Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:54:49.553Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Two millennia of glacier advances from southern Iceland dated by tephrochronology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Martin P. Kirkbride  and
Andrew J. Dugmore
Martin P. Kirkbride*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, Scotland, UK
Andrew J. Dugmore
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Drummond Street, Edinburgh EH8 9XP, Scotland, UK
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:[email protected] (M.P. Kirkbride).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two glaciers at Eyjafjallajökull, south Iceland, provide a record of multiple episodes of glacier advance since the Sub-Atlantic period, ca. 2000 yr ago. A combination of tephrochronology and lichenometry was applied to date ice-marginal moraines, tills and meltwater deposits. Two glacier advances occurred before the 3rd century AD, others in the 9th and 12th centuries bracketing the Medieval Warm Period, and five groups of advances occurred between AD 1700 and 1930, within the Little Ice Age. The advances of Eyjafjallajökull before the Norse settlement (ca. AD 870) were synchronous with other glacier advances identified in Iceland. In contrast, medieval glacier advances between the 9th and 13th centuries are firmly identified for the first time in Iceland. This challenges the view of a prolonged Medieval Warm Period and supports fragmentary historical data that indicate significant medieval episodes of cooler and wetter conditions in Iceland. An extended and more detailed glacier chronology of the mid- and late Little Ice Age is established, which demonstrates that some small outlet glaciers achieved their Little Ice Age maxima around AD 1700. While Little Ice Age advances across Iceland appear to synchronous, the timing of the maximum differs between glacier type and region.

Keywords

IcelandTephrochronologyMorainesHoloceneLittle ice ageMedieval warm periodDating methods
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 70 , Issue 3 , November 2008 , pp. 398 - 411
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bergthórsson, P., (1969). An estimate of drift ice and temperature in Iceland in 1000 years. Jökull 19, 94–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradwell, T., (2001). A new lichenometric dating curve for southeast Iceland. Geografiska Annaler 83A, 91–101.Google Scholar
Bradwell, T., (2004). Lichenometric dating in southeast Iceland: size-frequency approach. Geografiska Annaler 86A, 31–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradwell, T., Dugmore, A.J., Sugden, D.E., (2006). The Little Ice Age glacier maximum in Iceland and the North Atlantic Oscillation: evidence from Lambatungnajökull, southeast Iceland. Boreas 35, 61–80.Google Scholar
Caseldine, C.J., (1985). The extent of some glaciers in northern Iceland during the Little Ice-Age and the nature of recent deglaciation. Geographical Journal 151, 215–227.Google Scholar
Caseldine, C.J., (1991). Lichenometric dating, lichen population studies, and Holocene glacial history in Tröllaskagi, northern Iceland. Maizels, J.K., Caseldine, C. Environmental Change in Iceland: Past and Present Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands.219–236.Google Scholar
Caseldine, C.J., Stötter, J., (1993). “Little Ice Age” glaciation of Tröllaskagi peninsula, northern Iceland: climatic implications for reconstructed equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs). The Holocene 3, 357–366.Google Scholar
Casely, A.F., Dugmore, A.J., (2004). Climate change and “anomalous” glacier fluctuations: the southwest outlets of Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland. Boreas 33, 108–122.Google Scholar
Dugmore, A.J. (1987).) Holocene glacier fluctuations around Eyjafjallajökull, south Iceland: a tephrochronological study.. Unpublished Ph.D thesis, University of Aberdeen, 214 pp.Google Scholar
Dugmore, A.J., (1989). Tephrochronological studies of Holocene glacier fluctuations in south Iceland. Oerlemans, J. Glacier Fluctuations and Climatic Change Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands.37–55.Google Scholar
Dugmore, A., Buckland, P., (1991). Tephrochronology and Late Holocene soil erosion in south Iceland. Maizels, J.K., Caseldine, C. Environmental Change in Iceland: Past and Present Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands.147–160.Google Scholar
Dugmore, A.J., Larsen, G., Newton, A.J., Sugden, D.E., (1992). Geochemical stability of fine-grained silicic tephra layers in Iceland and Scotland. Journal of Quaternary Science 7, 173–183.Google Scholar
Dugmore, A.J., Shore, J.S., Cook, G.T., Newton, A.J., Edwards, K.J., Larsen, G., (1995). The radiocarbon dating of tephra layers in Britain and Iceland. Radiocarbon 37, 286–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dugmore, A.J., Newton, A.J., Larsen, G., Cook, G.T., (2000). Tephrochronology, environmental change and the Norse settlement of Iceland. Environmental Archaeology 5, 21–34.Google Scholar
