occurrence of rocky and sedimentary glacier beds in the swiss alps as estimated from glacier inventory data the occurrence of rocky and sedimentary glacier beds in the swiss alps was investigated using two approaches 1 a detailed and systematic classification of glacier forefields in the completely revised swiss glacier inventory and 2 the application of an algorithm for estimating bed characteristics from glacier inventory data the algorithm is based on the assumption that the sediment balance of a glacierized catchment i e the ratio between debris input from the surrounding rock walls and debris evacuation by the meltwater stream determines the occurrence of rocky sedimentary or mixed beds the processes which govern the sediment balance within a glacierized catchment cannot be easily observed or measured in the field however the main factors reflecting them can be organized in the form of an erosion sedimentation index this index discriminates between glaciers eroding into bedrock and those building up thick sediment beds and thus allows for rough assessments concerning bed characteristics sedimentary and mixed sedimentary rocky glacier beds clearly predominate in the swiss alps but more detailed spatial analysis is required for better predictions

pleistocene glacial relief of the central part of mt prokletije albanian alps abstract the central and highest area of mt prokletije albanian alps is situated in northern albania and eastern montenegro at 42 30 n the highest peak is maja e jezerces 2694 m detailed geomorphological mapping was used to reconstruct the positions of former glaciers the longest ropojana glacier had a length of 12 5 km and surface of 20 km 2 others include valbona glacier 9 5 km 10 5 km 2 grbaja glacier 5 km 6 7 km 2 and bogicevica glacier 6 km 6 9 km 2 three series of moraines can be distinguished the lowest at an average altitude of 990 m average ela 1750 m the middle series at 1350 m ela 1942 m and the highest at 1900 m ela 2123 m as no advanced dating methods have yet been used to provide a numerical chronological framework for these features hypotheses are made based on the comparison with the advanced studies of other similar mountains in the mediterranean region the moraines of the first stage lowest series correspond to one of pre lgm glaciations middle or even early wurmian the second stage moraines probably correspond to lgm and the third stage could be attributed to younger dryas the mapping included a number of inactive and active rock glaciers as well as three small active glaciers surface 5 ha and less at 1980 2100 m altitude in the area close to maja e jezerces

europe s southernmost glaciers response and adaptation to climate change the southernmost glaciers in europe are located on the iberian apennine and balkan peninsulas in mid latitudes between 41 n and 44 n at altitudes ranging from 2000 to 3000 m a s l all these glaciers are a legacy of the little ice age lia they survive in a relatively warm environment mean annual temperature 0 ct o 1 c due to local topographic controls and high levels of accumulation as a result of avalanche and wind blown snow in the pirin mountains bulgaria snezhnika glacieret has been cored providing an archive of recent climate change small glaciers such as this respond quickly to climatic extremes since the lia maximum during the 19th century all southern european glaciers have retreated losing 30 100 of their volume however despite the trend towards warmer years since the late 1970s some glaciers still survive even after some of the hottest summers on record predicted future warming especially in summer and drier conditions in the mediterranean basin may result in the disappearance of all glacier features at these latitudes in europe within the next few decades

alpine glaciers to disappear within decades 1 past present and potential future glacier cover in the entire european alps has been assessed from an integrated approach combining in situ measurements remote sensing techniques and numerical modeling for equilibrium line altitudes alpine glaciers lost 35 of their total area from 1850 until the 1970s and almost 50 by 2000 total glacier volume around 1850 is estimated at some 200 km3 and is now close to one third of this value from the model experiment we show that a 3 c warming of summer air temperature would reduce the currently existing alpine glacier cover by some 80 or up to 10 of the glacier extent of 1850 in the event of a 5 c temperature increase the alps would become almost completely ice free annual precipitation changes of 20 would modify such estimated percentages of remaining ice by a factor of less than two

