Late Pleistocene glacial advances, equilibrium-line altitude changes and paleoclimate in the Jakupica Mts (North Macedonia)

Author(s)

Zsófia Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger, Marjan Temovski, Zoltán Kern, Balázs Madarász, Ivica Milevski, Johannes Lachner, Peter Steier

Abstract

In the Jakupica Mts a plateau glacier was reconstructed (max. area ∼45 km2, max thickness: ∼260 m). The study area comprises six formerly glaciated valleys, five of which were fed by the plateau glacier and one had an independent cirque when local glaciation reached its maximum ice extent (MIE). The equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of the most extended glacial phase was at 2075+37/-25 m asl. The 10Be cosmic ray exposure (CRE) age of this phase was estimated at 19.3+1.7/-1.3 ka, conformable with the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). CRE ages from the next moraine generation placed the first phase of deglaciation to 18.2+1.0/-3.0 ka. The samples from the moraine of the penultimate deglaciation phase provided CRE ages with large scatter and biased towards old ages, which is probably the result of inherited cosmogenic nuclide concentrations within the rock. Glacio-climatological modelling was performed for the MIE, which has a well-established LGM age. The degree-day model was used to calculate the amount of accumulation required to sustain the glaciological equilibrium assuming a certain temperature drop at the ELA. The degree-day model constrained by the pollen-based July paleo-temperature reconstructions yielded an annual total melt at the LGM ELA comparable to or slightly higher than the current mean annual precipitation at the same elevation. These wetter LGM conditions inferred from the paleo-glaciological evidence in Jakupica Mts suggest an enhanced moisture advection in the region.

Organisation(s)

Isotope Physics

External organisation(s)

Saints Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, Atommagkutató Intézet, Eötvös Loránd Research Network

Journal

CATENA

Volume

216

No. of pages

20

ISSN

0341-8162

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2022.106383

Publication date

06-2022

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

103014 Nuclear physics, 105204 Climatology, 105404 Geomorphology

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Earth-Surface Processes

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/af9050dd-8403-4d67-ba20-4655460c4b7c