Late quaternary of the middle Caquetá River area (Colombian Amazonia)

The late Quaternary history of the middle Caquetá River area in Colombia, northwestern Amazonia is described, based on observations of river bank sections, radiocarbon dates and palynological analyses of organic layers in floodplain and low terrace sediments of the Caquetá River. It is shown that the Late Pleistocene and Holocene climatic changes that took place in the Andean Cordilleras, were related to the depositional and erosional history of the Caquetá River in the Colombian Amazonian lowlands. The low terrace sediments consist of sandy and gravelly deposits covered by clays that sometimes contain lenses of peaty material. From these organic low terrace sediments, seven finite radiocarbon dates were obtained of Middle Pleniglacial age, between 56 000 and 30 000 yr BP. The coarse textured basal deposits of the low terrace apparently stem from the early part of the Middle Pleniglaciai period, during which the effective rainfall in the Andes was relatively high and the Andean glaciers had a considerable extension. Palynological data from silty sediments with organic remains at one site, show an interval when drier and more open types of vegetation on poor soils must have covered a larger area than today, but Amazonian forest was still the dominating type of vegetation. This interval might correspond to one of the Middle Pleniglacial savanna intervals from eastern Amazonia (Carajas). No organic sediments from the Upper Pleniglacial period were found and hence radiocarbon dates were not obtained. In the Andes this period had a very cold climate with low effective rainfall and in the east Amazonian Carajas area it is characterised by the relative extension of open savanna vegetation. The river run-off and sediment transport must have been much lower than in the Middle Pleniglacial and the Caquetá River cut itself down in its own sediments. Two Late-glacial radiocarbon datings obtained at one site (ca. 12 500 yr BP) indicate the existence of a Late-glacial sedimentation phase, separated from the Holocene sequence by a minor erosional phase. Organic layers in the Holocene floodplain sediments yielded 28 radiocarbon dates between 10 000 and 355 yr BP. Holocene sedimentation started with the rapid deposition of (sandy) clay possibly in a partly permanently inundated Caquetá valley. During the major part of the Holocene (silty) clays were deposited, with a dominant seasonal inundation cycle.     

Fluctuations of the South Patagonian Ice-field during the last glaciation and the Holocene

Mapping along a transect from the southeastern margin of the South Patagonian Ice-field in Torres del Paine National Park (Chile) to the limits of fresh moraines of the last glacial cycle indentified eight glacier advances. The four younger ones have been dated by dendrochronology, tephrochronology and radiocarbon dating. Although the bases of 10 m deep bogs were sampled, close limiting radiocarbon dates were not obtained because bog formation in this rain-shadow area appears not to have commenced until ca.12000 yr ago. The outermost Little Ice Age moraine formed during the seventeenth century and three inner ones were deposited around ad 1805, 1845 and after 1890. Densely vegetated older moraines contiguous with Little Ice Age deposits are possibly of late Holocene age. Tephra from the eruption of Reclus volcano at ca. 11 880 yr BP was incorporated by a readvance that deposited large multiple moraines 10–16 km from the modern ice-front; the oldest basal peat found inside the moraine has been dated to ca. 9200 yr BP. These bracketing dates indicate that some eastern outlet glaciers of the ice-field advanced at a time when some western tidewater outlet glaciers terminated inside their modern limits. This questions the view of J. H. Mercer and other that Patagonian glaciers did not readvance during the late-glacial interval. A stadial event also occurred when the glaciers were some 18–20 km from their modern positions and is closely dated to ca. 11880 yr BP because Reclus pumice flushed down-glacier forms thick upper beds in outwash deltas deposited in proglacial lakes. The four older moraines pre-date the late-glacial eruption of Reclus but are not dated closely. Comparison of their spatial extent with well-dated moraines in the Chilean Lakes Region suggests that they may mark advances culminating at ca. 14000 yr BP, ca. 20000 yr BP and earlier.     

