Glacial history of Mt Chelmos, Peloponnesus, Greece

Abstract

Abstract Mt Chelmos in the Peloponnesus was glaciated by a plateau ice field during the most extensive Pleistocene glaciation. Valley glaciers radiated out from an ice field over the central plateau of the massif. The largest glaciations are likely to be Middle Pleistocene in age. Smaller valley and cirque glaciers formed later and boulders on the moraines of these glacial phases have been dated using 36 Cl terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide exposure dating. These ages indicate a Late Pleistocene age with glacier advance/stabilization at 40–30 ka, glacier retreat at 23–21 ka and advance/stabilization at 13–10 ka. This indicates that the glacial maximum of the last cold stage occurred during Marine Isotope Stage 3, several thousand years before the global Last Glacial Maximum (Marine Isotope Stage 2). The last phase of moraine-building occurred at the end of the Pleistocene, possibly during the Younger Dryas.