Llanquihue glaciation
[1] Its type area lies west of Llanquihue Lake where various drifts or end moraine systems belonging to the last glacial period have been identified.
[5] Maximum glaciers advances were not synchronous across the whole latitudinal gradient as they were triggered by north and southward shifts in the moisture-bringing Westerlies and its storm tracks.
[5] Compared to the Llanquihue and Chiloé area maximum glacier advance was achieved much earlier in Torres del Paine and Última Esperanza Sound (51-52° S) where glaciation peaked about 48,000 years ago.
[7] In the city of Bariloche, at the shore of Nahuel Huapi Lake, a Late Glacial till has been interpreted to indicate it formed in a glaciokarst environment.
[20][6] During the coldest period of the Last Glacial Maximum vegetation at this location was dominated by Alpine herbs in wide open surfaces.
[20][6] Within this parkland vegetation Magellanic moorland alternated with Nothofagus forest, and as warming progressed even warm-climate trees begun to grow in the area.
It is estimated that the tree line was depressed about 1000 m relative to present day elevations during the coldest period, but it rose gradually until 19,300 yr BP.
To the north, in the dry Andes of Central and the Last Glacial Maximum is associated with increased humidity and the verified advance of at least some mountain glaciers.
Magellanic moorland species that had thrived in unglaciated areas during the 19,300–17,800 ka BP cold interval were largely wiped out as conditions changed from hyper-humid to humid.
[20] The Magellanic moorland vegetation around Llanquihue Lake was replaced by North Patagonian Rain Forest including Myrtaceae, Nothofagus dombeyi, Fitzroya cupressoides and Lomatia.
[20] Further warming is thought to have caused conifer forest, including Fitzroya cupressoides, to lose ground to other vegetation types over much of the lowlands and obtaining its modern discontinuous distribution in the cool heights of the Chilean Coast Range and the Andes.
[16] As glaciers retreated the volcanoes of the Southern Volcanic Zone in the Chilean Lake District underwent transition from high production rates of volcanic ash and pyroclasts from explosive eruptions to a period of lower ash and pyroclast production associated with a change in magma type from felsic to mafic.
