Open AccessThe Holocene glacial history of Lyngshalvöya, northern Norway: chronology and climatic implications
Author(s) -
Ballantyne Colin K.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
boreas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.95
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1502-3885
pISSN - 0300-9483
DOI - 10.1111/j.1502-3885.1990.tb00570.x
Subject(s) - moraine , glacier , geology , physical geography , snow , glacial period , holocene , chronology , front (military) , glacier mass balance , glacier morphology , climatology , little ice age , cryosphere , oceanography , geomorphology , paleontology , geography , ice stream , sea ice
Up to four nested Neoglacial moraines occur in front of glaciers on Lyngshalvöya. Lichenometric measurements at 21 glaciers demonstrate that these represent five episodes of glacier expansion, one of which predated the Little Ice Age. Lichenometric, dendrochronological and historical evidence indicates that the oldest Little Ice Age moraines date to the mid‐18th century, and the youngest to A.D. 1910‐30. At nine small glaciers the A.D. 1910‐30 moraine represents the Neoglacial maximum; only larger glaciers were more extensive in the 18th century. It is inferred that conditions for glacier growth were less favourable in the 18th century than in A.D. 1880–1910 because of low winter snowfall. Comparison of the relative magnitude of 18th‐ and 20th‐century advances on Lyngshalvöya with those of southern Norway suggests that the diminished winter precipitation was due to the southerly location of the North Atlantic oceanic polar front in the 18th century, which resulted in a reduction in winter cyclonic activity in northern Scandinavia but in an increase in snowfall farther south.