The Tyrolean Iceman and His Glacial Environment During the Holocene

Radiocarbon ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Kutschera ◽  
Gernot Patzelt ◽  
Peter Steier ◽  
Eva Maria Wild
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Present Knowledge ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
European Alps ◽  
Tree Line ◽  
Human Influence ◽  
Temperature Variations ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Summer Temperatures ◽  
Tyrolean Iceman

AbstractThis paper summarizes the present knowledge on the variation of summer temperatures in the European Alps throughout the Holocene by combining the results of an extraordinary archaeological find with the information gathered from glacier and tree-line movements. As it turns out, there were several distinct periods were the glaciers were smaller than today, allowing in some periods the growth of trees in areas, which even now are still covered with ice. On average, the first half of the Holocene was warmer than the second half, with temperatures starting to decrease around the time of the Iceman some 5000 yr ago. One of the coldest periods during the Holocene, the so-called Little Ice Age (LIA), lasted from about AD 1300 to 1850. It is well known that since then the Alpine glaciers have been receding, most likely amplified by anthropogenic impact. The study of temperature variations before human influence may help to eventually disentangle natural and anthropogenic causes for the global warming of our time.

Holocene tree line, permafrost, and climate dynamics in the Nenets Region, East European Arctic

2004 ◽  
Vol 41 (10) ◽  
pp. 1141-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seija Kultti ◽  
Pirita Oksanen ◽  
Minna Väliranta
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Tree Line ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
East European ◽  
Summer Temperatures ◽  
European Arctic ◽  
Peat Profile ◽  
Lake Core

Pollen, stomata, and macrofossils in a lake core with a basal date of 9700 14C BP were used to reconstruct past changes in climate and vegetation in the arctic tree line area, northeast European Russia. A palsa peat profile was investigated to establish a chronology of mire initiation and permafrost development during the Holocene. Macrofossils show that tree birch was present in the study area at the beginning of the Holocene and stands of spruce became established shortly thereafter. However, pollen evidence suggests that almost 400 years passed before the area was occupied by a mixed spruce–birch forest, which lasted until ca. 5000 BP. Subsequently, the area reverted to forest–tundra. Paludification began ca. 9000 BP continuing at least until 5700 BP. The conditions were permafrost-free at least until 4500 BP. The latest permafrost aggradation phase is dated to the Little Ice Age. We interpret summer temperatures to have been ca. 3–4 °C higher between ca. 8900 and 5500 BP than at present, and the lowest temperature regime of the Holocene to have occurred between 2700 and 2100 BP.

scholarly journals Neoglacial history of Robson Glacier, British Columbia

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (11) ◽  
pp. 1153-1164 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.H. Luckman ◽  
M.H. Masiokas ◽  
K. Nicolussi
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Tree Line ◽  
Canadian Rockies ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Forest Sites ◽  
History Of ◽  
Subfossil Wood ◽  
Glacier Advance

As glaciers in the Canadian Rockies recede, glacier forefields continue to yield subfossil wood from sites overridden by these glaciers during the Holocene. Robson Glacier in British Columbia formerly extended below tree line, and recession over the last century has progressively revealed a number of buried forest sites that are providing one of the more complete records of glacier history in the Canadian Rockies during the latter half of the Holocene. The glacier was advancing ca. 5.5 km upvalley of the Little Ice Age terminus ca. 5.26 cal ka BP, at sites ca. 2 km upvalley ca. 4.02 cal ka BP and ca. 3.55 cal ka BP, and 0.5–1 km upvalley between 1140 and 1350 A.D. There is also limited evidence based on detrital wood of an additional period of glacier advance ca. 3.24 cal ka BP. This record is more similar to glacier histories further west in British Columbia than elsewhere in the Rockies and provides the first evidence for a post-Hypsithermal glacier advance at ca. 5.26 cal ka BP in the Rockies. The utilization of the wiggle-matching approach using multiple 14C dates from sample locations determined by dendrochronological analyses enabled the recognition of 14C outliers and an increase in the precision and accuracy of the dating of glacier advances.