recent evolution 1981 2005 of the maladeta glaciers pyrenees spain extent and volume losses and their relation with climatic and topographic factors analysis of aerial photographs gps mapping and comparison of digital elevation models have been used to quantify the losses in extent and volume observed 1981 2005 in the glaciers of the maladeta massif spanish pyrenees the data are examined in relation to different climatic temperature precipitation and topographic factors that control glacial retreat both at the general and local scales the evolution observed in the massif is characterized by the remarkable surface and volumetric shrinkage registered in all the glaciers 1 glacial ice decreased in extent 35 7 reducing from 240 9 ha to 155 0 ha 2 losses in total ice volume reached 0 0137 km 3 75 6mw e 3 mean altitude of the studied glaciers increased 43 5 m these changes seem to have been forced by climatic change reduction in the snowfall contributions and increase in the maximum temperatures during the past few decades in this pyrenean region in addition local variables such as the orientation of each glacier their altitude and their initial size seem to have induced significant spatial differences in the magnitude of the losses

the reconstruction and climatic implication of an independent palaeo ice cap within the andean rain shadow east of the former patagonian ice sheet santa cruz province argentina abstract this paper describes the reconstruction of the previously undocumented meseta cuadrada palaeo ice cap on south west meseta del lago buenos aires santa cruz province patagonia based on theoretical surface profiles the reconstruction of the meseta cuadrada palaeo ice cap indicates an ice mass covering at least 78 km2 with a total ice volume around 9 2 km3 the inferred equilibrium line altitude ela of the palaeo ice cap 2031 m asl represents a drop of 286 m compared to the ela of the current meseta cuadrada glacier 2317 m asl we explain this small change in ela with reference to the flat hypsometry of the palaeo ice cap and an enhanced aridity to the west of the patagonian andes caused by the existence of the last glacial maximum lgm patagonian ice sheet calculated annual accumulation values of ca 402 to 957 mm a at the ela of the meseta cuadrada palaeo ice cap derived by a degree day model ddm during the last local glacial maximum extent are low compared with estimations of the current accumulation at the ela of the remaining glacierized area of around 3789 mm a this strongly supports the existence of increased aridity and seasonality east of the patagonian andes during the last glacial maximum provided both maximum extents were synchronous

a model for archaeologically relevant holocene climate impacts in the aegean levantine region easternmost mediterranean abstract a repeating pattern of multi centennial scale holocene climate events has been widely globally documented and they were termed rapid climate change rcc events non seasalt potassium ion k series in greenland ice cores provide well constrained timings for the events and a direct timing relationship has been inferred between these events and the frequency of northerly cold polar continental air outbreaks over the eastern mediterranean sea through gaps in the mountain ranges along the northern margin of the basin there also appears to be a remarkable timing agreement with major archaeological turnover events in the aegean levantine region yet no physically consistent assessment exists for understanding the regional climatic impacts of the events around this critical region we present a simple 2 dimensional lagrangian model which yields a broad suite of physically coherent simulations of the impacts of frequency changes in winter time northerly air outbreaks over the aegean levantine region we validate this with existing reconstructions from palaeoclimate proxy data with emphasis on well validated sea surface temperature reconstructions and a highly resolved cave speleothem stable oxygen isotope record from lebanon given that the rccs were clearly marked by negative sea surface temperature anomalies in the region we find that the predominant climatic impacts of this winter time mechanism were cold and wet in contrast with intercalated warmer and more arid conditions of non rcc periods more specifically the rccs are found to be periods of highly variable conditions with an overall tendency toward cold and wet conditions with potential for flash flooding and for episodic snow cover at low altitudes at least in the lower altitude lower 1 1 5 km regions of crete and the levant the modelled winter anomaly process cannot address underlying longer term astronomically forced trends or the relatively warm and arid anomalies in between rccs the latter require further study for example with respect to potential summer time extension of evaporative subtropical conditions over the region finally our results imply that the amount effect observed in levantine cave 18o and precipitation or drip water 18o may not reflect the conventional concept related to temperature dependent fractionation and rayleigh distillation instead it appears to arise from a complex and somewhat counter intuitive mixing in shifting proportionalities between advected external and evaporated mediterranean moisture

