The glacial history of Greece: a comprehensive review

Abstract

This paper reviews the glacial history of the mountains of Greece at the southernmost tip of the Balkans, providing a new synthesis of our current understanding of glaciations. The ice cover during the largest Middle Pleistocene glaciations (MIS 12/MIS 6) was more extensive than previously thought. Latest evidence from Mt Chelmos suggests that valley glaciers radiated from a central plateau ice field, whereas the findings of other glacial studies in western Balkans further indicate that extensive ice field/ice caps formed on mountains throughout this region during the Middle Pleistocene glaciations. Ice extent was considerably smaller during the Tymphian Stage (MIS 5d-MIS 2) and this has been confirmed by cosmogenic exposure ages in recent studies on Mt Olympus and Mt Chelmos. During the Holocene, only very small glaciers formed in some deep cirques where they survived because of strong local topoclimatic controls. A comparative analysis with the findings of other glacial and palaeoclimatic studies in the Balkans is also presented to highlight correlations between them. Moisture supply seems to have been the most critical factor for the formation of glaciers in the mountains of Greece. The comparison of Late Pleistocene Equilibrium Line Altitudes (ELAs) across the Balkans indicates a wetter climate in southern Greece that can be attributed to different palaeoatmospheric circulation mechanisms and precipitation regime in central Mediterranean. Conclusively, whilst important information has been added in the last 2 decades, this paper highlights the need for further research in Greece and the wider Balkans to establish the timing and extent of glaciations.

Late Quaternary climatic histories from the Hermes Cave, Corinth Rift, Greece

“…Although the stalagmite growth hiatus might have occurred for different reasons we suggest that this was the result of low amounts of water infiltrating into the cave and can be attributed to the existence of small glaciers that occurred in the area and their expansion during the glacial period (Leontaritis et al, 2020). As warm and humid conditions are generally viewed as prerequisites for speleothem growth (Dreybrodt, 1988;Baker and Smart, 1995;Genty et al, 2006;Nehme et al, 2020), inferences about climate can potentially be made from the prescence of speleothem growth hiatuses.…”

“…Cave and ZCG1 growth continued. Glacial deposits from the nearby Mount Chelmos have erratics with emplacement dated throughout MIS 3 and the LGM (Leontaritis et al, 2020).…”

“…Bar-Matthews et al, 2000;Fleitmann et al, 2009;Psomiadis et al, 2009;Finné et al, 2014;Finné et al, 2015;Nehme et al, 2015;Nehme et al, 2018;Psomiadis et al, 2018;Regattieri et al, 2018;Peckover et al, 2019;Regattieri et al, 2020), geomorphic indexes (e.g. Styllas et al, 2018;Leontaritis et al, 2020) and clastic sedimentary sequences (e.g. Lespez et al, 2017;Styllas and Ghilardi, 2017;Katrantsiotis et al, 2019;McNeill et al, 2019;Pennos et al, 2021).…”

Late-glacial to Holocene glaciers in the Turkish mountains

“…On the contrary, the Holocene is a warmer epoch with important shifts in the temperatures. Nevertheless, some of the glaciers survived throughout the Holocene in Turkey and nearby areas (e.g., Leontaritis et al 2020). It has been estimated that the air temperatures were between 2.1 °C and 4.9 °C lower than today and the precipitation ratio was up to two times more on Mount Erciyes at the beginning of the Holocene (Sarıkaya et al 2009).…”

Geomorphology of the topmost part of the Bistra Mountain, Mavrovo Park, North Macedonia

“…Gromig et al, 2018;Hughes, 2007;Hughes et al, 2006a;Kuhlemann et al, 2009;Ribolini et al, 2018;Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al, 2020;Temovski et al, 2018;Žebre et al, 2019). Leontaritis et al (2020) reviewed the glacial history of the mountain of Greece and proposed some chronological correlations with glacial phases described for the surrounding regions. As concerns Balkan glaciations, after the work of Kolčakovski (1999), the mountains of North Macedonia have only recently been studied in more detail, (Gromig et al, 2018;Ribolini et al, 2018;Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al, 2020;Temovski et al, 2018;Žebre et al, 2019).…”