Chronology of the last glacial cycle in the European Alps

Abstract

Chronological data for glacier advances in the European Alps between the Last Interglacial (Eemian) and the Holocene are summarised (115 to 11 ka). During this time glaciers were most extensive, extending tens of kilometres out onto the forelands, between 30 and 18 ka, that is, synchronous with the global ice volume maximum of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2. Evidence for ice expanding to just past the mountain front for an earlier major glacier advance comes from Swiss sites, where advances have been luminescence dated to MIS 5d (100 ka) and MIS 4 (70 ka). Up to now no such evidence has been found in the Eastern Alps. By 18 ka, more than 80% of the Late Wü rmian ice volume had gone. Subsequently glaciers readvanced, reaching into the upper reaches of the main valleys during the Lateglacial Gschnitz stadial, which likely occurred around 17 ka, with final moraine stabilisation no later than 15.4 ka. The link of the Egesen stadial with the Younger Dryas climate deterioration is supported by exposure ages from four sites as well as minimum-limiting radiocarbon dates from bogs within former glacier tongue areas. Key questions on the spatial and temporal variability of ice extents throughout the last glacial cycle have yet to be answered.

Pleistocene glacial morphology and timing of last glacial cycle in cantabrian mountains (Northern Spain): new chronological data from the Asón area

“…The early onset of the LLGM with respect to the LGM has already been highlighted on several occasions recently [46,47,53,70]. In the eastern Alps, the glaciers did not reach the main alpine valleys during Early Würm although they were occupied by ice later, as described for the Tyrol [74], and the ice-free Inn Valley from MIS 5c to 5a [75].…”

“…It extends towards older, short and cold substages (MIS 5b), and to other more recent stages shown in that reference curve (MIS 3d). We were not able to date the beginning of the local maximum glacial stage (LLGM) but we can place it during Early Würm, according to the chronology of alpine glaciation proposed previously [70]. We think that this peculiar development of glaciers here may be due not only to cooling but also to an increase in precipitation.…”

The impact of Last Glacial climate variability in west-European loess revealed by radiocarbon dating of fossil earthworm granules

“…These features observed in almost all of the loess sequences from Western to Eastern Europe (26-30) thus constitute a major marker level for stratigraphic correlations. This marker level at ∼30 ka is, within limit uncertainties, synchronous with (i) a first step of expansion of the Last Glacial maximum (LGM) Fennoscandian ice sheet and mountain ice caps because of higher precipitations (31,32), (ii) a significant drop in sea level from about −60 to −100 m (33), and (iii) a change from anastomosing to higher-energy braided channels in west European fluvial systems (34). This configuration induced a widening of deflation areas on the continental shelves of the North Sea and Channel and in large river valleys and a very strong increase in detrital particles available for Aeolian deflation and transport, enabling the deposition of markedly thicker loess units over Europe (35).…”

Timing and nature of late Quaternary mountain glaciation

“…The Late Pleistocene chronologies from the northern foreland of the European Alps are reviewed by Ivy-Ochs et al (2008). Luminescence ages define early advances beyond the mountain front at ca.…”