schmidt hammer exposure age dating shd performed on periglacial and related landforms in opplendskedalen geirangerfjellet norway implications for mid and late holocene climate variability schmidt hammer exposure age dating shd was applied to a variety of boulder dominated periglacial landforms in an attempt to establish a local mid late holocene chronology for the geirangerfjelle

a minimum sample size required from schmidt hammer measurements the schmidt hammer is a useful tool applied by geomorphologists to measure rock strength in field conditions the essence of field application is to obtain a sufficiently large dataset of individual rebound values which yields a meaningful numerical value of mean strength although there is general agreement that a certain minimum sample size is required to proceed with the statistics the choice of size i e number of individual impacts was usually intuitive and arbitrary in this paper we show a simple statistical method based on the two sample student s t test to objectively estimate the minimum number of rebound measurements we present the results as 1 the mean and median solutions each providing a single estimate value and 2 the empirical probability distribution of such estimates based on many field samples schmidt hammer data for 14 lithologies 13 81 samples for each with each sample consisting of 40 individual readings have been evaluated assuming different significance levels the principal recommendations are 1 the recommended minimum sample size for weak and moderately strong rock is 25 2 a sample size of 15 is sufficient for sandstones and shales 3 strong and coarse rocks require 30 readings at a site 4 the minimum sample size may be reduced by one third if the context of research allows for higher significance level for test statistics interpretations based on less than 10 readings from a site should definitely be avoided copyright 2009 john wiley sons ltd

rock weathering rates as functions of time the scarcity of documented numerical relations between rock weathering and time has led to a common assumption that rates of weathering are linear this assumption has been strengthened by studies that have calculated long term average rates however little theoretical or empirical evidence exists to support linear rates for most chemical weathering processes with the exception of congruent dissolution processes the few previous studies of rock weathering rates that contain quantitative documentation of the relation between chemical weathering and time suggest that the rates of most weathering processes decrease with time recent studies of weathering rinds on basaltic and andesitic stones in glacial deposits in the western united states also clearly demonstrate that rock weathering processes slow with time some weathering processes appear to conform to exponential functions of time such as the square root time function for hydration of volcanic glass which conforms to the theoretical predictions of diffusion kinetics however weathering of mineralogically heterogeneous rocks involves complex physical and chemical processes that generally can be expressed only empirically commonly by way of logarithmic time functions incongruent dissolution and other weathering processes produce residues which are commonly used as measures of weathering these residues appear to slow movement of water to unaltered material and impede chemical transport away from it if weathering residues impede weathering processes then rates of weathering and rates of residue production are inversely proportional to some function of the residue thickness this results in simple mathematical analogs for weathering that imply nonlinear time functions the rate of weathering becomes constant only when an equilibrium thickness of the residue is reached because weathering residues are relatively stable chemically and because physical removal of residues below the ground surface is slight many weathering features require considerable time to reach constant rates of change for weathering rinds on volcanic stones in the western united states this time is at least 0 5 my

erosional and climatic effects on long term chemical weathering rates in granitic landscapes spanning diverse climate regimes abstract we used cosmogenic nuclide and geochemical mass balance methods to measure long term rates of chemical weathering and total denudation in granitic landscapes in diverse climatic regimes our 42 study sites encompass widely varying climatic and erosional regimes with mean annual temperatures ranging from 2 to 25 c average precipitation ranging from 22 to 420 cm year 1 and denudation rates ranging from 23 to 755 t km 2 year 1 long term chemical weathering rates range from 0 to 173 t km 2 year 1 in several cases exceeding the highest granitic weathering rates on record from previous work chemical weathering rates are highest at the sites with rapid denudation rates consistent with strong coupling between rates of chemical weathering and mineral supply from breakdown of rock a simple empirical relationship based on temperature precipitation and long term denudation rates explains 89 95 of the variation in long term weathering rates across our network of sites our analysis shows that for a given precipitation and temperature chemical weathering rates increase proportionally with fresh material supply rates we refer to this as supply limited weathering in which fresh material is chemically depleted to roughly the same degree regardless of its rate of supply from breakdown of rock the temperature sensitivity of chemical weathering rates is two to four times smaller than what one would expect from laboratory measurements of activation energies for feldspar weathering and previous inter comparisons of catchment mass balance data from the field our results suggest that climate change feedbacks between temperature and silicate weathering rates may be weaker than previously thought at least in actively eroding unglaciated terrain similar to our study sites to the extent that chemical weathering rates are supply limited in mountainous landscapes factors that regulate rates of mineral supply from erosion such as tectonic uplift may lead to significant fluctuations in global climate over the long term

