Synchronous fluctuations of glaciers in the Alps and Altai in the second half of the Holocene

Abstract

The Altai Mountains occupy the northwestern part of the Central Asian collision belt. The late-Holocene behavior of glaciers in the Altai Mountains was reconstructed for the Khaidun river valley in the western part of the Russian Altai. We report here 17 new radiocarbon datings from wood remains buried by moraines, from peat layers and lacustrine sediments. The glaciers’ advance took place in 2500–2200 bc, 1100 bc, 500 bc, ad 400, ad 1200–1300 and ad 1500–1850. It is the first time that material which separates the so-called Historical stage of cooling into three stages has been collected in the Altai Mountains. The comparison of time of moraine formation in the Altai with glacier activity in the Alps is evidence of the simultaneity of these processes.