|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
|
Glacier and lake-level variations in west-central Europe over the last 3500 years
Hanspeter Holzhauser
Department of Geography University of Zurich-Irchel, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
Michel Magny
Laboratoire de Chrono-Ecologie, Faculteé des Sciences et Techniques, 16 route de Gray, 25 030 Besancçon, France
Heinz J. Zumbuühl
Department of Geography, University of Berne, Hallerstrasse 12, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
On the basis of glacier and lake-level records, this paper attempts, for the first time, a comparison between high-resolution palaeohydrological and palaeoglaciological data in west-central Europe over the past 3500 years. A data set of tree-ring width, radiocarbon and archaeological data, in addition to historical sources, were used to reconstruct fluctuations of the Great Aletsch, the Gorner and the Lower Grindelwald glaciers in the Swiss Alps. The three ice-streams experienced nearly synchronous advances at c. 1000-600 BC and AD 500-600, 800-900, 1100-1200 and 1300-1860. These glacier fluctuations show strong correspondence with lake-level variations reconstructed in eastern France (Jura mountains and Pre-Alps) and on the Swiss Plateau. This supports the hypothesis of climatically driven fluctuations. Historical data available for the period since AD 1550 reveal, in detail, various meteorological conditions behind the successive glacier advances. However, in agreement with the general trend shown by the historical data, the synchroneity between glacier advances and periods of higher lake level suggests the impact of general winter cooling and an increase in summer moisture as responsible for reinforced feeding of both glaciers and lakes in west-central Europe over the past 3500 years. Finally, a comparison between the Great Aletsch glacier and the residual 14C records supports the hypothesis that variations in solar activity were a major forcing factor of climatic oscillations in west-central Europe during the late Holocene.
Key Words: Glacier fluctuations • lake-level variations • historical documents • dendrochronology • radiocarbon dating • climate change • Neoglaciation • ‘Little Ice Age’ • west-central Europe • Alps • Holocene
The Holocene, Vol. 15, No. 6,
789-801 (2005)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683605hl853ra
 CiteULike  Complore  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
I. Larocque-Tobler, M. Grosjean, O. Heiri, and M. Trachsel
High-resolution chironomid-inferred temperature history since ad 1580 from varved Lake Silvaplana, Switzerland: comparison with local and regional reconstructions
The Holocene,
December 1, 2009;
19(8):
1201 - 1212.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. M. Licciardi, J. M. Schaefer, J. R. Taggart, and D. C. Lund
Holocene Glacier Fluctuations in the Peruvian Andes Indicate Northern Climate Linkages
Science,
September 25, 2009;
325(5948):
1677 - 1679.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. Nicolussi,, M. Kaufmann, T. M. Melvin, J. van der Plicht, P. Schiessling, and A. Thurner
A 9111 year long conifer tree-ring chronology for the European Alps: a base for environmental and climatic investigations
The Holocene,
September 1, 2009;
19(6):
909 - 920.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. Sjogren
Sand mass accumulation rate as a proxy for wind regimes in the SW Barents Sea during the past 3 ka
The Holocene,
June 1, 2009;
19(4):
591 - 598.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. M. Schaefer, G. H. Denton, M. Kaplan, A. Putnam, R. C. Finkel, D. J. A. Barrell, B. G. Andersen, R. Schwartz, A. Mackintosh, T. Chinn, et al.
High-Frequency Holocene Glacier Fluctuations in New Zealand Differ from the Northern Signature
Science,
May 1, 2009;
324(5927):
622 - 625.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
L. Millet, F. Arnaud, O. Heiri, M. Magny, V. Verneaux, and M. Desmet
Late-Holocene summer temperature reconstruction from chironomid assemblages of Lake Anterne, northern French Alps
The Holocene,
March 1, 2009;
19(2):
317 - 328.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. Zhang, H. Cheng, R. L. Edwards, F. Chen, Y. Wang, X. Yang, J. Liu, M. Tan, X. Wang, J. Liu, et al.
A Test of Climate, Sun, and Culture Relationships from an 1810-Year Chinese Cave Record
Science,
November 7, 2008;
322(5903):
940 - 942.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. Martin-Puertas, B. L. Valero-Garces, M. Pilar Mata, P. Gonzalez-Samperiz, R. Bao, A. Moreno, and V. Stefanova
Arid and humid phases in southern Spain during the last 4000 years: the Zonar Lake record, Cordoba
The Holocene,
September 1, 2008;
18(6):
907 - 921.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Magny, E. Gauthier, B. Vanniere, and O. Peyron
Palaeohydrological changes and human-impact history over the last millennium recorded at Lake Joux in the Jura Mountains, Switzerland
The Holocene,
February 1, 2008;
18(2):
255 - 265.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
B. Stenni, L. Genoni, O. Flora, and M. Guglielmin
An oxygen isotope record from the Foscagno rock-glacier ice core, Upper Valtellina, Italian Central Alps
The Holocene,
November 1, 2007;
17(7):
1033 - 1039.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A.A. Sommerville, J.D. Hansom, R.A. Housley, and D.C.W. Sanderson
Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of coastal aeolian sand accumulation in Sanday, Orkney Islands, Scotland
The Holocene,
July 1, 2007;
17(5):
627 - 637.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Blass, M. Grosjean, A. Troxler, and M. Sturm
How stable are twentieth-century calibration models? A high-resolution summer temperature reconstruction for the eastern Swiss Alps back to AD 1580 derived from proglacial varved sediments
The Holocene,
January 1, 2007;
17(1):
51 - 63.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
U. E. Joerin, T. F. Stocker, and C. Schluchter
Multicentury glacier fluctuations in the Swiss Alps during the Holocene
The Holocene,
July 1, 2006;
16(5):
697 - 704.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. D. Jones, C. N. Roberts, M. J. Leng, and M. Turkes
A high-resolution late Holocene lake isotope record from Turkey and links to North Atlantic and monsoon climate
Geology,
May 1, 2006;
34(5):
361 - 364.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A.-G. Boe, A.-G. Boe, S. O. Dahl, O. Lie, and A. Nesje
Holocene river floods in the upper Glomma catchment, southern Norway: a high-resolution multiproxy record from lacustrine sediments
The Holocene,
April 1, 2006;
16(3):
445 - 455.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. V. Reyes, G. C. Wiles, D. J. Smith, D. J. Barclay, S. Allen, S. Jackson, S. Larocque, S. Laxton, D. Lewis, P. E. Calkin, et al.
Expansion of alpine glaciers in Pacific North America in the first millennium A.D.
Geology,
January 1, 2006;
34(1):
57 - 60.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
