Great Aletsch Glacier Research Articles

Glacier and lake-level variations in west-central Europe over the last 3500 years

On the basis of glacier and lake-level records, this paper attempts, for the first time, a comparison between high-resolution palaeohydrological and palaeoglaciological data in west-central Europe over the past 3500 years. A data set of tree-ring width, radiocarbon and archaeological data, in addition to historical sources, were used to reconstruct fluctuations of the Great Aletsch, the Gorner and the Lower Grindelwald glaciers in the Swiss Alps. The three ice-streams experienced nearly synchronous advances at c. 1000-600 BC and AD 500-600, 800-900, 1100-1200 and 1300-1860. These glacier fluctuations show strong correspondence with lake-level variations reconstructed in eastern France (Jura mountains and Pre-Alps) and on the Swiss Plateau. This supports the hypothesis of climatically driven fluctuations. Historical data available for the period since AD 1550 reveal, in detail, various meteorological conditions behind the successive glacier advances. However, in agreement with the general trend shown by the historical data, the synchroneity between glacier advances and periods of higher lake level suggests the impact of general winter cooling and an increase in summer moisture as responsible for reinforced feeding of both glaciers and lakes in west-central Europe over the past 3500 years. Finally, a comparison between the Great Aletsch glacier and the residual 14C records supports the hypothesis that variations in solar activity were a major forcing factor of climatic oscillations in west-central Europe during the late Holocene.

The retreat of the Great Aletsch glacier in Switzerland

WeatherVolume 59, Issue 8 p. 232-233 Letter The retreat of the Great Aletsch glacier in Switzerland Lawrence Dent, Corresponding Author Lawrence Dent Knutsford, CheshireKnutsford, CheshireSearch for more papers by this author Lawrence Dent, Corresponding Author Lawrence Dent Knutsford, CheshireKnutsford, CheshireSearch for more papers by this author First published: 29 December 2006 https://doi.org/10.1256/wea.191.03Citations: 1AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume59, Issue8August 2004Pages 232-233 RelatedInformation

Surface exposure dating of the Great Aletsch Glacier Egesen moraine system, western Swiss Alps, using the cosmogenic nuclide 10Be

AbstractEgesen moraines throughout the Alps mark a glacial advance that has been correlated with the Younger Dryas cold period. Using the surface exposure dating method, in particular the measurement of the cosmogenic nuclide 10Be in rock surfaces, we attained four ages for boulders on a prominent Egesen moraine of Great Aletsch Glacier, in the western Swiss Alps. The 10Be dates range from 10 460±1100 to 9040±1020 yr ago. Three 10Be dates between 9630±810 and 9040±1020 yr ago are based upon samples from the surfaces of granite boulders. Two 10Be dates, 10 460±1100 and 9910±970 yr ago, are based upon a sample from a quartz vein at the surface of a schist boulder. In consideration of the numerous factors that can influence apparently young 10Be dates and the scatter within the data, we interpret the weighted mean of four boulder ages, 9640±430 yr (including the weighted mean of two 10Be dates of the quartz vein), as a minimum age of deposition of the moraine.All 10Be dates from the Great Aletsch Glacier Egesen moraine are consistent with radiocarbon dates of nearby bog‐bottom organic sediments, which provide minimum ages of deglaciation from the moraine. The 10Be dates from boulders on the Great Aletsch Glacier Egesen moraine also are similar to 10Be dates from Egesen moraines of Vadret Lagrev Glacier on Julier Pass, in the eastern Swiss Alps. Both the morphology of the Great Aletsch Glacier Egesen moraine and the comparison with 10Be dates from the inner Vadret Lagrev Egesen moraine support the hypothesis that the climatic cooling that occurred during the Younger Dryas cold episode influenced the glacial advance that deposited the Great Aletsch Glacier Egesen moraine. Because of the large size and slow response time of Great Aletsch Glacier, we suggest that the Great Aletsch Glacier Egesen moraine was formed during the last glacial advance of the multiphased Egesen cold period, the Kromer stage, during the Preboreal chron. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Dendrochronologische Auswertung fossiler Hölzer zur Rekonstruktion der nacheiszeitlichen Gletschergeschichte | Dendrochronological evaluation of fossil wood to reconstruct holocene history

