Publication Date:
2016-03-10
Description:
Detailed 10 Be and 14 C dating and supporting pollen analysis of Alpine Lateglacial glacial and landslide deposits in the Hohen Tauern Mountains (Austria) constrain a sequence-based stratigraphy comprising a major landslide (13.0±1.1 ka) overlain by till and termino-lateral moraines of an advancing (12.6±1.0 ka) and retreating (11.3±0.8 ka) glacier in turn overlain by a minor landslide (10.8±1.1 ka). These results define glacier activity during the Younger Dryas age Egesen stadial bracketed by landslide activities during the Bølling-Allerød interstadial and the Preboreal. In contrast to recent studies on Holocene glaciation in the Alps, no traces of any Holocene glacier advance bigger than during the Little Ice Age are documented. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the advantages of using an allostratigraphical approach based on unconformity-bounded sedimentary units as a tool for glacial stratigraphy in formerly glaciated mountain regions, rather than a stratigraphy based on either isolated morphological features or lithostratigraphical characteristics.
Print ISSN:
0300-9483
Electronic ISSN:
1502-3885
Topics:
Geography
,
Geosciences
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