Extent, timing, and climatic implications of glacier advances Mount Rainier, Washington, U.S.A., at the pleistocene/holocene transition

The North Atlantic Younger Dryas climatic reversal did not cause a glacier advance on Mount Rainier. The glaciers on Mount Rainier seem to have advanced in response to regional or local shifts in climate. However, the Younger Dryas climatic reversal may have affected the Mount Rainier area, causing a cold, but dry, climate unfavorable to glacier advances. Glaciers in the vicinity of Mount Rainier advanced twice during late glacial/early Holocene time. Radiocarbon dates obtained from lake sediments adjacent to the corresponding moraines are concordant, indicating that the ages for the advances are closely limiting. The first advance occurred before 11,300 ¹⁴C yr BP (13,200 cal yr BP). During the North Atlantic Younger Dryas event, between 11,000 and 10,000 ¹⁴C yr BP (12,900 and 11,600 cal yr BP), glaciers retreated on Mount Rainier, probably due to a lack of available moisture, but conditions may have remained cold. The onset of warmer conditions on Mount Rainier occurred around 10,000 ¹⁴C yr BP (11,600 cal yr BP). Organic sedimentation lasted for at least 700 years before glaciers readvanced between 9800 and 8950 ¹⁴C yr BP (10,900 and 9950 cal yr BP).     

Late quaternary glacial stades in the Cordillera Central,Colombia, based on glacial geomorphology,tephra–soil stratigraphy,palynology, and radiocarbon dating

Using data from glacial geomorphology, tephra–soil stratigraphy and mineralogy, palynology, and radiocarbon dating, a sequence of glacial and bioclimatic stades and interstades has been identified for the last ca. 50000 yr in the Ruiz-Tolima massif, Cordillera Central, Colombia. Six Pleistocene cold stades separated by warmer interstades occurred: before 48000, between 48000 and 33000, between 28000 and 21000, from ≥16000 to ca. 14000, ca. 13000–12400, and ca. 11000–10000 yr BP. Although these radiocarbon ages are minimum-limiting ages obtained from tephra layers on top of tills, the tills are not significantly older because most are bracketed by dated tephra sets in measured stratigraphic sections. Two minor moraine stages likely reflect glacier standstill during cold intervals ca. 7400 yr BP and slightly earlier. Finally, glaciers readvanced between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. In contrast to the ice-clad volcanoes of the massif, ca. 34 km² in area above an altitude of ca. 4800 m, the ice cover expanded to 1200 km² during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and was still 800 km² during Late-glacial time (LGT). Glacier reconstructions based on the moraines suggest depression of the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) by ca. 1100 m during the LGM and 500–600 m during LGT relative to the modern ELA, which lies at ca. 5100 m in the Cordillera Central. Glaciers in this region apparently reached their greatest extent when the climate was cold and wet, e.g. during stades corresponding to Oxygen Isotope Stage 3; glaciers were still expanding during the LGM ca. 28000–21000 yr BP, but they shrank considerably after 21000 yr BP because of greatly reduced precipitation. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late-glacial and Holocene sedimentation and fluctuations of river water level in the Caquetá River area (Colombian Amazonia)

The sequence of Late-glacial and Holocene alluvial sedimentation in the middle Caquetá River Basin of Colombian Amazonia is described, based on the study of the sediments and palynology of several river bank sections and on 30 radiocarbon dates. An early Late-glacial sedimentation cycle is recognised, followed by a minor late Late-glacial erosion phase. The Holocene valley fill consists of grey clays (often present in the lower part of the sections) deposited in open water and silty clays often with faint yellow mottling, deposited under a regime of seasonal flooding. The base of the Holocene sections is formed by sands, where exposed. In two places the transition of sand to open-water grey clay was dated around 10 000 yr BP and there is a suggestion that open water may have been more common at the beginning of the Holocene than later, when sedimentation by seasonal flooding became important. In many places much of the earlier Holocene sediments may have been removed by erosion and replaced by younger sediments, by a process of lateral aggradation. A considerable part of the present valley fill is younger than ca. 3500 yr. However, in several places older Holocene sediments are found, apparently only little affected by later erosion, lying below younger varzea silty clays. During the Holocene more organic sediments were formed in periods with reduced river discharge, related to drier climates in the Andes and possibly in Amazonia. These dry periods, deduced from data in the Caquetá River area, correspond well with dry phases in other parts of northwestern South America (e.g. between approximately 2700-1900 yr BP and approximately 3200-3800 yr BP). Rates of average net sedimentation, calculated from dated sections that apparently lack major hiatuses caused by erosion, were high in the lower Holocene, low during the middle Holocene and increase again in the upper Holocene. Levee deposits became coarser and the high river level of the Caquetá increased during the late Holocene. These phenomena may be explained by the increasing influence of man on the vegetation cover in the Andean headwater areas and possibly also in the Amazonian catchment area of the Caquetá River.     