chronological framework for the lateglacial pollen and macrofossil sequence in the pirin mountains bulgaria lake besbog and lake kremensko 5 the sediments of numerous cirque lakes in the pirin mountains have yielded several generalized pollen diagrams but low stratigraphic and temporal resolution has hampered detailed reconstruction of the vegetational history especially for the lateglacial new pollen and macrofossil analyses of high stratigraphic resolution combined with well controlled timedepth curves for lake besbog and lake kremensko 5 now permit the firm identification of the lateglacial interstadial interval bollingallerod dated at 13 8 12 6 ka cal bp at besbog and 14 1 12 8 ka cal bp at kremensko 5 and correlated with the greenland interstadial gi 1 14 5 12 6 ka cal bp macrofossil analyses indicate that during the bolling allerod period betula and juniperus occurred around the lakes at 2124 2250 m a s l following the younger dryas a betula woodland covered the mountains between 1900 and 2250 m in the early holocene because of higher summer insolation at this time the temperate deciduous forest reached up to 1900 m or 800 m above their present limit producing a regional pollen rain that dominated pollen deposition in the cirque lakes after about 7000 cal yr bp conifer forests replaced the birch woodland at middle and high elevations

recent evolution of marmolada glacier dolomites italy by means of ground and airborne gpr surveys abstract a 10 year long evolution of ice thickness and volume of the marmolada glacier is presented quantitative measurements have been performed by using two different ground penetrating radar gpr datasets a ground based survey using two different ground coupled systems equipped with 100 mhz and 35 mhz antennas was performed in 2004 in 2015 the dataset was collected by using a helicopter borne step frequency gpr equipped with a 100 mhz antenna through a critical discussion of the two different methodologies we show how both approaches are useful to estimate the ice volume within a glacier as well as its morphological characteristics and changes with time even if datasets are acquired in different periods of the year the observed 2004 2014 ice volume reduction of the marmolada glacier is equal to about 30 while the area covered by ice decreased by about 22 the glacier is now splitted in several separated units it is very likely that the fragmentation of the marmolada glacier observed in the period 2004 2014 was accelerated due to irregular karst topography by applying the observed 2004 2014 ice melting trend for the future although the marmolada glacier might behave slightly differently compared to glaciers on non karstic terrains owing to dominant vertical subglacial drainage it will likely disappear by the year 2050 only few isolated very small and thin ice patches will eventually survive due to avalanche feeding and shading at the foot of the north facing cliffs

ground based remote sensing techniques for diagnosis of the current state and recent evolution of the monte perdido glacier spanish pyrenees this work combines very detailed measurements from terrestrial laser scanner tls ground based interferometry radar gb sar and ground penetrating radar gpr to diagnose current conditions and to analyse the recent evolution of the monte perdido glacier in the spanish pyrenees from 2011 to 2017 thus this is currently one of the best monitored small glacier 2 worldwide the evolution of the glacier surface was surveyed with a tls evidencing an important decline of 6 1 0 3 m on average with ice losses mainly concentrated over 3 years 2012 2015 and 2017 ice loss is unevenly distributed throughout the study period with 10 15 m thinning in some areas while unchanged areas in others gb sar revealed that areas with higher ice losses are those that are currently with no or very low ice motion in contrast sectors located beneath the areas with less ice loss are those that still exhibit noticeable ice movement average 2 4 5 cm d 1 in summer and annual movement of 9 98 ma 1 from ablation stakes data gpr informed that ice thickness was generally

where are the eburnian transamazonian collisional belts the reconstruction of early proterozoic crustal evolution and geodynamic environments in africa and south america is incomplete if cratonic areas alone are studied if the presence of high grade

small glaciers on the balkan peninsula state and changes in the last several years abstract mountain glaciers are among the best environmental indicators of short term climatic variations although presently there are no classical glaciers on the balkan peninsula mountains in this part of europe comprise a number of small but permanent firn ice patches which can be determined as small glaciers most of them can be categorized as glacierets and few have characteristics of small cirque glaciers most of these features have survived the warming since the end of the little ice age and are considered to have persisted for at least five centuries without a complete melt researches in the last several years revealed that 16 small firn ice features of a permanent character small glaciers still survive in three mountain ranges on the balkan peninsula prokletije albania durmitor montenegro and pirin bulgaria all glaciers are located in north and northeast facing strongly shaded cirques of carbonate bedrock limestone marble at altitudes from 1910 to 2620 m a s l and usually have areas from less than 1 ha to 5 6 ha for the last 10 years all small glaciers of the balkans have shown considerable inter annual variations of their size observed fluctuations have been quite synchronous in the three studied mountains in a long term sense no trend has been registered towards shrinkage or increase analyses of climatic data have shown a considerable relation between glacier size and summer temperature and winter precipitation is a second factor

