Geomorphological response to the Lateglacial-Holocene palaeoenvironmental changes in the NE piedmont of the Sierra de Aconquija (Tafí Valley, NW Argentina)

Abstract

Fluvial basins located on the NE side of the Sierra de Aconquija and facing the Tafí valley (NW Argentina) enable a study of the sedimentary records of valleys and alluvial fans that have been subject to glacial and periglacial dynamics since the Fini-Pleistocene to Upper Holocene. i) The oldest morphosedimentary unit (H1A) encompasses the Late Glacial and Early Holocene. A relationship was established linking fluvioglacial terraces to records from El Rincón profile (Younger Dryas) belonging to the most important glacial phase (G1) in the cirques found in the NE of Aconquija; ii) similarly, there is a G2 glacial phase (Neoglacial) that could be connected with the H1B records of the Muñoz River and dated to Early-Middle Holocene; iii) the final units (H2 and H3 from Upper Holocene) form a stepped terrace in the valleys and were interpreted as corresponding to the rock glacier phases from the high mountains and highlighting those that were active during the LIA.