cosmic ray labeling of erosion surfaces in situ nuclide production rates and erosion models a number of in situ cosmogenic radionuclides and stable nuclides have been measured in natural exposed rock surfaces with a view to study their in situ production and rock erosion rates 1 the in situ radionuclides can be used for a high resolution tomography of the erosional history of an exposed surface two stable nuclides 3he 21ne and five radionuclides 10be 26al 36cl 14c 39ar having half lives in the range of 300 1 5 106 yr half life are measurable in many rock types a prerequisite for the application of the in situ nuclides for the study of erosional histories of surfaces is a knowledge of their production rates under different irradiation conditions altitude latitude irradiation geometry and shielding relative nuclide production rates can be determined fairly accurately using the extensive available data on cosmic ray neutrons 2 absolute nuclide production rates cannot generally be predicted with any accuracy because of lack of data on excitation functions of nuclides unless some normalization is possible as was done in the case of several cosmic ray produced isotopes in the atmosphere 3 based on a recent natural calibration experiment in which erosion free surfaces exposed to cosmic radiation for 11 000 yrs were sampled the absolute production rates of 10be and 26al in quartz have been accurately estimated for mountain altitudes in sierra nevada 4 the absolute production rates of 10be and 26al in quartz can therefore be estimated fairly accurately for any given latitude and altitude some measurements of 14c in rocks of low erosion rate 5 similarly allow an estimate of its production rate attempts made to measure the in situ production rates of 3he in rocks have not yet led to a convergent production rate in view of the importance of knowing the production rates of isotopes of he ne and ar i present here theoretical estimates of their production rates based on available cross section data i discuss the information that can be extracted from the study of the in situ nuclides in rocks useful parameters characterizing the exposure history of a rock surface are 1 the effective surface exposure age and 2 the time averaged erosion rate the implications of these parameters for single and multiple nuclide studies are discussed in terms of the erosion models considered

southern laurentide ice sheet retreat synchronous with rising boreal summer insolation establishing the precise timing for the onset of ice sheet retreat at the end of the last glacial maximum lgm is critical for delineating mechanisms that drive deglaciations uncertainties in the timing of ice margin retreat and global ice volume change allow a variety of plausible deglaciation triggers using boulder 10 be surface exposure ages we date initial southern laurentide ice sheet lis retreat from lgm moraines in wisconsin usa to 23 0 0 6 ka coincident with retreat elsewhere along the southern lis and synchronous with the initial rise in boreal summer insolation 24 23 ka we show with climate surface mass balance simulations that this small increase in boreal summer insolation alone is potentially sufficient to drive enhanced southern lis surface ablation we also date increased southern lis retreat after ca 20 5 ka likely driven by an acceleration in rising isolation this near instantaneous southern lis response to boreal summer insolation before any rise in atmospheric co 2 supports the milankovic hypothesis of orbital forcing of deglaciations

surface and sub surface schmidt hammer rebound value variation for a granite outcrop this study presents rock strength variations at granite outcrops and in subsurface vertical profiles in the jizerske hory mountains czech republic schmidt hammer rebound values in subsurface profiles change gradually from the bedrock surface downward an exponential relation has been observed between the r values and depth in rock outcrops to a depth of around 4 5 m the exponential nature of the curve indicates that rock hardness increases more rapidly with depth in the uppermost 1 m section of the rock profile a detailed study of rebound values obtained from both intact and polished rock exposures reveal effects of surface grinding on results of the schmidt hammer method the range of data collected increases after grinding allowing more precise discrimination of rock surfaces in respect of age and weathering the schmidt hammer method may be used effectively as a relative age dating tool for rock surfaces that originated during the late pleistocene it is concluded that this time limitation can be significantly mitigated by surface grinding before measurement copyright 2010 john wiley sons ltd

cirques have growth spurts during deglacial and interglacial periods evidence from 10be and 26al nuclide inventories in the central and eastern pyrenees cirques are emblematic landforms of alpine landscapes the statistical distribution of cirque floor elevations is used to infer glacial equilibrium line altitude and the age of their frontal moraines for reconstructing glacial chronologies very few studies however have sought to measure cirque floor and supraglacial ridgetop bedrock downwearing rates in order to confront these denudation estimates with theoretical models of quaternary mountain landscape evolution here we use 10 be nuclide samples n 36 from moraines bedrock steps and supraglacial ridgetops among a population of cirques in the east central pyrenees in order to quantify denudation in the landscape and detect whether the mountain topography bears any relevance to the glacial buzzsaw hypothesis minimum exposure ages meas obtained for a succession of moraines spanning the oldest dryas to the holocene produced a deglaciation chronology for three different pyrenean ranges maladeta bassies and carlit based on a series of corrections calibrations and chronostratigraphic tuning procedures meas on ice polished bedrock exposures were further used to model denudation depths at nested timescales during the wurm the younger dryas and the holocene results show that subglacial cirque floor denudation was lower during glacial periods wurm 10 mm ka than during deglacial and interglacial periods tens to hundreds of mm ka the relative inefficiency of glacial denudation in the cirque zone during the wurm would have resulted from i cold based and or ii low gradient glaciers situated in the upper reaches of the icefield and or from iii glacier load starvation because of arrested clast supply from supraglacial rockslopes situated in the permafrost zone denudation peaked during the younger dryas and holocene glacial advances a time when cirque glaciers became steeper warmer based and when frost cracking weakened supraglacial ridgetops thus enhancing sub glacial erosion by providing debris to the sliding glacier base cirques therefore grow faster during more temperate periods of cirque glaciation than under full glacial conditions another key finding was the very low rates of ridgetop lowering averaged over the wurm and holocene 10 25 mm ka a comparison of the denudation rates obtained from the cirque zone with regional estimates of crustal uplift indicates that the alpine topography is not in a steady state the low intensity of glacial denudation failed to bring the topography to a buzzsaw equilibrium state

