| Summary: | Byers Peninsula (Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands) is one of the few glacier-free areas in Antarctica that allow the high-resolution characterization of Holocene history based on paleolimnological studies. Several lakes on the peninsula with sedimentary infills up to 5 m of thickness provide excellent opportunities to conduct multidisciplinary environmental reconstructions. The complete sedimentary infill of five lakes was retrieved in 2003 and 2008 (Limnopolar) and November 2012 (Chester, Escondido, Cerro Negro and Domo). Sediments ranged from nearly completely mineral to an alternation of mosses and mineralogical layers. The age model of these five sedimentary records was built using 53 AMS 14C and 4 TL dates covering the last ca. 8,000 cal years BP. Past climate and environmental changes are here inferred using the results obtained with an X-ray core scanner and x-ray diffraction analysis. Our results are related to the main Holocene climate fluctuations in this area. However, the comparison of the obtained reconstructions for each lake allowed for dintinctions between local ontogenic processes controlled by the catchment and lake internal dynamics and those caused by regional climate fluctuations. Peer Reviewed
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