Towards a chronology of the Late Pleistocene in the northern Alpine Foreland

Dating results from terrestrial records in the northern foreland of the Alps have been compiled in order to establish an independent chronostratigraphy for the climate history of this region. U/Th dates of peat deposited during the final phase of the Last Interglacial indicate that it lasted until at least c. 115 000 yr ago. The Early Würmian started with a period of severe cold climate causing a substitution of forest by tundra-like vegetation. It is assumed that during this period glaciers advanced to the margin of the foreland of at least the Western Alps. Sediments attributed to this glaciation are dated to about 103 000 yr. Three subsequent interstadials, all characterized by coniferous forest, were interrupted by cold stadials with steppe to tundra-like vegetation. The first interstadial is dated to about 95 000 yr. There is evidence for an interstadial with open coniferous woodland and three phases of steppe vegetation during the Middle Würmian, between c. 50000 and 30 000 yr ago. The last glaciation of the Alpine Foreland reached its maximum extension between 24 000 and 21 500 yr and glaciers rapidly collapsed before ˜17 500 yr ago. A series of minor re-advances during the Lateglacial is reported from within the Alps, but the glaciers barely reached the main Alpine valleys during this time. The last of these advances formed the Egesen moraine and occurred at about 11 800 yr ago during the Younger Dryas.     

Late Quaternary history of Washington Land, North Greenland

During the last glacial stage, Washington Land in western North Greenland was probably completely inundated by the Greenland Ice Sheet. The oldest shell dates from raised marine deposits that provide minimum ages for the last deglaciation are 9300 cal. yr BP (northern Washington Land) and 7600 cal. yr BP (SW Washington Land). These dates indicate that Washington Land, which borders the central part of Nares Strait separating Greenland from Ellesmere Island in Canada, did not become free of glacier ice until well into the Holocene. The elevation of the marine limit falls from 110 m a.s.l. in the north to 60 m a.s.l. in the southwest. The recession was followed by readvance of glaciers in the late Holocene, and the youngest shell date from Neoglacial lateral moraines north of Humboldt Gletscher is 600 cal. yr BP. Since the Neoglacial maximum, probably around 100 years ago, glaciers have receded. The Holocene marine assemblages comprise a few southern extralimital records, notably of Chlamys islandica dated to 7300 cal. yr BP. Musk ox and reindeer disappeared from Washington Land recently, perhaps in connection with the cold period that culminated about 100 years ago.     

Quaternary glaciations of the Rongbuk Valley,Tibet

Randomisation tests on boulder weathering data distinguish moraines of four different ages in the Rongbuk Valley, all deposited by valley glaciers flowing northward into Tibet from the Himalaya. Lichenometry utilising subgenus Rhizocarpon distinguishes two groups of moraines, those <100 yr old and those older than several thousand years. The degree of soil development has a similar, limited utility in relative-age dating these moraines. The radiocarbon ages of calcium carbonate coatings in the lower horizons of moraine soils provide minimum-limiting ages of 1900 yr BP for the penultimate advance of the Rongbuk glacier (Samdopo moraine) and 9500 yr BP for the Rongbuk moraine, the moraine suggested by previous workers to represent the last glacial maximum. Equilibrium-line depression associated with the Rongbuk moraine probably was slight, <200 m. The small magnitude of this depression relative to glaciers in other mountain ranges could relate to a weakening of the monsoon in full glacial times, recent tectonic uplift, and/or to the insensitivity of these high-altitude glaciers to lowering temperatures in the rain shadow of Mount Everest.     