scholarly journals Glacier response to Holocene warmth inferred from in situ <sup>10</sup>Be and <sup>14</sup>C bedrock analyses in Steingletscher's forefield (central Swiss Alps)

2022 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-44
Author(s):  
Irene Schimmelpfennig ◽  
Joerg M. Schaefer ◽  
Jennifer Lamp ◽  
Vincent Godard ◽  
Roseanne Schwartz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
European Alps ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Holocene Thermal Maximum ◽  
Mountain Glaciers ◽  
Driving Mechanisms ◽  
Summer Temperatures ◽  
The Alps

Abstract. Mid-latitude mountain glaciers are sensitive to local summer temperature changes. Chronologies of past glacier fluctuations based on the investigation of glacial landforms therefore allow for a better understanding of natural climate variability at local scale, which is relevant for the assessment of the ongoing anthropogenic climate warming. In this study, we focus on the Holocene, the current interglacial of the last 11 700 years, which remains a matter of dispute regarding its temperature evolution and underlying driving mechanisms. In particular, the nature and significance of the transition from the early to mid-Holocene and of the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) are still debated. Here, we apply an emerging approach by combining in situ cosmogenic 10Be moraine and 10Be–14C bedrock dating from the same site, the forefield of Steingletscher (European Alps), and reconstruct the glacier's millennial recession and advance periods. The results suggest that, subsequent to the final deglaciation at ∼10 ka, the glacier was similar to or smaller than its 2000 CE extent for ∼7 kyr. At ∼3 ka, Steingletscher advanced to an extent slightly outside the maximum Little Ice Age (LIA) position and until the 19th century experienced sizes that were mainly confined between the LIA and 2000 CE extents. These findings agree with existing Holocene glacier chronologies and proxy records of summer temperatures in the Alps, suggesting that glaciers throughout the region were similar to or even smaller than their 2000 CE extent for most of the early and mid-Holocene. Although glaciers in the Alps are currently far from equilibrium with the accelerating anthropogenic warming, thus hindering a simple comparison of summer temperatures associated with modern and paleo-glacier sizes, our findings imply that the summer temperatures during most of the Holocene, including the HTM, were similar to those at the end of the 20th century. Further investigations are necessary to refine the magnitude of warming and the potential HTM seasonality.

scholarly journals Timing of Medieval Fluvial Aggradation at Bremgarten in the Southern Upper Rhine Graben – a Test for Luminescence Dating

2009 ◽  
Vol 57 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 411-432
Author(s):  
Manfred Frechen ◽  
Dietrich Ellwanger ◽  
Daniel Rimkus ◽  
Astrid Techmer
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Upper Rhine Graben ◽  
River Rhine ◽  
Fluvial Sediments ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Short Period

Abstract. The Holocene flood plain of the River Rhine is a complex dynamic sedimentary system. A series of geochronological results for the Bremgarten section including optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating was determined to improve the understanding of part of the Holocene evolution of the River Rhine. The applied single aliquot regenerative (SAR) protocols and the applied experimental studies to find the best luminescence behaviour leave us with confidence that OSL dating is a suitable method for dating fluvial sediments from large river systems. Insufficient bleaching of the sediments from Bremgarten prior to deposition seems to be not as dramatic as previously thought. OSL and radiocarbon dating results give evidence for a short period of major erosion and re-sedimentation of fluvial sediments from the “Tiefgestade” at the Bremgarten section between 500 and 600 years before present. This time period correlates with the beginning of the Little Ice Age at about AD 1450. Several severe floods occurred in Southern Germany between AD 1500 and 1750; all those floods correlate to the period of the Little Ice Age, including the destruction of the village of Neuenburg AD 1525.

