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, Mora cke 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.

Reply: the glacial history of the Dinaric Alps, Montenegro

“…This designation is in agreement with Cviji c (1914) and Marovi c and Markovi c (1972) who identified moraines and ice cover throughout this area in their sketch maps. The sediments described in Hughes et al (2011) are compatible with a range of subglacial till types set out in Boulton's (1978) classification. Djurovi c seems to adhere to a rather narrow definition of moraines as surface glacial landforms which are dominated by supraglacial material (supraglacial morainic till in Boulton, 1978).…”

“…When used in isolation, these classifications are not especially useful discriminators of landform genesis and must be considered within their wider geomorphological context. In Hughes et al (2011), all types of moraines/ tills are depicted in Figure 1 as 'glacial deposits'.…”

“…The entire summit plateau and surrounding valleys were also explored and carefully mapped. It was not possible to publish these details in Hughes et al (2011), which already reaches 20 pages in length. Our observation that the entire Sinjajevina plateau was glaciated, and not just the cirques and valleys, is supported by the presence of glaciokarst landforms on the plateau (these have also been recorded by Telbisz, 2010a,b,c) as well as the presence of till and large (>1 m) perched glacial boulders close to the watershed.…”

“…The Mora cke Planine area was also mapped along with the Maganik and Prekornica massifs (see Fig. 1 in Hughes et al, 2011). The western parts of this area were also mapped by Liedtke (1962) who argued that the Lukavica Plateau was once covered by ice.…”

Geomorphology of Blidinje, Dinaric Alps (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

“…Cvijić, 1899;Grund, 1902;Milojević, 1935;Žebre & Stepišnik, 2015b), as well as other elevated sections of the Dinaric Mountains in Albania (Milivojević, Menković, & Ćalić, 2008), Montenegro (Hughes, Woodward, van Calsteren, & Thomas, 2011;Žebre & Stepišnik, 2014), Croatia (Marjanac & Marjanac, 2004) and Slovenia (Žebre & Stepišnik, 2015a;Žebre, Stepišnik, Colucci, Forte, & Monegato, 2016). They not only hosted cirque and valley glaciers, but also large ice caps, which were some of the largest in the Mediterranean owing to a sustained moisture supply during cold stages (Adamson, Woodward, & Hughes, 2014).…”