Fossil pollen from Los Toldos locality: A record of the Late-glacial transition in the Extra-Andean Patagonia

Paleoenvironmental changes during the Late-glacial transition are interpreted from a pollen record from two caves at Los Toldos (47°22′S; 68°58′W) in Extra-Andean Patagonia in Argentina. The paleoenvironmental interpretation is based on changes in the ratio between shrub and grass steppe taxa and on comparison with other pollen records from the region. Between 12,600 and 8750 yr BP two vegetational changes occurred thought to reflect the establishment of Holocene-type atmospheric circulation patterns. The first change is at ca. 11,000 yr BP expressed by replacement of shrub steppe with Ephedra by a grass steppe. The second change occurred ca. 10,000 yr BP when the grass steppe was replaced by a shrub steppe dominated by Asteraceae. Before ca. 11,000 yr BP the environmental conditions were extremely arid with precipitation lower than 200 mm. Between ca. 11,000 and ca. 10,000 yr BP effective moisture increased, probably related to an increase in precipitation to about 200 mm under cold conditions. A grass steppe extended through Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, at least as far north as 47°S. It is difficult to find modern analogues for pollen associations south of 47°S older than 10,000 yr BP. Possibly at that time climate patterns were markedly different from today. At about this time of environmental changes Level 11 industry associated with extinct grazing herbivores developed. Starting at ca. 10,000 yr BP, with expansion of the shrub steppe of Asteraceae east of the Andes at 47° to 52°S and forest at 51°–54°S west of the Andes, temperature increased while water availability decreased. Precipitation probably was similar to the present, which suggests that the modern climate patterns were established at the beginning of the Holocene. The Toldense Industry, which is associated with remains of modern fauna as well as with the last remains of the Pleistocene fauna, developed in this period. The beginning of this development coincides with the extinction of Pleistocene fauna.     

季风的发展与冰川的消失——从台湾高山末次冰期冰川发育特征说起

台湾高山有无第四纪冰川之争,经历60a后终于得到澄清．此次查明台湾雪山主峰区有3套 不同时期的冰川遗迹．如冰斗湖、冰坎、大型磨光面和擦痕以及冰碛垄等,分别命名为山庄冰阶(末 次冰期早期．44.25±3.72ka BP)、黑森林冰阶(末次冰期最盛,18.26±1.52 ka BP)、雪山冰阶(末次冰 期晚期,10.68±0.84 ka BP)尤其以早期冰川规模大为特征．澄清了地学界近65a来的怀疑,将为 全球变化研究增添新内容．     

Asynchroneity of maximum glacier advances in the central Spanish Pyrenees

The deglaciation history of the Escarra and Lana Mayor glaciers (Upper Gállego valley, central Spanish Pyrenees) had been reconstructed on the basis of detailed geomorphological studies of glacier deposits, sedimentological and palynological analyses of glacial lake sediments and an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) ¹⁴C chronology based on minimum ages from glacial lake deposits. The maximum extent of the Pyrenean glaciers during the last glaciation was before 30 000 yr BP and pre‐dated the maximum advances of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and some Alpine glaciers. A later advance occurred during the coldest period (around 20 000 yr BP), synchronous with the maximum global ice extent, but in the Pyrenees it was less extensive than the previous one. Later, there were minor advances followed by a stage of debris‐covered glaciers and a phase of moraine formation near cirque backwalls. The deglaciation chronology of the Upper Gállego valley provides more examples of the general asynchroneity between mountain and continental glaciers. The asynchroneity of maximum advances may be explained by different regional responses to climatic forcing and by the southern latitude of the Pyrenees. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Glacier variations in Breheimen,southern Norway: dating Little Ice Age moraine sequences at seven low‐altitude glaciers

