Chapter 17 - Glacial landscape evolution during the Holocene in the Tatra Mountains

Abstract

The Tatra Mountains (2654m asl) are currently unglacierised high mountains with significant glacial and periglacial landforms inherited from the Pleistocene glaciations. The mountains represent the highest, northernmost and coldest area in the Carpathians, thus possessing potentially the best topoclimatic condition for the development of glacial landforms during the Holocene. Nevertheless, the youngest moraines found in the highest elevated cirques (1800–2400m asl) represent the final stage of deglaciation during the Younger Dryas (12.5–10.9ka) and rock glaciers definitively collapsed in the Early Holocene, no later than 10.4ka. Except for niche glaciers, significant Holocene glacial activity in the Tatras was unlikely due to the general unfavourable conditions caused by the climatic ELA position above the highest summits even during the coldest climatic phases as the Little Ice Age (LIA). This shows that the Tatra Mountains are too low for present-day and Holocene glaciation beyond niche settings. In most favourable topoclimatic conditions, perennial firn and ice patches are supplied by avalanches occupied the northern sheltered cirques in the High Tatra Mountains. The small (3–8m high) pronival ramparts found at the front of the largest ice bodies are the only morphological expression of Neoglaciation in the Tatra Mountains. Direct observation confirms the presence of present-day permafrost at 2000m asl; however, there are no active or inactive (intact) rock glaciers, which developed in course of Late Holocene cold periods such as LIA.