timing and climatic drivers for glaciation across semi arid western himalayan tibetan orogen abstract mapping and forty seven new 10 be ages help define the timing of glaciation in the ladakh and pangong ranges in northwest india five new local glacial stages are defined for the ladakh range from oldest to youngest these include the ladakh 4 glacial stage at 81 20 ka the ladakh 3 glacial stage not dated the ladakh 2 glacial stage at 22 3 ka the ladakh 1 glacial stage not dated and the ladakh cirque glacial stage at 1 8 0 4 ka three local glacial stages are defined for the pangong range which include the pangong 2 glacial stage at 85 15 ka the pangong 1 glacial stage at 40 3 ka and the pangong cirque glacial stage at 0 4 0 3 ka the new 10 be ages are combined with 645 recalculated 10 be ages from previous studies to develop the first regional framework of glaciation across the dryland regions of the greater himalaya transhimalaya pamir and tian shan at the western end of the himalayan tibetan orogen nineteen regional glacial stages are recognized that are termed semi arid western himalayan tibetan stages swhts these include swhts 9 at 311 32 ka swhts 7 at 234 44 ka tentative swhts 6 at 146 18 ka swhts 5e at 121 11 ka swhts 5a at 80 5 ka swhts 5a at 72 8 ka swhts 4 at 61 5 ka swhts 3 at 46 4 ka swhts 2f at 30 3 ka swhts 2e at 20 2 ka swhts 2d at 16 9 0 7 ka swhts 2c at 14 9 0 8 ka swhts 2b at 13 9 0 5 ka swhts 2a at 12 2 0 8 ka swhts 1e at 8 8 0 3 ka tentative swhts 1d at 6 9 0 2 ka tentative swhts 1c at 3 8 0 6 ka swhts 1b at 1 7 0 2 ka and swhts 1a at 0 4 0 1 ka regional glacial stages older than 21 ka are broadly correlated with strong monsoons swhts that are 21 ka or younger have smaller uncertainties and broadly correlate with global ice volume given by marine oxygen isotope stages and northern hemisphere climatic events oldest dryas older dryas younger dryas roman humid period and little ice age

deglaciation in the central pyrenees during the pleistocene holocene transition timing and geomorphological significance abstract in this study we document deglaciation in a sector of the southern central pyrenees the panticosa massif and the upper gallego and ossau valleys using cosmic ray exposure cre dating methods which were applied to samples from high altitude polished rock steps and rock glacier boulders the obtained cre dates show a coherent spatial distribution and confirm results previously obtained in this study area thus demonstrating the reliability and robustness of the method the results of analyses based on two distinct isotopes 10 be and 36 cl are consistent although the error is higher for results based on the 36 cl isotope the study provides evidence for ice extent in the high gallego valley during the oldest dryas with glacial advance until the bottom of the valleys although the main glacier tongues remained disconnected from each other during this period the extent of glacier advance was directly related to the elevation of the associated summits the younger dryas glaciers were constrained to cirques or very short ice tongues and dating of the polished rock steps indicates that the ice masses were present until the first millennium of the holocene the brazato rock glacier developed at the beginning of the holocene and remained active until the holocene thermal optimum because of the protective effect of large masses of blocks and boulders

spatial correlation structure estimation using geophysical and hydrogeological data the large spatial variability of hydraulic properties in natural geologic systems over a wide range of scales and the difficulty of collecting representative and sufficient hydraulic property measurements using conventional sampling techniques render estimation of spatial correlation parameters difficult further compounding the estimation problem is the observation that the integral scale estimate is a function of the measurement support scale to mitigate these problems we investigate the use of tomographic geophysical data in combination with hydrogeological data in the spatial correlation estimation procedure two synthetic case studies were investigated where the scale of the geophysical measurements were varied relative to the scale of the hydrogeological properties the spatial correlation structure parameter estimation procedure was performed in the spectral domain where analysis of data having different support scales and spatial sampling windows was facilitated comparison of the spatial correlation structure parameters estimated from measured data with those of the synthetic aquifers revealed which type of data tomographic hydrogeological or a combination of both was most effective for recovering spatial correlation statistics under different sampling heterogeneity conditions these synthetic case studies suggest that collection of a few tomographic profiles and interpretation of these profiles together with limited well bore data can yield correlation structure information that is otherwise obtainable only from extensive hydrological sampling

accuracy of cosmogenic ages for moraines analyses of all published cosmogenic exposure ages for moraine boulders show an average age range of 38 between the oldest and youngest boulders from each moraine this range conflicts with the common assumption that ages of surface boulders are the same as the age of the landform the wide spread in boulder ages is caused by erosion of the moraine surface and consequent exhumation of fresh boulders a diffusion model of surface degradation explains the age range and shows that a randomly sampled small set of boulders n 3 7 will always yield a lower age limit for the moraine the model indicates that for identical dating accuracy six to seven boulders are needed from old and tall moraines 40 000 100 000 yr 50 100 m initial height but only one to four boulders from small moraines 20 000 100 000 yr 10 20 m by following these guidelines the oldest obtained boulder age will be 90 of the moraine age 95 probability this result is only weakly sensitive to a broad range of soil erosion rates our analysis of published boulder ages indicates that 3 of all moraine boulders have prior exposure and 85 of these boulders predate the dated moraine