Moraine sequences in front of seven relatively low‐altitude glaciers in the Breheimen region of central southern Norway are described and dated using a ‘multi‐proxy’ approach to moraine stratigraphy. Lichenometric dating, based on the Rhizocarpon subgenus, is used to construct a composite moraine chronology, which indicates eight phases of synchronous moraine formation: AD 1793–1799, 1807–1813, 1845–1852, 1859–1862, 1879–1885, 1897–1898, 1906–1908 and 1931–1933. Although the existence of a few cases of older moraines, possibly dating from earlier in the eighteenth or late in the seventeenth centuries cannot be ruled out by lichenometry, Schmidt hammer R‐values from boulders on outermost moraine ridges suggest an absence of Holocene moraines older than the Little Ice Age. Twenty‐three radiocarbon dates from buried soils and peat associated with outermost moraines at three glaciers—Tverreggibreen, Storegrovbreen and Greinbreen—also indicate that the ‘Little Ice Age’ glacier maximum was the Neoglacial maximum at most if not all glaciers. Several maximum age estimates for the Little Ice Age glacier maximum range between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, with the youngest from a buried soil being AD 1693. A pre‐Little Ice Age maximum cannot be ruled out at Greinbreen, however, where the age of buried peat suggests the outermost moraine dates from AD 981–1399 (at variance with the lichenometric evidence). Glaciofluvial stratigraphy at Tverreggibreen provides evidence for minor glacier advances about AD 655–963 and AD 1277–1396, respectively. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Little Ice Age fluctuations of Glaciar Río Manso in the north Patagonian Andes of Argentina

Little Ice Age (LIA) fluctuations of Glaciar Río Manso, north Patagonian Andes, Argentina are studied using information from previous work and dendrogeomorphological analyses of living and subfossil wood. The most extensive LIA expansion occurred between the late 1700s and the 1830-1840s. Except for a massive older frontal moraine system apparently predating ca. 2240 ¹⁴C yr BP and a small section of a south lateral moraine ridge that is at least 300 yr old, the early nineteenth century advance overrode surficial evidence of any earlier LIA glacier events. Over the past 150 yr the gently sloping, heavily debris-covered lower glacier tongue has thinned significantly, but several short periods of readvance or stasis have been identified and tree-ring dated to the mid-1870s, 1890s, 1900s, 1920s, 1950s, and the mid-1970s. Ice mass loss has increased in recent years due to calving into a rapidly growing proglacial lake. The neighboring debris-free and land-based Glaciar Frías has also retreated markedly in recent years but shows substantial differences in the timing of the peak LIA advance (early 1600s). This indicates that site-specific factors can have a significant impact on the resulting glacier records and should thus be considered carefully in the development and assessment of regional glacier chronologies.     

Glacier response in the European Alps to Heinrich Event 1 cooling: the Gschnitz stadial

The Gschnitz stadial was a period of regionally extensive glacier advance in the European Alps that lies temporally between the breakdown of the Last Glacial Maximum piedmont lobes and the beginning of the Bølling warm interval. Moraines of the Gschnitz stadial are found in medium to small catchments, are steep‐walled and blocky, and reflect a snowline lowering of 650–700 m in comparison to the Little Ice Age reference snowline. ¹⁰Be surface exposure dating of boulders from the moraine at the type locality at Trins (Gschnitz valley, Tyrol, Austria) shows that it stabilised no later than 15 400 ± 1400 yr ago. The overall morphological situation and the long reaction time of the glacier suggest that the climatic downturn lasted about 500 ± 300 yr, indicating that the Gschnitz cold period began approximately 15 900 ± 1400 yr ago, if not somewhat earlier. This is consistent with published radiocarbon dates that imply that the stadial occurred sometime between 15 400 ¹⁴C yr BP (18 020–19 100 cal. yr) and 13 250 ¹⁴C yr BP (15 360–16 015 cal. yr). A palaeoclimatic interpretation of the Gschnitz glacier based on a simple glacier flow model and statistical glacier‐climate models shows that precipitation was about one‐third of modern‐day precipitation and summer temperatures were about 10 K lower than today. In comparison, during the Younger Dryas, precipitation in this area was only about 10% less and T_s (summer temperature) was only 3.5–4 K lower than modern values. Based on the age of the moraine and the cold and dry climate at that time, we suggest that the Gschnitz stadial was the response of Alpine glaciers to cooling of the North Atlantic Ocean associated with Heinrich Event 1. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Weichselian glacial maximum on Andøya, North Norway

