain data from her bachelor project; and everyone from the RCMG who helped me in one way or another. Spending days on end on scientific research and writing can be exhausting, and I honestly wouldn’t have left my desk during the past few months if not for my friends and family who helped me maintain a social life. So, a massive hug to all of them: to Lotte and Marlies, for the fun times we had in the computer room; to Lotte, Kenneth and Patsy, for the game nights; to Lotte and Patsy, for the afternoon strolls in the forests of the campus; and to all of my friends, for the lunches, the drinks, and for just being there when I needed you. Also, a massive thanks to the Geologica is in place; your activities throughout this year really helped me relieve some stress. I would finally like to thank my brother, for proofreading this thesis, and my parents, for supporting me and putting up with my stress and grumpiness from time to time. I wish to thank you for giving me the opportunity to study whatever I wanted; you’re maybe still wondering what the hell I did during the past five years, and I hope this thesis is a bit representative of my effort and gained knowledge of five years at university. Een dikke merci! 1 Table of Contents The Story of my Research ........................................................................................................................4 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................6 2. Regional setting .................................................................................................................................9 2.1. Patagonian icefields ................................................................................................................9 2.2. Patagonian climate ..................................................................................................................9 2.3. Holocene glacier variability in Patagonia ............................................................................. 11 2.4. Studied lakes and proglacial rivers....................................................................................... 13 3. Material and methods ..................................................................................................................... 15 3.1. Lake bathymetry and sediment core acquisition .................................................................. 15 3.2. Non-destructive analyses ..................................................................................................... 16 3.2.1. X-Ray Computed Tomography imaging .................................................................. 16 3.2.2. Core opening, description, and linescan imaging ................................................... 16 3.2.3. Geophysical property core scanning ....................................................................... 17 3.2.4. X-Ray Fluorescence core scanning ........................................................................ 17 3.3. Destructive analyses ............................................................................................................ 18 3.3.1. Smear slide preparation .......................................................................................... 18 3.3.2. Grain-size analysis .................................................................................................. 18 3.4. Statistical analysis of geochemical data as grain-size proxy ............................................... 19 3.5. Chronology ........................................................................................................................... 19 4. Results ............................................................................................................................................ 20 4.1. Laguna Confluencia ............................................................................................................. 20 4.1.1. Lithology .................................................................................................................. 20 4.1.2. Smear slides ............................................................................................................ 23 4.1.3. Density and magnetic susceptibility trends ............................................................. 23 4.1.4. X-Ray Fluorescence ................................................................................................ 23 4.1.5. Grain size ................................................................................................................ 24 4.1.6. Geochemical data as grain-size proxy .................................................................... 24 4.1.7. Chronology .............................................................................................................. 25 4.2. Lago Juncal .......................................................................................................................... 26 4.2.1. Lithology .................................................................................................................. 26 4.2.2. Smear slides ............................................................................................................ 29 4.2.3. Density and magnetic susceptibility trends ............................................................. 29 4.2.4. X-Ray Fluorescence ................................................................................................ 30 4.2.5. Grain size ................................................................................................................ 30 4.2.6. Geochemical data as grain-size proxy .................................................................... 30 5. Discussion ...................................................................................................................................... 32 5.1. Flood deposit identification ..................................................................................................