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

insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years new values for the astronomical parameters of the earth s orbit and rotation eccentricity obliquity and precession are proposed for paleoclimatic research related to the late miocene the pliocene and the quaternary they have been obtained from a numerical solution of the lagrangian system of the planetary point masses and from an analytical solution of the poisson equations of the earth moon system the analytical expansion allows the direct determination of the main frequencies with their phase and amplitude numerical and analytical comparisons with the former astronomical solution ber78 are performed so that the accuracy and the interval of time over which the new solution is valid can be estimated the corresponding insolation values have also been computed this analysis leads to the conclusion that the new values are expected to be reliable over the last 5 ma in the time domain and at least over the last 10 ma in the frequency domain

transient fluvial incision as an indicator of active faulting and plio quaternary uplift of the moroccan high atlas one of the challenges facing earth scientists is to determine the extent to which geomorphic features can be used to extract tectonic signals from landscapes here we quantitatively analyse the long profiles of rivers that drain southwards across the south atlas fault saf a thrust fault that forms the southern margin of the high atlas mountains in morocco to derive new data on the late cenozoic activity of this fault system river long profiles were extracted for 32 major rivers flowing southwards into the ouarzazate basin of these eleven exhibit concave up river profiles with a mean concavity of 0 64 and normalized steepness indices in the range 47 5 219 0 m 0 9 by contrast 21 rivers exhibit at least one knickpoint upstream of the thrust front knickpoint height varies from 100 1300 m with calculated incision at the range bounding fault ranging from 80 900 m despite the drainage areas upstream of the knickpoint ranging over several orders of magnitude in map view knickpoint locations generally plot along sub parallel lines and there are no obvious relationships with lithological units for knickpoints exhibiting slope break morphology channel reaches below slope break knickpoints have higher mean concavities 0 76 than above the knickpoint indicative this observation combined with a lithological or river capture origin for the knickpoints having been ruled out suggests that an increase in uplift rate along a planar fault zone during the plio quaternary caused the initiation of the transient response i e knickpoint formation to a change in base level observed in the river profiles this uplift event can be correlated to the convective removal of the lithospheric root to the atlas mountains resulting in the anomalously high topography at the present day

glacial landforms and their paleoclimatic significance in sierra de guadarrama central iberian peninsula abstract this paper investigates the glacial evolution on the east face of pico de penalara 40 51 n 3 57 w 2428 m the highest elevation of sierra de guadarrama in the center of the iberian peninsula the geomorphologic stability of glacial landforms and permanence of snow cover were examined and 18 samples were selected for dating with cosmogenic isotope 36cl from moraine formations in four well differentiated phases as well as from a pre glacial periglacial blockfield and a glacial threshold near the headwall the results show the synchrony between the last glacial maximum lgm advance and most results obtained recently by cosmogenic dating in southern europe within the mis marine isotope stage 2 stadial but earlier than the global lgm i e between 25 and 19 ka bp there was slow glacial retreat with minor re advances between 19 and 16 ka and rapid deglaciation from 16 ka this paper presents initial results still pending confirmation for the minimum age of the periglacial summit block formation around 80 ka for the existence of moraine formations older than the last advance and for the existence of glaciers during the younger dryas stadial to explain the synchrony between two moraine formations at different altitudes this paper formulates the hypothesis of the secondary moraine evidenced in currently existing glaciers similar to those which existed on penalara

timing of glaciation during the last glacial cycle evaluating the concept of a global last glacial maximum lgm abstract it has long been known that mountain glaciers and continental ice sheets around the globe reached their respective maximum extent at different times during the last glacial cycle often well before the global last glacial maximum lgm c 23 19 ka which is formally defined by peaks in global sea level and marine oxygen isotope records however there is increasing evidence from around the world that it was not only mountain glaciers which were asynchronous with the global lgm but also some regions of the large continental glaciers the barents kara ice sheet in northern eurasia together with a majority of ice masses throughout asia and australasia reached their maximum early in the last glacial cycle a few thousand years before the global lgm period the east antarctic ice sheet also reached its maximum extent several millennia before the global lgm in numerous mountainous regions at high mid and low latitudes across the world glaciers reached their maximum extent before marine isotope stage mis 2 in mis 5 4 and 3 this is in contrast to most sectors of the laurentide ice sheet the cordilleran ice sheet the se sector of the fennoscandinavian ice sheet and the alpine ice sheet in central europe which appear to have reached their maximum close to the global lgm in mis 2 the diachronous maximum extents of both mountain glaciers and continental ice sheets during the last glacial cycle means that the term and acronym last glacial maximum lgm has limited chronostratigraphical meaning when correlating glacial deposits and landforms

