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Discovery of early Holocene wood and peat on the forefield of the Pasterze Glacier, Eastern Alps, Austria

Gemot Patzelt

Institute of High Mountain Research, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 52, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria

During recent years a number of fragments of Pinus cembra and Larix decidua as well as peat were found in front of the tongue of the Pasterze Glacier in the Eastern Alps.These were washed out by the stream from under the present ice. The wood originates from trees which reached ages of upto 400 years or more. Radiocarbon dating shows them to come from the early Holocene. They indicate that between cal.BC 8100 and cal. BC 6900 the Pasterze Glacier was smaller than at present. The Pasterze Glacier advanced around cal.BC 6900. A lump of peat shows that around cal. Bc 6300 at the latest the Pasterze Glacier was again smaller than today. The radiocarbon age of the fulvic acid fraction of thepeat suggests that growth could have continued until cal.BC 5430-5080. Further wood samples, dated to around cal. Bc 4800 and cal. Bc 3800, show that at these times the Pasterze Glacier was smaller than at present. The Pasterze Glacier had a relatively limited extent over long periods inthe early Holocene. Thus mostly favourable climatic conditions can be inferred for these time periods.

Key Words: Glacier fluctuations • Holocene • Eastern Alps • Austria • Pasterze Glacier • tree-line • dendrochronology • tree-rings • Larix decidua • Pinus cembra

The Holocene, Vol. 10, No. 2, 191-199 (2000)
DOI: 10.1191/095968300666855842


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