Rock glaciers in the northern Japanese Alps: palaeoenvironmental implications since the Late Glacial

Abstract

AbstractIn order to determine the palaeoclimatic and palaeo‐permafrost conditions in the northern Japanese Alps in central Japan, the ages of rock glaciers were investigated by relative age dating techniques such as weathering‐rind thickness and Schmidt hammer measurements. The results of the relative age dating suggest that the formation of the investigated rock glaciers may have started during the early phase of the Late Glacial or around the onset of the Holocene. The lower limit of current discontinuous permafrost in the northern Japanese Alps, which is indicated by the terminus of the lowest active/inactive rock glacier, lies at 2530 m a.s.l., while that of discontinuous permafrost during the Late Glacial or early phase of the Holocene, which is indicated by the terminus of the lowest relict rock glacier, lies at 2220 m a.s.l. Therefore, the lower limit of discontinuous permafrost during these periods would have been at least about 300 m lower than that of the current discontinuous permafrost. Climatic and geomorphological conditions during the Late Glacial led to a change in the environment from a glacial environment to a periglacial (permafrost) environment in the current alpine zone of the northern Japanese Alps. A large number of cirques were deglaciated and several of them were occupied by active rock glaciers around the onset of the Holocene. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.