The Laguna Potrok Aike Scientific Drilling Project PASADO (ICDP Expedition 5022)

In the Southern Hemisphere long, continuous, and high-resolution series of terrestrial paleoclimatic data are scarce, and they are only slowly emerging. Globally speaking, the most extreme oceanic character is encountered between 40°S and 60°S (Fig. 1). In this latitudinal belt ninety-eight percent of water is juxtaposed to only two percent of land— Patagonia and a few sub-Antarctic islands. Therefore, records from Patagonia are a key to a better evaluation of inter-hemispheric linkages and differences in the climate system, especially as the Southern Ocean plays a key role for a proper understanding of the global climate system (Kaiser et al., 2007). Moreover, this region—close to the Andean volcanic chain—is one of the source regions for southern hemispheric dust. It is also subject to shifts in polar to mid-latitude pressure fields and precipitation regimes related to the Southern Hemispheric Westerlies and the Antarctic Oscillation. Patagonia thus potentially provides unique terrestrial records of variations in (1) climate, (2) hydrology, (3) erosion and deposition of atmospheric dust, and (4) volcanic activity. Additionally, links can be established to ice cores from Antarctica and to marine records from the South Atlantic where dust and tephra of Patagonian provenance have been deposited (Ackert, 2009; Narcisi et al., 2005; Sugden et al., 2009). For southernmost South America most lake sediments extend in time not beyond the Late-Glacial. However, Laguna Potrok Aike (Fig. 1) is older than the numerous Patagonian glacial lakes and offers the opportunity for volcanological studies.