Holocene Glacial and Tree-Line Variations in the White River Valley and Skolai Pass, Alaska and Yukon Territory

1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
George H. Denton ◽  
Wibjörn Karlén
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Summer Temperature ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Tree Line ◽  
White River ◽  
Glacier Recession

Complex glacier and tree-line fluctuations in the White River valley on the northern flank of the St. Elias and Wrangell Mountains in southern Alaska and Yukon Territory are recognized by detailed moraine maps and drift stratigraphy, and are dated by dendrochronology, lichenometry,14C ages, and stratigraphic relations of drift to the eastern (123014C yr BP) and northern (198014C yr BP) lobes of the White River Ash. The results show two major intervals of expansion, one concurrent with the well-known and widespread Little Ice Age and the other dated between 2900 and 210014C yr BP, with a culmination about 2600 and 280014C yr BP. Here, the ages of Little Ice Age moraines suggest fluctuating glacier expansion between ad 1500 and the early 20th century. Much of the 20th century has experienced glacier recession, but probably it would be premature to declare the Little Ice Age over. The complex moraine systems of the older expansion interval lie immediately downvalley from Little Ice Age moraines, suggesting that the two expansion intervals represent similar events in the Holocene, and hence that the Little Ice Age is not unique. Another very short-lived advance occurred about 1230 to 105014C yr BP. Spruce immigrated into the valley to a minimum altitude of 3500 ft (1067 m), about 600 ft (183 m) below the current spruce tree line of 4100 ft (1250 m), at least by 802014C yr BP. Subsequent intervals of high tree line were in accord with glacier recession; in fact, several spruce-wood deposits above current tree line occur bedded between Holocene tills. High deposits of fossil wood range up to 76 m above present tree line and are dated at about 5250, 3600 to 3000, and 2100 to 123014C yr BP. St. Elias glacial and tree-line fluctuations, which probably are controlled predominantly by summer temperature and by length of the growing and ablation seasons, correlate closely with a detailed Holocene tree-ring curve from California, suggesting a degree of synchronism of Holocene summer-temperature changes between the two areas. This synchronism is strengthened by comparison with the glacier record from British Columbia and Mt. Rainier. Likewise, broad synchronism of Holocene events exists across the Arctic between the St. Elias Mountains and Swedish Lappland. Finally, two sequences from the Southern Hemisphere show similar records, in so far as dating allows. Hence, we believe that a preliminary case can be made for broad synchronism of Holocene climatic fluctuations in several regions, although further data are needed and several areas, particularly Colorado and Baffin Island, show major differences in the regional pattern.

Climatic Changes in the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Region of China during the Holocene

1987 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wang Fu-Bao ◽  
C. Y. Fan
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Southern Slope ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Northeastern Part ◽  
Xizang Plateau ◽  
Sand And Gravel

AbstractClimatic changes in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau of China were studied by analyzing the composition of peat and layers of sand and gravel distributed along the southern slopes of Nianqing-Tanggula and Gangdise Mountains, cross sections of deposits near a number of interior lakes in Xizang, past glacial variations on the southern slope of Nianqing-Tanggula Mountain, and landform changes south of the Yaluzangbu River. Such geologic evidence suggests a division of five climatic periods since the beginning of the Holocene: (1) The Wumadung interval, 10,000–7500 yr B.P., slightly cold and dry; (2) Qilongduo interval, 7500-3000 yr B.P., warm and moist; (3) the mid-Neoglacial period, 3000-1500 yr B.P., cold, except between 2500 and 200 yr B.P. when it was warmer; (4) the Dawelong interval, 1500-300 yr B.P., mild; and (5) the Little Ice Age, 300-0 yr B.P., cold. These changes progressed in a similar but not identical pattern as those in the northeastern part of China and in the northern region of Europe.

scholarly journals CHANGES OF THE HUMIDIFICATION OF VALLEY PEAT BAGS R.BOLSHAYA USSURKA (PRIMORYE) BY THE DATA OF THE DIATOMIC ANALYSIS

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Т.Р. Макарова
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Summer Monsoon ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Peat Bog ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Dry Conditions

