Four seismic surveys and a stratigraphic record from southernmost Patagonia (Argentina) based on 51 AMS-14C dates obtained in the framework of ICDP expedition 5022 "Potrok Aike Maar Lake Sediment Archive Drilling Project" (PASADO) provide a database to compare the 106 m composite profile from the lake centre with piston cores from the littoral and outcrops in the catchment area. Based on event correlation using distinct volcanic ash layers with unique geochemical composition and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates on feldspars, sediment records are firmly linked. This approach allows to match the sediment record with water levels during the past ca. 49 ka providing evidence for lake level variations. Reconstructed lake levels were 20 m higher than today during the last Glacial until the early Holocene. With the migration of the Southern Hemispheric Westerlies over this site the lake level dropped ca. 55 m for a period of two millennia. Thereupon the water balance was more positive again causing a stepwise rise of the lake level until the maximum was reached during the Little Ice Age with a subsequent lowering since the 20th century. We suggest that the mid- to late-Holocene lake level variation is caused by intensity changes of the Southern Hemispheric Westerlies.

Supplement to: Zolitschka, Bernd; Anselmetti, Flavio S; Ariztegui, Daniel; Corbella, Hugo; Francus, Pierre; Lücke, Andreas; Maidana, Nora; Ohlendorf, Christian; Schäbitz, Frank; Wastegård, Stefan (2013): Environment and climate of the last 51,000 years - new insights from the Potrok Aike maar lake sediment archive drilling project (PASADO). Quaternary Science Reviews, 71, 1-12