pleistocene plateau ice fields in the high atlas morocco large ice fields 25 km2 formed over the tazaghart and iouzagner plateaux of the high atlas morocco during the late pleistocene the plateau ice fields were drained by large valley glaciers forming a series of moraine assemblages four moraine units have been mapped and subdivided on the basis of morphostratigraphy and the degree of soil weathering soil profile development index pdi values indicate that the moraine units are widely separated in time with the oldest moraines deeply weathered and degraded whereas soils are absent on the youngest moraines the highest moraine unit was formed by a small niche glacier which was present as recently as the mid 20th century pleistocene glaciers are likely to have been associated with wetter conditions than today in addition to colder air temperatures combined with ice in neighbouring areas such as the toubkal massif the sw high atlas supported some of the largest glaciers in africa during the pleistocene the extent of glaciation with ice exploiting and breaching drainage divides has major implications for landscape development the evolution of the high atlas is therefore strongly shaped by glaciation and this is closely intertwined with tectonic fluvial and slope processes

glacier climate interaction at low latitudes in the low latitudes there is an absence of major thermal seasonality yet there are three different climate regimes related to global circulation patterns and their seasonal oscillation the humid inner tropics the dry subtropics and intermediate between these two the outer tropics for the respective glacier regimes the vertical profiles of specific mass balance vbps are modeled considering vertical gradients of accumulation air temperature and albedo the duration of the ablation period and a factor for the ratio between melting and sublimation the model is first calibrated with data from hintereisferner austrian alps and is then applied to tropical conditions the simulated vbp matches well the measured profiles from irian jaya and mount kenya due to lack of field evidence the subtropical vbp cannot be verified directly however application of the respective model versions separately to the humid and dry seasons of the outer tropical glaciar uruashraju cordillera blanca peru provides reasonable results glaciers in the humid inner tropics are considered to be most sensitive to variations in air temperature while dry subtropical glaciers are most sensitive to changes in air humidity the two seasons of the outer tropics have to be viewed from these different perspectives

lateglacial and holocene vegetation belts in the pirin mountains southwestern bulgaria pollen stratigraphy of a core 270 cm long from lake dalgoto at 2310 m in the northern pirin mountains southern bulgaria was treated by optimal partitioning and compared to a broken stick model to reveal statistically significant pollen zones the vegetational reconstructions presented here are based on pollen percentages and pollen influx on comparisons of modern and fossil pollen spectra and on macrofossil dates from other sites in the mountains during the younger dryas 11000 10200 14c yr bp an open xerophytic herb vegetation with artemisia and chenopodiaceae was widely developed around the lake deciduous trees growing at lower elevations contributed to the pollen rain deposited at the higher elevation sampling sites specifically from 10200 to 8500 yr bp quercus ulmus tilia and betula expanded rapidly at low and intermediate elevations and between 8500 and 6500 yr bp they extended to higher elevations close to the upper forest limit which was formed by betula pendula at about 1900 m coniferous species were limited in the region at this time after 6500 yr bp the expansion of conifers pinus peuce p sylvestris p mugo abies alba at high elevations forced the deciduous trees downward between 6500 and 3000 yr bp the forest limit at 2200 m was formed by p peuce and a alba had its maximum vertical range up to 1900 m later the abundance and vertical range of p peuce and a alba were reduced after 3000 yr bp picea expanded

recent behaviour of the debeli namet glacier durmitor montenegro a small cirque glacier is present in a north east facing cirque on the mountain of sljeme 2455 m a s l in the durmitor massif montenegro sediment ridges in front of this glacier are interpreted as moraines and can be attributed to recent glacier activity over the past 130 years lichenometry was applied to determine the relative ages of different moraines using aspicilia calcarea agg one set of moraines dates from about 1878 ad whilst another set of inner moraines dates from about 1904 ad the most recent moraines appear to have formed within the last 11 years in front of an active glacier margin copyright 2007 john wiley sons ltd

