Podzol development, vegetation change and glacier variations at Haugabreen, southern Norway

Abstract

14C dating and pollen analysis of the surface organic (LFH) horizons of several humo‐ferric podzol profiles forming a soil catena close to the ‘Little Ice Agc’ outer moraine ridge of Haugabreen, southern Norway, are used to examine the timing and nature of podzol development at the low‐/sub‐alpine margin of the Jostedalsbreen area. Comparison with results from a palaeosol buried beneath the outer moraine shows that FH horizon development began as early as 5,265 ± 65 B.P., but that it was not synehronous across the profiles, the latest profile having a date of 3,590 ± 65 B.P. It is argued that surface organic horizons developed as a response to a deterioration of climate and possibly the recrudescence of the Myklebustbreen ice cap at c. 5,000 B.P., and that the dates for horizon initiation vary according to local topographic and soil‐hydrologic conditions. It is still uncertain whether the hump‐ferric podzols were preceded by brown earths or weakly podzolised sub‐alpine podzolic soils, but at all sites where pollen evidence is available it appears that FH initiation took place beneath Betula woodland.