scholarly journals New chronological constraints on the timing of Late Pleistocene glacier advances in northern Switzerland

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorian Gaar ◽  
Hans Rudolf Graf ◽  
Frank Preusser
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Northern Switzerland ◽  
Stage 4 ◽  
Glacier Dynamics ◽  
Northern Alpine Foreland ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Alpine Foreland ◽  
Methodological Considerations ◽  
Age Constraints ◽  
Partial Bleaching

Abstract. Deposits of the Reuss Glacier in the central northern Alpine foreland of Switzerland are dated using luminescence methodology. Methodological considerations on partial bleaching and fading correction of different signals imply the robustness of the results. An age of ca. 25 ka for sediment directly overlying basal lodgement till corresponds well with existing age constraints for the last maximal position of glaciers of the northern Swiss Alpine Foreland. Luminescence ages imply an earlier advance of Reuss Glacier into the lowlands during Marine Isotope Stage 4. The presented data are compared to findings from other parts of the Alps regarding glacier dynamics and palaeoclimatological implications, such as the source of precipitation during the Late Pleistocene.

The Missing Link between Terrain-Induced Potential Vorticity Banners and Banded Convection

2016 ◽  
Vol 144 (11) ◽  
pp. 4063-4080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon K. Siedersleben ◽  
Alexander Gohm
Keyword(s):  
Convective Cloud ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Topographic Features ◽  
Inertial Instability ◽  
Northern Alpine Foreland ◽  
Southern Side ◽  
Northern Side ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Alpine Foreland ◽  
Conditional Instability

Abstract On 1 February 2014, the southern side of the Alps was affected by a severe snowstorm that forced authorities to issue the highest level of avalanche danger in southern parts of Austria. The northern side of the Alps was mostly dry. Nevertheless, radar imagery captured the evolution of quasi-steady convective cloud bands over the northern Alpine foreland with a remarkable length of up to 300 km. This study illuminates the processes that generated these cloud bands based on numerical simulations. The storm was associated with a deep large-scale trough that caused strong southwesterly cross-Alpine flow, orographic precipitation on the southern side, and foehnlike subsidence on the northern side of the Alps. Orographic potential vorticity (PV) banners developed at small-scale topographic features embedded in the Alps and extended downstream over the northern Alpine foreland. Convective cloud bands were aligned parallel to these PV banners. They formed in an environment of inertial instability (negative absolute vorticity) and conditional instability. Sensitivity experiments reveal that the structure and size of these cloud bands are strongly sensitive to the small-scale terrain roughness. Removing small-scale topographic features suppresses the formation of orographic vorticity banners, which in turn suppresses the development of cloud bands. These results suggest that the release of inertial instability at negative orographic vorticity banners was crucial for establishing circulations and associated uplift that triggered conditional instability. To summarize, inertial instability was most likely responsible for the banded structure and conditional instability for the convective nature of these cloud bands.

Early Pleistocene complex cut-and-fill sequences in the Alps

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catharina Dieleman ◽  
Marcus Christl ◽  
Christof Vockenhuber ◽  
Philip Gautschi ◽  
Naki Akçar
Keyword(s):  
Depositional Environment ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Cosmogenic Nuclide ◽  
Base Level ◽  
Drainage Patterns ◽  
Northern Alpine Foreland ◽  
First Onset ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Alpine Foreland ◽  
Cut And Fill

