No valley deepening of the Tatra Mountains (Western Carpathians) during the past 300 ka

Jacek Szczygieł,Marcin Błaszczyk,Helena Hercman,Michał Gąsiorowski,Artur Sobczyk,Gregory Hoke

doi:10.1130/g47635.1

Jacek Szczygieł, Marcin Błaszczyk + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1130/g47635.1

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Abstract

Abstract Wet-based mountain glaciers are efficient agents of erosion, which leads to the assumption that each glacial episode results in successive valley deepening. The tendency of subsequent glaciations to obscure evidence of previous events makes it difficult to study the work done by past glacial episodes. Epiphreatic and paleophreatic caves that developed at or under the water table and dried out in response to valley deepening can serve as recorders of the valley incision history. U-series data from speleothems in the cave networks at the base of the present-day valleys in the Tatra Mountains (Western Carpathians) consistently yield the oldest ages of ca. 325 ka. While speleothem ages are typically phreatic-vadose transition minimum ages, they nonetheless unequivocally demonstrate that neither glacial valley deepening nor fluvial incision occurred over the past 300 ka, unlike the successive valley deepening over the same period in the adjacent Alps.

Highlights

Wet-based mountain glaciers are documented to be efficient agents of erosion (Stern et al, 2005) that commonly create dramatic, high-relief landscapes
The Tatra are thought to have experienced eight glaciations, which we refer to using Marine Isotope Stages (MIS): MIS 2, 6, 8, 10, and 12, and three poorly constrained glaciations correlated with the Alpine Günz, Donau, and Biber glaciations (Lindner et al, 2003)
We examine the history of glacial valley deepening using nine localities across three adjacent valleys by determining the ages of speleothems from the modern, active cave system at the base of the valley and from paleophreatic caves perched above the valley

Summary

Introduction

Wet-based mountain glaciers are documented to be efficient agents of erosion (Stern et al, 2005) that commonly create dramatic, high-relief landscapes. There is no direct evidence of pre–MIS 12 glaciation within the Tatra, perched glaciofluvial deposits are interpreted to represent MIS 16–22 and older glacial episodes (Lindner et al, 2003). We examine the history of glacial valley deepening using nine localities across three adjacent valleys by determining the ages of speleothems from the modern, active cave system at the base of the valley and from paleophreatic caves perched above the valley.

Results

Conclusion