Реферат: Located at 50°30’ S, Madre de Dios archipelago is an outstanding natural and archeological heritage site, which Chile designated a protected area in January 2008. Together with Diego de Almagro Island (51°30’S), this is the most southerly and inhospitable karst on Earth, owing to a subpolar climate with extreme rainfall (>7–8 meters/year) and strong winds (“roaring fifties”). The Upper Carboniferous
and Lower Permian Tarlton Limestones (500 m thick) form part of the pre-Jurassic basement of the Andean Cordillera, the former Pacific margin of Gondwana. Along the fjords and Pacific front, cliff-side exploration with rubber dinghies has revealed three exceptional caves with: (1) archeological artifacts (Pacific Cave); (2) glacial sediments (Moraine Cave); 3) stepped beaches and whale bones (Whale Cave). Discovered in 2006, Pacific Cave is the first archeological cave found in the Patagonian islands containing paintings from the Kawésqar culture. This marine cave, 3 m above sea level, contains thick shelly deposits (limpets), bone fragments, fireplaces with charcoal and 50 paintings. Thirty were made with red ocher (anthropomorphic figures, “sun-wheel”). Geochemical analyses with a portable X-ray analyzer (Niton) indicate about 1 to 3 % of iron. Twenty drawings were made with charcoal, and one seems to represent a galleon. Because of recent glacio-isostatic uplift (main upper horizontal shoreline at +3 m), the age of the drawings is probably between several hundred and about 3000–4000 years. The oldest known burial site
is 4520 ±60 years BP in Ayayema Cave (+10 m), explored in 2000. Moraine Cave has a 40 m large entrance situated 50 m above sea level on the west front of Guarello Island; it is filled by a 25-m-thick morainic deposit with interbedded varves. The oldest stalagmite is 9055 ±915 years BP. Three stepped horizontal wall notches at about +55 m are not yet interpreted. Whale Cave contains a huge entrance, 70 m high and 50 m wide, located on the Pacific front, but perpendicular to the swell direction. This karstic cave, 180 m long, contains several stepped pebble marine terraces at +5 m, +7 m, + 9 m, and +10.5 m, all with granite pebbles carried from the eastern part of the island by glaciers. Many whale bones (6 skulls, many vertebrae, and ribs), especially blue whale and Hyperodon, are dispersed throughout the middle and bottom parts of the cave between +7 and +11.5 m. Two 14C dates indicate ages of 3200 ±100 years BP at +9 m, and 2600 ±60 years BP for another whale bone at +37 m, suggesting deposition by a tsunami. All these karst and archeological features recorded in littoral caves provide an understanding of the complex evolution of this coastal area since the last deglaciation and the origin of Kawésqar occupation.