<p>Deckenschotter (Cover Gravels in German) are Quaternary glacio-fluvial gravels, which unconformably overlie Tertiary Molasse or Mesozoic bedrock in the Northern Alpine Foreland. They comprise also the evidence of the Early Pleistocene glaciations. A significant phase of incision separated them into Höhere Deckenschotter (HDS: Higher Cover Gravels) and Tiefere Deckenschotter (TDS: Lower Cover Gravels) based on their topography. How the landscape evolved during Deckenschotter times is still not fully understood. The new cosmogenic nuclide chronology suggests that HDS deposited around 2 Ma and TDS around 1 Ma. In addition, 2 Ma old Deckenschotter are located at the same topographic elevation as the 1 Ma ones at Irchel (Canton of Zurich). This, indeed, points to cut-and-fill sequences and challenges the chronology based on the morphostratigraphy.</p><p>The aim of this study is to reconstruct the drainage patterns, base level changes, and thus the landscape evolution in the northern Alpine Foreland during the Early Pleistocene. Therefore, we focused on three Deckenschotter sites at Irchel and one in the area around Lake Constance. Sediments at these sites were analysed in detail to reveal their provenance, transport mechanism, depositional environment, and paleoflow regimes. Their chronology was established by isochron-burial dating. Our results indicate that the analysed sediments were transported from the Central and eastern Central Alps as well as from the Molasse to the foreland first by glaciers and then by rivers. They are deposited in a glacio-fluvial environment in the vicinity of a glacier. Based on the reconstructed chronology in this study and published cosmogenic nuclide ages, we propose that Deckenschotter are cut-and-fill sequences accumulated in three pulses between 2.5 Ma and 1 Ma. This cut-and-fill system implies that the regional base level was relatively constant during the Early Pleistocene. In addition, the depositional environment of Deckenschotter shows the presence of glaciers in the foreland. The 2.5 Ma old gravels, therefore, document the first advance of glaciers onto the Alpine Foreland. This seems to be synchronous with a first onset of glaciations on the northern hemisphere, which is assumed to occur at around 2.7 Ma.</p>

Delving deeper into cosmogenic 26Al-10Be isochron-burial dating of Swiss Deckenschotter deposits

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewelina Broś ◽  
Florian Kober ◽  
Susan Ivy-Ochs ◽  
Reto Grischott ◽  
Marcus Christl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Planetary Science ◽  
Glacial Sediments ◽  
Northern Switzerland ◽  
Subaerial Exposure ◽  
Northern Alpine Foreland ◽  
First Results ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
Alpine Foreland

<p>The oldest Quaternary deposits of the Swiss Northern Alpine Foreland are found on numerous hilltops, up to 300 m above the current valley bottoms. These Deckenschotter deposits consist mainly of glaciofluvial sediments intercalated with glacial sediments. Traditionally, the Deckenschotter are divided into two units: Höhere Deckenschotter (HDS – Higher Deckenschotter) and Tiefere Deckenschotter (TDS – Lower Deckenschotter). Elevation differences between the two suggest a phase of 100-150 m of incision (Graf, 2009).</p><p>Knowledge of their age of deposition is necessary for understanding the long-term landscape evolution as well as for assessing the long-term safety of the planned deep geological repository for nuclear waste in northern Switzerland (NTB 14-01, 2014). In this study, the method of isochron-burial dating was implemented to address the question of the age of the Deckenschotter. We aim to reconstruct the chronology of the alternating deposition and incision of the gravel units in the Northern Alpine Foreland. Our focus is placed on similar and complementary Deckenschotter sites located in the Northern Alpine Foreland in crucial locations in order to establish sound long-term landscape evolution scenarios. One of these is a former gravel pit, Feusi, situated in the southern slope of the hill chain called ‘Egg’ or ‘Schliniker Platten’, north of the village Oberweningen. The outcrop comprises several gravel units intercalated with glacigenic diamict layer in the upper part. Previous age estimates with the isochron-burial dating method indicate an age of 1.1 ± 0.2 Ma for the diamict layer (NAB 19-025, 2020). Knudsen et al. (2020) reported an age of 0.93 ± 0.13 Ma for the same layer based on a slightly different age calculation approach.</p><p>We sampled the lowermost accessible horizon, the Egg Schotter, of the Feusi outcrop at an altitude of ~580 m a.s.l. This horizon is located close to the base of the outcrop, just a few meters above the contact with the underlying Molasse and in a clear stratigraphic position, 20 m below the previously dated diamict. Study of the lowermost unit will allow us to temporally examine the earliest phases of Deckenschotter accumulation. Weathering horizons in the gravel layers overlying the Egg Schotter suggests periodic subaerial exposure. Therefore, the total time contained in the sediment package is difficult to estimate. Having two horizons dated at different depth in the same outcrop may provide insight into the timespan hidden between the deposition and weathering of different gravel layers. Indications of the timespan of HDS activity could be further gleaned by comparing to the age from the glacigenic sediment. In order to achieve this, eight clast samples of quartz-rich lithologies, of various shapes and sizes were collected in the Egg Schotter and processed for isochron-burial dating. The cosmogenic nuclides <sup>10</sup>Be and <sup>26</sup>Al were extracted and measured with the new MILEA accelerator at the accelerator mass spectrometry facility, ETH Zurich. The first results of this study will be presented.</p><p> </p><p>Graf, H.R. 2009: Quaternary Science Journal 58, 12–53</p><p>Nagra, NTB 14-01, 2014</p><p>Nagra, NAB 19-025, 2020</p><p>Knudsen, M.F. et al. 2020. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 549, 116491</p>