Изучение разреза торфяника в бассейне р. Большая Уссурка (Приморье) позволило выявить изменения увлажненности. Установлен период продолжительных засух, совпадавших с ослаблением летнего муссона. Несмотря на сухие условия проходили паводки, вызванные тайфунами или глубокими циклонами. Влажными были малый оптимум голоцена и малый ледниковый период, характеризовавшиеся усилением циклогенеза. Отмечены кратковременные флуктуации увлажнения, периоды с разной паводковой активностью. Study of the peat bog section in the river basin Bolshaya Ussurka (Primorye) made it possible to distinguish periods with different moisture. Period of prolonged droughts was established, coinciding with the weakening of the summer monsoon. Dry conditions did not exclude floods due to the passage of typhoons or deep cyclones. The low optimum of the Holocene and the Little Ice Age, characterized by increased cyclogenesis, were humid. Short-term fluctuations of moisture, periods with different flood activity were noted.

scholarly journals Glacier response to Holocene warmth inferred from in situ <sup>10</sup>Be and <sup>14</sup>C bedrock analyses in Steingletscher’s forefield (central Swiss Alps)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Schimmelpfennig ◽  
Joerg Schaefer ◽  
Jennifer Lamp ◽  
Vincent Godard ◽  
Roseanne Schwartz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Warm Season ◽  
Summer Temperature ◽  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
European Alps ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Holocene Thermal Maximum ◽  
Mountain Glaciers ◽  
Driving Mechanisms

Abstract. Mid-latitude mountain glaciers sensitively respond to local summer temperature changes. Chronologies of past glacier fluctuations based on the investigation of glacial landforms therefore allows for a better understanding of warm-season climate variability at local scale. In this study, we focus on the Holocene, the current interglacial of the last 11,700 years, which remains matter of dispute regarding its temperature evolution and underlying driving mechanisms. In particular, the nature and significance of the transition from the early to mid-Holocene and of the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) are still debated. Here, we apply a new approach by combining in situ cosmogenic 10Be moraine and 10Be-14C bedrock dating from the same site, the forefield of Steingletscher (European Alps), and reconstruct the glacier’s millennial recession and advance periods. The results suggest that subsequent to the final deglaciation at ~10 ka, the glacier was mostly smaller than its 2000 CE extent until ~3 ka, followed by the predominant occurrence of glacier advances until the end of the Little Ice Age in the 19th century. These findings agree with existing proxy records of Holocene summer temperature and glacier evolution in the Alps, showing that glaciers throughout the region retreated beyond modern extents for most of the Early and mid-Holocene. This implies that at least the summer climate of the HTM was warmer than that of the end of the 20th century for several millennia. Further investigations are necessary to refine the magnitude of warming and the potential HTM seasonality.

scholarly journals Holocene History of Río Tranquilo Glacier, Monte San Lorenzo (47°S), Central Patagonia

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esteban A. Sagredo ◽  
Scott A. Reynhout ◽  
Michael R. Kaplan ◽  
Juan C. Aravena ◽  
Paola S. Araya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
European Alps ◽  
Mountain Glacier ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
San Lorenzo ◽  
Southern Patagonia

The causes underlying Holocene glacier fluctuations remain elusive, despite decades of research efforts. Cosmogenic nuclide dating has allowed systematic study and thus improved knowledge of glacier-climate dynamics during this time frame, in part by filling in geographical gaps in both hemispheres. Here we present a new comprehensive Holocene moraine chronology from Mt. San Lorenzo (47°S) in central Patagonia, Southern Hemisphere. Twenty-four new 10Be ages, together with three published ages, indicate that the Río Tranquilo glacier approached its Holocene maximum position sometime, or possibly on multiple occasions, between 9,860 ± 180 and 6,730 ± 130 years. This event(s) was followed by a sequence of slightly smaller advances at 5,750 ± 220, 4,290 ± 100 (?), 3,490 ± 140, 1,440 ± 60, between 670 ± 20 and 430 ± 20, and at 390 ± 10 years ago. The Tranquilo record documents centennial to millennial-scale glacier advances throughout the Holocene, and is consistent with recent glacier chronologies from central and southern Patagonia. This pattern correlates well with that of multiple moraine-building events with slightly decreasing net extent, as is observed at other sites in the Southern Hemisphere (i.e., Patagonia, New Zealand and Antarctic Peninsula) throughout the early, middle and late Holocene. This is in stark contrast to the typical Holocene mountain glacier pattern in the Northern Hemisphere, as documented in the European Alps, Scandinavia and Canada, where small glaciers in the early-to-mid Holocene gave way to more-extensive glacier advances during the late Holocene, culminating in the Little Ice Age expansion. We posit that this past asymmetry between the Southern and Northern hemisphere glacier patterns is due to natural forcing that has been recently overwhelmed by anthropogenic greenhouse gas driven warming, which is causing interhemispherically synchronized glacier retreat unprecedented during the Holocene.