endeavour 26 north a porphyry copper gold deposit in the late ordovician shoshonitic goonumbla volcanic complex new south wales australia endeavour 26 north is the largest of 12 pipelike porphyry cu au deposits found near parkes in central west new south wales within the late ordovician goonumbla volcanic complex the dominant volcanic rocks of the complex the goonumbla volcanics are latitic flows and volcanic breccias which are overlain by the trachytic wombin volcanics the volcanic rocks are characterized by high k 2 o and high k 2 o na 2 o ratios which are typical of the shoshonite association as well as an enrichment in large ion lithophile elements and a low concentration of high field strength elements the nelungaloo volcanics form an early ordovician nonshoshonitic volcanic substrate to the complex which initially developed in a submarine and subsequently subaerial setting the 87 sr 66 sr epsilon nd and pb isotope data indicate the magmas were derived from mantle sources the shoshonitic magmas may be products of high pressure fractionation in the subcontinental lithosphere the porphyry deposits are associated with a gravity low which is taken to reflect a subvolcanic chamber beneath the center of the complex all deposits are located within a pronounced circular feature in the aeromagnetic data that is interpreted as the margin of a collapsed caldera dioritic to monzonitic stocks which in part define the caldera rim represent a resurgent phase of magmatism the endeavour 31 stock which was part of this phase is ringed by six porphyry cu au deposits including endeavour 26 north the deposits are centered on fingerlike quartz monzonite porphyries which cut the endeavour 31 stock at depth geochemical anomalies of cu and zn in the bedrock define the size of the alteration system associated with the stock in part the distribution of the cu au deposits is controlled by the endeavour lineament in comparison to most other volcanic and intrusive rocks of the goonumbla volcanic complex the endeavour

glacier development and topographic context 10 paginas 4 figuras 2 tablas the definitive version is available at www3 interscience wiley com

the δ18o record along the greenland ice core project deep ice core and the problem of possible eemian climatic instability over 70 000 samples from the 3029 m long greenland ice core project grip ice core drilled on the top of the greenland ice sheet summit have been analyzed for 8o a highly detailed and continuous 8o profile has thus been obtained and is discussed in terms of past temperatures in greenland we also discuss a three core stacked annual 8o profile for the past 917 years the short term 50 years variability of the annual 8o signal is found to be 1 in the holocene and estimates for the coldest parts of the last glacial are 3 or higher these data also provide insights into possible disturbances of the stratigraphic layering in the core which seems to be sound down to the onset of the eemian spectral analysis of highly detailed sequences of the profile helps determine the smoothing of the 8o signal which for the holocene ice is found to be considerably stronger than expected we suggest this is due to a process involving diffusion of water molecules along crystal boundaries in the recrystallizing ice matrix deconvolution techniques were employed for restoring with great confidence the highly attenuated annual 8o signal in the holocene we confirm earlier findings of dramatic temperature changes in greenland during the last glacial cycle abrupt and strong climatic shifts are also found within the eem sangamon interglaciation which is normally recorded as a period of warm and stable climate in lower latitudes the stratigraphic continuity of the eemian layers is consequently discussed in section 3 of this paper in terms of all pertinent data which we are not able to reconcile

middle pleistocene cold stage climates in the mediterranean new evidence from the glacial record abstract a major reduction in summer temperatures during a middle pleistocene glacial cycle caused the most extensive glaciation recorded in the mediterranean region glaciers in the mountains of greece formed during marine isotope stage mis 12 474 000 427 000 years bp under climatic conditions characterised by mean summer temperatures at least 11 c cooler than today and annual precipitation of 2300 mm at the equilibrium line altitude 1741 m a s l this represents the coldest mean summer temperatures recorded in greece during at least the last 430 000 years later pleistocene glaciations mis 6 and 5d 2 were characterised by warmer summer temperatures and higher annual precipitation

asynchroneity of maximum glacier advances in the central spanish pyrenees the deglaciation history of the escarra and lana mayor glaciers upper gallego valley central spanish pyrenees had been reconstructed on the basis of detailed geomorphological studies of glacier deposits sedimentological and palynological analyses of glacial lake sediments and an accelerator mass spectrometry ams 14c chronology based on minimum ages from glacial lake deposits the maximum extent of the pyrenean glaciers during the last glaciation was before 30 000 yr bp and pre dated the maximum advances of the scandinavian ice sheet and some alpine glaciers a later advance occurred during the coldest period around 20 000 yr bp synchronous with the maximum global ice extent but in the pyrenees it was less extensive than the previous one later there were minor advances followed by a stage of debris covered glaciers and a phase of moraine formation near cirque backwalls the deglaciation chronology of the upper gallego valley provides more examples of the general asynchroneity between mountain and continental glaciers the asynchroneity of maximum advances may be explained by different regional responses to climatic forcing and by the southern latitude of the pyrenees copyright 2002 john wiley sons ltd

