Timing of the last Deglaciation in the Sierra Nevada of the Mérida Andes, Venezuela

2013 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 482-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Carcaillet ◽  
Isandra Angel ◽  
Eduardo Carrillo ◽  
Franck A. Audemard ◽  
Christian Beck

In the tropical Mérida Andes (northwestern Venezuela), glacial landforms were found at altitudes between 2600 and 5000 m, corresponding to 600 km2 of ice cover during the maximum glacial extension. However, the lack of sufficient absolute age data prevents detailed reconstruction of the timing of the last deglaciation. On the northwestern flank of the Mucuñuque Massif, successive moraines and striated eroded basement surfaces were sampled for cosmogenic 10Be investigation. Their compilation with published data allows the establishment of a detailed chronology of the post-LGM glacier history. The oldest moraines (18.1 and 16.8 ka) correspond to the Oldest Dryas. Successive moraine ridges indicate stops in the overall retreat between the LGM and the Younger Dryas. The cold and short Older Dryas stadial has been identified. Results indicate that most of the ice withdrew during the Pleistocene. The dataset supports an intensification of the vertical retreat rate from ~ 25 m/ka during the late Pleistocene to ~ 310 m/ka during the Pleistocene/Holocene. Afterwards, the glacier was confined and located in the higher altitude zones. The altitude difference of the Younger Dryas moraines in the Mucubají, La Victoria and Los Zerpa valleys indicates a strong effect of valley orientation on the altitude of moraine development.

1988 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. S. Broecker ◽  
M. Andree ◽  
W. Wolfli ◽  
H. Oeschger ◽  
G. Bonani ◽  
...  

Radiocarbon ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 483-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konrad A. Hughen ◽  
Jonathan T. Overpeck ◽  
Scott J. Lehman ◽  
Michaele Kashgarian ◽  
John R. Southon ◽  
...  

Varved sediments of the tropical Cariaco Basin provide a new 14C calibration data set for the period of deglaciation (10,000 to 14,500 years before present: 10–14.5 cal ka bp). Independent evaluations of the Cariaco Basin calendar and 14C chronologies were based on the agreement of varve ages with the GISP2 ice core layer chronology for similar high-resolution paleoclimate records, in addition to 14C age agreement with terrestrial 14C dates, even during large climatic changes. These assessments indicate that the Cariaco Basin 14C reservoir age remained stable throughout the Younger Dryas and late Allerød climatic events and that the varve and 14C chronologies provide an accurate alternative to existing calibrations based on coral U/Th dates. The Cariaco Basin calibration generally agrees with coral-derived calibrations but is more continuous and resolves century-scale details of 14C change not seen in the coral records. 14C plateaus can be identified at 9.6, 11.4, and 11.7 14C ka bp, in addition to a large, sloping “plateau” during the Younger Dryas (∼10 to 11 14C ka bp). Accounting for features such as these is crucial to determining the relative timing and rates of change during abrupt global climate changes of the last deglaciation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 321-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. Lenton ◽  
V. N. Livina ◽  
V. Dakos ◽  
M. Scheffer

Abstract. The last deglaciation was characterised by two abrupt warming events, at the start of the Bølling-Allerød and at the end of the Younger Dryas, but their underlying causes are unclear. Some abrupt climate changes may involve gradual forcing past a bifurcation point, in which a prevailing climate state loses its stability and the climate tips into an alternative state, providing an early warning signal in the form of slowing responses to perturbations. However, the abrupt Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events during the last ice age were probably triggered by stochastic fluctuations without bifurcation or early warning, and whether the onset of the Bølling-Allerød (DO event 1) was preceded by slowing down or not is debated. Here we show that the interval from the Last Glacial Maximum to the end of the Younger Dryas, as recorded in three Greenland ice cores with two different climate proxies, was accompanied by a robust slowing down in climate dynamics and an increase in climate variability, consistent with approaching bifurcation. Prior to the Bølling warming there was a robust increase in climate variability but no consistent slowing down signal, suggesting this abrupt change was probably triggered by a stochastic fluctuation. The Bølling warming marked a distinct destabilisation of the climate system, which excited an internal mode of variability in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation strength, causing multi-centennial climate fluctuations. There is some evidence for slowing down in the transition to and during the Younger Dryas. We infer that a bifurcation point was finally approached at the end of the Younger Dryas, in which the cold climate state, with weak Atlantic overturning circulation, lost its stability, and the climate tipped irreversibly into a warm interglacial state. The lack of a large triggering perturbation at the end of the Younger Dryas, and the fact that subsequent meltwater perturbations did not cause sustained cooling, support the bifurcation hypothesis.


