Reassessment of supposed early 'Little Ice Age' and older Neoglacial moraines in the Sandane area of western Norway: a reply to Matthews, Nesje and Dahl

Abstract

Further evidence for an early 'Little Ice Age' in the Sandane area, southern Norway, is presented in support of the lichen data of Evans et al. (1994) and in response to the reassessment of Matthews et al. (1996). The geomorphological evidence for three phases of moraine deposition is clarified and relative age dating based upon Schmidt hammer R-values and soil development is presented. These data, in combination with the lichenometry reported earlier, indicate that the moraines of the Jardalen/Fagerdalen cirque in particular are not all of the same age (pre 'Little Ice Age' as suggested by Matthews et al. (1996) but instead date either to post-Preboreal/Younger Dryas times (Stage 1 moraines) or to the 'Little Ice Age' (Stage 2 and 3 moraines). The gradual increase in lichen diameters, R-values and soil depths from the youngest 'Little Ice Age' (Stage 3) moraine to the outermost and oldest Stage 2 moraine lends further support to the suggestion that the 'Little Ice Age' in western Nor way may have begun much earlier than previously documented in the literature. Problems in using the Schmidt hammer for relative age dating in mountainous terrain, where the moraines being dated are often con structed from old glacial deposits and fresh rock fall debris, are also dis cussed.