Abstract
A complex sequence of sawtooth moraines occurs on the proglacial foreland at Lambatungnajökull, southeast Iceland. These features reflect the pattern of deglaciation of a highly crevassed ice margin. The whole sequence documents a period of overall glacier recession exceeding 450 m. Dates have been interpolated for the formation of these moraines through the examination of aerial photographs and the application of lichenometry. The moraines formed annually between AD ∼1932 and 1950. Retreat rates were greatest between 1933 and 1939 and slowest between 1942 and 1944, as reflected by the spacing of annual moraine ridges. Differences in glacier recession rate from year to year are related to variations in mean summer air temperature. A rise in mean summer temperature of 1°C results in a retreat rate of ∼30 m yr−1. It is shown that annual moraine spacings are a suitable geomorphological proxy for annual net glacier balance and a potentially valuable source of paleoclimatic information.
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