Morphological, seismic and lithostratigraphic investigations of a moraine deposit at Bleik (the Bleik moraine), northern Andøya, show short-distance transported till overlying long-distance transported predominantly glaciofluvial ice-marginal deposits. Consolidated glaciomarine sediments from a core at present sea-level, c . 400 m distally to the moraine complex, contain 31 species of foraminifera, among which Cassidulina reniforme, Islandiella helenae and Trifarina fluens dominate, and fragments of the molluscs Mya truncata and Astarte sp. and the echinoid Strongylocentrotus sp. Amino acid analyses of the foraminifera Cibicides lobatulus and the mollusc Mya truncata indicate ages between 22,000 and 16,000 BP. Radiocarbon dating of fragments of Mya truncata from the upper part of the core gave an age of 17,940 ± 245 BP, while a dating of unidentified shell fragments from the lower part gave an infinite age (>40,000 BP). The sediment was probably disturbed by icebergs beyond the end moraine zone, and the radiocarbon and amino acid dating of Mya truncata therefore represent a maximum age for this process. This new evidence indicates two phases with a higher relative sea-level than at present at Bleik, c . 18,000 and >40,000 BP. The Bleik moraine probably represents the early Late Weichselian glacial maximum ( c . 22,000 BP), while the underlying deglaciation deposit and associated beach-ridge (Bruvollen) is of pre-Late Weichselian age. Moraine ridges 3–4 km to the south of Bleik probably indicate advances of local glaciers between 22,000 and 18,000 BP.     

Relative and radiocarbon chronology of two former glaciers in the Chilean Lake District

This paper investigates the relative importance of climatic and topographic factors on the fluctuations of two adjacent palaeoglaciers in the Chilean Lake District. Geomorphological mapping of the landforms around two lakes occupied by the palaeoglaciers has identified a series of intersecting moraine limits and ice-marginal meltwater channels, which allow the relative timing of glacier fluctuations to be established. The broad pattern of advance and retreat is the same in the two basins, with at least one synchronous major advance sometime after 19 500 yr BP, but there is also evidence of discordant behaviour, with one glacier advancing less often and lagging the other glacier during retreat. Seventeen radiocarbon dates suggest a similar chronology to other palaeoglaciers in the Chilean Lake District, but the advance after 19 500 yr BP may have been 1500 ¹⁴C yr later than major advances of palaeoglaciers situated immediately south. The empirical evidence of differential behaviour can be simulated by a glaciological model, which suggests that the differences in glacier response are due to contrasts in basin topography. Contrasts of this magnitude between the timing of some glacier advances has important implications for regional and interhemispheric correlation of Chilean Lake District glacier chronologies to other climate proxy records. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interhemispheric synchrony of Late-glacial climatic instability as recorded in proglacial Lake Mascardi,Argentina

Several high-resolution continental records have been reported recently in sites in South America, but the extent to which climatic variations were synchronous between the northern and southern hemispheres during the Late-glacial–Holocene transition, and the causes of the climatic changes, remain open questions. Previous investigations indicated that, east of the Andes, the middle and high latitudes of South America warmed uniformly and rapidly from 13 000 ¹⁴C yr BP, with no indication of subsequent climate fluctuations, equivalent, for example, to the Younger Dryas cooling. Here we present a multiproxy continuous record, radiocarbon dated by accelerated mass spectroscopy, from proglacial Lake Mascardi in Argentina. The results show that unstable climatic conditions, comparable to those described from records obtained in the Northern Hemisphere, dominated the Late-glacial–Holocene transition in Argentina at this latitude. Furthermore, a significant advance of the Tronador ice-cap, which feeds Lake Mascardi, occurred during the Younger Dryas Chronozone. This instability suggests a step-wise climatic history reflecting a global, rather than regional, forcing mechanism. The Lake Mascardi record, therefore, provides strong support for the hypothesis that ocean–atmosphere interaction, rather than global ocean circulation alone, governed interhemispheric climate teleconnections during the last deglaciation. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Holocene glacial history of Lyngshalvöya, northern Norway: chronology and climatic implications

