GM3.5

Cold regions geomorphology: present landforms, past climate and geochronology

Convener: S. Lukas 
Co-Conveners: Frauenfelder , I. Gärtner-Roer , Fogwill , M. Wagner , Meiners , Johnson , Briner

Present-day glacial and periglacial processes in arctic and alpine environments provide modern analogues that are crucial to correctly reconstruct processes and climatic changes that took place in mid-latitude regions during the Pleistocene (e.g. retreat of ice sheets and mountain glaciers, melting of low-land permafrost). Current changes in mid-latitude mountain ranges, on the other hand, might be auguries of changes occurring in arctic regions within a context of future climate change (e.g. shrinkage and disappearance of glaciers, speed-up of creeping permafrost features, relictification of rockglaciers).

We invite contributions applying knowledge from present-day glacial and/or periglacial landforms and processes with the aim of reconstructing past environmental conditions in mid-latitude lowland and high-mountain areas. Case studies highlighting the interaction between these two cryospheric components, or those pointing out novel findings that could provide a fresh outlook on palaeoenvironments, are also highly welcome.

This session receives generous financial support from the Quaternary Research Association (www.qra.org.uk).

Confirmed invited keynote speakers:

Professor Doug Benn (Longyearbyen, St Andrews): Glacier surges past and present - implications for sediment transport and interpretation of the geological record

Professor Ole Humlum (Oslo): Reflections on modern cold-climate landforms and their relation to climate

NB: This session in its final layout is the result of a merger between sessions GM 3.5 (Cold regions geomorphology: present landforms and past climate), GM 5.2 (High latitude terrestrial chronological records of glaciation) and GM 5.3 (High-mountain geomorphology). The session will be chaired jointly by Sven Lukas (glacial), Regula Frauenfelder, Isabelle Roer (periglacial), Sigrid Meiners (high mountains) and Joanne Johnson (geochronology).