exposure age chronology of the last glaciation in the eastern pyrenees abstract we present a chronology of ice recession in the eastern pyrenees based on in situ produced 10be data obtained from the tet paleoglacier complex the sampling strategy is based on the relative chronology provided by a detailed geomorphological map of glacial landforms results indicate that the last maximum ice advance occurred late i e during marine isotope stage 2 compared to the chronology currently established for the rest of the pyrenees despite debatable evidence for a glacial readvance during the oldest dryas stade ice cap melt out was rapid residual cirque glaciers having disappeared by the allerod interstade this is consistent both with north atlantic excursions established by the greenland ice cores and paleoenvironmental data for the region the rapid response of the east pyrenean ice cap to temperature variations is primarily linked to its small size compared to larger pyrenean ice fields to the dry mediterranean climate and to topography related nonlinearities in which a small vertical rise in equilibrium line altitude generates a large change in ice mass possible sources of age uncertainty are discussed in the context of sampling design for single nuclide 10be dating of landform sequences in formerly glaciated landscapes

palaeoenvironments of the late miocene pruedo basin implications for the uplift of the central pyrenees the nature structure and extent of a palaeo basin sedimentary infill exposed in the aran valley central pyrenees was studied by combining stratigraphical and biostratigraphical analyses and an audio magnetotelluric survey the basin developed on top of a pre existing peneplain and was formed by the north maladeta fault activity the fluvio palustrine sequence filling the basin was at least 100 m thick specimens of the taxon hippuris cf parvicarpa nikitin were identified for the first time in a european palaeoflora the palynological and carpological analyses allowed us to 1 constrain the age of the basin infill as vallesian 11 1 8 7 ma 2 characterize the vegetation of the belt surrounding the basin as a mainly temperate to warm temperate assemblage and 3 estimate the palaeoaltitude of the site at between 700 and 1000 m which leads to an altitude change of 900 1200 m for the north maladeta fault downthrown block and 1640 1640 m for the upthrown block these data allowed us to estimate the regional uplift of the area at between 0 08 and 0 19 mm a 1 the different exhumation values obtained by other researchers for sites located at both sides of the north maladeta fault are in agreement with its activity as a normal fault since the late miocene supplementary materials details of the data acquisition processing and modelling for the porera profile are available at www geolsoc org uk sup18551

too young or too old evaluating cosmogenic exposure dating based on an analysis of compiled boulder exposure ages cosmogenic exposure dating has greatly enhanced our ability to define glacial chronologies spanning several global cold periods and glacial boulder exposure ages are now routinely used to constrai

younger dryas glaciers and climate in the mourne mountains northern ireland here we present evidence to suggest that the mourne mountains northern ireland were last occupied by glaciers during the younger dryas stadial the margins of these glaciers are marked by moraines chronologically constrained to the younger dryas by schmidt hammer exposure dating reconstructions indicate that these glaciers had equilibrium line altitudes elas ranging from 356 33 m a s l to 570 9 m a s l with a mean of 475 36 m a s l elas rise from west to east probably reflecting the contribution of windblown snow and ice to the accumulation of younger dryas glaciers in the western mournes taking this into consideration a mean climatic ela of 529 4 m a s l is calculated for the mountains as a whole assuming a mean annual sea level air temperature of 8 c and an annual temperature range of 34 c degree day modelling suggests that during the younger dryas accumulation at the climatic ela of glaciers in the mournes was 846 990 mm a 1 this suggests increased aridity relative to present and is consistent with other parts of nw europe where reduced precipitation alongside notable cooling is thought to reflect increased north atlantic sea ice extent during the younger dryas

glacial to interglacial vegetation changes in the northern and southern pyrenees deglaciation vegetation cover and chronology abstract new palynological investigations have been carried out in the southern northern and mediterranean part of the pyrenean chain pollen percentage and concentration diagrams are compared for a period including the end of the glacial period the late glacial and postglacial periods from the new results and from comparisons with previous published data the steppe and semi desert vegetation of the end of the last glacial period are described as well as the plant communities of the period 15 13 ka a dry climate was responsible for the early glacial retreat before 30 ka deglaciation was continuous up to about 15 14 ka without any readvance around 20 18 ka different aspects of the late glacial vegetation are studied and the first stages of the postglacial are described the younger dryas event is found everywhere but particularly clearly in the mediterranean area the most important 14 c dates are discussed and a plateau of 14 c ages is clearly visible around 10 000 bp

a northern lead in the orbital band north south phasing of ice age events abstract re analysis of existing data sets shows that they are fully consistent with northern insolation control of ice age cycles and do not provide strong support for alternate models invoking tropical or southern controls the coldest time of the last 100 ka in central greenland was nearly synchronous with the minimum in summer insolation about 24 ka bp thousand years before 1950 approximately one third of the total termination i warming since then was achieved over the almost 10 ka before the abrupt warming into the bolling which some workers have interpreted as the start of the warming southern warming as recorded in the byrd station antarctica ice isotopic record lagged northern warming co2 rise was roughly synchronous with southern warming methane rise may have been delayed a little as was sea level rise and the change in the isotopic composition of atmospheric oxygen was delayed significantly the data for the extrema just before termination ii are consistent with occurrence of the same phasing as for termination i but with somewhat different progression of the two terminations once initiated perhaps because of differences in the forcing