Up to four nested Neoglacial moraines occur in front of glaciers on Lyngshalvöya. Lichenometric measurements at 21 glaciers demonstrate that these represent five episodes of glacier expansion, one of which predated the Little Ice Age. Lichenometric, dendrochronological and historical evidence indicates that the oldest Little Ice Age moraines date to the mid-18th century, and the youngest to A.D. 1910-30. At nine small glaciers the A.D. 1910-30 moraine represents the Neoglacial maximum; only larger glaciers were more extensive in the 18th century. It is inferred that conditions for glacier growth were less favourable in the 18th century than in A.D. 1880–1910 because of low winter snowfall. Comparison of the relative magnitude of 18th- and 20th-century advances on Lyngshalvöya with those of southern Norway suggests that the diminished winter precipitation was due to the southerly location of the North Atlantic oceanic polar front in the 18th century, which resulted in a reduction in winter cyclonic activity in northern Scandinavia but in an increase in snowfall farther south.     

Deglaciation chronology and glaciomarine successions in the Malangen-Målselv area, northern Norway

The deglaciation history of the Malangen‐Målselv fjord and valley area proximally to the Tromsø‐Lyngen (Younger Dryas) moraine at Bakkejord, Malangen, northern Norway, is reconstructed based on morphostratigraphic, lithostratigraphic and geophysical evidence, and 25 radiocarbon dates from marine shells and foraminifera. The results show that following the Skarpnes event c. 12 200 ¹⁴Cyr BP, and prior to the Younger Dryas readvance, the area was deglaciated at least as far as Sandmo situated 22 km proximally to the Tromsø‐Lyngen moraine. Two moraine ridges crossing the fjord at Sandmo and buried beneath thick glaciomarine sediments are correlated with this period. The area was subsequently deglaciated between 10 300 and 9200 ¹⁴Cyr BP, following the Tromsø‐Lyngen (Younger Dryas) readvance. Five ice‐front accumulations post‐dating the Tromsø‐Lyngen moraine and situated 19, 27, 42, 55 and 77 km behind it are identified and dated based on radiocarbon dates and correlation of marine limits: Målsnes (c. 10 050 ¹⁴Cyr BP), Kjerresnes (c. 10 000 ¹⁴Cyr BP), Solli (c. 9750 ¹⁴Cyr BP), Bardufoss‐Brentmoen‐Storskogmoen (c. 9600–9700 ¹⁴Cyr BP) and Alapmoen (c. 9200 Cyr BP). The largest of these, at Bardufoss‐Storskogmoen, possibly accumulated as a response to an ice advance. Fourteen dates of apparent late Allerød/Younger Dryas age (11 100–10 000 ¹⁴Cyr BP), obtained from fossils in glaciomarine sediments in the Målselv valley up to 77 km proximally to the Tromsø‐Lyngen moraine, are interpreted as postdating rather than predating this moraine. Several of these are considered to be too old because of uncertain reservoir age, carbon‐dating plateaus and/or contamination. This highlights uncertainties associated with radiocarbon‐dating and the profound effect such uncertainties may have on interpreting geological events.     

Last glacial maximum equilibrium-line altitude and paleo-temperature reconstructions for the Cordillera de Mérida, Venezuelan Andes

The pattern and magnitude of glacier equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) lowerings in the tropics during the last glacial maximum (LGM) are topics of current debate. In the northern tropics, paleo-ELA data are particularly limited, inhibiting the ability to make regional and large-scale paleoclimatic inferences. To improve these records, nine paleo-glaciers in the Venezuelan Andes were reconstructed based on field observations, aerial photographs, satellite imagery and high-resolution digital topographic data. Paleo-glacier equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) were estimated using the accumulation-area ratio (AAR) and the area-altitude balance ratio (AABR) methods. During the local LGM in Venezuela (∼ 22,750 to 19,960 cal yr BP), ELAs were ∼ 850 to 1420 m lower than present. Local LGM temperatures were are at least 8.8 ± 2°C cooler than today based on a combined energy and mass-balance equation to account for an ELA lowering. This is greater than estimates using an atmospheric lapse rate calculation, which yields a value of 6.4 ± 1°C cooler. The paleo-glacial data from the Venezuelan Andes support other published records that indicate the northern tropics experienced a greater ELA lowering and possibly a greater cooling than the Southern Hemisphere tropics during the LGM.