Skip to Main content Skip to Navigation
Journal articles

Glacier fluctuations during the Late Glacial and Holocene on the Ariège valley, northern slope of the Pyrenees and reconstructed climatic conditions

Vincent Jomelli 1 Emmanuel Chapron 2 Vincent Favier 3 V.R. Rinterknecht 1, 4 Regis Braucher 4 Nicolas Tournier 2 Simon Gascoin 5 Renaud Marti 6 Didier Galop 2 Stéphane Binet 7, 8 Cesar Deschamps-Berger 5 Hélène Tissoux 9, 10 Georges Aumaitre 4 Didier Bourlès 4 Karim Keddadouche 4
1 LGP - Laboratoire de géographie physique : Environnements Quaternaires et Actuels
2 GEODE - Géographie de l'environnement
3 IGE - Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement
4 CEREGE - Centre européen de recherche et d'enseignement des géosciences de l'environnement
5 CESBIO - Centre d'études spatiales de la biosphère
6 Maison de la Télédétection
7 ISTO - Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans - UMR7327
8 Biogéosystèmes Continentaux - UMR7327
ISTO - Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans - UMR7327 : UMR7327
9 BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)
10 HNHP - Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique
Abstract : The glacier evolution from two valleys located near Vicdessos, French Pyrenees, is deciphered from 17 in situ cosmic ray exposure (CRE) dating. In the Picot valley, Late Glacial glacier advances were documented during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1), while a rock glacier developed or was reactivated during the mid-Holocene. In the upper Médécourbe valley, the largest visible ice extent occurred during the Younger Dryas (YD) or earlier. At least two moraines formed during the early Holocene were dated, while an undated moraine located close to the head of the catchment may have been formed either during the Late Holocene or the Little Ice Age. A mass balance model suggests that a temperature about 5.1 °C cooler than today, without precipitation change, would be necessary to form a moraine at the base of the Picot catchment during HS1 at 2000 m a.s.l. A temperature about 3.9 °C cooler than today is necessary to explain a moraine formed during the Late Glacial–YD transition at Médécourbe at 2200 m. Comparing CRE dating from Picot and Médécourbe with those in the Pyrenees and the Alps highlights original glacial patterns. In the Picot catchment whose summit is below the current regional ELA, the absence of YD and Late Holocene moraines is consistent with the general low-altitude deglaciation trend documented in the northern and southern slope of the Pyrenees, but differs from high-altitude Pyrenean and Alpine records. However, due to specific geomorphological conditions, the glacial evolution of the Médécourbe valley took place differently compared to other low-altitude catchments in the Pyrenees.
Document type :
Journal articles
Complete list of metadatas

Cited literature [69 references]  Display  Hide  Download
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-02476511
Contributor : Nathalie Pothier <>
Submitted on : Tuesday, November 10, 2020 - 10:50:32 AM
Last modification on : Friday, January 8, 2021 - 10:04:17 AM

File

Vignette du document
Jomelli2020_Article_GlacierFlu...
Publication funded by an institution

Identifiers

Collections

METEO | MNHN | UNIV-AMU | OBSPM | UNIV-PARIS1 | OMP-CESBIO | UNIV-PERP | LGP | CNRS | TP | PSL | OHM-PYRENEES | INRAE | CAMPUS-CONDORCET | IPH | OSU-INSTITUT-PYTHEAS | GEODE | BRGM | UPEC | INSU | UNIV-TLSE3 | UNIV-TLSE2 | OMP | UGA | OSUC | UNIV-ORLEANS | UPEC-UPEM | CDF | CEREGE | LABEX-DRIIHM | INRA | ISTO | IRD | IGE

Citation

Vincent Jomelli, Emmanuel Chapron, Vincent Favier, V.R. Rinterknecht, Regis Braucher, et al.. Glacier fluctuations during the Late Glacial and Holocene on the Ariège valley, northern slope of the Pyrenees and reconstructed climatic conditions. Mediterranean Geoscience Reviews, Springer, 2020, 2 (1), pp.37-51. ⟨10.1007/s42990-020-00018-5⟩. ⟨insu-02476511⟩

Export

BibTeX TEI DC DCterms EndNote

Share

Metrics

Record views

610

Files downloads

104