regional synthesis of mediterranean atmospheric circulation during the last glacial maximum atmospheric circulation leaves few direct traces in the geological record making reconstructions of this crucial element of the climate system inherently difficult we produced a regional mediterranean synthesis of paleo proxy data from the sea surface to alpine altitudes this provides a detailed observational context for change in the three dimensional structure of atmospheric circulation between the last glacial maximum lgm 23 000 to 19 000 years ago and the present the synthesis reveals evidence for frequent cold polar air incursions topographically channeled into the northwestern mediterranean anomalously steep vertical temperature gradients in the central mediterranean imply local convective precipitation we find the lgm patterns to be analogous though amplified to previously reconstructed phases of enhanced meridional winter circulation during the maunder minimum the little ice age

schmidt hammer exposure age dating shd of sorted stripes on juvflye jotunheimen central south norway morphodynamic and palaeoclimatic implications abstract measurements with an electronic schmidt hammer rockschmidt were conducted on 23 sites of sorted stripes periglacial patterned ground on juvflye jotunheimen central south norway all were located above the current lower limit of alpine permafrost performing schmidt hammer exposure age dating shd based on application of a new local age calibration equation for rrock values yielded shd ages between 7975 370 and 6660 355 years ago which are closely comparable to results obtained previously from sorted circles at the same location the age estimates are interpreted as composite ages indicative of upfreezing of boulders lateral sorting and subsequent stabilisation formation of patterned ground essentially ceased with the onset of the regional holocene thermal maximum htm neither sorted stripe sites at higher altitude continuously underlain by permafrost during the entire holocene nor those at lower altitudes affected by re aggradation of permafrost in the late holocene show signs of significant recent morphodynamic activity likely explanations for early to mid holocene stabilisation include 1 substantial changes of soil moisture conditions and related thermodynamics within the active layer affecting frost action 2 loss of fine grained substrate matrix from the coarse stripes and hence reduced frost susceptibility and 3 exhaustion of supply of boulders from the fines dominated areas whereas the sorted stripe data set as a whole did not reproduce the altitudinal gradient characteristic of sorted circles on juvflye the strength of the relationship between sorted stripe mean rrock values and altitude increased with declining slope gradient although interpretation of shd ages for patterned ground remains challenging this successful application of the electronic schmidt hammer with its increased efficiency and technical improvements over the mechanical schmidt hammer offers considerable potential for future shd studies in both morphodynamic and palaeoclimatic contexts

climate sensitivity and geomorphological response of cirque glaciers from the late glacial to the holocene sierra nevada spain abstract through a detailed geomorphological study including thourough mapping of the geomorphic features as well as 10be cosmic ray exposure cre dating the geomorphological evolution of the mulhacen cirque since the maximum ice extent of the last glacial cycle until nowadays was determined this glacial cirque is shaped on the northern face of the mulhacen peak 3479 m a s l 37 03 12 n 3 18 41 w sierra nevada southern spain it includes several depositional and erosional glacial landforms that allowed reconstructing its environmental evolution since the last glacial cycle furthermore the sequence of glacial oscillations from this site was compared to that of other cirques of the massif evidencing that i new glaciers formed in these cirques during the younger dryas yd and ii disappeared at 11 7 1 0 ka depending on the altitude orientation and height of the cirque walls the final deglaciation of the cirques generated a diversity of landscapes including a wide range of glacial and periglacial landforms such as polished surfaces sequences of moraines proto rock glaciers or large rock glacier systems no glaciers existed in the sierra nevada during the middle holocene only the cirques whose summits exceed 3300 m are north exposed and whose walls exceed 300 m high i e mulhacen and veleta hosted glaciers during neoglacial phases including the little ice age lia approx 1300 1850 ce during these periods climate oscillations favoured the formation of small glaciers in these cirques which generated large moraine systems with either one polygenic ridge or a sequence of spaced frontal arcs the existence of glaciers impeded the formation of permafrost related landforms such as rock glaciers and protalus lobes until the end of the lia when they started to form these results are compared with the deglacial evolution in 55 cirques from iberian mountains as well as from glacial cirques from other mid latitude mountains and subpolar regions the chronology of their deglaciation as well as the landforms generated during glacial retreat followed similar patterns with no significant differences at regional scale for each mountain range the geomorphological diversity existing in each cirque depends on the local topographic characteristics although they formed during the same climatic phases

a stratigraphical basis for the last glacial maximum lgm abstract the last glacial maximum lgm is widely used to refer to the episode when global ice volume last reached its maximum and associated sea levels were at their lowest however the boundaries of the interval are ill defined and the term and acronym have no formal stratigraphical basis this is despite a previous proposal to define it as a chronozone in the marine records on the basis of oxygen isotopes and sea levels spanning the interval 23 19 or 24 18 ka and centred on 21 ka in terrestrial records the lgm is poorly represented since many sequences show a diachronous response to global climate changes during the last glacial cycle for example glaciers and ice sheets reached their maximum extents at widely differing times in different places in fact most terrestrial records display spatial variation in response to global climate fluctuations and changes recorded on land are often diachronous asynchronous or both leading to difficulties in global correlation however variations in the global hydrological system during glacial cycles are recorded by atmospheric dust flux and this provides a signal of terrestrial changes whilst regional dust accumulation is recorded in loess deposits global dust flux is best recorded in high resolution polar ice core records providing an opportunity to define the lgm on land and establish a clear stratigraphical basis for its definition on this basis one option is to define the global lgm as an event between the top end of greenland interstadial 3 and the base onset of greenland interstadial 2 spanning the interval 27 540 23 340 ka greenland stadial 3 this corresponds closely to the peak dust concentration in both the greenland and antarctic ice cores and to records of the global sea level minima this suggests that this definition includes not just the coldest and driest part of the last glacial cycle but also the peak in global ice volume the later part of the lgm event is marked by heinrich event 2 which reflects the onset of the collapse of the laurentide at c 24 ka together with other ice sheets in the north atlantic region a longer and later span for the lgm may be desirable although defining this in chronostratigraphical terms is problematic whichever formal definition is chosen this requires the contribution of the wider quaternary community

