YOUNGER DRYAS IN SOUTHERNMOST SOUTH-AMERICA - AN UPDATE

High resolution pollen data from a peat section in southern Tierra del Fuego documents high paleoenvironmental variability between 11 ka and 9 ka. Detailed analysis of plant macro remains in die same section sh owed that the repeated high-amplitude changes in pollen taxa were rela ted to repeated fire disturbance burning at least once even the surfac e of die mire. In many peat sections from southernmost Patagonia and T ierra del Fuego charcoal particles have been found intermittently sinc e about 13 ka and in great abundance especially after 11 ka. This sugg ests that the environmental changes previously interpreted to imply a return to colder climates comparable to the North Atlantic Younger Dry as event instead are in response to local and regional disturbances by fires.