Reassessment of supposed early 'Little Ice Age' and older Neoglacial moraines in the Sandane area of western Norway

Abstract

Neoglacial moraines that are substantially older than the conventional 'Little Ice Age' glacier maximum of the mid-eighteenth century have been recognized recently in the Sandane area of western Norway. This is important in the context of Scandinavian Holocene glacier variations because, in southern Scandinavia at least, it is widely accepted that glaciers were larger in the mid-eighteenth century than at any time since the Preboreal. In this report we question and test the age of supposed early 'Little Ice Age' and older Neoglacial moraines in two valleys in the Sandane area. Observations and data relating to moraine morphology, licheno metry and vegetation cover are reassessed and new lines of evidence based on boulder weathering (Schmidt hammer), soil development and glaciofluvial activity are introduced. Critical appraisal of the evidence leads to the conclusion that the existence of pre- or early 'Little Ice Age' moraines, dating from the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries (or, indeed, older Neoglacial moraines) cannot be supported. In Jardalen/Fagerdalen the evidence suggests only moraines of Younger Dryas and possibly Preboreal age; in Sørsendalen we recognize, in addition, a conventional 'Little Ice Age' moraine limit in front of Blåbreen.