1998 ◽  
Vol 152 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 177-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Klitgaard-Kristensen ◽  
T.L Rasmussen ◽  
H.P Sejrup ◽  
H Haflidason ◽  
Tj.C.E van Weering

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zsófia Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger ◽  
Zoltán Kern ◽  
Marjan Temovski ◽  
Balázs Madarász ◽  
Ivica Milevski ◽  
...  

<p>Since the 19<sup>th</sup> century, geomorphological studies in the currently mainly unglaciated central Balkan Peninsula described extended glacial landforms and repeated glaciations. With the growing number of numerical ages an ambiguous picture has formed concerning the timing of the most extended glaciation and also on the glacier response to the cooling phases (e.g. Younger Dryas) during the last deglaciation of these mountain ranges.</p><p>This study provides <sup>10</sup>Be cosmic ray exposure ages of a succession of glacial landforms in the Jakupica Mt. (North Macedonia), aiming to improve the understanding of Late Pleistocene glacier development in the area [1].</p><p>In the Jakupica Mt. (~41.7° N, ~21.4 E; Solunska Glava, 2540 m asl) a large plateau glacier was reconstructed (max. area ~45 km<sup>2</sup>, max thickness: ~300 m), where three main ice accumulation areas could be delineated [2]. The study area comprises six northeastward facing, formerly glaciated valleys. Two of these valleys emerge from the plateau, one stands separate, and the remaining three are topographically separated by a relatively flat NNW-SSE oriented ridge. During the most extensive glacial stages, these three valleys were fed by ice overflowing above this ridge from the plateau. The lowest mapped moraines are descending down to 1550-1700 m asl suggesting the former existence of glacier tongues of ~3 km length. The large plateau ice and the complicated system of confluences makes glacier reconstructions and equilibrium line altitude (ELA) calculations challenging. Thus, the ELAs were preliminary estimated based on the maximum elevation of the lowermost lateral moraines, leading to ELA values of 1800±50 m a.s.l. for the most extended phase.</p><p>The maximum ice extent outlined by the lowest mapped moraines descending down to 1550-1500 m asl. occurred around ~24-19 ka (n=5), in agreement with the timing of the Last Glacial Maximum. During the Lateglacial, the exposure ages are getting younger by the glacier recession up to the moraines at ~1820 m asl (~19-14 ka, n=15). However, the highest sampled landforms (~2200 m asl) provided ages with a large scatter between ~25 and ~5 ka (n=6). This large scatter and the observed bias towards old ages are most probably the result of inherited cosmogenic nuclide concentrations within the rock. Consequently, <sup>10</sup>Be exposure ages alone are apparently not suitable to determine the age of final deglaciation of this mountain. Similar conditions have been observed in the Retezat Mts (Southern Carpathians, Romania) [3].</p><p>This research was supported by the NKFIH FK124807 and GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00009 projects and by the Radiate Transnational Access 19001688-ST.</p><p>[1] Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2020. Last deglaciation in the central Balkan Peninsula: Geochronological evidence from Jablanica Mt. (North Macedonia). Geomorphology 351: 106985</p><p>[2] Temovski et al., 2019. Glacial geomorphology of the northeastern part of the Jakupica Mountain, Macedonia, Central Balkan Peninsula. GRA 21, EGU2019-7822</p><p>[3] Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2018. Glacier reconstruction, deglaciation chronology and paleo-environment reconstruction, Retezat Mountains, Southern Carpathians, Romania. Geologica Balcanica; Abstracts of the XXI. CBGA Congress, Salzburg, 10-13 September; p. 240-241.</p>


Eos ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Wheeling

A new boron isotope record from South Pacific marine sediments offers a more complete picture of ocean-atmosphere carbon dioxide exchange during the late Pleistocene.