application of schmidt hammer relative age dating to late pleistocene moraines and rock glaciers in the western tatra mountains slovakia abstract in order to evaluate the potential of the schmidt hammer for relative age dating of late pleistocene moraines and rock glaciers rebound r values were collected at 38 sites in two formerly glaciated valleys in the western tatras in northern slovakia a large statistical population of measurements obtained from moraine and rock glacier surfaces was used to analyze the variability of mean r values in the same lithology and overall southern valley exposition four separate sets of glacial periglacial morphosystems are present at different positions in the western tatras starting from valley outlets to the highest cirques which represent successive phases of deglaciation r value means and 95 confidence intervals for selected last glacial maximum lgm and late glacial lg 1 lg 2 and lg 3 stages respectively 40 1 1 1 46 0 5 53 5 1 0 and 60 5 0 3 are significantly statistically different and values for each age category are comparable for the two analyzed valleys the results of weathering indexes used in conjunction with geomorphological relationships were taken together to reconstruct the pattern of deglaciation on southern tatra slopes it is stated that the schmidt hammer technique may be successfully used as a relative age dating tool for late pleistocene glacial and periglacial deposits and with this method it is possible to differentiate between late glacial moraines and rock glacier systems of different age

the effect of rock moisture on schmidt hammer rebound tests on rock samples from marion island and south africa in an assessment of the influence of internal rock moisture content on schmidt hammer readings rebound r values are found to decrease with increasing moisture content for samples of basalt sandstone and dolerite the maximum decrease in r values is found between oven dry values and saturated rock rebound values the magnitude of which varies from 2 to 10 points on the r scale a quartzite block has the greatest decline of 6 points at 60 per cent saturation for certain rock types under differing site to site field moisture conditions the moisture effect can be a significant factor in the interpretation of the relative state of weathering from rebound values copyright 2002 john wiley sons ltd

small isolated glacial catchments as priority targets for cosmogenic surface exposure dating of pleistocene climate fluctuations southeastern pyrenees a new 10 be data set from a small glacial catchment in the pyrenees confirms almost full glacier extent during marine isotope stage mis 2 extends the oldest cosmogenic exposure ages of moraines in this mountain range to mis 5 and constrains paleoclimate reconstructions in the mediterranean region it also illustrates the advantageous conditions for the long term preservation of terminal moraines provided by small low gradient glacier catchments that did not merge with compound ice masses even during glacial maxima these small gently sloping and isolated glacier catchments are proposed as priority targets for terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide dating of peak pleistocene glacier advances providing scope for greater accuracy in interregional paleoclimatic correlations

a stratigraphic framework for abrupt climatic changes during the last glacial period based on three synchronized greenland ice core records refining and extending the intimate event stratigraphy due to their outstanding resolution and well constrained chronologies greenland ice core records provide a master record of past climatic changes throughout the last interglacial glacial cycle in the north atlantic region as part of the intimate integration of ice core marine and terrestrial records project protocols have been proposed to ensure consistent and robust correlation between different records of past climate a key element of these protocols has been the formal definition and ordinal numbering of the sequence of greenland stadials gs and greenland interstadials gi within the most recent glacial period the gs and gi periods are the greenland expressions of the characteristic dansgaard oeschger events that represent cold and warm phases of the north atlantic region respectively we present here a more detailed and extended gs gi template for the whole of the last glacial period it is based on a synchronization of the ngrip grip and gisp2 ice core records that allows the parallel analysis of all three records on a common time scale the boundaries of the gs and gi periods are defined based on a combination of stable oxygen isotope ratios of the ice 18o reflecting mainly local temperature and calcium ion concentrations reflecting mainly atmospheric dust loading measured in the ice the data not only resolve the well known sequence of dansgaard oeschger events that were first defined and numbered in the ice core records more than two decades ago but also better resolve a number of short lived climatic oscillations some defined here for the first time using this revised scheme we propose a consistent approach for discriminating and naming all the significant abrupt climatic events of the last glacial period that are represented in the greenland ice records the final product constitutes an extended and better resolved greenland stratotype sequence against which other proxy records can be compared and correlated it also provides a more secure basis for investigating the dynamics and fundamental causes of these climatic perturbations

the effect of surface texture on the determination of the surface hardness of rock using the schmidt hammer the schmidt hammer is employed by geomorphologists as a convenient field instrument for measuring the hardness of rock surfaces field trials indicate that the readings obtained are a function of not only the hardness of the surfaces but also their texture smooth planar surfaces give much higher readings than rough or irregular surfaces this makes interpretation of the results particularly difficult when the hammer is used to measure the hardness of natural rock surfaces that have been roughened by weathering