controls on modern tributary junction alluvial fan occurrence and morphology high atlas mountains morocco abstract modern tributary junction alluvial fans cone shaped depositional landforms formed in confined valley settings were analysed from a 20 km long reach of the dades river in the distal part of the fold thrust belt region in the south central high atlas mountains of morocco here a deeply dissected network of ephemeral tributary streams and a perennial trunk drainage characterised by an arid mountain desert climate are configured onto a folded and thrust faulted mesozoic sedimentary sequence out of 186 tributary streams only 29 16 generated alluvial fans at their tributary junctions the fan generating catchments possess higher relief longer lengths lower gradients and larger areas than nonfan generating catchments whilst geologically fan generating catchments are underlain by folded steeply dipping weak bedrock conducive to high sediment yield tributary junction fans are built from debris flow or fluvial processes into open or confined canyon trunk valley settings the proximity of the perennial trunk drainage combined with the valley morphology produces lobate or foreshortened trimmed fan forms analysis of fan area gradient process catchment area relief length gradient and tributary valley width variables reveals weak morphometric relationships highlighted by residual plots that show dominance of smaller and lower gradient than expected fan forms these morphometric relationships can be explained by interplay between the catchment and trunk drainage geology morphology climate and flood regime that are combined into a conceptual build and reset model ephemeral tributary junction fans develop progressively during annual localised winter spring storm events attempting to build towards a morphological equilibrium however the fans never reach an equilibrium morphological form as they are reset by rare 10 year large floods along the river dades that are linked to regional incursions of atlantic low pressure troughs the model highlights the spatial and temporal variability of tributary junction fan building and illustrates the connectivity coupling importance of such features in dryland mountainous terrains

transpressional tectonics in the marrakech high atlas insight by the geomorphic evolution of drainage basins the ouzzelarh massif extends across the marrakech high atlas mha and forms the highest elevated mountain belt to better understand the evolution of collision related topography we present the results of a geomorphological study in which elevation changes generated by reactivated pre alpine variscan and triassic jurassic faults drive a landscape evolution model we aim to evaluate the relationship between the geometry of the drainage network and the main fault systems in this region new insight into geomorphological changes in drainage patterns and related landforms is based on geological fieldwork combined with dem analysis to quantitatively measure landscape features we used several classical geomorphic indices spacing ratio hypsometric curves and integral stream frequency drainage stream length gradient the ouzzelarh massif is bounded to the north by the tizi n test fault zone ttfz and to the south by the sour fault zone sfz these faults delimit a pop up structure by using the above geomorphic parameters we ascertained that the ouzzelarh massif is affected by a high spatial variability of uplift the actual landscape of the ouzzelarh massif reveals remnants of an uplifted ancient erosional surface and the heterogeneity of exposed rocks in the range explaining the possibility that the topographic asymmetry between north and south flanks is due to differences in lithology controlled resistance to erosion drainage topography and fault pattern all concur to show uplifted rhomboidal shaped blocks it exhibits high stream frequency drainage and uplift in separate tectonically uplifted blocks such as jebel toubkal which is characterized by asymmetric drainage basins

active and passive tectonic controls for transverse drainage and river gorge development in a collisional mountain belt dades gorges high atlas mountains morocco abstract transverse drainages are discordant river patterns whose flow directions cut across geological structures such as faults folds and the regional tectonic fabric strike of mountain belts such drainages can form spectacular geomorphological features with reaches often occupying narrow and deeply dissected canyons gorges that cut through prominent topographic barriers within collisional plate margins e g foreland basin systems studies have frequently examined transverse drainage development in response to active tectonics e g thrusting here transverse drainage will develop via incision or become deflected and fixed in response to oblique fault fold growth structures particularly within wedge top thrust front and foredeep basin settings within this paper the development of transverse drainage within the little studied fold thrust component of an orogen is examined using a spectacular series of river gorges along the river dades from the high atlas mountains of morocco integrated field derived geological and geomorphological data are used to explore the interplay between active tectonics lithology and structural configuration passive tectonics of bedrock for the creation of transverse drainage and associated river gorge reaches at the southern edge of the high atlas fold thrust belt the river dades passes through the deeply dissected tarhia n dades and main dades gorges before emerging into the ait seddratt wedge top basin fluvial incision is principally controlled by plio quaternary uplift of the high atlas mountains the larger main dades gorge has formed a deeply dissected antecedent course via drainage inheritance into structurally thickened jurassic bedrock via uplift between two key structural components of the foreland basin system the fold thrust belt and the wedge top basin the smaller tarhia n dades gorge involves a more complex interplay between active tectonics and the passive structural arrangement of an asymmetric plunging syncline combined with the stratigraphic arrangement and strength of the jurassic bedrock the drainage network is configured to the fold and associated fault joint structures to form respective nw se and ne sw orientated dip slope and strike drainage progressive incision by tributary dip slope streams cutting down through resistant limestone bedrock into underlying weaker mudstone bedrock has resulted in accelerated headward erosion and drainage network expansion by river captures this has resulted in a minor re routing of the river dades as a transverse drainage through a former dip slope tributary stream to form the tarhia n dades gorge

palaeoclimate africa on the edge saharan humidity has varied dramatically throughout the pleistocene era a new deep sea sediment record reveals large and rapid hydrological shifts that are linked to the competing influences of low and high latitude climate processes

