Neoglaciation and an early 'Little Ice Age' in western Norway: lichenometric evidence from the Sandane area

• Published in: The Holocene
• Main Authors: Evans, David J.A., Butcher, Craig, Kirthisingha, Arjan V.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publications 1994
• Subjects: Paleontology; Earth-Surface Processes; Ecology; Archeology; Global and Planetary Change; Norway; Sogn; glacier
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/095968369400400307; http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/095968369400400307

Moraine sequences, protalus ramparts, rock glaciers and various slope deposits in seven separate glacier basins provide lichenometric ages for glacier retreat in an upland area of Sogn-og- Fjordane, southern Norway. Geomorphological mapping, relative dating based on section Rhizocarpon size-frequency distributions, observations on vegetation cover, and numeric dating based on a regional lichen dating curve for section Rhizocarpon, place moraines into three groups: Stage 1 moraines of likely Preboreal or Younger Dryas age; Stage 2 moraines of pre- or early 'Little Ice Age' but post-Preboreal age (thirteenth-fourteenth centuries); and Stage 3 moraines of fifteenth-century age and younger. The occurrence of thirteenth-sixteenth century (pre- or early 'Little Ice Age') moraines at low altitudes in the Sandane area is thought to relate to greater availability of moisture and to the capture of wind- drifted snow. These moraines are some of the oldest 'Little Ice Age' moraines dated by lichenometry in southern Norway. In some cirques, glaciers retreated from their fifteenth-century positions allowing protalus rampart development, scree accumulation and debris-flow activity to continue until the present.