Subglacial plant remains from the Omnsbreen glacier area, south Norway

• Published in: Boreas
• Main Author: ELVEN, REIDAR
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1978
• Subjects: Norway; glacier; Salix herbacea; Silene acaulis
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.1978.tb00266.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1502-3885.1978.tb00266.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1502-3885.1978.tb00266.x

Plant remains have been found on ground recently deglaciated from the Omnsbreen glacier. They consist of Salix herbacea, Salix spp., Silene acaulis, Polytrichum norvegicum, Kiaeria of. starkei, and some unidentified species. Their age has been determined by the radiocarbon method to approx. 550 years, indicating that the present Omnsbreen glacier emerged as late as the clima deterioration in the late Middle Ages. The past vegetation was similar to the present, but slightly more thermophilous, indicating a rapid clima deterioration in the fourteenth century.