Around the middle of the 19th century, alpine glaciers advanced to their last maximum extension within the Holocene (the last 10 000 years). Some of the glaciers, especially the Great Aletsch and Gorner, penetrated deeply into wooded land and destroyed numerous trees. Not only were trees destroyed but also valuable arable land, alpine farm buildings and dwelling houses. Since this last maximum extension the retreat of the glaciers has accelerated revealing,within the glacier forefields, the remainders of trees once buried (trunks, branches and roots). Some of this fossil wood is found in the place where it grew (in situ). The wood often dates back to a time before the last glacier advance, most of it is several thousands of years old because glacial advance and retreat periods occurred repeatedly within the Holocene. This paper shows the characteristics of fossil wood and, with the help of a model, how they can be analysed to reconstruct glacial history. Using two examples, we demonstrate how glacier length variation can be exactly reconstructed with the help of dendrochronology. The first example deals with the advance of the Gorner glacier in the 14th century. This glacier reached its maximum extension around 1385. The other example deals with the advance of the Great Aletsch glacier between 1581 and 1678, the year when this glacier reached its maximum extension. Thanks to the very exact reconstruction of the change in the glacier length we can estimate the velocities of both the Gorner and Great Aletsch glaciers during the advancement periods in the 14th and 16th centuries. They range from between 7–8 and 20 m/p.a. and 7–8 and 30 m/p.a., for the Gorner glacier and the Great Aletsch glacier,respectively.

The Development of Snow and Glacier Research in Switzerland

The evolution of snow and glacier research in Switzerland is outlined. The settling, creep, viscosity and slipping of the snow cover are discussed in detail and the relationship of these comparatively simple processes to the more complex movements in a glacier are described. The importance of further research in glacier physics in connection with the crystallographic and mechanical properties of ice is stressed; certain preliminary laboratory experiments and some subjects for further research in the field are suggested. The Great Aletsch Glacier is recommended for this owing to the proximity of the Jungfraujoch Research Institute and facilities for transport by the Jungfraujoch Railway.

The Development of Snow and Glacier Research in Switzerland

The evolution of snow and glacier research in Switzerland is outlined. The settling, creep, viscosity and slipping of the snow cover are discussed in detail and the relationship of these comparatively simple processes to the more complex movements in a glacier are described. The importance of further research in glacier physics in connection with the crystallographic and mechanical properties of ice is stressed; certain preliminary laboratory experiments and some subjects for further research in the field are suggested. The Great Aletsch Glacier is recommended for this owing to the proximity of the Jungfraujoch Research Institute and facilities for transport by the Jungfraujoch Railway.

I.—The Merjelen Lake (Aletsch Glacier)

The Merjelen or Maerjalen Lake, situated at an altitude of 2367 metres (7750 ft.) above sea-level at the western flank of the Great Aletsch glacier, belongs to the class of glacier lakes which are found in depressions or valleys barred by glaciers whose direction of flow is more or less at right angles to the same. Like the majority of glacier lakes, it has the shape of an irregular triangle, the length being about 1.5 kilometre (nearly a mile), its greatest width 0.5 kilometre (550 yards), and its mean depth 28 metres (92 ft.). Hence its superficial area amounts to 375,000 square metres (438,000 square yards), and its volume at high-water level to about 10 million cubic metres or tons.

Hours of Exercise in the Alps

THIS volume is a collection of short articles which have already seen the light in various publications, and are here thrown together, as the author says, “partly to preserve to myself the memory of strong and joyous hours, and partly for the pleasure of those who find exhilaration in descriptions associated with mountain life.” Accordingly we find in it accounts of exciting scrambles, such as the Lawinenthor and the Old Weissthor, the first ascent of the Weisshorn, and the various assaults upon the Matterhorn, crowned at last with success. Of sadder interest are the story of the death of Benner, the professor's faithful guide, upon the Haut de Cry, contributed by one of the survivors; notices of the accidents on the Col de Geant and on the Matterhorn; and, hardly less in interest though with happier ending, the rescue of a porter from the jaws of a crevasse on the great Aletsch Glacier, and the author's own hairbreadth escape on the Piz Morteratsch. All these are described with his usual graphic power and intense appreciation of natural scenery; sometimes in the philosophic vein, when a glass of whisky gives “a flash of energy,” and even a ham sandwich can only be regarded as a conditioned form of potential muscular force; or sometimes in the more jubilant mood, when we are shown the grave professor “delighting to roll himself in a bubbling pool in some mountain stream, and afterwards dance himself dry in the sunshine.” Hours of Exercise in the Alps. By John Tyndall. (London: Longmans.)