rapid oceanic and atmospheric changes during the younger dryas cold period the younger dryas event which began approximately 12 900 years ago was a period of rapid cooling in the northern hemisphere driven by large scale reorganizations of patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation 1 3 environmental changes during this period have been documented by both proxy based reconstructions 3 and model simulations 4 but there is currently no consensus on the exact mechanisms of onset stabilization or termination of the younger dryas 5 8 here we present high resolution records from two sediment cores obtained from lake krakenes in western norway and the nordic seas multiple proxies from lake krakenes are indicative of rapid alternations between glacial growth and melting during the later younger dryas meanwhile reconstructed sea surface temperature and salinity from the nordic seas show an alternation between sea ice cover and the influx of warm salty north atlantic waters we suggest that the influx of warm water enabled the westerly wind systems to drift northward closer to their present day positions the winds thus brought relatively warm maritime air to northern europe resulting in rising temperatures and the melting of glaciers subsequent input of this fresh meltwater into the ocean spurred the formation of sea ice which forced the westerly winds back to the south cooling northern europe we conclude that rapid alternations between these two states immediately preceded the termination of the younger dryas and the permanent transition to an interglacial state the impact of freshwater pulses released from northern hemisphere ice sheets on the north atlantic meridional overturning circulation has been suggested as a likely mechanism for the younger dryas cooling 7 11 in addition a responsive sea ice cover has been proposed as a mechanism that could rapidly alter the heat exchange between the ocean and atmosphere during the last glacial period 12 13 the roles of the ocean and the atmosphere in triggering the climate shifts around the younger dryas are much discussed 9 these hypotheses are difficult to resolve partly because the temporal resolution of most palaeoclimate archives is too coarse to enable the anatomy of the younger dryas stadial to be adequately described 14 to address these questions we here present a lake sediment record at sub annual resolution together with new data on the sea surface conditions of the norwegian atlantic current nwac throughouttheyoungerdryasstadial fig 1

glacial activity and catchment dynamics in northwest greece long term river behaviour and the slackwater sediment record for the last glacial to interglacial transition woodward j c hamlin r h b macklin m g hughes p d lewin j 2008 glacial activity and catchment dynamics in northwest greece long term river behaviour and the slackwater sediment record for the last glacial to interglacial transition geomorphology 101 1 2 44 67 sponsorship uk science and engineering research council woodward the school of geography at the university of leeds hamlin and the university of cambridge hughes the uk natural environment research council gr9 2916 and ip 754 0302 funded the bulk of the analyses reported here specialissue sp iss si

10be and 26al exposure age dating of bedrock surfaces on the aran ridge wales evidence for a thick welsh ice cap at the last glacial maximum this paper presents results of the analysis of paired cosmogenic isotopes 10be and 26al from eight quartz rich samples collected from ice moulded bedrock on the aran ridge the highest land in the british isles south of snowdon on the aran ridge comprising the summits of aran fawddwy 905 m a s l and aran benllyn 885 m a s l 26al and 10be ages indicate complete ice coverage and glacial erosion at the global last glacial maximum lgm six samples from the summit ridge above 750 800 m a s l yielded paired 10be and 26al ages ranging from 17 2 to 34 4 ka respectively four of these samples are very close in age 10be ages of 17 5 0 6 17 5 0 7 19 7 0 8 and 20 0 0 7 ka and are interpreted as representing the exposure age of the summit ridge two other summit samples are much older 10be ages of 27 5 1 0 and 33 9 1 2 ka and these results may indicate nuclide inheritance the 26al 10be ratios for all samples are indistinguishable within one sigma uncertainty from the production rate ratio line indicating that there is no evidence for a complex exposure history these results indicate that the last welsh ice cap was thick enough to completely cover the aran ridge and achieve glacial erosion at the lgm however between c 20 and 17 ka ridge summits were exposed as nunataks at a time when glacial erosion at lower elevations below 750 800 m a s l was achieved by large outlet glaciers in the valleys surrounding the mountains copyright 2011 john wiley sons ltd

middle and late pleistocene glaciations in the campo felice basin central apennines italy the present paper refers to research conducted in the tectonic karst depression of campo felice in the central apennines italy in which glacial alluvial and lacustrine sediments have been preserved stratigraphic interpretations of sediments underlying the campo felice plain are based on evidence obtained from nine continuous core boreholes the boreholes reach a depth of 120 m and provide evidence of five sedimentation cycles separated by erosion surfaces each cycle is interpreted as an initial response to a mainly warm stage characterized by low energy alluvial and colluvial deposition pedogenesis and limited episodes of marsh formation in turn a mainly cold stage follows during which a lake formed and glaciers developed and expanded leading to deposition of glacial and fluvioglacial deposits the chronological framework is established by eleven accelerator mass spectrometer 14c ages and three 39ar 40ar ages on leucites from interbedded tephra layers these age determinations indicate five glacial advances that respectively occurred during marine oxygen isotope stages 2 3 4 6 10 and 14

