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The Holocene, Vol. 14, No. 6,
899-910 (2004)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683603hl766rp
Glacier variations in Breheimen, southern Norway: relative-age dating of Holocene moraine complexes at six high-altitude glaciers
Richard A. Shakesby
Department of Geography, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK; r.a.shakesby{at}swan.ac.uk
John A. Matthews
Department of Geography, University of Wales Swansea, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK
Stefan Winkler
Department of Physical Geography, University of Trier, D-54286, Germany
Lichenometric evidence and Schmidt hammer R-values are used to date Holocene moraine sequences in front of six high-altitude (> 1500 m) glaciers in Breheimen, central southern Norway. At three glacier forelands with southerly aspects (Høgsetbreen, Vestre Høybre and Østre Høybre), relatively small ( 4 m high) discrete boulder moraine ridges are shown to date from the Little Ice Age. The remaining three glaciers (Østre Tundradalskyrkjabre, Nordre Tundradalskyrkjabre and Hestdalshøgdibreen), with northerly or easterly aspects and large, multiridged, rampart-like moraine complexes (15-30m), thought to be ice-cored and of the push-deformation type, lie above the local altitudinal limit of permafrost. Negatively skewed R-value distributions from these moraine complexes provide critical evidence for pre-Little Ice Age glacier expansion as they indicate the survival of long-weathered boulders on moraine surfaces where late-lying snow may reduce or prevent lichen growth. Formation of the moraine complexes appears to have begun in Preboreal times, most likely during the Erdalen Event, but much of their present character was determined by repeated Neoglacial glacier expansion, moraine deformation and ridge formation in the late Holocene, culminating in the Little Ice Age readvance.
Key Words: Glacier variations Rhizocarpon geographicum lichenometry boulder weathering Schmidt hammer push-deformation moraines Little Ice Age Preboreal Erdalen Event Neoglaciation Holocene Norway

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