Climate: Past, Present & Future

Paleo-ice environment reconstruction

Mountain glacier variations: natural thermometers and rainfall gauges

Pierre-Henri BLARD, CRPG (CNRS, Université de Lorraine), France - Laboratoire de Glaciologie, ULB, Bruxelles, Belgium. February 14, 2018

Glaciers from the Andes Cordillera (Peru, Southern America). Photo credit: Julien Charreau

Name of proxy Fluctuations of mountain glaciers Type of record Geomorphological features Paleoenvironment Continent – High mountain areas Period of time investigated From historical periods (c.a. 300 years ago) to the end of the Pleistocene (up to 200 000 years back in time) How does it work? Mountain – or “alpine” – glaciers are small ice bodies (from 1 to 10 000 km2). Alt ...[Read More]

Varves – Revealing the past layer by layer

Matthew Carney, PhD Student in Physical Geography Manchester Metropolitan University December 22, 2017

Figure 1. Extraction and splitting of glacial lake cores from Chat Moss, Lancashire, U.K.

Name of proxy Varved glacial lake sediments Type of record Sedimentological structures Paleoenvironment Ice marginal lake environments Period of time investigated Last Glacial Termination (LGT, c.21-14 thousands of years (ka)) to present times How do varves work? Proglacial lakes form in front of glaciers and act as sinks for water and sediment flowing from melting ice. Analyses of proglacial lake ...[Read More]