Glacial history of Mt Chelmos, Peloponnesus, Greece

Abstract

Mt Chelmos in the Peloponnesus was glaciated by a plateau ice field during the most extensive Pleistocene glaciation. Valley glaciers radiated out from an ice field over the central plateau of the massif. The largest glaciations are likely to be Middle Pleistocene in age. Smaller valley and cirque glaciers formed later and boulders on the moraines of these glacial phases have been dated using 36Cl terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide exposure dating. These ages indicate a Late Pleistocene age with glacier advance/stabilization at 40–30 ka, glacier retreat at 23–21 ka and advance/stabilization at 13–10 ka. This indicates that the glacial maximum of the last cold stage occurred during Marine Isotope Stage 3, several thousand years before the global Last Glacial Maximum (Marine Isotope Stage 2). The last phase of moraine-building occurred at the end of the Pleistocene, possibly during the Younger Dryas.

Quaternary glaciation in the Mediterranean mountains: a new synthesis

“…Much further south on the Balkan Peninsula, Pope et al (2015) report geochronological evidence from Mt Chelmos in the Peloponnesus, where a large ice cap, similar to that found on Mt Orjen, formed during the Middle Pleistocene. However, Pope et al (2015) focus attention on the timing of the Late Pleistocene glaciation and provide evidence for an early glacier maximum dating to MIS 3, which was followed by glacier retreat to the high cirques in MIS 2. They present the first dates confirming the presence of Younger Dryas glaciers in Greece.…”

“…The fan is Middle Pleistocene in age and closely related to the largest glaciation of this region that took place during MIS 12 (Adamson et al 2014). Much further south on the Balkan Peninsula, Pope et al (2015) report geochronological evidence from Mt Chelmos in the Peloponnesus, where a large ice cap, similar to that found on Mt Orjen, formed during the Middle Pleistocene. However, Pope et al (2015) focus attention on the timing of the Late Pleistocene glaciation and provide evidence for an early glacier maximum dating to MIS 3, which was followed by glacier retreat to the high cirques in MIS 2.…”

“…The chronology of the Greek glacial sequence was established in Woodward et al (2004) and Hughes et al (2006b), with the largest glaciations dating to MIS 12 and 6 (Fig. 3), with much more restricted glacier development during the last glacial cycle, including the widespread occurrence of rock glaciers (Hughes Pope et al (2015) in this volume. These researchers applied cosmogenic exposure dating to show that Late Pleistocene glaciers on Mt Chelmos in the Peloponnesus were restricted to the highest valley areas above 2000 m a.s.l.…”

“…The timing of glaciations in the Mediterranean mountains has been constrained using a range of approaches. Examples presented in this volume include cosmogenic nuclide exposure dating of boulders and bedrock surfaces (Akçar et al 2015;Federici et al 2016;Palacios et al 2016;Pope et al 2015;Turu et al 2016), radiocarbon dating of basal glacial lake deposits (Giraudi & Giaccio 2015;Serrano et al 2016;Turu et al 2016), Ar/Ar dating of tephras in mountain basins (Giraudi & Giaccio 2015), optically stimulated luminescence dating of glacio-fluvial outwash deposits (Serrano et al 2016;Turu et al 2016) and uranium series dating of secondary carbonate cements Serrano et al 2016) in glacial and glacio-fluvial deposits.…”

“…Examples are found in Morocco (Hughes et al 2011a), in the Maritime Alps (Federici et al 2008(Federici et al , 2016 and in Greece (Pope et al 2015). The presence of glaciers (rather than rock glaciers) in these areas during the Younger Dryas suggests an excess of snow accumulation over the supply of debris.…”