geomorphology and quaternary stratigraphy the roles of morpho litho and allostratigraphy abstract the subdivision and ordering of quaternary sediments and landforms is very often based on geomorphology quaternary landforms such as moraines river terraces palaeoshorelines and indeed any other landform can be arranged and ordered in time based on their relative position in the landscape morphostratigraphy is the subdivision of sedimentary units primarily on the basis of surface form whilst surface form is often used as a criterion for separating sedimentary units morphostratigraphy also usually incorporates lithological criteria to aid stratigraphical subdivision and morpho and lithostratigraphy are often interlinked in quaternary science however another approach allostratigraphy has increasingly been applied to subdivide and order quaternary sediment landforms allostratigraphy uses discontinuities to subdivide sedimentary successions allostratigraphy enables lateral variations in lithology to be included within the same stratigraphical unit furthermore it enables lithologically similar sediments stacked on top of each other to be divided into separate units based on discontinuities this paper examines the applications of morpho litho and allostratigraphy to subdivide sediment landform assemblages and critically reviews their role in quaternary stratigraphy

asynchronous maximum advances of mountain and continental glaciers the last maximum glacier advance in many mountain ranges appears to have predated the last maximum advance of the wisconsinan continental ice sheets 20 000 years b p published evidence from widely spaced localities in north and south america europe asia and hawai i suggests that some mountain glaciers extended farther during one or more stades early in the last glaciation roughly 115 000 30 000 years b p than at its end when low global temperature and high precipitation presumably were most favorable for the growth of glaciers variations in the timing of glacier advances in different mountain ranges suggest that alpine glaciers are dependent on regional climate as well as global conditions their study might provide sensitive tests for theories of global climate change glacial deposits are often used as time markers in neotectonic and geomorphic studies and their ages sometimes are inferred from distant measurements or from proxy histories of global climate change undated geomorphic features such as moraines sharply incised streams and river terraces which commonly have been associated with the last maximum glacier advance 20 000 years b p or last deglaciation 13 000 years b p may actually be older by a factor of 2 to 4 or more conversely deposits assigned to the maximum advances of the penultimate global glaciation 130 000 years b p may actually date from early in the most recent glacial cycle and be younger by a comparable factor rates of faulting or folding estimated from displacements or deformation and the assumed ages of such geomorphic features might be too great or too small by corresponding factors

catastrophic rock avalanches in a glaciated valley of the high atlas morocco 10be exposure ages reveal a 4 5 ka seismic event surface modification processes leading to large debris accumulations in high relief mountain areas are important for understanding landscape evolution especially in some of earth s most active orogens the arroumd rock avalanche at the foot of the nw face of mount aksoual 3912 m above sea level masl in the jebel toubkal area of the high atlas morocco represents one of the largest mass movement landforms in north africa the age and origin of this extensive feature have been contested for over a century late pleistocene moraines are also present in the same valley adjacent to the avalanche debris the mean of six 10 be cosmogenic exposure ages shows that a series of catastrophic rock slope failures occurred at 4 5 0 5 ka while a set of eight exposure ages from two of the three mapped moraines has a far larger spread from 1 5 to 7 5 ka this suggests that the avalanche events were effective agents in modifying the true surface exposure age of the pleistocene moraines in the arroumd valley this has resulted in similar mean 10 be apparent exposure ages for the preexisting late pleistocene moraine surfaces and holocene catastrophic rock slope failures similar rock avalanche deposits are present in other glaciated valleys in the high atlas we conclude that the trigger for collapse was seismic activity related to proximity of the major tizi n test fault these findings have important implications for interpreting and dating glacial landforms in tectonically active settings

timing and nature of quaternary fluvial incision in the ouarzazate foreland basin morocco the history of alluvial fan and terrace formation within a stretch of the ouarzazate basin along the southern margin of the central high atlas is reconstructed using geomorphological and 10 be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide tcn methods alluvial fan and terrace incision was controlled partially by a drop in base level during the pliocene or early pleistocene as the outlet channel the draa river progressively cut through the anti atlas to the south of the ouarzazate foreland basin the drainage of which started to become external after a long period of internal drained conditions the alluvial fans and terrace surfaces have abandonment ages that date to at least the past four glacial cycles their formation was strongly modulated by climate on glacial interglacial time scales as base level dropped this demonstrates a strong climatic control on sediment transfer and landscape denudation during the quaternary and provides a model for understanding sediment transfer in other intracontinental mountain belts furthermore these data show that mean rates of fluvial incision in this region range between 0 3 and 1 0 mm a 1 for the latter part of the quaternary this study provides the first comprehensive tcn chronology for the atlas mountains and it illustrates the applicability and limitations of tcn methods