Evans, D.J.A., Archer, S., Wilson, D.J.H., (1999). A comparison of the lichenometric and Schmidt hammer dating techniques based on data from the proglacial areas of some Icelandic glaciers. Quaternary Science Reviews 18, 13–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grönvold, K., Óskarsson, N., Johnsen, S.J., Clausen, H.B., Hammer, C.U., Bond, G., Bard, E., (1995). Ash layers from Iceland in the Greenland GRIP ice core correlated with ocean and land sediments. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 135, 149–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guðmundsson, H.J., (1997). A review of the Holocene environmental history of Iceland. Quaternary Science Reviews 16, 81–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirkbride, M.P., (2002). Icelandic climate and glacier fluctuations through the terminus of the “Little Ice Age”. Polar Geography 26, 116–133.Google Scholar
Kirkbride, M.P., Brazier, V., (1998). A critical evaluation of the use of glacier chronologies in climatic reconstruction, with reference to New Zealand. Owen, L.A. Mountain Glaciation, Quaternary Proceedings 6, 55–64.Google Scholar
Kirkbride, M.P., Dugmore, A.J., (2001a). Can the late “Little Ice Age” glacial maximum in Iceland be dated by lichenometry? Climatic Change 48, 151–167.Google Scholar
Kirkbride, M.P., Dugmore, A.J., (2001b). Timing and significance of mid-Holocene glacier advances in northern and central Iceland. Journal of Quaternary Science 16, 145–153.Google Scholar
Kirkbride, M.P., Dugmore, A.J., (2003). Glaciological response to distal tephra fallout from the 1947 eruption of Hekla, Iceland. Journal of Glaciology 49, 420–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirkbride, M.P., Dugmore, A.J., (2006). Responses of mountain ice caps in central Iceland to Holocene climate change. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 1692–1707.Google Scholar
Kjartansson, G., (1967). The Steinsholtshlaup, central-south Iceland on 15 January 1967. Jökull 17, 249–262.Google Scholar
Kugelmann, O., (1991). Dating recent glacier advances in the Svarfadardalur-Skidadalur area of northern Iceland by means of a new lichen curve. Maizels, J.K., Caseldine, C. Environmental Change in Iceland: Past and Present Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands.203–217.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H., (1979). Climatic variation and changes in the wind and ocean circulation: the Little Ice Age in the northeast Atlantic. Quaternary Research 11, 1–20.Google Scholar
Larsen, G., (1981). Tephrochronology by microprobe glass analysis. Self, S., Sparks, R.S.J. Tephra Studies Reidel, Dordrecht, Netherlands.95–102.Google Scholar
Larsen, G., (1982). Tephrochronology of Jökuldalur and the surrounding areas. Thórarindóttir, H. Eldur er í Norðri Sögufélag Reykjaviku, Reykjavik, Iceland.51–66.Google Scholar
Larsen, G., (1984). Recent volcanic activity of the Veidivotn fissure swarm, southern Iceland: and approach to volcanic risk assessment. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 22, 33–58.Google Scholar
Larsen, G., (2000). Holocene eruptions within the Katla volcanic system, south Iceland: characteristics and environmental impact. Jökull 49, 1–28.Google Scholar
Larsen, G., Dugmore, A.J., Newton, A.J., (1999). Geochemistry of historical age silicic tephras in Iceland. The Holocene 9, (4) 1999463–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larsen, G., Newton, A.J., Dugmore, A.J., Vilmundardóttir, E., (2001). Geochemistry, dispersal, volumes and chronology of Holocene silicic tephra layers from the Katla volcanic system. Journal of Quaternary Science 16, 119–132.Google Scholar
Luterbacher, J., Schmutz, C., Gyalistras, D., Xoplaki, E., Wanner, H., (1999). Reconstruction of monthly NAO and EU indices back to AD 1675. Geophysical Research Letters 26, 2745–2748.Google Scholar
McKinzey, K.M., Orwin, J.F., Bradwell, T., (2004). Re-dating the moraines at Skálafellsjökull and Heinabergsjökull using different lichenometric methods: implications for the timing of the Icelandic Little Ice Age maximum. Geografiska Annaler 86A, 319–335.Google Scholar
Maizels, J.K., Dugmore, A.J., (1985). Lichenometric dating and tephrochronology of sandur deposits, Sólheimajökull area, southern Iceland. Jökull 35, 69–77.Google Scholar
O'Brien, S.R., Mayewski, P.A., Meeker, L.D., Meese, D.A., Twickler, M.S., Whitlow, S.I., (1995). Complexity of Holocene climate as reconstructed from a Greenland ice core. Science 270, 1962–1964.Google Scholar
Ogilvie, A.E.J., (1984). The past climate and sea-ice record from Iceland, part 1: data to A.D.1780. Climatic Change 6, 131–152.Google Scholar
Ogilvie, A.E.J., (1992). Documentary evidence for changes in the climate of Iceland, A.D. 1500 to 1800. Bradley, R.S., Jones, P.D. Climate Since A.D. 1500 Routledge, London.92–117.Google Scholar
Stötter, J., Wastl, M., Caseldine, C., Haberle, T., (1999). Holocene palaeoclimatic reconstruction in northern Iceland: approaches and results. Quaternary Science Reviews 18, 457–474.Google Scholar
Thórarinsson, S., (1944). Tefrokronologiska studier pa Island. Geografiska Annaler 26, 1–217.Google Scholar
Thórarinsson, S., (1967). he eruptions of Hekla in historical times. The eruption of Hekla 1947–1948. Visindafélag Islendinga, Reykjavik, Iceland.1–170.Google Scholar
Thórarinsson, S., (1980). Langleiðir gjósku úr þremur Kötlugosum. Jökull 30, 65–73.Google Scholar