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- Title
Subglacial carbonate deposits as a potential proxy for a glacier's former presence.
- Authors
Lipar, Matej; Martín-Pérez, Andrea; Tičar, Jure; Pavšek, Miha; Gabrovec, Matej; Hrvatin, Mauro; Komac, Blaž; Zorn, Matija; Zupan Hajna, Nadja; Zhao, Jian-Xin; Drysdale, Russell N.; Ferk, Mateja
- Abstract
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.
- Subjects
ALPS; CARBONATE minerals; CRYOSPHERE; CARBONATES; CLIMATE change; LAST Glacial Maximum; LITTLE Ice Age; ALPINE glaciers; GLACIERS; ICE shelves
- Publication
Cryosphere, 2021, Vol 15, Issue 1, p17
- ISSN
1994-0416
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5194/tc-15-17-2021