late pleistocene and holocene glaciation in the pyrenees a critical review and new evidence from 10be exposure ages south central pyrenees a compilation and a critical assessment of the 14c data set available show that the chronology of glacial events in the pyrenees is not well constrained after reviewing the literature on glacial reconstruction we suggest a simplified subdivision of the pyrenean last glacial cycle record into last pleniglacial deglaciation and neoglacial to improve the numerical glacial chronology we provide 10be surface exposure ages for 5 glacial erosion surfaces 9 moraines and 2 erratics in the upper noguera ribagorcana valley south central pyrenees published corrected 14c data and new 10be exposure ages indicate that the major phase of moraine building recorded in this valley during the last pleniglacial probably occurred after 25 ka bp this age calls in question the generally accepted hypothesis of a very early deglaciation of the pyrenees ca 70 40 ka bp and strongly suggests that the pyrenees could have been in pleniglacial conditions during the last glacial maximum lgm however we do not exclude the possibility that the maximum glacier extent during the last glacial cycle had taken place much earlier than the lgm as indicated by some published u th ams 14c and osl data we suggest that pleniglacial conditions could have taken place during a longer 30 20 ka period than generally assumed and that the last pleniglacial could include several glacier fluctuations recorded irregularly in different valleys with a last major glacier readvance taking place around the lgm in addition the deglaciation is represented by a series of moraines deposited between ca 13 7 0 9 and 10 1 0 6 ka this moraine series indicates a highly variable climatic pattern that is partly correlated with greenland stadial 1 the younger dryas and suggests that the deglaciation could have continued into the early holocene

schmidt hammer exposure age dating shd of late quaternary fluvial terraces in new zealand schmidt hammer sh r values are reported for surface clasts from numerically dated holocene and pleistocene fluvial terraces in the south island of new zealand the r values are combined with previously obtained weathering rind radiocarbon terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide and luminescence terrace ages to derive sh r value chronofunctions for greywacke clasts from four distinct locations our results show that different weathering rates affect the form of the sh r value versus age curve however a fundamental dependency between the two remains constant over timescales ranging from 102 to 105 years power law scaling constants suggest changes in clast weathering rates are primarily affected by climatic precipitation and temperature and sedimentologic variables source terrane petrology age uncertainties of 22 of the surface age suggest that schmidt hammer exposure age dating shd is a reliable calibrated age dating technique for fluvial terraces copyright 2013 john wiley sons ltd

surface dating of dynamic landforms young boulders on aging moraines the dating of landforms is crucial to understanding the evolution history and stability of landscapes cosmogenic isotope analysis has recently been used to determine quantitative exposure ages for previously undatable landform surfaces a pioneering application of this technique to date moraines illustrated its considerable potential but suggested a chronology partially inconsistent with existing geological data consideration of the dynamic nature of landforms and of the ever present processes of erosion deposition and weathering leads to a resolution of this inconsistency and more generally offers guidance for realistic interpretation of exposure ages

methods for measuring rock surface weathering and erosion a critical review studies of rates processes and modes of rock surface and near surface deterioration and also hardening are central to rock weathering and building stone research conservation and management there is a need to measure and monitor weathering at the rock atmosphere interface to facilitate understanding of climatic environmental and lithological controls on the evolution and development of surface weathering features this paper reviews long established and recently developed field and laboratory methods used by geomorphologists to monitor and measure the impact of weathering and erosion on physical and mechanical properties of exposed rock surfaces and their immediate subsurface key advances are highlighted their application to multi scalar understanding and modelling of rock surface weathering in different contexts is discussed and potential future advances to provide new insights into rock weathering durability and materials conservation are identified in highlighting key advantages and disadvantages of a wide range of methods to the broader earth science community the paper aims to contribute to further innovative thinking across disciplines to develop new methods for measuring and monitoring rock weathering

the use of the schmidt hammer and equotip for rock hardness assessment in geomorphology and heritage science a comparative analysis rapid field based measurements of rock hardness are of use in investigating many geomorphological and heritage science problems several different methods are now available for taking such measurements but little work has been done to assess their comparability and strengths and weaknesses we review here the capabilities of two types of schmidt hammer classic n type and silver schmidt bl type alongside two types of equotip standard type d and piccolo for investigating rock hardness in relation to rock weathering on various types of sandstone and limestone as well as basalt and dolerite whilst the two schmidt hammers and the two equotips show comparable results when tested at 15 individual sites interesting differences are found between the equotip and schmidt hammer values which may reveal information about the nature of weathering on different surfaces operator variance is shown to be an issue in particular for the equotip devices which also exhibit higher variability in measurements and necessitate larger sample sizes carborundum pre treatment also has varying effects on the data collected depending on the nature of the surface studied the equotip devices are shown to be particularly useful on smaller blocks and in situations where edge effects may affect schmidt hammer readings we conclude that whilst each device contributes to geomorphological research they do not necessarily produce comparable information indeed using schmidt hammer and equotip in combination and looking at any differences in results may provide invaluable insights into the structure of the near surface zones and the nature of weathering processes copyright 2010 john wiley sons ltd

low long term erosion rates in high energy mountain belts insights from thermo and biochronology in the eastern pyrenees abstract we relate the high elevation of flat topography in the eastern pyrenees to the resurrection of a mountain belt which prior to 12 ma was a low relief landscape or peneplain bevelling eroded stumps of the pyrenean compressional orogen new apatite fission track and u th he data together demonstrate the consistently young age

