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Floods are among the most destructive natural hazards on Earth. In paleohydrology, sediments are generally considered as one of the best archives to extend flood records to pre-historical timescales. Doing so requires being able to identify flood deposits from sediment archives and decipher between flood types. The latter is particularly important in glacierized regions, where meteorological floods frequently co-occur with glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). In Patagonia, results from a recent study suggest that GLOFs are recorded in downstream fjord sediments as fine-grained and organic-poor layers, representing the high amount of glacier rock flour transported during lake outbursts, whereas meteorological floods are represented by coarser and more organic deposits. However, not all fine-grained organic-poor deposits could be associated with historical GLOFs. Here, we reconstruct the provenance of these Baker River flood deposits using Sr-87/Sr-86 and epsilon Nd, taking advantage of the clear lithological differences that exist between both sides of the watershed. Our results show that both Sr-87/Sr-86 and epsilon Nd are suited to reconstruct sediment provenance in the Baker River watershed but that epsilon Nd is the most effective and the least affected by grain-size variations. Our provenance results confirm that the 21st-century fine-grained and organic-poor deposits represent GLOFs and that the largest winter meteorological flood on record has a distinct coarse and organic-rich signature. However, our results show that rain-on-snow events that occur in summer, and therefore primarily affect the western glacierized part of the watershed, have the same fine-grained organic-poor signature as GLOFs. Therefore, this study shows that the sedimentary signature of rain-on-snow floods in partially glacierized watersheds depends on the season during which they occur. We anticipate that our findings will contribute to a better interpretation of flood records from partially glacierized watersheds.

Dissolved silica (DSi) plays an important biogeochemical role in the fjords of northern Chilean Patagonia (44–48°S), where it drives high biogenic productivity and promotes carbon burial. It is generally believed that the DSi riverine input to lakes and coastal environments is controlled by a combination of factors including lithology, climate, topography, vegetation, and meltwater input. In northern Chilean Patagonia several authors have proposed that the postglacial volcanic ash soils (andosols) may play a significant role in the high supply of DSi to the regional fjords. To assess the influence of andosols on DSi concentrations in north Patagonian rivers, we mapped andosol thickness and compared our results with river chemistry. The mineralogical and geochemical composition of three representative andosol profiles was also examined to evaluate the efficiency of weathering processes. The andosol thickness map clearly demonstrates that volcanic ash was predominantly deposited on the eastern side of the regional volcanoes, reflecting the influence of the prevailing westerly winds on the distribution of pyroclastic material. Mineralogical and geochemical results show that the andosol parent material has the typical andesitic basaltic signature of the regional volcanoes, i.e. high amounts of amorphous material, plagioclase, K-feldspar, and pyroxene. Down-profile variations in soil mineralogy and geochemistry indicate increased leaching of silica with depth, resulting from weathering of the volcanic parent material. For the five studied watersheds, a highly positive correlation (R2=0.98) was found between average andosol thickness and DSi concentrations, suggesting that andosol thickness is the main parameter affecting DSi concentrations in north Patagonian river systems. On seasonal timescales, increased precipitation (winter) and glacial meltwater (summer) input can significantly reduce DSi concentrations. We argue that the weathering of andosols constitutes the most important source of DSi to the lakes and fjords of northern Chilean Patagonia, explaining the particularly high regional rates of biogenic silica production. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.