timing of glaciation in the mediterranean mountains during the last cold stage recent research in the mountains of the mediterranean has attempted to establish the timing of the maximum extent of glaciers during the last cold stage several dating methods have been utilised and new dating frameworks have emerged in key areas in several places multiple dating techniques radiocarbon optically stimulated luminescence u series applied to glacial and associ ated sediments suggest that local glacier maxima preceded the global last glacial maximum lgm ca 18 14 c ka bp 21 cal ka bp by at least several thousand years studies in spain the pyrenees the maritime alps and turkey utilising cosmogenic isotope analyses 10 be and 36 cl have yielded glacial geochronologies with maxima that correlate closely with the marine isotope record of ice volume and the global lgm in some cases the use of different geochronological techniques has led to conflicting evidence for the timing of the local last glacier maxima in the same area from a palaeoclimate perspective glacier climate reconstructions for the local last glacier maxima in the mountains of central italy northern greece and western turkey indicate that climate was wet and cold in italy and greece the local glacier maxima preceded the driest part of the last cold stage as indicated by palaeoecological records by several thousand years for western turkey however recent cosmo genic exposure ages combined with glacier modelling suggest a local last glacier maximum charac terised by cold and wet conditions coinciding with the global lgm the available evidence indicates that a dichotomy is emerging not only in our understanding of the timing of glaciation across the mediterranean but also in the palaeoclimatic interpretations derived from glacial and palaeoecolo gical records copyright 2008 john wiley sons ltd

seismicity of morocco for the period 1987 1994 a seismic data file of 3 740 earthquakes from january 1987 to december 1994 has been elaborated for morocco and the border regions with 10 main events registering magnitudes from 5 to 5 6 such seismicity is particularly important for morocco as the released seismic energy constitutes a considerable part of the total energy radiated during the 20th century relative seismicity maps confirm the persistence of the major features of the seismicity of morocco an important seismic activity is observed in the alboran region continental crust which absorbs the maximum deformation resulting from the convergence of the african and iberian plates however in the longitude window 3 5 6 w at depths of 25 to 50 km a seismic gap zone seems to take place an explanation of this phenomenon may be provided by the slab breakoff model even if the seismicity of morocco remains moderate heavy damage is observed when the magnitude of earthquakes exceeds 4 5 especially in the case of traditional buildings

bed load transport on the shoreface by currents and waves tide driven bed load transport is an important portion of the net annual sediment transport rate in many shoreface and shelf environments however bed load transport under waves cannot be measured in the field and bed load transport by currents without waves is barely measurable even in spring tidal conditions there is consequently a strong lack of field data and validated models the present field site was on the shoreface and inner shelf at 2 to 8 5 km offshore the central dutch coast far outside the surfzone where tidal currents flow parallel to the coast bed load transports were carefully measured with a calibrated sampler in spring tidal conditions without waves at a water depth of 13 18 m with fine and medium sands the near bed flow was measured over nearly a year and used for integration to annual transport rates an empirical bed load model was derived which predicts bed load transports that are a factor of n5 smaller than predicted by existing models however they agree with laboratory data of sand and gravel transport in currents near incipient motion the damped transport rates may have been caused by cohesion of sediment or turbulence damping due to mud or biological activity the annual bed load transport rate was calculated using a probability density function pdf derived from the near bed current and orbital velocity data which represented the current and wave climate well when compared to 30 years of data from a nearby wave station the effect of wave stirring was included in the transport calculations the net bed load transport rate is a few m 2 year this is much less than predicted in an earlier model study which is partly due to different bed load models but also due to the difference in velocity pdf the annual transport rate is very sensitive to the probability of the largest current velocities

scaling factors for the rates of production of cosmogenic nuclides for geometric shielding and attenuation at depth on sloped surfaces abstract the decrease in rates of production of cosmogenic nuclides occurs because of shielding of cosmic rays by mountains sloped surfaces and local rock formations that block them when a large part of the sky is blocked this correction is large and requires detailed model calculations this paper considers three geometries a rectangular obstruction a triangular obstruction and a sloped surface other geometries can be considered as a combination of these the results are presented in terms of formulas and graphs so that the reader can easily apply them to common field situations any use of cosmogenic nuclides in the study of geomorphic processes or forms must consider factors that introduce variations in the production of nuclides

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

timing of pleistocene glaciations in the high atlas morocco new 10be and 36cl exposure ages abstract this paper presents data from 42 new samples yielding late pleistocene cosmogenic 10be and 36cl exposure ages of moraine boulders across a series of glaciated valleys in the toubkal massif 4167 m a s l high atlas morocco this represents the first comprehensive pleistocene glacial chronology in north africa and one of the largest datasets from the mediterranean region the timing of these glacier advances has major implications for understanding the influence of atlantic depressions on moisture supply to north africa and the mediterranean basin during the pleistocene the oldest and lowest moraines which span elevations from 1900 to 2400 m a s l indicate that the maximum glacier advance occurred from mis 5 to 3 with a combined mean 10be and 36cl age of 50 2 19 5 ka 1 sd n 12 7 outliers the next moraine units up valley at higher elevations 2200 2600 m a s l yielded exposure ages close to the global last glacial maximum lgm with a combined mean 10be and 36cl age of 22 0 4 9 ka 1 sd n 9 7 outliers the youngest exposure ages are from moraines that were emplaced during the younger dryas with a combined mean 10be and 36cl age of 12 3 0 9 ka 1 sd n 7 no outliers and are found in cirques at the highest elevations ranging from 2900 to 3300 m a s l from moraines predating the younger dryas a large number of young outliers are spread evenly between 6 and 13 ka suggesting a continuing process of exhumation or repositioning of boulders during the early to mid holocene this attests to active seismic processes and possibly intense erosion during this period

