Subglacial carbonate deposits as a potential proxy for a glacier's former presence

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: M. Lipar, A. Martín-Pérez, J. Tičar, M. Pavšek, M. Gabrovec, M. Hrvatin, B. Komac, M. Zorn, N. Zupan Hajna, J.-X. Zhao, R. N. Drysdale, M. Ferk
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2021
• Subjects: Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Geology; QE1-996.5; Ice Shelves; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-17-2021; https://doaj.org/article/9b11e7a002cf4af483d5b5230f3390a5

The retreat of ice shelves and glaciers over the last century provides unequivocal evidence of recent global warming. Glacierets (miniature glaciers) and ice patches are important components of the cryosphere that highlight the global retreat of glaciers, but knowledge of their behaviour prior to the Little Ice Age is lacking. Here, we report the uranium–thorium age of subglacial carbonate deposits from a recently exposed surface previously occupied by the disappearing Triglav Glacier (southeastern European Alps) that may elucidate the glacier's presence throughout the entire Holocene. The ages suggest the deposits' possible preservation since the Last Glacial Maximum and Younger Dryas. These thin deposits, formed by regelation, are easily eroded if exposed during previous Holocene climatic optima. The age data indicate the glacier's present unprecedented level of retreat since the Last Glacial Maximum and the potential of subglacial carbonates as additional proxies to highlight the extraordinary nature of the current global climatic changes.