little ice age glaciation and current glaciers in the iberian peninsula little ice age lia glacier advance has been registered in three of the main iberian high mountain areas pyrenees picos de europa and sierra nevada during the lia three different glacial env

climate at the equilibrium line of glaciers the relationships between temperature precipitation and radiation on glacier equilibrium lines are investigated using 70 glaciers for which the mass balance and meteorological observations have been carried out for sufficiently long periods it is found that the characteristic climate at glacier equilibrium lines can be described using the summer 3 months temperature in a free atmosphere annual total precipitation and the sum of global and long wave net radiation all of these are measured at or very near the equilibrium line altitudes then it is shown how the shift of the equilibriumline will occur as a result of a climatic change finally the effect of the shift of the equilibrium line on the annualmean specific mass balance is analytically derived and compared with observations the present results make it possible to identify the altitudes in climate models where glacierization should begin and to evaluate the mass balance changes as a result of possible future changes in the climate

small glaciers in pirin bulgaria and durmitor montenegro as glacio karstic features similarities and differences in their recent behaviour abstract small glaciers on the balkan peninsula are tiny masses of firn and ice areas from 0 5 to 5 ha which have been proved permanent at least since the coldest phases of the little ice age and are slowly moving under their own gravity these are considered glacial but also karstic features at the same time because the topography that provides for their existence in the marginal conditions of the mediterranean climate is result of the occurrence of pleistocene glaciation together with the carbonate rocks and the karst processes related to them small glaciers on the balkan peninsula are among the most southerly situated in europe they are very sensitive to short term variations of climate and serve as natural indicators for climate change the present study is dedicated to small glaciers in pirin bulgaria and durmitor montenegro as representative high mountain glacio karstic features from the western and the eastern part of the balkan peninsula respectively the similarities and differences in their inter annual behaviour changes of size reflect the general and peculiar characteristics of high mountain climate and the specific influence of topography in the conditions of climatic warming a downward trend is registered in their development for the period on the focus of this study 2005 2017 in the last several years this trend has a stronger expression in the western balkans

middle to late holocene glacial variations periglacial processes and alluvial sedimentation on the higher apennine massifs italy the major climatic variations that have affected the summit slopes of the higher apennine massifs in the last 6000 yr are shown in alternating layers of organic matter rich soils and alluvial glacial and periglacial sediments the burial of the soils triggered by environmental climatic variations took place in several phases for the last 3000 yr chronological correlations can be drawn between phases of glacial advance scree and alluvial sedimentation and development of periglacial features during some periods the slopes were covered by vegetation up to 2700 m and beyond while in other phases the same slopes were subject to glacial advances and periglacial processes and alluvial sediments were deposited on the high plateaus around 5740 5590 1560 1370 and 1300 970 cal yr b p organic matter rich soils formed on slopes currently subject to periglacial and glacial processes the mean annual temperature must therefore have been higher than at present furthermore on the basis of the variations in the elevation of the lower limit reached by gelifraction it can be concluded that the oscillations in the minimum winter temperatures could have ranged between 3 0 c lower ca 790 150 cal yr b p and 1 2 c higher ca 5740 5590 cal yr b p than present minimum winter temperatures during the last 3000 yr the cold phases recorded by the calderone glacier advance in the apennines essentially match basically the phases of glacial advance in the alps

response of a mid latitude cirque glacier to climate over the last two decades mangaehuehu glacier mt ruapehu the recent loss of mountain glaciers in response to climate warming has been reported across a range of latitudes globally but the processes involved are not always straightforward in southern pacific mid latitudes twentieth century glacier fluctuations are thought to reflect the strength of westerly atmospheric circulation which brings increased precipitation leading to mass gains we present a study of the response of mangaehuehu glacier a cirque glacier on mt ruapehu to climate over the last two decades glacier surface area fluctuated in size over this period corresponding closely with mean end of summer snowlines in the southern alps the key control on glacier extent appears to be ablation season temperature itself controlled by regional atmospheric circulation including el nino southern oscillation interdecadal pacific oscillation ipo and to a lesser extent southern annular mode sam copyright 2011 john wiley sons ltd