quaternary evolution of the marrakech high atlas and morphotectonic evidence of activity along the tizi n test fault morocco here we consider the ourika and rheraia drainage basins on the tizi ntest fault zone in the mountains of the marrakech high atlas western morocco with regard to late pleistocene tectonic activity new insights into geomorphological changes in drainage patterns and related landforms are based on geological fieldwork in conjunction with dem analysis lithological and structural data combined with certain geomorphometric indices provide clues to the ongoing uplift of quarternary surfaces in this region five geomorphological indices are utilized 1 drainage network 2 shape of stream long profiles 3 hypsometric integral and curves 4 valley floor width valley height ratio vf index and 5 stream gradient index sl index we also considered the temporal evolution of alluvial deposit complexes with diverse lithofacies such as debris flows channel gravels rockslide debris avalanche stratified slope deposits terrace gravels and fan deposits in the ourika and rheraia valleys pleistocene talus deposits and fluvial sediments are offset by the tizi n test fault in the upper ourika and upper rheraia valleys such deformation of thick continental deposits strongly points to thrust reactivation along the tizi n test fault we define the chronology and overall aggradation phases or lateral incision phases showing how they are the consequences of variations in tectonic uplift and climate as a result we are better able to access recent morphotectonic evolution in part of the marrakech high atlas

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

last glacial maximum and deglaciation of sierra de gredos central iberian peninsula abstract the study area is located in the sierra de gredos a portion of the sistema central range of central spain specifically in the gredos gorge on the north side of pico almanzor 2596 masl where glacial forms are present down to an altitude of 1410 m 10 km from the headwall this paper presents cosmogenic 36 cl surface exposure dates of four closely spaced lateral moraine ridges within the area of maximum advance of the ancient glacier 8 km from the headwall and two glacially polished bedrock thresholds 3 and 5 km from the headwall the dates are overall coherent and indicate a maximum advance at 26 24 ka subsequently the glacier front stabilized around its maximum position for 3 ka with small scale fluctuations resulting in small closely spaced moraines ridges glacier recession began after 21 ka accelerating sharply by 16 ka the glacier had probably disappeared from the gredos gorge by 15 ka there are no traces of older or more recent moraines than those dated in this study these results are in agreement with the well known late pleistocene climatic evolution of the northern atlantic and with the glacial chronology of the alps and other mediterranean mountains however the gredos gorge has no geomorphic evidence of the younger dryas cold event probably because of the low altitude and southern character of these mountains

timing of the younger dryas glacial maximum in western norway this study precisely constrains the timing of the younger dryas yd glacial maximum in south western norway by utilizing sediment records from lake basins two of the basins located on the distal side of the mapped herdla halsnoy moraine received meltwater directly from the ice sheet only when the ice margin reached its maximum extent during the yd in the cores the ice maximum is represented by well defined units with meltwater deposits dominantly laminated silt plant macrofossils in the sediment sequences are common and we obtained 18 radiocarbon ages from one of the cores by applying bayesian age depth modelling we obtained a precise date for this meltwater event and thereby also for the timing of the yd glacial maximum we conclude that the ice sheet advance culminated at the halsnoy moraine at 11 760 120 cal a bp and that the ice margin stayed in this position for 170 120 years the subsequent retreat started at 11 590 100 cal a bp i e close to the yd holocene boundary withdrawal was probably triggered by abrupt climatic warming at this time copyright 2011 john wiley sons ltd

alluvial sediment sources in a glaciated catchment the voidomatis basin northwest greece x ray diffraction xrd of the fine matrix component of four alluvial units and modern channel sediments in the voidomatis river basin of northwest greece shows that fine sediment sources have changed considerably during the late quaternary the matrix fraction of the modern channel sediments is derived predominantly from erosion of local flysch rocks and soils during the last glaciation however the fine sediment load of the voidomatis river was dominated by glacially ground finely comminuted limestone materials limestone derived fine sediment is not produced in significant amounts under modern climatic conditions by combining this xrd work with a detailed programme of clast lithologic 1 analysis we have reconstructed former bedload and fine sediment load composition the lithological properties of both the coarse 8 256 mm and fine 63 m elements of the sediment load have varied markedly during the late quaternary a simple semiquantitative assessment of fine sediment mineralogy using diffractogram peak height data has provided a valuable complement to the information gathered from more traditional clast lithological techniques together in favourable geological settings fine fraction mineralogy and clast lithological analysis can provide a valuable tool for the reconstruction of late quaternary alluvial environments

