Abstract
ABSTRACT Several regions of tropical America show imprints of past glacial activity. These relict landforms can support the understanding of past climate conditions, such as during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and the implications that these paleoclimatic conditions could have had on landscape change. Here, we present and analyze glacial morphologies for the Chirripó National Park in Costa Rica based on aerial imagery (1:25,000), detailed Digital Elevation Models, geomorphic mapping, as well as geomorphic assessments in the field to determine and validate landforms. This study adds valuable insights into the reconstruction of the maximum expansion of tropical glaciation during the LGM in Costa Rica and into tropical America glacial landscapes in general.
Highlights
Past fluctuations of tropical glaciers provide important paleoclimate proxies for regions where other forms of evidence are generally scarce (Benn et al, 2005)
Several regions of tropical America show imprints of past glacial activity. These relict landforms can support the understanding of past climate conditions, such as during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and the implications that these paleoclimatic conditions could have had on landscape change
We distinguish two types of volcanic slopes modified by glacial action, namely (i) subhorizontal surfaces in the lowest parts of glacial valleys and on mountaintops with slopes
Summary
Past fluctuations of tropical glaciers provide important paleoclimate proxies for regions where other forms of evidence are generally scarce (Benn et al, 2005). Hastenrath (1973) mapped numerous glacier lakes and cirques at the top of Cordillera de Talamanca Other studies such as those of Bergoeing (1977), Barquero and Ellenberg (1983), Shimizu (1992), and Wunsh, Calvo, Willsher, and Seyfried (1999) presented large-scale maps derived from aerial photographs to illustrate the glacial morphology of Cerro Chirripó. Lachniet and Seltzer (2002) and Lachniet, Seltzer, and Solís (2005) mapped large glacial extensions of late Pleistocene glaciers as well as some erosive and depositional morphologies of the glacial valleys in the surroundings of the Cerro Chirripó These authors mapped 35 km of the Cerro Chirripó area and mention that the local ELA (equilibrium line altitudes) was located at 3500 m asl. Quesada-Román and Zamorano-Orozco (2018) described the glacial geomorphology of the Upper General River Basin, whereas, Li et al (2019) mapped 22.1 km of the surfaces with glacial remnants around Cerro Chirripó
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