the glacial history of the pindus mountains greece abstract geomorphological evidence for pleistocene glaciation has been mapped in the pindus mountains of northwest greece and the chronology of glaciation in this area has been established through soil profile analysis and u series dating of secondary carbonates calcite formed within glacial deposits three glacial stages are evident in the sedimentological and geomorphological records the earliest and most extensive recorded glaciation predates 350 000 yr b p and was characterized by extensive valley glaciers and ice fields a more recent glaciation occurred before the last interglacial and was characterized by glaciers that reached midvalley positions the last phase of glaciation in greece is recorded by small cirque glacier moraines and relict periglacial rock glaciers the glacial and periglacial sequence on mount tymphi has been used in conjunction with a reference parastratotype the long lacustrine sequence at ioannina to provide a chronostratigraphical framework for cold stage deposits in g

the glacial history of the dinaric alps montenegro abstract large areas of montenegro were glaciated during the pleistocene this paper presents evidence from the massifs of central montenegro including durmitor and sinjajevina moracke planine maganik prekornica and vojnik glacial deposits have been subdivided on the basis of morphostratigraphy and soil weathering and 31 u series ages from cemented tills provided a geochronological framework the largest glaciation occurred before 350 ka when a series of conjoined ice caps over the massifs of central montenegro covered a total area of nearly 1500 km 2 these formed during mis 12 and correspond with the largest skamnellian stage glaciations in greece to the south later middle pleistocene glaciations occurred during the penultimate glacial cycle correlating with the vlasian stage in greece mis 6 when ice caps covered an area of 720 km 2 over central montenegro there is also geochronological evidence of glacial deposits dating from the interval between mis 12 and mis 6 before the interglacial complex of mis 7 this glaciation appears to have been very similar in extent to that which occurred during mis 6 the last glacial cycle in central montenegro was characterised by valley and cirque glaciers covering a total area of 49 km 2 it is very likely that glaciers have been present in the mountains of central montenegro during every glacial cycle since a small glacier still survives today the smaller glaciers of the last glacial cycle are likely to have been associated with summer temperatures that were warmer than those of earlier cold stages the striking contrast in the extent and thickness of ice cover during the cold stages of the pleistocene has an important bearing on the geomorphological and biological evolution of the balkans

geomorphologic and paleoclimatic evidence of holocene glaciation on mount olympus greece this study investigates the possibility of holocene glaciation on mount olympus greece with a respective local temperature precipitation equilibrium line altitude tp ela at c 2200m a s l based on geomorphologic and paleoclimatic evidence at present the local tp ela is situated above the mountain s summit c 2918 m a s l but permanent snowfields and ice bodies survive within megala kazania cirque between c 2400 and c 2300 m a s l because of the cirque s maritime setting that results from its close proximity c 18km to the aegean sea and of the local topographical controls the snow and ice bodies occupied a considerably larger area and attained a stabilization phase between ad 1960 and 1980 also manifested from aerial photographs a period characterized by increased winter precipitation pw with subsequent tp ela depression to c 2410m a s l mid to late 20th century pw and tp ela variations exhibit negative correlations with the winter north atlantic oscillation index naow at annual and multidecadal 30 years timescales late holocene ad 1680 1860 reconstructed summer mean temperatures were lower by ts 1 1 c in relation to the reference period between ad 1960 and 1980 and were also superimposed to negative naow phases thus bracketing this time interval as a favorable one to glacial formation and or advance millennial scale annual precipitation reconstructions at the hypothesized tp ela c 2200m a s l point the period between 8 and 4 kyr bp as another glacier friendly candidate the mid holocene rather simplistic sequence of potential glacial advance phase was disturbed by short lived cold climatic deteriorations well documented over the northern aegean region that may partly explain the multicrested shape of the highest c 2200 m a s l morainic complex of megala kazania cirque