Report on the First Meeting of the Latin-American Working Group of the Paleopedology Commission INQUA-IUSS.

The first meeting of the Latin-American Working Group on paleopedology (recently formed during the VI International Symposium and Field Workshop, Mexico, Oct. 2001) took place on November 21-23 in Anillaco, La Rioja province, Argentina - a town famous for being the birthplace of Argentinean ex-president Carlos Menem. The meeting venue was in CRILAR - Regional Centre of Research and Technology Transfer of La Rioja - a well equipped and comfortably arranged institution involved in a number of investigation and education programs in various branches of geosciences and biology.
 

The Meeting organisation was carried out by Dr. Mart­n Iriondo (chairperson of the Working group), Dr. Daniela Krhling (full member of the INQUA Paleopedology Commission); and by Dr. Claudio Carignano (CRILAR). It was linked to the workshop of GEC (Quaternary Research Group of South America) devoted to the results of the INQUA project "Quaternary and Present Climates of the Paran and Uruguay Basins, SE South America" led by M.Iriondo.
 

16 participants from Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Mexico presented their results orally during 2 session days. The session on November 21 led by Mart­n Iriondo and Daniela Krhling was devoted to the presentations related to the INQUA project. After the welcome of the CRILAR director Dr. D. Gorla 8 talks on various aspects of South America Quaternary geology, paleogeography and geomorphology were given. Martin Iriondo and Jorge Adamoli spoke about the dynamics of alluvial processes in the Paran and Uruguay river basins. Jos Luis Cavallotto and Roberto Violante presented an exiting results about the evolution of coastal, deltaic and marine sedimentation linked to Late Quaternary eustatic sea level changes on Argentinean shelf in the area of Rio de la Plata. Violante noticed the probable recovering of a buried paleosol from the middle argentine platform. Marina Aguirre studied the molluscs of Argentinean Atlantic coast as a source of paleoclimate information. Andres Laguens and Adn Tauber considered the regional aspects of the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene environmental change as related to fauna evolution and first human occupation. Marcela Cioccale presented the Geomorphology and Quaternary of elevated small blocks of the Pampean ranges, with special reference to loess profiles.
 

The November 22 session, led by Sergey Sedov, was fully devoted to paleopedology and related problems of paleoenvironmental and geomorphological research in various regions of Latin America. Elizabeth Solleiro and Sergey Sedov reported the results from volcanic paleosols and pedosediments of Central Mexico and discussed the possibility to use them as Quaternary paleoclimate proxy. The data on stratigraphy, chronology and paleoenvironmental significance of late Quaternary buried paleosols in eolian (loess, sand dunes) and fluvial sequences of Argentina were presented by Claudio Carignano and Daniela Krhling. Francisco Ladeira and Marceline Dos Santos used paleopedological objects to study geomorphological evolution in San Paulo province, Brazil on different time scales from Mesozoic to recent. They inspired the audience with their discovery of well preserved Late Pleistocene buried paleosols in the regions with humid tropical climate and active denudation. Reynaldo Charrier and Sof­a Rebolledo spoke about geomorphological processes in Chile, in relation to plate tectonics and considering the possibilities for prognosis of geological hazards. Margarita Osterrieth presented nicely illustrated set of results on biominerals in paleosols and modern soils of southestern Pampa and outlined perspectives of their use for paleoenvironment and geoarchaeological research. Finally Martin Iriondo gave an impressive overview of the state-of-art in Latin-American paleopedological research. With this talk the Working Group business meeting started. The following directions of the Group future activities were proposed:

to find the researchers interested in paleopedological research in Latin America (both from Latin-American countries and abroad) and try to incorporate them in the Group.

to formulate the scientific problems of larger scale which could attract the interest of various group members and serve as a basis for international co-operation and development of joint projects.

to prepare the international paleopedology course for postgraduate students in one of Latin-American countries.

To propose a minor discussion room on particularities of latinamerican paleosols linked to the main Paleopedology Commission activities in the INQUA Congress to be held in Rheno.
 

As the nearest task the participants considered the necessity to develop the Group homepage in the Internet.

Mart­n Iriondo was re-elected as the Working Group chairperson and Elizabeth Solleiro - as the Group secretary.
 

On November 23 the Meeting participants went on one day field trip, led by Claudio Carignano and Adn Tauber to the piedmont of Sierra de Velasco and Valle de Arauco. There, in the present day arid landscape formed by the eolian geoforms and alluvial fans we observed the relicts of more humid paleoenvironments with shallower water table: carbonate crusts with precipitated silica, ryzoliths and horizons with strong gleyic features.
 

The Meeting in Anillaco was of major importance for the consolidation of the Latin-American working group and is supposed to be a prologue for its future active work.