PASADO, the Potrok Aike Maar Lake Sediment Archive Drilling Project, is an international ICDP effort to drill into the sediments of Potrok Aike Maar Lake, a volcanic crater lake in southern Patagonia, Argentina. At two drillsites (14 holes) the team recovered roughly 510 meters of sediment from about 1.27 kilometers drilled, creating a long record spanning much of the late Pleistocene. By examining the layered sediments, scientists hoped to reconstruct past climates and environments, map fire history, and document tephra (volcanic ash) and dust deposits that settled over the lake. The record also preserves changes in the Earth's magnetic field over several glacial–interglacial cycles. The dust and tephra signals link to other archives, such as marine sediments and ice cores, helping scientists compare records from different parts of the world. Researchers compared the reconstructions with climate models to understand what natural forces shaped Southern Hemisphere climate. The cores are stored for ongoing research at the University of Bremen.

Keywords: South America, Argentina, Patagonia, Potrok Aike, Atmospheric Dust, Climate Modeling, Lake Drilling, Maar Formation, Maar Lake, Quantitative Climate Reconstruction, Southern Hemispheric Westerlies, Volcanology