Submillennial palynology and palaeoecology of the last glaciation at Taiquemó (∼50,000 cal yr, MIS 2–4) in southern Chile

Stratigraphic palynology of core HE94-2B from a mire at Taiquemó (42.17°S, 73.60°W) on Isla Grande de Chiloé is one of the most closely sampled, continuous Pleistocene records in southern South America. Chronology of the 655-cm core that extends from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 through the Lateglacial is controlled by 27 finite radiocarbon dates. Sampled at 1-cm intervals, the high temporal resolution (mean ∼85 yr cm−1) captures short-term palaeoecological changes and successional restabilization of plant communities.Preponderance of Gramineae (grass) with Nothofagus dombeyi type (southern beech) characterizing Subantarctic Parkland under a cold climate in MIS 4 was followed by a conspicuously milder interval that lasted for some ten millennia in MIS 3. Of greater frequency and diversity at this time were more thermophilic taxa associated with North Patagonian Evergreen Forest (Podocarpus, Pilgerodendron type, Pseudopanax, Myrtaceae). Subsequently with increasing cold and hyperhumidity, N. dombeyi type–Gramineae assemblages that included Subantarctic Parkland indicator taxa (Lepidothamnus, Astelia, Gaimardia) increased stepwise in MIS 2–3. Parkland maxima in MIS 2 during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) date to glacial advances between ∼17,800 and 33,400 cal yr BP. On deglaciation, Lateglacial North Patagonian Evergreen Forest was subject to short-term stadial and interstadial climatic fluctuations.The high-resolution Taiquemó pollen record details and supports previous conclusions of interhemispheric synchrony of climatic and glacial events.