pattern and timing of retreat of the last british irish ice sheet during the last glacial the ice sheet that subsumed most of britain ireland and the north sea attained its maximum extent by 27 ka bp and with an ice volume sufficient to raise global sea level by ca 2 5 m when it melted we reconstruct the demise of this british irish ice sheet biis and present palaeo glaciological maps of retreat stages between 27 and 15 ka bp the whole land area was investigated using remote sensing data and we present maps of moraines meltwater channels eskers and drumlins and a methodology of how to interpret and bring them together for the continental shelf numerous large moraines were discovered recording an extensive pattern of retreat stretching from sw ireland to the shetland isles from an integration of this new mapping of glacial geomorphology 26 000 landforms with previously published evidence compiled in the britice database we derive a pattern of retreat for the whole biis we review and compile relevant dates 881 examples that constrain the timing of retreat all data are held within a geographic information system gis and are deciphered to produce a best estimate of the combined pattern and timing of retreat pattern information reveals an ice sheet mainly comprised of a shelf parallel configuration from sw ireland to ne scotland but it spread far enough to the south to incorporate outlying ice domes over wales the lake district and kerry final disintegration was into a number of separate ice caps rather than reduction as a single mass and paradoxically retreat was not always back to high ground by 23 ka bp ice withdrew along its northern boundaries at the same time as the southern margins were expanding including transient ice streaming down the irish sea and advances of lobes in the cheshire basin vale of york and east coast of england ice divides migrated south by 19 ka the ice sheet was in crisis with widespread marine based ice losses particularly in the northern north sea and the irish sea considerable dynamic thinning occurred during this phase final collapse of all marine sectors occurred by 17 ka bp and with most margins beginning to back step onshore disintegration of the north sea ice bridge between britain and norway remains loosely constrained in time but the possibility of catastrophic collapse of this sector is highlighted the north channel and irish sea ice streams had finally cleaved the ice sheet into separate irish and scottish ice sheets by 16 ka bp rates of ice loss were found to vary widely over space and time e g 65 260 km3 per year the role of ice streams and calving losses of marine based sectors are examined retreat rates of up to ca 150 ma 1 were found for some ice stream margins that large parts 2 3 of the biis were marine based drained by ice streams and possibly with fringing ice shelves in places makes it a useful analogue for the west antarctic ice sheet wais this is especially so because the biis deglaciated in response to rising temperatures and a rising sea level driven by melting of other ice masses which are the current forcings that might cause collapse of the wais our reconstruction when viewed from the opposite perspective documents when fresh land became exposed for exploitation by plants animals and man and records for how long such land has been available for soil and geochemical development and ecological succession

paired 26al and 10be exposure ages from lundy new evidence for the extent and timing of devensian glaciation in the southern british isles lundy lies in a strategic geographical position for understanding the glacial history of the british isles the island bears evidence of glaciation largely in the form of ice moulded bedrock and glaciallytransported boulders e an unusual occurrence this far south in the british isles irish sea ice penetrated the western bristol channel overriding lundy from the northwest during the last phase of glaciation in this area the results of paired terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide analyses 26al 10be constrain the timing of this extensive glaciation and provide for the first time an age for the exposure of lundy granite following deglaciation the results from nine paired samples yield 26al 10be exposure ages of 31 4e48 8 ka 10be and 31 7e60 0 ka 26al this challenges the view that any glaciation this far south must belong to middle pleistocene glaciations such as the anglian stage c 480e420 ka and a devensian age for the last glaciation is consistent with findings from the isles of scilly further south however the findings suggest early mid devensian marine isotope stage mis 4e3 glaciation of lundy it also implies that the island was exposed or covered for a short time by non erosive cold based ice at the global last glacial maximum lgm during mis 2 26e21 ka the potential exposure of the island throughout mis 2 contrasts with the evidence from the isles of scilly and the celtic sea which were glaciated at the lgm

loch lomond stadial glaciers in north harris outer hebrides north west scotland glacier reconstruction and palaeoclimatic implications abstract geomorphological mapping of north harris provides evidence for the former existence of 10 glaciers with a total area of ca 35 km2 a loch lomond younger dryas stadial age ca 12 9 11 5 kyr bp for this glacial episode is inferred from glacier configuration landsystems dominated by hummocky recessional moraines and relationships with lateglacial periglacial phenomena equilibrium line altitudes elas of 150 289 m were calculated for individual glaciers ela variability mainly reflects differences in snow contributing area the area weighted mean ela 204 m is consistent with a northwards decline in elas along the western seaboard of the british isles of 69 5 m 100 km 1 equivalent to a northwards ablation season temperature decrease of 0 42 c 100 km 1 this latitudinal temperature gradient implies a mean july sea level temperature of ca 7 2 c for the coldest part of the stade roughly 6 c lower than at present sea level precipitation at the time of the lls glacial maximum is inferred to have been between ca 1970 200 and 2350 200 mm yr 1 implying that lls precipitation was up to 25 greater than now patterns of recessional moraines indicate that the glaciers remained close to climatic equilibrium as they retreated to their sources though moraine belts implying near stationary or readvancing ice margins on flat valley floors are separated by moraine free zones indicating uninterrupted retreat calculation of elas for residual glaciers in former source areas suggests that summer warming of 1 0 c would have resulted in shrinkage of the glaciers to their sources

