Southern Patagonia has a very unique and diversified
landscape that has developed over millions of years. Currently Patagonia, Chile has a few
landscapes that you aren’t to be missed if exploring this unique location. These sites include:
Parque Nacional Torres Del Paine
Laguna Verde
San Rafael Glacier
Marble Caves
The marble caves glacier will melt most likely by the end of
the century. With the increased run off
from the glacier, the caves will be under water and all of its beauty will be
locked away like a secret. Should the
caves become covered by glacier run off, the monoliths of marble may be
expanded as waves and water continue to erode the already existing tunnels and
touch new walls. If the melting glacier
begins to reform at another point in time, there will potentially be new
tunnels and beauty to admire. The
current caves are estimated to have developed over the last 6,400 years.
Laguna Verde is a unique salt lake that encompasses both hot
springs and active volcanoes located in the Andes Mountains. One of the volcanoes surrounding the lake is
Ojos, the largest volcano in the world.
With climate changes, some areas will have increased rain while other
areas will have higher drought. It is
anticipated that heavier rainfall will become more common in areas such as the
Andes. As discussed previously in the
blog, Patagonia is at a prime location for such beautiful landscapes because of
the moist air from the ocean and the long mountain ranges offering variations
for weather patterns.
The Andes mountains that are located in some of the national
parks of Southern Patagonia will go through processes that will be increased
with climate change. The Andes shape
will continue to change with erosion, uplifting, and faulting. Increased rain will speed up the erosion
process. Increased heat patterns will accelerate the rate of chemical
reactions. More volcanic eruptions and
tectonic plate movement will release more gasses into the atmosphere and add
new physical features with expelled matter.
Southern Patagonia experiences heavy monsoons from South
America when the warm tropical air is carried up into the Andes where it meets
the colder dry air, heavy rainfall at high elevations cause flooding. As climate change continues ocean heights
will rise, glaciers will melt, and the general atmosphere will become more
active as extremes begin to form around the equator and Northern and Southern
Hemispheres. Coastlines, such as IquiIque
will have increased erosion and will probably not exist as the glacial ice
melts and the coastlines are threatened.
As the glacier begin to melt organic matter that has been
locked inside of the ice preventing the breakdown of such matter will become
exposed, allowing for the decay process to occur. This organic matter will then release the
methane gasses that had been locked away into the atmosphere and into the
oceans that cover any glaciers. This
methane release will then raise the temperature of both the atmosphere and the
oceans.
