Glacier variations in the European Alps at the end of the last glaciation

Ivy‐Ochs, Susan

doi:10.18172/cig.2750

Cited by 160 publications

(132 citation statements)

References 76 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

122

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This glacier position can represent a response to a final phase of the YD event and could be interpreted as a second and less vigorous Egesen stadial expression. A multiple response of Alpine glaciers to the Younger Dryas climate deterioration was detected at several sites in the Alps (Maisch 1987;Kerschner 2009;Ivy-Ochs 2015;Federici et al 2017) and dated, for example, at Julier Pass (Switzerland, Ivy-Ochs et al 1996 and the Belalp cirque (Switzerland, Schindelwig et al 2012). The second YD response identified in La Mare Valley finds correspondence in the Pozza Venezia area (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Double response of glaciers in the Upper Peio Valley (Rhaetian Alps, Italy) to the Younger Dryas climatic deterioration

Baroni

Casale

Salvatore

et al. 2017

Boreas

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A pronounced climate reorganization characterized the Lateglacial–Holocene transition in the Northern Hemisphere. Glaciers in the Alps reacted to the last climate deterioration at the end of the Late Pleistocene leaving landscape features suitable for reconstructing Lateglacial and early Holocene history. In this context, the Upper Peio Valley in the Ortles-Cevedale Group (Rhaetian Alps, Italy) has well-preserved moraines of La Mare Glacier and Careser Glacier, which we used to reconstruct the glaciers' behaviour and to investigate the Lateglacial–Holocene transition. Detailed glacier reconstructions combined with 11 new 10Be exposure ages allow dating of the response of these glaciers to the Younger Dryas (YD) cold event. La Mare and Careser glaciers reacted to the YD with a double response, building two clear moraine sets. Data from La Mare Glacier indicate the first advance occurred prior to 12.3±0.7 ka (before 10.0±0.7 ka at Careser Glacier). Both glaciers then re-advanced before 11.2±0.8 ka as dated at La Mare Glacier. This phase can be interpreted as the Egesen stadial glaciers' expression of the end of the YD. Morphometric parameters of the reconstructed phases allowed the estimation of areal and volumetric variations of the studied glaciers as well as equilibrium line altitude (ELA). ΔELA with respect to the Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum position are −225 m for La Mare Glacier and −180 m for the Careser Glacier. Although the behaviour of the two glaciers showed coherence during the Egesen stadial and the LIA, they have behaved individually since then. La Mare has lost 60% of its area, while Careser has lost 85% since the latest Pleistocene. We attribute this to the greater proportion of ice at high elevation of the La Mare Glacier, underlining the importance of bed hypsometry in glacier response

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Double response of glaciers in the Upper Peio Valley (Rhaetian Alps, Italy) to the Younger Dryas climatic deterioration

Baroni

Casale

Salvatore

et al. 2017

Boreas

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Glacial Maximum (LGM) in the Alps is dated at ~28 to 18 ka BP Ivy-Ochs, 2015). High peaks in the region emerged from LGM ice slightly above 2000 m asl (Bini et al, 2009).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Two early Holocene rock avalanches in the Bernese Alps (Rinderhorn, Switzerland)

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…That period lasted around 2000 years in Greenland and in the Alps (see Luetscher et al, 2015, for the Bernese Alps). Probably as a result of the climate variability during the LGM period, the Rhine glacier left two closely-spaced terminal moraines in the Rhine lobe (e.g., Keller and Krayss, 2005a;Ivy-Ochs, 2015;Beckenbach et al, 2014). This two-fold maximum is also observed elsewhere in the Alps, on the Tagliamento glacier in the southern Alps in Italy (Monegato et al, 2007), and in Austria (van Husen, 1997).…”

mentioning

confidence: 91%

Numerical reconstructions of the flow and basal conditions of the Rhine glacier, European Central Alps, at the Last Glacial Maximum

Cohen¹,

Gillet-Chaulet²,

Haeberli³

et al. 2017

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. At the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the Rhine glacier in the Swiss Alps covered an area of about 16,000 km 2 .As part of an integrative study about the safety of repositories for radioactive waste under ice age conditions in Switzerland, we modeled the Rhine glacier using a fully-coupled, three-dimensional, transient, thermo-mechanical Stokes flow model down to a horizontal resolution of about 500 m. The accumulation and ablation gradients that roughly reproduced the geomorphic reconstructions of glacial extent and ice thickness suggested extremely cold (T July ∼ 0 • C at the glacier terminus) and dry (∼ 10 5 to 20% of today's precipitation) climatic conditions. Forcing the numerical simulations with warmer and wetter conditions that better matched LGM climate proxy records yielded a glacier on average 500 to 700 m thicker than geomorphic reconstructions.Mass balance gradients also controlled ice velocities, fluxes, and sliding speeds. These gradients, however, had only a small effect on basal conditions. All simulations indicated that basal ice reached the pressure melting point over much of the Rhine and Linth piedmont lobes, and also in the glacial valleys that fed these lobes. Only the outer margin of the lobes, bedrock highs ). In the lobes, despite low surface slopes and low basal shear stresses, sliding dictated main fluxes of ice which closely followed bedrock topography: ice was channeled in between bedrock highs along troughs, some of which coincided with glacially eroded overdeepenings. These sliding conditions may have favored glacial erosion by abrasion and quarrying. 20Our results confirmed general earlier findings but provided more insights into the detailed flow and basal conditions of the Rhine glacier at the LGM. Our model results suggested that the trimline could have been buried by a significant thickness of cold ice. These findings have significant implications for interpreting trimlines in the Alps and for our understanding of ice-climate interactions.

show abstract

Glacier variations in the European Alps at the end of the last glaciation

Abstract: ABSTRACT. The Last Glacial Maximum in the Alps

Cited by 160 publications

References 76 publications

Double response of glaciers in the Upper Peio Valley (Rhaetian Alps, Italy) to the Younger Dryas climatic deterioration

Double response of glaciers in the Upper Peio Valley (Rhaetian Alps, Italy) to the Younger Dryas climatic deterioration

Two early Holocene rock avalanches in the Bernese Alps (Rinderhorn, Switzerland)

Numerical reconstructions of the flow and basal conditions of the Rhine glacier, European Central Alps, at the Last Glacial Maximum

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About