the greenland ice core chronology 2005 15 42 ka part 1 constructing the time scale the greenland ice core chronology 2005 gicc05 is extended back to 42 ka b2k before 2000 ad i e to the end of greenland stadial 11 the chronology is based on independent multi parameter counting of annual layers using comprehensive high resolution measurements available from the north greenland ice core project ngrip these are measurements of visual stratigraphy conductivity of the solid ice electrolytical melt water conductivity and the concentration of na c a 2 s o 4 n o 3 n h 4 a n uncertainty estimate of the time scale is obtained from identification of uncertain annual layers which are counted as 0 570 5 years the sum of the uncertain annual layers the so called maximum counting error of the presented chronology ranges from 4 in the warm interstadial periods to 7 in the cold stadials the annual accumulation rates of the stadials and interstadials are on average one third and half of the present day values respectively and the onset of the greenland interstadials 2 3 and 8 based on 20 year averaged d 18 o

late pleistocene piedmont glaciations in the eastern mediterranean insights from cosmogenic 36cl dating of hummocky moraines in southern turkey abstract we report the presence of late pleistocene piedmont glaciers represented by the largest hummocky moraine field observed in the eastern mediterranean the piedmont glaciers originated from the geyikdag ice cap 40 km 2 situated between 2350 and 2650 m above sea level a s l central tauride mountains of turkey and deeply carved the north facing hillslopes before reaching the namaras valley 2000 2050 m a s l the hummocky moraines resulted from in situ deposition of stagnant glacier ice where debris cover was heterogeneously distributed on the glacier surface thirty four boulders from hummocky disintegration lateral and terminal moraines from the namaras valley and the tributary susam valley 2100 2200 m a s l were dated by cosmogenic 36 cl surface exposure dating the moraine ages indicate three phases of deglaciation during the late pleistocene the oldest deglaciation occurred in the namaras valley at 18 0 1 1 ka ka thousand years ago towards the end of the last glacial maximum lgm and is recorded entirely by hummocky moraines we speculate that hummocky moraine forming processes with cycles of relief inversion gave rise to boulder apparent ages up to a few thousand years younger in our study area therefore 18 0 1 1 ka should be regarded as a minimum age with a probable true age much closer to the local lgm values 20 ka as observed in the surrounding mountains paleo piedmont glaciers also deposited several lateral moraines that are 50 m higher than the hummocky moraines although the lateral moraines probably represent the build up and the hummocky moraines the final phase of the same local lgm pulse both lateral moraines started to retreat from the late glacial 14 0 2 7 ka and gradually disappeared by mid holocene 5 2 1 0 ka encompassing the younger dryas yd stadial in the susam valley the late glacial is represented by a terminal moraine 13 4 1 5 ka the glacier retreat was very fast as indicated by an almost instantaneous disappearance of 5 km long susam valley glacier represented by disintegration and hummocky moraines 14 0 1 3 ka alternatively in case the oldest boulder age is taken into account the susam valley glacier can be also attributed to the late lgm 17 ka to late glacial 14 ka transition near the exit of the susam valley a right lateral moraine was deposited 11 6 1 3 ka ago confirming the presence of the yd in geyikdag comparable glacial chronologies were obtained from other turkish and mediterranean mountains

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

glaciers and rivers pleistocene uncoupling in a mediterranean mountain karst abstract large scale coupling between headwater catchments and downstream depocentres is a critical influence on long term fluvial system behaviour and on the creation of the fluvial sedimentary record however it is often difficult to examine this control over multiple quaternary glacial cycles and it has not been fully explored in karst basins by investigating the pleistocene glacial and fluvial records on and around mount orjen 1894 m in montenegro we show how the changing connectivity between glaciated mountain headwater source zones and downstream alluvial basins is a key feature of long term karst system behaviour especially in relation to the creation and preservation of the surface sedimentary record middle and late pleistocene glacial deposits are well preserved on mount orjen uranium series dating of 27 carbonate cements in fluvial sediments shows that many alluvial depocentres were completely filled with coarse glacial outwash before 350 ka during the largest recorded glaciation this major glaciation is correlated with the skamnellian stage in greece and marine isotope stage 12 mis 12 c 480 420 ka this was a period of profound landscape change in many glaciated catchments on the balkan peninsula later glaciations were much less extensive and sediment supply to fluvial systems was much diminished the extreme base level falls of the late miocene produced the world s deepest karst networks around the mediterranean after mis 12 the subterranean karst of mount orjen formed the dominant pathway for meltwater and sediment transfer so that the depositional basins below 1000 m became disconnected uncoupled from the glaciated headwaters there is little evidence of post mis 12 aggradation or incision in these basins this absence of later pleistocene and holocene fluvial activity means these basins contain some of the thickest and best preserved outwash deposits in the mediterranean