2005 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Vacco ◽  
Peter U. Clark ◽  
Alan C. Mix ◽  
Hai Cheng ◽  
R. Lawrence Edwards

AbstractA well-dated δ18O record in a stalagmite from a cave in the Klamath Mountains, Oregon, with a sampling interval of 50 yr, indicates that the climate of this region cooled essentially synchronously with Younger Dryas climate change elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. The δ18O record also indicates significant century-scale temperature variability during the early Holocene. The δ13C record suggests increasing biomass over the cave through the last deglaciation, with century-scale variability but with little detectable response of vegetation to Younger Dryas cooling.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 1127-1139 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. Lenton ◽  
V. N. Livina ◽  
V. Dakos ◽  
M. Scheffer

Abstract. There were two abrupt warming events during the last deglaciation, at the start of the Bølling-Allerød and at the end of the Younger Dryas, but their underlying dynamics are unclear. Some abrupt climate changes may involve gradual forcing past a bifurcation point, in which a prevailing climate state loses its stability and the climate tips into an alternative state, providing an early warning signal in the form of slowing responses to perturbations, which may be accompanied by increasing variability. Alternatively, short-term stochastic variability in the climate system can trigger abrupt climate changes, without early warning. Previous work has found signals consistent with slowing down during the last deglaciation as a whole, and during the Younger Dryas, but with conflicting results in the run-up to the Bølling-Allerød. Based on this, we hypothesise that a bifurcation point was approached at the end of the Younger Dryas, in which the cold climate state, with weak Atlantic overturning circulation, lost its stability, and the climate tipped irreversibly into a warm interglacial state. To test the bifurcation hypothesis, we analysed two different climate proxies in three Greenland ice cores, from the Last Glacial Maximum to the end of the Younger Dryas. Prior to the Bølling warming, there was a robust increase in climate variability but no consistent slowing down signal, suggesting this abrupt change was probably triggered by a stochastic fluctuation. The transition to the warm Bølling-Allerød state was accompanied by a slowing down in climate dynamics and an increase in climate variability. We suggest that the Bølling warming excited an internal mode of variability in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation strength, causing multi-centennial climate fluctuations. However, the return to the Younger Dryas cold state increased climate stability. We find no consistent evidence for slowing down during the Younger Dryas, or in a longer spliced record of the cold climate state before and after the Bølling-Allerød. Therefore, the end of the Younger Dryas may also have been triggered by a stochastic perturbation.


2007 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Øyvind Paasche ◽  
Svein Olaf Dahl ◽  
Jostein Bakke ◽  
Reidar Løvlie ◽  
Atle Nesje

AbstractNumerous cirques of the Lofoten–Vesterålen archipelago in northern Norway have distinct moraine sequences that previously have been assigned to the Allerød-Younger Dryas (∼ 13,400 to 11,700 yr BP) interval, constraining the regional distribution of the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) of cirque and valley glaciers. Here we present evidence from a once glacier-fed lake on southern Andøya that contests this view. Analyses of radiocarbon dated lacustrine sediments including rock magnetic parameters, grain size, organic matter, dry bulk density and visual interpretation suggest that no glacier was present in the low-lying cirque during the Younger Dryas-Allerød. The initiation of the glacial retreat commenced with the onset of the Bølling warming (∼ 14,700 yr BP) and was completed by the onset of Allerød Interstade (∼ 13,400 yr BP). The reconstructed glacier stages of the investigated cirque coincide with a cool and dry period from ∼ 17,500 to 14,700 yr BP and a somewhat larger Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) advance possibly occurring between ∼ 21,050 and 19,100 yr BP.


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