rapid age assessment of glacial landforms in the pyrenees using schmidt hammer exposure dating shed schmidt hammer sh sampling of 54 10 be dated granite surfaces from the pyrenees reveals a clear relationship between exposure and weathering through time n 52 r 2 0 96 p 0 01 and permits the use of the sh as a numerical dating tool to test this10 be sh calibration curve 100 surfaces were sampled from five ice front positions in the tet catchment eastern pyrenees with results verified against independent 10 be and 14 c ages gaussian modelling differentiates holocene 9 4 0 6ka younger dryas 12 6 0 9ka oldest dryas 16 1 0 5ka last glacial maximum lgm 24 8 0 9ka and wurmian maximum ice extent stages mie 40 9 1 1ka these data confirm comparable glacier lengths during the lgm and mie 300m difference in contrast to evidence from the western pyrenees 15km reflecting the relative influence of atlantic and mediterranean climates moreover pyrenean glaciers advanced significantly during the lgm with a local maximum at 25ka driven by growth of the laurentide ice sheet southward advection of the polar front and a solar radiation minimum in the northern hemisphere this calibration curve is available online http shed earth to enable wider application of this method throughout the pyrenees

palaeogeography and 10be exposure age chronology of middle and late pleistocene glacier systems in the northern pyrenees implications for reconstructing regional palaeoclimates abstract we present constraints on the chronology palaeogeography and palaeoclimatic implications for western europe of middle and late pleistocene glaciation in the ariege catchment north eastern pyrenees based on 37 cosmogenic 10 be exposure ages obtained from moraines and glacially scoured bedrock exposures we have dated six regional glacial stades the chronology emphasises several conclusions that are new to the region i in the pyrenees the global lgm occurred several thousands of years after the maximum ice extent of the wurmian glaciation ii almost full glacier extent occurred again during the global lgm but only in the eastern pyrenees iii valley glaciers such as in the ariege trunk valley attained lengths of 25 km during the oldest dryas stadial the cosmogenic exposure ages additionally provide the first direct evidence of 10 km scale fluctuations of ice front positions during the late pleistocene glacial cycle probably at the time of marine isotope stage 3 as well as rare insights into middle pleistocene ice margin positions compared with existing evidence of glacial palaeogeography in other catchments of the pyrenan range the data also reveal a sharp contrast in relative ice extent between the glacierized catchments of the eastern pyrenees ariege carol malniu tet where wurmian mie and lgm ice fronts reached similar positions and the rest of the range where ice fronts at the time of the mis 2 and global lgm palaeotemperature minima lagged far behind the wurmian mie terminal moraines we ascribe this non uniform behaviour among catchments to non uniform palaeoclimatic conditions along the strike of the pyrenees a range of palaeoenvironmental proxies reviewed in the literature highlight a sharp difference in sea surface temperatures between the warmer western mediterranean and the cooler bay of biscay the consequences of such an e w temperature gradient on weather patterns during the global lgm are compatible with a strengthening of mediterranean low pressure systems particularly the semi permanent balearic low generating greater precipitation over the eastern pyrenees compared to atlantic weather systems further west

timing and climatic drivers for glaciation across monsoon influenced regions of the himalayan tibetan orogen abstract mapping and thirty eight 10 be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide tcn ages help define the timing of glaciation in the monsoon influenced greater himalaya in central garwhal india glacial landforms in central garwhal are present only within a few kilometers of the present glaciers and all date to less than 12 5 ka this suggests that the lateglacial and or holocene glacial advances were more extensive than their predecessors and hence destroyed or buried evidence for earlier glaciation or that other processes such as intensive fluvial erosion and or hillslope mass movements have destroyed evidence of earlier glaciation prominent laterofrontal moraines date to the lateglacial the early holocene and the neoglaciation moraines next to the active ice and boulders on contemporary glaciers date to 10 1 10 2 years before present this suggests only a minor glacial advance during the little ice age occurred in central garhwal these young ages indicate that inheritance of tcns in areas that were recently glaciated is very small and likely has little effect when considering tcn ages on moraines older than the global last glacial maximum the new 10 be ages are combined with 1081 recalculated 10 be ages from previous studies to develop a regional framework of glaciation across the monsoon influenced and adjacent regions of the himalayan tibetan orogen we separate what appears to be continuous glaciation into 27 regional glacial stages plus 2 tentative glacial stages that are termed monsoonal himalayan tibetan stages mohits the regional glacial stages cover a wide chronologic range that includes five regional glacial stages older than the last glacial cycle mohits 13 at 483 38 ka to mohits 5e at 122 15 ka thirteen regional glacial stages within the last glacial cycle mohits 5b at 91 15 ka to mohits 2a at 12 9 0 9 ka and eleven regional glacial stages during the holocene mohits 1k at 11 4 0 7 ka to mohits 1a at 0 4 0 1 ka there are strong correlations both with periods of strong monsoons and northern hemisphere events throughout the entire chronologic range with 16 stages linked to the monsoon 11 stages linked to the mid latitude westerlies and two unassigned because of large age uncertainties overall we see a complex pattern of glaciation influenced by two climatic systems throughout the mid late quaternary