scholarly journals Volcanism and Volcanogenic Submarine Sedimentation in the Paleogene Foreland Basins of the Alps: Reassessing the Source-to-Sink Systems with an Actualist View

Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Andrea Di Capua ◽  
Federica Barilaro ◽  
Gianluca Groppelli
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Foreland Basins ◽  
The North ◽  
Source To Sink ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Alpine Foreland ◽  
Alpine Foreland Basin ◽  
Tectonic Lineament ◽  
First Time

This work critically reviews the Eocene–Oligocene source-to-sink systems accumulating volcanogenic sequences in the basins around the Alps. Through the years, these volcanogenic sequences have been correlated to the plutonic bodies along the Periadriatic Fault System, the main tectonic lineament running from West to East within the axis of the belt. Starting from the large amounts of data present in literature, for the first time we present an integrated 4D model on the evolution of the sediment pathways that once connected the magmatic sources to the basins. The magmatic systems started to develop during the Eocene in the Alps, supplying detritus to the Adriatic Foredeep. The progradation of volcanogenic sequences in the Northern Alpine Foreland Basin is subsequent and probably was favoured by the migration of the magmatic systems to the North and to the West. At around 30 Ma, the Northern Apennine Foredeep also was fed by large volcanogenic inputs, but the palinspastic reconstruction of the Adriatic Foredeep, together with stratigraphic and petrographic data, allows us to safely exclude the Alps as volcanogenic sources. Beyond the regional case, this review underlines the importance of a solid stratigraphic approach in the reconstruction of the source-to-sink system evolution of any basin.

scholarly journals New glacier evidence for ice-free summits during the life of the Tyrolean Iceman

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal Bohleber ◽  
Margit Schwikowski ◽  
Martin Stocker-Waldhuber ◽  
Ling Fang ◽  
Andrea Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Elevation Gradient ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Detailed Knowledge ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Alpine Glaciers ◽  
The Alps ◽  
Tyrolean Iceman ◽  
High Elevations ◽  
Age Constraints

AbstractDetailed knowledge of Holocene climate and glaciers dynamics is essential for sustainable development in warming mountain regions. Yet information about Holocene glacier coverage in the Alps before the Little Ice Age stems mostly from studying advances of glacier tongues at lower elevations. Here we present a new approach to reconstructing past glacier low stands and ice-free conditions by assessing and dating the oldest ice preserved at high elevations. A previously unexplored ice dome at Weißseespitze summit (3500 m), near where the “Tyrolean Iceman” was found, offers almost ideal conditions for preserving the original ice formed at the site. The glaciological settings and state-of-the-art micro-radiocarbon age constraints indicate that the summit has been glaciated for about 5900 years. In combination with known maximum ages of other high Alpine glaciers, we present evidence for an elevation gradient of neoglaciation onset. It reveals that in the Alps only the highest elevation sites remained ice-covered throughout the Holocene. Just before the life of the Iceman, high Alpine summits were emerging from nearly ice-free conditions, during the start of a Mid-Holocene neoglaciation. We demonstrate that, under specific circumstances, the old ice at the base of high Alpine glaciers is a sensitive archive of glacier change. However, under current melt rates the archive at Weißseespitze and at similar locations will be lost within the next two decades.

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