Glacier contraction during the middle Holocene in the western Italian Alps: Evidence and implications

Abstract

Radiocarbon dates of peat from the top and base of a bog exposed by recent retreat of Rutor Glacier show that the glacier front terminated upvalley from the bog from 8400 until at least 6000 B.P. The evidence is consistent with botanical data that point to a high tree line during the interval and to reconstructed mean July temperatures at least 4 °C warmer than present temperatures. If the mass-balance history of the glacier is typical of other glaciers in this region, it is likely that average equilibrium-line altitudes during the interval of contraction remained above those of the present and well above those of subsequent neoglacial ice advances.