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Quaternary Glaciations in the Río Mendoza Valley, Argentine Andes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Lydia E. Espizua
Lydia E. Espizua*
Affiliation:
Instituto Argentino de Nivologı́a y Glaciologı́a, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Técnicas, Casilla de Correo 330, 5500 Mendoza, Argentina
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Abstract

In the Río Mendoza valley, five Pleistocene drifts and one Holocene drift are distinguished by multiple relative-age criteria, including surface-rock weathering, development of rock varnish, moraine morphology, soil-profile development, and stratigraphic relationships. Several absolute ages suggest a preliminary chronology. During the oldest (Uspallata) glaciation, a system of valley glaciers flowed 110 km from the Andean drainage divide and 80 km from Cerro Aconcagua to terminate at 1850 m. Drift of this ice advance is older than a widespread tephra dated by fission-track at 360,000 ± 36,000 yr. During the Punta de Vacas advance, ice terminated at 2350 m, while during the subsequent Penitentes advance, the glacier system ended at 2500 m. A travertine layer overlying Penitentes Drift has U-series age of 24,200 ± 2000 yr B.P. The distribution of Horcones Drift, which is inferred to represent the last glacial maximum, delimits an independent ice stream that flowed 22 km down Horcones valley to 2750 m. A later readvance (Almacenes) reached 3250 m. Confluencia Drift is considered to be Neoglacial in age and extends downvalley to 3300 m. The moraine sequence is compared with those studied by Caviedes (1972) along Río Aconcagua on the Chilean flank of the Andes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , September 1993 , pp. 150 - 162
Copyright
University of Washington

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