Abstract

In the Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego, the marine Holocene (ca. 8.000 years BP) is represented by littoral deposits, mostly up to 10 m a.s.l. raised marine terraces, extending along the modern coast, and characterized by the presence of mollusk shells, mainly bivalves and gastropods. In this work, which is focused on Holocene mollusk assemblages from the Beagle channel, a qualitative and quantitative analysis of both fossil and modern shell assemblages, respectively collected from raised marine deposits and their adjacent beaches, was performed. For each assemblage, species richness, abundance and various taphonomic attributes were analyzed. The results indicate that the differences between assemblages do not correlate with climate changes that occurred during the Mid-Late Holocene, but reflect local differences among the sites taking into account the habitat heterogeneity in the Beagle channel.