The extent, timing and palaeoclimatic significance of Late-glacial and Holocene snowpatches and glaciers in the Marrakech High Atlas, Morocco

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Bell ◽  
Philip Hughes ◽  
William Fletcher ◽  
Roger Braithwaite ◽  
Henk Cornelissen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
High Atlas ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Exposure Dating ◽  
Ground Water Recharge ◽  
Late Glacial And Holocene ◽  
High Level ◽  
Snow And Ice

&lt;p&gt;Pleistocene glaciers were extensive in the Marrakech High Atlas, Morocco. Today, semi-permanent snowpatches survive in topoclimatic settings and there is evidence of niche glaciers as recently as the Little Ice Age and early 20&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; Century. However, little is known about the state of permanent snow and niche glaciers through the Holocene. One hypothesis is that Little Ice Age glaciers were the largest snow and ice masses since the end of the Late-glacial (Younger Dryas 12.9-11.7 ka). Another possibility is that snow and ice expanded to similar or greater extents at other points in the Holocene.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To test these hypotheses, moraine boulders have been sampled on moraine successions in the highest parts of the High Atlas, including moraine successions in front of the n&amp;#233;v&amp;#233; permanent below the north-facing cliffs of Tazaghart (3890 m a.s.l.), a semi-permanent snowpatch that survives many summers today. This site is bounded by prominent moraine ridges with no soil development and no lichens on surface boulders. Several other high-level sites have been targeted and over 40 samples are currently being processed for &lt;sup&gt;10&lt;/sup&gt;Be and &lt;sup&gt;36&lt;/sup&gt;Cl exposure dating. Establishing the relative difference in extent and altitude of Late-glacial and the most recent glaciers in the High Atlas is important for understanding landscape and climate evolution in high mountain areas in the subtropics (31&amp;#186;N).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The dated geomorphological records for late-lying snow and glaciers will be compared to high-resolution &lt;sup&gt;14&lt;/sup&gt;C dated continuous parasequences from sediment cores from marshes at the Yagour Plateau and Ouka&amp;#239;meden, both high-level sites in the High Atlas (~2700 m a.s.l.). The proximity of these sites (5-30 km, respectively) from the snowpatch/glacier sites will provide an important independent record of environmental change, spanning the Late-glacial and Holocene. This geomorphological record of former glaciers and snowpatches (moraines and pronival ramparts) is inherently fragmentary in time and the continuous core records from these alpine marshes will provide crucial insights into changing moisture conditions over time, which at these altitudes are closely related to the extent and volume of snowpack.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The climates associated with perennial snow cover and niche glaciers, and the associated annual snowpack melt, will be quantified using degree-day modelling. This allows melt rates to be predicted and this can be compared against observed modern climate in the High Atlas region. This involves interrogation of existing meteorological datasets from across the High Atlas and the development of algorithms for interpolation and extrapolation to ungauged higher altitudes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Changes in the nature of the cryosphere through time in the High Atlas Mountains is crucial for understanding human activity and socioeconomic development in the wider region. Today, snowmelt from the High Atlas represents the most important ground water recharge used for a wide variety of purposes. Understanding changes in snow conditions, and as a consequence the behaviour of niche glaciers, in the High Atlas through the Holocene has important implications not only for water supply for humans but also for biological refugia and the evolution of cold-adapted flora and fauna.&lt;/p&gt;

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